The World War II Collection: Volume 1 DVD

Collection of Second World War action dramas. In 'Play Dirty' (1969) Captain Douglas (Michael Caine) is sent to North Africa to lead a small group of mercenaries into the desert to knock out an enemy fuel reserve.

However, there is friction between the Captain, veteran Colonel Masters (Nigel Green) and Cyril Leech (Nigel Davenport), head of the hired mercenaries, as they disagree on how to successfully carry out the mission.

Things go from bad to worse when they find out that their assignment is a booby-trapped suicide mission, which threatens to end in pointless bloodshed.

In 'Submarine X-1' (1968) Commander Richard Bolton (James Caan) and his surviving crew members stagger to shore after being attacked by the German battleship Lindendorf.

Commander Bolton is then placed in charge of training a small team of experimental submarines assigned to attack and sink the enemy ship.

In 'Hornet's Nest' (1970) an American commando unit, who are dropped behind enemy lines in Italy, fail in their mission to blow up a strategic dam when all but their leader (Rock Hudson) are ambushed and killed.

He is given another chance to succeed in his mission when he reluctantly strikes a deal with a group of local youths who rescue him and offer their help in exchange for the soldier's assistance in dealing with the Nazi's invasion of their village.

In 'Beach Red' (1967) American assault crafts attempt to retake a Pacific island held by the Japanese and both sides discover that war is the closest thing to Hell on Earth.

In 'Attack On the Iron Coast' (1968) Lloyd Bridges stars as Major Jamie Wilson, who must train and then lead his troops in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, with the knowledge that most, if not all, will likely not return.

As he is haunted by former missions of a similar nature, matters are made worse for Wilson when he is teamed with a captain who opposes his plans but is tasked with the transportation of the troops.

Facing overwhelming odds of survival and battling a Nazi stronghold, will the major's plan be enough to save the lives of his soldiers?

In 'The Thousand Plane Raid' (1969) the American Army become increasingly frustrated with their ineffective night-time bombing missions.

As a result, an ambitious new plan put forward by Colonel Greg Brandon (Christopher George) is put into action by his superiors to fly 1000 bombers over Germany to attack in broad daylight.

Tensions increase as he tries to get his troops ready for the mission and as the date draws nearer the colonel even begins to lose faith in the likelihood of success.