The Ritchie Boys (Documentary)

Those whose tolerance of Greatest Generation war stories isn’t exhausted, not to mention those who still thrive on them, will find the group of men who called themselves the Ritchie Boys good company. This documentary, named for a military boot camp in Maryland, tells of a group of Jewish immigrants who fled Germany for the United States in the years of the Nazi buildup. When the war broke out, they realized that, with their language skills and knowledge of the enemy, they could help the American military. They were given intelligence and psychological warfare training in Maryland, then sent back to the continent they had fled to support the D-Day invasion by interrogating captured Germans soldiers and civilians for information useful to the Allies. Mr. Bauer tracked down an engaging assortment of Ritchie Boys and, pacing his film beautifully, builds their testimony into an affecting group portrait.