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00:05It's the largest invasion fleet in history.
00:12Defies belief.
00:141,200 warships, over 4,000 landing craft.
00:18More than 160,000 Allied troops
00:22cross the channel to Nazi-occupied France.
00:27Crossing water to launch a military operation
00:29is a very hard thing to do.
00:31It's hard enough to cross a river,
00:32never mind 40, 50 miles of sea.
00:35But landing on the beaches will be just the beginning.
00:39Beyond the formidable sea defences,
00:42an army battle-hardened on the eastern front
00:45lies in wait.
00:48The cost will be high.
00:50He turned to me and he said,
00:52I don't think I'll see him again.
00:56And you know he didn't.
00:59The D-Day invasion.
01:03From the planning to deception,
01:06landings and battles
01:07is one of the most audacious events of World War II.
01:18Now, rare footage from around the world,
01:21expertly restored in full color,
01:24tells the story as you've never seen it before.
01:34The German blitzkrieg advance drives the British and French armies into the sea.
01:45The scars left by defeat on mainland Europe run deep.
01:52From the moment that the British were thrown out of France,
01:56they always knew
01:57that if the Germans were ever going to be defeated by the Western Allies,
02:02that at some point
02:03a British army
02:04and then an American army
02:06had got to go back to the continent.
02:11Regaining a foothold in Nazi-occupied Europe
02:15now seems unthinkable.
02:21From the end of 1941,
02:24Hitler orders the fortification of the entire Atlantic coast
02:27from the Spanish-French border
02:29to the Arctic in Norway.
02:34Hitler calls it his Atlantic Wall.
02:38The Atlantic Wall was intended to seal off this vulnerable flank
02:42of the Third Reich.
02:44It was a system of interlocking bunkers
02:47with heavy naval guns,
02:49pillboxes,
02:50and you've got all manner of beach obstacles.
02:55It's not until two years later,
02:58in a desperate bid to revive Allied morale,
03:02the Churchill feels confident enough
03:04to attempt to regain control of French territory
03:08in the port of Dieppe.
03:10The Allies in 1942 are saying,
03:13well, if we're going to go in,
03:14how are we going to do this?
03:15How are we going to break in?
03:16So they say, let's raid Dieppe.
03:17Let's see if we can land 6,000 troops,
03:20if they can take and hold Dieppe.
03:22and beat off any German counterattacks.
03:26But the raid is a complete fiasco.
03:31Over 900 Canadian troops are killed
03:34and almost 2,000 captured.
03:38The Germans seem as invincible as ever.
03:43The Dieppe raid taught everybody
03:45exactly how incredibly difficult it was
03:48to land an army on a hostile shore.
03:52One of the big problems at Dieppe
03:54was the problem of getting armor ashore.
03:56I mean, you could get troops ashore
03:57and small landing craft,
03:58but getting armor ashore,
04:00particularly tanks, was a problem.
04:02And Dieppe,
04:03they're just kind of figuring this out.
04:06And despite the utmost secrecy,
04:09German intelligence seemed to have known
04:11the Allied raid was coming.
04:14It's clear that the British and Canadians
04:16can't break through the Atlantic Wall on their own.
04:24Meanwhile, in the Pacific,
04:26the Americans are taking the fight to the Japanese
04:28at Midway and Guadalcanal.
04:33Then, in 1943, in the East,
04:37Germany's forces suffered a catastrophic loss
04:40in the Battle of Stalingrad.
04:45For the first time,
04:47the German army seems vulnerable.
04:54At the Tehran Conference of November 1943,
04:58Joseph Stalin and President Roosevelt
05:01put pressure on Winston Churchill.
05:05Now is the time to commit to a second front
05:08along the Atlantic Wall.
05:13There was a tension between the Americans
05:15and the British from the very beginning.
05:17The question was when.
05:19It's not clear that Churchill
05:21would ever have agreed
05:23to an invasion of northern France.
05:25He needed the Americans,
05:27their money, their support, their manpower.
05:30Winston Churchill had been deeply traumatized
05:33by all the experiences
05:34of British failure and defeat since 1940.
05:37He knew, as the Americans
05:39didn't really understand,
05:41that the Germans were, man for man,
05:43the most formidable fighting force
05:45that the world had ever seen.
05:46He was terrified of a bloodbath in France
05:49that, once again,
05:51we could have the sort of scenes
05:52one had seen in the First World War.
05:55By 1944,
05:56he was reluctantly forced to face the fact
05:59that the Americans were absolutely determined
06:02that this was going to happen.
06:04There is an American instinct
06:06to strike for the jugular
06:08as soon as possible.
06:09If we're at war with the Germans
06:11and it's Germany first,
06:12well, let's go.
06:12Let's go right now.
06:14The Americans think,
06:16we have the capabilities
06:17to, you know,
06:18mass an army in England
06:19and land on the Channel Coast
06:21and attack Germany from this way.
06:23But Churchill protests,
06:24look, the German defense
06:25and the Atlantic Wall are too tough.
06:27They're going to sniff this thing out.
06:28They're going to beat us
06:29at the water's edge.
06:30It'll be a great humiliation.
06:31It'll demoralize the U.S. Army,
06:33the British Army,
06:34the Allies in general.
06:36It'll make Stalin more likely
06:37to sue for a separate peace.
06:38Let's fight in areas we know we can win,
06:40like North Africa,
06:42like Italy.
06:42The problem is,
06:43the Germans trap the Allies in Italy.
