Nazi Megastructures "Season - 6" (3/6) : America's War - D-Day
For educational purposes
How the German army prepared for the D-Day landings, despite having no evidence of exactly where in Europe the Allied forces planned to attack.
How the German army prepared for the D-Day landings, despite having no evidence of exactly where in Europe the Allied forces planned to attack.
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00:00The Nazis' fortress Europe is under threat.
00:05The Germans know the invasion is coming. They just don't know where or when.
00:09Hitler must prime his Atlantic defences for the inevitable onslaught.
00:13Some sort of futuristic tower. But it's this thing I've come to see.
00:18It's an arms race of invention and innovation.
00:22Look at this. This is a tank that swims.
00:25A battle of wits.
00:27We must defeat them at the beaches. That is where they are weakest.
00:31That culminates in a clash of fire and steel.
00:34Now it's starting. They're landing.
00:41And decides the fate of Hitler's fortress Europe.
00:49The biggest construction projects of World War II.
00:52Ordered by Hitler and his Japanese allies.
00:55Now these ruins survive as dark reminders of their fanatical military ambition.
01:00And America's fight to overcome it.
01:04These are the secrets of the Nazi megastructures.
01:20June 6th, 1944.
01:2620-year-old Heinrich Sevelo is a private in the German infantry defending the Normandy beaches.
01:33He's about to take part in one of the defining events of the Second World War.
01:43The mist parted suddenly, and across the entire horizon
01:46stretched an endless uninterrupted band of ships.
01:56I could see from the shape of their helmets that they were Americans.
02:04Now it's starting. They're landing.
02:11Following in the footsteps of the Allied soldiers,
02:14heading for that very same Normandy beach, is historian Martin Morgan.
02:21We're approaching the five-mile-wide cove that stretches from Vierville-sur-Mer to Cobb Ward.
02:27The cove that is now known as Omaha Beach.
02:30And we have this lovely unobstructed view.
02:33Something that the troops didn't have on D-Day,
02:35because they had tall gunnels on either side of them on their landing craft,
02:39and then a ramp directly in front of them.
02:41And our view lets us pick out spots on shore to include bunkers and fighting positions.
02:47And at 14 spots along this cove, the Germans had built resistance points
02:52that were armed with artillery, boarders and automatic weaponry.
02:56And as the first wave approached the beach,
02:59those strong points were about to turn Omaha Beach into a veritable shooting gallery.
03:05As troops disembark their landing craft, they're met by a hail of fire.
03:11The men who have made it this far, they were looking at exactly what I'm looking at right now.
03:16They have the bluff looming up ahead of them.
03:20This is incredible. From here I can actually see the big concrete bunker
03:24that housed an 88-millimeter anti-tank gun.
03:29In the distance there is another bunker. It had a 50-millimeter anti-tank gun in it.
03:33Just up there is Heinz Semmerloh with his MG42.
03:37Spraying this area with automatic weapons fire.
03:41So this is a place where the firepower of all these positions converged.
03:45And they have to struggle from the water's edge across this 600 yards of open sandy plain
03:51before they can even begin the assault of the bluff.
03:54Between the water's edge and the top of the bluff on June 6th,
03:58the U.S. Army will lose 2,000 men killed in action.
04:03The story of Hitler's fortress Europe begins in June 1940, at Dunkirk, northern France.
04:10Following a brutal blitzkrieg campaign lasting just six weeks,
04:15Hitler's forces drive the Allies out of Western Europe.
04:21The Nazis immediately take over.
04:23After six weeks, Hitler's forces drive the Allies out of Western Europe.
04:31The Nazis immediately set about fortifying their newly conquered territory.
04:37Hitler begins construction of the Atlantic Wall,
04:41the largest building project of the entire war,
04:45stretching 1,670 miles from the Cape of Norway to the Spanish border.
04:53The most heavily defended sections located around ports,
04:56such as Calais in northern France.
05:04Discovering the sheer scale and technical ambition of the defences
05:08is conflict archaeologist Professor Tony Pollard.
