He made the following observations.

“We just sat there on board with nothing
to do other than eat or smoke.

” “We didn’t lack victuals,” “I had ten men’s rations just for me.

” “A mood of bitter disappointment
came over us.

” “We still didn’t know
where we were going,” “other than that,
we were about to cross the Channel.

” “Later, we were told
we’d be landing at Lion-sur-Mer.

” “It didn’t mean a thing to any of us.

” The Canadians were known
for their devout Christianity, and maybe that made them pray so hard
for the help they would soon need.

Never had religious services been attended
so keenly as on Sunday, June 4th, 1944, in all the ports of southern England.

The Americans, meanwhile,
tried to keep busy because they knew that nothing fatigued
the men as much as being idle, which would make them
more vulnerable on the big day.

On the evening of June the 4th, the weather forecast
was a little less pessimistic.

Calmer seas were predicted
for the 5th and 6th.

That night, in 30 minutes, Eisenhower took a decision
that would change the course of the world: the fleet would set sail
on June 6th, 1944.

On June 5th, the wheels
of the huge machine began turning.

Allied planes attacked
northern and western France to prevent the German rearguard
from reaching Normandy.

Allied bombers were unparticular
about their targets.

They struck Lower Normandy
for three full days, claiming almost 4,000
German and civilian lives.

The bombing raids led to heated discussions
between Eisenhower and Churchill.

The latter was concerned
about the weight of hatred they would cause amongst the French.

To the surprise of the Allies,
the French resistance replied, “This is war,
we must accept people will die.

” On June 3rd in Algiers, General de Gaulle had transformed the French Committee
of National Liberation into the Provisional Government
of the French Republic.

Until then, he had been kept silent.

The Allies had concealed everything
from the French.

As the liberation of France drew nearer,
the British and Americans needed de Gaulle to ensure the full cooperation
of the people and the French resistance.

On June the 4th
after being summoned by Churchill, de Gaulle left for Britain,
intent on speaking his mind.

He refused to let the Allies
lay down the law.

However, despite the fact they refused
to entrust him with full power, the sensitive general
agreed to back Overlord.

On June 5th at sea, diversion tactics
continued to be deployed.

Dozens of small ships
headed north of Le Havre.

Their funnels billowed out steam
both as a smokescreen and to have the Germans believe
a huge fleet was crossing the Channel towards a position far north
of the targeted Normandy beaches.

General Eisenhower
had always believed that a leader’s place is alongside his men,
before and during battle.

Late in the afternoon of June 5th,
at Greenham Common airfield, a few hours before they took off,
he visited the US 101st Airborne Division.

They would be amongst the first
to reach French soil.

Ike’s smiling face
masked his underlying tension.

All the more reason for paratroopers
to put on a brave face and reassure their leader.

That evening,
Eisenhower stayed till the end, till the last plane had taken off.

A little farther away, not having their leader there
to cheer them on in person, the reconnaissance paratroopers
came up with their own way to put on a brave face.

Whether real Redskins, or just the white man’s myth
of the Native American warrior, their scarlet war paint at least
helped these 20-something Iroquois to get ready for action.

Those without war paint
simply blackened their faces with charcoal so as to be less visible.

As well as their weapons and parachutes, these men would be jumping
with radio transmitters to signal marked zones where the gliders
could drop the majority of troopers.

Three men were needed
to help one paratrooper on board who had a 50 percent chance
of survival and who knew it.

That same night, Ike wrote a letter
in case the landings ended in disaster, proof of how the Allies
were certain of nothing.

“My decision to attack
at this time and place” “was based
on the best information available.

” “If any blame or fault
attaches to the attempt,” “it is mine alone.

” However, for weeks, the Allies had been perfecting
a well-established plan.

During the night of June the 5th, German coastal defenses
were to be wiped out by bombs.

Naval artillery would start firing
at dawn from 45 miles offshore.

The British and Canadians would take
the right flank of the invasion.

They were assigned three beaches:
Sword, Juno, and Gold, located between Ouistreham
and Arromanches.

The Americans would take the left flank
with Omaha and Utah beaches.

The British would need to capture Caen
as quickly as possible.

The city was an important
communication hub through which the Germans
could bring in reinforcements.

