Sensationally restored COLOR FOOTAGE by George Stevens, NORMANDY INVASION & BREAKOUT

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Episode 231
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The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it is the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of France, and the rest of Western Europe, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.
Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on the day selected for D-Day was not ideal, and the operation had to be delayed 24 hours; a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks, as the planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides, and time of day, that meant only a few days each month were deemed suitable. Adolf Hitler placed Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces and developing fortifications along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an invasion. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt placed Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower in command of Allied forces.
The invasion began shortly after midnight on the morning of June the 6th with extensive aerial and naval bombardment as well as an airborne assault-the landing of 24,000 American, British, and Canadian airborne troops. The early morning aerial assault was soon followed by Allied amphibious landings on the coast of France ca. 06:30 AM. The target 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their intended positions, particularly at Utah and Omaha.
The men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches, and the shore was mined and covered with obstacles such as wooden stakes, metal tripods, and barbed wire, making the work of the beach-clearing teams difficult and dangerous. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs. At Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled using specialised tanks.
The Allies failed to achieve any of their major goals beyond the establishment of the beachheads on the first day. Carentan, Saint-Lô, and Bayeux remained in German hands, and Caen, a major objective, was not captured until 21 July. Only two of the beaches (Juno and Gold) were linked on the first day, and all five beachheads were not connected until 12 June; however, the operation gained a foothold that the Allies gradually expanded over the coming months. German casualties on D-Day have been estimated at 4,000 to 9,000 men. Allied casualties were documented for at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead.

[@M1945]

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[@fs357mag]

Kudos for not putting cheesy music over it. 👍🏻

[@pauliewalnuts240]

My grandpa was part of the normandy landings. He always said the only reason he made it up the beach and survived the war was because he was a short bastard. He said all the tall guys were first to get hit. The last 5 yrs of his life he had extreme alzheimers/dementia and essentially progressed to a vegetative state. He didnt recognize anyone and was completely incomprehensible. on the rare occasions he attempted to speak, it was most gibberish. Although he was unable to understand anyone or speak, sometimes he was lucid for short periods. He would have short flashback like episodes and yell "incoming!" "Jimmy get down! "Medic!" "They got jimmy" Etc. I always found it incredible that his war memories were the last memories he had since he could no longer recognize his kids, wife, or anyone.

[@M1945]

Very interesting, human comment Paul. Thank you

[@axelnagtegaal9233]

Amazingly quality footage. A big compliment for making this available. 👍🏻

[@WgCdrLuddite]

George Stevens' colour footage is a massively important historical resource. Thank you for showing it in full.

[@HoopTY303]

Beautiful footage! So neat to see them loading the wounded from the boat in rough seas! What a tough job for those Dr’s and Nurses trying to keep their legs and get the wounded onto the ship.

[@L_Train]

Its amazing how much more real color footage seems than black and white. It really captures your attention. I wish restoration and colorization processes had been around earlier so more of our ww2 veterans could have seen vivid color footage.

[@IHUTCHI]

I am not sure if it is because the footage is in color or just because it is shot by a true professional but it gives a completely different feel to the atmosphere of the war. First off, i can see just how crappy the weather was on June the 6th in a new way that the black and white footage just does not quite convey. Second, at the 14:46 mark you get the feeling that entrenching is not the favorite activity of these guys (relatable)... At 17:12 it shows some great footage (of which there was a lot more taken) of some shelled out villages. The went through Caen and Coutances France and got a lot of color film and stills of the damaged buildings. The last bit of film in the French Bocage shows very well just how claustrophobic it really was. The George Stevens film crew did an AMAZING job of filming the European conflict. Thanks for sharing this!

[@kukujun]

24:04 Let's get this out onto a tray. 23:47 nice hiss Steve will love this footage.

[@theallseeingmaster]

I have known about these films for decades; it is about time they will all seen in their entirety. Thank you very much for this. How many of us look for their fathers and uncles in these films? I do.

