Back in 2014, the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of France, Jean-Christophe Rosé produced this 90-minute documentary for France Télévisions. It uses archival footage that was remastered and colorized, and is probably one of the best sources to understand what the run-up to D-Day involved (with training and other preparations) and the reality of combat on that day.
I'll also mention my father, who was not part of D-Day itself, but served in the Royal Air Force throughout World War II, and shouldered his share of the burden.
Finally, may all those who died on D-Day, on all sides, rest in peace. There's no enmity beyond the grave.
(Oh - and for those wondering about the headline: the D-Day invasion, known at the time as Operation Neptune, was the largest in history so far, in terms of numbers of people [on land, at sea and in the air], numbers of ships and aircraft, etc. The largest invasions of the Pacific War were Operation Musketeer (the invasion of the Philippines), Operation Detachment (the invasion of Iwo Jima) and Operation Iceberg (the invasion of Okinawa), but none of them were as large as Operation Neptune in Normandy. The planned invasion of Japan in Operations Olympic and Coronet would have been larger, by a significant degree, but those invasions never took place, thanks to the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.)
Peter
11 comments:
On D day my dad had started his second tour as a B17 ball turret gunner in England, his oldest brother was working in some sort of defense industry job in Detroit, next oldest was in the 3rd wave onto the beach as an infantryman, first younger was army communications, may have still been in Italy and the youngest was in army training back in the states and my mom was a WAC in England.
Salt of the earth, common men with uncommon bravery doing amazing things.
Hey! That's my Dad at 1:50 mark! This footage has been in a few other documentaries, so I recognized it immediately. Nicely cleaned up and colorized here though, that's new. The slight limp is from a broken leg in North Africa. He was a combat engineer who went ashore on Omaha, Easy Red, in the 3rd wave. Thanks for posting this new documentary.
Peanuts: Today is June 6
https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2025/06/06
We remember the June 6, 1944 landings in Normandy. Plus all of the US Marines beach landings in the Pacific culminating in Iwo Jima, starting Feb 19, 1945 and ending March 26, 1945.
WOW! That's SOME WWll family history!
I don't give the A bombs credit for ending the war, the Japanese were ready to surrender. The A bombs were for on-the-job weapons testing and a warning to the Russians.
Everything you think you know about history is between 10% to 90% victor, writing the prefered propaganda.
Grandpa Barfield landed on Sword Beach; D-Day +1 as a US medic with an MASH unit. He served for the duration of the war, among other things helping to liberate a death camp.
To remember.
I still have an extensive library (that nobody seems to want) from my WWII research, having retired from it all about 10 years ago. This documentary is one of the most honest.
Usually 'the atomic bombs weren't necessary' season starts on July 1. You're early.
My B-24 copilot friend who just passed away at the age of 100, would testify that the Japanese were getting ready for us. He was flying photography missions over Japan and getting shot at continuously by AA guns. He came back to Iwo Jima from one trip with over 130 holes in their B-24. So pardon me if I believe my friend who was there that the Japanese were getting ready for the invasion.
I think it was Trent Telenko over at Chicago Boyz who said that the casualty estimate for invading Japan was 1 million Allied personnel killed and wounded. Later, after Okinawa, they uped that estimate to 2 million men, but the administration decided not to tell Congress because they feared that Congress would demand a negotiated settlement rather than unconditional surrender.
He might be interested in a military library, btw.
Post a Comment