It also opened onto flat land, which would allow
Allied armored divisions to spread out and planes to land at temporary airfields.

The Americans
would have to move up to Cherbourg, which they planned
to capture within a week, so that hundreds of thousands of other men
could land with all their material needed for the next stage
of the offensive.

On June 6th, from 3:15 in the morning, Allied planes
started bombing German positions across every sector of the landings.

At dawn, naval artillery took over
in order to smash the Atlantic Wall.

Omaha Beach near the Cotentin
was the first objective.

The Americans would have to quickly
establish a beachhead, then join up with their colleagues at Utah
before heading towards Cherbourg together.

After arriving too soon or too late, many of the aerial bombardments
missed their targets.

Naval artillery didn’t fare much better.

The early hour of the landings
determined by the tide, didn’t give it enough time to successfully carry out
its pulverization of the Atlantic war.

The main part of the attack fell
to the experienced GIs of the Big Red One.

However, attached to them
was the 116th battalion, made up of young men
who had never been in the line of fire.

To keep out of the range of enemy fire, the landing craft were released
onto a rough sea too far from the coast.

The men were crammed in like pack animals.

Robert Cappa, the only photographer
present that day, said, “When the noise
of the first shell hit our ears,” “we hit the deck and lay in our vomit
without watching the coast approach.

” Barely on the beach, the men were greeted
by an almost intact German defense.

It was like a turkey shoot.

The wind brought in the tide
earlier than forecast.

The following waves of attack
floundered on Rommel’s sea defenses, forcing the men
to leave their craft in deep water.

Unable to advance, they grouped together
in the center of the beach, reduced to sending
the same terrifyingly precise message, “Nailed to the spot by enemy artillery.

” More like crucified, as shown
by these few remaining photos by Capa.

The rest were accidentally destroyed.

Strong currents
swept the landing craft off course.

Men drowned as the weight
of their equipment dragged them down.

The sea turned red and Omaha Beach would later
be referred to as “Bloody Omaha”.

The US command
considered calling off the offensive.

A desperate measure
that would mean abandoning those who had already
landed to their fate.

There were already hundreds
of dead and wounded.

Their sacrifice would have been in vain.

Stopping the operation would open
a huge breach in the Allied front, just as the gigantic war machine
was moving up to full throttle.

The morning of June 6th, daybreak revealed an armada
of 7,000 vessels approaching the Normandy coast.

As always, Ike wasn’t far away.

At 9:45 AM,
he spoke to the world via the BBC: I call upon all who love freedom
to stand with us now.

Keep your faith staunch.

Our arms are resolute.

Together we shall achieve victory.

Across a 45-mile front, there was practically one boat
every 250 meters with air cover from 11,000 planes.

All were painted with white stripes so that Allied artillery
wouldn’t mistakenly fire at them.

Fortunately, not every sector
along the coast resembled Omaha, especially since the Germans
had been taken in by allied disinformation and still believed the main attack
would come in the Calais region and they were having trouble regrouping.

The unbreakable Atlantic Wall
began to crumble as did the German anti-aircraft defenses,
which became overrun.

Allied Aviation imperviously
flew 10,000 sorties on that day.

As the B26s
were releasing their last bombs inland, the fighter planes entered into action.

Not only were coastal defenses targeted, but airfields too, in order to keep what remained
of enemy planes on the ground.

Communication hubs,
roads, bridges, railways, were all systematically destroyed.

The French resistance, having completed its intel
and sabotage missions, now went on the attack in an attempt to stop the Germans
bringing reinforcements to the front.

The combined action
of the Allied Forces and the resistance meant that German troops
summoned from Brittany and south of the Loire River
had trouble advancing.

Rommel, who from the outset had wanted
to position his men close to the beaches to counter an invasion,
had been proved right.

The British 3rd Infantry Division
was heading for Sword.

Its mission: to neutralize
the defenses at Ouistreham and take Caen the same day.

This unit, the Scotsman
of the 45th Commando of the Royal Marines, filmed by their compatriot
Sergeant Ian Grant, were to land at Ouistreham.

He wrote, “This was the real thing.

” “I filmed the gigantic fleet
as best I could,” “as I was more or less at sea level.

