D-Day: The Biggest Military Gamble In History | Battlezone | War Stories

[Music] um [Music] first striking forces in the most momentous assault of all time were the paratroopers scheduled to drop behind the enemy's lines the 175 000 men who made up the air and ground forces for the cross-channel attack arrived at the various ports of embarkation on the english coast by june 3rd under heavy guard the thousands of ships and small craft which comprise the invasion fleet were waiting in readiness to take aboard their human cargo more than 4 000 ships and small craft were to vary across the channel the men who were to land on the french coast on d-day itself to facilitate the advance of the troops once the invasion was launched thousands of vehicles were loaded aboard the same ships which were to transport the men on the days directly preceding d-day the southern coasts of england were alive with the allied invasion forces were bracing themselves for the mighty airport which at that moment was looked upon by many as the greatest military gamble in history in spite of the vastness of the force of men and equipment involved in the attack preparations for the departure of the assault units were conducted smoothly and efficiently the last of the ships which were to participate in the d-day assault were loaded to capacity and the time for departure from the english coast was finally at hand [Applause] in the late afternoon of june 5th d-day -1 all preparations finally ended [Applause] the invasion fleet moved into the channel and made ready to assume the intricate pattern of positions from which the following morning the invasion of the french coast of the nazis european fortress would be launched the moment all the world was tensely awaiting was now only hours away the plan was for free allied airborne divisions to land behind the beaches to cut nazi communications and disorganize the enemy then some five hours later the first allied invasion troops were to storm ashore on a 50-mile stretch of the french coast bordering the english channel d-day finally dawned the weather was favorable the attack on the french coast was stepped up the airplane already in execution called for the progressive wearing down of the luftwaffe and the destruction of critical points in the rail and highway systems so as to isolate the coastal areas selected for assault for d-day the air forces were charged with the responsibility of demolishing selected targets in the enemy's coastal defenses providing overhead cover and rendering general fighter bomber support the nazi planes that got off the ground didn't get very far [Music] allied pilots gave it the a treatment [Music] in england early on d-day gliders which were to carry gi's to reinforce the paratroopers were prepared for the takeoff the first group of 51 gliders carried about 150 men plus anti-tank weapons to be landed before the beaches were invaded in the early morning of june 6th the first group of gliders was pulled off the ground and towed out across the channel to be cut loose over the area where the paratroopers had dropped earlier the small fields in which they were forced to land caused serious losses [Music] the first report came from the airborne units i had visited only a few hours earlier and was most encouraging in town san marcos was the first town to be captured by american paratroopers early on d-day morning in addition to seizing key spots to facilitate the advance of the major forces the airborne troops proved invaluable as scouts one of their most important functions was the determination of enemy strength throughout the french coastal provinces meanwhile in the rough waters of the channel the giant invasion fleet was proceeding carefully toward the french coast carrying the greatest amphibious force in history virtually every type of a light assault vessel was pressed into use for the operation the invasion armada had a complement of 4 100 ships and small craft and carried 150 000 troops thousands of vehicles and weapons and tons of supplies in spite of close quarters in the channel the vast invasion fleet made the crossing successfully suffering the loss of not a single vessel by german action with all in readiness and eight hour drawing close the men rededicated their efforts the gis and the navy gun crews waited expectantly for an enemy air attack but strangely there was none one of the most important and dirtiest of preparatory jobs was done by the mine sweepers which moved in and exploded mines just off the coast clearing safe channels for the assault boats losses among the 200 mine sweepers engaged in this hazardous mission were slightly the germans though surprised by our attack in relatively rough weather were quick to contest the invasion the coastal defenses which they had spent years in preparing for this moment were readied for action without delay in the early morning hours just before each hour when allied troops were scheduled to set foot on french soil the showdown battle of europe was begun well the troops prepared to go ashore the savage battle for domination of the beaches started allied warships trained their heavy guns on the german coastal defenses which had not been knocked out by the allied air bombardment as usual the destroyers in closer to the beach do the enemies fire with their targets spotted the warships went into action [Music] while the battle raged on the transports prepared to send their troops ashore the men embarked calmly on the last leg of their trip for some this was their first time in action after the planes and the warships had done their jobs the final outcome of the mighty battle depended largely on the infantryman the gis and the landing boats were fully aware that they were the center of attention springing to the defense of their european fortress the germans prepared to mask their strength in the area of our landings for a heavy counter-blow somehow they hadn't been expecting in a light landing at that exact time [Music] for the troops this was it the british and canadians forming the british second army landed on the left flank of the assault against determined that's the opposition on the right flank the