This is the best raw D-day footage I have ever seen. From D-Day to D-day+3, if you like history, you'll love this. It's long but well worth the watch. I'm sure most are gone now but never forgotten. Hero's, all of them.

Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to watch this evening!

Chris

You're going to like it. D-day footage, at least what I know of it, isn't very easy to come by. Yes, there is the same old, same old that everyone has seen a million times but this is pretty fresh. Most of it I have never seen and I'm a history buff. The thing I get the biggest kick out of (not a spoiler) is the brits dragging bicycles with them. I can't think of something I would want to drag along with me on D-Day less than a frick'in bicycle! I don't know, maybe that was there job? Maybe they were messengers? I can't think of anything more useless at the time though.

Thanks for posting, enjoyed it.

That was pretty good! I really enjoyed the footage from the planes and how close to the ground they got while bombing, even flying through shrapnel. Too bad there wasn’t any sound.

I am surprised how easy it seemed for the boats to ride up to shore and unload the soldiers. Then it seemed like they casually walked up the beach. From everything I’ve heard before I thought it was a slaughter.

That was my thought too Jurassic Park. All the movies I've seen portrayed the D-Day landing to be a slaughter. No doubt it was in some hot spots on the beach. But this footage made the landing seem much less urgent for these men.
Hard to even imagine what these men went through, hero's for sure.

Thanks Finster… Great documentary. I Salute every one that was there or helped our troops. (you know how to bring a tear to an old mans eye).

The D-day memorial is in my home town, because the National Guard unit from that town was completely slaughtered on D-day. The first landing crafts to hit the beach were all guys from that unit, mostly from this town, and there were very few survivors. The first boat, the gate fell and the LT and radio operator made it up onto the beach, they looked back and all their men were dead. It took the split second of them getting out of the boat for the machine gun to train on it, and everybody else was killed in the boat. They were both wounded multiple times, and at least one of them survived the day to tell the tale. Everybody alive here at the time knew friends and family killed on that day. As I sit here now, the farm next door lost two sons killed on D-day, Bedford and Raymond Hoback. Of course long before I was born. But it was almost 50 years before people would talk about it an recognize the sacrifice here...for many years it was a verboten subject because the pain was just too great. Just a small farming community back then.

Hats off to all the brave men that fought to repulse the German war machine! Often overlooked was the strong and effective campaign fought by the Canadian 3rd Division to secure Juno Beach! All true warriors!

Chris

You were watching the Brits, Canadians and I believe the French for most of the "casually walked". In comparison to the Americans, they landed on Gold, Sword and Juno beaches. These beaches were lightly defended in comparison to the American beaches of Utah and Omaha. Americans took by far the most causalities on the landings of D-Day.

Noticed at the end of the video there was a sign high up from the edge of the beach with the words "Mae West" with a pile of the apt named life preservers the men wore into shore! Very neat footage with a lot that I have not viewed in the multitude of videos I wave watched on the subject!

Chris

Thank you for remembering Our Soldiers. My Grand Dad's brother fought there. Jedlicka from Czechoslovakia.

Yes, That's why I thought I would share. I look for footage of that time and it's hard to come by. Most of it I have seen a million times. However, this was unique, stuff I haven't seen before and I figured most on here haven't either.

An interesting story that I have heard many times though I cannot confirm it with a single source is that Eisenhower actually had a letter of resignation ready. He was very uneasy, not because of the plan or the soldiers so much but because of the weather. He had feared the weather was going to turn worse than it already was, deny air cover and sink or swamp many of the landing craft and armaments. This would have left the paratroopers that were inland with no escape or reinforcements and the entire plan would have fallen apart. I can't say I blame the guy.

My Dad was there, I have a German's boot knife that Dad took that day. When I was growing up a lot of the neighbors Dads had been there. Those heroes are all gone now and they are missed and we are the worse for it.

Good view most of it was on the British and Canadian beaches and Im guessing D day plus one not the resistance like Utah and Omaha had not sure why the Americans had the tough beaches. But they all gave their best and some gave all. Im thinking a lot of the bad was left out to lift spirits and keep things moving. They kind missed all the airborne save the gliders which were death traps based on what my uncle told me. He was 82nd Airborne the All Americans devils in baggy pants.

Yes, a Lot of bad was left out. One of my grandfathers was a landing craft pilot at Utah. I was the oldest grandson & he never, ever said anything about it to me..even when I asked. As we all got older..a younger cousin lived a lot closer to him than I, and spent a lot more time with him. Cuz said that the Only thing he ever said about the experience was that the beach area was nothing but a bloodbath. The sea in his area was frothy with blood. He never said anything to anyone about it thereafter.