BRIEF FOR INVASION

[Music] there have been many invasions the Nazis rounding up the workers of Poland for slave labor German bands blaring their way down Norwegian streets Belgian resistance lying in the dust England thrown back from the continent Storm Troopers climbing the Eiffel Tower to raise the swastika high above a captured continent the Russian people listening to the broadcast which told them that they too were on Hitler's Doom list all these nations knew there was but one hope of survival counter Invasion on December 7th 1941 America knew it too [Music] this day and this beach were the pinpoints of time and land for which Allied leaders had aimed through the long years since dunker since Pearl Harbor [Music] [Music] counter invasion was on our men were in France they had crossed a few dozen miles of water they faced hundreds of miles of land between them and Berlin they faced a campaign a prolonged and bloody campaign in which this beach head was only the first thrust the point was to make this Landing stick to reinforce these troops again and again to send our supplies out to them with the steadiness of a heartbeat here is where the story of counter Invasion begins here in the Factories at the workbenches where the tools are made the tools with which we fight a people's War the tools with which we fight a war to kill fascism the tools for counter Invasion which protect the dignity and the hope of the human race for the rest of time here is an American task force powerful proud mobilized for total Victory because each individual in it knows the vital part he plays on June 6th our fighting men approached their task with complete confidence in themselves and their supplies the faces of these paratroopers were symbolic of the attitude of each Soldier down to the last private who was beginning the perilous Journey he was a free man superbly trained brilliantly LED completely informed he entered battle thoroughly instructed in the operations [Music] [Applause] ahead he was on his way he knew where he was going and what he was to do this too the Allied leaders had planned knowing that of the millions of factors which make up counter Invasion none is more important than the morale of the individual soldier in World War I as in other Wars the individual Soldier knew little of his part in battle Beyond his own single task to advance withdraw hold his ground these at once were his commands and his information overlooked was the necessity to inform him in the meaning of any large scale strategy or tactics today this Soldier fights with new weapons one of them is his knowledge of how and why his war and its battles are fought this is military briefing here are soldiers Sailors Marines Airmen all being given every detail possible on the overall nature of each operation before they hit the beach or take the air or move across the sea our men know the plan of their mission the interlocking pattern of their attacks this is a briefing for you the American worker here on the workfront as on the battlefronts Democracy gives the lie to Hitler and his gang who consider it weakness to Enlighten the individual strength to enslave him as in military briefing where questions and answers flow freely so there are questions workers would ask in an industrial briefing how many planes will we need for the invasion how many ships will we need how many trucks will we need how many B bearings will we need how many shells how much oil how many radio tubes how much 100 octane how many bandages how many bulldozers in war there are no absolute answers where we needed tanks yesterday we need bulldozers today where we need bulldozers today we need planes tomorrow where we need planes tomorrow we need artillery for another tomorrow there is no outg guessing no out planning the fortunes of invasion the only answer to give to Americans is enough on time from General George C Marshall Chief of Staff of the United States Army a memorandum for the men and women of American production The Invasion now underway will demand the employment of men and material to an extent never before approaching in history material will play a more important part than ever the production of the tremendous quantities of ships tanks planes and other weapons of war which our armies must have this summer and fall depends on your personal individual effort the losses in equipment will be tremendous it will be expended in each bitterly contested mile our attacks can continue only so long as an uninterrupted flow of material reaches the troops you have there for a direct part in this prodigious fighting effort we must trust you to make your contribution to the battle without stin or let up signed George C Marshall Chief of Staff Allied Forces know the meaning of the word Invasion two years ago British Canadian Forces raided the F this was a bold stroke aimed to test the very Coastline we now try again and it ended with British and Canadian material L smashed and Scattered British and Canadian lives spent on the PEB Beach many months ago inspecting the Atlantic Wall Marshall RL said there will be no evasive action and no withdrawal in my theater of operations the Coast and its deeply Echelon fortifications must be defended to the last [Music] to what defenses did the Nazi soldiers rush we had no blueprints but we had more than a rough idea we had our own ways of finding out Commando raids and captured prisoners reports from secret agents hundreds of millions of aerial photographs the enemy PRI captured German news [Music] reels based on that information here is a typical stretch of invasion land a target for Liberation here are some of the defenses of the enemy our soldiers faced when they made their Landings submarine mines strung out in the water water controlled to blow up any Invasion craft which approach landmines on the beaches beyond the beaches mines everywhere thousands on thousands to tear the legs off American men blast the tracks off American Vehicles all of them covered by machine guns and automatic rifles hundreds on hundreds of these weapons on the roads in the cities in the fields the pill boxes the fox holes set at angle so their Crossfire must reach and Slaughter American men whether they're fired in fog or smoke screen during the day or night more German infernal machines in the waters off the shore obstacles Jagged steel and iron spikes and Spears designed to rip open landing craft plunge American men into