06:45There's no progress being made there.
06:47So this then strengthens the American hand.
06:50Churchill finally concedes,
06:52and Operation Overlord,
06:54the Allied invasion of France,
06:57is given the green light.
07:00Working in utter secrecy,
07:02the British and American planners
07:04start to search for the weakest points
07:06in the Atlantic Wall.
07:08As they learn to Dieppe,
07:10if an invading army
07:11has any chance of success,
07:13it must be a complete surprise.
07:19Spring 1944.
07:21The Nazis have lost vast swathes of territory
07:25to the Soviets in the east.
07:29They now suspect an Allied offensive,
07:32conducted from Britain,
07:34somewhere along the 3,000 miles
07:36of the Atlantic Wall.
07:40Critically,
07:41German intelligence is reporting
07:42a build-up of Allied troops
07:44opposite the Pas de Calais.
07:47It's the most obvious point
07:49for an invasion,
07:50as it offers the shortest crossing.
07:54For that reason,
07:56German defences are strongest at Calais.
08:00However,
08:01Hitler has taken no chances
08:02and has already assigned
08:04his best general,
08:05Erwin Rommel,
08:06to take charge of the Atlantic Wall.
08:12Rommel is the most popular
08:14German general.
08:16So sending him to the west
08:18sends a strong message
08:20to the soldiers
08:21and the German public alike.
08:24It gives them confidence.
08:25It tells them,
08:26look,
08:27our best general
08:29is now in the west
08:30and he will throw the Allies
08:32back into the sea.
08:35But when Rommel sees
08:37the coastal defences
08:38for the first time,
08:40he realises
08:41they are far from impenetrable.
08:46He orders more fortifications.
08:51Beaches are laid
08:52with millions of mines,
08:55thousands of miles
08:56of barbed wire,
08:58and new obstacles
09:00capable of withstanding
09:01an invading army.
09:07But the Allied planning
09:09goes ahead.
09:13Allied spy planes
09:15take aerial photos
09:16of Rommel's new defences.
09:23And the French resistance
09:25sends back precise information
09:27on the troops
09:28manning each fortified position.
09:31Meanwhile,
09:32British commandos
09:34swim from midget submarines
09:36to take samples
09:38of the sand
09:38on the French beaches.
09:41Back in Britain,
09:42engineers invent
09:43elaborate vehicles
09:44and weapons
09:45capable of overcoming
09:47Rommel's obstacles.
09:53There's a particular eccentric
09:56eccentric British designer
09:57called Percy Hobart,
09:59and he had ideas
10:00for different kinds of tanks.
10:03One of them
10:04was a flamethrower.
10:09One was a swimming tank.
10:18On the face of it,
10:19if you see photos
10:20of these modified tanks,
10:23they're ridiculous.
10:24I mean,
10:24they look silly
10:26to the point
10:27that they were nicknamed
10:29Hobart's funnies.
10:31But every single one of them
10:33had a purpose.
10:35The Americans believe
10:36you've just got to get in there
10:38and fight the enemy.
10:38And they're always
10:39rather suspicious
10:40of British dodges
10:42and wheezes
10:43as they see it.
10:44The only bits
10:45the Americans took
10:45were the least successful bits,
10:47which were amphibious tanks.
10:49And the British were right.
10:51But if you were going to overcome
10:52one of the most difficult challenges
10:53in the history of war,
10:54then you needed
10:55completely new toys
10:57and tools
10:57with which to do it.
11:01There is a tendency,
11:02I think,
11:03to say,
11:04oh,
11:04how clever we were
11:05to come up
11:05with these devices.
11:06And a few of them
11:07did prove to be quite clever.
11:09Among them
11:10were flail tanks.
11:11This was a tank
11:12with arms out in front of it
11:14with chains
11:14attached to a rotating drum
11:16that would flail the ground
11:18in front of it
11:18to detonate the mines.
11:21There was even a tank
11:22built in the shape
11:23of a doorstop,
11:24of a ramp,
11:25that would run itself
11:26up against a seawall
11:27so that other tanks
11:28could drive
11:29over the top of it.
11:30On a grander scale,
11:32engineers are making sure
11:34that an Allied invasion
11:35will be properly supported.
11:41They secretly install
11:43an oil pipeline
11:44under the channel
11:45to provide fuel
11:47for the invasion vehicles.
11:52They construct
11:53gigantic floating ports
11:55across the coasts
11:55or mulberry harbours.
11:58These ready-made ports
11:59will be towed
12:00across the channel
12:01to allow the planned armada
12:03of supply vessels
12:04to unload.
12:06If you haven't got a port,
12:08then build two ports
12:09the size of Dover
12:10and float them
12:12across the channel.
12:13It's absolutely extraordinary.
12:17The scale of D-Day
12:19defies belief.
12:20If you're talking
12:21about 1,200 warships,
12:22over 4,000 landing craft,
12:2512,000 aircraft.
12:27I mean,
12:27it is absolutely huge.
12:37The D-Day invasion
12:39brings together
12:40the Allied Navy,
12:42Army,
12:42and Air Forces
12:43in a centralised
12:44command structure.
12:47General Dwight D-Eisenhower
12:49is made supreme
12:51Allied commander
12:52of the operation.
12:55In charge of the land forces
12:57and masterminding
12:59much of the invasion planning
13:00is British General
13:02Bernard Montgomery.
