The Lost Evidence: WWII Battle to the DEATH *2 Hour Marathon*

[Music] high in the Skies over Britain the RAF and LT buffer are locked in a deadly Battle Man against man these vicious dog fights can only have one result to the winner life to the loser death the pilots had to be so young that they had no conception of their own mortality the ideal pilot is a teenager it's a battle that will last 114 days and be fought over one of the most densely populated areas in Europe all that stands between Britain and Nazi occupation is just 20 mi of the English Channel The Fighter squadrons of the RAF and the will of the British public determined to remain free it's a battle that will take down almost 3,000 aircraft and over 3,800 air crew it is also a battle that will kill over 30,000 civilians high above the Carnage both sides fly photo air reconnaissance missions tracking day by day the battle below but German intelligence have misinterpreted their photographs and missed what is staring them in the face if they hadn't World War II might have had a totally different result for over 60 years these photographs have remained lost or forgotten until now these images give a unique view of the aerial hell that put a nation to the ultimate test this is the Lost evidence the Battle of [Music] Britain July the 6th 1940 Berlin Hitler returns to the German capital in Triumph in the last 9 months his armies have conquered Poland Norway Holland Belgium and France the victories were Swift and stunning the Nazi war machine had sheared a devastating sth through Europe but there's just one thorn in Hitler's side a hostile Island across the channel only 20 M from occupied France Great Britain Hitler had never seen Britain as an enemy but 2 weeks later he issues furer directive number 16 as England in spite of her hopeless military situation still shows no sign of willingness to come to turn terms I have decided to prepare and if necessary to carry out a landing operation against her orders go out to his Chiefs of Staff formulate an invasion strategy all his victories so far had not just been triumphs for the German Army the LT baffer flying in close contact with a driving force behind the devastation in France alone 380 lfer dive bombers provided close air support to the advancing German troops often reacting within minutes of a radio call they had almost complete control of the air and were able to use the shuker dive bomber almost as a piece of precision artillery moving ahead of the tanks to destroy Allied strong points as they went but over the Skies of France the LT vafer got its first taste of what it will have to destroy to take Great Britain the Royal Air Force as the battle intensified during May and June hundreds of British hurricanes were sent to France to stem the flood of German forces we were sent to Bel on the 10th of May and only last in the day the Germans were coming through fairly fast and we operated for a day from this little belon Airfield absolute chaos nobody knew what was really happening amidst all this chaos and having no permanent bases from which to fly British fighter losses were high during May and June alone 47 77 aircraft were destroyed and 284 Pilots killed after the evacuation of the British army from the port of Dunkirk the Germans could now stare across the English Channel at their last remaining enemy just 20 miles separated the Germans from Total Domination of Europe with all its European allies conquered only Britain stood alone but there's one thing the Germans did not count on the will of Winston Churchill the British forces and citizens who would never give up Great Britain felt they were about to be invaded and after the most technologically advanced and militarily Powerful nation in Europe France goes down in front of the Germans Great Britain could not feel safe from an immediate invasion in June of 1940 German aerial reconnaissance planes flew across the whole of Southern England they produced a complete aerial photo map all of Britain's vital airfields defense systems and arms factories were photographed layered over a 3D contour map these photos lost in archives for over 60 years now give us an unprecedented bird's eye view of the battlefield but Britain was not totally defenseless it had been preparing for this moment for over 4 years in 1938 a series of radar stations were constructed around the coast of Southern England called The Chain home system they formed a shield that could detect approaching enemy aircraft but there was a problem the Primitive radar only worked over the sea and not under 1,000 ft so a second line of defense was formed by a web of 1,000 observation posts designed to spot planes that got through the radar net but they only worked if the skies were clear by June 1940 Britain had slightly fewer than 1,800 anti-aircraft guns to protect the entire country but the spearhead of Defense relied on the 18 fighter airfields based around the south of the country from here Britain's modern Fighters the hurricane and the new Spitfire could take off to attack enemy aircraft or an invasion Fleet andan in air Warfare height and surprise Trump numbers every time and because the British knew where the Germans were and where they were going to be they almost invariably had height and surprise on their side but because Hitler had never thought he would have to invade Britain there were arguments among the German leadership as to who should lead the invasion would it be Hitler's Army Navy or air force that would be ordered to bring Britain to its knees July 1940 Hitler's forces had triumphed in an extraordinary show of power much of Europe now echoed to the sound of the Nazi Jack boot only Britain held out an island separated from the coast of Europe by a mere 20 mil at its narrowest point after the lightning defeat of Europe Hitler's Army Navy and Air Force chiefs were supremely confident they argued that the honor of leading the invasion of Britain should be given to their own particular forces but precious weeks were wasted while Hitler waited to come to a decision this delay enabled Britain's factories to go into overdrive and to start churning out the vital fighter aircraft that it's so desperately needed fighter production Rose steadily from May through to July with factories putting in an allout effort whilst German factories on the other hand continue to work much as they had done in peace time on single shifts and so on and that disparity in the replacement rate was to become crucial in the Battle of attrition that was to follow over the following months with Hitler still undecided what to do about the invasion lvfa Chief Herman guring finally persuaded him to let his aircraft handle the job he proudly boasted that they would destroy the Raf in 4 weeks and give the Germans Air Supremacy then the Army could invade across the channel to back up his promise the LT faffer had bases stretching across occupied Europe by July the 1st 1,400 bombers 300 dive bombers 800 single engine Fighters and 240 twin engine Fighters were ready to go into action against this massive Force the RAF had approximately 800 Spitfires and Hurrican but only 660 was serviceable finally Hitler gave guring the green lights to attack the RAF The Loft vafer had overwhelmed the Polish French and Belgian Air Forces with ease the RAF should be a walk in the park but ging's lot faffer was about to make a series of catastrophic blunders firstly by studying their aerial photo reconnaissance the Germans calculated that Britain's Fighters were hopelessly outnumbered by the Luft faffer but more seriously they underestimated the numbers of fighter planes being built each month that the RAF could put into action the Germans had sent a spy over to the UK uh um who was codenamed Ostro to find out what our production Figures were now it turned out that Ostro was a double agent so he told them that the Brits were also producing about 200 a month which seemed very plausible so they left it at that secondly the LT vafer had never been up against organized squadrons of brilliantly effective new Fighters the hurricane and the Spitfire were two of the most technologically advanced aircraft in the world the Spitfire you wanted to turn you thought about it turned it was a dream you strapped a Spitfire on your back and flew a hurricane you clambered into and it was a tool a working man's tool but the most disastrous mistake the Germans made was not to find out how the RAF defense system worked [Music] in the early days of the second world war the Germans did not understand what a powerful weapon radar was if the Germans had understood just how clear a picture of the air War the RAF could get from radar the Germans would have focused on destroying Every Chain home station in England everything was there in the photos in front of them but the Germans failed to understand what they were looking at this photo taken on the morning of July the 8th clearly identifies the radar towers by the clarity of the Shadows on July the 10th 1940 Phase 1 of the Battle of Britain began the target British shipping in the English Channel ging's plan is remarkably simple by attacking shipping and ports they will test the British Air defenses and lure the RAF Fighters into battle when they have destroyed the fighters in the air they will be able to attack Mainland targets with ease the Germans LED their attack with the infamous ju87 oruka throughout the Nazi Blitz C of Mainland Europe the shukas screaming siren sent a shiver of fear a into enemy troops and civilians also with the ability to deliver its bombs with pinpoint accuracy it seemed an obvious choice to attack British shipping but on July the 10th all that was to change during the early afternoon a formation of 60 ju 87s 75 Doria 17s and 200 me 109 Fighters for protection attacked a convoy in the English Channel the RAF scrambled their Fighters and 30 Spitfires attacked the Germans but instead of going for the fighter escorts they concentrated on the slower bombers and it was the slow cumbersome shookers that took the full force of the spitfire's Cannons I knocked one down of course they were bombing hell out of our po BLS there and uh of course they only had one pop gun facing backwards and I think about one facing forwards and they were too busy diving there were the easiest airplane the Germans had if you got behind them they weren't even with much of a chance really serves them right over 20 aircraft were damaged or destroyed with the loss of 23 air crew from that day onwards the Germans called their stukas the flying coffins for both sides it was a time of huge losses in men and Mach machines by August the 11th the RAF had shot down 172 German aircraft and damaged another 79 but the Luft faffer had inflicted a heavy blow on the British by destroying 115 Fighters and badly damaging 106 at that rate of attrition neither the Germans nor the British will be able to keep on fighting for very long but far more more serious for both sides was the loss of trained pilots and air crew the Germans had 153 killed and 45 wounded the British had 89 fighter pilots killed and 28 wounded for the men in the front line of action these losses had to be taken in their stride I don't know that I made many friends because we were losing people left right and center and you I knew then that it was only going to be a question of time before it was my turn with casualties reaching alarming rates guring ordered a change of strategy to stop bombing the shipping and to attack and destroy the ra of Fighters either on the ground or in the air to change tactics in the middle of a battle was a huge gamble for the LT faffer but it was one that they hoped would smash the RAF and leave Britain begging for surrender August the 1st 1940 after 21 days the Battle of Britain was still raging over the English Channel lvfa Chief Herman Goring had promised Adolf Hitler that his mighty Air Force would obliterate Britain's RAF within a month but the RAF was hanging on still fighting as fiercely as ever