Matthew Carroll

*SPOILERS* There is a lot to like about MOTA, but there is also some American revisionism that jars slightly and makes the series feel slightly contradictory in its accuracy. For example, I really like how this show removes some of the “glamour” of other WWII films and series, and tells it likely more how it was at the time. Take the latest released scenes in Stalag Luft III. For those who didn’t know, this was the infamous Luftwaffe camp where the Great Escape took place. Whilst the film to a certain extent glamorised it, MOTA looks at the ramifications for the inmates left behind. The reprisals, the added scrutiny from the gestapo etc. that I really like. The aerial combat scenes are also amazing in depth and detail. Listening to the writer of the show on a podcast he talks specifically about how the aerial scenes are based on logged reports of the engagements. What you’re watching is as close to a replica of what actually happened as you’ll get, warts and all. Again, excellent. However there are some roll your eyes moments. The moral superiority that’s trotted out between the Americans daylight precision raids vs the British indiscriminate nighttime raids for example. This completely ignores the fact that the Americans were present in some of worst bombing atrocities of the war (the Dresden firestorm being the one that immediately springs to mind). It’s also slightly laughable that the P51 Mustang is touted as the “hands down best fighter plane of the whole war”. In all categories except fuel payload and top speed, it was outmatched or at least equal to both the Spitfire and Messerschmitt. It was absolutely the only fighter that could have escorted bombers to Berlin, but to say it was anything else definitively feels like a needless inaccuracy. Overall it’s a hell of a series. Emotional at times, thrilling at others. But for the passing WW2 historian, there are some moments like above that snap you out of that enjoyment very briefly.