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The True Glory 1945
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00:00:00I have been asked to be the spokesman for this Allied Expeditionary Force in saying a word of introduction to what you are about to see.
00:00:26It is a story of the Nazi defeat on the Western Front. So far as possible, the editors have made it an account of the really important men in this campaign. I mean the enlisted soldiers, sailors, and airmen that fought through every obstacle to victory.
00:00:44Of course to tell the whole story would take years, but the theme would be the same. Teamwork wins wars. I mean teamwork among nations, services, and men.
00:00:58All the way down the line, from the G.I. and the Tommy to us brass hats. Our enemy in this campaign was strong, resourceful, and cunning. But he made a few mistakes.
00:01:12His greatest blunder was this. He thought he could break up our partnership. But we were welded together by fighting for one great cause. Into one great team. A team in which you were an indispensable and working member.
00:01:29That spirit of free people working, fighting, and living together in one great cause has served us well on the Western Front. We in the field pray that that spirit of comradeship will persist forever among the free peoples of the United Nations.
00:01:47The End
00:02:14To you who now, living in love and hope,
00:02:23who sense a future in the surrounding air,
00:02:25this testament is offered.
00:02:28Here you may look on the violent fragments of our age
00:02:30and the once thinness of the little thread
00:02:33that made us then the citizens of freedom.
00:02:36For dark was Europe and the face of man when this begins.
00:02:40The nation had gone mad
00:02:42and struck out everywhere the compass knew.
00:02:44The ebb tide of our honor fell away
00:02:46and left its wreckage on a hundred coasts.
00:02:49The German cast his fires about the globe.
00:02:51His strength, drawn from the smoking tsar and ruhr,
00:02:55lay in our weakness.
00:02:56And at last his conquests
00:02:58smoldered behind the barriers of his arms.
00:03:01Along the channel where the sea strikes France
00:03:04stood the west wall of concrete, stone and steel
00:03:07to mock the frail hopes of the petty free.
00:03:09Wounded, hard-pressed and wasted on our strength,
00:03:14almost like madmen then,
00:03:15we planned to breach the wall and smash the German spine.
00:03:20But where?
00:03:21We searched the coast of Europe like fierce eagles.
00:03:24Between low flushing and deep harbored Cherbourg,
00:03:27our eyes sought out the place of the assault.
00:03:30Exits and tidal range marked shallow flushing off,
00:03:33sand and the wind cancelled the Belgian coast,
00:03:36the North Seine beaches were too small
00:03:38and cliffs barred the approaches.
00:03:41Cote-en-Tin, too narrow.
00:03:42The Pas-de-Calais, heavily defended.
00:03:45It all resolved on Normandy, on Coe.
00:03:49Their planes could land upon the carpet ground,
00:03:51the coast defenses were more light
00:03:53and tides had a good range
00:03:55and men were safe from winds.
00:03:57So, on five miles of still unblooded sand,
00:04:01the fretful course of fate would be assailed by armored nations.
00:04:05Now our people bent to the construction of a steel array
00:04:08and took the builder's hammer in their hands.
00:04:11It seemed almost as though the sun stood still
00:04:14till our free peoples, full of rage and power,
00:04:17heaved through the air the plunderous spear of war.
00:04:19This is our people's story, in their words.
00:04:24I suppose, if the Battle of the North Atlantic
00:04:42hadn't gone right,
00:04:44things might have been considerably different.
00:04:48That was an ugly time for all of us.
00:04:50Merchant ships, naval escort, air patrol.
00:04:54I guess I had my share of bad luck.
00:04:57I lost three ships
00:04:58and some good friends.
00:05:15I remember reading somewhere
00:05:16that when a seagull comes down on a patch of oil,
00:05:19its feathers stick together
00:05:20and it can't get off the water again.
00:05:22There must have been a lot of dead seagulls
00:05:25around the North Atlantic.
00:05:28Of course, we only saw it happening on the wall map
00:05:30and yet it was, well, quite real.
00:05:34When I started there,
00:05:35those markers we used reminded me of toys
00:05:37out of some children's game.
00:05:39But soon they became U-boats
00:05:40and ships carrying cargoes,
00:05:42food and supplies and weapons
00:05:44and men to use them.
00:05:46I remember coming over,
00:05:52the worst thing about the trip was
00:05:53you didn't know where you were going.
00:05:55Wherever it was, you'd be a stranger
00:05:56and nobody likes that.
00:05:59That ship was loaded from stem to stern
00:06:01with sad sex.
00:06:03Around the third day out,
00:06:04things got pally,
00:06:05like the fella said
00:06:06we're all in the same boat.
00:06:07A comic.
00:06:11Finally, we got to Liverpool.
00:06:13They had a band to play us in,
00:06:15an English army band full of chimes.
00:06:17I'm dreaming of a white Christmas they play.
00:06:20To tell you the truth,
00:06:21it was pretty corny.
00:06:22But nobody said anything
00:06:23because, well, you know,
00:06:25it was a nice gesture.
00:06:26Funny thing.
00:06:31On the way over,
00:06:31you felt like you were the whole works.
00:06:33You couldn't help it.
00:06:35But then,
00:06:36all over the UK,
00:06:37you'd see things
00:06:38that made you begin to realize
00:06:39you were just part of a
00:06:40big proposition.
00:06:42All kinds of things.
00:06:56All kinds of things.
00:07:26I was a pre-med student
00:07:40at Johns Hopkins
00:07:42in civilian life.
00:07:43Now, I do know
00:07:44a little something
00:07:45about anatomy.
00:07:47And I say
00:07:47it is scientifically impossible
00:07:49for the human body
00:07:50to stand up
00:07:50to the training we receive.
00:07:52An absolute impossibility.
00:07:54Muscles and tendons
00:07:55and bone structure
00:07:56was not designed
00:07:58to withstand that battery.
00:07:59Don't ask me
00:08:00how it happens
00:08:00that we did stand up to it.
00:08:02I don't know.
00:08:03It has no scientific explanation.
00:08:08Here, listen to this.
00:08:10Out of one of them army pamphlets.
00:08:12To a young man.
00:08:15Soldier in the army of today
00:08:17offers exceptional advantages
00:08:19and opportunities
00:08:20such as physical training,
00:08:23foreign travel,
00:08:24sport,
00:08:25and many other facilities
00:08:27which are normally denied
00:08:28to those engaged
00:08:30in the majority
00:08:30of civilian occupations.
00:08:33The majority of occupations
00:08:35in civil life
00:08:36become monotonous,
00:08:37to say the least.
00:08:38But in the army
00:08:39life is so varied
00:08:41that there is little
00:08:42or no prospect
00:08:43of a monotonous
00:08:45or irksome time.
00:08:48So men were girded
00:08:50for their highest hour.
00:08:51And while they learned
00:08:52the lethal arts of war
00:08:53in small and secret rooms,
00:08:55the planners met
00:08:56to watch their work mature.
00:08:59Beyond our view,
00:09:00the German proud and confident
00:09:02stood calm
00:09:03in deep emplacements
00:09:04on the armoured coast.
00:09:05The war was not yet
00:09:07one of men and blood.
00:09:09The weapons were
00:09:09the factories
00:09:10and the maps
00:09:11and voices speaking
00:09:12in the hidden night.
00:09:14Season by season
00:09:14all our plans advanced.
00:09:16And those few men
00:09:17on whom the mass of war
00:09:18rested with all its weight
00:09:20worked ceaselessly.
00:09:23I used to wonder
00:09:24whether the millions of people
00:09:25doing their various jobs
00:09:27realised they were part of it all,
00:09:29paving the way
00:09:29for the invasion.
00:09:30We kept bashing away
00:09:34at German targets,
00:09:36mostly steel and oil.
00:09:37Brewer, Hamburg,
00:09:39Battle of Berlin.
00:09:40Things were getting tougher
00:09:41every trip.
00:09:42More ground defences,
00:09:43more night fighters,
00:09:44more crews not coming back.
00:09:45We got away early
00:09:55in the morning.
00:09:56Sometimes we'd see
00:09:57Lancasters coming back.
00:09:59A lot of times
00:09:59we'd stoke up
00:10:00the same target
00:10:01as they did.
00:10:02We'd beat up
00:10:03aircraft factories too.
00:10:04It was a deluxe service,
00:10:05day and night,
00:10:0624 hours a day.
