Despite the dominance of the Coalition victory, the outcome was by no means certain when the fighting began. Seven years after the fact, the true story of Desert Storm is coming into view. It's an intimate, moving look at the way fighting men reconcile the reality of war with the celebration of peace, an unforgettable portrait of humanity at its most human. Discover incredible tales of unspoken cease-fires, when enemy troops have discarded their uniforms and hostilities for one night. See rare footage of Christmas celebrations in World War II, from Europe's frozen battlefields to South Pacific islands. Hear the words of Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers in letters to home. Heartwarming and heartbreaking, it is a testament to the strength and flexibility of the human spirit. CHRISTMAS AT WAR is a fascinating look at the way fighting men have dealt with the season of peace throughout history. In the blistering sands of Desert Storm, USO Santas cheered the homesick troops. In the bitter chill of Valley Forge, Washington's men wrote longing letters home to family and loved ones who prayed for their safe return. In the jungles of Vietnam, soldiers decorated palm trees and gave makeshift gifts to comrades. As a companion piece to Defiance, it suggests the Zwick film was faithful to the facts, and to this story of heroism under terrible circumstances. But this is balanced by the value of actually hearing the voices and seeing the faces of those who were there when one woman sings a song of the camp, the decades suddenly collapse. Another survivor recalls escaping the horror of the ghetto and coming upon the Bielskis in their forest enclave, where Jews were no longer under the heel of the enemy: "The whole camp was… something of a dream." The documentary's brevity means we don't get much depth on how the Bielski partisans actually survived from day to day, although a couple of the interviewees are frank about what they had to do to keep going. This History Channel installment gathers together survivors of the partisan movement to tell stories, some of which are incredibly moving, such as the escape of Mike Stoll and his sister Bella from a train headed to a concentration camp. Escaped Jews from the ghettoes of Eastern Europe joined together in the woods under the leadership of Tuvia, Zus, and Asael Bielski, and for over two years they created their own hidden society of approximately 1200 people. The true story behind Edward Zwick's Defiance is laid out in this brisk, straight-to-the-point account of the Bielski brothers, the leaders of a large, organized Jewish resistance effort during World War II.
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