Hitler had proclaimed that Nazi conquered Europe was an impenetrable fortress. On the 6th of June 1944, the Allies launched the largest combined land, air and sea operation ever. This invasion, designed to begin the liberation of Europe, would forever be known as D-Day. The years leading up to 1944 had seen total domination of Europe by Nazi Germany. Despite the entry of America into WWII, strategic bombing, the invasions of North Africa and Italy, Germany remained in control and was able to strength its coastal defenses, The Atlantic Wall, in preparation for the inevitable Allied invasion. Operation Overlord was the Allied plan to defeat those defenses and open a Western Front. The hard lessons learned at Anzio, Dieppe and Salerno were about to be brought into focus with the greatest invasion the world had ever seen. But how had the Allies come to this point? Who were the personalities and what compromises were made to forge this great alliance? These questions loomed as D-Day grew closer, as the Allies prepared to unleash their awesome assembled power against Hitler's Nazi Germany. Four years of Allied preparation were about to be tested on Hitler's Atlantic Wall. Infintely confident in his men, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, had launched the invasion. The outcome was far from certain as the vast armada approached the darkened coast and the first paratroopers stepped out into the tracer filled sky over Normandy. The next few hours would determine the success or failure of Operation Overlord. 5 1/2 Hours, Contains Combat Veteran Interviews.
Part 1 D-Day Codename Overlord
It is first light on the 6th of June, 1994, D-Day. On this day, the Allies launched the largest combined land, air and sea operation ever from Souther England to liberate Europe from Hitler and Nazi oppression. Code named Overlord, the entire operation was a tremendous gamble. The element of surprise was paramount and through a tangle of intrigue, the German high command was led to believe the invasion would occur not at Normandy, but at Calais, only twenty miles from England across the narrow strait of Dover. The preparation for the operation was intense and the assault phase of Operation Overlord was a tremendous victory for the Allies. They had broken the vaunted Atlantic wall and established a foothold on the continent. Soon afterwards they were celebrating the liberation of Paris. Between the two events were 80 days of war and its uncertainty. The story of these three phases, the build up, the assault and the breakout are the real story of D-Day, Operation Overlord. This documentary tells the compelling story of the Normandy Invasion and includes rare color footage from the George Stevens Collections at the Library of Congress, coupled with the thoughts of the men and women who actually participated in these historic events. They tell the story of Operation Overlord as it occurred sixty years ago, when the world came together in conflict on the storm swept beaches of Normandy.
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