June 6th, 1944, a gray day breaks over the Channel,
revealing an awe-inspiring sight. Never had such an armada
been seen in the history of mankind. On board 7,000 vessels, 130,000 men crossed the stretch of sea
with air cover from 20,000 planes. At dawn, after a hail of fire,
the men would land on the coast of France. Twenty thousand of them
would also arrive by air. 10,500 Allied soldiers
would be lost on that day and almost as many Germans. Eleven weeks later,
Paris would be liberated and the road to Berlin opened wide. This film will tell from the viewpoint
of both Allies and Germans, this epic tale from its planning
in Britain launched in January 1944 until its outcome in the summer. With the US generals: Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and all the anonymous heroes
who took part in the landings. Not to mention men like Sergeant Grant,
who risked their lives filming it. They all participated
in this staggering event, which, contrary to legend,
was no victory march. December 1st, 1943, the Tehran Conference, three heads of state
had just made a key decision. The satisfied-looking Joseph Stalin, supreme leader of the Soviet Union
and its armies at the top of the steps. Lower down, the concerned-looking
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. For two years, Stalin, Churchill,
and US President Roosevelt had been struggling to reach an agreement
on the invasion date in Western Europe. The outcome of the war
and of the world would depend upon it. From the moment his country entered
into the war with Germany in June 1941, the Soviet leader had been demanding
the opening of a second front in the West to relieve the pressure on his troops
alone against Hitler in the East. Meanwhile, influenced by Churchill,
who feared attacking Germany head-on, the Anglo-Americans
had vainly hoped to weaken the Axis by passing through North Africa in order to invade
southern Europe via Italy. However,
they were stopped short near Naples and were unable to advance
any closer to Germany. For a long time, Roosevelt was hesitant. He didn't think his country was ready
enough for such a huge operation. However, he now wanted to put an end
to the Third Reich as soon as possible and to do so in the West. He also hoped to cooperate
with the Soviets after the victory. Churchill could only resign himself to it. Since the United States
had entered the war in 1941, Hitler had feared an invasion of the German-occupied
West Coast of Europe. In 1942,
he began planning a gigantic operation: the construction of the Atlantic Wall, a continuous line of fortifications
running almost 4,000 miles, from northern Norway
to the Spanish border, despite the fact that most Germans
believed the Allies would try to land in the Calais region,
only 25 miles from the British coast. The German authorities,
therefore, requisitioned thousands of men, free laborers, Frenchmen
in the Compulsory Work Service, refugees, Jews, and prisoners of war,
to carry out this outrageous project, which would require
13 million tons of concrete. As 1943 drew to a close, Fortress Europe
seemed to be firmly in German hands. On January 15th, 1944, having been handpicked by Roosevelt
to lead the landings, Ike Eisenhower arrived in London
to plan Operation Overlord. In effect, the stage is being set for the beginning of the great
and crucial test all over the world. I am completely confident
that the soldiers, sailors, and airmen and all the civil populations
of the United Nations will demonstrate once and for all
that an aroused democracy is the most formidable
fighting machine that can be devised. A few days later, Eisenhower
introduced his team to the press. As an American supreme commander,
his second needed to be British. He, therefore, appointed as commander
of the Allied ground forces, General Montgomery, alias Monty, hero of the desert campaign
in North Africa against Rommel and much loved by his compatriots. The military leaders had their plan,
but it had to remain top secret. Hence, the best pose in front
of an illegible, faded map. As always,
Monty tried to grab the limelight as he paid more attention to the cameras
than to his colleagues' phony gesturing. In truth, despite all this tomfoolery, the leaders had already chosen France
for the landings, but Normandy
rather than the Calais region. Because although the Normandy beaches
were farther from Britain, they were less well-defended. The invasion was planned for spring,
between Ouistreham and Carentan, at the foot of the Cotentin Peninsula. However, Montgomery
wanted to widen the front line to Caen so as not to get stuck
in a small perimeter along the beaches. He also wanted to extend
the front farther west to get closer
to the deep water port of Cherbourg, which the Allies would need to seize in order to ensure
the logistics of a huge army. Secrecy was paramount
if they were to succeed. The Germans needed to be kept totally
in the dark about the Allies' plan. Early in 1944, they were still unsure of where exactly
the landings would take place. This was another reason to start spinning
the big wheels of propaganda. [foreign language spoken audio] Eisenhower's arrival in London
nevertheless confirmed Hitler's fears of an invasion in the West. In 1942, he had appointed
one of his most brilliant generals, the popular Erwin Rommel,
to the rank of field marshal. After commanding the Afrika Korps, the so-called "Desert Fox" had thwarted
the British time and time again, so it was only natural for the Führer
to entrust this energetic soldier with reinforcing the defenses
of Fortress Europe. By early 1944, Rommel was in France. With the Nazi Air Force
stationed in Germany to counter Allied bombing raids, he was unable to use it in Normandy. The theatre of war
would be the land and the beaches, which he considered badly defended. Rommel wanted to fill in the gaps between fortified towns
with a continuous line of defense. He also asked for the coast
to be more heavily mined. However,
one mine is a mere drop in the ocean when you consider
that from Calais to lower Brittany, France has 750 miles of coastline. Rommel's new energy was little cause
for concern for Eisenhower because for months,
the British and Americans had been building artificial ports, which meant they didn't have
to immediately capture a real port and had the flexibility
to choose their point of attack. The Allies were not put off
by this titanic task. These huge concrete caissons,
