Das Reich - Une division SS en France (Documentary, French)
Genres: War, History
Status: Ended
Premiered: 2015-03-02
Ended: 2015-11-02
Network: ARTE
Country: FR
Runtime: 45 minutes
6 June 1944, D-Day. As the Allies storm the beaches of Normandy, Hitler orders the return of the "Das Reich", the infamous Panzer elite division best known for its mass murders in the Ukraine and in Belarus, based at that time in southwest of France. Its mission: to push the Allies back into the Atlantic and turn the tide of the conflict in favor of the Germans.The SS division, with 15,000 men and more than 200 tanks, faces relentless attacks from the Resistance as it moves north through France. Along the way, it conducts vicious reprisals and massacres of civilians (Oradour-sur-Glane, Tulle). A route paved with blood. Nothing seems to stop their progression. The division would reproduce the massacres they carried out in Belarus, using the same modus operandi (mass hangings, extermination of entire villages).Using full HD recolorized footage, the film retraces the last year of Hitler's death squad, their last missions, their last combats and their crimes against humanity. We will follow the everyday lives of these SS officers, their recruitment and training on the Eastern Front, and try to understand who exactly were these men who perpetrated the massacres.