D-Day to Berlin was one of the first films in color, and one of the only World War II films that is in color, as recently filmed history was mostly black-and-white. The documentary begins with other black and white images of D-Day, but later switches in to full color. The color film allows viewers to experience this war from a perspective that is simply is not nearly as vivid as in black-and-white footage. The impact of this transition to color caused viewers to really place themselves in the film: almost as if they were in the war. This realism is shown through the images of the Dachau camp, the Battle of the Bulge, and the attack on the Rhineland.
The most shocking footage in the documentary is the film of the Dachau camp. The piles of bodies and those suffering but still alive are shown throughout the camp in the film. These disturbing images, as well as the images of the killing of remaining SS guards is shown to the audience in a way never seen before: in color. As they said in the documentary, the lifelike images of the camp made people want to, “…to hate all Germans.”
The next part of the documentary that was particularly vivid was the film showing the Battle of the Bulge. The new, color photos of those who died in combat provided faces to the vast amount of U.S. casualties. The devastation throughout the region was recorded while Belgian civilians fled from the carnage.
The documentary then provides images of the offensive attack in the spring, including