05:13Scattered among the sand dunes around Calais,
05:16there's a series of incredible structures rising out of the undergrowth.
05:21And there's another one just beyond here.
05:24Coming out of the bush there, some sort of futuristic tower.
05:28It's got observation slits in it.
05:31But it's this thing I've come to see.
05:35At first sight, it's a standard coastal gun emplacement
05:39with a wide embrasure mounting inside for the gun.
05:44But this has a really special feature,
05:47and the clue to that is this trough running all the way around.
05:53And the point is that this thing moves.
05:57It's hard to imagine, but the entire turret
06:01is capable of turning 360 degrees.
06:05Unlike the many other fixed gun emplacements
06:08that line Hitler's Atlantic Wall,
06:10this one at Battery Waldheim in Calais
06:13is the only one that can rotate in its entirety,
06:16including concrete and ore.
06:19Boy, got to be very careful. It's been blasted away in here.
06:23Very dangerous.
06:25You can see these air ducts passing through to the outside,
06:28and in a gun emplacement like this, these are vital,
06:31because as soon as you fire a big gun, you create gases and compression,
06:35and they need to be expelled or you're going to kill the crew.
06:39I can see through the floor that's been blasted away,
06:42we've got about a metre thick of reinforced concrete,
06:46and downstairs there would have been ammunition storage
06:49and also the mechanism that allowed this thing to move.
06:54And when you consider that with the steel, the gun and the concrete,
06:57it weighed around 750 tonnes,
07:00it's almost mind-blowing to imagine it turning.
07:03How did they do that?
07:05Well, what they did here was that they salvaged
07:09a sunken French battleship called the Provence,
07:12and they removed from it the ring that drove one of its big gun turrets,
07:18and they brought it here, set it into a structure
07:21and then built the turret over the top of it.
07:24Having a 360-degree field of fire
07:27gives this turret a distinct advantage over standard fixed emplacements.
07:33It has the ability to turn and land,
07:36so if an invasion force lands on the beaches
07:39and maybe even gets behind us,
07:42you can turn the gun around and shoot at targets inland.
07:48That makes this a really effective anti-invasion defence.
07:53But it's only one structure among many.
07:56There are gun emplacements all over this area,
07:59along with other forms of defence,
08:01and that makes Calais and the region around it
08:04a really heavily fortified place.
08:14With a network of over 12,000 bunkers
08:17and massive concentrations of firepower
08:20around ports all along the Atlantic wall,
08:24Hitler believes his coastal defences will be impenetrable.
08:29And in autumn 1943,
08:32increased activity across the Channel
08:35suggests an Allied invasion attempt is looming,
08:38which will put those defences to the ultimate test.
08:44Concrete alone won't be enough to keep out an invasion.
08:47Trained troops and an overall defence strategy are just as crucial.
08:53To oversee the task,
08:55Hitler appoints Germany's most distinguished military commander,
08:59Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
09:04When the enemy invades in the west,
09:06it will be the moment of decision in the war,
09:09and the moment must turn to our advantage.
09:12Yes, mein Führer.
09:14I want you to inspect our defences
09:17on the entire coastline facing England.
09:21I will do this to the best of my abilities.
09:24The enemy cannot be allowed to gain a foothold.
09:28We must defeat them at the beaches,
09:31that is where they are weakest.
09:34Our enemies know and fear you, Field Marshal.
09:40Remind them why.
09:44Rommel embarks on an inspection tour of the coastal defences
09:48that will take him hundreds of miles along the Atlantic wall.
09:54What he discovers will be of huge concern to the high command.
10:02Winter, 1943.
10:07The enemy is on the move.
10:10Winter, 1943.
10:13Hitler knows an invasion of his fortress Europe is looming,
10:17but one key piece of information eludes him.
10:22One of the problems for the German high command
10:25is that obviously they know an invasion is going to come,
10:28but where is the big question?
10:30Now, logic suggests that it's going to be in north-west France
10:33because that's within spitting distance.
