Go behind the lines! Bringing viewers compelling, real-world stories of heroism, military strategy, technological breakthroughs and turning points in history, Discovery Communications, Inc. transitioned its Discovery Wings Channel to the Military Channel on Monday, January 10, 2005. The network’s revamped slate of series and specials is designed to take viewers “behind the lines” to tell personal stories and offer in-depth explorations of military technology, battlefield strategy, aviation and history. Military Channel
PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS APRIL 2005
SPECIALS
Times are Eastern Standard Time (EST)
TOP TENS: TANKS
World Premiere: Friday, April 8, 8 PM
Tanks combine armor, firepower and mobility. Over the past century, dozens of tanks have been designed and built to blast their way across the battlefield. Now, based upon expert opinion, audience polls and a technical comparison, we’ve been able to construct a five-point matrix that will rank the all-time TOP TEN: TANKS.
ANATOMY OF AN F/A-18
World Premiere: Thursday, April 14, 8 PM
This high-energy one-hour special takes a look into the revolutionary capabilities of the carrier-based strike fighter and the experience of the pilots who fly it. At California’s Naval Air Station Lemoore, the Navy’s most advanced F/A-18 training facility, viewers will learn what it takes to become a strike fighter pilot, from the rigors of the centrifuge to the thrill of dogfight training. The program also takes viewers on deployment with an actual Carrier Air Group and shows the intense world of naval aviation for which these trainees are preparing. Combining high-definition footage, animated 3-D graphics and thrilling air-to-air material, ANATOMY OF AN F/A-18 is an exciting, high-tech hour of television about the most versatile jet in active service.
SUBMARINE WEEK
In honor of Discovery’s 20th anniversary, this week-long themed event will include one world premiere film, SIZE IT UP: Subs, along with special encore presentations of four Discovery Channel programs.
ANATOMY OF AN F/A-18
World Premiere: Thursday, April 14, 8 PM
This high-energy one-hour special takes a look into the revolutionary capabilities of the carrier-based strike fighter and the experience of the pilots who fly it. At California’s Naval Air Station Lemoore, the Navy’s most advanced F/A-18 training facility, viewers will learn what it takes to become a strike fighter pilot, from the rigors of the centrifuge to the thrill of dogfight training. The program also takes viewers on deployment with an actual Carrier Air Group and shows the intense world of naval aviation for which these trainees are preparing. Combining high-definition footage, animated 3-D graphics and thrilling air-to-air material, ANATOMY OF AN F/A-18 is an exciting, high-tech hour of television about the most versatile jet in active service.
SUBMARINE WEEK
SIZE IT UP: SUBS
World Premiere Monday, April 18 8-9 PM
Take an exciting, behind-the-scenes look inside the U.S. military’s most amazing mechanical marvels. With the ability to operate undetected by foreign spy satellites, subs can covertly cover about 70 percent of the earth. From the stealthy Remus, which locates mines with its sonar sensors, to the mighty SEAL delivery vehicle (SDV), which transports Navy special ops teams to enemy territory, submarines are considered one of the most powerful weapons systems in the armed forces. This episode of SIZE IT UP examines just how these subs measure up.
EXTREME MACHINES: NUCLEAR SUBS
Tuesday, April 19, 8 PM
The submarine nearly changed the outcome of both world wars. It symbolized the terror of the Cold War arms race. The modern sub is both nuclear powered and nuclear armed. They often lurk for six months at a time in remote corners of the ocean, rarely detected. Nuclear submarines have fired only once in anger”the sinking of the Argentine battleship, the Belgrano, by the British during the Falklands War. But America’s mighty fleet of subs is the single most important component of national defense, maintaining a strategic and nuclear deterrent across the entire planet.
SUBMARINE: HIDDEN HUNTER
Wednesday, April 20, 8 PM
SUBMARINE: HIDDEN HUNTER guides viewers through the shipbuilding process of the most advanced attack submarines – Virginia Class. This special also shows what it takes to become a Virginia Class submariner and share in the “brotherhood of the fin.” The road to becoming a full-fledged submariner begins at Basic Sub School, where raw recruits are subjected to harrowing drills as they learn to fight fires and repair leaks courtesy of the school’s high-tech simulators. And finally, a new chapter in undersea warfare begins when the Virginia, having bested all of her own challenges, is commissioned into the fleet.
ATTACK AND CAPTURE: THE STORY OF U-BOAT 505
Thursday, April 20, 8 PM
Using extensive archival footage and interviews with historians and crew members from both vessels, this one-hour special recounts the U.S. Navy’s daring attack and capture of a German U-boat in April 1944. This victory marked the first time the U.S. Navy had captured an enemy vessel since the War of 1812.
ULTIMATE GUIDE: THE SUBMARINES
Monday, April 18, 8 PM
Submarines are the most powerful weapons system in any country’s military arsenal. This ULTIMATE GUIDE takes viewers inside a military sub to reveal all the contents, including rows of nuclear missile tubes, the control room, churches, movie theaters and hospitals.
Viewers also learn how early models of submarines used steam and internal combustion engines and sometimes were cranked by hand when they submerged. The program also explores how the quest to reach extreme ocean depths has led scientists to create other submersibles, including the Deep Flight submarine, which is being designed to loop and spin like an underwater aircraft.