00:10:09We dropped agents
00:10:10over France.
00:10:12Must be awful
00:10:12to risk your neck
00:10:13and have to keep it secret.
00:10:14One-man submarines,
00:10:17torpedo boats,
00:10:17commandos.
00:10:18We used them all
00:10:19to bring back cups
00:10:19full of sand
00:10:20from the beaches
00:10:20for analysis.
00:10:21It had to be quick drying
00:10:22with a solid clay foundation.
00:10:24It would have to support
00:10:2530-ton tanks.
00:10:26I must have photographed
00:10:27nearly every field in France.
00:10:28Real job, of course,
00:10:29was the car area,
00:10:30but I didn't know that,
00:10:31nor did Jerry.
00:10:32We dropped stuff
00:10:32to the Mackie,
00:10:33arms, ammunition,
00:10:34sabotage materials
00:10:35and so on.
00:10:36Then went over ourselves
00:10:37and taught them
00:10:38how to use it.
00:10:38We felt it to specification,
00:10:40but we had not the least idea
00:10:41of what kind of a gadget it was.
00:10:43The only name it had
00:10:44was Mulberry.
00:10:45It was vital to know
00:10:46all about the same bay
00:10:47and the tides.
00:10:48And we trained the men
00:10:48to negotiate those tides
00:10:49and landing craft.
00:10:50Wearing down German sea power
00:10:52in preparation for the day.
00:10:53A special study of the weather
00:10:54along the Normandy coast.
00:10:56Miles of wire netting
00:10:57for the beaches.
00:10:587,200 tons of petrol per day.
00:11:00With an underwater pipeline
00:11:01to carry it to France,
00:11:03a white star
00:11:03is the emblem of liberation.
00:11:05Triple inoculation
00:11:06for all personnel.
00:11:07New ships pouring
00:11:08from the stocks.
00:11:09Old ships adapted.
00:11:10Listening to the German radio output
00:11:12for fresh intelligence.
00:11:14That was just part
00:11:15of the pre-invasion work.
00:11:16By December 43,
00:11:17the plan itself was set
00:11:18and we took it to Tehran
00:11:19for final discussion.
00:11:20The three leaders
00:11:21approved the plan.
00:11:23Our Russian forces
00:11:24advancing from the east
00:11:25and invasion from the west.
00:11:28And then the date was set.
00:11:39I assumed command at Schaaf
00:11:41with the best all-round team
00:11:43for which a man could ask.
00:11:45Some had already been working
00:11:47for months in England.
00:11:48Others I brought with me
00:11:50from the Mediterranean.
00:11:51We adopted first a master plan
00:11:54and then had to coordinate
00:11:56every last detail
00:11:57of the ground,
00:11:59sea, and airplanes.
00:12:01While this was going on,
00:12:02we led off with an air show
00:12:04designed to make
00:12:05the landing points
00:12:06as soft as possible
00:12:07to batter the German communications
00:12:09and to make certain
00:12:11we'd have control of the air.
00:12:13It was quite a show.
00:12:15Those airmen did
00:12:16a magnificent job.
00:12:17We had Polish, French, Czechs,
00:12:27all sorts in our outfit.
00:12:28They'd natter away in the mess
00:12:29about what they'd been up to.
00:12:30The only word you could ever
00:12:31make out was marshaling yards.
00:12:34Us bombardiers seemed to do nothing
00:12:35but look down on French bridges
00:12:36those days.
00:12:37We used to ask each other,
00:12:38have you cut any good bridges lately?
00:12:40Well, finally,
00:12:40there was only one whole railway bridge
00:12:42left over the same
00:12:43between Paris and the sea.
00:12:44Down in the late spring,
00:12:50through the wounded towns of England
00:12:52moved the mass made by our patients.
00:12:54Two precious years of plans
00:12:56were put away.
00:12:57The offices were empty.
00:12:58All the maps were rolled up
00:12:59on the walls.
00:13:00What had been paper
00:13:01at last had come alive.
00:13:03Across the channel,
00:13:04aware of our resolve,
00:13:05with cold contempt,
00:13:06alerted Germans stood beside their guns
00:13:08and reinforcements rumbled
00:13:10from the Rhine.
00:13:11Their generals were prepared,
00:13:12their might was poised.
00:13:14They looked across the heaving sea
00:13:16and grinned.
00:13:17They would reap harvest of us
00:13:18on the beaches
00:13:19and even death himself
00:13:21would stand amazed.
00:13:23Yet faint across the groaning
00:13:24of the sea
00:13:25came the thin thunder
00:13:26of a mass of power.
00:13:28Drawn from the great free peoples
00:13:29of the earth,
00:13:30it gathered in the ancient ports
00:13:31of England
00:13:32to crowd upon the steel-encumbered ships.
00:13:34The
00:13:58power of the sea
00:14:00It was a funny sort of feeling marching down to the ships.
00:14:28We'd done it plenty of times before, of course, on schemes and that kind of thing.
00:14:32They didn't tell us this was the big show.
00:14:35Might have been just another exercise.
00:14:37Some of the chaps cracked gags.
00:14:39They wasn't very comic, but we laughed.
00:14:41I think we all guessed.
00:14:43The general feeling was, okay, if this is it, let's get in there and get it over with.
00:14:48Waiting always got on my nerves.
00:14:49Even waiting for a bus, never could stand it.
00:14:52Well, after a bit, our ship found its place in the middle of all the rest of the stuff.
00:14:56And there we stayed for days.
00:14:57They gave us the final briefing then.
00:15:21We knew what to do and how.
00:15:22They told us where and when.
00:15:24That's a briefing.
00:15:26I listened to every word.
00:15:28Wrote it down in my head like a record and it kept playing over and over again.
00:15:32A piece of beach in the morning.
00:15:35Ever since I became a soldier, they were getting me ready for this.
00:15:38Before, there had been time in front of me, protecting me.
00:15:43Now the time had worn away and there were only a few hours left.
00:15:48In the morning, I'd have to face it.
00:15:51I tried to imagine how much fear I would have.
00:15:54You know, if it would keep me from doing my job.
00:15:57I suppose everybody else was wondering the same thing.
00:15:59Nobody said anything official, but all of a sudden the ship got much busier.
00:16:21And over the amplifier, the chaplain said he'd be saying mass at 1830 hours.
00:16:28Funny, I don't think I ever believed, even after the final briefing, that the invasion was going to come off.
00:16:33Then a voice in the loudspeaker said,
00:16:35Men who wish to take their anti-sea-sick pills should take the first one now.
00:16:40That did it.
00:16:41The air is going to come off.
00:17:11THE END
00:17:41THE END
00:18:11I was tugging a glider the way we always practiced it, except that I've never been in the air with a whole army before.
00:18:34Three airborne divisions, the 6th British, the 82nd and the 101st American.
00:18:40Just before the glider pilot cast off over the landing zone, I wished good luck over the radio.
00:18:47It seemed a sort of inadequate thing to say.
00:18:49As Supreme Commander, let me break in at this point to say just a word about the Navy.
00:18:58From the moment of embarkation to that of landing, the full burden fell upon the Navy and our merchant fleets.
00:19:04They had to sweep the mines, bombard the coastal batteries, marshal and protect the transports along the coastline preparatory to landing,
00:19:14and, finally, man the small boats that carried the soldiers to the beach.
00:19:18On that day, there were more than 8,000 ships and landing craft on the shores of Normandy.
00:19:25It was a most intricate task and a vital one for the success of our plans.
00:19:29The courage, fidelity and skill of the Royal and American Navies have no brighter page in their histories than that of June 6, 1944.
00:19:40The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:10The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:11The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:12The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:13The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:14The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:15The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:16The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:17The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:18The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:19The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:20The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:21The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:22The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:23The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:24The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:25The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:26The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:27The courage, fidelity and skill of the sea.
00:20:28The End
00:20:58The End
00:21:28Back in London, only a few people knew.
00:21:55It was a well-kept secret.
00:21:57Around daybreak, we correspondents were called and told to be at the Ministry of Information
00:22:01at eight.
00:22:02Then they told us.
00:22:03They called our beach all night.
00:22:08They called our beach Omaha.
00:22:17They called our beach Omaha.
00:22:33Don't ask me why.
