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00:06Let's go.
01:06As night fell on the 5th of June, 1944, a vast armada of Allied ships was steaming across the English
01:13Channel. Its destination, the beaches of Normandy, in northwestern France.
01:23Above flew hundreds of bombers and fighters. At 5.30 a.m. on the morning of the 6th of June,
01:30the warships opened fire on the coast ahead.
01:42The German defenders ran to their positions as the bombardment increased in intensity.
01:57Landing craft began to make for the shore.
02:09Shortly after 6.30 a.m., the first landing craft beached, and their ramps came down.
02:15It was the culmination of nearly four years of planning and preparation.
02:23As early as the summer of 1940, when Britain stood alone, Prime Minister Winston Churchill had realised that only by
02:30re-entering continental Europe could the Axis powers be ultimately defeated.
02:41It was with this in mind that in June 1940, he ordered the formation of the Commandos, seen here raiding
02:47the Norwegian Lofoten Islands in March 1941.
02:50He also set up the Directorate of Combined Operations to develop the Art of Amphibious Warfare.
02:58But only active American help could ensure a successful assault on Fortress Europe.
03:04Hence Churchill's wooing of President Roosevelt during 1940 and 1941.
03:09The surprise Japanese attack on the Pacific Fleet Base at Pearl Harbor on the 7th of December 1941 finally brought
03:16America into the war, but initially only against Japan.
03:27This placed Roosevelt in a dilemma as to what to do about Germany and Italy.
03:32In the event, Hitler and Mussolini solved the problem by declaring war on the United States on the 11th of
03:39December.
03:40Two days later, Churchill sailed to meet Roosevelt in Washington DC for what was to be the first of the
03:46great Allied war conferences.
03:48It was codenamed Arcadia.
03:53Even though the Japanese were sweeping all before them, Arcadia upheld a policy decision made early in 1941
03:59that when and if America entered the war on Britain's side, priority would be given to the defeat of Germany.
04:06To this end, the Americans were to send troops to Britain for an offensive operation in Western Europe.
04:12But there was a divergence of opinion as to where to strike.
04:15The British wanted to complete the clearance of North Africa, including Vichy French Northwest Africa, before attacking Europe itself.
04:24The Americans favoured direct action against continental Europe.
04:28Eventually, three operations were agreed.
04:31One, Gymnast, was an invasion of French Northwest Africa, which would link up with the British 8th Army thrusting west
04:37through Libya.
04:38The second was to be an invasion across the English Channel in 1943, codenamed Roundup.
04:46Finally, if German pressure on Russia became unbearable, the British and Americans would launch Operation Sledgehammer somewhere in Western Europe.
04:55The first American troops landed in Britain, in Northern Ireland, at the end of January 1942.
05:03By the end of June, some 55,000 American troops had arrived in Britain, and the US 8th Air Force
05:09was also sent there.
05:15Their arrival gave the British people an enormous boost to morale.
05:19The Americans were like beings from another planet, to drab, war-weary Britain.
05:23Their seemingly endless supplies of chewing gum, candy bars, and nylon stockings, as well as their dancing ability, acted as
05:31a magnet to British women.
05:33Their menfolk were sometimes a little less enthusiastic.
05:36Overpaid, over-sexed, and over here, was the rueful comment.
05:42Fearful that Russia might be forced to make a separate peace with Germany, American agitation to strike early at continental
05:49Europe increased.
05:52In Britain, left-wing elements also began to press for the early opening of a second front.
05:58The Russians, too, argued that large Anglo-American forces being built up in Britain could not stand idle for long.
06:04Russia was having to face the bulk of Germany's military might, and she must have direct help.
06:10The British military planners were less sanguine.
06:13They had now spent 18 months examining plans for attacking fortress Europe.
06:18There had also been commando raids to gather information.
06:22A successful cross-channel operation required both air supremacy over the landing area,
06:27and sufficient amphibious shipping, both to land a sizeable force and to maintain it.
06:33Neither of these conditions existed in the spring of 1942.