10:36The Pas-de-Calais, Somme estuary, Normandy,
10:39one of those three areas, that's the most likely.
10:47Rommel plans to inspect these three locations
10:50on his tour of Hitler's Atlantic wall defences.
10:57In the winter months, he reaches the Somme estuary.
11:00Welcome, Field Marshal.
11:06He's not impressed by what he sees.
11:11Is this as far as your mind will stretch?
11:14They are only, what, 20 to 50 yards in depth.
11:17It should be six miles deep.
11:21And where are your reserves?
11:23You have to bring them forward, concentrate them at the coast.
11:26If the enemy sets foot on dry land,
11:28we will not be able to throw them out again.
11:36Our so-called impregnable defences
11:39are a figment of Hitler's imagination.
11:44Rommel's tour of the Atlantic wall reveals
11:46that actually it's not much of a wall at all.
11:49OK, some of the ports are pretty well defended, some aren't.
11:52In between, it's very patchy indeed.
11:55The Atlantic wall, he realises,
11:57is a propaganda notion rather than a reality.
12:00The other problem is that France and north-west Europe
12:04are places where some of the less good divisions have been placed.
12:08This is a place where infantrymen have got fat on French cheese
12:13and Normandy butter and calvados
12:16and haven't been concentrating on their training.
12:2020-year-old Private Heinrich Sevelo
12:23has served on the bleak Eastern Front.
12:26But after contracting tonsillitis,
12:29he's been posted to Normandy to recover.
12:33Waitress, pour me six shots of calvados and line them up.
12:37I have a bet to win.
12:44If I can drink all six and still stand on the chair on one leg,
12:47my friend here will buy the lot.
12:51With a comfortable job as an orderly to his battery commander,
12:55Sevelo's behaviour is typical of the relaxed attitude in the Normandy garrisons.
13:21Meanwhile, Rommel is on a mission.
13:24He knows he has to shore up the Atlantic wall's weaknesses and fast.
13:31He schedules a visit to his superior in Normandy,
13:34Commander of Western Forces Gerd von Rundstedt.
13:39It's a pleasure to see you.
13:42I believe the enemy will invade at Pas-de-Calais.
13:45It's not only the shortest sea crossing,
13:47it gives them a direct route to the heart of the Ruhr.
13:51We need our panzer units stationed there at the coast, ready to attack.
13:56I agree.
13:59We must defeat them at the beaches,
14:01and everything points to an invasion at Pas-de-Calais.
14:05But I cannot condone moving our panzers.
14:09But if we leave them at the rear, they'll arrive too late.
14:14And if our enemy outwits us?
14:17If they invade elsewhere?
14:19You've already committed our panzer units,
14:21and they'll never even reach the battlefield.
14:29While the German commanders clash over tactics,
14:32the Allies are looking at ways to avoid the heavily defended ports,
14:37and instead land at the more remote beaches.
14:42Getting an invasion force ashore without using established ports
14:46presents a major challenge,
14:48but the Allies have come up with some inspired solutions.
14:53On the Normandy coast,
14:55unlocking the secrets of these extraordinary feats of engineering
14:59is ex-British Army Captain Patrick Burey.
15:04Look at this.
15:06This is clearly a Sherman tank,
15:08and I've seen a few of these in my time.
15:11And you can see, actually, it's well preserved.
15:14Let's see around here.
15:18Now this is interesting,
15:20because as well as the drivetrain for the tracks,
15:22you've got this extra one here,
15:24which means that there was something here which was powered and turning.
15:28And that's not standard on these tanks.
15:32Now these are commemorative plaques for the units that fought here on D-Day,
15:37but this lip is original and also non-standard.
15:41And you can see the lip runs all the way around the tank.
15:45You've basically got the prow of a boat here.
15:48And this is actually a tank that swims. It's an amphibious tank.
15:52This is a specially designed Sherman DD, or duplex drive,
15:56and the duplex drive refers to that drive chain at the back,
15:59which actually powered propellers.
16:01And also, when the tank hits the shore, it will power the tracks.
