It’s October 1941 when U-96 slips berth in La Rochelle, stocked full of provisions like a Nazi-run branch of Whole Foods, and heads into Atlantic convoy lanes. It’s also a damn fine piece of history, based as it is on U-boat veteran Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s wartime experiences and with two other veterans (including submarine ace Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock) acting as consultants during the shoot. Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot (1981) ( above) is, of course, one of the finest men-in-peril movies this side of Predator. The Wehrmacht’s post-Stalingrad retreat and slow disintegration, meanwhile, is best captured (and often in slow-mo) by Sam Peckinpah’s Cross Of Iron (1977). As a bonus, there’s no romantic subplot involving Jude Law.

Needless to say, it’s not exactly jolly viewing – one T-34 assault is teeth-grindingly fierce – but it offers a realistic vision of the battle’s hand-to-hand, factory-by-factory clashes, and its traumatic impact on the combatants. There’s been a Hollywood version of the battle ( Enemy At The Gates) and a recent Russian one (in 3D!) but only the German take, Stalingrad (1993) ( above), is worth searching out. The German army went into the key battle – Stalingrad – with 300,000 men and 500 tanks, emerging six months later with about five men and a small van. Aside from a few summery days in 1941, it was Russia that was doing most of the winning – although amid the slaughter it was often pretty hard to tell. Military historians will tell you that the “Ostfront” was where World War II was won and lost, and no-one who wears tweed for a living makes this kind of stuff up.

Best world war 2 navy movies