06:37Yet, as the German summer 1942 offensive got underway, Russian pleas for a second front increased.
06:44The British believed that any major operation to assist the Russians would merely weaken the main invasion scheduled for 1943.
06:52The best they could offer was a 24-hour raid on Dieppe, the French channel port.
06:57But Roosevelt was keen that US troops should be in combat in Europe before the end of 1942.
07:02Otherwise, public opinion might force him to switch priority to the Pacific.
07:08Consequently, he consented to Gymnast, the invasion of French Northwest Africa.
07:17American General Dwight Eisenhower was placed in charge of Gymnast.
07:25In the meantime, the Anglo-American bomber offensive against Germany, as yet still in embryo,
07:30and Lend-Lease weapon supplies were all that could be done to help Russia.
07:37The British raid on Dieppe was eventually mounted in August 1942.
07:52It was officially described as a reconnaissance in force.
08:09But the operation turned out to be a disaster.
08:12The Germans were expecting such a raid, and the Canadian division involved,
08:17whose first combat experience this was, failed to get off the beach.
08:26The Canadians lost half their strength, killed or captured.
08:30Their sacrifice demonstrated only too starkly that the Allies were in no way ready to mount a major cross-channel
08:37attack.
08:39One of the many lessons learnt was that a landing at a defended port was unlikely to be successful.
08:54In contrast, the French Northwest African landings went ahead successfully in November 1942,
09:01with the Vichy French offering little resistance.
09:08The landings were followed by the Winter Campaign in Tunisia.
09:11In January 1943, at the height of the Tunisian campaign, Churchill and Roosevelt, together with their military staffs, met at
09:20Casablanca in Morocco.
09:22A number of crucial decisions were reached.
09:25Foremost was that the war could only be ended with the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers.
09:32The next major operation in Europe was to be the capture of Sicily.
09:36This meant that the cross-channel invasion was now not feasible for 1943.
09:40But the build-up of American forces in Britain would continue.
09:46The menace of the German U-boats in the Atlantic must also be finally overcome.
09:51This was essential for the security of the supply lines between North America and Europe.
10:05Also, the Anglo-American bomber forces in Britain were to launch a sustained air offensive on Germany in order to
10:12disrupt industry, lower morale, and wear down the Luftwaffe.
10:19Sicily was invaded in July 1943.
10:22By now, the Western Allies had decided that Italy should be knocked out of the war, and as many German
10:28divisions tied down there as possible.
10:37Accordingly, Anglo-American forces invaded the Italian mainland in September 1943.
10:43While the German troops there resisted fiercely, the Italian government quickly made peace.
10:52Now began a long and gruelling Allied advance up the Italian peninsula.
11:06But while British and American attention was focused on the Mediterranean, preparation for the cross-channel invasion had already begun.
11:14In April 1943, the British General Frederick Morgan was appointed Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander-designate, or
11:22Cossack for short.
11:24Cossack was to gather the maximum possible forces in Britain and draw up a number of plans.
11:29The most important was a cross-channel invasion of France as early as possible in 1944 under the code name,
11:36Overlord.
11:39Cossack's first problem was where to land on the French coast.
11:43The prime consideration was that it must be within range of England-based fighters.
11:47This reduced the options to the area within the arc shown on the map.
11:53Throughout the past three years, aircraft had been overflying the coastline taking photographs of the defences.
12:05Other information had been gathered from people's pre-war holiday postcards and photographs.
12:22Beaches had been analysed and special forces had and were continuing to test the defences through raids.
12:30There was also information flowing from the French resistance.
12:36Cossack deduced that there were only two feasible areas for landing a large force.
12:40The first was the Pas de Calais, where the channel was at its narrowest.
12:45But it was, in German eyes, the most likely point of attack.
12:48He therefore opted for Normandy, where the coastline was less heavily defended.
12:53He calculated that there would be sufficient shipping for three divisions to make the initial landings.
13:02To convince the Germans that the Pas de Calais was the target, an elaborate deception plan was drawn up.