13:07The Allies believe
13:09they have kept
13:10the invasion's site
13:11a tightly guarded secret,
13:13but there's no hiding
13:14the date.
13:16The French tides
13:18dictate the invasion
13:20will be on the 5th of June,
13:22when they will be
13:23at their lowest.
13:26Now,
13:27they have to hope
13:28for good weather.
13:30Rough seas
13:31would make landings
13:32difficult,
13:33if not impossible.
13:36And Churchill knows
13:38that no matter
13:38how well planned,
13:39an invasion
13:41launched across
13:42the unpredictable
13:43English Channel
13:44in the face
13:45of formidable
13:45shoreline defences
13:47could so easily
13:48end in a bloodbath.
13:52The most important thing
13:53about an amphibious invasion
13:56is that it doesn't get
13:57kicked back into the sea,
13:58that it doesn't fail.
14:00There's still quite a lot
14:01of jeopardy involved.
14:03Will the Germans know?
14:04Will they be prepared?
14:05Even when the Allies
14:06completely control the waters,
14:08even when they completely
14:09control the skies,
14:10and even when they've
14:11mastered the intelligence
14:12picture,
14:13there's still lots of doubt
14:14and concerns and anxieties.
14:22The groundwork for the DDA landings
14:24begins when Allied bombers
14:26attack German radar stations
14:28along the entire northern French coast.
14:33The bombers also target
14:35German supply routes
14:36further inland.
14:40The transport plan sees
14:41these massive heavy bomber fleets
14:43destroying railways,
14:44canals,
14:45resupply centres,
14:47supply depots,
14:48oil storage.
14:49The aim is to cripple
14:51the ability of the German army
14:53to move forces around quickly
14:55and keep them supplied.
14:58Behind the scenes,
14:59the decision to bomb
15:00infrastructure
15:01is hotly contested.
15:03There was a big debate
15:05within Allied circles
15:06about how to employ
15:07Allied air power.
15:09It was Eisenhower
15:11who insisted on
15:11a transportation strategy.
15:14And that is to hit
15:15the bridges,
15:17the railroad hubs,
15:18the transportation networks
15:20that would allow
15:20the Germans to bring
15:22their reinforcements
15:22to the targeted beaches.
15:25The pushback came
15:27from the British
15:28who said it would cause
15:29an unacceptable number
15:30of French casualties.
15:31But Eisenhower insisted
15:33it was essential.
15:36There is now no hiding
15:38that an invasion is imminent.
15:40And when the Germans
15:41intercept Allied radio,
15:43it confirms
15:44the landing site
15:45will be Calais.
15:52in Britain,
15:53over 2 million
15:54Allied troops,
15:563,000 tanks
15:59and 12,000 aircraft
16:01are primed
16:03for the biggest invasion
16:04in history.
16:07June 5, 1944,
16:10on the eve of D-Day,
16:12an armada
16:12of 6,500 vessels
16:14set sail.
16:18But they don't get
16:19very far.
16:20Bad weather
16:21halts the invasion.
16:24The weather
16:25and the phases
16:26of the moon
16:26and the tides
16:27is vitally important
16:29in this operation.
16:30It was absolutely critical
16:31that the weather
16:32had to be clear
16:33so they could take advantage
16:34of the air superiority.
16:36The naval vessels
16:37would come in
16:38and fire these accurate
16:39shore bombardments.
16:41And most importantly,
16:42that they could launch
16:43these landing craft,
16:44which aren't very seaworthy.
16:48thousands of infantry troops
16:50are trapped
16:50on rough seas
16:51off the English coast,
16:53getting seasick.
16:5921-year-old driver
17:01and mechanic
17:01Joe Cattini
17:02is on one
17:03of the landing craft,
17:05stuck off the coast
17:06of the Isle of Wight.
17:09A lot of the infantry lads,
17:11they were only young lads,
17:13most of them,
17:14they were as sick as a dog.
17:17They were really,
17:18really crying for their mums.
17:20They wanted to go back home.
17:24When the green light
17:25eventually comes,
17:27the soldiers receive
17:28a morale-boosting speech
17:30from Eisenhower.
17:33You are about to embark
17:35upon the great crusade
17:36toward which we have striven
17:38these many months.
17:39The eyes of the world
17:40are upon you.
17:42Your task will not
17:43be an easy one.
17:45Then many of the troops
17:47are completely taken
17:48by surprise.
17:49We thought the landing
17:51was going to be
17:51at the Pâle de Calais.
17:54When we left the needles,
17:56instead of turning left,
17:58we carried more to the right,
18:01towards Cherbourg.
18:05Unbeknown to many on board,
18:07the Allies are not heading
18:09for Calais at all,
18:10but for Normandy.
18:14Hitler and Rommel
18:15have been played for fools
18:17in the greatest military
18:18deception since the Trojan horse.
18:24They have been duped
18:26into believing the Allies
18:27have assembled
18:28a massive invading army
18:30in the southeast of England,
18:31directly opposite
18:33the Pâle de Calais.
18:36A phantom army
18:38headed by U.S. General
18:40George Patton.
18:42Germans fear Patton
18:43more than any other general,
18:44and they build barracks,
18:46and they build out
18:46all the facilities
18:47for an army,
18:48and they have dummy artillery,
18:49dummy tanks,
18:50dummy vehicles of all sorts.
18:54Inflatable jeeps,
18:55planes, and tanks
18:57deceive German reconnaissance
18:59that General Patton's
19:00fictitious first army
19:02was real.