00:22:36I've never been to Omaha, the one in Nebraska, I mean.
00:22:39It's anything like Omaha, France.
00:22:41You can have it.
00:22:42I understand Omaha was the roughest spot.
00:22:44We lost some good men, took a few prisoners.
00:22:50It was a lousy trade.
00:22:52We've been told what to expect, so it wasn't like a surprise or anything.
00:22:56It's just, well, when it really happens, it's different.
00:23:00For a while there, we were pinned down.
00:23:04But lucky thing, the other beaches were going better, so we got a little more than our share
00:23:08of the old teamwork.
00:23:09Maybe come in, the air guys, and finally we got moving good.
00:23:13Now, you hear a lot about how long it takes to make battle-hardened soldiers out of green
00:23:19troops.
00:23:20Listen, I got to be a veteran in one day.
00:23:23That day.
00:23:27And so they paved the beaches with their blood and lurched across the dunes and reached the
00:23:31roads.
00:23:32The German parried fiercely.
00:23:34In the depths of rich green past in Normandy, the three airborne divisions, first of all to
00:23:38land, fought lion-like against most grievous odds.
00:23:40And loud across the cratered face of France came German reinforcements.
00:23:45From Berlin, a voice cried out, the Allies must be hurled into the sea before another
00:23:49day had burned its hole in history.
00:23:51Locked in battle, the armies clashed.
00:23:54Our first objective, then, was to merge all the beachheads into one and 50 miles of men
00:23:59drive on together beyond the red sands through the broken wall.
00:24:10Where I was, it wasn't too bad getting ashore.
00:24:14After that, it started.
00:24:15We had to fight for every bloody field.
00:24:18It was the same each time.
00:24:19You'd crawl on your belly, keeping your backside down like you'd been told, chuck in a few
00:24:25hand grenades, then rush them.
00:24:27Sometimes they killed us, but we were killing more of them.
00:24:30The trickiest part was the farms.
00:24:33They were regular little jerry fortresses.
00:24:35If we couldn't manage them on our own, then we'd have to wait while the company commander
00:24:39called back for artillery support.
00:24:41The Navy was still with us, too, chucking in shells ahead of us.
00:24:46In three days, we advanced seven miles.
00:24:49Then we were told to stand fast and dig in.
00:24:52Next morning, we heard the news.
00:24:54We got it from the BBC.
00:24:55It sounded great.
00:24:57We'd joined up all along the bridgehead.
00:24:59There was a solid line, 45 miles of it.
00:25:02We'd got a foothold.
00:25:04We were in.
00:25:23We didn't have to do much navigating to get there.
00:25:25You just followed the convoys.
00:25:27I was doing close support.
00:25:30We waited around, and then the ground troops would whistle us out and told us about some
00:25:34hand target they wanted removed, and then in we'd go.
00:25:39We were like taxis on a cab ring.
00:25:41There's something nice about a beach, any beach.
00:25:55You think of a beach, and chances are I'll remember something nice.
00:25:58Like a party or a picnic.
00:26:01Pals from the old days.
00:26:02Girls in bathing suits.
00:26:03But the one I worked, Utah, looked more like a freight yard once we got going.
00:26:09For quite a while, we brought more supplies right over the open beach.
00:26:12Like we'd practiced it, and like we'd made up as we went along.
00:26:16We worked a 24-hour shift.
00:26:18Ducks, lights, rats, rowboats, all sorts of Rube Goldbergs.
00:26:21The stuff just kept pouring in.
00:26:24Tanks, trucks, food, ammo, guys, millions of things.
00:26:28We didn't think we'd spend 15 days in the same field outside Kong, with the wood behind
00:26:39us, and the germs in another wood half a mile in front of us, and a little empty valley
00:26:43in between.
00:26:45Each side mortering each other all the time.
00:26:49Just, man, you had to live in a slit trench, and you got into a routine.
00:26:53You know, stand through from half past four to half past five, and two hours wait for
00:26:59breakfast.
00:27:01Came up fairly hot.
00:27:04Tin bait and sausage, tea, and of course, biscuits.
00:27:09We'd been living on compo food since D-Day.
00:27:13It was good food, but, well, you know, you got tired of it.
00:27:18I'd have given a lot for a slice of fresh bread and butter, or a cup of fresh tea.
00:27:23Fifteen days is a long time to stay in one place and be mortified.
00:27:27You get so you think everyone's coming straight for you.
00:27:29I can remember every case we ever had, especially the first one.
00:27:55The ambulance brought him in late one afternoon.
00:28:00I came over to where he was lying, and he looked up and grinned.
00:28:04I asked him how he felt.
00:28:06He said something about the German with a machine pistol using him for a dartboard.
00:28:11He was quiet and patient and a little bewildered.
00:28:15He'd never been hurt before.
00:28:17He asked how the fighting was going, and then he passed out.
00:28:21The doctor came over and looked at his wounds and then swore.
00:28:25He said he had no business to be alive.
00:28:27We put him on the operating table and did what we could.
00:28:32The doctor kept swearing all the time he was operating.
00:28:35We couldn't stop the bleeding.
00:28:38I remember the radio news that night.
00:28:40They said the casualties had been surprisingly light.
00:28:43They said the whole thing was dear old Winston's idea.
00:28:57A collapsible, prefabricated harbour with everything on it except a naffy.
00:29:01Well, I wouldn't put it past him.
00:29:03It's the sort of idea he would have.
00:29:04Worked in the end.
00:29:06Mulberry, they called it.
00:29:08Well, I felt pretty good about it because I'd watched it grow
00:29:11right from the sinking of the first ships for the outer breakwater.
00:29:14And further along to the west, the Yanks had brought one over too.
00:29:19Then on D plus 13, I think it was, an onshore wind started up.
00:29:25Not much at first, but it got worse.
00:29:28Unloading onto the open beaches got very tricky.
00:29:31We heard that over on the Yanks section,
00:29:33the other harbour had been put right out of action.
00:29:36And when the wind dropped,
00:29:38old Mulberry looked pretty sick.
00:29:40And up to that time, it was the only bleeding harbour we had.
00:29:47At the green tip of Normandy, the town of Cherbourg made
00:29:50a harbour for supplies.
00:29:52Our need for ports was vital as our breath.
00:29:54The German knew our lack
00:29:55and swiftly drew his forces into tight defensive groups
00:29:58so to contest the issue.
00:30:00All our plans turned upon Cherbourg.
00:30:02All our strategy waited upon its empty docks and piers.
00:30:05So the Americans, sent all across Normandy to the coast,
00:30:08swung toward the north, impatient for the port.
00:30:11Through hedge and field, they carved their heavy way.
00:30:14You remember back now, when it seems like we took Cherbourg a couple of days after we hit the beach.
00:30:36Actually, it took 19 days to cover 30 miles.
00:30:3930 miles and about 92,000 hedgerows and a battle at every hedgerow.
00:30:44Otherwise, it was nice country, like Connecticut.
00:30:47Pretty trees and orchards, lots of cows and nice little farmhouses.
00:30:50The apples were too green to eat, I remember.
00:30:53We hit it off fine with the people.
00:30:55Farmers, nice people.
00:30:58It got tougher when we pulled up on the outskirts of Cherbourg.
00:31:00They had great defences.
00:31:02And the artillery really carried the ball.
00:31:04For three days, we sucked it to them.
00:31:06Sometimes, we were pouring in at point-blank range over open sites.
00:31:11Finally, old von Schlieben, the German commander, tossed in the sponge.
00:31:17That's after telling his men to fight to the dead.
00:31:19We took Cherbourg on June 25th.
00:31:23Everything was rosy except the harbor we come from.
00:31:26The Jerry's had really smeared that harbor.
00:31:29But right away, our guys went to work cleaning it up.
00:31:32And the way they tore into it, you could see that pretty soon it would be working for us fine.
00:31:37Then, well, we fought our way up the peninsula.
00:31:41Now, we'd have to fight our way out of it.
00:31:43And everywhere inside France, we men of the Maquis were fighting, too.
00:31:53I was in the north myself.
00:31:55We cut telephone and telegraph and high-tension lines.
00:31:59And eventually, when the Allies landed, we fought in the open.
00:32:03In the Savoie Mountains, our friends held up German convoyes.
00:32:07Well, it was a little easier in the mountains.
