Unflinching and deeply personal, D-Day In 14 Stories interviews many of the last surviving veterans who were on the beaches of Normandy that fateful day 75 years ago (a rare spectrum of Allies and Axis); seldom-heard voices, including a female Resistance fighter, an African American, a Native American, Jewish Americans and a 5-year old French boy.
Victory in the Sands, the award-winning official Utah Beach D-Day Museum film, captures the dramatic events of the Allied landing at Utah Beach on June 6, 1944. As part of a top secret operation, brave Allied forces launch a bold assault on Hitler's Atlantic Wall against nearly impossible odds. This highly coordinated land, sea, and air invasion is a turning point of the war and marks the beginning of the liberation of Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Gold Beach is the story of the highly successful assault by 50th Northumbrian Division and 231 Malta Bde on the central beach of the Allied D day landings. The beach was one of the 2 extra beaches that Montgomery had added to the COSSAC plan and the two veteran formations chosen were highly successful achieving nearly all their objectives despite some hard and bloody fighting. It was on this beach that WO2 Stan Hollis won the only VC of D Day.
James Holland moves beyond the D-Day beaches to reassess the brutal 77-day Battle for Normandy that followed the invasion. Challenging some of the many myths that have grown up around this vital campaign, Holland argues that we have become too comfortable in our understanding of events, developing shorthand to tell this famous story that does great injustice to those that saw action in France across the summer of 1944.
The German paratroopers established a reputation in Crete as an elite force. A battalion commander now led a new Fallschirmjäger regiment, deployed to Normandy in the spring of 1944 to the very area where the US Paratroopers were to drop on D Day. This DVD will tell the story of this regiment, one that was more like a pocket division than a regiment, and its six day battle around the base of the Cotentin Peninsula to prevent the effective link up between Omaha and Utah Beaches.Using the established and popular style of expert interviews, pieces filmed on the ground where the battle happened, illustrated with contemporary re-enactment footage and numerous maps, the story of the part played by the 6th Fallschirmjäger in the key engagements against the 101st Airborne Division around Saint-Come-du-Mont, the flooded marshes and the key town of Carentan will be told in graphic and controversial detail.
Presenter and former England football captain Gary Lineker follows in the footsteps of his grandfather, Stanley Abbs, to explore a brutal but often overlooked chapter of World War Two.
Guy Martin undertakes a challenge to restore a plane from the Second World War, and recreate a parachute jump into Normandy, as thousands of Allied soldiers did during D-Day.
An in-depth look at the events and experiences of the greatest seaborne invasion in history, focusing on the personal stories of those involved. Narrated by John Hurt, it re-lives the events of those decisive, yet perilous days and reflects on the private triumphs and personal tragedies that proved crucial to the outcome of the Second World War.
An extraordinary journey into the past to that fateful day, June 6, 1944. Relive the event of D-Day on the beaches of Normandy with Company Sergeant-Major Charlie Martin of the Queen's Own Rifles. Experience an emotional and intensely personal account of D-Day through a combination of interviews, archival film and Charlie Martin's diary excerpts.
From the search to find the appropriate landing site, the planning of the landing, its execution and aftermath, this is the complete story.
On the 6th June 1944, Maj Howard’s Coy of the OX & Bucks LI carried out one of the greatest and most successful small unit actions in history in capturing the two Orne Bridges as a precursor to D Day. The initial part of the film traces the development of the British Airborne Forces to the stage where they can play a major part in the allied plan to storm Hitler’s Fortress Europe. The BHTV team then tell the story of this heroic action and the equally heroic follow up actions of 7 Para in holding the bridges against the might of 21st Pz Div. This action exemplified the British soldier at his best whether in The Glider Pilot Regiment, The Glider Infantry ( Ox & Bucks)or the Parachute Regiment, all showed courage skill and commitment.
Seven Decades after the bloody battle for Omaha Beach in Normandy, France on D-Day, many veterans are returning to visit one last time. Omaha Beach: Honor And Sacrifice tells the very personal stories of several veterans as they return to Omaha Beach and the celebration that Normandy, France holds in their honor every year.
The Overlord plan called for the use of airborne troops to secure the flanks of the D Day landing and to form a buffer to keep the German counter-attacks away, thus allowing 3rd Division to advance from Sword Beach to seize Caen. 6th Airborne Division was given this task. It was later to be joined by Lord Lovat's Commando Brigade..These tasks included seizing Pegasus Bridge and Merville Battery by 9 Para, whose guns were thought to dominate Sword Beach.Meanwhile, the remainder of the 3 and 5 Parachute Brigades were to secure key objectives. In the event they were widely scattered and facing counter-attack by 21st Panzer Division. Despite this the men of 6th Airborne heroically achieved their mission.
69 Infantry Brigade had a highly successful landing and now had to fight its way through German defences to its objectives eight miles away. It was here that the veteran warrior, Sergeant Major Stan Hollis, continued the actions that led to him receiving the only D Day Victoria Cross.Meanwhile, 231 Infantry Brigade,were attempting to recover the situation and fight through German strong points towards Arromanches and Point 54 ridge. These battles lacked the coordination between infantry and tanks achieved by 69 Brigade and were up against field grade German infantry. Hours behind schedule, the village of Ryes was taken. This allowed the much delayed second wave consisting of 56th and 151 Infantry Brigades to deploy and exploit the early successes, reaching the outskirts of Bayeux by dusk. Meanwhile, in the west, the hard pressed 231 Infantry Brigade and 47 Commando continued its advance through enemy held territory to Port en Bessin, Arromanches and the Longues sur Mer Battery.
Recent study shows that the chance of surviving the invasion beaches was 25%. Then how is it possible 50% of the men survived? This documentary which has been recognized as the best D-Day documentary ever tells a different story. A beautifully made detailed reconstruction shows what happened on that day on the beaches. In the first hour of the attack one third of the American soldiers dies. This battle will be decisive in the further course of the war. Survivors tell about the factors that made it so hard to conquer the coastlines. The animated images show it all.
In August, 1944, during the landing of Provence, a french soldier, too young to wage war, meets a Senegalese Tirailleur in combat.
The 3rd Division was in the van of the D Day assault force. Their task was to break through Hitler's Atlantic Wall on a stretch of Normandy beach codenamed SWORD. Once ashore their problems were only just beginning! Montgomery had tasked the Division with the capture of Caen but the Germans were deployed in greater depth and strength than the Allies assumed. Rommel had deployed 21st Panzer Division into positions immediately behind the invasion area. With bitter fighting in the villages and open ridges around Caen the two sides fought a desperate battle; the Germans knew that once firmly ashore it would be impossible to throw them back into the sea. This film charts the operations on D Day from the embarkation of the force, the crossing, assault landing and the subsequent advance to the Perriers Ridge.
In the midst of the D-Day invasion, a group of US soldiers are given orders to smuggle a member of the French Resistance behind enemy lines to assassinate a high-value Nazi target.
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, this special presents the key events of the Allied invasion of Nazi-held Europe and the subsequent battles that captured the control of the Normandy coast. Some of the last surviving veterans recall in detail the terror, patriotism and drama from the frontlines of war. This special also honors the diverse backgrounds of all who served.
George Stevens's remarkable film is acclaimed by historians as the most important colour footage taken during the war. Milestones covered include the liberation of Paris, the link-up between the Russian and American armies on the River Elbe and the Allied capture of the Dachau concentration camp.