16:06Allied inventors realised that multiple tanks unloading from a single landing craft
16:11make easy targets for the enemy's artillery.
16:15But the ingenious DD concept allows individual tanks to launch and disperse at sea
16:21to support the troops at intervals along the coastline.
16:25You can see here where the holes are.
16:28They could attach a canvas screen which ran the whole way round the tank
16:32and as high as the turret.
16:34And then inside that, to help the tank float,
16:36they put 36 air-filled rubber tubes pushing out the water around it.
16:42It's basically about displacement.
16:44If this weighs 30 tonnes, then you need to displace 30 tonnes worth of water.
16:48And that was how they did it.
16:50The DD tanks, known affectionately as Donald Ducks,
16:54are just one of several ingenious D-Day inventions.
16:59They include the Ark, an armoured ramp carrier.
17:03The Bobbin, a path-laying tank for soft terrain.
17:07And the Crab, a mind-sweeping Sherman equipped with flailing chains.
17:13All designed to support the troops in a beach invasion.
17:17But landing at beaches away from a port presents another challenge.
17:22How to bring in the vast number of men and supplies needed to support the invasion
17:27as it advances inland?
17:30Allied leaders know that failure to overcome this problem
17:33could scupper the entire operation.
17:38Lying on the Normandy coast at Arromanches
17:40is evidence of their game-changing solutions.
17:43This is a fascinating piece of living history.
17:46And you can just see the size of it.
17:48It's like a behemoth plonked here in the sand.
17:51And it's part of a much wider system.
17:54And just take a look in here.
18:03Look at this. You can see where the reinforced concrete structure
18:06has kept the integrity of the structure.
18:09The reinforced concrete structure has kept the integrity of the chamber.
18:14And then other places where the lighter concrete has been eroded over time.
18:18And it's amazing to think this is one part of a really complex system.
18:22And the whole structure is a floating pier head, essentially.
18:29This pier head is one section of the Allies-inspired Mulberry Harbour.
18:35A port designed to be floated across the channel in pieces,
18:39like a giant jigsaw puzzle,
18:41and reconstructed at almost any beach location.
18:50And when combined with all the other parts which are out there,
18:53they created a port which the Allies could use immediately after D-Day
18:57that was the size of the port of Dover.
19:01The invention of this vast floating harbour is revolutionary.
19:07It allows the Allies to land their invasion force practically anywhere.
19:13They can now hit the Nazis' Atlantic wall defences,
19:17where they are at their weakest.
19:21January 1944.
19:24Rommel arrives in Normandy.
19:27He's once more dismayed by the state of the coastal defences beyond the main ports.
19:34His inspection tour over, he launches a large-scale reinforcement programme
19:39to plug the vast gaps in the Atlantic wall.
19:43His common-sense approach relies on a blend of invention, repurposing and manpower.
19:50There's still an endless amount of work here
19:53before I'll be able to say that we're properly prepared for battle.
19:59Rommel galvanises his workforce into action
20:03and commissions an array of ingenious coastal defences.
20:08Historian Martin Morgan is on Omaha Beach today,
20:12discovering how Rommel's programme transforms the Atlantic wall defences.
20:18In this area you would have seen Belgian gates.
20:21These were large iron gates that could be connected together by sections of heavy cable.
20:26You would have seen Czech hedgehogs.
20:28These obstacles were made of angle iron,
20:31which is a type of steel that can be used to build bridges.
20:36These obstacles were made of angle iron, they were based in concrete
20:40and they could rip the bottom out of a wooden Higgins boat quite easily.
20:44Beyond the sand dunes, the GIs had to contend with barbed wire entanglement
20:49and then just beyond that, an area heavily sown with anti-personnel land mines.
20:58Rommel's obstacles, the Czech hedgehogs, Belgian gates,
21:02barbed wire and minefields, would transform the coastline into a killing zone.
21:12And on the bluffs and clifftops overlooking the beaches,
21:15existing bunkers are reinforced and linked together
21:19to form an intricate network of resistance points.