19:05even Hitler's trusted spy network
19:08were not what they seemed.
19:11The Germans had no spies
19:13in Britain.
19:14They thought they had spies
19:15in Britain,
19:16but every spy they had
19:17had actually been turned
19:18and was working
19:18as a double agent.
19:19The best thing
19:20they could be used for
19:21is strategic deception.
19:23Build up a story
19:25over time
19:26through this double agent.
19:28pretend
19:30that it's building up
19:32in southeast England
19:34where it's threatening
19:35the Pardicale.
19:40While the Germans prepared
19:42for the phantom army
19:44in southeastern England,
19:45over a million flesh-and-blood
19:47American, Canadian,
19:49and British soldiers
19:50were amassing
19:52further along the coast,
19:53opposite the wide-open beaches
19:56of Normandy.
19:58The best break
19:59that the Allies had
20:00before D-Day
20:01was that overwhelming
20:03air superiority
20:03meant they were able
20:04to keep German air reconnaissance
20:06away from the south coast.
20:07If the Germans
20:09had been able to see
20:10aerial photographs
20:10of what was going on
20:11in the south coast,
20:12they would have had to see
20:13this must be Normandy.
20:15It can't be the Pardicale.
20:17It is remarkable
20:18that it remained a secret.
20:20The Germans clearly knew
20:22an invasion was in the offing.
20:24They knew something
20:24was coming.
20:25What they didn't know
20:26was when,
20:27and they didn't know where.
20:31On the night
20:32before the invasion fleet lands,
20:37an airborne operation begins.
20:448,000 British
20:46and 13,000 U.S. paratroopers
20:49are transported in planes
20:51to be airdropped
20:52behind the Nazi coastal defences
20:55ahead of the seaborne landings.
21:02Suddenly,
21:03there was this roar
21:04in the air.
21:05We looked up
21:06and there were all these
21:08aircrafts going over.
21:11You couldn't see the sky.
21:13It was so black.
21:16But the operation starts badly.
21:20Heavy cloud cover
21:22means paratroopers
21:23miss designated landing sites.
21:27And the Germans
21:29have deliberately flooded fields
21:31to bog down Allied parachutists.
21:35One of the key features of D-Day
21:38as it unfolded
21:39was that the weather
21:39was extremely marginal
21:41for this sort of operation.
21:42The vast majority
21:43of the troop drops,
21:44particularly the American
21:45airborne divisions,
21:46were scattered over
21:47a very wide area.
21:49A large number of them
21:50parachuted into the flooded fields
21:52and drowned.
21:52The paratroopers' mission
21:55is to regroup,
21:56stall any German counterattack,
21:58and then join
22:00the naval landing forces
22:02and create chaos
22:04among the only German
22:05panzer division
22:06near Normandy.
22:116th Airborne Division
22:12jumped into the assembly area
22:15of German 21st Armored Division.
22:19So 21st Armored Division
22:22was supposed to launch
22:23a counteroffensive
22:24against the beaches,
22:26but with the airborne division
22:27sitting in the middle
22:29of their assembly area,
22:30the Germans didn't know
22:32who to attack first.
22:33So in the end,
22:34the Germans split up their forces
22:35and this created confusion.
22:42Artillery and small armored vehicles
22:44are brought in by gliders
22:46to support the paratroopers.
22:52They, too, suffer heavy casualties.
22:54A third of all the D-Day glider troops
22:57are killed, wounded,
22:59or taken prisoner.
23:02The losses were horrific.
23:06The Germans had put bollards
23:08in some of the fields
23:09that wrecked some of them on landing.
23:11Others crash-landed.
23:17But enough land safely
23:19and prove instrumental
23:21in seizing key hubs
23:22behind the German front line.
23:27The British Airborne
23:29and glider divisions
23:30were able to land
23:30incredibly close
23:31to the bridges
23:33that they needed to capture
23:34across the canals,
23:35particularly around Pegasus Bridge.
23:36This was a crucial factor
23:38in actually delaying
23:39the German reinforcements coming in.
23:44But it is the German panzer divisions
23:46that pose the most immediate threat.
23:49Yet the Germans aren't sure
23:51whether the Allied troop drop
23:52in Normandy is real
23:54or just a diversion.
23:56For the Germans,
23:57everything hinges on the speed
23:59at which they can get reserves in there.
24:00And they've got many panzer divisions
24:02clustered near the beaches.
24:04But they're waiting to find out
24:06will the main thrust
24:07be in the Pas de Calais
24:08or will it be in Normandy?
24:10To compound the confusion,
24:13four panzer divisions
24:14can't move
24:15without Hitler's direct orders.
24:17And the Fuhrer is still asleep.
24:22Even though alarms
24:23of the attack are coming in,
24:24nobody wants to wake the Fuhrer.
24:26So those four panzer divisions
24:28that are under his exclusive control
24:29can't be deployed swiftly to the scene.
24:33Worse still,
24:34in these critical hours,
24:36not even Rommel
24:37is there to take control.
24:40Two key personalities
24:41are missing
24:43or unable to react.
24:45Rommel and Hitler.
24:47Hitler is asleep.
24:50Rommel always considered
24:52the first 24 or 48 hours
24:54crucial for this battle.
24:57And where was he?
24:58He was away in Germany,
25:00celebrating his wife's birthday.
25:02He had believed too much
25:03in the German weather forecast,
25:05which had said,
25:06on the 6th of June,
25:07it will be poor weather.