13:09To prevent them reinforcing France from other theatres, false plans included landings in Norway, Brittany and the Balkans.
13:20Much technical ingenuity was employed.
13:23Artificial harbours, called mulberries, were designed and built.
13:28Towed across the channel, they would ensure the supply and reinforcement of the troops ashore until a major port, in
13:33this case Cherbourg, could be opened.
13:39To keep the forces ashore supplied with the vast amounts of fuel that warfare by then required, a pipeline was
13:46to be laid across the channel.
13:48Pluto, or pipeline under the ocean.
13:53Pluto's pumping stations were disguised as beach cafes and ice cream parlours.
14:05It was vital that tanks be landed with the first waves ashore.
14:09Those used at Dieppe in August 1942 had, with few exceptions, been unable to get off the beach.
14:15The British therefore began to develop what was called specialised armour, more popularly known as the Funnies.
14:22As well as swimming tanks, these included flamethrower vehicles to help overcome strong points.
14:35There were flail tanks for clearing lanes through minefields.
14:40Bridge-layer tanks enabled the armour to get across anti-tank ditches.
14:46There was another factor, the English Channel itself.
14:54Much meteorological research had to be done to establish the best time to cross and carry out landings on this
15:00piece of sea, which had a reputation for being unruly.
15:08It was at Quebec, capital of French-speaking Canada, that another Allied strategic conference was held, in August 1943.
15:16This approved Cossacks plans, but as yet no commanders for Overlord had been appointed.
15:24At least, though, the highly complex preparations for the invasion could now get properly underway.
15:33On the other side of the Channel, Hitler had ordered the construction of the Atlantic Wall.
15:38The system of concrete gun emplacements and strong points all along the French coast.
15:47But once Hitler had decided to commit his main war effort to attacking Russia, the defence of Western Europe became
15:54a much lower priority.
15:56It was largely garrisoned by low-grade troops.
16:05Field Marshal Geert von Rundstedt, who assumed as Commander-in-Chief West in early 1942,
16:12increasingly complained of this, especially in the light of the build-up of Allied forces in Britain.
16:26It was not, however, until November 1943, that Hitler finally woke up to the looming danger in the West.
16:33He ordered a strengthening of the forces deployed there, and sent Ervin Rommel, who had been such a thorn in
16:39the flesh of the British forces in North Africa, on a tour of inspection.
16:43He then appointed Rommel to command the defences of northern France.
16:51Rommel believed that the invasion must be defeated on the beaches, and set about strengthening the coast defences.
17:01These included the erection of obstacles on all possible landing beaches.
17:11Rommel also wanted to keep the panzer divisions close to the coast, but their commander wanted to keep them concentrated
17:17to strike at the Allies once they were ashore.
17:20Hitler stepped in, and eventually a compromise was reached.
17:24Rommel would be allowed a third of the tanks.
17:26A third would remain in southern France, and the remainder held as a central reserve, but not to be moved
17:32without Hitler's permission.
17:39By autumn 1943, preparation for Overlord was well underway.
17:44But the Allies had still not appointed a commander.
17:47They had merely agreed that he should be an American, because of their larger forces.
17:53Not until December was Eisenhower, who was the Allied Commander in the Mediterranean, appointed as Supreme Commander.
18:00He was by now well experienced in holding together Allied forces.
18:08The British Airman, Arthur Tedder, was to be Eisenhower's deputy.
18:12Bernard Montgomery would command the ground forces.
18:15British sailor, Bertram Ramsey, would have the naval forces.
18:19And Omar Bradley, the American ground troops.
18:23Another British Airman, Trafford Lee Mallory, was to be air commander.
18:27And American, Walter Bedell Smith, Eisenhower's chief of staff.
18:31Not, however, until January 1944, would the team assemble in Britain.
18:37Montgomery's return to Britain was to the adulation of her people, on account of his desert victories.
18:43He and Eisenhower immediately altered Cossack's plan.
