1 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:05,920 Fallen and wounded covered the beach. 2 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:12,760 The tide brought more and more bodies and wounded. 3 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:18,520 The bodies did not lie alone but stacked on top of each other. 4 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:21,600 It was a horrible sight. 5 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:53,000 D-DAY: THE SOLDIERS' STORY 4/4 6 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:17,240 Waffen―SS―unit discussing near the front line. 7 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:31,040 Tanks and assault guns are advancing. 8 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,960 The vehicles are skillfully camouflaged against air threat. 9 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Rocket launchers are being prepared at the edge of the forest. 10 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:22,040 The German soldier is also exemplary in jungle conditions. 11 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:38,720 There was great difficulty in using the armor on the western front. 12 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:43,280 Some of the tanks belonged to the Armed Forces, some to General Staff Reserve. 13 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:49,280 The latter was under Hitler's personal command. 14 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:55,120 It resulted in the first hours and days, - 15 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,160 and throughout the Battle of Normandy, - 16 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,840 that unclear commands - 17 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:07,320 severely slowed down Germany's response. 18 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:14,440 Logistics and reinforcements only trickled to Normandy. 19 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,800 Sometimes there was a division, sometimes a regiment. 20 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:24,000 The troops were not properly concentrated all the time, - 21 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:30,400 and could not be used immediately for counterattack. 22 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:56,960 In Normandy, the battle is fought both in the open and out of sight. 23 00:09:57,040 --> 00:10:02,200 Opponents are often widespread and hidden in the hedgerows. 24 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,360 German soldier with good new weapons, - 25 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:11,040 together with anti-tank defence is a nightmare of enemy tanks. 26 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:22,200 Heavy cannons and rocket launchers prepare for counterattack. 27 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:46,200 Infantry launches an attack. 28 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:51,720 The German and Anglo-American armor are coming together brutally. 29 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:57,320 Sherman―tanks break through - 30 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:00,960 to the village defended by infantry and paratroopers. 31 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:03,640 The first is already through. 32 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:09,920 Paratroopers follow the tank to stop it. 33 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:14,240 Panzerschrek and Panzerfaust are used. 34 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:19,680 Another Sherman is nearby, and that too will be destroyed soon. 35 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:28,680 Also Goliath excels, - 36 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:32,800 and blow up another tank in the sky. 37 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,640 The rest of the American tanks retreat. 38 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,040 The Allies had planned, - 39 00:17:09,120 --> 00:17:14,960 that the Normandy hedgerow would be cleared within a week, - 40 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:18,520 and the front would be moved deeper into France. 41 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:22,800 As we know, the reality was quite different. 42 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:27,080 The Allies were stuck in the Normandy bocage, - 43 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:30,160 and towns like Caen. 44 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:36,160 The British in particular operate very cautiously. 45 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:40,560 It was feared that big losses - 46 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:45,400 would affect negatively to the home front. 47 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:48,960 Every Allied attack, - 48 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:52,800 was preceded by a lengthy preparation bombardment by artillery and air forces. 49 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,480 Often troops approached German lines cautiously, - 50 00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,480 and withdrew easily. 51 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:06,320 The German lines were gradually exhausted until broken through. 52 00:21:41,360 --> 00:21:44,520 Some days we were in labor service. 53 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,440 So we're looking for food, 54 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:52,160 we milked cows in meadow outside Caen, - 55 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:56,840 or we helped people out of the ruins of their houses. 56 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,640 We took care of the wounded. 57 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,200 It was exciting, - 58 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:08,400 and at the same time, we understood why our service was important. 59 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:12,760 I learned to know human nature as it is: 60 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:17,240 Some are brave, others are afraid. 61 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:20,800 Some will freeze, - 62 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:25,040 and others are cowards and don't care about others. 63 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:42,000 The French militia has excelled in its actions against terrorists. 64 00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:51,800 Interrogation of resistance members. 65 00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:57,360 After the ambush on the highway, - 66 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:01,680 Military police inspect passers-by and vehicles. 67 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:13,480 A nearby farm had provided a refuge for terrorists. 68 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,320 The building is on fire. 69 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:22,120 False French money spread by Americans. 70 00:23:55,680 --> 00:24:00,120 The civilian population of Normandy suffered greatly during the fighting. 71 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:05,520 2,000 civilians died in the Caen bombing alone. 72 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:10,120 There were about 12,000 civilian casualties throughout Normandy. 73 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:15,640 Civilians were stranded on the front lines in Normandy. 74 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:20,200 Each side used heavy weapons, that is artillery, - 75 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:23,800 and especially the Allies air power. 76 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:29,960 It was unclear to the Germans even before the landing, - 77 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:32,560 what to do to civilians. 78 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:36,880 Do they have to be evacuated or left in their place? 79 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:41,080 No evacuations were made for humanitarian reasons. 80 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:45,880 It was feared that civilians would give information to the Allies, - 81 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:49,000 or act as spies. 82 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,880 So throughout the Normandy battles, - 83 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:57,480 the Germans lacked a clear line regarding civilians. 84 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:18,000 The Allies succeeded in Normandy mainly because - 85 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:21,240 they had better material. 86 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:25,840 It applies to tanks, airplanes, 87 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:30,960 as well as so-called human material. 88 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:35,040 The Allies were able to make up for their losses. 89 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,520 The Germans couldn't. 90 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:45,320 When 100,000 men were lost, only 10,000 were replaced. 91 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:49,200 It is a clear root cause, but there are other reasons. 92 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:53,480 The Allies, and especially the Americans, - 93 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:59,800 learn quickly how to fight in Normandy terrain. 94 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:04,280 From a purely tactical point of view, - 95 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:08,520 especially at company level and battalion level, - 96 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:15,840 the Germans were superior by their eastern front experience. 97 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:20,480 The Allies had a clear material superiority. 98 00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:26,120 Hitler and his commanders tried to change the balance of power by declaring: 99 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:29,560 "Germany's willpower defeats enemy material." 100 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:33,160 That's not what happened. 101 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:52,600 Arrival in Paris convinced us, - 102 00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:57,120 that when the French center was again independent, - 103 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:02,720 we would regain our autonomy and liberate France as a whole. 104 00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:08,040 Liberation took place under exceptional military circumstances. 105 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:11,280 We went at night in the middle of the Germans, - 106 00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:14,400 to arrive at the time of the uprising, - 107 00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:18,360 to join the Paris resistance. 108 00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:24,640 It was a mythical, extraordinary battle. 109 00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:58,080 By mid-1944 the war had already been settled on the eastern front. 110 00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:03,320 It was already clear that Germany would lose. There are still two points to consider. 111 00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:09,440 The contemporary would have seen it differently. 112 00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:13,800 On both the German and Allied sides, - 113 00:45:13,880 --> 00:45:21,240 the landing was declared in advance as a decisive battle. 114 00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:27,160 So the German soldiers on the Atlantic Wall, - 115 00:45:27,240 --> 00:45:31,920 like allies approaching them on landing crafts, - 116 00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:36,400 they thought the war would be settled here and now. 117 00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:43,200 Second, D―day resolved the post-war political map of Europe. 118 00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:47,040 This is an important point for Germany in particular. 119 00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:50,280 The Allied invasion meant, ― 120 00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:55,160 that Soviet Union did not march to Germany alone. 121 00:45:55,240 --> 00:46:00,600 If Germany had succeeded through some miracle - 122 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:04,280 to push the Allies back into the sea, - 123 00:46:04,360 --> 00:46:09,960 it would have meant the whole of Germany ending up under Soviet control.