Hitler was growing impatient with this delay and told his military Chiefs that he wanted the invasion of Britain to begin on September the 15th as a last warning to Britain to sign a peace treaty the LT faffer dropped thousands of leaflets calling for the British public to see reason the British media had a Field Day filming the public threading string through the leaflets and hanging them on toilet walls the British might have been prepared to see reason had he not also tried to use bully boy tactics I think it's generally true of most human beings that when they attacked they tend not want to talk to the people attacking them but to hit them back on August the 6th and much to the relief of his hardpressed luffer guring and his military advisers came up with a new tactic to speed up the battle they planned to stop bombing British shipping and to Pummel the aray of Fighters and their air bases ging's decision to change his plan of attack was because German Intelligence Officers had carefully studied their most recent reconnaissance photos of air bases in Britain and calculated that the RAF was down to its last 450 Fighters once again they got it wrong as this aerial photo of RAF North wield shows most of its fighter force is not at the main base it is hidden in a carefully camouflaged satellite base a few miles away the RAF also cunningly camouflaged their main air bases as this aerial photo of arf horn Church shows by spreading black sand across the runways it looks like HED RS from 10,000 ft because of these camouflage tricks German intelligence was unaware that the British had 750 Fighters ready to go into action at a moment's notice they were also unaware that its factories were turning out nearly 400 new aircraft a month but guring believed his intelligence experts and boasted to Hitler that the RAF would now be destroyed in Just 4 days he declared August the 13th Adler tag or Eagle day to launch the operation to crush the [Music] RAF at 6:30 a.m. on August the 12th the day before Eagle day guring Unleashed his Loft faffer to attack the eyes and ears of the RAF the radar stations in six raids squadrons of shukers and me10 swept down on the radar stations dotted around the British Shoreline very little damage was done and Incredibly the Germans hardly ever attacked them again German intelligence knew about the radar Towers but assumed they must be some sort of civilian aircraft Landing system and decided that Britain had no operational radar on this aerial photograph taken of bordley Manor radar station on the east coast of England the tars are clearly marked by a German intelligence expert as being no military Target on a scale of 1 to 10 this is 10 the most incredible mistake they would ever make they ignored the most powerful device in the Royal Air Force's Arsenal and that in enables the RAF to win ignoring radar was a war losing move from a German point of you not only did the RAF have radar it was the spearhead of a complex and highly sophisticated front line of defense in the battle the British knew that speed was vital in getting their information to fight a command a fighter plane needed 13 minutes from the order to scramble to reach its operation ational height but a German bomber could cross the English Channel in only 5 minutes this meant that with the 20 minutes warning radar could give there was almost no room for error I re we used to get 12 aircraft into the sky within probably certainly about 4 minutes and then you were climbing like mad to get to your height in time and frequently you found you didn't make it the German bomber stream was higher than you were and fighter escort sitting has still on to on the eve of Eagle day guring sent a chilling message to his Pilots within a short period you will wipe the British Air Force from the sky H Hitler for the members of the elite LT faffer it was the final countdown to zero hour soon they would unleash the largest air offensive yet against the RAF 4:30 a.m. the long awaited Eagle day got off to a bad start heavy Cloud over the English Channel meant that guring had to postpone the start of the attack until 2: p.m. M however some bomber groups were not informed of the change of plan and had already taken off ging's planned Massive Attack on Britain was already going seriously wrong but it was to be a day of classic blunders by both sides at 4:50 a.m. British radar picked up a formation of 55 daia 17s heading towards the channel because of radio problems they could not be recalled so a fighter pilot in an me 109 performed a series of acrobatics in front of them to try and turn them back they thought he was showing off and continued on at 5:50 a.m. and unaware of the change of plan a second wave of 88 ju 87s escorted by 60 me1100 and 173 me 109's headed for the the British Coast due to the heavy Cloud the RAF radar and plotters misread the exact amount of enemy aircraft approaching them also because the cloud was low The Observer core thinking it was a small raid gave the wrong bearings and directions of the bombers five RAF squadrons were scrambled but because of bad intelligence only one intercepted the enemy throughout the morning the bad weather continued but the luffer Pressed home their attacks targeting air bases and luring the fighters into the air the next minute all hell broke loose two bonds went through the roof of this hanger if they just go through and hit the floor they explode in and everything goes outwards but this one must have gone through and hit the anger door they weighed 80 ton and it lifted it and threw it forward and a crowd of people Runing pass were under it we ran down to see if we could do any good but we couldn't I mean they were arms and legs sticking out but as far as we could get at 2: p.m. the weather improved and guring could unleash his formations of aircraft against Britain in the first wave there were over 100 bombers protected by me 109 Fighters by 2:54 p.m. they crossed into British airspace the radar stations and plotting rooms were on Red Alert as they struggled L to keep up with the waves of German aircraft fighter command launched Squadron after squadron at the LT faffer formations in an attempt to Halt the onslaught throughout the long day Crews were constantly at Red Alert waiting for their turn to be scrambled to action for some The Waiting was worse than the fighting waiting to take off was the worst part I'd almost be sooner being shot up than a 109 the waiting to take off because I found it terribly difficult to Reax tried to read mostly you tried to sleep as the fighting intensified the ground below became littered with Twisted Metal as one aircraft after the other was shot out of the sky but many bombers did manage to get through one German formation headed for a particular Target the RAF base at East Church German intelligence experts reported that aerial photo reconnaissance had discovered Spitfire squadrons based there at 700 p.m. the area became a Kill Zone direct hits from the LT faffer daia 17s dropped more than 100 high explosive bombs on the aircraft hangers and buildings 16 Personnel were killed and 48 seriously wounded although five RAF aircraft were destroyed they were old fighter bom not Spitfires the German intelligence had got it wrong again they had attacked the wrong Airfield East Church was an Airbase to protect shipping not a Frontline fighter base incredibly over the following days The ltva Returned six times to bomb East Church it was to be a familiar mistake they would make throughout the battle by Day end the LT buffer had flown nearly 1500 sorties and the RAF almost 700 the RAF lost 84 Fighters the LT faffer 47 aircraft while the British called it a miracle they had survived guring withdrew to his hunting lodge in East Prussia and called senior LFA commanders to join him as they gorged on wine and wild bore they celebrated their progress they were convinced that if they continued to pound the fighters and air bases like this then the RAF would soon be finished because of the success of Eagle day guring decided to increase the attacks and launch the largest air offensive of the war as British civilians watched from below the sky became a stage to some of the most deadly and vicious dog fights in history but one day would be forever known as the hardest day during August 1940 the LT buffer stepped up their attacks against the Raf in a bid to gain control of the Skies before they could begin their invasion of Britain the targets were identified by intelligence based upon constant aerial reconnaissance of Southern England but major mistakes were made the attacks were never pressed home against the radar stations which were soon rebuilt they also consistently underestimated the amount of Fighters available to the RAF but sometimes they were right on target through their reconnaissance photographs they identified the Frontline fighter bases such as big in Hill South of London Debon east of London and Kenley in the south of England [Music] layered over a 3D map these photos lost in archives for over 60 years now give us an unprecedented Bird's eyee view of the battlefield the constant pounding by the lfer on air bases was slowly wearing down the RAF there was one period when the short-term Trend was such that if it carried on at that rate they were actually going to start losing more pilots than they were bringing into the squadrons but one day August the 18th would be forever known as the hardest day the L faffer had over 1,000 bombers and 745 [Music] Fighters the RAF only 630 Fighters at midday on a fine but hazy Sunday radar reported a buildup of aircraft over calal it grew into the largest plot they had ever seen 108 German bombers were heading for the RAF fighter base at Kenley escorted by 483 Fighters immediately the squadrons were launched to go into battle as the minutes ticked by the plotting rooms watched as the raid markers moved relentlessly towards the target from the ground civilians looked up to see the dog fights high above them like spectators at a gladiator Arena they witnessed the life and death struggle as bombers and Fighters left long white Vapor Trails crisscrossing a blue Summer Sky these dog fights were some of the fiercest in world history fought at anything from 30,000 ft to Ground Zero these one-on-one battles were the ultimate test of man and machine where only the winner survived the whole key to fighting in the darkg fight was If you flew in a straight line of more than 15 seconds you'd have had it so you had to keep turning to prevent someone getting behind you to survive you had to load the dice in your favor height is vital if you could dive down on your opponent you had him at your mercy who'd hope to get on their tail and follow them and they'd be taking evasive maneuvers to try and shake you off their tail and you managed to get a shot at them and knock about the sky that was it with only 12 seconds of ammunition on board Pilots had to get in close to be sure of the hit but even then at closing speeds of over 600 mph the fight was over almost before it began most things were over in a few seconds and then the sky was empty again with the battle stretching over miles of Sky the experienced Pilots tried to attack with the sun behind them less experienced Pilots made the mistake of using clouds as cover now odd property of clouds is when you're sitting a cloud looking down into it you can see an airplane climbing up out of the cloud for the last 500 ft of his climb before he comes out of it but if you're the one in Cloud you can't see a blind thing until you're totally clear of the cloud all day long more and more German bombers attacked the RAF bases around Southern England every time they were spotted on radar the RAF was there to drive them back by day's end the LT buffer had lost 69 aircraft and 31 badly damaged with their huge Armada of aircraft they could just about afford these losses the RAF was also suffering heavily they had lost 63 Fighters with another those 62 damaged they could barely afford to lose