1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1945th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 945th year of the 2nd millennium, the 45th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1940s decade.
A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne forces. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World War II for troop distribution and transportation. Paratroopers are often used in surprise attacks, to seize strategic objectives such as airfields or bridges.
Airborne forces are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in airborne units are also known as paratroopers.
A Bridge Too Far is a 1977 epic war film directed by Richard Attenborough.
The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operations to seize terrain. These operations can be conducted by mobile teams covering large distances, fighting behind enemy lines, and working in austere environments with limited or degraded infrastructure. It was active in, for example, foreign internal defense and counterterrorism operations in Iraq, in Afghanistan in 2015–2016, and in Syria, as part of Operation Inherent Resolve in 2018–2021.
The 82nd Airborne Division is an airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute assault operations into hostile areas with a U.S. Department of Defense mandate to be "on-call to fight any time, anywhere" at "the knife's edge of technology and readiness." Primarily based at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, the 82nd Airborne Division is part of the XVIII Airborne Corps. The 82nd Airborne Division is the U.S. Army's most strategically mobile division.
Saints and Soldiers is a 2003 war drama film directed by Ryan Little and produced by Little and Adam Abel. It is loosely based on events that took place after the Malmedy massacre during the Battle of the Bulge. The film stars Corbin Allred, Alexander Niver, Lawrence Bagby, and Peter Asle Holden as four American soldiers trying to return a British airman with vital intelligence to the Allied lines.
Corbin Michael Allred is an American actor. He starred in the 2003 award-winning motion picture Saints and Soldiers and the 1997–1998 television series Teen Angel.
Ryan Little is a Canadian film director, cinematographer and producer. He is perhaps best known for his 2003 film Saints and Soldiers. His work has a broad range of genres including war films and children's subjects. Little was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and graduated from Brigham Young University in 1999. He has produced six films, directed eleven and written one.
Father Francis Leon Sampson, USA was a Catholic priest from Archdiocese for the Military Services and an American Army officer who served as the 12th Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army from 1967 to 1971. His real-life story of rescuing a young soldier, Frederick "Fritz" Niland, became the inspiration for the film Saving Private Ryan.
The Fallschirmjäger were the paratrooper branch of the German Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. Throughout World War II, the commander of the branch was Kurt Student.
Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed is a 2012 war drama film directed by Ryan Little and produced by Little and Adam Abel. It is the second installment in the Saints and Soldiers film series, and is based on events that took place during the invasion of Southern France in World War II. The film stars Corbin Allred, David Nibley, and Jasen Wade. The film was shot in Utah, on a tight budget, saving money by using volunteer World War II reenactors as some of the actors and extras. The film received mixed reviews; many critics found the film mediocre, yet still praised the performances and cinematography.
Saints and Soldiers: The Void, is a 2014 war drama film directed and written by Ryan Little. It serves as the third installment in the Saints and Soldiers film series, and is a standalone sequel to Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed. The film stars K. Danor Gerald, Adam Gregory, and Matt Meese. The Void was the most expensive of the Saints and Soldiers films due to its use of tanks. It was filmed in Alpine, Utah. The film received mixed reviews with some critics calling it a "riveting drama" and some critics stating that more focus on writing and execution would have improved the film.
Anthropoid is a 2016 war film directed by Sean Ellis and starring Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan, Charlotte Le Bon, Anna Geislerová, Harry Lloyd, Toby Jones and Marcin Dorocinski, It was written by Ellis and Anthony Frewin. It tells the story of Operation Anthropoid, the World War II assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by exiled Czechoslovak soldiers Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš on 27 May 1942. It was released on 12 August 2016 in the United States and 9 September 2016 in the United Kingdom.
War Pigs, is a 2015 American action war film directed by Ryan Little, from a script co-written by Luke Schuetzle and Adam Emersonand. It is the fourth installment in the Saints and Soliders film series, and is a standalone sequel to Saints and Soldiers: The Void. The film stars Luke Goss, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Liddell, and Mickey Rourke.
Ghosts of War is a 2020 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Eric Bress. The film stars Brenton Thwaites, Theo Rossi, Skylar Astin, Kyle Gallner, and Alan Ritchson. It was released on DirecTV on 18 June 2020.
The Captain is a 2017 international co-produced historical drama film written and directed by Robert Schwentke. It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. It tells the story of German war criminal Willi Herold, who assumed a stolen identity as a German officer and orchestrated the killing of deserters and other prisoners at one of the Emslandlager camps.
Overlord is a 2018 American alternate history action horror film directed by Julius Avery and written by Billy Ray and Mark L. Smith. It stars Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, John Magaro, Gianny Taufer, Pilou Asbæk, Bokeem Woodbine and Iain De Caestecker. The film was produced by J. J. Abrams, through his Bad Robot Productions banner, and Lindsey Weber. The plot follows several American soldiers who are dropped behind enemy lines the day before D-Day and discover terrifying Nazi experiments.
The Liberator is an American adult animated war drama mini-series created and written by Jeb Stuart. It is based on the book The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey by Alex Kershaw.
Sky Sharks is a 2020 German science fiction comedy horror film directed by Marc Fehse and starring Robert LaSardo, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Lynn Lowry, Lar Park Lincoln, Nick Principe, Michaela Schaffrath and Charles Rettinghaus.
