Second World War : D-Day (1962)

[Music] London spring 1944 2 million soldiers of the Allied Nations wait on the eve of a great battle wait for the command of one man who is to make a crucial decision which will alter the course of world history the man is General Dwight D Eisenhower the decision dday see [Music] at Teran in November 1943 the most important political meeting since the veride treaty brings together Stalin Roosevelt and Churchill for the first time since the start of World War II their Prime objective is to set a date for the invasion of Nazi held Western Europe there is however a clash of opinions on strategy Stalin demands an invasion through France to relieve pressure on the Russian front Churchill argues instead for strengthening and extending the present campaign in the Mediterranean Roosevelt settles the debate by voting for The Invasion through France the first week of May 1944 is set as the target date a week later in Tunis North Africa Rosevelt designates General Dwight Eisenhower supreme commander of the new Allied expeditionary Force Eisen power's orders are simple and direct you will enter the continent of Europe and undertake operations aimed at the heart of Germany and the destruction of her armed [Music] forces that same month in Berlin Adolf Hitler summons Field Marshal Irwin rumel the legendary desert fox to prepare German defenses against the expected Allied invasion ruml will be the field commander but on the day of the invasion Hitler intend to direct the strategy against the Allies [Applause] himself Ronald's first mission for Hitler is to inspect the Atlantic Wall the highly publicized line of defense fortifications along the coast of Western Europe he is appalled by what he sees the defenses are shockingly inadequate and in many places non-existent he calls the wall a gigantic fake a paper hoop for the Allies to jump through Rumble warns that if the Allies are not stopped at the water's edge during the first 24 hours of battle the war will be lost roml convinces Hitler the beaches will be the main line of resistance and that the Atlantic Wall must be reinforced in a furious Race Against Time the invasion might come at any point on the 3,000 miles of Coastline from Norway to Spain but Hitler knows that the most likely invasion points are in France one in Normandy close to sherberg in laav the other at Cal only 20 mi from England engineering battalions combat troops slave laborers a half million men are pressed into service to build an impregnable Atlantic Wall that will hurl the enemy back into the [Music] sea all through the spring of 1944 at Supreme head ERS in London plans proceed for Operation Overlord the secret code name for the invasion of France assisting Eisenhower are his three top Invasion commanders British Chief Air Marshal Trafford Le mallerie who will command the Air Forces Admiral Bertram Ramsey of the royal Navy who will be the naval Chief and British General Bernard Montgomery the famous Monty who defeated raml in North Africa will command the ground forces a new date is set The Invasion will take place in the first week of June Southern England now becomes a vast Arsenal the greatest in military history a massive concentration of men and machines is the subject of a joke in every British P England they say would sink into the sea if it weren't for the barrage balloons holding her up on April 30th 1944 all of Southern England is suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world the war's most important secret the time in place of D-Day must be kept from the enemy one place in England where security measures are intentionally relaxed is at General George Patton's headquarters 20 mi across the channel from Cal here at Dover the flamboyant Patton commands a mythical Army comprised of dummy tanks dummy trucks and even a mock Invasion Fleet Patton the general most feared by the Germans stages noisy highly conspicuous Maneuvers in order to make the Germans believe that the invasion will come at calal although Hitler's intuition tells him that the Allied attack may come in Normandy 100 Mil from England the reports on Patton change his mind the Allied exception has worked he is now convinced that Cala only 20 mi from England is The Invasion Target Hitler immediately orders Panzer units and infantry divisions brought up to strengthen the Cal District by June there will be more than 150,000 men ready in Cal to repel the great Allied [Music] invasion rl's first line of defense is 100,000 mines planted in the channel backed up by 4 million more buried along the beaches RL has utilized every diabolical mechanical device imaginable to block The Invasion and if the Allies get past the beaches behind the guns and behind the obstacles are the battle hardened soldiers and Panzer units of the mighty German Vermont ready to drive them back into the sea [Music] fields are