00:32:10But, Bosch reinforcements were delayed for many days.
00:32:13Factories and bridges would frequently disappear.
00:32:18But, the price we paid for it was frightful.
00:32:22In the village of Oradour alone, the Germans slaughtered 1,100 out of the 1,200 population.
00:32:31And the place was completely burned.
00:32:34They were accused to have ambushed German troops.
00:32:37Every house was destroyed.
00:32:40Women and children died in flames in the church where they had been locked.
00:32:45Yes, the price we paid was very great.
00:32:49But, our job was done.
00:32:56Cor is a town through which the easy on ripples its slow way to the waiting sea, capital of Normandy.
00:33:01And, here, the British struck a stone wall of Germans.
00:33:05This was no Cherbourg advance, a knife thrust through the fields.
00:33:09But, rather, was the grinding of a drill, inch by inch forward.
00:33:13Here it was, the German feared a quick breakthrough to the River Seine.
00:33:16And, here it was, he massed his army's best.
00:33:17Ten of the twelve divisions of his armor.
00:33:20Paratroops, SS men, the young, the cruel, against the veterans of Alamein.
00:33:25We wanted him to fight here and to hold the battered ground, because the future plans depended on him standing where he was.
00:33:32At Cor, the dust was diamonds.
00:33:34Every foot of ground was priceless, for by midmost summer, Cor was to be the pivot of the war.
00:34:04The end of the war.
00:34:05All right, let's go.
00:34:07And, here we go.
00:34:07Next, here we go.
00:34:09We'll let go.
00:34:09The end of the war.
00:34:12The end of the war.
00:34:13So, here we go.
00:34:18We'll let go.
00:34:20We'll let go.
00:34:26We'll let go.
00:34:30Conn was the first decent-sized town we had taken, but there wasn't any celebration because we knew nothing had been settled.
00:34:56Jerry was as strong as ever. One of the men said, God, are we going to have to go right across the world doing this to beat him? Because most of Conn was dust, just plain dust. I wondered what Hamilton back home in Canada would look like after a beating like that. Well, anyway, our tanks and the British started massing and moved south out of the city. We knew there was a big dew coming up.
00:35:19The show for us began south of Conn, where the Poles joined up with us. When we began moving forward, I heard a lot of the lads say, Rommel's on the run.
00:35:33Well, but I'd been at Alamin. I knew he wasn't on the run. And I was right. There was nothing lovely about the battle south of Conn. No pincer movements, no outflanking, no nothing like that. Just an hard, bitter, bloody slogging match. We had to stay there and give as good as we got, even if we couldn't give better.
00:35:52Beyond the rubble and the dust of core, the Empire troops kept up their endless pressure.
00:36:22The German did not dare to disengage, but fought with all his cunning and his strength, still unaware of what we'd planned for him. West by St. Lowe, the base of his defense, Americans were poised and bent to fire an armored arrow that would set alight the flame of freedom through the whole of France.
00:36:38But till St. Lowe was seized, the arrow waited.
00:36:52I was shot at the lake alone.
00:37:00Let's go.
00:37:30Let's go.
00:38:00Let's go.
00:38:31When I think back to the breakthrough, I don't seem to be able to remember anything but the French people.
00:38:37People beside the road, kids we couldn't stop to give candy to, FFI boys bringing in the krauts from the fields, and farm workers waving as we went by.
00:38:47It was easier to look them in the face and smile and wave back at them when you hadn't had to smash their homes to pieces first.
00:38:54The morning we got into Rennes, boy, that really was liberation.
00:39:00Let's go.
00:39:08At Rennes, American Armour plan to drive east and northeast.
00:39:12At Rennes, American Armour plan to drive east and northeast.
00:39:37And thus surround and take the German car divisions in the rear.
00:39:40The foley plans to stop the arrow dead by cutting its supply route at the point where it stretched narrowest along the coast.
00:39:46So a great force exploded toward Mortaine, hoping at Avroge to achieve the sea, and Dragar hopes down to the smoking ground.
00:39:55There's a lot of places I'd rather talk about than Mortaine.
00:40:09That's where I got hit.
00:40:11We've been going great up to there.
00:40:13Some of the guys had even been singing.
00:40:15Harmonizing.
00:40:16And then that first German artillery caught us.
00:40:19Pretty accurate, too.
00:40:20An hour later, I was short 18 men.
00:40:22Well, we holed in and we hit back with everything we had.
00:40:27They weren't just trying to stop us, see?
00:40:29They wanted to come right through.
00:40:31And then me.
00:40:32I get a belt in the face left side and I keeled.
00:40:35The last thing I remember is looking up and seeing those RAF typhoons.
00:40:39When I heard them screaming up ahead, I thought,
00:40:41Jeez, I'm glad they're on our side.
00:40:52I was sitting in front of the intelligence office doing a bit of sunbathing when headquarters came through saying the area northwest of Mortaine was packed with German armor heading west.
00:41:02Well, that started it.
00:41:03For six hours, the wing kept it up absolutely nonstop.
00:41:06Take off, attack, land, refuel, rearm and take off again.
00:41:09It was the same on every airfield in Normandy.
00:41:11The only briefing I gave the chaps was, well, you know where they are.
00:41:15And the only interrogation when they got back was, well, how many did you get?
00:41:30Three days it lasted.
00:41:32Every kind of soldier was in there and every weapon.
00:41:34For me, it was just eating and smoking and loading at 105.
00:41:37No sleeping.
00:41:37Then things quieted down and the word came back.
00:41:40We stopped them cold.
00:41:41Everybody felt like celebrating, but that was a tough order out there.
00:41:44I tried drinking a whole bottle of cough medicine.
00:41:46It worked fine.
00:41:47I got stiffer in the plank.
00:41:51The counterattack, which took us by surprise, still did not hinder our deceptive plans,
00:41:56for down from core, the foe had drawn a force and left his north flank weakened.
00:42:01Now the stage was set.
00:42:03D'Ord-Fallet swept the Empire troops together with the Poles.
00:42:05The German heard behind his back American armor churned toward Argento.
00:42:11Out-generalled and out-fought, he found himself within a closing trap.
00:42:15The Marine wäre behind the
00:42:22the student killed in the sea roc何?
00:42:24The Marine wäre right, so how much did they disappear?
00:42:28The Marine wäre right, so it could be a coline's lamp.
00:42:30The Marine wäre right.
00:42:34The Marine wäre right, so it might be a win-eop.
00:42:35So it burning our OFA 늦 reach.
00:42:36The Marine wäre right.
00:42:36So it would be a win-eop.
00:42:38So it could be a throw-eop.
00:42:40So it couldn't expectations.
00:42:42That was an alarmed elsghINS with the try-eop기�ram good.
00:42:42Oh, my God.
00:43:12Oh, my God.
00:43:42Oh, my God.
00:44:12Oh, my God.
00:44:42Oh, my God.
00:45:12I've seen them all.
00:45:14The Hitler youth babies, looking like they walked out of Lincoln High.
00:45:18Expert killers.
00:45:20Smart aleck with their talk of rights under the Geneva Convention.
00:45:24And asking, when do we go to America?
00:45:27And the other guy who crawled out of a hole with his hands up, all through and talking too much, ready to swear he hated Hitler all the time.
00:45:35The kids that knew how a machine gun worked and nothing else, grinning like they were still on top, so he could hardly hold that trigger finger still.
00:45:46And middle-aged guys, wanting to tell you about the wife and kids, you'd let them.
00:45:50And they were through killing when I saw them, and through getting killed, too.
00:45:58Some of them thought they were lucky, and others didn't.
00:46:00And some didn't give a...
00:46:03I covered them down to the rear where it was somebody's job to find out what made them tick, but it wasn't my job to figure them out.
00:46:12I just kept them covered.
00:46:14And, brother, I never gave them more than the Geneva Convention.
00:46:19And that was all.
00:46:22American tanks ground on into the east toward Paris and the Upper Seine.
00:46:26Before them, the Germans helter-skelter fled away and saw retreat, or stood with hands upraised by roads all littered with their smoldering gear.
00:46:34And still the tanks ground on beyond the smoke into the unscarred country.
00:46:38A good solid map, well delineated, is an absolute must for a modern mechanized army traveling at high speed.
00:46:46In our division, the issuing of maps was my job.