called "Phoenixes," would one day
be towed off the Normandy coast, where they would be sunk
to form the first breakwaters. As would these floating docks
where tons of material and thousands of men would be unloaded
once moored to the immense steel pontoons providing access to the beaches,
whatever the level of the tide. A gigantic life-sized construction toy
devised in the ports of Britain. In Britain, training exercises continued. British and Americans
used all available means, even though, once again,
it was all for the cameras. Synchronized swimming and pyrotechnics
were the order of the day. Material and equipment were also tested. Anti-mine tanks to clear the beaches,
matting to cross the sand more easily, gymkhanas on wavy artificial roads to get used to these new Jeeps
from America, not to mention
these new Churchill crocodiles flame-throwing tanks,
which would reduce to ashes anything that had been missed
during bombing raids. The Allies had already lost several
hundred men in exercises in Britain. Why choose such an extreme site
in the deepest Cornwall? Despite the fact
that the British Fourth Commando Brigade was a battle-hardened unit, because every type of topographical
scenario had to be envisaged. It's a well-known fact
that the Americans never go into battle if the balance of power
isn't in their favor. Hailing from Utah, Kansas, Ohio, Kentucky, how many of these young men had any idea of where Britain and France
were on the map? How many of them suspected what lay
in store on the beaches of Normandy? In February 1944, over 800,000 US servicemen
were already in Britain, with more and more set to arrive. Straight away, a taste of home
offered by British servicewomen: The inevitable donut. A first sign of sweetness,
but maybe more if things should heat up. America continued
to bring across its material, such as its Sherman tanks, designed to match the fearsome Panzers
of the German Army. While pubgoers
in small gray towns of England discovered these new P-38 bombers whose flying range
outclassed that of British planes. It wasn't always easy to make way
for these new arrivals who had to be housed somewhere, even if it meant
moving out entire families as tearful children looked on. Stereotypes were strengthened
between the "poor old British bloke," and his "spoiled cousin" from America, notably because his rations
were far superior to anything his British host had to eat. Good relations
were nonetheless established, like here in the seaside resort
of Blackpool, where US servicemen relaxed when off duty,
much to the delight of the local girls and probably to the dismay
of their absent husbands off fighting the war. Never in the history
of His Majesty's realm had there been so many divorces and illegitimate children
born as during that period. However, wartime is wartime
and long live British girls. Fraternization was the order of the day, and it certainly looks as if everything
was going according to plan. However,
there was more than jiving to win hearts. General Eisenhower
had always respected his allies. In March, he visited the prestigious
Military Academy of Sandhurst, where young Winston Churchill had studied and where Ike was firmly intent
on telling the young cadets what would be expected of them. You young men have this war to win. It is up to you, men, to give your units,
whether it is a tank crew, a platoon or it becomes a company, leadership every hour of the day,
every day of the week. You must know
every single one of your men. It is not enough that you are the best soldier
in that unit. That you are the strongest, the toughest, the most durable, and the best equipped, technically. You must be their leader,
their father and mentor. Then you will be doing your duty, and you will be worthy
of the traditions of this great school and of your great country. These young Brits
were all in their early 20s as Ike addressed them
with his habitual human touch, knowing that some of them
would soon lose their lives, fighting for a country
that had spent the past four years proudly resisting the Nazis. In that same month of March,
as D-Day approached, it was Churchill's turn
to attend a life-sized training exercise of a US paratrooper unit
in the presence of Ike himself. British newsreel producers also decided
to go the whole hog with onboard cameras. If it weren't for the cigar,
you'd think this was the real thing. The guy with the cigar
even has his own camera and a smile to boot. A number of filmmakers would later use
the footage of this training exercise to represent the first US
paratroop landings in Normandy, never filmed in reality. More importantly, Churchill
was now totally behind Operation Overlord, despite his initial reticence. While the Allies were united
and grouped in Britain, Hitler was far from operations
in his Eastern HQ, close to the Soviet front, where he still continued to divide,
to rule. In the West, he split the German command
between Marshal von Rundstedt, chief of the Western Front, and Marshal Rommel,
chief of coastal defense. However, the two men disagreed. Von Rundstedt wanted to keep
his armored divisions inland so they could converge on precise zones
after the Allies had landed. Rommel believed
that British and American aviation would paralyze German troop movements. He, therefore,
wanted to bring the armored divisions as close as possible to the coast to confront the enemy
as they were landing. However, his wishes were rejected. He, therefore,
focused on protecting the beaches and installing anti-tank obstacles. They also set up
anti-landing craft barrages and chevaux-de-frise
built from old railroad tracks, making any advance almost impossible. He even altered the terrain to impede the landings
and movements of paratroopers. When possible, the Germans intentionally
flooded land just inside the coast. Devon, in southwest England. The American infantry: training for a beach landing
at the foot of a cliff where the enemy might be stationed. The first thing to do is establish a beachhead
beneath a cliff face to set up a radio link
for those following the assault wave. Dig in to create shelter, but to save your skin
from enemy fire, young soldier, you'll need to show
a little more enthusiasm and wait for the right moment
to collect your equipment, and attend to the wounded. What if on D-Day, it's impossible
to dig in on a pebble beach? If a low tide
