Documentary Review: World War II in Colour 9: Operation Overlord

Operation Overlord refers of course to D-Day.  The Allied invasion of France was the most important movement of the World War.  This process involved lots of planning, and included an attempt at subterfuge by appointing General Patton to be in charge of a non existent company with fake plans and tanks and everything.  The purpose of this was to give the impression that the major attack was to be farther north, in Pas de Calais in France, or in Norway.  Double agents spread the word that these were to be the main targets, with a feinting attack farther south in Normandy.  This was also simulated radio chatter taking place, to point to the creation of the nonexistent army.
The original planned date for the attack on Norway was postponed because of the weather.  However June 6, 1944 was a successful date for the cross channel attack on France.
The initial attacks were mostly successful, with the exception of the landing on Omaha Beach which was facing rough terrain and stiff resistance.  However by the end of the first day, even they had established a foot hold.
Maintaining a port with the ability of supplying the many troops pouring into France was vital.  At first a man made port was established, however this was nearly destroy due to bad weather.  It was vitally important that the Allies take a port, and this they did in Cherbourg before the end of the month.
There were the expected German counter attacks, but bombing of fuel stations kept the Luftwaffe mostly on the ground.  The Panzer and Tiger tanks were very formidable, and the counter attack ended punching a whole, which when closed put over 50,000 Germans in risk of capture.
A second invasion of France took place August 15, and Paris was freed by the end of August with the Germans crossing the Reine into Germany.

Documentary: Nazi Mega Weapons: Atlantic Wall

The first section of the Atlantic Wall was built as an offensive weapon; across the channel from England, where the large canon could reach England, and did in fact destroy homes and kill people.  However when the war shifted to Russia, Hitler forgot the Atlantic coast for a time.  When the United States joined the war theAtlantic coast now seemed vulnerable.  In earnest Hitler began construction of a 3000 mile wall.  Many of the first large emplacements were essentially battleships on land with large canon turrets set in concrete.  However the Germans were running out of resources.  Only half of the wall was completed.  General Rommel took charge, any many more defensive measures were added, machine gun pill boxes, mines and obstacles were added.  hitler assumed the attack would occur at a hardened port, where earlier raids had taken place. However these raids taught the Allies that these areas were too heavily fortified.

On D-day the defenses were formidable, but fell in about three hours.  The Germans were spread too thin, and their ammunition was depleted after three hours.  Even so 10,000 allies lost their lives.

Documentary Review: America's Secret D-day Disaster

This is a documentary about something which really happened six weeks before D-day.  A beach in Southern England was evacuated to give the U.S. troops a chance to participate in a landing drill.  This was needed because most of the U.S. troops were green and had never been in actual combat.  There was one event which could have lead to disaster.  The U.S. and British forces did not coordinate well.  The British forces fired at the beach to clear it of "enemy" troops just as the U.S. forces were landing.  There was a lapse of an hour between the forces.  However, there are no documented deaths from this mistake.  There are over 600 documented deaths from a torpedo boat attack against the larger landing ship tank (LST).  This gave the U.S. the ability to land mechanized forces onto the beach.  These vessels were large, and slow.  They became easy targets and were called "large stationary targets" by the seamen.  Because of the increased radio chatter, partially caused by different frequencies used by the British and the Americans, the Nazis were alerted to something going on, perhaps a large convoy.  They sent their S-boats, or speed boats.  These boats were fast, and could fire torpedoes, two at a time.  They arrived to the area early, and laid in wait for whatever may be coming.  What came was an armada of these large landing boats, participating in the training exercise.  They were protected by only one British Corvette, another assigned collided with a vessel and was taken out of action.  They were not expecting attack, as the were close to Britain.  However when they approached, two of the boats where damaged with torpedoes, and another badly damaged.  These boats were heavily loaded with material and personnel.  Exploding vehicular gas tanks was a tremendous fear on some of the boats.
About 640 men died; over two-thirds army personnel on board the boats.  A cover -up of the disaster was ordered, and many family members did not know what happened other than they were sent telegrams indicating their loved ones had been killed in action even though they were stationed in England.  They cover-up was ordered by General Eisenhower who said, fix up the boys, but keep no record of it.  Some were lost at sea, and others reportedly buried in an unmarked grave.

Documentary review: Ken Burns: The War 4: Pride of Our Nation

In this presentation we are shown in a graphic manner the horror of D-day.  This day all of the forces where able to move off the beech, except at Normandy.  Here there were steep gullies, and the where all covered with pill boxes with machine gun fire and canon.  It was terrible, with the troops trapped in a shooting gallery.  It wasn't until the third wave, and after the ships moved in closer to shore than they should have to bomb the positions, that there was finally a bit of relief and a crack in the defenses, of which they were able to take advantage.  This also involved blowing the barbed wire with a Bangalore torpedo which gave the men a gap through which they could attack the enemy.  Famous quote, "where getting murdered here, lets move inland and get murdered there."
We also are witnesses to the Battle of Normandy, which concludes with the liberation of Paris, but starts with heavy combat through the hedgerows of France, which created some very difficult fighting.
As part of the war in the Pacific the Battle for Saipan is presented.  This was a grueling battle where the marines took a heavy toll.  This is the first island where there were Japanese civilians involved, and many of them, rather than be taken over chose to kill themselves, or each other.  It was a terrible battle.
This episode ends with describing the human toll.  The War Department telegraphs where dreaded, and many families received more than one.  Dealing with death is difficult, and many dealt with it by shutting themselves in their homes.  The telegraph deliverers were very active.  D-Day represented the most American lives lost in one day since the Battle of Antietam.

The War #1 A Necessary War

The War #2 When Things Get Tough

The War #3 A Deadly Calling

The War #4 Pride of Our Nation

The War #5 FUBAR

The War #6 The Ghost Front

The War #7 A World Without War