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By the late fall of 1943,

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the Western Allies
and the Soviet Union

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have dealt
the Third Reich multiple blows.

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The Allies have dislodged
the Germans

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from North Africa and Sicily,

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and are fighting
their way up the Italian boot.

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While the Red Army, after victories
at Stalingrad and Kursk,

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pushes West towards Germany.

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The next step for the Allies

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is the long anticipated
invasion of Northern Europe.

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All wars change the world,

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but none of them changed the world
like the Second World War did.

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Japan's on the march.

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Germany's on the march.

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No-one can imagine the nightmare
they're about to unleash.

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The most destructive war
in human history.

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Suddenly the world
is turned upside down

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and all hell is let loose.

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The West is stunned
by the speed of the advance.

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You get the Allies
led by The Big Three:

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Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin,

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men who are dealing with
immensely complicated questions.

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It's the biggest military
operation of human history.

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The Allies have to come together,

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not just militarily,
but industrial scale.

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It's a global perspective.

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They have to fight
in every climate from the Arctic

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to the jungles of the Pacific,

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to the deserts of Africa,
and the depths of the ocean.

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But there was
no certainty of victory.

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It was going to be
a horrific bloodbath.

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We see humans
at their absolute worst,

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how they treat
other human beings,

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and we see them
at their absolute best,

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willing to give their lives
so others might live.

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World War II was a struggle
in which there could be

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one victor and one vanquished.

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Rings over the mountains
by Baghdad and the Dead Sea.

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Three planes from the supreme
headquarters of Britain,

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the United States, and the USSR

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bring to the capital of Persia the
leaders of the war against Germany.

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This is for the three-way conference

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so long expected,
so often postponed.

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Tehran is a hugely
important conference.

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It's the first time The Big Three
get together in person.

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You've got Joe Stalin,
leader of the Soviet Union.

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You've got Roosevelt,
President of the USA.

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And you've got Prime Minister
Winston Churchill,

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the warlord of the British Empire.

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This is the central organising brain
for the Allied War effort.

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And they're gonna establish
at this conference

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the roadmap, the blueprint

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for how they're gonna defeat the
axis in the Second World War.

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Since the US entry into the war,

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American and British
military strategists have debated

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the best way to defeat Nazi Germany.

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The British wanna prosecute
this war

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as they have prosecuted past ones:
mastery of the sea,

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control of commerce,
raids around the periphery

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until the enemy simply collapses.

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The British advocate
for campaigns in North Africa

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and the Mediterranean,

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but American military leaders,
along with the Soviets,

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want the Allies to directly attack.

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The Red Army's been carrying the
burden of the land war for years.

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Millions, literally millions of
casualties on a thousand-mile front.

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And so to the big concern for Stalin

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is, "When are you going
to open a second front?"

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The Americans are looking
at the map and saying,

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"We can cross the channel
from Britain, hit France.

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"Why wouldn't you just do that?""

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For the British Empire,
they could think of nothing worse.

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Churchill's entire generation
of British politicians

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either fought in or commanded in the
First World War and were scarred.

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And so the idea of
gambling everything

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on a cross-Channel invasion
into France,

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the exact place, by the way, that so
many terrible things happened

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in trench warfare
back in the First World War,

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all that mattered was
we don't do that again.

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Winston Churchill is thinking,

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"Maybe we land in Greece
and Yugoslavia.

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"Maybe we push up through Slovenia.
"Maybe we land in Norway."

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Stalin says, "I don't care
about any of this stuff.

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"It's nonsense. Get in some ships,

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"cross the English Channel,
land in France,

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"and open up that proper second
front against the Germans."

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If you think about
Allied leadership,

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it looks as if it's The Big Three,

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but what Roosevelt understands,

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what Stalin understands,

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and what Churchill,
to his great anguish,

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is coming to understand

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is that there's only room
for two people at the summit

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and that the fate of his nation
was to be somewhat in eclipse.

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At Tehran,
the Americans and the Soviets

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finally get their way,

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a big, American-dominated invasion

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of Western Europe,
Operation Overlord.