the boiling Sea on the beach wire millions of yards of barbed wire hooped Tangled set to shred the bodies of American soldiers tubes releasing Torpedoes which shoot out to sea along the shore a huge concrete seaw wall hidden in recesses camouflaged the coastal guns [Music] in addition to these Monsters the giant Railway guns incredible unbelievable e [Music] smaller but nonetheless lethal guns field artillery rocket gun massive mortars their shells falling with annihilating [Music] Force the Nazis make use of every stunt known to military defense intricate systems of steep walled canals infantry Stoppers tank traps other tank obstacles roadblocks ditches barricades artificial floods in the lower parts of the land forcing troops and vehicles to bypass them only to move under the muzzle of Nazi howitzers and Cannon back from the beach a line of bunkers blockhouses Ram parts connected by Subterranean tunnels all these protecting still another bullwark of Defense the Fortified towns the windows are walled up except for slits which can seal German guns the approaches and intersections are guarded by artillery blocked by wire and overturned trolleys there are no civilians here they've been evacuated long since only Hitler's soldiers walk and wait in the haunted streets here is perhaps Hitler's most formidable defense his men the creatures of fascism The Pick of his Nazi regimens the most unyielding of his fanatics these the coastal defenses more major areas and elements of resistance reach back deep deep into the continent the enemy's armored divisions puner troops the Giant Tiger tanks a network of railroad lines and highways over which whole divisions as many as a dozen were to be moved to any part of the invasion area overnight a transportation net indispensable to the Germans but useless to the Allies for the Nazis can be depended upon to demolish every serviceable installation as they Retreat one more German weapon what is left of the lft Boer here on stretches of land like this our most desperate battle merely begins as we reach and break through one line of resistance we can expect only another and another and another Invasion can never stop if we fail to press forward relentlessly the German defenses will will turn into German offenses determined to push us back into the sea no matter what the cost in equipment no matter how long the casualty lists there is no rest in Invasion until [Music] Victory on D-Day the German Coastal defenses were hit by a naval barrage unprecedented in the history of war the Nazis Manning the fortifications and defending the towns were hit by a torrent of bombs so many and so devastating that the mine cannot conceive their quantity or effect the German skies were filled with men in white parachuting down to rip Communications attack airfields and supply lines from the rear the German railroads transporting reserves to emergency sectors were pulverized by Vengeance on the wing because of these great D-Day assaults our troops now have a foothold in Western Europe [Music] to this America has a four square answer four kinds of Power four kinds of attack the military might of Germany will be smashed and battered and conquered from the sea from the air from the land and from the production lines to the men and women of American industry whose work produced this air power General Henry H Arnold Commanding General of the Army Air Forces addresses this briefing United States Army Air Forces they now operating in all parts of the world day after day our 15 Air Forces strike deep into occupied lands and smash hard blows against our enemies for the Army Air Forces based in England and Italy The Invasion began months ago each day we send tremendous formations of bombers and Fighters over Germany and over France each night the RAF continues the job these air invasions have two objectives first to destroy the German air force second destroy the factories that Supply the ger German Army to bomb and demolish every plant which produces equipment essential to the nazzi war machine whether it is ball bearings engines rubber gasoline tanks or guns we are bombing them in the factories where planes are built we're knocking them down when they came up to fight Us in the sky and strafing and burning their planes on the ground a [Music] we will shoot the L gufa out of the sky over our Invasion armies we will keep him from building and replacing aircraft that he needs this is a job requiring great quantities of planes and [Music] equipment I don't know how many planes were going to lose but last year the E Air Force lost 1,037 bombers at least another thousand returned to English bases badly shot up requiring extensive repairs the air battles of last year were very small compared to those going on right now now and those that we will have in the [Music] future your Invasion job is to give us all the replacement of planes and equipment at Superior numbers in overwhelming numbers we have the plants and the tools and the workers the Air Force will guarantee that the German worker can build only one or two replacement aircraft for each five shut down you must guarantee that we get five planes for every five that we lose that is your job the equipment for these attacks the planes fuel engines propellers instruments ammunition Bombs all these from the production lines and high octane plants and refineries of America look at some figures for a certain number of air attacks on Germany for a certain length of time 12,000 men in the PLS 200,000 men in the ground Cruise 3,000 tons of bombs 11, 500,000 rounds of large caliber machine gun ammunition 120,000 rounds of Cannon ammunition 3, 336,000 gallons of gasoline 160,000 gall of oil the number of attacks a dozen the time a month no one attack one day all of this to be hurled at Germany in one round thee clock full scale air Invasion look at one of the planes used in this attack suppose you the individual worker were to make one Flying Fortress all by yourself it's takes 23,7 43 manh hours to turn out this one plane starting now and working on an 8 hour shift you would put the last part in place 8 and A4 years from now sometime in 1952 how long will this Fortress last an average of just 21 days in [Music] combat but for everyone which Falls a legion monks the sky bringing to German invasion defenses and to Germany herself only the counter death and counter destruction she so richly merits from the sky above to the earth below