were to mean staying undercover, unable to reach the wounded, like on the future Omaha Beach
so similar to this one in Devon, but where the Americans
would lose 3,000 men. The reason this beach so closely resembles
the one the GIs would land on is because the Allies
knew exactly what to expect. For weeks,
often held by the French resistance, faced with severe repression, the Allies had access to thousands
of photos of the German defenses. Whether protected or not, the entire Channel coast
had been studied with a fine tooth comb. Everything had been spotted and noted. All intel, collected and analyzed, was integrated
into the Allied plan of attack. Still, of course, top secret. Except perhaps for the tons of information
made available to the Germans, or rather, disinformation. For months, the Allies had been spoon-feeding
the enemy with false information to lure them to different landing sites, notably in the Calais region. Over in Britain, the ploy continued
with the installation of phony airfields just across from the Calais coastline, where fields of inflatable aeroplanes
sprang up. While elsewhere in the south of England, where the majority
of troops were assembled, supplies, arms, and munitions
were kept well camouflaged. By the month of May,
it was no longer possible to conceal the enormity
of the means being deployed. Hundreds of thousands of men
were now grouped into various camps to bring them closer
to their embarkation points and to isolate them from locals
in order to avoid leaks. One, two! Out, back! Come on, out, back! Officers concerned about keeping up
the morale of their troops went easy on the usual
disciplinary requirements. At this RAF squadron, for example, they decided not to clip the wings
of its pilots before they would fly off to crush the German eagle
in the heart of the Normandy countryside. Amongst all these men,
and forever unseen, of course, were those who filmed the events, those we never see: students of the British Army Film School
and all volunteers entrusted with capturing
the preparations for posterity. The youngest among them,
20-year-old Desmond O'Neill. He was intent on covering D-Day. Like his colleagues,
he had been made a sergeant, the ideal rank to stay close to the men. "My camera was welcome,
it distracted them," he would say later. On May the 27th, his fellow soldiers
were introduced to a new currency, the French francs printed by the Allies, much to the anger
of General Charles de Gaulle. He saw it as a breach
of French sovereignty, since only France should be allowed
to print or mint its money. For the moment,
he was kept out of the loop and had little idea
of what was being planned. "These men knew
they had a good chance of being killed," "and that created a strange mood," O'Neill would remark. Another Army cameraman
was 27-year-old Sergeant Ian Grant. Always wearing his Scottish beret, he had chosen the film corp
to escape from chores and to immortalize his brothers in arms. On May 31st,
Grant filmed them receiving the booklet, informing them about the country
they would soon be invading. "It was in that camp that we first
found out our target was Normandy," he would say later. He also filmed the few extra rations
being handed out to the men as they were readying to face the worst, for it was now a matter of days. On June the 1st, Norman Clague, a cameraman
who sadly left us only his clapperboard, filmed the final instructions
given to his company. He filmed from above
as if he were already taking risks. It was so as not to reveal
where his fellow soldiers would be landing. Even they had little idea
where in Normandy Ouistreham was. Everything was still top secret, the reason they had been kept
in perfect isolation for the past two weeks. From now on,
the cards had been dealt for Clague and his fellow cameramen
as they headed to the ports and the start of their great adventure. The US Army was perfectly equipped. With 1.5 million men,
there were more American servicemen in the south of England
than their British counterparts were. In early June, hundreds of thousands
of men left their camps before the locals who had gathered
to see off their new heroes. All were heading
to their various embarkation points, 19 ports on the south coast of England. While British troops embarked in the east,
American GIs embarked in the West. The next time they would leave
these ships would be to land. The Canadians under British command
and the third biggest Allied force provided 21,000 men. The reversing of 20,000 vehicles
into the holds of the ships so they could drive onto the beaches
as quickly as possible was a remarkable task in itself. Not to mention the thousands of tonnes
of supplies that had to be transported over those first two days. To give every chance
of success to his invasion plan, Eisenhower had taken into account
several parameters, notably the combination of a night
with a full moon for maximum visibility, and a half tide at dawn for the landings. In the month of June,
only the 5th, 6th, or 7th would do. To catch the enemy by surprise,
the earlier in the day, the better. Ike decided the landings
would take place on June the 5th. However,
in the days leading up to the 5th, the weather worsened. On June the 4th,
as the ships based in the north of England were heading for the Channel,
a violent storm broke. It forced Eisenhower
to call back all the ships, which had already set sail. Operation Overlord was under threat as any movements carried out so far
might have alerted the Germans. Day and night, Ike and his team stayed in constant touch
with the Weather Office. However, the news wasn't good. The forecast was poor
for the next fortnight. That would spell disaster. The men would need remotivating and the full campaign
would be shortened by two weeks. In the ports where Eisenhower
had to delay the departure, the wait became unbearable
as landing crafts circled and circled like crocodiles in a waterhole. On that day, June 4th, Desmond O'Neill was at work
among fellow Brits of the 3rd Division in a wind
that didn't look like letting up. He made the following observations. "We just sat there on board with nothing
to do other than eat or smoke." "We didn't lack victuals," "I had ten men's rations just for me." "A mood of bitter disappointment
came over us." "We still didn't know
where we were going," "other than that,
we were about to cross the Channel." "Later, we were told
we'd be landing at Lion-sur-Mer." "It didn't mean a thing to any of us." The Canadians were known