00:46:49When we broke out of the Cherbourg Peninsula, my department had this situation well in hand.
00:46:54Then, for us, everything went mad.
00:46:56Stark, raving mad.
00:46:58One morning, I woke up, and the army had gone right off the map.
00:47:01Absolutely right off the map.
00:47:04So, we rushed through an order for 500,000 maps of the Orleone region.
00:47:08They arrived in due time.
00:47:10To our horror, the army progressed far beyond the Orleone region.
00:47:14It was off the map again.
00:47:15This was a period of acute crisis for me.
00:47:19I gave the highest priority to a fresh order of maps of the Paris area.
00:47:22We refused to be licked by this situation.
00:47:25The final blow came when it became evident that we were going to bypass Paris.
00:47:28That almost finished us.
00:47:30Eventually, we had to drop 10 tons of maps to them by parachute.
00:47:33It was a very humiliating experience.
00:47:35I'll be glad when I get back to the Library of Congress, where maps have some permanent value.
00:47:40While the Allies were fighting near Paris, we French soldiers of the Leclerc division were fighting in the Normandy films.
00:47:55And suddenly, an order came.
00:47:56Go to Paris, it said.
00:47:59And take it.
00:48:00The Allies, after having equipped our division with tanks, guns, rifles, lorries, and jeeps, that night, decided to give us Paris, too.
00:48:12So, at 4 o'clock in the morning, the division starts rushing on the roads.
00:48:16And in the sky, on the right, on the left, everywhere, the American Air Force protects our trip.
00:48:25What a trip.
00:48:26250 kilometers in one day.
00:48:29I think I'll tell it all the time to my grandchildren and bore them with it until I die.
00:48:37At the beginning of August, we in Paris were seized by rumors.
00:48:42What could be confirmed was, towards the middle of the month, the Germans started to leave the city.
00:48:49Yes, those were the same Germans who had signed 25-year leases on their apartments.
00:48:56Then, on the 14th, our police went on strike.
00:49:01The next day, the Gestapo left.
00:49:04That was the day, too, when a police car opened fire on a German detachment on the Place de la Concorde
00:49:10and began the battle for the city.
00:49:13After that, it seemed the French flag was hanging from every window.
00:49:17All the flags were made of curtains, old dresses, racks, everything.
00:49:21It didn't matter.
00:49:23Four days later, we heard shouting coming from the Hôtel de Ville.
00:49:29We started running.
00:49:31Me, my husband, everyone in our house.
00:49:34As we ran, people were screaming.
00:49:36The French army had arrived.
00:49:38When we got to the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, we saw it was true.
00:49:44I kissed my husband because he was crying.
00:49:48It's funny, huh?
00:49:50We began to realize how unhappy we had been for four years
00:49:54and how lucky we were to be alive on this August evening.
00:49:58The great pursuit was on.
00:50:05At last, the Battle of France was ending,
00:50:08when all suddenly another D-Day stunned the shaken foe.
00:50:11Two armies struck, American and French,
00:50:14along the broad-beached southern coast of France.
00:50:16Then north, the two new armies rolled like waves
00:50:19to join the forces moving on the Reich.
00:50:21Beyond the Seine, where from a hundred sites
00:50:24the Germans launched their flying bombs
00:50:26and brought death and destruction on the English towns,
00:50:29our valiant armies went about the task long since assigned them.
00:50:32Toward the Reich frontiers, Americans advanced.
00:50:35Against the ports hugging the channel,
00:50:37garrisoned in force by desperate foes,
00:50:39Canadians were sent.
00:50:41And in a thunderous sweep,
00:50:42the British armour surged
00:50:43to order waiting Brussels.
00:51:08The people of Brussels laughed and cried
00:51:11and threw flowers in the tank and said,
00:51:13goodbye, Tommy,
00:51:15when they meant to say hello.
00:51:18Ma'am, they were happy.
00:51:20I suppose they were no longer afraid.
00:51:23But I remember wondering then
00:51:25how the first German civilians would react to us.
00:51:34I remember one day we were coming across a big flat field.
00:51:37Didn't look like nothing special.
00:51:39I hopped a barbed wire fence
00:51:40and a guy says to me, guess what?
00:51:41So I says, what?
00:51:42So he says, you're in Germany.
00:51:43There's a sign over there that says.
00:51:45Then like a dope, I thought,
00:51:46well, it won't be long now.
00:51:48I want to quit over the fall of Paris
00:51:50and Timbob on Brussels.
00:51:51And I had a fiver on it being over by October the 1st.
00:51:53I remember the point system
00:51:54for getting out of the army
00:51:55came out about this time.
00:51:57I began to think of that great shark striped double-breasted suit
00:52:00and the mothball.
00:52:00I was in the 7th army coming up from the south of France.
00:52:03One day a lieutenant said,
00:52:04take a ride with me.
00:52:05I got some prisoners for you to guard.
00:52:07How many Isis?
00:52:08About 20,000, he said.
00:52:09A whole German division had surrendered.
00:52:11We Canadians were advancing in the north.
00:52:14And one day we came across a thing
00:52:15I'd never seen before.
00:52:17I guess it's a flying bomb site,
00:52:18the officer says.
00:52:19Well, that really made me feel good.
00:52:21The prisoner told us the newest Jerry Gag.
00:52:24If an aircraft shows up white, it's American.
00:52:26If it shows up dark, it's British.
00:52:28And if it never shows up, it's the Luftwaffe.
00:52:30Every time they sent me along
00:52:32to sell a forward switchboard
00:52:33and I got my earphones on,
00:52:35I found out that the rear switchboard
00:52:36had leapfrogged five miles ahead.
00:52:38I wrote to the old man in St. Louis.
00:52:40He owns a men's store.
00:52:42I told him he'd better cut prices
00:52:43on GI neckties and socks
00:52:44if he didn't want to be stuck
00:52:45with a lot of military apparel.
00:52:47Someone asked the sergeant major
00:52:48what he thought the chances were
00:52:49for a spot of leave.
00:52:50Don't you worry about leave, lads, he says.
00:52:52We've got the Japs to finish here.
00:52:54Regular soldier, of course.
00:52:56Keen.
00:52:58It was a terrific feeling
00:52:59crossing the German border.
00:53:00We were sure nothing could stop us.
00:53:08Every line must somewhere have an end.
00:53:11In southeast Holland,
00:53:13nothing lay between the British Army
00:53:14and the German plain
00:53:15except two rivers and a town.
00:53:18And so we made our plans.
00:53:21To send an airborne army down
00:53:22to seize Eindhoven
00:53:23and the bridges at Nijmegen
00:53:25and Arnhem.
00:53:26Then to hold them for the force
00:53:28that would sweep up like thunder
00:53:29from the south.
00:53:31Thus, where no line existed,
00:53:33would the Rhine at last
00:53:34be crossed in force.
00:53:35I was to jump last to Darnham,
00:53:40so I sat right forward by the window.
00:53:43I could see nothing but blue skies
00:53:45and the coaters with the fighters
00:53:46up topside like midges.
00:53:48One of the boys was reading a newspaper.
00:53:51He showed me a funny piece in it.
00:53:53I couldn't laugh.
00:53:56The coast of Holland came along
00:53:57before I was ready for it.
00:53:59Someone yelled,
00:54:00running up now,
00:54:01and he got to action stations.
00:54:02I remember thinking,
00:54:05what a bloody bit of bad luck
00:54:06to be bumped off now
00:54:07when the war's nearly over.
00:54:08The End
00:54:13The End
00:54:14THE END
00:54:44THE LINE'S DROPPING ON THEM AND WE COME DOWN AND GO TO A PLACE CALLED EINHOVEN, HOLLAND.
00:54:51SHE GOES GOOD, WE GET RIGHT, DIG IN, SET UP A DEFENSE PERIMETER AND WAIT FOR THE BRITISH ARMY TO COME UP.
00:54:57AND WE JOIN THEM AND HEAD OUT FOR NIMEGEN.
00:55:03THE BRIDGE AT NIMEGEN ARTY HAD A MARK ON IT.
00:55:05WE CROSSED THE RIVER AND STARTED OUT FOR OUR NEED, BUT WE DIDN'T GET FAR.
00:55:08THE HUN KNEW AS WELL AS WE DID THAT WE'D GOT TO GET THROUGH AND HE PUT IN EVERYTHING HE'D GOT.