the aircraft they certainly could not afford to lose the pilots at that rate of attrition the RAF would cease to exist in a few weeks but for Britain it was about to get worse on a routine scouting Mission ARF reconnaissance aircraft took a series of photographs over the Dutch Belgian and French coasts back at headquarters the photographs were developed what they revealed sent a chills through the British High command the images showed that huge numbers of Landing barges were being assembled in the channel ports of northern France and Holland these were the vessels intended to carry a quarter of a million battle hardened troops to land on the British Coast to invade a nation whose Army Army had been almost totally destroyed every day you could see more and more of these barges being converted to go across the channel German guns based in Cal were able to land shells on DOA the LT raffer had taken over the English Channel so it really did feel that things were hanging on a thread only one thing stood between the might of the German Army and certain Victory the young Pilots of the RAF Churchill called them the feud but by day 59 of the Battle of Britain the RAF was on its knees late on the afternoon of September the 7th ourf radar and plotting rooms picked up signals of the biggest attack yet more than a thousand planes were identified crossing the channel filling up 800 square miles of airspace the Battle of Britain was now entering an even more violent [Music] phase throughout the long hot summer of 1940 British and German aircraft had been locked in a battle to the death both sides were suffering huge losses but on a fateful day in September the Germans had a change of plan they called it loer the god of fire at 3:30 p.m. on the afternoon of Saturday September the 7th the RAF radar stations picked up evidence of the biggest raid yet heading across the channel the RAF was on its knees but thinking the LT buffer would again attack its air bases scrambled its squadrons to await the onslaught but the German bombers flew on over the channel over the airfields of Southern England across the hills of Kent over the suburbs of Southeast London their target was not the RAF airfields but the docks of London German photo reconnaissance had identified the vital shipping port and petrol refineries on the east side of the British Capital Herman guring is going to stop trying to attack British combat power and Hermon guring is going to try to break the British will to fight by breaking London it was for p.m. on a warm relaxing afternoon in London suddenly people heard a dull Roar in the distance the sound grew louder as 150 aircraft suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked the docks with incendiary bombs the fire Services were at full stretch as over 1 and 1/2 million tons of Timber exploded in massive fire balls as wave after wave of bombers attacked the docks everything on the ground below was pulverized I was actually underneath that raid on the docks because we didn't have time to get to altitude and I was just underneath I got out the way because I see the bombs dropping and I saw the whole docks explode it was quite a horrifying sight at 6:30 p.m. the all clear sounded but the fires were now out of control with 9 mil of Riverfront a blaze at 8:00 the bombers returned in a continuous stream until 4:30 the following morning entire areas of the city were burnt to the ground and the Flames could be seen for Miles those hospitals that had survived the bombing were pushed to the Limit throughout the attack doctors and nurses bravely carried on as the injured were brought in for attention 430 civilians had been killed and another 1,600 seriously injured instead of it being a battle of the few it had become the battle of the many for two more weeks wave after wave of luffer bombers attacked the city of London by day and increasingly by night londoners said they could take it and a spirit of defiance was created while the lft faffer turned its attention away from bombing air bases to bombing London the RAF desperately used this time to build up its forces for the final showdown on Sunday the 15th of September the Battle of Britain was about to reach its climax pouring over their latest aerial reconnaissance German intelligence indicated that the RAF were down to their last planes some sources put it as low as just 50 Fighters again the intelligence units got it wrong the RAF had 630 Spitfires and hurricans in the front line at 10:30 a.m. radar stations picked up a raid of 250 plus aircraft coming across the channel as more and more radar stations called in their reports fighter command's plotting rooms soon resembled a crazy gambling table in Las Vegas as counters and markers tracked the advancing attack immediately RAF Command put up its fighters to meet them more formations of aircraft were picked up fighter command now realized that this could be the big one and ordered three more air bases to scramble their Fighters as radar tracked the enemy they knew the target was London more squadrons were scrambled and hurled against the Germans there were now 15 squadrons of Fighters battling against the Lu faffer Winston Churchill who was visiting RAF fighter command HQ asked where are your reserves he was told sir there are none in his account after the war Churchill says the odds great the margins small the stakes infinite just after midday those lffa bombers that managed to get through and bomb London began to fight their way back to their base it had been a bloody battle but more was to come at 2:30 in the afternoon radar picked up 300 bombers in two waves heavily ES orted by Fighters again the RAF was ready for them it continued to maneuver around the German Fighters and bombers bringing them down I did four sorties and shot down to aircraft it was all go if you like but of course they they seem to just keep coming and you'd get scrambled you'd get involved back to base rearm refuel another scramble and so it went on by dusk the last of the LT faffer had returned to their bases the German Pilots were horrified by the number of British Fighters that had attacked them they had 56 aircrafts shot out of the sky 81 air crew through killed with 94 either wounded or taken prisoner for the Germans it was the end of the line the lvfa would never have Mastery over the Skies of Great Britain and September the 15th made them realize that after spending 4 weeks trying to destroy figh command they were getting absolutely nowhere they were back to square one it appeared to be and was in fact stronger than ever before and they did the only thing a rational man can do they gave up during the Battle of Britain the RAF lost 1,173 aircraft with 510 Pilots killed the LT faffer lost 1,733 aircraft and over 3,368 Airmen were either killed or taken prisoner but even after the slaughter of September the 15th guring was still boasting that he could destroy Britain in 4 days Hitler ignored him he quietly canel plans for an invasion of Britain instead he started planning for his invasion of the Soviet Union in the following year but the bombing of Britain cities continued throughout The Long Winter of 1940 and 41 only this time it was at night London was attacked with only a single Knight's respite for 76 consecutive Knights almost 30,000 civilians were killed and 250,000 made homeless they became the Frontline troops and bore the brunt of the [Music] conflict but the Battle of Britain was not a conventional battle with a clear winner and loser both sides could claim some level of Victory but for Churchill's few the legacy of those who did not survive will remain forever they deserve all respect you can give them that I'm sure of Hitler and guring had committed a huge blunder by not gaining Mastery of the Skies by leaving Britain undefeated they left a nation able to provide the rallying Cry For Freedom the Battle of Britain was the beginning of the Strategic defeat of the Germans as they charge off into the Soviet Union without the resources they need in order to [Music] win July 10th 19 43 on the beaches of Sicily 160,000 Allied troops Rush ashore as the daring assault on Hitler's Fortress Europe begins a 39-day battle of attrition will be fought that marks the Turning of the tide in World War II it's a fear thing you're you're scared I was scared your guts are tied in knots spearheading this attack the first major Allied Airborne operation of the war descends into chaos but these Elite troops fight back with a vengeance German and Italian troops will turn this strategically vital Mediterranean island into a bloody Battlefield when you go into battle and you hear those bullets you hear that artillery you learn fast high above the turmoil fly air reconnaissance missions their cameras capturing the battle below after the war's end many of these photographs were lost or forgotten until now these images give an unprecedented view of the first European dday the invasion of Sicily 2 and A2 months before the invasion of Sicily a British submarine surfaces off the coast of Spain operation minc meet a plan designed to dupe Hitler and the axis High command has begun on board the crew is mystified by a sealed steel canister they have been ordered to transport it was a around tin it was the size of a man and as BLS came off watch so he used to come pass it and it was to tap on a canister and say wake up Charlie or come on Charlie it's your watch under the cover of Darkness the canister is manhandled up on Deck opened and its top secret contents dumped into the sea never knew there was a stiff in there but there was the secret cargo is a decaying corpse dressed in the uniform of a British officer that will be forever known as the man that never was attached to the body is a briefcase it contains faked documents intended to dupe the Germans into thinking that the Allies are not going to invade Sicily the false Allied plans are delivered to Hitler and his commanders the furer takes the bait hook line and sinker Winston Churchill receives news that the operation has been a success the message reads Min meat swallowed cracked German divisions that could have wre havoc on the beaches of Sicily are ordered to distance Sardinia and Greece in just under two months time thousands of Allied lives will be saved by this ingenious trick after The Man Who Never Was was pulled out of the sea off the coast of Spain Sicily was relegated very much as a subsidiary theater so the man who never was played its part in a tremendous success the scene is set for the Battle of Sicily the island including more than 300 M of coastline is photographed and analyzed by aerial reconnaissance experts for the first time these highresolution images have been layered over a three-dimensional contour map creating a unique perspective on the battle unfolding below stage by stage one of the most dramatic campaigns of World War II can be tracked from the air Sicily is the home of key strategic targets including airfields and ports situated in southern Europe 2 mil off the toe of the Italian Mainland axis forces based on the island can attack and destroy the crucial Allied shipping routes in the Mediterranean Sea Sicily must be captured codenamed operation husky The Invasion could deal a fatal blow to the fascist regime of Bonito musolini and possibly take the battle weary Italians out of the war July the 9th 1943 it is 12 hours before the Seaborn invasion of Sicily over 2500 ships Edge their way toward Nazi held Europe as far as you could see both sides you could see ships it g you a lot of confidence you know we got a lot of lot of power behind us on board 160,000 American British and Canadian troops prepare for battle we weren't told where we were going at all well the rumors were that we're going home to Britain you know but they proved to be Force unfortunate we thought we were going to England for the invasion of France when we got way into the sea they start passing out pamphlets or books guide to sisly when they hand you that little handbook that