Learn about the Normandy Invasion planned by Dwight Eisenhower to give Allied powers a foothold in France
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, an Allied force led by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower launched the greatest amphibious invasion of all time against German defenses on the coast of Normandy, France. From The Second World War: Allied Victory (1963), a documentary by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
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Transcript
[Music in]
NARRATOR: Now, on June 6, 1944, Eisenhower was ready--and the first waves of nearly two million Allied troops sailed for Normandy. A giant armada of 4,000 ships. The skies were alive with Allied planes, pounding road and rail networks. German reinforcements for Normandy would be slow in arriving, and tired and disorganized after their continual hammering from the air.
[Music out]
German defenses on the beaches were softened up by massive bombardment [music in]. They expected an attack across the Straits of Dover, and the landing at Normandy came as a complete tactical surprise.
This was the crucial attack on the power of Nazi Germany. This was D-Day [music out]. It was the greatest amphibious invasion of all time, and even Stalin was forced to admit: "The history of warfare knows no other like undertaking from the point of view of its scale, its vast conception, and its masterly execution."
By the end of D-Day, more than a quarter of a million Allied troops were firmly established in French soil.
NARRATOR: Now, on June 6, 1944, Eisenhower was ready--and the first waves of nearly two million Allied troops sailed for Normandy. A giant armada of 4,000 ships. The skies were alive with Allied planes, pounding road and rail networks. German reinforcements for Normandy would be slow in arriving, and tired and disorganized after their continual hammering from the air.
[Music out]
German defenses on the beaches were softened up by massive bombardment [music in]. They expected an attack across the Straits of Dover, and the landing at Normandy came as a complete tactical surprise.
This was the crucial attack on the power of Nazi Germany. This was D-Day [music out]. It was the greatest amphibious invasion of all time, and even Stalin was forced to admit: "The history of warfare knows no other like undertaking from the point of view of its scale, its vast conception, and its masterly execution."
By the end of D-Day, more than a quarter of a million Allied troops were firmly established in French soil.
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