The Best World War II Movies on Free Services

What it's about: A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Plex) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: In the last months of World War II, as the Allies make their final push in the European theatre, a battle-hardened U.S. Army sergeant named 'Wardaddy' commands a Sherman tank called 'Fury' and its five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (IMDb TV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Jake Blues is just out of jail, and teams up with his brother, Elwood on a 'mission from God' to raise funds for the orphanage in which they grew up. The only thing they can do is do what they do best: play music. So they get their old band together, and set out on their way—while getting in a bit of trouble here and there.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Peacock) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: As a 13-year-old, fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Peacock) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I. Together with several other young German soldiers, he experiences the horrors of war, such evil of which he had not conceived of when signing up to fight. They eventually become sad, tormented, and confused of their purpose.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Peacock) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: At the start of the First World War, in the middle of Africa’s nowhere, a gin soaked riverboat captain is persuaded by a strong-willed missionary to go down river and face-off a German warship.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & CBS All Access) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: It's a dreary Christmas 1944 for the American POWs in Stalag 17 and the men in Barracks 4, all sergeants, have to deal with a grave problem—there seems to be a security leak.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (CBS All Access) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Plex & PopcornFlix), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & CBS All Access) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: As World War I rages, brave and youthful Australians Archy and Frank—both agile runners—become friends and enlist in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps together. They later find themselves part of the Dardanelles Campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula, a brutal eight-month conflict which pit the British and their allies against the Ottoman Empire and left over 500,000 men dead.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: When a US Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardizes the ship, the first officer relieves him of command and faces court martial for mutiny.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A man working for the War Crimes Commission suspects that an important Nazi official has folded himself into a quaint Connecticut town.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Plex), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Starz, Epix & 3 others), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Starz & Epix) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: An account of the revolutionary years of the legendary American journalist John Reed (1887-1920), who shared his adventurous professional life with his radical commitment to the socialist revolution in Russia, his dream of spreading its principles among the members of the American working class, and his troubled romantic relationship with the writer Louise Bryant (1885-1936).

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Maria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover a world famous painting of her aunt plundered by the Nazis during World War II, she believes rightfully belongs to her family. She did so not just to regain what was rightfully hers, but also to obtain some measure of justice for the death, destruction, and massive art theft perpetrated by the Nazis.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 3 others).

What it's about: Secret agent OSS 117 foils Nazis, beds local beauties, and brings peace to the Middle East.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a subscription service (Fandor, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Vudu).

What it's about: True story of Germany's most famous anti-Nazi heroine brought to thrilling, dramatic life. Sophie Scholl stars Julia Jentsch in a luminous performance as the fearless activist of the underground student resistance group, The White Rose. Armed with long-buried historical records of her incarceration, director Marc Rothemund expertly re-creates the last six days of Sophie Scholl's life.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi) & stream on a subscription service (Hoopla).

What it's about: With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi) & rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: At a track near Rome, shoeshine boys are watching horses run. Two of the boys Pasquale, an orphan, and Giuseppe, his younger friend are riding. The pair have been saving to buy a horse of their own to ride...

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: This movie tells the story of Omar Mukhtar, an Arab Muslim rebel who fought against the Italian conquest of Libya in WWII. It gives western viewers a glimpse into this little-known region and chapter of history, and exposes the savage means by which the conquering army attempted to subdue the natives.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Philo & fuboTV), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Sundance) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: On 9 April 1940, German soldiers arrive in the city of Oslo. The King of Norway faces a choice that will change his country forever. The King's Choice is a story about the three most dramatic days in Norway's history, the royal family's escape and King Haakon's difficult choice after Nazi Germany's invasion of Norway.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: The gruesome Nazi Zombies are back to finish their mission, but our hero is not willing to die. He is gathering his own army to give them a final fight.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, Plex, Vudu & 2 others), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A World War II submarine commander finds himself stuck with a decrepit sub, a con-man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (CBS All Access) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Vudu).

What it's about: A bombardier in World War II tries desperately to escape the insanity of the war. However, sometimes insanity is the only sane way to cope with a crazy situation.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV, Plex, PopcornFlix & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: In a touring Shakespearean theater group, a backstage hand - the dresser, is devoted to the brilliant but tyrannical head of the company. He struggles to support the deteriorating star as the company struggles to carry on during the London blitz. The pathos of his backstage efforts rival the pathos in the story of Lear and the Fool that is being presented on-stage, as the situation comes to a crisis.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Starz) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Nazi skinheads in Melbourne take out their anger on local Vietnamese, who are seen as threatening racial purity. Finally the Vietnamese have had enough and confront the skinheads in an all-out confrontation, sending the skinheads running. A woman who is prone to epileptic seizures joins the skins' merry band, and helps them on their run from justice, but is her affliction also a sign of impurity?

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: In 1943, while the Allies are bombing Berlin and the Gestapo is purging the capital of Jews, a dangerous love affair blossoms between two women - one a Jewish member of the underground, the other an exemplar of Nazi motherhood.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV) & stream on a subscription service (Hoopla).

What it's about: An Hungarian youth comes of age at Buchenwald during World War II. György Köves is 14, the son of a merchant who's sent to a forced labor camp. After his father's departure, György gets a job at a brickyard; his bus is stopped and its Jewish occupants sent to camps. There, György find camaraderie, suffering, cruelty, illness, and death. He hears advice on preserving one's dignity and self-esteem. He discovers hatred. If he does survive and returns to Budapest, what will he find? What is natural; what is it to be a Jew? Sepia, black and white, and color alternate to shade the mood.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi) & stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Budapest in the thirties. The restaurant owner Laszlo hires the pianist András to play in his restaurant. Both men fall in love with the beautiful waitress Ilona who inspires András to his only composition. His song of Gloomy Sunday is, at first, loved and then feared, for its melancholic melody triggers off a chain of suicides. The fragile balance of the erotic ménage à trois is sent off kilter when the German Hans goes and falls in love with Ilona as well.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi) & stream on a subscription service (Kanopy).