30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF SAIGON
SIZE IT UP: SUBS
World Premiere Thursday, April 29 8-9 PM
Take an exciting, behind-the-scenes look inside the U.S. military’s most amazing mechanical marvels. With the ability to operate undetected by foreign spy satellites, subs can covertly cover about 70 percent of the earth. From the stealthy Remus, which locates mines with its sonar sensors, to the mighty SEAL delivery vehicle (SDV), which transports Navy special ops teams to enemy territory, submarines are considered one of the most powerful weapons systems in the armed forces. This episode of SIZE IT UP examines just how these subs measure up.
THE FALL OF SAIGON
Thursday, April 28, 9-11 PM
This program recreates the intensity of the last three days of the Vietnam War and examines the inside story of the chaos and duplicity that led to the final collapse of Saigon. Viewers hear stories about the final days, including that of a Texas-trained South Vietnamese bomber pilot who defected and sent Viet Cong pilots to strafe the Saigon airport with American B-52s, and of Dinh Van De, the South Vietnamese delegate to the U.S. government who had actually been a top spy for the North for many years.
ONGOING SERIES
BATTLE PLAN
One of the most important aspects of any battle is often overlooked in the telling of war stories: the strategy. BATTLE PLAN takes viewers into the heart of famous battles, examining precisely how the commanders planned and fought. Through detailed analysis and historical comparison, we’ll see how famous strategies were developed and executed.
World Premiere
Tuesday, April 7
8-9 PM
Blockade
This episode of BATTLE PLAN examines how the development of engines and submarines enormously increased the potential for blockade and takes a look into such historical cases as the North’s blockade of the South during the American Civil War; the British blockade of Napoleon’s ports in Europe, which kept his vessels in port and cut off almost all his overseas trade; the World War I British blockade of Germany and the German U-boat blockade that came close to starving Britain into defeat; and the War World II U.S. blockade that cut Japan off from all the resources the country needed to continue fighting.
World Premiere
Tuesday, April 26
8-9 PM
Battlefleet
The use of a battlefleet to establish control of the sea, or to frustrate an enemy’s attempt to do so, has been a key aspect of naval warfare for 2,500 years. Dramatic changes in technology such as the arrival of steam and long-range artillery did not change this fundamental battle plan. And even the development of submarines and naval air power only changed the means but not the aim. At Midway, the whole course of the Pacific war was transformed in minutes, when U.S. dive bombers devastated Japan’s vital aircraft carriers — the pride of its battlefleet and the key to its survival.
WORLD WAR II BATTLEFRONT
Each episode of WORLD WAR II BATTLEFRONT focuses on a specific battle during the war. Through remarkable color footage, photographs and personal accounts, WORLD WAR II BATTLEFRONT illustrates the way World War II was lived and fought by the men and women on both Allied and Axis sides.
North American
Premiere
Tuesday, April 5
9-9:30 PM
Fall of Poland
It was a moment that would draw the entire world into war. On September 1, 1939, the Germans launched their tank units in an invasion of Poland. Though the Polish resistance was fierce and immediate, the unexpected involvement of the Russian army made the Polish fight for survival a losing battle.
North American
Premiere
Tuesday, April 5
9:30-10 PM
Battle of Tobruk
In 1941, the Germans moved their panzer divisions through north Africa to push back the British forces in Libya. One major supply port became a war zone: Tobruk. It was here that Rommel scored his greatest victory and became known as the Desert Fox.
North American
Premiere
Tuesday, April 12
9-9:30 PM
Battle of Okinawa
By the spring of 1945, American forces were fighting their way to Japan, but they needed a base from which to launch their planned invasion. There was only one obstacle in their path – the island of Okinawa and the hundreds of kamikaze fighter planes that protected it.
North American
Premiere
Tuesday, April 12
9:30-10 PM
Battle of Stalingrad
n the summer of 1942, Adolph Hitler took personal command of his forces to finally conquer Russia and take home his prize: Stalingrad. But the Russians refused to give up. Their valiant struggle lasted for months and cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
North American
Premiere
Tuesday, April 19
9-9:30 PM
Arnhem
Near the end of World War II, the Allies launched an attack against the Germans in Holland to push them back to the Rhine River, Germany’s last natural defense barrier. For this daring mission, the Allies needed an airborne operation of 35,000 paratroopers.
North American
Premiere
Tuesday, April 19
9:30-10 PM
Fall of the Philippines
After the Japanese declared war on the U.S. by bombing Pearl Harbor, an invasion force set out to conquer the Philippines. The surprise attacks destroyed American military and naval strength. Brave Filipino scouts held the defensive as long as they could.
North American
Premiere
Tuesday, April 26
9-9:30 PM
Battle of Dieppe
By the summer of 1942, Germany controlled all of Europe. A Canadian contingent was the first of the Allied armies to attack the German war machine from the sea. In a daring raid on the French coast, they had an impossible objective: to retake the town of Dieppe.
North American
Premiere
Tuesday, April 26
9:30-10 PM
Battle of Anzio
After the invasion of Sicily, Allied armies headed for the Italian fishing town of Anzio. But the Germans, entrenched in the hills, would not let them get off the beach. It took three months of fierce battle to break the stalemate.