american first army troops stormed ashore under heavy enemy fire our victory in world war ii hung in the balance three american divisions poured ashore on omaha and utah beaches and fought desperately for a foothold it looked like a tough battle ahead with the issue very much in doubt it was a tough battle and american prospects for the immediate future were anything but right casualties on d-day were heavy especially on omaha beach 3 000 american soldiers were killed wounded and missing on omaha beach alone on that first day along some of the beaches landing conditions were highly unfavorable some of the landing boats were badly and so the combat strength of their units was not seriously diminished by d-day afternoon american artillery was ashore and in use in the late afternoon of d-day some of the beaches were secured and the troops began the drive inland to keep the enemy off balance every allied advance was slowed down considerably by nazi obstacles the french coastal area had been liberally planted with mines which the nazis always believed in using plentifully our mine detection units reaped an abundant harvest in the country near the beaches [Music] although the offensive was hampered by the innumerable nazi mines the detection units cleared the areas quickly enabling the troops to move forward without much delay complicating the problem on the american front was the prevalence of formidable hedgerows in the bokage country in almost every row were hidden machine gunners or small combat teams who were in perfect position to decimate our infantry as they doggedly crawled and crept to the attack along every avenue of approach in their drive up the peninsula toward shear board the gis of the first army all veterans now hammered at the nazis without let up there were no large-scale surrenders but enough prisoners were taken to supply allied intelligence officers with up-to-the-minute information about the enemy during the first week's fighting allied casualties mounted with appalling swiftness to thousands of dead wounded and missing as the conflict wore on i grew constantly more bitter against the germans particularly the hitler gang on all sides there was always evidence of the destruction that hitler's ruthless ambition had brought about every battle every skirmish demanded its price in broken bodies and in the extinction of the lives of young allied soldiers hundreds of brokenhearted fathers mothers and sweethearts wrote me personal letters begging for some hope that a loved one might still be alive every one of these i answered and i know of no more effective means of developing an undying hatred of those responsible for aggressive war than to assume the obligation of attempting to express sympathy to families bereaved by it wreckage littered the landing areas particularly at omaha beach where rough seas and very heavy german fire resulted in the disabling of quantities of our landing path on june 7th the day following the first landings general eisenhower accompanied by his naval commander-in-chief admiral ramsey toured the assault area offshore by destroyer the weather had improved considerably thus making it possible for the allies to follow up their initial success by quickly landing reinforcements and large quantities of materiel the period from d-day to our decisive breakout was a definite phase of the allied operation from the day we landed the battle never settled down except in isolated spots to anything resembling the trench warfare of the first world war but it was the possibility of such an eventuality that we could never forget bradley had predicted that the capture of cherbourg was going to be a rather nasty job and counted on speed and boldness as much as upon the strength of his assaulting forces to gain an early decision in that area his estimate was 10 days if we are lucky 30 if we are not all such predictions depended of course upon our success in maintaining the scheduled build-up landing tables provided in great detail for the daily and hourly arrival of given quantities of every kind of fighting unit sandwiched in between the ammunition and other supplies which were required not only for the daily operations but to provide the reserves to sustain continuous action once we should pass to the decisive stages of the battle [Music] oh [Music] with the historic normandy landing successfully accomplished the allies to stop their situation on june 7 d-day plus one general eisenhower and admiral ramsey his naval commander-in-chief inspected the landing beast with an eye to the problem of landing the large additional forces needed for the big drive against hitler's army it was necessary to provide a means for sheltering beach supply from the effect of storms to solve this problem we undertook to construct artificial harbors on the coast of normandy one type of protected anchorage named mulberry was practically a complete harbor the principal construction unit in the mulberry was an enormous concrete ship called a phoenix box like in shape and so heavily constructed that when numbers of them were sunk end to end along the strip of the coast they would probably provide solid protection against almost any wave action elaborate auxiliary equipment to facilitate unloading and all types of gear required in the operation of a modern port were planned for and provided british and american sectors each at one of the mulberry ports so here ships and landing craft could continue to unload in any except the most vicious weather we had simultaneously to build up on the beaches the reserves in troops ammunition and supplies would enable us within a reasonable time to initiate deep offenses with the certainty that these could be sustained through an extended period of decisive action as in every campaign in world war ii one of the first orders of business following the invasion was the quick construction of airfields from which to support the advance of the ground forces experienced construction units built new airfields on the continent as fast as they were called for in each case the strips were in use a miraculously short time after the men started work the results of their efficiency were readily