says how to talk Sicilian then you know where you're going many of the troops are fresh recruits they will be baptized in blood before Daybreak we had never been in battle before and we were all scared we didn't know what to expect y ahead of the Allied task force over 300,000 Italian troops and 40,000 Germans wait they will make the Allies pay for this daring Invasion our determination to stand fast was strong we had been in Russia before Sicily but we never thought we were getting into a situ where we would have to withdraw we thought we were strong enough to drive the Allies out of C as The Invasion Armada nears the island American and British airborne troops ready themselves for battle they will spearhead the attack on Sicily we were based in caravan North Africa we were brief to take the high ground and disrupt the enemy in any way we could Montgomery came and he said we're going to invade Sicily every man will have his buttons oy polished to show the Sicilians what an English Soldier really looks like the airborne troops are to be dropped in the dead of night deep Behind Enemy Lines it is a huge gamble as it's the first time that the British and American Amer an have utilized this Elite Band of Brothers in a major Airborne operation glider troops have to capture the pon Grande bridge ahead of the British force that will advance up the East Coast at the same time the American 82nd Airborne Division will drop near High Ground close to Jaya here they will form a buffer against any enemy attempts to Counterattack The Landing force that will hit the beach in just a few hours time it is just before midnight D-Day approaches 40 mph Gales nicknamed The musolini Wind hit the Airborne assault Force as it nears the island as our flight approached the beach we hit anti-aircraft fire and the formation split our plane went to the right instead of the left where it was supposed to go H up by the time I gave the order to stand up and hook up uh we had the green light and go but we were not really ready to go at that time so we were really scattered instead of being dropped in a close group I think that's probably the worst jump I ever was in we never had a jump like that where with that scattered I was dropped 55 miles from the Drop Zone complet completely out of the American zone of operation the Airborne phase of the invasion seems to be heading for disaster but despite their heavy losses the paratroopers do what they had been trained to do hit the enemy hard I got together with two other men that night and as we sat trying to figure out where we were we heard this talking in a foreign language looked up the road we saw this company of enemy marching down completely unaware that we were there and I looked at the other two and I said we got two choices we can stay here and fight or we can lie low or slip out through the vineyard I said we came to fight get your grenades out so when the company got right even with us we trunked a half dozen grenades caused a great deal of confusion a lot of casualties the ones that Got Away took off One Direction and we the other direction let move out all over Sicily the widely scattered paratroopers struggle to reach their objectives their difficulties cannot delay the timetable of the vast war machine that lies off the islands Coast in a few hours time the largest Invasion Armada amassed in Europe to date will unleash its full Fury against Hitler's Fortress Europe D-Day the invasion of Sicily 12:30 a.m. American troops and British glider troops spearheading the Allied invasion have been scattered miles from their objectives by 40 mph winds operation husky seems to be heading for disaster crashed aircraft litter the battlefield many don't even make it onto dry land all of a sudden the pilot said sorry Lads they've let us go we've got to land in the sea there was people crying and I was one of them because we thought we were gone the lightweight Waco glider crashes into the sea but miraculously stays afloat with the men still trapped on board we have a little wooden armor knocked the hole in the top of the glider Crawl Through the top of the glider onto the wing there was no panic because if we have panicked we' have all been dead I expect then we all sat on the wing and started pedaling towards Sicily somehow Eddie and his unit scramble to shore others are not so lucky out of the 137 gliders launched only 12 make it to the Target Zone many of the Tactical objectives assigned to the Airborne remain in enemy hands and the success of the invasion hangs in the balance at 2:30 a.m. the Allied task force prepares to storm the beaches the pre-invasion bombardment rips the island apart they started shelling the shore and you could see the cliff disappearing and hes and things like that where the shells landed oh yes it was tremendas as they fire their shells they can be quite a distance away from you and the air is going like this you reverberating in your ears and about all you can remember is we hope they're hitting them the island of Sicily will be attacked from the south General Sir Bernard Montgomery's e8th Army will come ashore on the Southeastern coast and is tasked with the drive toward the ports of Syracuse Katana and Ms at the same time along the Gulf of Gaila General George Patton's 7eventh Army will advance protecting Montgomery's flank and rear at 2:40 a.m. thousands of troops on board their landing craft ready themselves to hit the beaches of Sicily see getting closer to the beach you can hear the stuff hitting the hitting the uh lcvp of course you can't see the beach the door is too high but the object is as soon as that door goes down get away from that that Target so you're anticipating waiting for that door to go down and you don't know where you're at they gave the orders and then he start counting five four 3 2 1 at that moment every Everything opened up at 2:45 a.m. the first Allied troops Rush ashore as soon as that landing craft hit the beach and they dropped that door we just went out I mean we ran underwater some of them jumped into the water and and scrambled up onto the beach I fed for my life we were in about 6t of water and you had to way toore with your rifle above your head the chap next to us was the armorer and I'm afraid he sunk and he had so much weight on him so he drained at some beaches enemy resistance is non-existent at others German and Italian troops unleash a hail of lead turning the Sands of Sicily blood red you see little flashes coming and you hear the sometimes you hear stuff hit in the water and you know that those are bullets sometimes you don't even hear the fire but you see somebody go down but they didn't trip they've been shot there were all kinds of injuries you know we've seen them with the with the leg shot off we've seen them no bleeding there nothing you could do for them see he didn't have any Medics on the beach they're just going to lay there until they bleed up go but you were told you mustn't assist them in any way you had to make go for your objective you see even if it was your best friend if he was hit you leave him it's a faar thing you're you're scared I was scared you can't go back the boat's gone you can't go forward because they're going to shoot you your guts are tight and Knots progress is slow and deadly but within 3 hours The Landing Force takes out most of the defenses guarding the beaches and begin to head Inland men of the American first Infantry Division had Advanced into Jayla where the enemy lies in weight behind every street corner going into the building hard day or night you don't know what's going on it's dark downstairs you don't know but the man come out of the cellar he saw the shadow our shadow there and his object was to come up and get you in the throat the German Soldier lunges at the Young Trooper as I saw it I put my arm up there and he caught me in the crook of the arm when I went down my buddy got him Sicily's axis Defenders bomb and strafe the beach heads they must destroy the Allied armies before they cement their position position on Shore the invasion of Sicily is the largest amphibious operation of World War II in terms of size of the landing Zone men and supplies must be brought ashore quickly and for the first time this new piece of technology was an offer the amphibious truck the amphibious lorri uh the DU KW or as it was known to everybody the duck it could offload from a ship motor straight off the sea onto the Beach Inland to distribution Point quick easy and gave the Allies a quick way of doing things high above the invasion Armada reconnaissance aircraft capture images that reveal the American Landings close to liata for the first time these aerial photographs dramatically come back to life by early morning on day 1 Jayla is captured on the south coast and the British forces make inroads along the east coast but many vital objectives remain in enemy hands the Pont Grande Bridge spans the river anapo to the south of the port of Syracuse it has to be taken a few British glider troops that have landed near the bridge wrestle it from Italian control but heavily outnumbered they cannot hold out and the order came down to surrender and the first chap stood up with the white flag was promptly shot and we were marched Away by quite a number of battalions and for some extraordinary reason we ran into an very Advanced British Patrol hand-to-hand combat erupts after a vicious struggle the tables are turned on the Italian captors we disarmed them and my chaps all stretched down for a cigarette and a arest and I said to no we're going back to recapture the bridge these Elite British troops have orders to follow they will recapture the pon Grande Bridge whatever the cost day one of the invasion of Sicily the battle for this Mediterranean island rages a small group of British troops have evaded their captors and now have plans to recapture the tactically vital Ponte Grande Bridge from its Italian Defenders our ragged body of men got as close as we could and put a surprise attack in our main objective was to stop them rearming the mines and blowing the bridge outnumbered and armed with captured weapons the troops of the South Strat forture regiment attack under heavy enemy fire whenever danger threat threatened and I always uttered mentally the prayer of the Unknown Soldier oh God if there be a God save my soul if I have a soul Jack and his men hold nothing back in this frontal attack anything you could shout didn't to make a noise rup the staffords all sorts of bad language many of the Italians are killed others simply bolt and run against all the odds Pon Grande bridge is in British hands once again I seem to remember handing the bridge over as nly as I could the Assumption being we'd been there all the time attitude and uh then we marched off to Syracuse on the first day of the invasion confusion Reigns airborne troops find themselves fighting alongside whatever Allied units are nearby against the common enemy when the British got even with us we stood up and said hey we are Americans well they almost shot us they thought it was a trick we finally convinced them that we're American paratroopers so with that we joined them and went on fighting with them and but midm morning a whistle blows and everybody stops and I turn to the British lieutenant and said why are we stopping he says it's tea time I said what he says it's tea time I said you got to be kidding you don't stop in the middle of a firefight and Brew up tea I said paratroopers don't stop for tea by Nightfall liata Jayla and skoli are in American hands the British have captured Pacino and avola the leader of the axis forces on Sicily General Alfredo gson has to act quickly to throw the Allies off the island before their tow hold becomes a foothold he sends his best Force the Herman guring division to jaila to drive the Americans back into the sea two Panzer battalions close in on the vulnerable Beach heads the first thing we saw was the dust as they got closer then you could start hearing them then then