In 1944
George Stevens (director of the films Shane and Giant) was sent to the Allied frontline to improve the coverage of the war for the Americans. While supervising this filming in black and white, Stevens made his own personal record - in colour.
This extraordinary "home movie" lay undiscovered for years in Stevens's storeroom until after his death in 1975. The
BBC pieced together the footage to re-create this unique wartime journey startingon the Normandy beaches in June
1944 and ending in the German capital in the summer of 1945. Robert Harris presents the film, which covers the liberation of Paris and the dramatic link-up between the Russian and American armies on the River
Elbe and includes horrific footage of the Allied capture of Dachau concentration camp.
First shown in 1985, it was acclaimed by historians as the most important colour footage ever taken of the war in Europe. Producer Paul Woolwich