00:55:11THAT WAS THE WORST I EVER STUCK.
00:55:13KNOWING OUR MEN WERE THERE WAITING AT ARNIME, AND WE COULDN'T GET TO THEM.
00:55:21AT ARNIME WE GOT OURSELVES WELL DUG IN, US AND SOME OF THE POLES.
00:55:25WE WERE SHORT OF AMMO AND FOOD, BUT THAT WAS OUR MAIN WORRY.
00:55:28I'LL NEVER FORGET THOSE SUPPLY-DROPPING MISSIONS, THE WAY GERRY LET LOOSE AT THEM, THE WAY THEY JUST CAME
00:55:36STRAIGHT ON INTO IT.
00:55:39TOWARDS THE END, WE KNEW THE SITUATION WAS BAD.
00:55:42WE KNEW WE WERE HEMMED IN.
00:55:44WE KNEW IT WAS POSSIBLE WE WOULDN'T GET OUT.
00:55:46MORE THAN ANYTHING, I REMEMBER THE WAY EVERYONE BEHAVED.
00:55:51MEN YOU KNEW AS THE TOUGHEST FIGHTERS BECAME GENTLE, KIND AND CONSIDERATE TO EACH OTHER.
00:55:57I KNEW A LOT MORE ABOUT MEN AFTER ARNIME.
00:56:05THE GUNS DIED OUT IN ARNIME.
00:56:08THEN WE KNEW THE GREATEST GALLANTRY WAS NOT ENOUGH TO CROSS THE FINAL BRIDGE.
00:56:13AND NOW NO CHOICE REMAINED TO US.
00:56:15DIRECT ASSAULT AGAINST THE SIGFREET LINE WOULD BE THE ONLY WAY TO CARVE OUR CORRIDORS INTO THE REICH.
00:56:21BUT FIRST A PORT WAS NEEDED FOR SUPPLY-DROPPING.
00:56:24ANTWERP WE HAD.
00:56:24BUT THUNDERING GERMAN GUNS CONTROLLED THE THIRTY COLD MILES OF THE SHELT FROM ANTWERP TO THE SEA.
00:56:30THE DOCKS WERE STILL, THE WINCHES SILENT, ALL THE PORTS LAY DEAD.
00:56:34A USELESS CITY SEVERED FROM THE SEA.
00:56:37IT WOULD STAY DEAD UNTIL WE CUT AWAY THROUGH THE GREY SHELT.
00:56:41SO THE BATTLE FORMED TO FREE THE ESTUARY FOR OUR SHIPS.
00:56:45I COVERED THAT BATTLE FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
00:56:49I ONLY WISH I COULD HAVE WRITTEN THE STORY WITH THE GREATNESS OF THE MEN WHO FOUGHT IT.
00:56:53IT WAS VICIOUS AND FEARSOME FIGHTING ALL THE WAY.
00:56:58THE CANADIANS AND THE POLES CLEARING THE SOUTH BANK OF THE RIVER.
00:57:02THE ROYAL NAVY AND MARINES AND NORWEGIANS CHARGING KNEEDEEP IN BLOOD AND WATER
00:57:06INTO THE MOUTHS OF THE NINE INCH SHORE GUNS AT WEST CAPELLE.
00:57:10IT WAS THE KIND OF FIGHTING THAT MAKES LEGENDS.
00:57:14AND THE MINE-SWEEPING OF THE SCELT AFTERWARDS.
00:57:17IT WAS THE GREATEST OPERATION OF ITS KIND IN HISTORY.
00:57:22THE COST OF THAT FIRST SHIP INTO ANTWAP HARBOR
00:57:24WAS THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS OF OUR BRAVEST MEN.
00:57:29I REPORTED IT AS WELL AS I COULD
00:57:31THAT THEIR MEMORY DESERVES MORE THAN WORDS.
00:57:34I WAS HOLDING ON THE FIRST CONVO OUT OF ANTWAP.
00:57:50WHEN I GOT TO THE FRONT I SAW MORE EMPTY SUPPLY DUMPS
00:57:52THAN I LIKED TO SEE.
00:57:54THE BOYS WANTED TO KNOW WHERE THE STUFF WAS.
00:57:56YOU CAN'T FIGHT WITHOUT STUFF.
00:57:57ANYBODY KNOWS THAT.
00:57:59I MADE LOTS OF TRIPS.
00:58:00I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY.
00:58:02DRIVING ALL DAY, ALL NIGHT.
00:58:03SINGIN' SO IS TO KEEP AWAKE.
00:58:06SONGS LIKE MILKMAN, KEEP THOSE BOTTLES QUIET.
00:58:21MY JOB WAS TO SEE TO IT THAT THEY HAD A NEW TOOTHBRUSH
00:58:26AND A COT, MAYBE A BOOK TO READ
00:58:28WHEN THEY CAME OVER FROM THE EAST BANK
00:58:29TO THE WEST BANK OF THE MAUZELL FOR A LITTLE REST.
00:58:31WE BROUGHT THEM OVER ONE COMPANY AT A TIME
00:58:34BECAUSE THAT WAS ALL THE REGIMENT COULD SPARE
00:58:37FROM THE LINE AT ANY ONE TIME.
00:58:39SOMEBODY HAD TAPPED THEM ON THE SHOULDER
00:58:41AND SAID, ALL RIGHT, BOY,
00:58:43YOU'RE GOING BACK ACROSS THE RIVER
00:58:44FOR 24 HOURS REST.
00:58:45AND HERE THEY WERE WHERE THEY COULD REST.
00:58:48THEY JUST COULDN'T BELIEVE IT.
00:58:51HERE THEY WERE FOR JUST 24 HOURS WITHOUT WAR.
00:58:53EVERYTHING WAS DOWN TO ESSENTIALS,
00:58:55COUNTED OUT LIKE DOLLAR BILLS THROUGH A TELLER'S WINDOW.
00:58:58ONE NIGHT'S SLEEP, ONE DAY'S HOT MEALS,
00:59:01ONE CLEAN CHANGE OF UNDERWEAR,
00:59:02ONE CLEAN PAIR OF PANTS,
00:59:04ONE SHAVE,
00:59:05ONE HOT SHOWER,
00:59:05ONE MOVIE.
00:59:07I USED TO WONDER WHAT WAS THE BEST OF THAT PLACE.
00:59:11WAS IT THE CHANCE FORM TO A RIGHT HOME,
00:59:14A HOT SHOWER,
00:59:15OR THAT LONG-LEGGED GIRL ON THE SCREEN.
00:59:19WHATEVER IT WAS,
00:59:20ALL OF IT WAS OVER BY MORNING.
00:59:22THEY WERE GOING BACK WITH THEIR ONE CLEAN SUIT OF UNDERWEAR,
00:59:24THE HOT SHOWER, THE CLEAN SHAVE,
00:59:26AND THE GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP,
00:59:28BACK ACROSS THE MAUZELLE TO THE HOLE IN THE GROUND,
00:59:31AND THE MICHELLE'S.
00:59:35BY THAT TIME,
00:59:38WE KNEW WE WERE GOING TO SEE A WINTER CAMPAIGN.
00:59:40THERE WAS NO WAY OUT OF IT.
00:59:42THE GERMANS WERE DUG IN,
00:59:43AND THEY WERE TOUGH.
00:59:45AND IT WAS PLAIN THAT,
00:59:47UNTIL WE GOT A LOT STRONGER,
00:59:48WE WEREN'T GOING ANY PLACE.
00:59:50THE SQUADWIN WAS OPERATING WHENEVER IT COULD.
00:59:52THERE WANN'T A LOT OF FLYING.
00:59:53WE WERE ICED UP AND FED UP.
00:59:56SUPPOSE YOU'RE HAVING A SWELL TIME IN PARIS,
00:59:58MY COUSIN WROTE ME,
00:59:59WITH ALL THAT PERFUME,
01:00:00AND SILK STOCKINGS,
01:00:01AND THAT CHAMPAIGN.
01:00:04THEY CALLED OUR END OF THE LINE,
01:00:05AND SOUTH.
01:00:06WE WERE IN THE VAUGE MOUNTAINS
01:00:08WITH THE AMERICAN SEVENTH ARMY.
01:00:10BUT IT WAS VERY LITTLE WARMTH IN THE SOUTH.