you uh you kind of listen for them too the combat hardened Veterans of the Herman guring division know that if they can drive through the thin lines guarding the beach heads then nothing stands between them and the annihilation of the American Landing Force well once they got rolling you know they made their own Skirmish line and started heading our way that's a scary feeling because we have nowhere to go the 56 ton Tigers closed to within 2,000 yds of the beaches they will not stop here they aim to grind the American troops back into the sea but those 888's coming at you they'll blow the whole place up to get you you're scared and uh you just learn how to pray you know hope that uh hope that the thing is going to turn and fortunately it it did American troops call in fire from the big guns of the warships offshore they started pouring that big stuff in there well they were opening those tanks up like a can of sardines the Navy fire is really what turned them around the Allies can continue to pour their men and machines ashore for now Allied leaders decide to summon extra units into the fight back in North Africa more paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division prepare for battle they are given orders to land on the island and reinforce their comrades caught up in the bitter fight around Jayla these men are totally unaware that they are about to fall victim to one of the most tragic errors in the battle for Sicily over 140 c47 Transport Aircraft approached the coast at 600 ft carrying the men of the 504th parachute Infantry Regiment when The Invasion Fleet spots them it mistakes them for German bombers Allied guns open up on them ripping them out of the sky it was hard to to watch that thing there's nothing you could do about about to stop it when one guy started shooting everybody just opened up some of our paratroopers were just running around screaming stop firing stop firing but they were not even heard 23 low-flying aircraft are shot down 318 Americans are killed or wounded by friendly fire that was one of the great tragedies of the war on the evening of the 13th of July British paratroopers launched their own Airborne assault their target primaso Bridge the gateway to the port of katana on the East Coast but they are hit by heavy shell fire as they near the coast the the fuselage was penetrated by either bullets or shal and one of the CHS was wounded fearing their plane will soon crash and burn the paratroopers make a tough decision he thought the best thing to do was to reattach him to the um sling and give him a shot of morphine and eject him from the plane he was more or less resigned and was a bit quiet and we just wished him luck and uh pushed him out I've never found out what happened to him Dawn breaks on dday plus4 out of the 1900 paratroopers launched just under 300 make it to the primosole bridge they are unaware that their counterparts the German first parachute division had landed on Sicily just hours ago now the British Red Devils face a showdown with this Elite Force in a fight to the death they will have to hold their positions at the bridge before the advancing ground troops can break through the Germans have other plans and force them to retreat to High Ground overlooking the bridge in the nick of time British troops from the dur from light infantry fight through to reinforce the exhausted paratroopers but the battle has taken its toll there were a lot of bodies lying around there were Germans paratroopers airads as where everybody there we had to P them on top of the other instead of sandbags to stop the German attack the struggle for the bridge will rage day and night the fighting descends into hand toand combat you couldn't see where you were going it was so dark at night we were moving through the gra vines with stealth well it was quite frightening really because you never knew if someone was going to go and get you first we trying to fire first as but the Germans got you but otherwise you had to use [Music] bayonet you know it's either he's going to get you or you're going to get him neither side is willing to give ground in the fight for control of the bridge the Carnage will continue July 17th 1943 the battle for Sicily dday plus 7 aerial photographs taken at the time give a unique insight into the fight for this Mediterranean island at primas Bridge the battle has raged for four bloody days the dead and dying litter the battlefield in the end I think the cas was so bad that we had to power one body on the other they called it stink alley I think it was surrounded by the bodies of their comrades decomposing in the heat these battle hardened foes call a truce there were such heavy losses on both sides that the two enemies decided to help each other the Germans and British arranged a ceasefire the dead and wounded were lying in a scorching hot sun in this intense summer heat and in those conditions the better side of human nature took over but this ceasefire soon comes to an end the British bring Sherman tanks into the attack they Dodge heavy artillery and somehow manage to cross the 400t long bridge on the Northern Bank they break into The Vineyards machine gunning everything around them the elite German paratroopers are forced to stage of fighting withdrawal the advance to Katana is finally possible but the cost of primas solle bridge has been high it sort of gave me nightmares oh it took me many years to recover from it I think the battle for Sicily is far from Over the German general Hans huba takes control of the axis forces on the island if huba needs to withdraw from Sicily he will evacuate his troops through the port of mesina the Germans now reinforce their positions along the southern and western foothills of the Island's imposing volcano Mount Etna against Fierce resistance the British Advance slows down however the Allied Ground Force Commander General Alexander gives General Patton the secondary role of protecting the advance of General Montgomery's eighth Army while it captures the Ultimate Prize of mesina Patton is furious it marks the beginning of a falling out that will cost the Allies dearly Montgomery as is well known was a pretty dur character Patton on the other hand was a much more flamboyant character and in short if you had two characters up against each other you could guarantee that weren't going to get on well with each other that's Patton and Montgomery Patton decides that if he can't have msen he will instead be the first into the Sicilian capital of poo but Alexander ordered Patton to stop but Patton claimed that the orders were garbled in transmission and that by the time uh the the issue was sorted out his troop had marched all the way to palmo and taken while they're at it 52,000 uh mainly Italian prisoners of war the scene in the capital resembles a Victory Parade the Italian Garrison and civilian population have had enough of the war most of them appeared to be uh happy to see us particularly the younger people sure we took palmo great now what's left well all the Germans that are lined up and all the Italians that are still to get cleaned up so the city didn't didn't make any difference day 14 of the campaign the capture of poo means little to the men fighting against a hidden enemy dug into the hard volcanic rock around Sicily German artillery Rains Down on the American Advance that's when hell started they started bombard I think I think the set of barage that must have lasted about 15 20 minutes then I saw one of our men he got hit and I was saw trying to put his guts back in terrible if it happens you just has to lay there and take it cuz there's nothing you can do and I just blessed myself said please Lord please help me get me out of here alive with the Allies firmly established in Sicily in Rome the fascist dictator Bonito musolini is ousted from Power by Marshall bolio bolio declares Italy's willingness to continue fighting the war alongside Nazi Germany but is secretly working to negotiate surrender the will of the Italians to fight is all but over if they knew the Americans were coming the white little white flags would come out I don't think they wanted to fight anymore they thought there were more important things in life such as being at home with their family and drinking wine enjoying life they that was preferable very common sensical approach really it was unbelievable we thought that the Italians had run away and left us to fight all by ourselves we couldn't hold Sicily with just German units the German High command orders the withdrawal of their forces from the island they will fight a skillful rear guard action to guarantee the evacuation of their vital troops and Equipment the Allies find their way to MSA completely blocked their enemy is tough ruthless and cunning as we're going through from one town to another you would see the German bodies and they would be laying on a gun and as soon as the troops went by they roll over and take out the rear [Applause] man then we got the order to start sticking them you know if you saw a body and and a suspect is sticking with a Bayonet and see if he said out the British Advance will be slowed to a crawl on the East Coast the Americans drive along the North Coast toward MSA west of the Etna line the first Infantry Division are about to face their own hell as they drive toward the small village of troina where hardcore German and Italian troops lie in wait they were really set up they were dug in they had every piece of equipment that you could think of there anybody said they wasn't afraid of something wrong somewhere the axis Defenders plan a blood bath for the Americans at troen they will hold this Mountain Village at all costs and buy their comrades time to evacuate the advancing GIS have other plans August 1st 1943 the battle for the island of sis has raged for 23 long bloody days aerial photographs layered over a three-dimensional map given unprecedented insight into this brutal conflict the anglo-american assault Force has captured most of the Island's 10,000 square miles but near the Mountain Village of troina American troops face a determined defense the attack was brutal because they had just about everything that infantry couldn't fight they had mortars they had uh 88s they had machine gun fire they didn't have machine guns that were like ours I mean those things were rapid fire you know they saw your buttons on with them over the following week the advancing American troops make slow progress against an enemy who have orders to buy time you see the red stuff coming out the end of their pipes there you know didn't make any the wearing a uniform you took them out the blood and guts that were spilled on that thing was was tremendous a lot of people lost their lives there the axis Defenders must stall the Allies for as long as possible the rules of War change there was a lot of dead bodies they were all over the street fact is in some of the areas they were they would line up the body so that our tanks couldn't get through cuz we wouldn't run over a dead body August 5th 1943 realizing their line of retreat may be cut off the Defenders of troina withdraw in the dead of night and live to fight again everything got quiet the next morning when we woke up they were gone I guess they had everything waiting and got out aerial photographs taken at the Port of mesina show ships evacuating the axis forces to Mainland Italy German general Hans huba orders his rear guards to delay the Allied Advance while the rest of his forces make their escape off the island General George Patton's Army is still 75 miles from the port of mesina General Sir Bernard Montgomery is 52 Mi away a race to reach MSA begins Patton writes this is a horse race in which The Prestige of the US Army is at stake we must take MSA before the British we're fighting from town to town and he's going through this town like a bad eye Hill pton wanted to be in the lead and he wanted to be there first he just pushed pushed pushed we want to beat the Yanks if we can this was quite