21:24Martin has made his way beyond the sand to explore one of the most effective of these,
21:29WN62, overlooking Omaha Beach.
21:33Oh, wait, this is interesting.
21:35Look, you can still see the remains of this zigzag trench system
21:41coming all the way down the length of the bluff
21:44to link this to every position of WN62.
21:47And this provided the opportunity for troops to move protected within the trench.
21:53They were much, much deeper then.
21:55A soldier could move completely protected in this deep trench
21:58from the top of the position all the way down to this bunker.
22:12I was told our resistance nest, WN62,
22:15represented the strongest position in the entire bay.
22:19The observation post and communication position for our artillery battery were here
22:24and were permanently manned.
22:27But the lieutenant and I were only required to be present if there was an attack.
22:38A machine gun was in position for me at all times.
22:44Sevelo's job is to man the much feared MG42,
22:50one of the fastest firing machine guns of the Second World War.
22:58Capable of firing over 1,200 rounds per minute,
23:02the MG42's distinctive sound earns it the nickname
23:06Hitler's buzzsaw.
23:12Martin Morgan is now at Sevelo's exact machine gun position,
23:16overlooking Omaha Beach,
23:18to assess its strategic importance.
23:21Man, look at this. This is the machine gunner's dream.
23:24This is the ideal field of fire
23:26with a height above the water of about 100 feet.
23:30So from here, you can see everything.
23:32And from this position, he had a perfect field of fire
23:35on the troops as they came off the landing craft.
23:40But there is one element of Rommel's reinforcement strategy
23:43that is still to be resolved.
23:46The field marshal believes that the coastal defences
23:49will only be enough to keep the Allies at bay.
23:53He will need armoured reinforcements
23:55to push them back into the sea.
24:00He now meets with Hitler to try and wrest control
24:03of the panzer divisions from his superior,
24:06Gerd von Rundstedt.
24:08By the end of April,
24:10virtually the entire coastline will be saturated
24:13with enough obstacles to inflict severe losses
24:16on the landing craft.
24:18I had no doubt in your abilities.
24:20Thank you, mein Führer.
24:22I am confident the enemy will not set foot beyond the beaches,
24:25but I must have command of all panzer units.
24:30I will consider your request, field marshal.
24:35What is the point of me being commander-in-chief in the West?
24:40Hitler resolves the argument over the panzer deployment question
24:43by a classic futz.
24:45He gives control of three divisions to Rommel,
24:48another three are left in the control of forces
24:51down in the south of France,
24:53and then there are four which he leaves under his own direct command.
24:57And of course, actually, it ends up satisfying no one.
25:03As D-Day preparations across the channel intensify,
25:07the Allies are about to sow even greater confusion
25:11in the minds of the Nazis.
25:13In the minds of the Nazis.
25:23By April 1944, Rommel's reinforcement program is in full swing.
25:31But the Germans still don't know where and when the invasion will come.
25:37In a brilliant act of deception,
25:39the Allies now put elaborate decoys in place
25:42to confuse the Nazis even further.
25:46The Allies keep the Germans guessing by what they call Operation Fortitude.
25:50They create completely bogus army groups,
25:54they put up dummy airfields, dummy tanks and all sorts of stuff.
25:58The Germans know the invasion is coming.
26:01What they don't know is precisely when or where.
26:04The whole point of Operation Fortitude
26:06is to keep them guessing right up until the last moment.
26:10All the Nazi command know for sure
26:13is that Rommel's defences will soon be put to the test.
26:23The war will be won or lost on the beaches.
26:26We have only one chance to stop the enemy.
26:29And that's while he's in the water, struggling to get ashore.
26:34The first 24 hours of the invasion will be decisive
26:38for the Allies as well as for Germany.
26:43It will be the longest day.
26:50Preparations on both sides have been a tense game of cat and mouse for months now.
26:56But the Nazis are about to land a serious blow to Allied efforts.
27:00In the early hours of April 28th, 1944,
27:03the Americans launch Exercise Tiger,
27:06a full-scale dress rehearsal for the landings
27:09off the coast of Devon in the English Channel.
