War is not just won through actions on the battle-field. A whole number of other factors and strategies come into play. The Film and History Break in 2025 returns to World War Two and explores three of the key means by which that war was fought and won. First, there needed to be a resolute determination from everyone - be it a civilian or a member of the Armed Forces - to play one’s part, whatever the sacrifice and cost to the individual.
Second, it was essential to be expert in the art of deception – misleading the enemy through a combination of false reports often submitted by double agents and supportive visual disinformation.
Third, no-one should underestimate the role of decryption with both sides employing vast resources and ingenious methods to decode enemy messages as quickly as possible.
As usual, a major feature film will be screened during each of the afternoon sessions of the break. The films to be shown are 36 Hours – an exciting thriller in which the Germans go to great lengths to dupe an American Officer into revealing the location of the D-Day landings; Enigma – another thriller which seeks to uncover both the identity of a spy working at Bletchley Park and solve the mystery as to why key information uncovered by the British code-breakers is being concealed from their own people. The third film, Malta Story, illustrates the remarkable personal commitment and ingenuity required to see the conflict through, in the most hopeless of circumstances. Much of the plot of this film is based on the lives of real individuals and Ian will explain this further in his accompanying presentations.
As usual, the morning sessions will consist of a mixture of lectures and the screening of shorter documentary films all designed to complement the feature films to be shown each afternoon. So, the morning sessions will include items on life on the home front; the battle for Malta; the imaginative methods employed to deceive the enemy as to the strength of defensive and offensive positions and likely future battle-grounds; the Katyn Massacres and each side’s code-breaking activities.
This will be the seventh Film and History Break which Ian will have run at Green Park. Much of the content reflects feedback from previous courses and draws on his detailed research into various war topics. Ian is confident that you will find this new programme informative and thought-provoking.
There is no supplementary charge for single accommodation on any of our activity breaks, and as normal, we can arrange complimentary transport ( on your day of arrival and on your day of departure ) between the hotel and the bus and railway stations.
Details about all of our activity breaks are readily available - either download a copy from this section, ask for them during you stay, or just telephone the hotel and ask us to forward a programme for whatever activity you are interested in.
From Thursday the 20th of February until the morning of Monday the 24th of February 2025
From Friday the 28th of February until the morning of Tuesday the 4th of March 2025
We only email around once a year to give you news on goings on at The Green Park.