25:11And then the weather shifts
25:12in the Allies' favor.
25:16In the early hours of the 6th of June,
25:19a window of opportunity opens for Eisenhower.
25:23and the invasion fleet poised of the French coast.
25:29As dawn breaks,
25:30it's the German soldiers in Normandy,
25:33not Calais,
25:34who witness the enormity
25:36of the Allied invasion fleet
25:37for the first time.
25:42For the Germans,
25:44sitting in the bunkers in Normandy,
25:46the sight of the Allied armada
25:48must have been terrifying.
25:50A sea full of metal.
25:54Witnesses recall
25:55just absolute stunned disbelief.
25:58this was the greatest armada
25:59assembled in world history.
26:01And this thing suddenly appears
26:03out of the darkness
26:04off the coast of Normandy.
26:06The massed armada
26:08of 6,500 vessels
26:10prepare for five beach landings
26:13in Normandy.
26:14Each one is given
26:16a different code name.
26:18The Americans are landing
26:21at Utah and Omaha beaches,
26:23securing the western flank,
26:25and attempt to seize
26:26the major port of Cherbourg
26:28to facilitate
26:29further Allied landings.
26:32The British are landing
26:34at Gold and Sword beaches
26:36further east,
26:37with the Canadians between them
26:39at Juneau.
26:40Once ashore,
26:42they will attempt to drive on
26:43and seize the key city of Caen
26:45on the same day.
26:48Two miles off Gold Beach,
26:5120-year-old operations post assistant
26:53Dennis Hunter
26:54is about to glimpse
26:55first light
26:57of what Rommel will call
26:58the longest day.
27:02When it got daylight,
27:04we were surrounded by ships,
27:07absolutely surrounded by ships,
27:09hundreds of them.
27:18A massive naval bombardment
27:21of the German defensive positions
27:23begins.
27:26The noise was absolutely horrendous.
27:31We didn't have any air protectors
27:34or anything like that in those days,
27:36so we just had to do the best we could.
27:46after all the years of planning and deception,
27:50now came the hard part.
27:54Landing on beaches
27:56where the troops are most vulnerable.
27:59Crossing water
28:00to launch a military operation
28:02is a very hard thing to do.
28:03It's hard enough to cross a river,
28:04never mind 40, 50 miles of sea.
28:08At Utah Beach,
28:10the sea is calm.
28:126.30 a.m.
28:14is HR on D-Day.
28:18The first American troops land.
28:23Only 100 Germans
28:25manned the beach defenses.
28:29The U.S. reports
28:31197 casualties,
28:34far less than expected.
28:41But it's a very different story
28:43for the Americans
28:44on Omaha Beach.
28:47The preparations for D-Day
28:49were overwhelming.
28:50The operational plans
28:51were feet thick of paper
28:54and detailed down
28:55to almost every imaginable scenario.
28:58But there's an old saying
29:00among military practitioners,
29:01and that is that
29:02no plan survives contact with the enemy.
29:06Unknown to Allied intelligence,
29:09a thousand battle-hardened
29:11Wehrmacht soldiers
29:12await the Americans.
29:20Allied landing craft
29:22snag on sandbanks,
29:24and most of the submersible tanks
29:26are launched too early
29:27and sink.
29:38American troops caught
29:40between the sea
29:40and experienced Wehrmacht fighters
29:43and experienced Wehrmacht fighters
29:44are sitting ducks.
29:46Omaha Beach is a disaster.
29:51Everything that could go wrong
29:52for the Americans on Omaha did.
29:55I mean, the plan failed miserably.
29:57You just ended up
29:57with thousands of men trapped
29:59under German machine gun fire
30:01on the beach.
30:05Many U.S. troops die
30:07in the first hail of bullets
30:09with over 3,000 casualties
30:12throughout the day.
30:18The British land an hour later
30:20at 7.25 a.m. on Sword Beach.
30:30Sappers and flail tanks
30:33clear beach mines,
30:34and it's a successful landing.
30:38In calmer seas,
30:40the submersible tanks
30:41are able to swim
30:43to the shoreline.
30:45But there are major
30:47fortified positions
30:48in this section
30:49of the Atlantic War.
30:51One of these strong points,
30:53codenamed Hillman,
30:54which is an absolute
30:55labyrinth of gun positions
30:57and just bogs down
30:58the British advance.
31:03At Juneau,
31:05the first Canadian landing craft
31:07hit the beach
31:08at 7.49 a.m.
31:10The Canadians are keen
31:12to avenge the loss
31:13of their comrades
31:14at Dieppe
31:15two years earlier.
31:18But they also
31:20suffer heavy losses.
31:2320 of 24 landing craft
31:25are sunk
31:26as a fast incoming tide
31:28pushes them
31:29towards Nazi mines
31:31and beach obstacles.
31:33At Gold Beach,
31:35the first British landing craft
31:37have arrived.
31:39When I had landed,
31:41water came up
31:42above my knees
31:43as I was sitting
31:44in a camp.
31:45All we wanted to do
31:47was get off that boat,
31:49get off that beach,
31:50and get up
31:51into hard ground.
31:53One or two other trucks
31:55hit bomb holes.
31:57They just sank.
31:59One silly fool
32:00in front
32:00decided that
32:01he wasn't going to
32:02wait in the queue.
32:05he blew up
32:06and that
32:06put the wind
32:07up the lot of us.