for their devout Christianity, and maybe that made them pray so hard
for the help they would soon need. Never had religious services been attended
so keenly as on Sunday, June 4th, 1944, in all the ports of southern England. The Americans, meanwhile,
tried to keep busy because they knew that nothing fatigued
the men as much as being idle, which would make them
more vulnerable on the big day. On the evening of June the 4th, the weather forecast
was a little less pessimistic. Calmer seas were predicted
for the 5th and 6th. That night, in 30 minutes, Eisenhower took a decision
that would change the course of the world: the fleet would set sail
on June 6th, 1944. On June 5th, the wheels
of the huge machine began turning. Allied planes attacked
northern and western France to prevent the German rearguard
from reaching Normandy. Allied bombers were unparticular
about their targets. They struck Lower Normandy
for three full days, claiming almost 4,000
German and civilian lives. The bombing raids led to heated discussions
between Eisenhower and Churchill. The latter was concerned
about the weight of hatred they would cause amongst the French. To the surprise of the Allies,
the French resistance replied, "This is war,
we must accept people will die." On June 3rd in Algiers, General de Gaulle had transformed the French Committee
of National Liberation into the Provisional Government
of the French Republic. Until then, he had been kept silent. The Allies had concealed everything
from the French. As the liberation of France drew nearer,
the British and Americans needed de Gaulle to ensure the full cooperation
of the people and the French resistance. On June the 4th
after being summoned by Churchill, de Gaulle left for Britain,
intent on speaking his mind. He refused to let the Allies
lay down the law. However, despite the fact they refused
to entrust him with full power, the sensitive general
agreed to back Overlord. On June 5th at sea, diversion tactics
continued to be deployed. Dozens of small ships
headed north of Le Havre. Their funnels billowed out steam
both as a smokescreen and to have the Germans believe
a huge fleet was crossing the Channel towards a position far north
of the targeted Normandy beaches. General Eisenhower
had always believed that a leader's place is alongside his men,
before and during battle. Late in the afternoon of June 5th,
at Greenham Common airfield, a few hours before they took off,
he visited the US 101st Airborne Division. They would be amongst the first
to reach French soil. Ike's smiling face
masked his underlying tension. All the more reason for paratroopers
to put on a brave face and reassure their leader. That evening,
Eisenhower stayed till the end, till the last plane had taken off. A little farther away, not having their leader there
to cheer them on in person, the reconnaissance paratroopers
came up with their own way to put on a brave face. Whether real Redskins, or just the white man's myth
of the Native American warrior, their scarlet war paint at least
helped these 20-something Iroquois to get ready for action. Those without war paint
simply blackened their faces with charcoal so as to be less visible. As well as their weapons and parachutes, these men would be jumping
with radio transmitters to signal marked zones where the gliders
could drop the majority of troopers. Three men were needed
to help one paratrooper on board who had a 50 percent chance
of survival and who knew it. That same night, Ike wrote a letter
in case the landings ended in disaster, proof of how the Allies
were certain of nothing. "My decision to attack
at this time and place" "was based
on the best information available." "If any blame or fault
attaches to the attempt," "it is mine alone." However, for weeks, the Allies had been perfecting
a well-established plan. During the night of June the 5th, German coastal defenses
were to be wiped out by bombs. Naval artillery would start firing
at dawn from 45 miles offshore. The British and Canadians would take
the right flank of the invasion. They were assigned three beaches:
Sword, Juno, and Gold, located between Ouistreham
and Arromanches. The Americans would take the left flank
with Omaha and Utah beaches. The British would need to capture Caen
as quickly as possible. The city was an important
communication hub through which the Germans
could bring in reinforcements. It also opened onto flat land, which would allow
Allied armored divisions to spread out and planes to land at temporary airfields. The Americans
would have to move up to Cherbourg, which they planned
to capture within a week, so that hundreds of thousands of other men
could land with all their material needed for the next stage
of the offensive. On June 6th, from 3:15 in the morning, Allied planes
started bombing German positions across every sector of the landings. At dawn, naval artillery took over
in order to smash the Atlantic Wall. Omaha Beach near the Cotentin
was the first objective. The Americans would have to quickly
establish a beachhead, then join up with their colleagues at Utah
before heading towards Cherbourg together. After arriving too soon or too late, many of the aerial bombardments
missed their targets. Naval artillery didn't fare much better. The early hour of the landings
determined by the tide, didn't give it enough time to successfully carry out
its pulverization of the Atlantic war. The main part of the attack fell
to the experienced GIs of the Big Red One. However, attached to them
was the 116th battalion, made up of young men
who had never been in the line of fire. To keep out of the range of enemy fire, the landing craft were released
onto a rough sea too far from the coast. The men were crammed in like pack animals. Robert Cappa, the only photographer
present that day, said, "When the noise
of the first shell hit our ears," "we hit the deck and lay in our vomit
without watching the coast approach." Barely on the beach, the men were greeted
by an almost intact German defense. It was like a turkey shoot. The wind brought in the tide
earlier than forecast. The following waves of attack
floundered on Rommel's sea defenses, forcing the men
to leave their craft in deep water. Unable to advance, they grouped together
in the center of the beach, reduced to sending
the same terrifyingly precise message, "Nailed to the spot by enemy artillery." More like crucified, as shown
