D-Day: The Longest of Days

A day by day documentary on the preparation of US troops prior to the D Day invasion and the immediate aftermath after the successful capture of the Normandy Beaches

Amphibious training in England and the invasion of France at Omaha Beach

Prefabricated concrete barges are manufactured in preparation for D Day. U.S. troops storm a beach in a practice landing assault. How harbor facilities made in England were used in the Normandy invasion. A storm damages the harbor but unloading continues.

Activities just prior to and including D-Day - Movements of American Troops from all Parts to Poe's Prior to the Normandy Invasion.

Gen. Eisenhower and his aides map the Normandy invasion. German pictures show the extent of their coastal defenses. Tanks, guns, locomotives, and other military equipment is massed on the English beaches. Troops practice loading operations. Landing craft is tested in the English Channel. Pictures of practice landing and airborne operations are used to dramatize the actual invasion on June 6, 1944.

The Greatest coordination of arms ever portrayed in the world. Every scene made during the greatest victory of Allied power, to date. 11,000 Allied planes plant their tons of pulverizing bombs on shore installations, strategic roads and bridges, then swoop down to strafe enemy trains, ships and planes. The air poundings continue, and the mop-up search for snipers is on. The invasion is successful.

The aerial and amphibious assault on the beaches of Normandy and the allied convoys landing on the Normandy beaches. Shows Gens. Eisenhower and Montgomery and Adm. Sir Bertram Ramsey.

Replays the drama and battle action of the period of the landing at Normandy and the fierce combat to overcome the wall of 'Fortress Europe' in June 1944.

Gen. Eisenhower addresses troops in Southern England; the "Big Show" begins; airborne troops dropped behind enemy lines; support aircraft drop everything from howitzers to motorcycles; bombers blast bridges and supply lines; sea forces bombard enemy fortifications on French coast; British and second army swarm over coast at Omaha and Utah Beaches; German west wall broken.

Landing Craft - Establishing Beachead Silent film.

The processing of plasma and penicillin. Troops in Normandy receive medical care. Naval guns bombard Cherbourg. The 8th and 9th Air Forces bomb communication lines. British troops take Caen. Shows Gen. Montgomery.

British artillery pounds German positions in northern France and troops advance through villages and care for civilians. Tanks clear mine fields. Part 2, American troops enter Cherbourg. The 6th Airborne Div. receives supplies by parachute from British planes. Gen. J.L. Collins accepts the surrender of German officers.

Victory on Cherbourg Peninsula - "Allied troops complete the conquest of the Cherbourg peninsula as reinforcements are flown in by air. 26,000 German prisoners were taken by the allies who either captured or destroyed the greater part of their equipment."

"Independence Day in Europe - In France, Eisenhower observes General Bradley fire a giant howitzer signaling our artillery into a massed crescendo of fire. Following the landing battles in Normandy, the Canadians return to the thick of the fighting at Cariquet. So severe that some Canadian camera crew were killed. In their sector, the Yanks are blazing through the hedge rows with grenade guns.

French civilians and U.S. Army engineers repair and salvage railroad yards, bridges, and trains.

Invasion of Southern France by the 7th army and subsequent junction with the American 3rd army in northwest part of France.

Allied troops invade southern France near Toulon in a combined amphibious and airborne assault. A coastal village is occupied after a raging battle between coastal batteries and naval guns. French underground members welcome the allies. Shows Gen. Patch, James Forrestal, and Adm. Hewitt in a landing craft.

Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin congregate at the Teheran Conference in 1943. U.S. troops land and fight on Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Saipan, Guam, and other Pacific islands. Russian troops advance to Romania and capture German soldiers. Paratroops jump at Caen. Citizens of Rome, Paris, Bucharest, Brussels, Belgrade, and Athens celebrate their liberation. F.D.R. addresses the United Nations.