32:11When I got
32:12within sight
32:13of the beach,
32:14we could see
32:14explosions,
32:16a lot of smoke,
32:17a lot of machine gun fire,
32:19and then we were
32:19down the ramp
32:20and into the water.
32:22And the water
32:23came up
32:24to my waist.
32:26I was carrying
32:27a lot of equipment.
32:29And I thought,
32:30if I go down here,
32:31I'll never get up.
32:33Hunter's commanding officer
32:35is Major Kenneth Swan.
32:39Major Swan said,
32:41that wall by the track,
32:42make for there now.
32:43Don't stop for anything.
32:45He said,
32:46if you stop,
32:47you're dead.
32:48When we got past the wall
32:50onto the open field,
32:51there was a sniper
32:53shooting us.
32:56Major Swan,
32:57he turned to me
32:58and he said,
32:59I don't think
33:00I'll see England again.
33:04And you know
33:05he didn't.
33:12It isn't until
33:14nine o'clock
33:15in the morning,
33:16far away
33:16in the Alps,
33:17that Hitler
33:18finally wakes
33:20and assesses
33:21the news.
33:22He is briefed
33:24that there are
33:25two massive fleets
33:26bearing down
33:26on Calais.
33:28Normandy is no more
33:30than an elaborate diversion.
33:33Calais is the real target.
33:38Hitler is being duped
33:41by another elaborate
33:42British deception.
33:49Window is tinfoil
33:51that's dropped
33:52from an aeroplane
33:53and then is reflected
33:54by the enemy's radar.
33:56So it looked
33:57to German radar
33:58as though
33:59this was a fleet
34:00approaching
34:01very slowly.
34:02And that
34:04clearly
34:04was coming
34:05in the Paddock Alley.
34:07In land,
34:08more chaos ensues.
34:10As German troops
34:11rush to intercept
34:12Allied paratroopers,
34:14they discover
34:15many on miniature decoys
34:17known as Ruperts.
34:21Ruperts are dropped
34:22further inland
34:23in order to create
34:25a bigger chaos
34:26amongst the German defenders.
34:28If these come down,
34:29they go and rush,
34:30they find
34:31one of these Ruperts
34:32on the ground,
34:33then when the real
34:35parachute troops
34:36come down later,
34:37they'll think
34:37it's going to be
34:38the same thing.
34:41Despite around
34:4210,000 casualties
34:44in total,
34:45the sheer weight
34:46of numbers
34:46of Allied men
34:47and machinery
34:48landing on D-Day
34:49eventually overwhelmed
34:51most of the German
34:52defensive positions.
34:57In total,
34:59almost 160,000
35:01Allied troops
35:02cross the channel
35:03on D-Day.
35:06With their uniforms
35:08still wet,
35:09the British
35:09and Canadian
35:10infantry
35:11begin moving
35:12towards their next
35:13strategic target,
35:15the city of Caen.
35:17And Caen
35:18is absolutely vital
35:19for the Allied landings
35:20because it's
35:21this big road hub
35:22that radiates out
35:23in all directions
35:23from Normandy
35:24to the north,
35:26to the east,
35:26to the south,
35:27so they have to take it
35:28in order to expand
35:29out of the beachhead.
35:31Only at 3 p.m.,
35:33when most of the
35:34Allied beaches
35:34have been secured,
35:36does Hitler realize
35:37he has been
35:38completely fooled.
35:40Finally,
35:41he releases
35:42the 12th SS Panzer Division,
35:44manned by fanatical
35:45members of Hitler Youth,
35:47to join the 21st
35:48Panzer Division
35:49at Kong.
35:51Their combined forces
35:52can still push
35:53the Allies back
35:54into the sea.
35:57The commander
35:58of 12th SS Division
35:59is SS Standartenführer
36:02Kurt Meyer,
36:03a skillful
36:04Panzer commander,
36:05but also
36:06a ruthless Nazi.
36:08and he makes
36:09his men believe
36:10fighting in France
36:12is the same
36:12as fighting at home.
36:15The Hitler Youth Division
36:16fought ferociously
36:19and very often
36:21fought to the last cartridge.
36:27Some of the British troops
36:28have fighting experience
36:30in Italy and North Africa,
36:32but most have never
36:33come across a foe
36:34as deadly
36:35as an SS Panzer Division.
36:39But, critically,
36:41some of the 12th Division
36:42are sent to respond
36:43to another Allied
36:44paratrooper landing
36:45near Lisieux.
36:51In reality,
36:53they are heading
36:54to intercept
36:55yet more Ruperts.
36:58The Allied deception
36:59gains them crucial time,
37:03but the remaining half
37:04of the battle-hardened
37:05SS Panzer Division
37:07do reach Korm,
37:08and they are prepared
37:10to defend it
37:11to the death.
37:13The Germans
37:13built up
37:15a stiff defense line
37:16around Korm.
37:18After the landing,
37:19Allied troops
37:20are physically exhausted,
37:22and this allows
37:23the Germans
37:24to regroup
37:24their defenses.
37:25So, instead of
37:28a quick walk
37:29through Normandy,
37:30the on-suing battle
37:32is a war
37:32of attrition.
37:35In overall command
37:37of the Allied ground forces
37:38attempting to seize Korm
37:42is controversial
37:43Field Marshal
37:44Bernard Montgomery.
37:47Montgomery
37:48is a very
37:50self-centered character.