27:14In an astonishing coup,
27:16a German naval patrol intercepts an Allied convoy,
27:20wreaking devastation with one of the most feared Nazi weapons of the entire war.
27:26Over 200 were built.
27:28But today, just one remains.
27:31Discovering the secrets behind this scourge of Allied shipping
27:35is historian James Holland.
27:38Oh, this is just amazing.
27:40This is the world's only S-boat.
27:43A Schnellboot, and Schnell stands for fast.
27:45And boy, were these things quick.
27:47But actually, what's really interesting about this,
27:49because it's the first of its kind,
27:52But actually, what's really interesting about this,
27:54because it's under restoration,
27:56you can see how it's constructed.
27:58This at the front, this is the kind of craftsmanship
28:00that the Vikings would have been familiar with.
28:02And also inside, they lined this woodwork with aluminium.
28:06So it's this extraordinary blend of old and new.
28:10This involves extremely skilled craftsmanship.
28:13This is not something you can mass-produce,
28:15which is why only around 200 were ever built.
28:21Based on the high-velocity civilian S-1 motor launch of 1930,
28:27its sleek hull is designed to plough through the rough waters
28:30of the English Channel and North Sea,
28:32producing the minimum stern wave,
28:35maximising stealth
28:38and making it perfect for opportunistic raids.
28:41Wow, and these are the engines.
28:43Look at them, they're just enormous.
28:45These were 20-cylinder,
28:47and there were three of them that powered the S-boat.
28:49These could hurtle through the water at around 43 knots,
28:52which is over 50 miles an hour,
28:54and that is seriously fast for a vessel.
29:00Well, it's incredible to actually be up on deck.
29:03It's changed a little bit. The superstructure's gone.
29:05There would have been railings here,
29:07and at the back you'd have had cannons and machine guns
29:09and more guns at the front,
29:11and here you would have had the torpedo tubes.
29:13You can see that curve, lovely curve in the prow.
29:16That would have been where they would have fired from.
29:19Ah, and here, this is the ring
29:22on which the high-velocity cannon would have been situated.
29:25Together with the machine guns
29:28and with the torpedoes and its speed,
29:31this makes it an incredibly lethal weapon.
29:34Not only is it the last surviving example,
29:37it was involved in the interception of Exercise Tiger,
29:41the American pre-D-Day training exercise off Slapton Sands.
29:47This very vessel is part of the patrol
29:50that discovers the Allies' dress rehearsal for D-Day,
29:53sinking two US tank landing ships and damaging two more.
30:06For the Americans, the raid on Exercise Tiger exacts a heavy toll.
30:12More than 600 are killed.
30:17As spring approaches and weather conditions improve,
30:21the Germans view the Allies' increased activity
30:24as a sure sign the invasion is close.
30:29Yes, sir. I'll ensure they are secure.
30:36I was ordered by my commander, who suddenly had to leave,
30:39to go to his sitting room and guard papers
30:42that he had been given by the Germans.
30:45These were papers that he hadn't had time to lock away.
30:55Concentration of ships in ports in southern England.
31:01Ships in English harbours are being loaded.
31:06It was clear to me that my commander intended to warn me.
31:11The invasion is indeed imminent.
31:15The Allied leaders have set the date for June 5th, 1944.
31:22But then freak storms are forecast in the English Channel,
31:26forcing the Allies to place their invasion plans on hold.
31:30The bad weather provides Rommel with a prime opportunity.
31:41Herr Ferdinand Marschall,
31:43I'd like permission to return to Germany for a few days.
31:52We need additional forces.
31:54I intend to ask the Führer in person for two more Panzer divisions.
32:00Well, there is no sign that invasion is imminent.
32:04The weather is against the enemy and the tides are unfavourable.
32:07They won't have another window of opportunity before the 20th,
32:10or possibly even early July.
32:14Agreed. Then take your leave, Field Marshal.