felt especially by the enemy [Music] last one a week after the assault troops have stormed ashore on the normandy beaches the supreme commander of allied forces was the host for a tour of inspection of the area by several unexpected visitors from washington i arranged to take general marshall admiral king general arnold and a group from their respective staff into the beachhead during the day of june 12th their presence as they roamed around the areas with every indication of team satisfaction is heartening to the troops the importance of such visits by the high command can scarcely be overestimated in terms of their value to soldiers morale on that same day june 12 1944 the first flying bomb known as v1 reached london the v1 was a small pilotless airplane which flew at high speed on a predetermined force and terminated its flight by means of settings in its mechanism it contained a large amount of explosive which detonated upon contact and the blast effect was terrific the depressing effect of the bombs was not confined to the civilian population soldiers at the front began again to worry about friends and loved ones at home and many american soldiers asked me whether i could give them any news about particular towns in southern england the effectiveness every means at hand was used to try to explode them before they landed [Music] in germany construction was being rushed on newer more devastating weapons in the final stages of its experimental phase the v-2 rocket bomb was being ready for use against england in early tests many v2s turned out to be failures but after two years of experimentation the rockets were performing well enough for leading german engineers to persuade hitler that their use in large numbers against england would achieve wholesale destruction the first non-experimental launching was set for late summer on june 19th the hurricane struck it stopped for a period of four days nearly all landing activity on the beaches and therefore interfered seriously with every operation during that time sea communications between the united kingdom and the continent were completely interrupted on the day of the storm's ending i counted more than 300 wrecked vessels above small boat signs some so badly damaged they could not be south there was no sight in the war that so impressed me with the industrial might of america as the wreckage on the landing beaches to any other nation the disaster would have been almost decisive but so great was america's productive capacity that the great storm occasions little more than a ripple in the development of our build-up general bradley had predicted that the capture of sheriff work was going to be a rather nasty job and counted on speed and boldness as much as upon the strength of his assaulting forces to gain an early decision in that era his estimate was 10 days if we are lucky 30 if we are not the capture of cherbourg a major port was a matter of immediate importance american gis of the seventh four assigned to the job expected stiff resistance from the defending nazi garrison before our big guns went into action to soften up the german positions american club planes again proved invaluable in spotting enemy strong points [Music] once their positions were spotted our attack got going without delays [Music] [Applause] ah cherbourg itself was strongly defended but by june 25th the first american troops forced their way into the city after a vicious battle and paved the way for the final chapter but first the gis had a last remnant of the nazi gathering to silence [Music] uh the gis had to finish them off one by one shipwork finally fell on june 27th just three weeks after d-day the area yielded some 000 nazi prisoners most of whom had fought stubbornly until confronted by american infantry for fools these nazis seemed surprised indeed to find themselves in a right hand and especially in such a short time their grandiose dreams of victory had never ended in such a humiliating spectacle after several days there were few reminders of the nazi occupation to the citizens of cherbourg life began again [Applause] the nazis in their customary fashion had succeeded in pretty thoroughly wrecking skillboards but the allies now controlled a major port which would enable them to deliver large quantities of supplies for the troops much more quickly general eisenhower was greatly pleased with the performance of the troops under general bradley and lights and joe collins on the western flanks in the battle of the beaches in their first rail test on french soil they had come through in fine soil montgomery's tactical handling of the british and canadians on the eastward flank involved the kind of work in which he excelled the morale of his forces remained high in spite of frustrations and losses that could easily have shaken troops under a commander and whom they did not place their implicit trust khan did not fall to our initial rush as we had hoped the battling in that area reached a sustained and intensive pitch rommel defended tenacious [Music] for weeks the battle for kyle raised but the germans continued to hold on under montgomery's heaviest assault [Music] after a month of steady bombing and shelling car finally was taken by montgomery's men on july 9th the community or what was left of it was liberated at last and the townsfolk no longer moved about from the shadow of the nazi conquerors the younger inhabitants who had been children when the nazis swept through france in 1940 were especially happy to be liberated after the capture of half of the british the advance of allied forces on all fronts was slowed down the battle for position and the building up reserves progressed at times with disappointing slowness there always exists the problem of maintaining morale among fighting men while they are suffering losses and are meanwhile hearing their commanders criticized to offer a lift to morale general eisenhower personally decorated a number of gis who had distinguished themselves in battle the need for nourishing food and sufficient rest became matters of primary concern for even the most hardened combat soldiers if they were to stay in good fighting trim these