D-Day 6.6.1944

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D. Day

May 1940.

The British are routed

on the beaches of France.

But Churchill vowed one day to return.

For four years, the world waited.

On June 6th, 1944,

the waiting was finally over.

The hour of our greatest

effort and action is approaching.

It will be a day of endless

and bloody battle.

We march with valiant allies

who count on us as we count on them.

In the air, at sea and on land.

And when the signal is given,

a whole circle of avenging nations

will hurl themselves upon the foe.

At midnight, June 6th 1944,

British elite forces

set out on a top-secret mission.

Four O.K. - This mission is

dangerous, but it's crucial.

If they fail,

thousands of lives will be lost.

At dawn, off the Normandy coast,

a massive armada assembles undetected,

and the first ground troops

set foot in occupied France.

Amongst them, an American,

armed only with a camera.

You know what? I'm feeling lucky.

Shoot them before they shoot you.

That's what my dad said before I left.

At noon, British troops advance inland,

ready for the violent counter-attack

they know will come.

At 3 p. m. in the city of Caen,

a French Resistance worker

has just minutes

to save a hospital from Allied bombing.

Before midnight, the Allies

must establish a bridgehead in France,

the first step in the liberation of Europe

and the defeat of the Nazis.

It will be a day on which ordinary people

will be called upon to do

extraordinary things.

These are the true stories

of some of those who lived through D-Day.

Collins, meet England.

England, meet Collins.

This is where Bob Hope's from.

What are you talking about, Collins?

Bob Hope's an American.

No, I read it. He was born in England.

I swear to God, Collins, I'm gonna,

I'm gonna knock you out

if you don't stop winding me up!

Bob Hope!

By January 1944,

one in ten of all men in Great Britain

is an Allied soldier,

and one of them, the new commander

of the forces of the free world,

is a 54-year-old farmer's son from Texas.

General Dwight David Eisenhower,

Supreme Commander-in-Chief

of the Allied invasion forces,

is himself invaded by war correspondents

at his London headquarters.

In securing these first pictures

since his arrival,

we also have the first newsreel message

from the leader of the second front.

Goddamn reporters!

How am I supposed to get the job done

when we've got those bloodhounds

snooping around the whole time?

Perhaps you'll just have

to learn to enjoy their company.

Ike has inherited a plan.

Hitler is consumed

by his fight against the Russians.

The Allies know

he cannot fight on two fronts.

If they can force him to do so,

they can bring a swift end to the war.

The plan is to invade France

and open the second front.

Gentlemen, Berlin will expect us

to take the shortest

crossing from Dover to Calais,

where their defences are strongest.

We will surprise them

by taking the long crossing to Normandy.

We will land five divisions,

establish a bridgehead and

drive inland as far as possible.

A vicious counter-offensive

from the enemy will come on that day.

We will repel it.

This is our chance. We must seize it.

We have six months to prepare.

Pitted against Eisenhower

is Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

Hitler has given his most brilliant

general the task of creating

an impregnable barrier

against the anticipated invasion.

Field Marshal Rommel

inspects the Atlantic wall.

It's the longest defence system

in the world,

running from the North Pole

to the Pyrenees.

These brave German soldiers stand ready to

defend our European culture and freedom.

But behind the propaganda

the reality is very different.

Rommel has asked to be joined

in France by his old colleague

Lieutenant-General Hans Speidel.

Temporary accommodation for

U.S troops of the first army...

As the clock ticks for Rommel,

in central London,

an operation of a very different kind

is being put into action.

Landing craft on the Thames Estuary,

100/ canvas.

And tanks in the south of England...

100/ rubber.

Oxford academic John Masterman is

in charge of a committee of spymasters.

Their task -

to run an intelligence operation

to deceive and confuse

the German High Command.

Operation Fortitude.

The plan to invade France

is well under way -

a good plan,

but with one great risk attached.

The enemy will be expecting it.

The fact is, you can't hide an invading

army. But you can obscure its objectives.

We must convince the enemy

that "Overlord" is not the invasion

but a diversion from the main assault

which will take place

elsewhere at a later date.

We will spin two webs of deceit.

The first that there is an army in

Scotland preparing to invade Norway.

The second that there is an army in the

south preparing to invade Pas-de-Calais.

Which is, of course,

where they are expecting the invasion.

Between now and D-Day,

our double agents

will feed the enemy a rich diet of lies,

washed down with a few harmless truths

for the sake of credibility.

The question is,

which double agents do we use?

In a London suburb is the man Berlin

believes to be their top secret agent,

Juan Pujol, a Spaniard, sending them

intelligence from his network of spies.

In fact, all his spies are fictional.

He is a double agent, codenamed "Garbo".

England must be destroyed and dominated.

With a raised arm I end this letter with

a pious remembrance for all our dead.

Berlin will be delighted

with their new recruits in Swansea.

Who will be the brothers

in the Aryan World Order?

I was thinking of creating

a retired sailor,

a few salesmen, a WREN, perhaps.

And how's your mistress, Agent J5?

Still giving me information

from the War Office.

Still asking for clothes and perfume?

She's a very demanding woman.

So... this makes

26 wonderful works of fiction.

The more agents,

the more information, the more risk.

Sometimes I worry

the whole house of cards could collapse.

It is elaborate and beautiful.

But fragile.

Many of the people of France

accept neither capitulation nor servitude.

It is therefore essential to gather as

large a French fighting force as possible.

I invite all those citizens who seek

liberty to listen to me and follow me.

Long live Francel

Despite France's fall to Hitler's forces,

over 300,000 French men and women

are involved in some form of resistance.

They relay messages, forge documents

and rescue stranded Allied airmen.

Amongst the Resistance fighters is

a 24-year-old teacher, Andr Heintz.

I was part of the Resistance

between 1940 and 1944.

My first group was disbanded.

My second leader was arrested and shot.

I am very lucky to have survived.

But by the spring of '44, the most crucial

aspect of French resistance work

is the mapping of the German defences

on the Normandy beaches.

Near the village of Merville they have

identified a lethal threat to the Allies -

a heavy gun battery

within range of the beaches.

I was meant to stand in for the captain

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