flooded beyond the beach to drown paratroopers in the event of Airborne [Music] Landings Hitler however puts his ultimate faith in his newly developed secret Vengeance weapons the V1 robot bomb and the V2 supersonic rocket he hopes he can perfect and launch enough of these in time if so he is confident he can destroy any Allied invasion Force early in May Eisenhower and his commanders finalized the major Invasion plans provided the weather is right June 5th 6th or 7th will be D-Day only on those days in June will conditions be ideal for Invasion a full moon to light the way for the airborn troops and a low morning tide for the landing operations primary objective of the invasion is to secure a beach head in Normandy then capture the port of sherberg in the first hours of D-Day paratroopers will drop behind Coastal defenses to isolate the beaches meanwhile 5,000 ships carrying the main assault forces will rendevu in mid channel to await H hour at 6:30 a.m. small landing craft will take the troops to the five Invasion beaches the Americans will land at Utah and Omaha the British and Canadians at Gold Juno and [Music] sword phase one begins the Air Force bombs enemy roads Railways and airfields by D-Day only about 200 German planes are left in the west all transportation is virtually at a standstill and the loofer is in is incapable of giving any air support it is June 3rd now the spring is coiled the weather is good the men are ready dday will be June 5th Eisenhower gives the command to go for the men the waiting is over the march to the sea begins [Music] the first ships are on their way to the rendevu in the channel when they are hit by unexpected storms weather the one element beyond the control of the Allied High command threatens the success of the invasion tiny landing craft would be swamped by The Heavy [Music] Seas Ike refuses to risk disaster and postpones D-Day for at least 24 hours the advanced convoys of the fleet already on route to Invasion are ordered [Music] back German weather stations track the storm and their forecasters make the same prediction as the Allied meteorologists the worst storm in 20 years is approaching the English Channel and the weather will continue bad for at least a week l into a sense of security the German Navy cancels mine laying operations and its nightly ebo patrols all planes are grounded raml estimates that an Allied invasion is not possible during the next 2 weeks exhausted from overwork he decides to go home to Germany for a few days rest besides Tuesday June 6th will be his wife's birthday in England at the embarcation ports the Allied Forces are confined to their ships as the men wait Eisen hour faces another tortured decision if the bad weather continues The Invasion will have to be put off until June 19th when the tides will be right again and if he does postpone how can he keep the invasion Secrets locked up among a quarter of a million men how will the long delay affect their morale [Music] the storm at sea now moves Inland striking Southern England with its full Fury the situation looks more hopeless than ever the Allied weather stations report from far out in the North Atlantic from Greenland from places where German meteorologists cannot get information they predict the possibility that the storm front May lift for a 24-hour period on Tuesday June 6th and the news is relayed to Eisenhower's headquarters now at an Old English mansion near The Invasion Harbor of Portsmouth a dramatic conference takes place Eisenhower and his commanders meet to consider whether they should launch The Invasion on Tuesday the opinions are divided some doubtful some yes but the final word the Fateful decision must come from Eisenhower there is a moment of silence then he says okay let's go dday will be Tuesday June 6th from penth and Dartmouth from spithead and Falmouth from brixen and Yarmouth from T Bay and Portsmouth they come battleships mine sweepers destroyers rocket barges tugboats and landing craft 5,000 vessels in all the greatest Invasion Armada in the history of man meanwhile at Hitler's luxurious Mountain retreat at berus Garden the furer enjoys a peaceful day with his mistress Eva Brown he will hold two military conferences with his staff and spend the late hours of the evening listening to Vagner along the Atlantic Wall there's nothing unusual to report all is Quiet on the Western [Music] Front The Airborne phase of Operation Overlord begins from a dozen British airfields on the night of June 5th a th000 planes will take off for France before midnight they will carry 18,000 parot Troopers 5 hours before the Seaborn invasions this Advanced Army of paratroopers will drop behind the Atlantic Wall to soften the enemy defenses and block off reinforcements [Music] [Music] Ike watches the last of the Airborne pass over the long weary months of planning and preparation are over