needs had to be satisfied periodically even though it meant that they would have to be pulled out of the lines in a tough campaign most effective morale builder for many gis was a chance to renew their spiritual life to many gis who had their faith to comfort them even the prospect of death seemed easier to bear which were not trimmed in many of the liberated french towns and villages the inhabitants were anxious to demonstrate their appreciation of deliverance from their nazi conquerors [Music] he's [Music] is [Music] meanwhile a concentrated allied attack was already overdue the key point on the allied offensive was the town of san lord from which allied commanders planned to break out in spite of strong enemy counteractions the capture of san lo was a major step in breaking through the heavy layer of nazi resistance the weather which had been bad grew abominably worse and for the following week all of us went through a period of agonizing fences he had to draw plans to take advantage of the first favorable break in the weather finally on july 25th seven weeks after d-day the attack was launched from the approximate line we had expected to hold on d plus five stretching from count through promo to sound low as expected their lives had a tough job on their hands [Music] progress on the first day was slow but it was always slow going in the early phases of such an attack with the germans fighting desperately to contain them bradley's forces continued their punishing attacks in the following week he slashed his way downward to the base of the peninsula the clean and decisive breakout achieved bradley's immediate problem became that of inflicting on the enemy the greatest possible destruction [Music] the allies drove almost due south to iran the first army then turned eastward to hit the german flank but the enemy contested this action his attacks which were thrown in at the town of morton just east of avranch began on august 7th the weight of the nazi assault was centered on a five-mile front between mortar and sword which was defended by two american divisions throwing six somewhat better tank divisions into the battle the nazis continued their counter attention for three days their games were tiny a matter of only a few miles but they fanatically carried on their attack in spite of equally determined opposition [Music] they used every available weapon in their sustained attack on our tanks and proof [Music] [Applause] they matched us weapons for weapons [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] from time to time all over new england we gather at our town halls to hammer out the public opinion in meetings like this [Music] sometimes the meetings get out of hand and we argue back when the moderator wraps for order but we like it that way because we figure we elected him to the job in the first place this particular meeting was pretty much like all the rest except that the moderator called on joseph joseph was self-conscious and i had to persuade him to speak this was joseph's first town meeting his first and his last six months before joseph had been a stranger to covington as joseph's minister i felt i had come to know him a little better than others had in those six months and watching him speak as a neighbor and friend i was remembering the day joseph arrived with his wife anna and the others [Applause] so [Music] i had heard of these refugees at a conference of ministers they needed a place to live my church had a house standing vacant and i had an idea perhaps the refugees could have found another place to live and undoubtedly the good people of covington would have preferred it that way but then that's what gave me the idea [Music] the first night what do people do their first night in a strange house [Music] [Music] oh [Music] certainly you don't want to talk to anyone so i said good night and went home to work on my sermon for sunday sunday was clear a good day for church because we like to make a social event out of it it's a close community feeling we have about our churches we like to stand around and chat before the service that's me with a blind organist sometimes i think it's too close almost parochial but maybe that's because originally hundreds of years ago our communities were built around the church first church in covington 1780 first house seven years later 1787 almost before i had begun my sermon i heard a commotion in the balcony and looked down to see the refugees filing in late of course as the widow susanna archer said i was moved because i knew they came from many different churches and denominations catholic jewish protestant and i took it as a gesture to me so i began again taking my text from leviticus the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you and thou shalt love him as thyself i was sure it helped the lonely feeling of the refugees i wasn't so sure about the townspeople of covington [Music] only time would tell [Music] toward the end of the service i noticed one incident that gave me some hope [Music] i guess with the music and all it was too much for anna [Music] but when i heard about joseph's visit to the grocery store i began to realize sermons take a while to sink in it seems he ran smack into the old stove league most exclusive club in america and another place where the boys carve out public opinion everyone went right on doing what he was doing and joseph felt at first like no one knew he was there but that wasn't true because the minute his back was turned they looked up curious as kittens and joseph knew it i've given a lot of thought to that day and i'm sure the boys were just as self-conscious as joseph the trouble was no one knew how to begin how to make the first move [Applause] so i realized i'd have to make the first move myself take people by the arm and lead them together [Music] peter one of the refugees had been a printer of fine books art additions back in austria so i took him out to the covington press to meet jim orchard [Music] i knew jim could understand the old man's desire to get back to his craft [Music] it wasn't hard to tell that he'd been away from his work for a long long time for all his politeness he couldn't