18:46Instead of three divisions landing with two airborne divisions to secure the flanks, they enlarged the initial assault.
18:53Five divisions would land in the first wave, with an additional airborne division to help secure the western flank.
18:59The wider frontage would enable a quicker build-up in the beachhead.
19:08But this increase in landing strength meant that more amphibious shipping was needed.
19:17Apart from that being built, much was still tied up in the Mediterranean.
19:22Here, the failure of the January 1944 Anzio landings, quickly to break the Italian deadlock and capture Rome, delayed the
19:30return of landing craft and ships to Britain.
19:33It meant that Overlord could not take place until the end of May 1944.
19:43One other major problem that faced Eisenhower was the Allied strategic bombing forces.
19:48They were continuing to pound Germany by day and night, in line with what had been agreed at Casablanca in
19:55January 1943.
19:58Eisenhower wanted the bombers to prepare the ground for Overlord, in a more direct way, by helping to destroy the
20:04Luftwaffe in France, and the road and railway communications to the invasion area.
20:17The American bomber commander, Karl Spatz, believed that oil was the key target.
20:23Destruction of refineries would paralyse German communications, he argued.
20:27Arthur Harris, his British counterpart, continued to advocate attacks against morale.
20:34Eisenhower, however, eventually got his way, and the bombers came under his command in mid-April 1944.
20:41They now began a systematic campaign against not just communications to Normandy, but throughout northern France.
20:47The air forces also attacked Luftwaffe airfields and destroyed numerous aircraft in the air.
20:55Attacks on trains almost paralysed the French rail network.
21:15By now, the forces earmarked for the initial landings were undergoing intensive rehearsals, using British beaches similar to those on
21:23which they would land in Normandy.
21:28During one of these exercises, on Slapton Sands in Devon, German e-boats by chance intercepted the amphibious shipping.
21:36Some 600 American servicemen lost their lives.
21:44The date of the 5th of June was finally selected as D-Day.
21:48Some two weeks earlier, the troops began to move to their marshalling areas on the south coast of England.
22:08Theí•´pidland
22:08Heir, they were put into sealed camps with no contact with the outside world and briefed on their tasks.
22:18on the 31st of May the troops their vehicles and equipment began to board the ships that
22:24would take them across the channel the past few days have been glorious summer weather
22:40but this began to change soon it became clear that a deep depression was approaching the channel
22:46thus on the evening of the 3rd of June Eisenhower decided to postpone D-Day by 24 hours
22:55some convoys had already set sail and had to be recalled it was an anxious time
23:05in the meantime a flood of coded messages were being broadcast by the BBC to the French
23:10resistance who had a vital part to play in blocking roads and railways to hinder the
23:15movement of German reserves to Normandy the following evening Eisenhower and his commanders
23:26were told of likely better weather on the 6th of June early next morning the 5th he decided
23:33that the invasion must go ahead the next day the paratroops British and American now began
23:39to make their final preparations for they would be the first to land in France
23:53that evening the 5th of June Eisenhower went to see American paratroopers board their aircraft
23:59they were to drop in the southeast corner of the Cherbourg Peninsula the target of their British
24:05counterparts who's the eastern flank of the Allied beachhead across the other side of the English
24:14Channel the Germans watched but their high command believed that the poor weather made an invasion
24:19unlikely many generals were away from their command posts that night Allied aircraft were out in force over
24:27northern France some used electronic means to create a picture on German radar screens of ships approaching the
24:34Pas de Calais no less than 1700 tons of bombs were dropped on coastal defenses then the two American airborne
24:44divisions and one British began to drop they landed more scattered than had been planned but were soon tackling their
24:51various objectives
24:55ships out at sea the vast fleet of ships moved in on the Normandy coast
25:06the assaulting troops began to transfer to their landing craft
25:14as they did so no less than 112 warships began to pound the coastal batteries the landing craft formed up
25:23and closed to the shore
25:36the German batteries began to fire hitting some landing craft others fell foul of