counter Invasion here at the army war college in Washington is the man who leads all American men who fight on the ground the Commanding General of the army Ground Forces Lieutenant General Leslie J mcna briefs the men and women of war production the German defenses you have seen are formidable they may even seem staggering but make no mistake the guts the toughness and the will to Victory of the American Soldier accompanied by the equipment of the American worker are more than staggering they are unbeatable invasion is going to depend on the men we throw at the enemy and the material we throw at the enemy and in the last analysis it is going to be the foot soldier who pushes his way through that Maze of Defense on The Invasion route we are using great armies of men they are using a vast amount of equipment provided by the workers back home the foot soldiers of Industry The Men Who now deliver the fury of America to the Nazis were trained in England the ground forces the foot soldiers men who once were workers and will be workers again harder than nuty concrete school to kill or be [Music] killed some of these men have fallen but for everyone who has a legion sweeps on carrying the weapons the Germans appreciate so well lead Flame Thunder the final answer will be given by American men sea and air operations accompany our attack but eventually it is the Doughboy who Springs from the landing craft cuts his way through the wire fights hand to hand with the Nazis in their barricaded cities and wipes them out on dday and the days to follow the American worker also will be there he will be the backbone of the attack he will have made the tools and the equipment which the sea will use the air will use and in the heart of the struggle the infantryman will use every time one of these infantrymen went overseas over 14,000 lb of equipment went with him now that he is on the continent over 2,000 lb of equipment a month is needed to keep him fighting if all work could be estimated in terms of weight and if you one worker turn out a 100 lb of equipment a day you are supplying just one soldier for one day multiply that Soldier by the millions of soldiers we are using in our worldwide invasions multiply the weight and the workers and the product is [Music] Victory before they go into battle our fighting men are briefed in the final and humblest of ways prayer [Music] prayer on the airfields the ships the Earth of many far away lands for them and the workers who pray with them the words of the chief of chaplain of the United States Army Brigadier General William R Arnold our soldiers are fighting far from home from their loved ones and from the churches which they used to attend but every Soldier carries within his heart a faith which under the guidance of our chaplain transforms any spot into a place of divine worship powerful though our enemies may be we are more powerful and we are fighting with weapons which they cannot match a deep Faith an unbreakable courage a free man and the faith and un self-sacrificing toil of all our war workers and above all with the help of God on H hour of dday the invasion planes flew The Invasion Fleet sailed the invasion foot soldiers landed great armies of the air the sea the land They Carried with them the armies of equipment here on the island of England bursting out of the warehouses overflowing under the broad Fields the greater States the racetracks the roads everywhere that machines and guns and supplies can be stored here on the soil of England is the work of America here is your role in Invasion here is your answer to Hitler and Ging and Geral and himler and raml and Von pen and lei and Von kitle and V braich and yodel and ribbon trop and strier and sorus and venberg and kessle ring and V ronad and Raider and hyri and Fay and stasa and Borman and tote and Rosenberg and denet and V K and quisling and laal here is the American workers's answer to all tyrants here is your role in counter Invasion here is your part in [Music] history for all war workers the words of the Commanding General of the Army service forces Lieutenant General Bron Somerville the Army is grateful to American industry and to American workers to transportation and to agriculture for their share in the arming of the nation without United effort military and civilian the old Cry of too little and too late would still be ringing in our ears your effort is a vital factor in the winning of the war the worker making nuts and bats must constantly remind himself that these are not mere nuts and bolts that he in reality is hurling High explosives at the enemy the clerk must realize that those aren't just papers she's shuffling that each paper represents a gun in a soldier's hand today we set our sights on future targets we must set them accurately in order to find the range we must measure carefully what it will will require of effort of suffering of Labor of planning of sacrifice and of unity we dare not lose our sense of urgency dare not forget that each of us is a cog in a vast machine and that individual failure may lead to failure at some vital Point far up the line let us not be deluded by the happy thought that the war is won bitter fighting lies ahead we have only dented the rim of Hitler's Fortress and touched the outskirts of tojo's Empire we haven't licked them yet we dare not slacken our efforts rather we must redouble them Victory is never cheaply bought even Victory is only a means to an end what is that end what are we fighting for why do we bury our sons and brothers lonely Graves far from home for post-war wages or post-war profits for bigger and better business for softer Comforts new ice boxes radios cars you know the answer our men are dying to preserve a way of life the little luxuries are only byproducts we're fighting for Liberty the most expensive luxury known to man it's not easily won it cannot be acquired by half measures or on half time dollars will not buy it cannot be attained without sacrifice in the year ahead we will strive for greater accomplishment we can't win the war on the assembly line or the supply line but we can lose it there the men who will win this war are the fighting men in the air and in the mud these are the men we serve they will Triumph in the end it's our sacred Duty and our high privilege to serve no matter what we give no matter how we labor we cannot approach their sacrifice their Valor is a blazing torch to light our way [Music]