32:19But Rommel has an ulterior motive for heading back to Germany.
32:23Rommel is absolutely devoted to his wife Lucy
32:26and it's her birthday on the 6th of June.
32:28Obviously he's looking at the weather forecast
32:30and he sees that the 5th and the 6th, the weather looks absolutely atrocious
32:33and it doesn't look much better on the 7th either.
32:35So he decides to take a punt.
32:37He thinks the Allies, there's no way they're going to be landing now.
32:40So I should take my chance while I can.
32:43Rommel's decision to return to Germany
32:46will prove to be a colossal error of judgement.
32:59June 6th, 1944.
33:03Despite the poor weather, the Allies decide to take a gamble.
33:09In the early morning, the first convoys of the greatest invasion fleet in history
33:14sail across the English Channel.
33:18Almost 7,000 vessels,
33:21carrying 156,000 troops from the UK, Canada and the USA,
33:26will head to the French coast.
33:28Over two years of planning and the outcome of the Second World War
33:32hang on this much-anticipated day.
33:36D-Day.
33:41The Allies have already dispatched an airborne wave of more than 23,000 men
33:46to support the amphibious assault.
33:51Responsible for delivering over half of them behind enemy lines
33:54in perilous conditions,
33:56is an aircraft of extraordinary all-round capabilities.
34:03Historian Mike Pavelek discovers what makes the Douglas C-47
34:08so crucial to the invasion's success.
34:11This is a magnificent example of the C-47 Skytrain.
34:16It was a very robust transport aircraft.
34:20It wasn't that fast.
34:22It wasn't that fast.
34:24Powered by two 1,200-horsepower air-cooled engines,
34:29it's got good range and it's incredibly reliable.
34:32Huge landing gear for rough runways as well.
34:37This is interesting. These are the D-Day invasion stripes.
34:41Prior to June 1944, a lot of these aircraft were lost to friendly fire.
34:47So on D-Day, they decided to paint stripes on the bottom of the wings
34:51and on the underbelly of the airplanes
34:53so that ground gunners could recognize their own aircraft.
34:56Very few were lost after the Allies went to this recognition system.
35:03Here's the important part of the airplane.
35:06You've got the cargo hold doors.
35:08This is a door here on this side as well.
35:11So you could put a lot of stuff and big stuff inside this airplane.
35:15You could actually fit a wartime jeep in here
35:18with a 37-millimeter anti-tank gun and take it to the battlefield by air.
35:24The C-47 is based on the pre-war DC-3 by Douglas,
35:29and it's a civilian transport before the war.
35:32So imagine a commercial airliner.
35:34The seats that you can see now are for paratroopers,
35:37and you can put 28 paratroopers in here with their full gear
35:41where they sit before they jump out of the airplane.
35:44They would stand up.
35:45They would hook up their static lines to this cable and jump out.
35:49The Skytrain, or Dakota as it's known by the British,
35:53is also capable of carrying up to 30 additional troops in towed gliders,
35:58making it the perfect delivery system for D-Day.
36:10What's happening?
36:11Come with me.
36:15The cool night air was filled with the dull, alarming drone of Allied planes
36:22flying in from the sea.
36:25Fetch us a cart, quick. We need to get to the shore.
36:30At the first signs the invasion is underway,
36:35commander in the west, Gerd von Rundstedt,
36:38tries to reach Hitler to request armored backup.
36:42The Leer Panzer Division and the 12th SS Panzer Division must be moved to Normandy.
36:50No, I am not ordering you to wake up the Führer.
36:56Dammit!
37:04By the time Savalot and his unit reach resistance nest WN62,
37:09the first Allied airborne wave has passed.
37:13He's now about to meet the seaborne wave.
37:17Head on.
37:21The mist parted suddenly and across the entire horizon
37:24stretched an endless uninterrupted band of ships.
37:296.30 a.m. on June 6th, 1944.
37:35Following the airborne assault,
37:37the largest landing fleet in history approaches the French coast.
37:43The location of the landings,
37:45a secret that has tormented the Nazis for months now,
37:48is finally revealed.
