D-Day 6.6.1944 Page #6

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Go on, Jefferson!

And then I felt something

whipping me and I went down.

And I couldn't get up

with left arm and left leg both hit.

Get the bastards!

And I watched my soldiers going in...

and I was immensely proud of them.

Clear!

Clear!

Move!

Sir! Battery taken, sir!

- Guns taken out?

- I think so.

- Bloody well go back and make sure!

- Sir!

Move it, Dowling!

Go! Watch out!

Mike Dowling and I knew

that one of us wouldn't be coming back.

Shells incoming!

Last time I ever saw him.

Hang on.

I said, "Hang on? I can't move"

He said, "Just a minute.

Keep still. I'll put you in my picture. "

He was the war artist, Albert Richards.

- What the hell are you doing here?

- Morning, Alan.

I'll put you in the official picture,

call it "The Wounded Soldier".

What are you doing, you bloody fool?

It could be booby-trapped!

Don't call your commanding

officer a "bloody fool"!

I did a count of the men on their feet,

and of the 150 with which we'd attacked,

we had 65.

We have done what we were sent to do.

Those guns will not fire on the beaches.

Those men on the beaches will come

through without the appalling casualties.

We were rather pleased with ourselves.

Then I saw the ships.

It was a wall above the water.

It looked like a compact mass

coming towards you.

And then it started.

My God!

And first of all, the cruisers started,

opening fire on the beach

which we could see

quite plainly in the dim morning light.

And soon the air grew heavy

with the smell of cordite,

and looking along the beach we could see

the explosions of our artillery

creating a great cloud and fog of smoke.

And as the light broke

and we really could see around us,

we began to become aware

of the formidable character

of this invasion fleet of

which we were a part.

Hey, you better get back, Myers.

You still owe me 20 bucks from that game.

You give me a very warm

feeling inside, Capa.

I'll give you that!

Hey, Lieutenant! You don't look so good!

Hey, listen, Collins!

Collins! You think that thing's

gonna save your life?

It could kill you just as quick.

You jump in the water

with that strap so tight,

your helmet'll fill up

and snap your neck off.

One of the first beaches

troops are due to land on is "Omaha".

Among the men,

the US First Infantry Division.

Piloting them ashore is 15-year-old

survivor of Exercise Tiger, Eddie McCann.

I was assigned the first wave.

I wasn't really prepared

for what came about.

There's a certain smell... to hot blood.

Believe me, I smelled it that day.

The average age

of the Americans was 20 or 21.

I was 17 years old.

I turned 18 in Normandy.

The first wave on Omaha

suffered 90/ casualties.

Robert Capa will go ashore just

two minutes after the landings begin.

The gunfire was intense, terrifying.

I wanted shelter

but I knew I had a job to do.

I had to talk to remind myself

I was still alive.

I remembered an old line

from the Spanish Civil War:

This is a very serious business.

What can you see? Tell me.

- You don't wanna know, Capa.

- Tell me.

It's Ma. She's sitting on the front porch

and she's waving my insurance policy.

The men of the 21st Panzers,

now aware of the beach landings,

have still received no orders.

There are five beaches

designated for the landings on D-Day.

Utah and Omaha are American.

Gold and Juno, British and Canadian.

And Sword Beach,

where the teenage conscripts

from the King's Shropshire Light Infantry

are waiting for their turn to land.

It's 25 minutes

before H-Hour for our force,

and overhead the thunderous roar

of Fortresses and Liberators

going in to blast the coast.

On the horizon, flash after flash

from the guns of the bombarding ships,

firing their 15- and 16-inch guns

against shore targets.

You could see ships

from horizon to horizon.

I mean, it was thick with ships,

the Channel was.

I think a lot of the lads were very

subdued. We said, "Well, this is it. "

There's probably some of us who haven't

got very long to go. And we knew that.

To us is given the honour of striking

a blow for freedom

which will live in history,

and in the better days that lie ahead,

men will speak with pride of our doings.

Let us pray that the Lord, mighty

in battle, will go forth with our armies.

Let us recall the words of a famous

soldier, spoken many years ago.

He either fears his fate too much

or his deserts are small,

who dare not put it to the touch,

to win or lose it all.

On Sword Beach, the men of the First

Special Service Commando Brigade,

led by Lord Lovatt and his piper, Bill

Millin, march ashore under heavy fire,

inspiring the young soldiers

facing battle for the first time.

I think we were frightened

when we landed.

I don't think there was a man

that wasn't frightened. I don't think so.

You still had to go on

because everybody else had to go,

so you had to go.

I've been through many battles,

but I was never as excited as

when my time came to go ashore,

for this was France

and the beginning of the end.

The rough, swirling tide carried

our assault craft over the obstacles,

and we jumped into more water

than we expected, six feet of it,

so I had to swim a yard or two with

my pack before I could wade to shore.

Then the struggle across the soft sand,

five minutes that will always

be vivid in my mind.

- Come on, Bill!

- Take cover!

- Where's Gisser?

- God knows!

Someone from "Y" Company said

we wouldn't get across the beach!

What does he know?

He was in Dunkirk.

This is gonna be different. Come on!

- Here you go, lads!

- Where did you get them from?

- What do we do next?

- Keep our heads down!

Get a move on!

You won't win the war lying down!

Come on, one, two, three, go!

Here, here and here!

They say you should never stop

in the heat of battle.

If you do,

all you will see is your own death.

And I did.

Time stood still. I was totally alone.

I saw only bodies around me.

Young men who just a few hours earlier

had been happy, human... and alive.

Without even thinking about it,

I did the only thing I could.

It seemed to take forever.

I felt the current

dragging me back towards the beach,

and it was as

if I was wading against fate.

But I knew I had to get to the boat.

I had to get out of there.

What I couldn't admit to myself

was what I knew to be the truth.

I was scared. And I was running away.

All of a sudden, there was a bang

and I had no idea what was happening.

For a crazy moment,

I thought I was on a farm.

Then I remembered,

lifejackets are lined with feathers.

That's what happens when a shell hits you.

There were body parts everywhere

and grown men weeping

at the tragedy unfolding around them.

Keeps you on your toes, getting shot at.

Last time I'm going to the seaside!

I knew it was gonna be bad,

but not that bad.

- I'm knackered.

- Bloody starved, I am.

Left half me breakfast in the Channel.

And the other half on me!

Moving out in ten minutes.

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