25:43underwater obstacles but still they came on tanks started to swim ashore protected by flotation screens
25:58then the landing craft grounded
26:03the ramps came down and the troops rushed out finally what they had trained for over the months
26:09and years was being put to the test the Allied landings in Normandy caught the Germans by surprise
26:18for some hours they believed that they were merely a diversionary operation to mask the expected
26:23main landings in the Pas de Calais Hitler's headquarters was unwilling therefore to allow the Panzer reserves to
26:31deploy to Normandy this enabled the Allied troops to land without suffering overwhelming casualties
26:43even so it was only their thorough preparation and training which prevented serious confusion on the beaches
26:53the German coastal defenders the German coastal defenders fought back
27:06but they could not prevent more and more waves of troops from getting ashore
27:27soon the attackers were moving off the beaches and beginning to fight their way inland
27:39soon the attackers were moving off the beaches and beginning to fight their way inland
27:44this enabled more troops to be landed but neither the British nor Americans were able to reach their planned
27:50final objectives for D-Day
28:10Dazed German prisoners began to be brought in amidst French civilians welcoming their liberators
28:22Allied air power was overwhelming and very few German aircraft took to the skies over Normandy on D-Day the
28:296th of June
28:30indeed the pre-invasion air offensive reduced the available German air protection of Normandy to just 100 fighters
28:37they recorded just 319 sorties on D-Day as compared to over 14,500 Allied sorties
28:55the weight of bombs combined with the naval bombardment served to numb many defenders
29:07the result was that by the evening of D-Day the Allies were well ashore with over 150,000 men
29:13landed
29:25the British were on sword and gold beaches the Canadians on Juneau
29:29and the Americans on Omaha and Utah only Omaha which was dominated by steep cliffs presented a real problem
29:40with the attackers pinned down for much of the day on the beach
29:47Hitler had eventually released the panzer reserves in the afternoon their move forward was fraught with difficulty
29:53blown bridges meant extensive detours
29:59the panzers were constantly harassed by air attack
30:02the result was that the German armour was unable to mount a quick counter-attack
30:07and this enabled the Allies to secure and link up their beach heads
30:25the German resistance inland quickly stiffened as they recovered from the initial shock of the landings
30:36tough Waffen SS troops began to join in the fighting
30:44much of the Normandy terrain was bocage
30:47the French term for mixed pasture and woodland
30:50in practice it meant small fields with high hedge-topped banks
30:54ideal for defensive fighting
30:56combat-hardened German paratroops used the bocage to good effect
31:01all along the Allied front the going was equally tough
31:08Allied air power remained supreme in the skies above Normandy
31:11but it did not deter the Germans
31:20this was even though Allied aircraft constantly harried German troops
31:37slowly in the face of a sometimes almost fanatical defense the Allies inched forward
31:45but in spite of the intense pressure German cohesion did not noticeably weaken
31:50some very good
32:09stormy weather two weeks after D-Day did not help matters
32:17the mulberry harbors which had been functioning well were seriously damaged delaying the allied
32:22build-up not until towards the end of June were the Americans able to break into Sherbrooke and
32:30force its garrison to surrender but it would be several weeks before the port was back in working
32:40use calm originally a British D-Day objective took six weeks bitter fighting to capture in
32:47the face of a fanatical defense by men of the Waffen SS Hitler Youth Division
33:01yet the Germans were growing ever more desperate in spite of pleas by von Rundstedt and Rommel Hitler
33:08refused to countenance any voluntary surrender of ground the constant combat was exhausting
33:15the German troops and their casualties were mounting on Hitler's orders von Rundstedt had
33:28been replaced by Gunther von Kluge in early July but on the 20th of the month Colonel Klaus von
33:35Stauffenberg a staff officer placed a briefcase bomb time to go off during a Hitler conference at his
33:41headquarters in East Prussia it detonated and plotters in Berlin proclaimed Hitler's death
33:47in Paris SS Gestapo and other Nazi officials were arrested but Hitler survived the bomb blast and was
34:02fit enough to meet Mussolini that afternoon the plotters were quickly arrested