37:52He might well be
37:53mildly autistic,
37:54he didn't seem
37:56to have
37:56a great deal
37:57of empathy.
37:58He started
37:59to think of himself
38:00not so much
38:01as just a leader
38:02of troops,
38:02but as actually
38:03a figurehead.
38:04And there was
38:06a hell of a fight
38:07on here.
38:07This wasn't
38:08about Montgomery.
38:09This was about
38:10trying to get,
38:11ultimately,
38:12to Germany.
38:14And Monty
38:15doesn't exactly
38:16endear himself
38:17to his American
38:18counterparts.
38:20Whereas some
38:21other British generals
38:22understood the vital
38:23importance of getting
38:24along with the Americans
38:25and being civil to them,
38:27Montgomery was absolutely
38:28consistent throughout the war
38:29in insulting the Americans
38:31at every turn.
38:33Despite the strength
38:34and ferocity
38:35of the Panzer defenses,
38:37if Monty can break
38:38through at Korm,
38:39the Allies can make
38:40swift progress
38:41into France
38:42and ultimately
38:43Germany itself.
38:47Monty's mission
38:48is critical.
38:49The terrain beyond
38:51Caen
38:51is perfect tank country.
38:53If he can take
38:53Caen
38:54and its vital roads,
38:55he can then
38:56facilitate the breakup.
38:58A week after D-Day,
39:01in the town
39:01of Ville-Boccage,
39:03German tank commander
39:04Michael Whitman
39:06ambushes
39:06and destroys
39:07more than
39:0810 British tanks
39:10in an audacious
39:1115-minute attack.
39:14Even though it's only
39:16quite a minor
39:17tactical victory
39:18for the Germans,
39:20German propaganda
39:21portrays this
39:22as a huge victory
39:24over the Allies.
39:26Michael Whitman himself
39:27becomes a hero
39:28of Nazi propaganda.
39:30We came to
39:32Villers-Boccage.
39:34The Germans
39:35had placed
39:37tiger tanks
39:38in some of the houses.
39:41We had the order
39:42to shell
39:43these houses.
39:48There wasn't a single
39:50house standing
39:51in that village.
39:53We don't only
39:55killed Germans,
39:56we killed civilians.
39:59We were quite
40:00cut up about it.
40:01We were
40:01really,
40:02really
40:05distraught.
40:10While Monty
40:11is making
40:11little progress
40:12in Kong,
40:14the Americans
40:15in the West
40:16are also finding
40:18that breaking out
40:18from their beachheads
40:19is no easy matter.
40:23From the American
40:24side of the beaches,
40:25you're crossing
40:25Boccage country.
40:26These famous
40:27French hedgerows,
40:28which were built
40:29to divide the fields,
40:30and they were
40:31perfect to shelter
40:32crops from the wind.
40:34They also provide
40:35perfect cover
40:36for the Germans,
40:36and the Germans
40:37used them.
40:39So they've got
40:40men behind
40:41and even inside
40:42the hedgerows
40:42under perfect
40:43concealment,
40:44fire at these
40:45Allies trying to
40:45break out
40:46of the beachheads.
40:48The tall hedgerows
40:49of the Normandy
40:50Boccage
40:51are insurmountable
40:52for some of
40:53the Allies'
40:54Sherman tanks.
40:54Some are fitted
40:56with hedge-cutting
40:57teeth at the front
40:58to be able
40:59to get through them.
41:02But these Allied tanks
41:04are a poor match
41:05for the heavy
41:06German Panther tank.
41:09Sherman tanks
41:10quickly catch fire.
41:12The Germans call them
41:13Tommy Cookers.
41:17And the Germans
41:18have turned
41:19an anti-aircraft gun
41:20into an anti-tank gun,
41:22for which the Allies
41:24have little answer.
41:26Our artillery
41:27was far superior
41:29to the Germans,
41:31except for one
41:32gun that the Germans
41:34had.
41:34That was the 88mm.
41:37It was a very
41:38deadly gun.
41:41They could fire
41:42on our tanks
41:44before our tanks
41:45were near enough
41:46to use their
41:48ammunition.
41:49We were advancing
41:51along the main road.
41:54The roads were
41:55very dry,
41:55so the vehicles
41:57threw up a lot
41:58of dust.
42:00What we didn't
42:01realise,
42:02that a German
42:0388
42:05had
42:07pinpointed
42:08this road.
42:10The Germans
42:11saw it,
42:12sent over a shell,
42:15and bang,
42:16right in the middle
42:17of the truck
42:18it landed.
42:21He was full
42:22of petrol,
42:23and,
42:23well,
42:25there was nothing
42:26left.
42:27And I
42:29couldn't move.
42:30I was so shocked.
42:32I couldn't move.
42:39On the 18th of July,
42:41in an effort
42:42to break
42:42the deadlock
42:43around Caen,
42:44Operation Goodwood
42:46sees heavy bombers
42:47hit the German
42:48front line
42:49with over 7,000
42:50tons of bombs.
42:52The tank battle
42:54that follows
42:54is one of the largest
42:56the British army
42:57ever fights.
43:06A week later,
43:07American bombers
43:08hit the Germans
43:09near Saint-Lô
43:10with Operation Cobra.
43:18After seven weeks,
43:21the battle for Caen,
43:22predicted by Monty
43:23to last one day,
43:25reaches its endgame.
43:33The British
43:34and Canadians
43:35flush out
43:35German positions
43:36in brutal
43:37house-to-house
43:38fighting.