rivalry really and they had an easy ride we think both the British and American armies are slowed to a near halt against an enemy not willing to break and run but on D-Day plus 38 General Patton's troops finally make it into MSA there is no sign of Montgomery the American General has won his race British troops arrive just as the surrender ceremony comes to a close well we're rather cross we thought we should have got there first with all the hard fighting that we' done and all the casualties we had as well the battle is over there is no sign of the enemy over 100,000 Germans and Italians and 10,000 th000 vehicles have been evacuated in the last weeks of the campaign the German withdrawal Across The Straits of Ms to Mainland Italy is a classic withdrawal both in terms of tactical accomplishment and planning they maintained cohesion right up to the last now this vast axis Army will make the Allies pay in blood for allowing them to ESC ape to fight another day we thought well we've lost the battle of Sicily but now the battle for Mainland Italy will begin and that will be completely different the race for MSA had distracted the Allies no joint plan was ever drawn up to prevent the withdrawal of axis troops Boulder Allied tactics may have cut off the enemy and guaranteed their destruction Patton and Montgomery must also bear some responsibility for the German Escape Across The Straits of msen they were more interested in getting to mesina first than actually defeating and crushing the [Music] enemy 29,000 enemy troops have been killed or wounded and over 140,000 are captured in the struggle for the island British forces suffered nearly 13,000 casualties American losses totaled nearly 9,000 killed or wounded the heroes that we have is the one we left back those are the heroes they died they died we surviv but they they give their lives for their country that's something that I will never forget and it's something that we must never forget the uh thank you that we got from the Sicilian people made us uh feel it was a job well done they were glad to have us there and it gives you a sense of of Pride it gives you a sense of doing something that was well worth it in Allied hands the island served as a base from which the door of Southern Europe could be kicked down operation husky was also a dress rehearsal for the Big Show the invasion of France in 10 months time many of the men who landed in Sicily would soon be hitting another set of beaches a th000 miles away in Normandy D-Day June 6th 1944 Allied troops stormed the beach of France in a bid to smash into occupied Europe but 6 weeks later it's a faceof in Normandy the Germans have rebounded from the shock of invasion and are fighting back furiously inflicting horrendous casualties on Allied Ground Forces both the British and American armies are being fought to a standstill how they survived it I don't know it it just didn't seem possible you were right on top of them where they were on top of you and every man for himself the sergeant said for my sins I always thought I was destined for hell but he said I didn't think it was going to be quick as this crammed into a 70m wide Bridge head nowhere more than 20 M deep the Allies need a breakthrough and fast years of planning to overthrow Hitler's thirdd Reich now hang in the balance high above the Normandy Countryside British and US reconnaissance planes capture images of the blood bath unfolding on the ground for over 60 years these photographs have Lain forgotten their secrets lost un now these images tell the real story that D-Day was only the beginning this is the Lost evidence breakout from Normandy at 4:45 a.m. on July 10th 1944 6 weeks after D-Day muzzle flashes from 1,000 British guns light up the morning sky for over 15 minutes They smash shells into the German defenses on a piece of land 12 mi from The Invasion beaches that holds the key to the Normandy breakout Hill 112 meanwhile in the English Channel The Mighty 16 in guns of the royal Navy battleship HMS Rodney unleash a firestorm of 2,000lb shells at the hill the naval artillery fire was so strong many men just went crazy I was afraid too because the impact was unbelievable I had men clinging to me crying these guys were really shattered it was like in World War I a constant barage always on the same spot high above the battlefield reconnaissance aircraft capture the action unfolding below them for the first time these original highresolution images have been layered over a three-dimensional contour map creating a unique perspective on The Killing grounds below after 4 weeks of bloody stalemate the action on Hill 112 could affect the outcome of the entire Normandy operation the original D-Day plan codenamed Overlord has established two Allied armies on the Northern French Coast the US first Army in the west led by General Bradley is building up enough forces to break through the Diehard German defenses ahead of them they their plan is to break out to the West capture the deep water ports on the Britney coast and then press onward through the rest of France meanwhile the British second Army in the East is drawing in the bulk of the German armor and crack SS troops that are being rushed to Normandy to Halt The Invasion the British objective is to keep up the pressure on the Nazi lines so the enemy will have to send more troops into the meat grinder distracting them from the attempt to break out in the American sector but for the British and for the chief of land forces General Bernard Montgomery it is becoming harder and harder to stick to the invasion plan Montgomery's plans after a month of battle on the beaches and just Inland had gone wrong in as much that the German reaction had been much much quicker than had been anticipated and therefore they had roped the Allies off in a much tighter Bridge head than had been been planned since D-Day June 6th 1944 the British second Army has been trying to capture the city and Port of K they know that once they have taken the port crucial supplies men and machines can be offloaded directly behind the Allied front line but the Germans will not give up the city without a fight in almost 4 weeks the British have suffered over 26,000 casualties as the British troops try to smash through the fierce German defense of KH the US forces face an even more formidable line of fortification called the bage in French the bage refers to Farmland separated by thick hedge rows in reality these hedge RS extend dozens of miles from The Landing beaches and are thicker and higher than anywhere else in Europe and the US centuries old over 6 ft thick and higher than a tank's turret the bage presents a bloody initiation to War for the US troops in the hedro countries it's like a fly would move and you shoot at it it's a close Sher you could hardly move they had everything zeroed in their foxholes and anything was almost like an apartment because they've been there so long the battles took place in the Hedge R so the distance wasn't very big the first thing to do was to detect the enemy and then we shot with machine guns and hand grenad those were our close combat weapons we were crawling behind the hedro keeping down low and evidently the uh German fired at renade just as we were reaching a break in a hedge R we looked up and saw the grenade itself come up hit the tree just above our head and that's when I was injured the first time the first day there we lost four out of our six officers and about half of our enlisted men the next day of course had two of the six officers left and one of them was killed so we were down to one officer and he was only in his second day of combat amazingly throughout the planning of D-Day the Allied commanders never gave any real thought to this natural fortification if you haven't been in Normandy for your holidays then you haven't seen the bage and the British commanders who were not in the bage probably had a very clear idea what kind of hedge rows there would be in Western Normandy the American commanders for many of whom the war was their first time outside of the United States in their lives just didn't have firsthand experience of the terrain they were going to fight while the American troops are fought to a bloody standstill in the bulage the British and Canadian armies desperately try to take the pressure off by capturing KH the key to the whole battle plan is the strategically important Hill 112 from its Summit there is a clear view of KH and all British lines back to The Landing beaches 12 M away it is vital that the hill is taken German Commander irin RL has said he who controls Hill 112 controls Normandy the plan codenamed operation Jupiter involves two brigades from the British 43rd Wessex division 13 Brigade will drive into the German defenses and secure the strategically vital Villages of erville and Malto meanwhile 129 Brigade will make a frontal attack straight for the top of hill 112 July 9th 1944 throughout the day British troops make their way to the start line but almost immediately many of these men who had never tasted battle come under vici sniper fire luckily enough I saw a flash so I shout it to a lad there with a br gun I said look there he is at 3:00 in the tree and he immediately heard single shots and I got so very frustrated I was always give me the flipping gun push the catch forward and give two short bursts of fire and something fell from the tree I was so surprised that I aimed at the right spot my stomach turned over and because it was the first time I'd ever killed any human being you know now with the clock ticking down to H hour last minute preparations are made and fears are held under control before they go into battle personally I was absolutely petrified but I had this ability not a short of you like at 4:45 a.m. the British guns open up with a Firestorm of lead and steel that is planned to smash the German defenses wide open oh there's thousands of shells going over thousands of shells how anybody ever lived the other side of it at 5 a.m. The Barrage stops in the Eerie silence 129 Brigade rise from the shelter of their foxholes and Advance toward Hill 112 it was as quiet as a normal morning and when we went out into the corn at the bottom of this slope then it started suddenly all L was let loose this standing corn you couldn't see anything i' never seen a German every now and again someone you get wounded going up and you'd hear the shout stretcher bearers and You' know that somebody had got a bullet in them or something and that was a cry that went up all the way up stretcher bearers Stretch Bar while the 129th are cut down in their zone of the battlefield the 130th go for the Villages of Malto and ET but before they can get to the two Villages they'll have to overcome the numerous small SS units scattered after the intense artillery bombardment these crack SS grenadiers indoctrinated in Nazi ideology are not going to give up their positions without Bloodshed the Advance on nille there was a order went around don't touch the German dead because they're all booby trapped if they you come across a machine gun list you might get one who was still active and he would put blood on his face or hands and he would would act dead and as we went forward if somebody that didn't look as if he had a hand missing or a leg missing or whatever we had to stick a Bane in them the fighting breaks down into a series of bitter close contact actions men from The Villages and Farms of the west of England are pitted against the finest the German Army has to offer it was terribly heavy casualty and we had orderers that if a friend of yours a might of yours fell wounded you left him he carried on the attack there was brenon carriers on fire around us and ammunition and the carriers were exploding every few seconds you know and it was just hell set loose so to speak by 9:00 a.m. and after some of the fiercest fighting yet seen in Normandy erville is finally taken but this is only the beginning desperately behind schedule Malto is the next objective