by these few remaining photos by Capa. The rest were accidentally destroyed. Strong currents
swept the landing craft off course. Men drowned as the weight
of their equipment dragged them down. The sea turned red and Omaha Beach would later
be referred to as "Bloody Omaha". The US command
considered calling off the offensive. A desperate measure
that would mean abandoning those who had already
landed to their fate. There were already hundreds
of dead and wounded. Their sacrifice would have been in vain. Stopping the operation would open
a huge breach in the Allied front, just as the gigantic war machine
was moving up to full throttle. The morning of June 6th, daybreak revealed an armada
of 7,000 vessels approaching the Normandy coast. As always, Ike wasn't far away. At 9:45 AM,
he spoke to the world via the BBC: I call upon all who love freedom
to stand with us now. Keep your faith staunch. Our arms are resolute. Together we shall achieve victory. Across a 45-mile front, there was practically one boat
every 250 meters with air cover from 11,000 planes. All were painted with white stripes so that Allied artillery
wouldn't mistakenly fire at them. Fortunately, not every sector
along the coast resembled Omaha, especially since the Germans
had been taken in by allied disinformation and still believed the main attack
would come in the Calais region and they were having trouble regrouping. The unbreakable Atlantic Wall
began to crumble as did the German anti-aircraft defenses,
which became overrun. Allied Aviation imperviously
flew 10,000 sorties on that day. As the B26s
were releasing their last bombs inland, the fighter planes entered into action. Not only were coastal defenses targeted, but airfields too, in order to keep what remained
of enemy planes on the ground. Communication hubs,
roads, bridges, railways, were all systematically destroyed. The French resistance, having completed its intel
and sabotage missions, now went on the attack in an attempt to stop the Germans
bringing reinforcements to the front. The combined action
of the Allied Forces and the resistance meant that German troops
summoned from Brittany and south of the Loire River
had trouble advancing. Rommel, who from the outset had wanted
to position his men close to the beaches to counter an invasion,
had been proved right. The British 3rd Infantry Division
was heading for Sword. Its mission: to neutralize
the defenses at Ouistreham and take Caen the same day. This unit, the Scotsman
of the 45th Commando of the Royal Marines, filmed by their compatriot
Sergeant Ian Grant, were to land at Ouistreham. He wrote, "This was the real thing." "I filmed the gigantic fleet
as best I could," "as I was more or less at sea level." "We'd been given good rations
and even seasickness pills." "However, with the diesel fumes, most men,
even the strongest amongst us got sick." "The sky was black with planes." "Some of them
had been told to fly at low altitude" "so we could be told over the loudspeaker
the specific types," "and tell them apart from enemy planes." "We told the men to ignore the cameras
as much as possible." "They were natural actors
deep in their thoughts," "living their own experiences." "I wasn't afraid
because there was no fear on their faces." "Just the desire to get out
of that bloody boat" "that was making them seasick." "The closer we got to the beach,
the more deafening the noise became." "In the rush, a ramp broke." "Everyone converged
on the remaining gangplank." "You just had to get off
as best you could" "with the your backpack's weight
pulling you down." Grant and the others
were spared the first assault. For them,
the hard part was about to begin. Joining up with the paratroopers
who had been dropped behind enemy lines. Another cameraman
was already on Sword Beach, the youngest among them, Sergeant O'Neill
had arrived 45 minutes before Grant. It was he who filmed
the last moments of the battle. "In the thick of that gray smoke,
everything seemed unreal." "It wasn't a battle that you could imagine
or see in a movie." "The exits from the beach were congested." It was nigh on impossible to get off. "I followed an infantry platoon
which was trying to get out of there." At this point, the jolting camera
indicates that O'Neill has been shot. He had just time to film
the last few sequences before being repatriated for medical care. Farewell, Sergeant O'Neill
and well done to all your comrades who captured Sword on that day
at a cost of 600 dead and wounded. All lost in the mass of unknowns,
most of whom were barely 20 years old. Germans who had been taken prisoner
were rounded up on the beaches. A few miles away from Sword,
Juno Beach in the Canadian sector. Their mission:
to take Carpiquet Caen Airport. What were these young soldiers thinking
after making the 5,000-mile journey to land at Bernieres, a small,
an unknown seaside resort in Normandy? This is footage
of the first wave of attack, the only one to be filmed
during the landings, but by an automatic camera
fixed to the bullock. Yet even the cold eye
of a mechanical camera can't fail to capture
a simple human gesture. Soon, the very first French house
would be liberated in Normandy. It would cost the lives of 100 men, which Allied cameramen
had been asked not to film. It was better to focus
on the first German prisoners and the anger that one proud Frenchman
showed towards them. The German surrender did nothing
to mask the difficulties met by the men on Juno Beach, where a rough sea was causing problems
for the second assault wave's landing. A total of 300 young Canadians
lost their lives. The sacrifice wasn't in vain. With the beachhead established, their surviving colleagues
began their advance inland towards Caen. Already the first reward,
in the shape of these young French women delighted at seeing their country
liberated by these men, many of whom spoke French
albeit with a funny accent. Yet at Allied headquarters in Portsmouth,
and despite British Admiral Ramsay smiling with pride
at the part played by his fleet, General Eisenhower still seemed anxious. Since dawn, he had been receiving
message after message, some alarming, like those from Omaha,
some encouraging like those from Utah or in the British sector. From the look on Ike's face, you can tell the battle
hasn't yet been won. Because six hours after landing at Omaha, the boys were still stuck
at the foot of the cliff. The Americans
