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00:00♪♪
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00:54And now, D-Day.
00:58♪♪
01:04On June the 6th, 1944, an Allied expeditionary force will invade the continent of Europe.
01:13That day must come.
01:16♪♪
01:43At Casablanca, in January of 1943, the Allies commit themselves to the liberation of Europe
01:50while their soldiers, sailors, and airmen storm the gates of Tripoli.
01:55North Africa is yet to be won.
01:58But the combined chiefs of staff speak their distant dream to cross the Channel, return to the continent.
02:07The chiefs of state christen the supreme operation with a noble code name, Overlord.
02:14In London, a year later, the supreme commander of Allied expeditionary forces, General Eisenhower,
02:22takes up the task of piercing the heart of Germany and destroying her armed forces.
02:28But across the narrow English Channel lies the ultimate barrier, Hitler's Atlantic Wall,
02:35formidable guardian of Festung Europa, the fortress of Europe.
03:06Field Marshal Rommel, the Desert Fox, one-time hero of the Africa Corps, commands the coastal defense.
03:14He multiplies the fortifications and sows death on the beaches for those who dare transgress.
03:22♪♪
03:28But there is no roof on the fortress of Europe,
03:31and assault from the sky begins long months before the day called D.
03:36This is the key that unlocks the gate.
03:40Paralyzed, Germany's war machine pounded the Luftwaffe into impotence.
03:46♪♪
04:16And the troops, the men who must finish what the bombers have begun.
04:22Each month, the United States pours 150,000 of her young men onto the British Isles.
04:29All England becomes an armed camp, one vast depot of armament and supplies.
04:35♪♪
05:04♪♪
05:23At the appointed hour, a torrent of materiel and men will be set in motion,
05:28southward to the channel, southward to the embarkation ports,
05:33southward to destiny.
06:03♪♪
06:32♪♪
06:52♪♪
07:03It is spring, 1944.
07:07The date has been set.
07:10The hour has been chosen.
07:13Men committed to the assault are sealed in ships for secrecy.
07:17Ports, camps, and assembly points are cut off from the outside world.
07:23There is nothing to do but wait on tide and weather.
07:27Wait, and get ready, and keep ready.
07:32And wait, and wait.
07:35♪♪
08:05Gentlemen, the King.
08:08♪♪
08:28From Falmouth, from Portland, from Plymouth, from Weymouth, the ships depart.
08:36From different ports, the ships sail at varying intervals
08:39to arrive at the five landing beaches together.
08:42Five beaches stretched 60 miles over the coast of France.
08:47♪♪
09:07First to invade will be the paratroops.
09:10Their mission is to support the landings.
09:13Intelligence officers have warned the Supreme Commander
09:16that the airborne assault is too hazardous to succeed.
09:19But without it, the landings may fail.
09:23Eisenhower faces a crucial decision.
09:27Should he risk the slaughter of two superb divisions,
09:30or should he cancel the drop and imperil the whole invasion?
09:36He orders the paratroopers to France.
09:39♪♪
10:08♪♪
10:33♪♪
10:56The gliders go in.
10:58France is below.
11:00There are crack-ups and casualties.
11:02But the paratroopers accomplish their mission.
11:05♪♪
11:26The tactical air squadrons fly 5,000 sorties
11:29to support the amphibious assault.
11:32♪♪
11:56Four thousand ships will converge on France
11:59with the precision of a dress parade.
12:02The Luftwaffe has been broken.
12:05The U-boats driven from the channel.
12:08The vanguard of 35 divisions moves unmolested toward the beaches.
12:13♪♪
12:19Warships prepare to open the assault with a barrage of gunfire.
12:24Battleship Nevada is there,
12:27torpedoed at Pearl Harbor,
12:29a flagship at Normandy.
12:32Naval guns open the Western Front.
12:36♪♪
12:44Inside Hitler's Atlantic wall,
12:47the Nazis know what the world is not.
12:50The assault is on.
12:52Defeated in the north.
12:54Defeated in the south.
12:56Defeated in the east.
12:58The Germans have but one hope left.
13:02Destroy the invaders from the west.
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16:19One million tons of concrete float across the channel.
16:23Artificial docks called mulberries
16:25to hide their top secret purpose.
16:28Huge, hollow blocks of cement
16:30that will be sunk offshore, forming piers.
16:33♪♪
16:50Few things are predictable in war.
16:53Sometimes casualties are lightest,
16:55where heaviest losses are expected.
16:58And often the worst fighting takes place
17:01where none is anticipated.
17:04But whichever way the battle turns,
17:07each man must face his ordeal alone.
17:12♪♪
17:37♪♪
17:47Fifty-four merchant ships are deliberately sunk
17:49to build a breakwater that shelters the shore under its lead.
17:53Together with the mulberry units,
17:55they form a man-made harbor.
17:58Tons of supplies pour in with the invading troops,
18:01not afterwards when it might be too late.
18:04♪♪
18:14Human ingenuity rises to the challenge of invasion.
18:19But one factor, one all-important factor,
18:24remains beyond human control.
18:27♪♪
18:42♪♪
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19:19But the might of the German Army, Navy, and Air Force
19:23is unable to do.
19:25The worst channel storm in 80 years almost does.
19:29But the invaders hold the beaches.
19:33And in the ports of England, wave after wave is mounted
19:36to build and broaden the landings.
19:39The Allied Expeditionary Naval Forces
19:41execute their mission to assure the safe and timely arrival
19:44of troops, weapons, supplies.
19:48A mission which will have a profound effect
19:51on the history of man.
19:54♪♪
20:08This program will be interrupted from time to time
20:11to bring you the latest news bulletins
20:13as they are received in the newsroom.
20:15Keep tuned to your favorite NBC station
20:18to keep in step with all the latest developments
20:20on this Invasion Day.
20:22Now the orchestra opens the program
20:24with a revival of an old hit, Blue Room.
20:27♪♪
20:43Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt this program
20:45to bring you a special broadcast.
20:48This is George Hicks speaking.
20:50We are now speaking from the tower above the signal bridge
20:53of an American naval flagship.
20:55And we're lying some few miles off the coast of France
20:58where the invasion of Europe has begun.
21:01It is now 20 minutes to 6.
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21:33♪♪
21:52Behind the landings, Allied planes release a barrier of bombs
21:56that cut off German reinforcements,
21:58paralyze German counter moves.
22:01Every road, every bridge, every rail line, every canal
22:07all the way back into Germany is smashed,
22:10isolating the French beaches.
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22:41♪♪
22:54Every 75 yards, a landing craft heads for the shore
22:57and touches down.
22:59Resistance is furious from German suicide squads,
23:02but the Americans go in and hang on by their guts.
23:08♪♪
23:32Veterans of Dunkirk return to France,
23:35this time to stay.
23:38The British soldiers who beat Rommel on the sands of Africa
23:41help destroy him on the sands of Europe.
24:05♪♪
24:34♪♪
24:59The architects of invasion view their work.
25:02Eisenhower and Admiral Ramsey,
25:05Commander of Allied Naval Forces.
25:08Commander of American Naval Forces, Admiral Stark.
25:12Lieutenant General Omar Bradley,
25:14Commander of the First United States Army.
25:17♪♪
25:23Field Marshal Montgomery of El Alamein,
25:25Commander of Allied Ground Forces.
25:30After invasion, the breakout,
25:33the swelling Allied armies stream inland into Europe.
25:37♪♪
25:53Behind the survivors lie those who died to enslave the world.
26:00And those who died to free it.
26:05♪♪