lying in wait are the Elite second SS Panzer Corp fresh from the Eastern Front dug into almost impregnable positions our formidable tiger tanks and artillery positions outgunned and out armored the British tanks are no match for the steel Tigers the British lose over 50 Churchill tanks with their Crews trapped in the Blazing infernos our first sight of a German tank and I think it was a tiger and uh fired around and it was a good hit but it just bounced off the tght for the remainder of the morning the men of 130 Brigade press the attack but are fought to a standstill the British just cannot make progress against the strongly defended Village there will wounded in the corn uh crying out with their pain there's one one poor little serer he's only about 20 at the time he was calling out for his mother it was frightening to tell you the truth cuz the I could hear the bullets Hing the corn just above my head you see with the Eastern Flank In stalemate the only path to Victory now rests with 129 Brigade and it's attack aimed directly at the summit of Hill 112 through the hail of lead the British infantry Advance with tanks covering them from the rear taking horrific casualties 129 brigades attack fails 400 yd short of the Hill cut off in this slaughter house the British attack is now in serious danger of failing if they let the Nazi SS get the upper hand they face total Annihilation and half a million Allied troops will be held back from breaking out of the invasion Bridge head by 300 p.m. on July 10th 1944 soldiers from the British 129th Brigade are fighting for their lives against the crack units of the second SS Panzer Corp for Hill 1112 the key to success in the battle for Normandy for nearly 4 weeks the invasion of Europe has hung in the balance as us and British Allies try to break out from the beaches the casualty figures are horrific Britain and its allies have lost over 30,000 men the Americans over 36,000 with the death toll rising and racing Against Time US troops are held up in a murderous battle among the French HED RS it is vital that the British take the hill they must stop the Germans from sending reinforcements to drive the US troops back as men die in the thousands photo reconnaissance aircraft capture every moment in this Grim struggle by 700 p.m. and with the main attacks failing the British send in their Reserve Force the fifth Battalion Duke of cornwall's light infantry are ordered to take the hill at 10:30 p.m. and under a Relentless hail of lead and mortar bombs the men of the fifth Battalion charge up the slope and reach an orchard at the summit of Hill 112 their forward Scout spot elements of the ninth SS Panzer Division on the reverse slope massing for an immediate Counterattack the British troops steal themselves to repel the fanatical SS Storm Troopers there were machine guns gu two machines guns each side of the hill and they were cross-firing so the bullets were flying all around and strapo from the mortar bombs and uh the noise was terrific in Pitch Darkness the battle rages again and again the Germans attack and every time they are driven back off the Hill Summit it was horrendous really it was just like a firework night there was all sorts of wounds shrapnel wounds bullet wounds and uh they were getting them in the chest and the legs and the arms after 6 hours of repelling German counterattacks the British soldiers are withdrawn but one small group of men fail to hear the command we were all private soldiers and there was about six or eight of us and we were in the corner of this Orchard by morning this small Band of Brothers is facing the onslaught of the German SS Panzer grenadiers but during the night they find a bizarre way of increasing their Firepower one of the fellas picked up this German machine gun another fellow came up and he said there's loads of Bren guns lying about on the back Battlefield so I said well right let's go and get them and so at least six Bren guns we picked up off the battlefield with the ammunition from the dead bodies the next morning the Panzer grenadiers decided to do a Counterattack and came up in what we call a Pepper Pot formation there was a rhythm you could tell when they were going to pop up and pop down again and so I said they you are fellas I said wait till they pop up then that's the time to fire so they got about halfway up the hill and we uh duly fired at them for these BR guns and fought off the Counterattack incredibly for 3 days this small group of men hold back the onslaught of the Panzer grenadiers finally the shattered remains of the Brigade are withdrawn from the slopes of Hill 112 we gathered ourselves together and they said well how many are there of us we counted and with 23 of us left 23 and originally there were 500 went into that battle and we were the last 23 but this is not the end of the bloody battle for 12 long days both sides smash each other to pieces on the Anvil of Hill 112 the area below the hill is known as Death Valley after a week the British finally claimed Victory but at a terrible price they suffer almost 7,000 casualties no one knows the extent of the German losses needing to keep up the pressure on the Germans and to suck in more of their troops Montgomery launches another attack in the C sector operation Goodwood involves over 600 British tanks but is a costly failure facing the blistering German 88 mm cannons and the awesome Tigers the British lose nearly 400 tanks for the gain of only 32 mil despite the massive cost in the lives of the British allies the Germans are now convinced that the Allies main breakout will be in the east of Normandy they decide to concentrate their powerful Panzer divisions here the Germans believed that the Allied breakout would be in the East simply because it represented the best tank going Open Fields good speed and and of course it was on the shortest route to Paris and the west but while the British and Canadians are still fighting to take K and the surrounding area in the East the Americans in the west are experiencing their own hell in the French hedg RS called the bage using this natural obstacle against the Americans the Germans hide in the sunken lanes and thick hedge RS stalking patrols and ambushing tanks as Allied tanks charge through the Hedge RS and push over the top it exposes the thin belly armor to German anti-tank weapons we don't want to take a tank that goes over the hedge like this You're vulnerable to the bottom of the tank when it hit you you're done they position themselves behind the Hedge Rose a good infantry man with a bazuka could knock out an American Tank to overcome this Slaughter in the Hedge RS the Army comes up with an ingenious solution designed by a young sergeant and nicknamed the rhinoceros they weld metal prongs salvaged from the Germans own Invasion Beach defenses to the front of their Sherman tanks although now able to rip through the Hedge RS and German positions taking the ground is still a blood bath for the US troops they always would defend the farm yards called course they had out buildings Barns and things so they'd always put up a fight at those farmyards and occasionally there you would get into where you were right on top of them or they were on top of you and then it was just an every man for himself type of situation slowly the US troops edged toward their first objective the small town of San l but like KH in the British sector Sano is a hard nut to crack for two long weeks and suffering over 2,000 casualties the Americans are bled dry against the fanatical German defense I could hear them coming the Germans sometimes would use their entrenching tools as a weapon and he swung it and he caught me right about here while on this side and I went down flat which was fortunate because a man with a Browning automatic rifle he opened up and finished off that fell but it was a horrible mixed up thing there were Germans in front of the building and we had one of our best platoon sergeants was dying and being very vocal about it he was in great agony and right outside the door there was a German who had had been shot and he was just screaming oh oh oh it was about as traumatic an event as you could [Music] get finally on the afternoon of July 18th 6 weeks after the D-Day invasion the last remnants of German resistance are cleared from the town now firmly in American hands Sano will soon become the jump off point for the US Army's assault on the German front line it is codeen named Operation Cobra what Cobra has the opportunity to do is take a very chunky Army it is a very fast very powerful organization and you're going to run it in a sweeping right flanking move around the Germans so fast that the Germans don't know what's hit them with the invasion of Europe badly behind schedule it's now or never for the Allies success and the outcome of the war rests firmly on the shoulders of the tough GIS in the Normandy Country Side July 25th 1944 7 weeks after D-Day nearly 2,000 us bombers escorted by 550 fighter bombers take off from bases in England Bound for Normandy their mission is to drop over 3,000 tons of bombs into an area 7,000 yard y long and 2500 wide this huge bombing Blitz Creek is the opening phase of operation Cobra the objective is to punch a hole in the German front line at San low their mission is then to push men and machines through the Gap and out of the Normandy Bridge head the enemy unit directly in the line of fire is the elite Panzer Lair division the bombing raid is devastating of the 3600 troops of the Panzer Lair division in the front line over 1,000 are killed and another 1,000 are wounded or in shock it was so high inspiring that everything else stopped everybody just stopped and and with our mouths open virtually and watched all of the planes going over and then did the saturation bombing and we thought that nothing could exist in that the fighter bombers with their Rockets they came in groups or alone flying very low they would attack every tank and every single man they could find and even if you're in a tank you cannot hide where would you go you can drive into a house or a HED R of course you would try and use every cover that you find but when they hit your tank with their armor piercing ammo especially in the back your tank is history and you are too the tanks that I saw that day were absolutely knocked out it drop bombs beside them they would turned up on tiger tanks turned up on the side there were German prisoners and they were all pretty Big Fellas and I never saw a man in quite the shape they were obviously totally out of it they were bleeding from the mouth the nose the ears and it's the only time I saw men bleeding from the eyes where there was no injury but just blood coming out of their eyes along with the destruction of the enemy there is tragedy it was unbelievable and then you realized the bombs were starting to come closer to us instead of moving away they were backing up and and then fallen on our side of the road a number of bombs fall short killing 111 US soldiers and injuring 490 more among the dead is General Leslie McNair who is the highest ranking US soldier to be killed in Europe at 11:00 a.m. the lead units of three infantry divisions push off from the start line but despite the intensity of the bombardment some of the German units are still eager to put up a fight how they survived it I don't know it it just didn't seem possible a few hundred yards from the start line the US troops come under Fire from a defensive line based around the deadly Panther tanks and fanatical infantry I think they were natural Warriors you know they seem to I won't say enjoy it but they seem to accept it better than than either the Americans or the British or any of us in these battles as you see wounded and dead bodies lying around you become more aggressive and your fear vanishes at the end of the first day the three infantry divisions have made a gain of only 4,000 yards at a cost of a th000 casualties the Germans that we captured they were Sullen disputed the Earth gimmick