always do the best for their men, whatever extra backup is required. Even the first assault waves were accompanied
by an experienced medical corps ready to take immediate care
of the wounded, including the enemy. Never had first aid been so needed
as at Bloody Omaha, where the dead lay
alongside a handful of prisoners. Three thousand Americans lost their lives on the most deadly
of the five beaches used for the landings. Yet, late in the day, with the sun out
and after the first waves had managed to establish
beachheads and advanced inland, more troops began to arrive at Omaha. At last, it was possible to say
that the landings had been a success. Now it was on to the next battle
for Normandy and for France. General Montgomery arrived two days later and he had cause for concern. Always wanting to have
a crushing balance of power in his favor before taking action, he delayed deploying his armored divisions
and was unable to take Caen as he was supposed to have done
on day one. Moreover, his troops,
relieved at having been able to land without too much damage,
seemed to have a lack of bite. Their cameramen embodied this in a way, strolling around filming
these first funny Frenchmen, asked to pose for the cause. These ones seem more than happy to oblige. On this day, June 8th, Norman Clague,
the man with a clapperboard, filmed the first moments of appeasement
when German prisoners and wounded no longer had anything
to fear from their enemies of yesterday. Five days later,
Clague would be killed by German fire. With him, compassion and morbidity
would never be far apart. However, this footage also illustrates how the British slackened off
the day after D-Day. A slackening of which the Germans
would take full advantage. Although the German forces
held back from the front, as Von Rundstedt had ordered, were unable to reinforce their colleagues
on the coasts, they now reacted. Two armored divisions including
the famous 12th Panzer Hitlerjugend SS, counterattacked on June 7th, 8th and 9th, barring the road to Caen
to the British and Canadians. They also set up their defenses
outside the city. This made the bombing raids
on Caen itself ineffective. Although they did allow
the German propaganda machine to show that its own soldiers
were suffering the same fate as the city's inhabitants. The German Army
maintained control of the city, while for the first refugees, the approach of the liberators
meant they had to leave. The German counterattack also isolated
a number of Allied paratrooper divisions. Often dropping at imprecise locations, they had been unable
to link up with their comrades advancing inland from the sea. Many were recaptured,
but few seemed resigned to their fate. American airborne troops
had lost over half their equipment and one in five of their men. All these men had paid dearly for the honor of being the first
to tread on French soil. However, their overwide dispersion at least managed
to keep the Germans confused, making them believe
that a far greater number of men had been dropped than in reality. Now it was the turn
of the 81st Airborne to be laid to rest, before their comrades-in-arms
paid them a final tribute. Ready, aim, fire! Aim, fire! Aim, fire! On June 9th, the Americans
captured the small town of Isigny, which was furiously bombarded
to drive the Germans out for good. The German defense of Isigny
had prevented Allied forces from Omaha from linking up with those from Utah
and continuing together towards Cherbourg. However, with Isigny taken, the Allied front was reunited
and stretched over 60 miles from Ouistreham
to the beachhead in the Cotentin. However, beyond the rubble, where were the inhabitants
of Isigny looking? Perhaps farther off towards the sea where a French ship
was finally crossing the Channel. With the Allies firmly established
along the coasts, it was time to bring in General de Gaulle, leader
of the Provisional French government. Charles de Gaulle
had never liked being in need of help and stepping onto French soil
at Courseulles after four years of exile was no exception. The day before, Churchill,
still distrustful of de Gaulle, had written to Montgomery, "I must inflict on you
a visit from General de Gaulle." "I do not think
you should greet him on the beach," "it'd be sufficient for him
to arrive at your headquarters. De Gaulle
would only spend one day in France. For him, too, time was pressing. Time to tell Montgomery
what he wanted to hear and the British Field Marshal
even let him hog the limelight. Monty also gave Norman Johnson,
his own cameraman, the task of following de Gaulle,
possibly to keep an eye on him. Although used to working
to his leader's whims, Johnson also thought
de Gaulle was a good story. "It was hard to follow him," he said, "but luckily, he was tall." He always had
the same serious expression on his face, but he did create a good atmosphere. He always ignored the camera,
or at least pretended to. In short, a star in the making. In Bayeux, people everywhere
were delighted to finally see Frenchmen who weren't under the German yoke,
a sign of renewed sovereignty. Especially as de Gaulle was intent
on showing himself off with his own people and the men and women of the resistance,
with no British or Americans present, before heading to the town hall
where he installed his men without referring to the Allies. He denied them any say
in France's political choices and forced them to recognize
his own power in the country. Although men did not need ports to land,
they now had a need for artificial ports to continue the battle
and to provide logistics and supplies for the hundreds of thousands
of Allied soldiers. Every day, 150 to 200 ships
unloaded some 7,000 vehicles, 15,000 tons of supplies, and thousands of men in the port
of Arromanches on the British side and the port of Omaha
on the American side. Soon the weather worsened, and once again threatened
to compromise the operation. Normandy hadn't seen
a storm like it in 40 years. Inside the anchorages,
ships were tossed around like rag dolls. The wall of caissons
was unable to withstand the cataclysm. Worse still, some of them broke away,
letting the waves surge into the port. Floating docks
and gangplanks became detached and were swept away like flotsam. The storm would last for a full four days, interrupting the supply
of materials and reinforcements. On the morning of June 23rd,
clear skies revealed the sorry sight of hundreds of ships and wrecks