keep his hands off the presses so jim agreed to take peter under his wing and as i left jim was already promising to take peter over to see the collection of books at the bryant memorial library across the meadow from the press [Music] the great american poet's house has been kept as it was the day he died with his own collection of fine editions in manuscript here were the things peter loved most things he's been away from too long he must have remembered how many of these same books he'd seen burned in the streets of his own hometown and he must have recalled that emerson thoreau whitman sat in this same room a hundred years ago planning arguing writing against slavery with their friend bryant and a plan for the work he was going to do began to form in peter's mind then max went to work helping out on the widow susanna archer's farm susanna's boy had just been drafted and she needed a man who could handle the farm machinery max had been a mechanic in czechoslovakia [Music] and over at the sawmill the workman got to know sasha and understand his shyness in the best practical way over the workbench [Music] [Applause] [Music] during the summer joseph and anna opened a knick-knack shop and the local girls got into the habit of dropping around to help out i used to come by myself of a saturday afternoon to enjoy a little music with joseph and the hall girl [Music] frankly i think joseph banana were a little surprised to find mozart in covington surprised and pleased i think in many different ways while we were getting to know the refugees better they were learning about the new england countryside and its [Music] people [Music] hey [Music] our land is similar to their own chopped into small one-man two-man farms the soil is difficult and the weather's cruel sometimes [Music] we're not the bread basket of america but if you work hard the autumn harvest will give you back enough for your family and a little leftover to take to market and of course we set aside one of the best of everything to exhibit at the fair [Music] it's a hard life and often a lonely life and maybe that accounts for the way we act sometimes [Music] and with the fall there was a harvest in human relations too one day the boy from down the street came bearing gifts he had a speech all prepared which he promptly forgot like his mother knew he would but it made me feel that perhaps my idea had taken root two out of the press peter was having a harvest of his own he was finishing his woodcut of bryant to be displayed in the art exhibit at the fair and the title page he designed for emerson's essay on self-reliance was coming off the press [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] he was back at work in his craft a part of a shop [Music] then there was the night joseph was taken to sit with the old stove league that was a good night i don't say all the self-consciousness was gone but there was a new kind of respect on both sides [Music] [Music] [Music] i think the excitement of the fair must be the same all over the world to me it's a celebration putting the exclamation point to the end of a good harvest it brings people together to show off the results of a year's work to their neighbors [Music] to learn from each other in good friendly competition so [Music] fun [Music] so and at the end of the day you know a little more about yourself and your neighbor and you have a picture taken so you won't forget a good day in your life i was thinking of all these things as i watched joseph speak he was telling the town meeting that he would be leaving soon to go home and help rebuild his own country but he'd take with him many things he had learned from his neighbors in covington picture of a land and people very much like his own that's about all there was to my idea in the first place that the strangeness between people breaks down when they live and work and meet together as neighbors i think the idea worked at least if the boys on the post office porch had been reluctant to welcome strangers they were also reluctant to say goodbye to friends [Music] [Applause] [Music] remember the days when you collected souvenirs just for remembrance remembrance of pleasant hours hours of days to be lived over again in memory [Music] that souvenir of the big fella that didn't get away and the souvenir of the little fellow who grew up and did go away there are a lot of those little fellows away now millions of them scattered along the wide battlefronts of our war and only some of them will return a part of them some little personal part collected by their chaplains for return to loved ones [Music] memories touched by death addressed from nowhere these personal effects are shipped back to the army's quartermaster effects depot in kansas city a strange sad warehouse filled with echoes here the mementos which outlived death are sorted and wrapped for the final journey home through these bins pass the follow-up on every casualty list 2 000 bundles each month 2 000 men each month souvenirs just for remembrance just for a last remembrance pair of broken sunglasses comb with some missing teeth a keyring a favorite pipe a rabbit's foot good luck charm a bundle of souvenirs instead of a man all that is left of those who have already died for us in this war these [Music] and the memory and the tears right now there are enough fighting americans overseas to send back those heartbreak souvenirs to 5 million american homes if our men overseas don't keep getting all-out support from us work sweat prayers and war bonds over five million men fighting overseas wanting to live let's have the men back instead of the souvenirs [Music] [Music]

Channel: War Stories

Views: 106,185

Keywords: military history, war, war documentary, military tactics, war stories, history of war, battles, d-day documentary, d-day normandy 1944, ww2, world war two, operation overlord, eisenhower d-day speech, eisenhower, churchill, omaha, omaha beach d day, utah beach d-day, utah beach d-day documentary, utah beach landing, sword beach, world war ii, world war, world war 2 week by week

Id: JeC6jhmwrqM

Length: 56min 58sec (3418 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 14 2021