01:00:13I RECALLED WITH PLEASURE
01:00:14THE MEDITERRANEAN WHERE WE HAD LANDED IN AUGUST.
01:00:18AH, BUT MEMORIES DO NOT KEEP ONE WAR.
01:00:21BEFORE I JOINED THE ARMY,
01:00:22I'D HAVE THOUGHT IT WAS CERTAIN DEATH
01:00:23TO DIG A HOLE IN MY BACK GARDEN
01:00:25AND LIVE IN IT FOR THE WINTER,
01:00:26BUT THAT'S WHAT WE DID.
01:00:28THE SERGEANT SAID,
01:00:29WELL, SQUIRRELS DO IT EVERY YEAR.
01:00:31YES, I THOUGHT,
01:00:32BUT THEY DON'T MAN MACHINE GUNS AS WELL.
01:00:34THERE WAS NO HEATING IN OUR BRUSSELS OFFICE.
01:00:36I PUT ON SO MUCH UNDER MY UNIFORM,
01:00:38THEY CALLED ME THE BUNDLE FROM BRITAN.
01:00:40I NEVER SMOKE BEFORE,
01:00:41BUT PRETTY SOON I FOUND MYSELF
01:00:43SMOKING AS HIGH AS A PACK A DAY.
01:00:45I WORRIED ABOUT THAT OLD LAW OF PERCENTAGES.
01:00:48MY COMPANY WAS MELTING AWAY.
01:00:50YOU'D LOOK UP ONE DAY
01:00:51AND BE FIGHTING ALONGSIDE A STRANGER.
01:00:53IT WAS A LONGSOME FEELING.
01:00:54OUR HUNK OF THE LINE WAS THE ARDEN.
01:01:01PRETTY QUIET.
01:01:02A LOT OF OUTFITS HAD GONE UP NORTH.
01:01:04I STARTED A MILLION LATRENOGRAMS
01:01:06ABOUT THE WHERE AND WERE OF OUR OFFENSIVE.
01:01:08THEN ONE DAY,
01:01:09I'M STANDING GUARD
01:01:10AND THESE SHELLS STARTED.
01:01:11I THOUGHT FOR A MINUTE THIS WAS IT.
01:01:13THEN I REALIZED
01:01:14THESE SHELLS WEREN'T OUTGOINGS, BROTHER.
01:01:16THEY WERE INCOMINGS.
01:01:17NEXT THING I KNEW,
01:01:18YOU GERMAN TANKS.
01:01:20IT WAS AN OFFENSIVE,
01:01:21ALL RIGHT,
01:01:22BUT IT WAS GOING THE WRONG WAY.
01:01:33THE OFFENSIVE WE WERE MOUNTING TO THE NORTH
01:01:35WAS SUDDENLY FORSTALLED
01:01:36AND SET ASIDE.
01:01:37AS THROUGH THE RUGGED,
01:01:38THINLY HELD OUR DEN,
01:01:39VON RUNSTETT STRUCK.
01:01:41HE CUT A FIERY PATH
01:01:42THROUGH THE AMERICAN LINES
01:01:43AND SENT HIS TANKS
01:01:44DESPERATELY DRIVING
01:01:45TOWARD THE RIVER MERZ.
01:01:47A NIGHT OF FOG
01:01:48IN PALE DECEMBER FROST
01:01:49SAW THE BEGINNING,
01:01:50NONE FORSAUW THE END.
01:01:52HE AIMED FOR ANTWERP'S HARBOR
01:01:53THROUGH LIIGE,
01:01:55AND ALL OUR PLANS HELD FIRE
01:01:56WHILE WE BENT OUR STRENGTH
01:01:58TO CURB THE GERMANS
01:01:59IN THE BULGE.
01:02:18ONE NIGHT OF FOG
01:02:31They shoved me in an airplane, and that night I was fighting Germans and being kicked around.
01:02:36I don't know about the other outfits, but mine was being cut to ribbons.
01:02:40They were dropping all around me.
01:02:43The thing that still sticks in my head is the medics.
01:02:46The only weapon they had was a needle, but they were around right where it was the hottest.
01:02:51They'd hear that yell, medic, medic, and they'd always be there.
01:03:01Our whole division got a presidential citation for what happened up at Bastone.
01:03:10Even me, just a cook.
01:03:12I'll never forget that old lieutenant running into the field kitchen and hollering at me if I had any idea how to operate a bazooka.
01:03:19I said no, and he said, well, you're going to learn now, son.
01:03:23I did, and I'll be doggone if in the first shot out the barrel I didn't get me a Jerry Tank.
01:03:28Got interviewed later by Stars and Stripe.
01:03:31They said it was a crackerjack story.
01:03:33I'd tell it at the drop of a hat.
01:03:39We've been up north where things were a bit static, so we were quite glad to be moved down to the top side of this bulge.
01:03:44Coming down through Belgium, we noticed how scared some of the civilians looked.
01:03:48Natural, I suppose.
01:03:50We were held in reserve for a week, and then they sent us into action.
01:03:58On account of the fog, we couldn't get any air coordination.
01:04:01You sure miss it bad when you've gotten used to it all the way since D-Day.
01:04:05And then on December 24th, like a Christmas present, that sun come up, and after a while we was giving him the old one-two again.
01:04:13We stopped them dead.
01:04:42We stopped them dead, finally.
01:04:44It cost us plenty of men, but we stopped them.
01:04:46And we started moving ahead again.
01:04:48The rest of us.
01:05:12The rest of us.
01:05:42Outside his fortress, open, unprotected by any bridgeless river.
01:05:47Down we cast the gauntlet, challenging him.
01:05:50Stand and fight.
01:06:12On the right side.
01:06:21I'll be right back.
01:06:27We were attacking the north of the Canadians, round about the Riceville forest and the Dutch frontier area.
01:06:52It was wet and filthy. They nicknamed our army commander Admiral Creeler.
01:06:58Or anyway, the enemy put up some very stiff opposition.
01:07:01But actually, this was just what we'd hoped for.
01:07:04It showed that Gerry's emotions about fighting for every foot of his beloved fatherland were getting the better of his sense of strategy.
01:07:11And every German killed on our side of the Rhine was to make it easier for us on the further bank.
01:07:15And a lot of the Bosch were killed, I can tell you.
01:07:18The Riceville was the bloodiest show I've seen in this war.
01:07:27It was one of a push. The captain told me eight divisions. He usually knows. He follows things like that.
01:07:33I was with the outfit that took Munch and Gladbach, I think you say it.
01:07:38There weren't many civilians in the streets and even the ones that were there we weren't supposed to talk to unless we had to.
01:07:44There was a $65 rat for fraternization.
01:07:47I wonder how they happened to figure out that number. I mean, why 65?
01:07:51We could see the Cologne Cathedral a long time before we got there.
01:07:57That tower was our objective. It was on the Rhine River.
01:08:00We went fast and by the time we got in the town there wasn't too much fight left in them.
01:08:05Cologne was mangled alright, but there were still a few buildings standing.
01:08:09I was sorry. I thought of those French cities. Flattened.
01:08:14Anyway, we got our objective. Now we had to cross that river.
01:08:23I thought they must be very short of men when they put us sailors at a battle dress, lugged the assault boats on the trucks and sent us across Belgium by road.
01:08:29We talk about silent service. I'd never been sick at sea, but I was sick as a dog on the road.
01:08:34When we reached our destination, I was feeling lousy, longing for a breath of sea air.
01:08:39I found the whole bloody landscape under a stinking smoke screen. Like London it was.
01:08:44The next day we got up to the Rhine. It was good to get a glimpse of the water again.
01:08:55Our air force has given me all lumps on the east bank of the Rhine, but I was still nervous.
01:09:00The Germans had blown the bridges and we knew the crossing would be amphib.
01:09:03When I'm nervous, I get off my feed. For two days before that crossing, I couldn't eat nothing but a couple of Milky Way bars.
01:09:09It was gonna be D-Day all over again. Dangerous.
01:09:16A miracle. There it was sitting there, big and black.
01:09:20I'm no architect, but to me that Remargan bridge was the most beautiful bridge in the world.
01:09:25In the army, when things go as per plan, that's wonderful, but when they go better than planned, then you figure the chaplain's working overtime.
01:09:31It was a breakout in that bridge and we cashed in on it.