43:42The relentless
43:43Allied bombing
43:44campaign
43:45leaves Caen
43:46flattened.
43:54Thousands
43:55of French
43:56are caught
43:57in the crossfire.
43:59There was a lot
44:00of civilian casualties
44:01in Caen.
44:04When we went through,
44:05it was a terrible sight,
44:06really.
44:08It was ruined people,
44:11yeah,
44:11it was absolutely bad,
44:12very bad.
44:16German resistance
44:18weakens
44:18as they run low
44:20on ammunition,
44:21food,
44:21and equipment.
44:24Allied aerial supremacy
44:26sees Nazi supply lines
44:28bombed mercilessly.
44:37the 7th army tell Hitler
44:39they need 4,500 tons
44:42of supplies
44:43every day
44:44to fight the Allies.
44:46But little more than a quarter
44:48of this amount
44:48is getting through.
44:51With no petrol
44:52or spare parts,
44:54many German tanks
44:55are left abandoned.
44:57The Germans
44:58are getting chewed up,
44:59they've been ground down.
45:01When a Tiger tank
45:01fails mechanically,
45:03it's gone forever.
45:05There's no repair network.
45:06When a Sherman tank fails,
45:07there's a whole host
45:08of mobile workshops.
45:10The Germans
45:11are forced to rely
45:12on horse-storn transport
45:14to resupply
45:15their battered troops.
45:19The thing at that point
45:21that really surprised me
45:22was
45:22how many horses
45:24the Germans
45:25had been using.
45:27There were dozens
45:28of horses
45:29lying about.
45:30We were understood
45:32that it was
45:32a modern mechanised army.
45:35Because everybody
45:36looks at all the newsreels
45:37of panzers,
45:38they forget
45:39that the German army
45:40was still overwhelmingly
45:41a horse-drawn army.
45:43Americans and British
45:44were totally mechanised,
45:45and the Germans
45:46still were not.
45:48The Germans
45:49are bombed
45:50into submission
45:51as their front line
45:53collapses
45:53throughout Normandy.
45:56As the Americans
45:58approach
45:58from the south and west
45:59and British and Canadians
46:01from the north and east,
46:03100,000 German soldiers
46:05find themselves trapped
46:07in the Falaise pocket.
46:16With the Americans
46:17and us,
46:18we encircled
46:19the Falaise area
46:21and gradually moved in,
46:23tightened the cord
46:24and all the way around.
46:27The animals suffered
46:29most of all,
46:30and the stench
46:32from dead animals
46:33and dead bodies
46:34was tremendous.
46:36We had the job
46:39trying not to be sick
46:40ourselves
46:41as we drove through there
46:43because of the stench
46:45of death.
46:4810,000 soldiers
46:50are killed
46:50and 40,000
46:52taken prisoner.
46:54This means
46:55the end
46:56of the German army
46:58in France.
47:00With the collapse
47:01of the Eastern Front,
47:02it meant
47:03that in the summer
47:04of 1944,
47:06Germany had suffered
47:07two devastating defeats.
47:10The Germans suffered
47:12on average
47:13about 6,000
47:15to 6,500
47:16casualties per day.
47:19The German army
47:21is beaten
47:22in France,
47:23but not finished.
47:24Far from it.
47:2750,000
47:28escaped Falaise,
47:30including almost
47:31all the senior officers.
47:34Two or three weeks later,
47:36that same wrecked army,
47:37an amazing number
47:38of those formations
47:39were able to fight again
47:40and to keep the war going
47:42until May 1945.
47:44On the 25th of August 1944,
47:47Paris is finally liberated.
47:50But losses
47:52on both sides
47:52make victory
47:54for the Allies
47:55bittersweet.
47:57There are more
47:58than half a million
47:59Allied and German
48:00casualties
48:01in Normandy.
48:03A further 20,000
48:04French civilians
48:05are killed
48:06in the crossfire.
48:08The overall
48:09casualty rate
48:10per day
48:11is higher in number,
48:13proportionally
48:13than it was
48:14at the Somme
48:14or Verdun
48:15and Passchendaele
48:16in the First World War.
48:17The Germans
48:18kept on fighting
48:19when we thought
48:21that they shouldn't do.
48:23We just wanted
48:24to get in
48:24and get it over with,
48:25finish it.
48:28I must have had
48:29a good guardian angel
48:30for that day,
48:32same as I had
48:33for several other occasions
48:34that I can remember.
48:39A corner in the battle
48:41for Europe
48:42has been turned.
48:45The Normandy landings,
48:47there's no question
48:48they're resounding success.
48:49They are a real feat
48:50of arms
48:51and a real feat
48:52of technology,
48:53a real feat
48:53of American,
48:54British, Canadian courage.
48:56To have the Americans
48:58in place
48:58to defend Europe
49:00against Soviet domination
49:01was absolutely critical,
49:02and that's facilitated
49:04by the landings
49:05in Normandy.
49:07Dunkirk
49:07and the defeat
49:08of France
49:09has been avenged.
49:12Churchill said
49:13he'd fight them
49:14on the beaches
49:14and with help
49:16from the Allies
49:17has been true
49:18to his word.
49:20The war is not yet over,
49:22but D-Day
49:23and the battle
49:23for Normandy
49:24mark the beginning
49:26of the end.
49:29The war is not yet over,
49:57the war.
50:00MITE usar
50:00the war is not yet over,
50:02the war is not yet over.
50:14Arthur
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