[@danielgreen3715]

Cheers Frederick Im sure i have seen some of this footage before either as stills or BW Film.Some of the later footage looks like it is taken during the 'Bocage' phase as you can see the plough on the front of the Sherman that was used for getting through the Hedgerows with.

[@M1945]

That's possible Daniel, thanks

[@TheWilferch]

You sure are cranking these out in rapid succession....... what a great series of footage !!!

[@johnadm3479]

My favorite KZbin channel

[@M1945]

Love to hear that John

[@g.r.odenbach6541]

Outstanding find! 👍

[@derekbaker3279]

Excellent footage! Thank you!👍(BTW...from what I have read...while Omaha Beach had the highest total number of casualties, the casualty rate was higher on the British & Canadian beaches. German defences were extremely deadly, and - if not for the Brits' & Canadians' successful deployment & utilization of their specialized 'Hobart's Armour' and their DD Shermans - the Brits & Canadians may have come as close to failure as U.S. forces initially did on Omaha.)

[@johnwood2364]

At some point German artillery observers sighted on the barrage balloons, which they could see, and the barrage balloons were drawn down.

[@Berlin-Kladow]

Amazing historical footage showing the dark Normandy beaches at dawn in the distance . They must have been terrified of the unknown. The war would be over in 9 months which is unbelievable considering modern day conflicts like in gaza are going on for a similar time and not over at all

[@NickRatnieks]

Most British airmen wore Army khaki battledress- not the RAF blue at this time. The reason was simple- if you were shot down you could pretend to be in the Army as the Germans did not take kindly to Typhoon pilots.

[@runwiththerunners8152]

Really good. This really is poignant.

[@hueyman624]

Is George Stevens the Lt Col. that keeps showing up in the films? Did I see Walter Cronkite on one of the ships for a brief second from the side? I am going to Normandy to be there on the 6th this year.

[@paulevans3827]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@Filomeno28]

La verdad que la marina se llevaba la parte más fácil. Poco margen de riesgo..."" 🤔

[@randalldunkley1042]

WW2, starring George Stevens and nobody else.

[@M1945]

Very few others anyway

[@matthewaves255]

Dull - basically offcuts that Stevens didn’t use

[@M1945]

Maybe the Band of Brothers series is better for you? There's plenty of action

[@patriciaburkell8024]

Why are you here then?

[@M1945]

@@patriciaburkell8024 Patricia, the better question is, why are you here?

[@patriciaburkell8024]

@@M1945 Ten uncles fought in WWII. Five took the walking tour of Europe. My uncle SSgt. William Hause was KIA July 27, 1943, DSC was awarded posthumously. Good enough?

[@theprofiler8531]

REMFs

[@M1945]

What does that mean man?

[@MickeFoppa65]

What did the airships doing over all the ships?

[@clamshell3898]

They are called "barrage balloons" to keep the enemy planes from low strafing the boats.

[@MickeFoppa65]

@@clamshell3898 Thank you for clearing that out cause I didn't have any clue what they were used for. Now I know Thanks Clamshell3898 😃

[@Franky46Boy]

He landed with the British, so he didn't have to survive Omaha Beach...

[@GPF-em1fj]

My grandfather, grandmother, uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, father, mother, brothers and sisters were part of the landings.😉

[@M1945]

What, were they a French family living on the Normandy coast?

[@GPF-em1fj]

@@M1945 "Whooooooooosh.................." 🤣

[@M1945]

@@GPF-em1fj Mysterious indeed

[@cleroyster2610]

Why so many blimps?

[@M1945]

Were there to protect against strafing aircraft

[@cleroyster2610]

@@M1945 were there explosives on them or just entanglement?

[@ge2623]

@@cleroyster2610 Entanglement.

[@cleroyster2610]

@@ge2623 thanks

[@WgCdrLuddite]

The barrage balloons were there to hold up the steel cables which would destroy low flying aircraft.

[@visiblethought]

With all due respect, I can’t help but think George Stevens must have been an insufferable egoist.

[@M1945]

I think that you might be right