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Operation Overlord will be
a massive coordinated invasion

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by air, land, and sea,

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scheduled to launch in May, 1944,

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a mere six months away.

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If it succeeds, the Western
Allies and the Red Army

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will be able to advance
on Germany from two fronts.

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But who is to command
this enormous effort?

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The obvious choice
is George Marshall.

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George Marshall
is the army chief of staff

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and he is unquestionably the
most respected military man,

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certainly in the United States
and maybe even the world.

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And so everybody
assumes that he's gonna get it.

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What becomes clear, though,
is that Roosevelt realises

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that he can't have Marshall
out of Washington.

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He needs him too much to be, sort
of, running the entire war effort.

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And so then the question is, "Who?"

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Montgomery, Churchill's
star general, is absolutely certain

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that there is one man perfectly
suited to be supreme commander

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of the Allied effort,

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and that is Montgomery himself.

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But with the American
contribution in men and materiel

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about to dominate the Allied effort,

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it's clear that an American
must be placed in command.

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President Roosevelt selects
General Dwight Eisenhower,

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a protege of George Marshall

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and the successful commander
of the campaigns

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in North Africa and Sicily.

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Roosevelt sees in Eisenhower
the kind of political skill

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and savvy that's going
to be necessary

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to keep the alliance together
and to pull off

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what is going to be one of the most
high-risk military operations

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in all of human history.

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At the same time,
Eisenhower did not have

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a huge CV of combat experience.

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He hadn't served in France
during the First World War,

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and so, many of his competitors
looking around going,

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"How did this guy get the job?"

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British General Montgomery maybe
encapsulates the criticism

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of Eisenhower when he says,
"Nice chap, no soldier."

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Hitler and his high command
know the Western Allies

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are going to invade Northern Europe,

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but they don't know when
and they don't know where.

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Hitler is not surprised
that an invasion is coming.

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He said so at the end of 1943.

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"They'll be here next year. We have
to be ready to meet them."

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In his own mind, he was willing
this cross-Channel invasion

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because he said,
"Whenever they come

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"and wherever they come,
we're gonna beat them."

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An amphibious landing
is a very demanding operation,

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and so he thinks he will
throw his reserves to the west

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and push the Allies
back into the sea.

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He'd then be able to win the war
by turning everything he has

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against the Soviet Union
in the east.

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Under the direction
of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel

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the Germans accelerate the
construction of the Atlantic Wall...

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...a network of bunkers,
minefields, and beach obstacles

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stretching several thousand
miles from France to Norway.

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Much of the work is performed
by conscripted French labour.

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Rommel is already
a known commodity.

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He's beloved by the German people.

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He's young, he's unorthodox,
he's energetic.

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He's a man very much
to the Fuhrer's taste.

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He wakes up early,
he works hard all day.

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He gets the job done.

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And choosing Rommel tells the West,

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"You've got your work
cut out for you."

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By January, Operation Overlord,

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the joint British American plan
to invade Northwest Europe,

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has been largely mapped out.

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The coast of Normandy is
chosen as the landing site

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because of its long, flat beaches,

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numerous access roads,

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and proximity to the deep-water port
of Cherbourg.

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When Eisenhower and his staff
take control of Overlord,

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they look to expand the scale
and scope of the entire operation.

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From the very beginning,
it was clear to Eisenhower

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that a three-division invasion
in northern France

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would not be adequate.

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The Allies use six divisions
to invade Sicily.

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Eisenhower realises
if you've got one shot at this,

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you've gotta cross
this brutal stretch of water

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and land on a heavily
defended coastline,

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manned by one of
the best armies in history,

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you need to bring
overwhelming force.

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You go for the king,
you best not miss.

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But he has to somehow get the
Brits to come around and agree.

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His act of genius is
to name Montgomery

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commander of the ground forces
in the invasions.

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He says, "Monty, will you do this?"

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Eisenhower says, "But I think
three divisions is a bit small.

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"Shouldn't it be bigger?"
Monty says, "Should be much bigger."

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It's a perfect example of
Eisenhower's leadership style.

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He gets buy-in from people

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and then get whatever he wants done, done.