34:09distinguished soldiers and other public figures were arraigned before a court presided over by
34:14the notorious Nazi judge Roland Freisler many were hanged one who escaped this fate was Rommel wounded
34:22three days before the bomb blast but implicated in the plot he was though forced to commit suicide to
34:29protect his family back in Normandy by the last week in July Montgomery had succeeded in drawing the bulk of
34:38the
34:38German armor onto the British in the East this enabled the Americans to begin the breakout from the West it
35:02was spearheaded by George S Patton's US Third Army
35:08Patton himself was a cavalryman who had commanded tanks in France in 1918 he well understood the potential for armor
35:19to exploit a breakout
35:35his tank spearheads his tank spearheads were soon thrusting into Brittany and eastwards into the heart of France
35:43the final act in Normandy was played out in mid-August around Falaise the Allies tried to trap the remaining
35:50German forces there some managed to escape eastwards the remainder were pulverized from the air
36:05the resultant carnage was a stark illustration of how air power could influence the ground battle
36:17now as the shattered German remnants withdrew eastwards the Allies began at lightning advance
36:23town after town was liberated to the joy of their inhabitants
36:37the climax came on the 25th of August when French Polish and American troops entered Paris
36:57but this was amid fighting as the hard core of the German garrison fought it out with members of the
37:03French army of the interior who had risen against their occupiers as the Allies approached the capital
37:13to this day if you walk the streets of Paris you will see small memorials to those French people killed
37:19in the fighting at the spot where they fell
37:39it was ironical that while these street battles were being fought across the other side of Europe the Polish home
37:45army was also fighting the Germans in their capital Warsaw
37:50the difference was that in Paris the Liberators entered and helped
38:05it was a moment of triumph for Charles de Gaulle just over four years earlier with but a few supporters
38:12he had hoisted his free French banner in Britain
38:15now he returned to his capital and took over the reins of power
38:23even so die-hard German defenders did their best to mire the festivities but they failed to stop them
38:47meanwhile on the 15th of August the German dilemma had been compounded by American and French landings in the south
38:53of France
38:59these forces now began to thrust northwards up the Rhone Valley
39:08onwards thrust the Allies on the third of September the British liberated the Belgian capital Brussels
39:27that same day far to the south French troops entered Lyon they were led by the illustrious Jean-Marie Lattre
39:36de Tassigny
39:41it seemed as though nothing could stop the Western allies from entering Germany itself but there was a growing problem
39:54Hitler had ordered the garrisons of the French English channel ports to hold out to the last map
39:59this meant that the Allies could not use them to supply their rapid advance and continued to have to rely
40:05mainly on Cherbourg
40:06the result was ever longer supply lines which eventually became overstretched
40:18in time the tanks began to run out of fuel and were forced to halt
40:36this gave the Germans a breathing space to regain their cohesion
40:40the Allies now faced the possibility of another inch by inch struggle forwards
40:59but Montgomery now proposed to Eisenhower that instead of continuing to try and advance on a broad front
41:05the Allies should concentrate on a single thrust through Holland aimed at turning the flank of the German defenses on
41:12the Rhine
41:15the result was operation market guard which was mounted on the 17th of September
41:20two American airborne divisions dropped at Eindhoven and Grave to seize crossings over the waterways there
41:29the British first airborne division later reinforced by the Polish parachute brigade
41:34landed further north at Arnhem in order to capture its bridge over the Rhine
41:57the Americans quickly seized their key bridges they were much helped by information given by the local Dutch people
42:08in order to link up with the airborne troops
42:09simultaneously British forces began to advance northwards across the Belgian border
42:13in order to link up with the airborne troops
42:23they succeeded in joining hands with the two American airborne divisions
42:27but then the advance sloped as the Germans counter-attacked into the flanks of the narrow British salient
42:37at Arnhem the operation did not go so well
