Just watched D Day: The Untold Stories on the

[doc03]

History channel. It was very interesting and nothing like the movie version The Longest Day. Seems the real soldiers had a much tougher battle than John Wayne.
In the movie everything pretty much went like clock work but in real life everything went wrong. The Germans even found all our battle plans and knew every move we would make. From the movie they reached their objective in like a day but in real life it took months.

[appalachiablue]

1. Missed it darn, but today I posted an OP in 'World Hst' about

D-Day, 75th Anniv. ceremonies this week and more. As they pointed out, these Brit vets are well into their 90s and likely won't participate again since the events are usually held every 5 years. How sad, and time passes.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/11661341

[doc03]

3. It repeats at 12 midnight. nt

[appalachiablue]

4. TY, mybe I'll check it out.

[rusty quoin]

2. I think of the longest day as the longest movie.

So many movies did a better job...The Battle for Midway, Tora Tora, a Bridge too Far, and the series Band of Brothers...which Longest Day covered.

[appalachiablue]

5. Now on AHC, WW II: Witness to War, D-Day & Liberation of France (2017)

[appalachiablue]

6. Archive Video of the Landing at Normandy, Tues., June 6, 1944.

Normandy was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of German-occupied France (and later Europe) from Nazi control, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.

Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on D-Day was far from ideal and the operation had to be delayed 24 hours; a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks as the invasion planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides, and the time of day that meant only a few days each month were deemed suitable. Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces and of developing fortifications along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an Allied invasion.

The amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 US, British, and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of France at 06:30. The target 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their intended positions, particularly at Utah and Omaha. The men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches, and the shore was mined and covered with obstacles such as wooden stakes, metal tripods, and barbed wire, making the work of the beach-clearing teams difficult and dangerous. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs. At Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled, using specialised tanks...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings

[TristanMedina905]

7. Hey, these guys look too young

Are they really in their 90's? Proof? They look like stunt doubles!

[Aristus]

8. Stephen Ambrose's book on D-Day is an excellent oral history of the assault.

One American Gi who landed on Omaha Beach that day took the film 'The Longest Day' to task for the way the troopers charged down the ramps of the landing craft and ran up the beach with dry feet.

He said: (paraphrase) "That was ridiculous! I was in that water for half an hour!"