37:50The beaches of Normandy.
37:53British and Canadian soldiers will attack beaches codenamed Gold, Juno and Sword.
37:59American troops will land further west at Utah
38:03and, most infamous of all, Omaha Beach.
38:10At Omaha, the American invaders, many of them rookies,
38:13are about to face the fearsome firepower at the fingertips of soldiers such as this.
38:20Now it's starting. They're landing.
38:24Everything went in such a cool and orderly way
38:27as if they were merely conducting a training exercise.
38:31We had strict orders to wait until they were only 400 meters from the upper beach.
38:42The first of the two ships to land on the beach
38:47was the American.
38:52I could see where my machine gun bursts were hitting.
38:55Panic broke out among the Americans.
38:58Many tried to get to the most forward beach obstacles to find some cover behind them.
39:03As the boats approached, I concentrated on the ramps.
39:06Each time one fell, I began to fire.
39:10Fire!
39:15The scenes of carnage wrought by the German defenders
39:18are destined to become some of the most bloody in modern history.
39:22Heinrich Sevelo shoots and kills hundreds of American troops.
39:27His exploits will earn him the nickname The Beast of Omaha.
39:31The gun's overheating! Use your rifle!
39:41Oh!
39:44At that moment, I became really aware for the first time of what I was actually doing.
39:56Rommel's plan is working like clockwork at Omaha Beach.
40:00The German defenders succeed in pinning down the Allied invaders for three hours,
40:05inflicting heavy casualties and stopping the invasion in its tracks.
40:11The next phase of the Field Marshal's plan
40:14is to deploy armoured reinforcements to drive the Americans back into the sea.
40:21But Rommel is totally unaware that the invasion is even taking place.
40:28Yes, what is it?
40:31They've landed in Normandy.
40:36In Normandy.
40:40I'm on my way.
40:45When the news of the invasion comes, the response is absolutely farceful.
40:49I mean, Rommel is away, Hitler is fast asleep and isn't woken up until 10 in the morning,
40:54and it's not until later on in the afternoon
40:56that he authorises the release of those panzer divisions under his control.
40:59And by that stage, it's simply too late.
41:03At Omaha Beach, the Americans are able to take advantage
41:06of the Germans' lack of armoured reinforcements.
41:11The turning point in the Battle of Omaha Beach comes around 10 a.m.
41:14First of all, American destroyers come in very close to the beach
41:18and broadside German positions ashore with naval gunfire at extremely close range.
41:27Simultaneously, Americans are beginning to get off the beach
41:31and to infiltrate into the interior,
41:34moving past and outflanking many of the strong points along the beach.
41:38And it's the combination that turns the tide of battle on Omaha Beach.
42:12With his commanding officer dead,
42:14Savalot abandons WN62 as American soldiers finally overwhelm the German defences.
42:24By nightfall on June 6th, 1944,
42:27over 100,000 Allied troops have landed in Normandy.
42:34Within days, the Mulberry harbours are up and running,
42:37providing the invasion campaign with a non-stop supply line
42:40of troops, weapons and equipment.
42:47It's the beginning of the end for the Nazis' fortress Europe.
42:55Three weeks after D-Day, von Rundstedt is dismissed from his post,
42:59but is later reinstated.
43:01After the war, he's excused trial as a war criminal on health grounds
43:06and dies in 1953.
43:10Rommel is injured in Normandy.
43:13Then, after being implicated in the plot to assassinate Hitler,
43:17is forced to commit suicide.
43:20Heinrich Savalot is taken prisoner the day after D-Day.
43:24He spends almost three years in captivity,
43:27until being repatriated to work on his father's farm in northern Germany.
43:33He dies in 2006, aged 82.
43:40Hitler and Rommel's defences have claimed over 2,000 Allied lives.
43:45But the walls of fortress Europe have been breached,
43:49and D-Day would be forever remembered as a monumental victory for the Allies.
43:54Within a year, the war would be over.
43:58The long march towards Berlin had begun.