42:39the British and Polish paratroops landed close to where two SS panzer divisions were refitting
43:01in spite of stiff opposition the paratroops got into Arnhem and reached the crucial bridge over the Rhine
43:07in spite of stiff opposition the paratroops got into Arnhem and reached the crucial bridge over the Rhine
43:15after the cutoff the British were forced to surrender
43:18although some managed to escape across the Rhine
43:20Arnhem had been a bridge too far
43:23and allied hopes for ending the war in 1944
43:26faded
43:29yet at the beginning of October
43:30the Americans began to attack Germany's main defensive line
43:34along her western border the West Wall
43:48they first penetrated it south of Aachen
43:51which lay close to the Dutch and Belgian borders with Germany
43:59Aachen itself the first important German town attacked by the Allies proved a tough nut to crack
44:05it took days of bitter fighting before it finally fell on the 21st of October
44:20further south the Germans used the French Maginot Line to good effect to hold up the Americans
44:32nevertheless US forces continued to push into the German Rhineland
44:48the Allied supply situation had begun to improve
44:51with the gradual reduction of the French Channel ports
44:54one, Dunkirk, scene of the Allied evacuation in May 1940
44:59would however hold out until the end of the war
45:03but the Allies needed a major port closer to the battlefront
45:08consequently so that Belgium's main port of Antwerp could be open to Allied shipping
45:12an amphibious attack was mounted in early November
45:15against the island of Valcheren at the mouth of the river Scheldt
45:31this landing was successful
45:40after minesweepers had been sent into the Scheldt Antwerp was unloading ships by the end of November
45:49Hitler however was not content to remain on the defensive in the west
45:53in mid-September he announced his intention of mounting a major counteroffensive
45:58he ordered the formation of a new 6th Panzer Army under SS General Sepp Dietrich
46:04it was largely made up of reconstituted SS Panzer divisions
46:085th Panzer Army was also refurbished for this offensive
46:17the final plan called for a thrust through the Ardennes
46:20directed on Antwerp to split the British forces in the north from the Americans
46:25Hitler's generals wanted a more modest operation but he overrode them
46:31on the 8th of December 1944 the attacking troops over 200,000 strong began to deploy
46:38moving mainly by night
46:41the indicators of an impending attack were pressed
46:43but the Allies considered the Germans to be no longer capable of mounting a major offensive
46:51the sector about to be attacked had been quiet
46:54and was held by divisions recovering from fierce fighting to the north
46:58and others fresh from the United States
47:02before dawn on the 16th of December the Germans fired an intense barrage
47:23helped by fog infantry moved forward to break into the American lines
47:28they were followed by armoured battle groups who quickly broke through the surprised and confused defenders
47:52the Germans continued to thrust ever deeper
47:55the Germans continued to thrust ever deeper
48:08bewildered Americans found themselves cut off
48:14desperately the Americans tried to regroup as the Panzer battle groups continued westwards
48:34American reinforcements were attacked before they could deploy
48:47starved of luxuries for many months
48:49one bonus for the Germans was American cigarettes and ration packs
48:57more and more American prisoners were taken and sent to the rear
49:03but not all American units broke
49:05some stood and fought
49:07notably at the Belgian town of Bastogne
49:09where they refused to surrender even though surrounded
49:27also having failed to capture American fuel dumps the German advance began to slow
49:34to the south
49:35to the south
49:36Patton's third army began to attack into the German salient
49:43this meant switching his army through 90 degrees
49:46but it was done within 48 hours
50:00even the coming of snow did not hinder Patton's men
50:12soon the Germans were feeling the pressure in their flank
50:19while they fought desperately
50:21they could not prevent Patton from pushing north towards Bastogne
50:42by the beginning of 1945 the Americans were advancing to recapture the ground they had lost
51:01yet the counter-offensive in the Ardennes had shown that the Germans still had plenty of fight left in them
51:14nevertheless the Allies could now resume their thrust towards Germany's last natural defense obstacle in the west
51:21the river Rhine
51:24must we Cannot from all 3
51:29morning
51:29camp
51:29there
51:30some
51:30people
51:30oh
51:32y
51:39my
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