run aground along the beaches. Although British engineers quickly
rebuilt the port of Arromanches, the US port of Omaha
remained out of commission. The plan was running ten days late. US troops had to capture
the deep water port of Cherbourg as quickly as possible. Although surrounded,
the city was still in German hands. Finally, on June 26th,
US Infantry entered the suburbs. That same day, before a gathered press
he clearly seemed not to appreciate, Lieutenant-General von Schlieben, the commandant of the garrison,
surrendered. Although this giant of a man
politely wiped his feet before his victor, the young General Collins, he nonetheless balked
on his oath made to Hitler to prefer death
over the shame of surrender. Schlieben even surrendered before his men, who didn't lay down their weapons
until the following day. The Americans
weren't always easy on prisoners, which is somewhat understandable. Since D-Day,
they had already lost 22,000 men. The average age of the prisoners,
some old, some very young, showed the decline
of the German Army in the West, while its younger, battle-hardened troops
were deployed in the east fighting the Red Army. Thirty-six thousand prisoners
are at Cherbourg, a huge number
in terms of what cameras can capture, although they do often take us
by surprise and mark us forever. With Cherbourg taken,
one of the last sections of the Atlantic Wall
had come tumbling down. Unlike the faces of their men, those of the captured officers
maintained a degree of haughtiness. Or was it perhaps shame? After Cherbourg, Hitler decided to personally oversee
the German Army in the West. He removed Von Rundstedt,
who had suggested calling a truce, and replaced him with a more
obliging Field Marshal Von Kluge. Rommel, dismayed
by the Führer's hard-line policies, knew that all he could do now
was to delay the ultimate disaster. Meanwhile, Eisenhower was also worried. Yes, the Americans had taken Cherbourg, but Montgomery
was yet to have captured Caen, the planned launch pad
for an attack on German lines. Installed inland,
the German Army had the advantage of space and the possibilities
of supplies and reinforcements, whereas the Allies remained hemmed in
along the Channel coast. The Americans had no choice but to pierce the enemy front
in the Cotentin. Not easy in a region of bocage
where the hedgerows made defense easier. To see without being seen. A big advantage for the enemy in a battle for which none
of the American youngsters were prepared. In this huge checkerboard maze, a handful of resilient combatants
could stop an entire battalion. When they did concede
one of these square fields, they simply had to come back
around the sides. American tanks were obliged
to stick to the roads, making them easy targets. Just as they were
when they had to cross levees openly presenting
their unarmored bellies to enemy fire. These bocage traps
accounted for thousands of GI lives and resulted in a failed attempt
to penetrate what became known as: "this goddamn country!" With the Americans in difficulty,
the British simply had to capture Caen. Montgomery finally decided
to employ considerable means. He asked for backup
from the Royal Air Force. Over 2,500 tons of bombs
were dropped on the city. Some advance on Caen, as others leave it. No point in even looking at each other. That's life. After two days of fierce combat, 115,000 British troops
entered the east of the city, which was now three-quarters destroyed. On July 13,
Montgomery arrived in the city. It had taken him over a month
to capture only part of Caen, a city he had hoped to take in one day,
setting up the Allied push inland. Clearly in the kingdom of the blind,
the one-eyed man is king. Although the inhabitants
raised the flag of the Cross of Lorraine, much of the city
was still in German hands. That didn't prevent
the British propaganda machine from having people
believe that the inhabitants of the City of a Thousand Steeples
and British troops were happy to drink a toast together. "Goodbye, thanks again." "Don't mention it, pleasure was all mine." Were such intensive bombing
and the 2,000 deaths it caused when the German defenses were placed
around the city really necessary? The debate still rages today. Each man and woman
reacted in their own way. Who was this German playing the organ
in a ruined Normandy church? A madman? A filthy Jerry? A music lover? Or a lost soldier of Hitler,
now weighed down by his leader's excesses, simply enjoying a moment's escape
from this holocaust scenery. A few days later, it was the British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill's turn to land. He wanted to check the state of operations
ongoing in the Caen sector in person. However much Montgomery
played the good tour guide, he only dominated his car
and not the plain of Caen, which was still under German Army control. Ten days after taking the city, the British were yet to break
through German lines, and Churchill's agitation
wasn't about to change that. For Eisenhower, who had hoped
for a breakthrough in this sector, it was a total failure
considering the huge means deployed. The supreme commander
placed more and more trust in the discreet three-star general,
Omar Bradley, who had organized the landings at Omaha
and Utah before taking Cherbourg. Eisenhower appreciated his calm,
his clear-headedness, and his effectiveness. Bradley thought the Americans could break
through enemy lines in the Cotentin. The operation codeword: Cobra, like a snake that leans back
then goes for the jugular. To help his men get out of bocage country, Bradley had planned to crush
the German positions on the front line with precision bombing raids. Once the breach had been made, his troops would simultaneously advance
on Brittany, the Seine, and the Loire. On July 25th, Allied bombers attacked the road
between Saint-Lô and Périers, where the two armies faced off. The famous armored division
of General Lehr, Field Marshal Rommel second in command,
was wiped out. American troops could finally leave
the hell of the bocage and force the breakout. It was a long-awaited breach
in the enemy's front line. Moreover, seeing the numbers
who surrendered, they made a good catch, even if many in the net
were only small fry. In the bestiary that Normandy had become,
tanks were now fitted with blades to cut down hedgerows
and cross the last miles of bocage. Even before July was over,