” “We’d been given good rations
and even seasickness pills.

” “However, with the diesel fumes, most men,
even the strongest amongst us got sick.

” “The sky was black with planes.

” “Some of them
had been told to fly at low altitude” “so we could be told over the loudspeaker
the specific types,” “and tell them apart from enemy planes.

” “We told the men to ignore the cameras
as much as possible.

” “They were natural actors
deep in their thoughts,” “living their own experiences.

” “I wasn’t afraid
because there was no fear on their faces.

” “Just the desire to get out
of that bloody boat” “that was making them seasick.

” “The closer we got to the beach,
the more deafening the noise became.

” “In the rush, a ramp broke.

” “Everyone converged
on the remaining gangplank.

” “You just had to get off
as best you could” “with the your backpack’s weight
pulling you down.

” Grant and the others
were spared the first assault.

For them,
the hard part was about to begin.

Joining up with the paratroopers
who had been dropped behind enemy lines.

Another cameraman
was already on Sword Beach, the youngest among them, Sergeant O’Neill
had arrived 45 minutes before Grant.

It was he who filmed
the last moments of the battle.

“In the thick of that gray smoke,
everything seemed unreal.

” “It wasn’t a battle that you could imagine
or see in a movie.

” “The exits from the beach were congested.

” It was nigh on impossible to get off.

“I followed an infantry platoon
which was trying to get out of there.

” At this point, the jolting camera
indicates that O’Neill has been shot.

He had just time to film
the last few sequences before being repatriated for medical care.

Farewell, Sergeant O’Neill
and well done to all your comrades who captured Sword on that day
at a cost of 600 dead and wounded.

All lost in the mass of unknowns,
most of whom were barely 20 years old.

Germans who had been taken prisoner
were rounded up on the beaches.

A few miles away from Sword,
Juno Beach in the Canadian sector.

Their mission:
to take Carpiquet Caen Airport.

What were these young soldiers thinking
after making the 5,000-mile journey to land at Bernieres, a small,
an unknown seaside resort in Normandy? This is footage
of the first wave of attack, the only one to be filmed
during the landings, but by an automatic camera
fixed to the bullock.

Yet even the cold eye
of a mechanical camera can’t fail to capture
a simple human gesture.

Soon, the very first French house
would be liberated in Normandy.

It would cost the lives of 100 men, which Allied cameramen
had been asked not to film.

It was better to focus
on the first German prisoners and the anger that one proud Frenchman
showed towards them.

The German surrender did nothing
to mask the difficulties met by the men on Juno Beach, where a rough sea was causing problems
for the second assault wave’s landing.

A total of 300 young Canadians
lost their lives.

The sacrifice wasn’t in vain.

With the beachhead established, their surviving colleagues
began their advance inland towards Caen.

Already the first reward,
in the shape of these young French women delighted at seeing their country
liberated by these men, many of whom spoke French
albeit with a funny accent.

Yet at Allied headquarters in Portsmouth,
and despite British Admiral Ramsay smiling with pride
at the part played by his fleet, General Eisenhower still seemed anxious.

Since dawn, he had been receiving
message after message, some alarming, like those from Omaha,
some encouraging like those from Utah or in the British sector.

From the look on Ike’s face, you can tell the battle
hasn’t yet been won.

Because six hours after landing at Omaha, the boys were still stuck
at the foot of the cliff.

The Americans
always do the best for their men, whatever extra backup is required.

Even the first assault waves were accompanied
by an experienced medical corps ready to take immediate care
of the wounded, including the enemy.

Never had first aid been so needed
as at Bloody Omaha, where the dead lay
alongside a handful of prisoners.

Three thousand Americans lost their lives on the most deadly
of the five beaches used for the landings.

Yet, late in the day, with the sun out
and after the first waves had managed to establish
beachheads and advanced inland, more troops began to arrive at Omaha.

At last, it was possible to say
that the landings had been a success.

Now it was on to the next battle
for Normandy and for France.

General Montgomery arrived two days later and he had cause for concern.

Always wanting to have
a crushing balance of power in his favor before taking action, he delayed deploying his armored divisions
and was unable to take Caen as he was supposed to have done
on day one.

