The History Channel: The third season of .... BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES

The History Channel: The third season of .... BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES

Season premiere Monday, November 14, 2005 at 10 p.m. ET/PT

NEW YORK, Nov. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The course of world history has often hinged on the battlefield, with intense military clashes determining the fates of armies, societies, and nations. As we look back, how often do we stop and ask WHY a certain side won? Do history's stories match the reality of what could have really happened? The popular series BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES finds out using up-to-the-minute historical analysis, forensic technologies, demonstrations, and experts pinpoint the key moments of famous battles, from Britain to The Bulge, Waterloo to Jutland. BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES returns for its third season, premiering Monday, November 14, 2005 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on The History Channel(R). New episodes air at 10 p.m. ET/PT every Monday.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051031/HISTORYLOGO )

All-new episodes of BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES this season include:

BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES: BATTLE OF THE BULGE (November 14 at 10 p.m. ET/PT) -- In 1944 in the Ardennes region of Belgium, Allied troops hunker down in winter quarters, preparing to invade Nazi Germany in the spring. But Hitler catches them off guard with a massive attack, sending 250,000 troops into Ardennes in an effort to destroy the beleaguered Allied troops. His offensive is successful at first, but ultimately inflicts just as much damage on his own army as on the allies. Scientists and experts explain why the Battle of the Bulge ended in total defeat for the Germany.

BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES: BATTLE OF BRITAIN (November 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT) -- In 1940, only Britain stands between Hitler's army and total domination of Europe. But a band of plucky pilots flying Spitfire fighter planes wage a four-month air battle above the green fields of Britain, thwarting Hitler's planned ground invasion. History has always presented the British as an unprepared and outmanned army that won against overwhelming odds. BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES tests that theory, uncovering a more advanced set of tactics and systems that sheds new light on a key Allied victory.

BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES: THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO (November 28 at 10 p.m. ET/PT) -- In 1815, the Duke of Wellington and Prussian Field Marshall von Blucher collaborated to defeat the mighty Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France in a battle that killed about fifty thousand men and ten thousand horses. How was the legendary French leader defeated? Was it skill -- or just luck -- that swung the battle? BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES investigates.

BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES: THE BATTLE OF MASADA (December 5 at 10 p.m. ET/PT) -- 2,000 years ago a small band of Jewish freedom fighters held off the powerful Roman Army for three years from atop a spectacular mountain fortress built by King Herod. The story has long been told that once the Romans broke through, 960 Jewish men, women, and children chose suicide over imprisonment. But BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES unearths new evidence that may threaten to overturn a legend.

BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES: THE BATTLE OF ORISKANY (December 5 at 11 p.m. ET/PT) -- In August of 1777, 800 Patriot militiamen marching toward Fort Stanwix on the New York frontier were ambushed on the banks of the Mohawk River. Their attackers were Mohawk and Seneca Indian warriors, recruited by the British Loyalists to fight the Revolution. The battle was the bloodiest of the war, and this episode examines the little-known story of the American Indians' involvement in the Revolutionary War.

BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES: THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND (December 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT) -- In 1916, the British Royal Navy waited off the north coast of Scotland for a showdown with the Germans. For the British, the most powerful naval force in the world, it was an opportunity to showcase their state-of- the-art fighting ships, the Dreadnaughts, and prove that they ruled the high seas. But massive explosions sent British ships to the bottom of the sea, where they remain to this day. BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES revisits the scene and reconstructs the battle to find out what went wrong, and why, despite the disaster, the British were still claimed victory.

Executive Producer for The History Channel is Susan Werbe. BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES is produced by Granada Media for The History Channel.

Now reaching more than 88 million Nielsen subscribers, The History Channel(R), "Where the Past Comes Alive(R)," brings history to life in a powerful manner and provides an inviting place where people experience history personally and connect their own lives to the great lives and events of the past. In 2004, The History Channel earned five News and Documentary Emmy(R) Awards and previously received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's "Save Our History(R)" campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. The History Channel web site is located at http://www.history.com/.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051031/HISTORYLOGO
Source: The History Channel

CONTACT: Jenna Farkas, +1-212-210-9184, jenna.farkas@aetn.com, or Katie
Bradshaw, +1-212-210-9108, katie.bradshaw@aetn.com, both for The History
Channel

Web site: http://www.historychannel.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information and photography please visit us on the web at http://www.historychannelpress.com.

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