01:09:34And the first guys over the river were over in style.
01:09:37The watch on the Rhine was finished, washed up.
01:09:40For the corner phrase, kaput.
01:09:42All right, now.
01:09:43Let's get four.
01:09:44Let's get four.
01:09:45All right.
01:10:17We got across okay and everything was going fine, but suddenly I get Stito to guard some German prisoners.
01:10:47I'll never forget their faces when them airborne blokes started to come over.
01:10:51They just stood there looking up at them, and then after about half an hour, one of them looks at me, looks up at the sky, and says, propaganda.
01:10:58I'll never forget the end.
01:11:28The rear pocket was the first big objective across the Rhine.
01:11:38We and the heavies sealed it off, then the ground forces wrapped it up.
01:11:41After that, they exploded in all directions.
01:11:44Cut the Jerry armies up in pockets, then take them one by one.
01:11:47That was the program.
01:11:48The third rank was being carved up like a Christmas turkey.
01:11:55Chasing the Bosch was getting a little bit monotonous.
01:11:57We hardly ever saw him.
01:11:58Only burning houses, a few shells, and occasional sniper's rifle shot.
01:12:02It was a silly kind of defiance, I thought.
01:12:05Then one day the routine was broken.
01:12:06We came across a prisoner of war camp, other ranks, yanks mostly.
01:12:09They went mad when they saw us, screeched red Indian war cries, pummeled one another, and asked what the news was.
01:12:15It seemed a shame to tell them when they were so happy.
01:12:19Well, there was nothing for it.
01:12:20I told them.
01:12:20Well, President Roosevelt died yesterday afternoon, was it?
01:12:26You should have held him quieting down.
01:12:28For once in his campaign, they all felt as though they'd suffered a major defeat.
01:12:32I'd have liked to have stayed there, talking to them, trying to cheer them up.
01:12:35But we had no time to lose.
01:12:37Jerry only had a few hundred square miles of earth left to scorch.
01:12:39Our job was either to hurry him up or scorch it for him.
01:12:44We were on the homestretch, cutting deeper all the time,
01:12:46when we ran into these displaced persons, slave workers.
01:12:49They were sick, hungry, from all over Europe.
01:12:53The roads were jammed with them.
01:12:55But they kept out of the way and didn't give us any trouble.
01:12:58Like a fellow said,
01:13:00there's a lot more than town's going to have to be reconstructed.
01:13:07I wondered what was up when all our AMC personnel in our lock down to Stretcher Bay,
01:13:11as we're urgently called for,
01:13:13I soon found out
01:13:14that we'd taken the Billson concentration camp.
01:13:17Well, I'm not squeamish.
01:13:20I've seen amputations, operations, deaths,
01:13:23long before I went to the Army in 41.
01:13:25I was a warden.
01:13:27I lost count of all the arms and legs I pulled out of the wreckage down in Croydon
01:13:30and got quite used to it.
01:13:33But this was different.
01:13:35Very different.
01:13:37I don't know any words big enough to make you understand what we all felt.
01:13:42All I can say, and I'm proud of this,
01:13:45is that I had to fall out and be quickly sick in the courtyard.
01:13:49As I say, I'm not squeamish,
01:13:51but, well, I'm human and thank God for it.
01:14:00The government sent a few of us congressmen over to see those camps.
01:14:05And if there's anybody left who wonders if this war was worth fighting,
01:14:09well, I wish they could have been along.
01:14:12There it was, right in front of us.
01:14:14Fascism and what it's bound to lead to, wherever it crops up.
01:14:19I talked to some of the prisoners,
01:14:21the ones that had the strength to talk.
01:14:24Their offenses were the usual Nazi crimes.
01:14:27You know, wrong religion, or wrong race,
01:14:31belonging to a union, or the wrong political party.
01:14:35In Germany, it led to over 400 camps, like the ones I saw.
01:14:40It was the worst thing I ever saw in my life.
01:14:42And I wouldn't have missed it for anything.
01:14:59When an army gets to moving in a hurry,
01:15:01that's where air transport comes in.
01:15:03We'd been flying in the stuff along with the British Transport Command since D-Day.
01:15:08Towards the end, they seem to be moving faster on the ground than we were in the air.
01:15:12As pocket after pocket of the foe fell,
01:15:17our hopes rose higher than the soaring flames that marked the broken towns of Germany.
01:15:22In Italy, a million prisoners came in.
01:15:24As with a single sudden blow, the German power was smashed.
01:15:28Then our tanks drove through the southern mountains,
01:15:30where the foe had hoped to make his furious final stand.
01:15:34The Russians took Berlin and cut the heart from Hitler's empire.
01:15:37And he himself, who planned to rule the earth from pole to pole,
01:15:41vanished like smoke among the falling walls.
01:15:44Upon the green banks of the River Elbe,
01:15:46we waited for the east and west to meet.
01:15:48We linked up with the Ruskies at the Elbe River.
01:16:09I hung around for a couple of days with a Tommy gunner named, uh, uh, uh, Connie Cobb.
01:16:14He didn't know any English, so I taught him to say my aching back,
01:16:17and he taught me tovarish.
01:16:19That means, comrade.
01:16:20We drank toast to Len Leeson, had a million laughs.
01:16:23Then old Connie Cobb found an interpreter
01:16:25and gives a toast to the great American soldier.
01:16:27That stopped me.
01:16:29We did all right,
01:16:30but I don't like to think where we'd have been without them.
01:16:32We were going towards the Danish frontier.
01:16:48Bremen fell, then Hamburg.
01:16:50The rot was setting in.
01:16:52A million and a half surrendered in the north.
01:16:54The fighting was nearly over, and our job was beginning.
01:16:57We'd been training a long time for the administration of Germany,
01:17:00and we were prepared for plenty of trouble.
01:17:02Sabotage, passive resistance,
01:17:04or perhaps something more violent,
01:17:06you know, werewolves and sheep's clothing.
01:17:09But as it turned out, most of them were docile,
01:17:11and did what they were told.
01:17:13They seemed healthy, well-fed.
01:17:15Their disease was in their minds.
01:17:18A German woman, looking at what was left of her tongue,
01:17:21said to me,
01:17:21if only you'd given up in 1940,
01:17:26none of this need have happened.
01:17:27A German woman, looking at what was left.
01:17:57At one minute after midnight, May the 9th, 1945, the gun stopped.
01:18:23D plus 337.
01:18:27Now it starts.
01:18:29All the arguments about who won the war.
01:18:32Well, here's what I say.
01:18:34That no country on earth could have won it alone.
01:18:37So what does that mean?
01:18:39That anybody who wants to take a bow by himself is not only boasting, but nuts.
01:18:46I spent four years in the infantry and I saw my share.
01:18:50During that time, I only met three men that liked to fight.
01:18:53They were a little cracked, but it had to be done.
01:18:56And now that it's over, I feel good.
01:18:59Except for one thing.
01:19:01All this talk about World War III.
01:19:04These big pessimists that talk so easy about another war just didn't see this one.
01:19:09Or enough of it.
01:19:10We watched them bringing in some high-up prisoners.
01:19:15Quite ready to be friendly, some of them.
01:19:18I was thinking of fellas I'd known who'd bought it.
01:19:20Crashed, shot down, missing.
01:19:23Right through from the Battle of Britain.
01:19:24I remembered their faces, or some joke they'd played, or maybe just the way they laughed, or something.
01:19:33There seemed to be such a lot of them I remembered.
01:19:35To the victor belongs the spoils.
01:19:45That's what they say.
01:19:47Well, what are the spoils?
01:19:50Only this.
01:19:51A chance to build a free world.
01:19:54Better than before.
01:19:56Maybe the last chance.
01:19:58Remember that.
01:19:59Now the time has come to put our victory to the tests of peace.
01:20:12In company with men of many lands to sift from ashes what the struggle taught.
01:20:18In the rebuilding of a broken earth, may we keep in our hearts this ancient prayer.
01:20:23O Lord God, may thou give us to thy servants to endeavour any great matter.
01:20:30Grant to us also to know that it is not the beginning, but the continuing of the same,
01:20:36until it be thoroughly finished, which yieldeth the true glory.
01:20:42O Lord God, may we keep in our hearts this year.
01:21:04O Lord God, may we keep in our hearts this year.
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