D-Day: Normandy 1944

Normandy...

For many, this was the end.

For many more,

it was the beginning.

But for all of us,

everything changed here,

in Normandy, on these sands.

The day they all embarked to come here,

they received a letter from their Supreme Commander,

General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

It was June 5, 1944.

GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER: Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen

of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade,

toward which we have striven these many months.

The eyes of the world are upon you.

The hopes and prayers

of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.

In company with our brave Allies

and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts...

...you will bring about the destruction

of the German war machine,

the elimination of Nazi tyranny

over the oppressed peoples of Europe,

and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one.

Your enemy is well trained,

well equipped and battle-hardened.

He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944!

Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41.

The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans

great defeats, in open battle,

man-to-man.

Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength

in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground.

Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority

in weapons and munitions of war,

and placed at our disposal

great reserves of trained fighting men.

The tide has turned!

The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage,

devotion to duty and skill in battle.

[gunshots, airplane engines humming]

We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good Luck!

And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God

upon this great and noble undertaking.

"Liberty Ship" is the name

that President Roosevelt gave to the nearly 3,000 cargo ships

built in the United States from 1941 until 1945.

To ensure the supplying of the Allied Forces,

the pace of production rose to one per day.

Braving all the dangers of the North Atlantic,

these ships transported the means

to bring Europe its liberty.

There have always been wars,

in one place or another, on our planet.

But during the 20th century,

war extended to the entire world twice

in the space of 20 years.

Having started in Europe,

it is here, too, that the Second World War

began to come to an end...

in France, and to be precise, in Normandy.

It was here in Normandy,

that a new balance for the world as we know it today was forged.

But during the war,

Normandy was not as welcoming as it is today...

...because from 1940,

France, like most of Europe,

was occupied by German troops

of the Third Reich,

led by Adolf Hitler,

with Italy as its ally,

forming the Axis.

Only the United Kingdom remained free

after its victory in the Battle of Britain.

In June, Hitler broke

his pact with Stalin

and triggered a massive offensive

against the Soviet Union,

opening up an enormous battlefront

in the east of Europe.

In December, after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor,

the United States entered the war

along with the British and the Russians

against the Axis forces.

Despite Japan's infamy,

Franklin Roosevelt agreed with Winston Churchill

to liberate "Europe First."

Hitler knew this.

To concentrate his best troops on the eastern front,

he had to protect his western flank

from a seaborne attack.

In March,

he ordered the building

of a defensive system

along 4,000 kilometers

of coastline: the Atlantic Wall.

By that August,

construction had only got

as far as the foundations

when the Canadian troops

attempted a first landing operation at Dieppe.

August 18, 19 and 20, 1942.

Dear Mom and Dad,

There is enough moonlight for me to continue my letter

aboard our assault barge.

if I should be among the casualties,

Jacques will let you know what happened to me

as we have promised to do this for one another,

in case one of us does not return.

I love you

from the bottom of my heart, Robert.

The landing was a disaster.

Of the 6,000 soldiers present,

more than half were wounded, killed or taken prisoner.

This led Hitler to believe

his own propaganda,

describing the Atlantic Wall

as an impenetrable barrier.

The artillery batteries were

the strongest elements

of the Atlantic Wall.

Hidden back from the shoreline, each bunker housed a cannon

that could destroy a ship 20 kilometers away.

[soldier speaking over radio in German]

[turret whirrs and clicks as solider speaks over radio]

The exact position of the ships

was given by the Command Post overlooking the sea.

Each battery was a small fortress

capable of devastating a fleet.

[soldier speaking German over radio]

After inspecting the Normandy beaches,

General Rommel oversaw their reinforcement.

He covered them with millions of mines

and all kinds of obstacles.

Many were immersed at high tide to destroy landing craft

and stop a naval attack at the beaches.

Field Marshal Von Rundstedt

had 58 divisions

under his command

on the western front.

39 of these,

averaging 14,000 men each,

were placed under Rommel's orders.

Well protected behind the wall,

an army of engineers developed new weapons

that could tip the war in favor of the Axis.

[solider shouting orders in German]

V1's, the first cruise missiles,

and V2's, the first rocket missiles,

could be aimed at England.

And once operational,

the first jet aircraft

would be able to surpass

the fastest Allied fighters.

The Russians pushed the Germans

back to their borders.

The Allies retook North Africa

and surged into Southern Italy.

The opening of a second front

in Western Europe

would allow them

to take the Third Reich in a pincer attack.

But first, they needed to breach the Atlantic Wall.

That was the aim

of Operation Overlord,

commanded by an American general:

Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Two-and-a-half-ton truck.

A real all-rounder, this six-wheel drive truck

was involved everywhere,

for all uses during the Second World War.

Of the 800,000 trucks made in four years,

more than 100,000 went to the Soviet Army.

Since entering the war,

the United States had developed its military effort

with an enormous industrial capacity.

The Allies had won the Battle of the Atlantic and now,

even England's numerous ports

were not enough to accommodate all the arriving ships.

For the military forces

of 12 different nations,

the whole of England

became a gigantic training camp.

[indistinct shouting and grunting]

Fire!