Moreover, his troops,
relieved at having been able to land without too much damage,
seemed to have a lack of bite.

Their cameramen embodied this in a way, strolling around filming
these first funny Frenchmen, asked to pose for the cause.

These ones seem more than happy to oblige.

On this day, June 8th, Norman Clague,
the man with a clapperboard, filmed the first moments of appeasement
when German prisoners and wounded no longer had anything
to fear from their enemies of yesterday.

Five days later,
Clague would be killed by German fire.

With him, compassion and morbidity
would never be far apart.

However, this footage also illustrates how the British slackened off
the day after D-Day.

A slackening of which the Germans
would take full advantage.

Although the German forces
held back from the front, as Von Rundstedt had ordered, were unable to reinforce their colleagues
on the coasts, they now reacted.

Two armored divisions including
the famous 12th Panzer Hitlerjugend SS, counterattacked on June 7th, 8th and 9th, barring the road to Caen
to the British and Canadians.

They also set up their defenses
outside the city.

This made the bombing raids
on Caen itself ineffective.

Although they did allow
the German propaganda machine to show that its own soldiers
were suffering the same fate as the city’s inhabitants.

The German Army
maintained control of the city, while for the first refugees, the approach of the liberators
meant they had to leave.

The German counterattack also isolated
a number of Allied paratrooper divisions.

Often dropping at imprecise locations, they had been unable
to link up with their comrades advancing inland from the sea.

Many were recaptured,
but few seemed resigned to their fate.

American airborne troops
had lost over half their equipment and one in five of their men.

All these men had paid dearly for the honor of being the first
to tread on French soil.

However, their overwide dispersion at least managed
to keep the Germans confused, making them believe
that a far greater number of men had been dropped than in reality.

Now it was the turn
of the 81st Airborne to be laid to rest, before their comrades-in-arms
paid them a final tribute.

Ready, aim, fire! Aim, fire! Aim, fire! On June 9th, the Americans
captured the small town of Isigny, which was furiously bombarded
to drive the Germans out for good.

The German defense of Isigny
had prevented Allied forces from Omaha from linking up with those from Utah
and continuing together towards Cherbourg.

However, with Isigny taken, the Allied front was reunited
and stretched over 60 miles from Ouistreham
to the beachhead in the Cotentin.

However, beyond the rubble, where were the inhabitants
of Isigny looking? Perhaps farther off towards the sea where a French ship
was finally crossing the Channel.

With the Allies firmly established
along the coasts, it was time to bring in General de Gaulle, leader
of the Provisional French government.

Charles de Gaulle
had never liked being in need of help and stepping onto French soil
at Courseulles after four years of exile was no exception.

The day before, Churchill,
still distrustful of de Gaulle, had written to Montgomery, “I must inflict on you
a visit from General de Gaulle.

” “I do not think
you should greet him on the beach,” “it’d be sufficient for him
to arrive at your headquarters.

De Gaulle
would only spend one day in France.

For him, too, time was pressing.

Time to tell Montgomery
what he wanted to hear and the British Field Marshal
even let him hog the limelight.

Monty also gave Norman Johnson,
his own cameraman, the task of following de Gaulle,
possibly to keep an eye on him.

Although used to working
to his leader’s whims, Johnson also thought
de Gaulle was a good story.

“It was hard to follow him,” he said, “but luckily, he was tall.

” He always had
the same serious expression on his face, but he did create a good atmosphere.

He always ignored the camera,
or at least pretended to.

In short, a star in the making.

In Bayeux, people everywhere
were delighted to finally see Frenchmen who weren’t under the German yoke,
a sign of renewed sovereignty.

Especially as de Gaulle was intent
on showing himself off with his own people and the men and women of the resistance,
with no British or Americans present, before heading to the town hall
where he installed his men without referring to the Allies.

He denied them any say
in France’s political choices and forced them to recognize
his own power in the country.

Although men did not need ports to land,
they now had a need for artificial ports to continue the battle
and to provide logistics and supplies for the hundreds of thousands
of Allied soldiers.

Every day, 150 to 200 ships
unloaded some 7,000 vehicles, 15,000 tons of supplies, and thousands of men in the port

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