it is reported that there are tears in his eyes it is now 12:01 a.m. June 6th [Music] D-Day in the English Channel the fleet slowly approaches France the Navy has already cleared path through rumble's minefields for the men aboard the transports and the men flying overhead this day will be one they will always remember but for some it will be their last day on Earth the first Invaders to touch French soil are the Pathfinders their mission is to light the Drop Zones for the airborne troops to follow an hour later the main force of the paratroopers arrives over France the Germans sound the alarm [Music] clouds and heavy anti-aircraft fire throw the planes off course and paratroopers are Dro miles from scheduled zones some land in the ocean and the rivers are in the fields raml is flooded and drowned under the weight of 70 lb of equipment widely separated men meet only light resistance from the confused German troops everything is quiet on the beaches of Normandy in spite of paratroop Landings behind the beaches German headquarters regard the action as merely diversionary they still believe the invasion will come at [Music] Cal 12 mil out the Allied Fleet transfers the men to small landing craft it is no longer the war of generals and admirals it is now the war of the men [Music] [Applause] the beach commanders call for reinforcements two crack armored units under Hitler's control are only 100 miles away but General yudel Hitler's chief of operations refuses to disturb the fur the tank divisions he says are being saved for the main Landings at Cal meanwhile He suggests they clean up the minor operation at Normandy with the forces at hand it's now 10 minutes to 6 as the first waves of men head for the shore the Navy's giant guns begin to open fire on rl's Coastal batteries and Beach imp placement the ships knock out 50% of the German defenses at the same time Air Force bombers sweep across the channel to Aid the Navy in destroying the German Beach fortifications but the sky is overcast in order to avoid the risk of hitting the approaching landing craft the bombardiers are ordered to delay their releases for several seconds because of this the bombs fall from 300 yard to 3 Mi back from the coast and so the first wave of men Rush toward Omaha Beach unaware that rl's Atlantic Wall still bristles with deadly Firepower these Veterans of other successful Landings feel that luck is on their side they believe the Air Force and the Navy have spread a carpet for them to walk in on they'll be across this beach and on their way Inland by lunch [Music] Omaha Beach D-Day go [Music] [Music] Omaha Beach is a disaster in the confused nightmare of sudden death the few survivors are pinned up against the cliffs by a shower of enemy Crossfire bewildered by Landings on the wrong beaches and shocked by the suffering and death around them the men on Bloody Omaha desperately begin to regroup frantic calls for fire support are sent to destroyers lying [Music] offshore finally the beach is secured and succeeding waves of men pour onto Omaha commanders who were ready to write off Omaha as a total failure now say the Victory is a miracle at the British beaches of gold and Juno the first waves meet heavy resistance but within ours the beaches are secure at Utah Beach at sword Beach the Allies break through light opposition and by noon the entire Invasion force is moving forward Inland they advance to link up with the Airborne forces still fighting in the [Music] interior the Germans desperately try to Halt further advances hoping to prevent consolidation of the various Allied assault forces for the Germans the battle is not yet lost [Music] the German general staff now recognizes the extreme danger of the situation the two crack paner divisions assigned to Cal by Hitler must be rushed to Normandy immediately A desperate call is put into the fur although far removed from the battle Hitler will not allow his generals to dictate strategy to him he orders his aids to inform Ranstead that the situation at Normandy does not require the transfer of the two Panzer divisions he is saving them along with his entire 15th Army for Cal where he feels the real invasion is sure to come he then retires to take a nap ruml the one man who might persuade him to change his mind is in a car racing back to the front and so while Hitler sleeps at vector's Garden his fatal blunder prevents an immediate major Counterattack it allows the Allies to land more men and Supplies on the hard one shores of Normandy ruml had warned that if the Allies were not stopped at the water's edge during the first 24 hours of battle the war would be lost before this day is over the Allies will plunge 10 miles Inland they will capture and hold a score of villages and small towns in Normandy for the oppressed people of Europe D-Day the 6th of June marks the beginning of their liberation [Music]