What it's about: Set in 1944 France, an American Intelligence Squad locates a German Platoon wishing to surrender rather than die in Germany's final war offensive. The two groups of men, isolated from the war at present, put aside their differences and spend Christmas together before the surrender plan turns bad and both sides are forced to fight the other.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & IMDb TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 2 services (Google Play & Vudu).

What it's about: Set in a dugout in Aisne in 1918, a group of British officers, led by the mentally disintegrating young officer Stanhope, variously await their fate.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Prime Video).

What it's about: A victim from World War II's "Death Railway" sets out to find those responsible for his torture. A true story.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Plex) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Lore leads her four younger siblings across a war-torn Germany in 1945. Amidst the chaos she encounters a mysterious refugee who shatters her fragile reality with hatred and desire.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Fandor, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: In occupied Berlin, an army captain is torn between an ex-Nazi cafe singer and the U.S. congresswoman investigating her.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Peacock).

What it's about: Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman discovers a sinister and bizarre plot to rekindle the Third Reich.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Peacock & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: At the start of World War I, Paul Baumer is a young German patriot, eager to fight. Indoctrinated with propaganda at school, he and his friends eagerly sign up for the army soon after graduation. But when the horrors of war soon become too much to bear, and as his friends die or become gravely wounded, Paul questions the sanity of fighting over a few hundreds yards of war-torn countryside.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV & IMDb TV), stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Eyal, an Israeli Mossad agent, is given the mission to track down and kill the very old Alfred Himmelman, an ex-Nazi officer, who might still be alive. Pretending to be a tourist guide, he befriends his grandson Axel, in Israel to visit his sister Pia. The two men set out on a tour of the country during which, Axel challenges Eyal's values.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $4.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: A man named Billy Pilgrim tells the story of how he became unstuck in time and was abducted by aliens.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Peacock) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: An unsettling feeling overwhelms a small Hungarian town when two orthodox Jews arrive with a mysterious trunk. As residents begin to speculate on the purpose of the visit of these two strangers, order starts to crumble in town with some pursuing devious plans and others finding remorse in their hearts.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Vudu).

What it's about: In the early days of World War II, a German U-boat is sunk in Canada's Hudson Bay. Hoping to evade capture, a small band of German soldiers led by commanding officer Lieutenant Hirth attempts to cross the border into the United States, which has not yet entered the war and is officially neutral. Along the way, the German soldiers encounter brave men such as a French-Canadian fur trapper, Johnnie, a leader of a Hutterite farming community, Peter, an author, Philip and a soldier, Andy Brock.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (The Criterion Channel & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A feature documentary about the people and the planes that helped win World War War II. Through people personally connected to the events, the film investigates the story of how the Spitfire, its stable-mate, the Hawker Hurricane and its great adversary, the Messerschmitt 109 came into being during the huge advances in aviation in the interwar period—and then how the pilots fared in combat, three miles up in the skies over Europe, Africa and Asia.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Plex), stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Belle and Sebastian is set high in the snowy Alps during the Second World War. The resourceful Sebastian is a lonely boy who tames and befriends a giant, wild mountain dog, Belle – even though the villagers believe her to be ‘the beast’ that has been killing their sheep.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Prime Video).

What it's about: Based on a real-life story, this drama focuses on a small group of Allied soldiers in Burma who are held captive by the Japanese. Capt. Ernest Gordon (Ciaran McMenamin), Lt. Jim Reardon (Kiefer Sutherland) and Maj. Ian Campbell (Robert Carlyle) are among the military officers kept imprisoned and routinely beaten and deprived of food. While Campbell wants to rebel and attempt an escape, Gordon tries to take a more stoic approach, an attitude that proves to be surprisingly resonant.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Peacock), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 2 services (Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: During an unfortunate series of events, a friend of Kung Fury is assassinated by the most dangerous kung fu master criminal of all time, Adolf Hitler, a.k.a Kung Führer. Kung Fury decides to travel back in time to Nazi Germany in order to kill Hitler and end the Nazi empire once and for all.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (YouTube) & rent or buy from $4.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: In 1948, a group of World War II pilots volunteered to fight for Israel in the War of Independence.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Plex), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hulu & Hoopla) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Yael Hersonski's powerful documentary achieves a remarkable feat through its penetrating look at another film-the now-infamous Nazi-produced film about the Warsaw Ghetto. Discovered after the war, the unfinished work, with no soundtrack, quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record, despite its elaborate propagandistic construction. The later discovery of a long-missing reel complicated earlier readings, showing the manipulations of camera crews in these "everyday" scenes. Well-heeled Jews attending elegant dinners and theatricals (while callously stepping over the dead bodies of compatriots) now appeared as unwilling, but complicit, actors, alternately fearful and in denial of their looming fate.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Fandor, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: This war drama depicts the U.S. and Japanese forces in the naval Battle of Midway, which became a turning point for Americans during World War II.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Peacock) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: World War II was not just the most destructive conflict in humanity, it was also the greatest theft in history: lives, families, communities, property, culture and heritage were all stolen. The story of Nazi Germany's plundering of Europe's great works of art during World War II and Allied efforts to minimize the damage.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Fandor) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: Construction workers in World War II in the Pacific are needed to build military sites, but the work is dangerous and they doubt the ability of the Navy to protect them. After a series of attacks by the Japanese, something new is tried, Construction Battalions (CBs=Seabees). The new CBs have to both build and be ready to fight.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).