The remarkable true story of a fearless Canadian sniper platoon during World War II is told in gripping, first-person accounts in the world broadcast premiere of Black Watch Snipers, Friday, November 11 at 9 pm ET on History®. Black Watch Snipers uncovers the ten months following D-Day in June 1944, as seen through the eyes of five snipers who led the charge in Canada’s oldest and most storied regiment - the Black Watch, which suffered more casualties than any other Canadian regiment during World War II. The snipers who led their platoon to victory and survived to tell the tale reveal harrowing details of their march through Western Europe, and dramatic re-enactments brings their story to life.
This real-life Canadian ‘band of brothers’ sacrificed everything and endured the ultimate test of combat to help liberate Western Europe from the clutches of Nazi tyranny. The five young Canadian soldiers - Dale Sharpe, Jim “Hook” Wilkinson, Russell “Sandy” Sanderson, Mike Brunner, and Jimmy Bennett - were all in their early twenties (or younger) when they volunteered for the sniper brigade. They joined partly as a way to avoid the daily drudgery the other enlisted men were forced to do, and partly for the thrills and adventure a sniper’s life promised a young soldier. Their officers’ first task was turning these young kids into killing machines, capable of shooting an enemy dead at 300 yards, or learning to spot the highest-ranking German officer quickly and make him their primary target. Then, they were thrown into action. They were specialized snipers - the first ones to scout ahead, raise their rifles and head into the eye of the storm, fighting in front of the front lines.
Armed with nothing but their wits and their sniper rifles, Dale, Sandy, Mike, the Hook, and Jimmy fought their way across France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their mission: clear towns of enemy snipers and machine gun nests for the troops following them. They were sitting ducks for the mighty Nazi forces but looked after each other to survive.
These snipers fought the odds and won. Over seventy years later, four of them, all in their 90s, share the personal memories of those ten months they spent together in 1944 - the events still as action-packed, suspenseful, fresh and vivid for them as if they’d happened yesterday. Their shared experiences created intense, lifelong bonds between the five men. Black Watch Snipers is their story.
Produced by Toronto-based yap films, the feature-length docudrama is part of History’s annual Days of Remembrance programming.
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