would say well you're going on and be killed we're going to America to prison camps and enjoy your girls some of them did not make it back to the prison pens I don't know what happened to them but they did not get back the Allied commanders now have two choices to Play Safe And continue with infantry attacks or to take a Gamble and launch a more vulnerable armor defensive convinced the Germans are about to crack US military Chiefs take the gamble 10:00 a.m. the tanks of second and third armored divisions roll into action they have been told to put an emphasis on speed rather than caution using hedge RS and trees as cover and with p-47s and TI strafing the enemy positions the second armored fights their way forward and as I kept moving up and I looked to my right there was a foxhole there about four or five enemy crows in there and I was looking at the German officer because I know he was the officer because he drew for his Luger and when he drew for the Luger we were both eyeball eyeball and I had a hand I grabbed the hand grenade and I pulled a pin on and I threw it over my head just like a basketball it bounced into the hole and exploded the Infantry guy he looked in all he went like that everything's okay you got it during the next 2 days the American armor plunges Southward isolating pockets of German resistance by now the situation for the Germans is grave they begin to retreat but it is too late they are surrounded by a wall of American Metal the enemy attacked from all sides we had tremendous casualties now with armor and infantry pouring Southward the Americans have achieved what for so long has seemed impossible a breakthrough but will this turn into a long awaited breakout or will the Germans rally again and plug the Gap by July 30th 1944 the Americans have launched their long awaited breakout from the Normandy invasion Beach heads as the Nazi army is pushed back by the US forces p47 Thunderbolts and RAF typhoons discover a fighter bombers Paradise 7,000 German soldiers and 500 vehicles are jammed together on a narrow road they are now about to experience the full Wrath of Allied air power high above the battlefields reconnaissance aircraft capture the action unfolding below them for the first time these original high resolution photographs have been layered over a three-dimensional contour map creating a unique perspective on The Killing Grounds below with deadly accuracy the p-47s and typhoons unleash their payloads pummeling the German columns on the ground the fly boys have a field day you are not in immediate contact with the damage you create on the ground with your Rockets or whatever B your guns because you're flying at over 500 mil an hour and you're not like when you're in an infantry unit attack you see tanks being destroyed you attack troop concentrations but you still detached from what is happening on the ground over 120 tanks 260 other vehicles and countless troops are wiped out by the strike because the Germans can't get up in the sky and shoot down American and British fighter bombers during the advance in Normandy and the Germans know that because bombers and fighter bombers can hit them any time of the day or night from any direction the German forces in France and 44 are never safe without air support and their every move blocked by US units the Germans have only one chance to slip away and then came the attacks from the air the like of which we had never seen they bothered us enormously the fighter bombers had a go at us so constantly that we had to go for cover and could in reality March at night July 31st 1944 for a second night Fierce Close Quarter battles rage as German tanks and infantry desperately try to escape a few small units managed to slip through Allied lines but most are blasted by armored infantry and tank destroyers in the long run we realized that they were Superior to us due to their higher fire power and the number of men and materials they didn't have to economize their ammunition they could fire for hours and hours before they attack by Daybreak the German forces are completely shattered 1,500 lay dead and 4,000 have been taken prisoner the second SS Panzer Division is almost completely annihilated the German forces are in complete disarray it is now time to exploit the situation key to turning this from a breakthrough to a breakout is the town of alange as these photographs show straddling the border of Normandy and Britany Avan also marks the end of the deadly baj country and the beginning of more open terrain the importance of the town is not lost on the German Commander Field Marshal G van kuga on July 31st he warned one of his subordinates if the Americans get through at a they'll be out of the woods and they'll be able to do what they want the terrible thing is that there is not much anyone can do it's a crazy situation tasked with taking off range the fourth Armored Division reached their objective on the evening of July 31st at first the Germans offer virtually no resistance distance we had captured 250 300 prisoners now next thing I I looked above and I heard bullets and rounds hitting above me and hitting the building behind the prisoners and it came in very heavy the German prisoners scattered I scattered we took our guns I jumped into a fox hold and I can see a tank backing up right where these prisoners were at some of those prisoners were run over by tanks their whole body was flattened out like a pancake you could see their face just like a picture you know it did not tear it up or nothing was just like if you look at a piece of paper and you see that man's face after three vicious counter attacks the Germans are finally driven from avange but to fully complete a breakout a Bridge located over the river salon at Pont B must be captured it's now a Race Against Time to cross the last natural Frontier into Britany and get out of Normandy but a new man is about to arrive on the scene a man who is held in awe by the US troops but can he make a difference to the Allied breakout his name is General George Smith Patton August 1st 1944 the Infantry and armored divisions of us first Army stand on the threshold of the greatest breakthrough on the Western Front since D-Day having taken the town of aange only one obstacle stands between them and an allout charge through France the bridge at Pono realizing the danger the Germans send a task force to head off the American Advance German Engineers have not had time to rig the bridge for detonation it will have to be defended the poner Bridge was important to both sides because it was that cork in the top of the bottle whoever had that point could get their troops cross the river and on either North or South it was a pivotable point in the battle an advanced party of us armor races for the bridge stopping for nothing they arrive first and secure it for defense from the opposite direction a German battle group also heads for the bridge but they are too late the confrontation is fierce and bloody with both sides suffering losses but the Germans are too weak to dislodge the American Defenders the vital Bridge remains in American hands the Allies have turned the corner for the Germans the capture of the bridge is a disaster despite Hitler's ranting demanding a Counterattack the German Commander Field Marshal gun vuga is powerful less to stop the tide of Allied armor flooding through Normandy and threatening to overrun Britany August 1st 1944 while the attacks on the bridge are in full flow General George S Patton arrives in France to take command of the newly activated us third Army nicknamed Old Blood and Guts he Wast no time before getting into The Fray do used to say his guts in our blood it would just turn it around some of them didn't like him at all no they did not like him because that they thought he was going to send us into a slaughter house Patton had that drive that get up and go to go and get the enemy just the kind of characteristics that are needed for a break out when Drive push speed and momentum are all the things that are required to achieve success over the next 6 days Patton orders his infantry and armored divisions to spearhead their attack into Britany their objective is to secure the deep water ports of breast and Lon August 2nd 1944 100,000 men and 20,000 Vehicles stand ready to invade Britany but crucial to the success of the spearhead are the US fighter bombers along the routes the armored columns take aircraft destroy anti-aircraft guns and deadly 88 mm Flack guns over the next 5 days the Flyers provide invaluable support to Patton's columns by 5:00 a.m. on August 2nd the sixth armored roll towards West meeting light resistance they race through the Britney Countryside going hell for leather toward the port we pass through a lot of towns pretty rapidly we average 26 mil a day uh in the 10 days it was roughly from that starting point to breast was about 250 Mi August 4th 1944 the sixth armored arrives on the outskirts of breast having completed the longest single operational Drive of the Normandy campaign instead of taking the town garrisoned by 38,000 German troops the US forces lay Siege to the port the breakout is so fast that the vast bulk of the German Army is HED up in the major Britney ports of San Melo breest laan and San desperate for a deep waterer Port the US decides to go for it and attack San Malo with tank and air support the battle for San Malo begins in Earnest on August 7th 2 Days Later the Germans are forced back to the walls of the Old Town the US troops are now involved in a vicious house-to-house fight clearing the town of fanatical Defenders when SC is kind we knew that we wouldn't be able to go back once we attacked we knew that we had to fight to the last man that's what made us different we knew that we could rely on one another for 100% on the guy next to you this was our strength for 10 days the battle rages until the town is captured on August 17th but the celebrations are shortlived due to German sabbotage and the intense combat the port facilities are badly damaged also the presence of offshore fortifications still in German hands means no supplies can come in through San Malo until they are taken out but a far greater prize has presented itself with the British and Canadians at last taking KH in the East the US has the chance to swing around and in Circle the German forces crush them and end their dogged resistance once and for all just 2 months after D-Day the Allies stand poised on the brink of victory in France back in 1944 everybody knew that the big struggle was to break out of the Normandy Beach heads break out of the province of Normandy and carry on to defeat Germany but nowadays were so fixed on The Landings in Normandy that the break out has become a forgotten battle but for the men who survived the Forgotten hell of the bage and made the breakout possible the memory of those Left Behind is forever forged in their minds there were some really brave men who did things that well beyond what you would expect men to do and little or no recognition for it brave men my friends we were family it hurt it hurt the people I knew they're not here anymore and that's pretty hard to take the US and British allies have suffered over 95,000 casualties to kick open the door in Normandy but even more blood will be spilled before France is finally set free

Channel: Military Heroes

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Keywords: Military Heroes, Military, Heroes, History, Full Episode, Army, Marines, Navy, Air force, General, Captain, Lieutenant, Soldier, Special Forces, Infantry, Cavalry, USMC, history, history channel, history shows, history channel shows, full episodes, The Lost Evidence: Stalingrad, military heroes full episode, military heroes documentary, full documentary, full episode, the lost evidence full episode, the lost evidence full episodes, the lost evidence documentary, war, The Lost Evidence

Id: vDiBbrTZgHs

Length: 134min 21sec (8061 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 05 2024