once the breach had been achieved, American armored divisions
had reached Coutances, Avranches, and Granville, the last ports
in Normandy before Brittany. In early August, the 2nd French Armored Division
landed at Utah Beach. For months, even years,
these Frenchmen had left everything behind to fight the Germans
and Italians in North Africa. Only this time, they were ready to be as victors
on their beloved French soil. Leading them was General Leclerc,
as thin as his cane, but valorous and upright. This aristocrat had all the attributes
to have sided with Vichy, but he chose to follow de Gaulle
as early as June 1940. Now he was landing
as his homeland's liberator. His division was integrated
into the American Third Army, with which he would finally be able
to take part in operations on French soil. General Bradley's headquarters. Before the lens
of American filmmaker George Stevens, Montgomery, as always aware of the camera,
decorates a handful of Yankee soldiers. That is something he was good at. Under pressure from Eisenhower,
the British Field Marshal had agreed to leave the organization
of the final battle to the Americans. For a successful outcome, Bradley was also counting
on a certain General Patton. The man who wore a Colt 45 in his holster,
was a go-getter. "At the first fart, they expect me
to get them out of their shit," he was famously quoted as saying, and just as well… At dawn, the Germans
tried a last throw of the dice. From the plain of Caen, they launched
a counter-offensive on Mortain, hoping to drive
the Allies back to the sea. The attack, planned in person by Hitler, was soon curbed by the rockets
launched from the Allies' Typhoons. "It had no chance of success," Von Kluge would write
before taking his own life. It would be the last
German offensive in the West. Worse still for the Germans, at Mortain, Bradley had willfully allowed the enemy
to make inroads into the Allied flank. Now, they were trapped
by the Americans to the south and the British to the north. Bradley would finally
be able to use the maneuver he had been planning for a long time: to catch the enemy in a pincer movement between the British divisions
advancing from the plain of Caen and the US armies in the south,
trapping the retreating Germans between Argentan and Falaise. As soon as the German counter-offensive
had been stopped short at Mortain, Patton and his divisions headed
to Le Mans in the direction of Paris. However, some of them
suddenly turned off towards Argentan and made a wide, sweeping movement
that encircled the Germans. While in the north, the Anglo-Canadians
formed the lynchpin between the Allies. The German Army was annihilated. Eisenhower later called
the battlefield at Falaise the biggest bloodbath
that any warzone had ever known. He added that only Dante
could have been capable of describing it. For hundreds of yards,
without interruption, he stepped over dead and rotting flesh. Between 5,000 and 6,000 Germans
were killed. From the look of those
who were taken prisoner, it seems as though Ike
wasn't exaggerating. It would take several days to evacuate the 30 to 40,000
prisoners of war from Falaise. For them, captivity was a victory: that of life over death. The German Army had mobilized a number
of men in the countries it occupied. Not all of them were prepared to defend
the Third Reich with their lives. The German Army was finished in Normandy. With the Battle of Falaise won,
and the prisoners dispatched, Patton's armies
crossed the Seine and the Loire. Eisenhower had now attained
the two geographical limits established in Operation Overlord. Now he wanted to move on to the next step,
the push towards Germany itself. On August 19th,
a blanket of smoke hung over Paris. On the ground,
with news of the Allies' approach, the city had risen up. It was the German Army itself which decided
to abandon the French capital. Seen from above,
convoy after convoy leaves Paris, heading east without caring too much
about barricades in the way. Footage of a real-life event
that lives long in the memory: five Germans in flames. It takes nothing away
from the men and women who rose up against the occupiers
before the Allies' arrival and the dozens of them who died
fighting the retreating German Army. The next day, de Gaulle showed up
at Eisenhower's headquarters. Ike wanted to avoid turning Paris
into another battlefield. He preferred to surround the capital,
forcing the Germans to surrender and to pick the city like a ripe fruit. But the eloquent French leader managed to persuade Eisenhower
to enter the city in order to avoid a possible bloodbath, but also to quash the rise
of Communist resistance members. Ike yielded, and Bradley agreed
to detach Leclerc's 2nd Armored Division, which had won renown at Falaise,
so that it'd be the first unit into Paris and would accept the German surrender. After several fierce battles,
south of the capital, the suburb's sky turned blue. Women wore red
and the men sported white shirts, forming a tricolor world to welcome Leclerc's boys
at the gates of Paris. Now, in the city itself,
it was time for jubilation. On that day, the gamble of the man
who had appealed to the French people back on June 18th, 1940, had paid off. The miracle had happened: France, once crushed and humiliated, now stood shoulder to shoulder
with the victors. Now for the victory parade
down the Champs Elysées to reinforce the legend, but that's a very French story. Our story ends the following day
on a less magical Place de la Concorde. At the head of a country whose political
future was still uncertain, de Gaulle had asked Eisenhower to back his authority
before the French people. Eisenhower happily obliged,
as did General Bradley. However, it was modesty alone
that kept him in the background as de Gaulle took center stage. Eisenhower was intent
on holding a march past of the US troops who would continue the fight
against the Third Reich. The Americans astutely knew
that in the post-war period, when the world
would be politically divided, they needed France
on their side in Europe. Our story has been high in color, but the original images,
are often in black and white. In the end,
whether in color or black and white, each piece of footage has tells
about the fate of all those men who took part in the Normandy landings, so many of them anonymous
amongst the massed troops. Who were you:
lost amongst the crowd of faces? Or you, turning around? Whoever you are, thank you.