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Overlord increases to five
beaches and six divisions,

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which delays the operation
for a month.

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Eisenhower knows
that, in delaying Overlord,

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he's running a risk, and the risk is

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he's gonna use that extra month
for preparation.

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00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:58,920
But, of course,
so is his adversary.

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With each passing day...

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00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:06,280
...German defences
are going to get stronger.

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00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:24,560
Field Marshall Erwin Rommel
believes

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the first 24 hours of the invasion
will be decisive.

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He will say to an aide,

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"The fate of Germany
depends on the outcome.

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00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:35,880
"For the Allies,
as well as Germany,

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00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:38,080
"it will be the longest day."

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00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,720
Rommel thinks that you have
to defeat the Allied invasion

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00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:43,480
when it comes at the water's edge.

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00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:48,640
But the thing is, there's so many
points that the Allies can invade.

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They've scattered
fortifications everywhere.

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00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,400
So he's, like, "How do I take this
incomplete Atlantic wall

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"and fill in the gaps?"

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You do it with things
that are relatively cheap,

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like tank obstacles, like mines.

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00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,760
Rommel's strategy is to stop
the Allies on the beaches.

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00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:12,000
He can then bring in his panzers
where necessary.

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00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,320
Rommel has a lot of experience
fighting the Western powers.

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00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,240
He knows this isn't gonna be easy.

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Every minute he prepares,

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he believes is a minute
closer to a German victory.

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00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:36,520
In Britain, the Allies amass
resources for Operation Overlord.

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The United States sends
soldiers, tanks, aircraft,

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and large amounts of supplies.

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You have to co-ordinate
this massive Allied coalition,

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which is now dominated
by the Americans,

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00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:51,960
you know, on the supply side, right?

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00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,240
Gotta ship over all the oil,

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00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:56,920
all the materiel, all the vehicles.

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The scale of Operation Overlord
is just enormous.

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00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:05,800
You are talking about nearly
7,000 vessels involved.

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00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:09,600
You are talking about tens of
thousands of artillery pieces.

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00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:12,880
You are talking about
hundreds of thousands of men.

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00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:19,040
But what that means is that Britain,
for the last two and a half years,

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has just been turning into one
huge great big military camp.

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To deceive the Germans,
the Allies devise

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00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:29,080
and execute a deception plan.

237
00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:34,520
Operation Fortitude is a
false army operation created

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00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:36,600
to trick the Germans
into thinking the Allies

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00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:38,760
will land at Pas-de-Calais,

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00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:42,320
which is the shortest root
across the English Channel.

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00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,400
The elements that were involved

242
00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:48,560
in convincing the Germans that the
attack was coming in another place,

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00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:52,520
another direction,
another location, it's massive.

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00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,040
False radio traffic,
the creation of false armies.

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They used dummy vehicles,

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00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:02,800
balloons,
and rubber tanks, and aircraft.

247
00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:05,880
This is all part
of the deception campaign

248
00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:09,000
to keep the Germans guessing
until the last second.

249
00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:15,520
Eisenhower hopes Fortitude
will prompt the Germans

250
00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:18,240
to concentrate
their forces near Calais

251
00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:20,160
rather than Normandy.

252
00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:24,760
The Germans have about
three quarters of a million men

253
00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:26,360
who are poised
to be able to mobilise

254
00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:28,520
to wherever the Allies
invade in northern Europe.

255
00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:32,280
And so he knows
that this is going to be a race.

256
00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,000
It's going to be the Allies over
water and the Germans over land,

257
00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:37,040
and the Germans are always going
to have an advantage

258
00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:39,440
in moving over land.

259
00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:42,480
And so Eisenhower needs
to slow them down.

260
00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:45,480
The only tool that Eisenhower has
at his disposal...

261
00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:49,000
...are the bombers.

262
00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:55,960
Eisenhower knows
from previous experience

263
00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,720
he can't pull off an amphibious
invasion and keep it ashore

264
00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:02,240
without dominance in the air.

265
00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:04,760
Unless Allied air power
is there for Eisenhower,

266
00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:07,320
this landing is never gonna happen.

267
00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:10,320
Starting in 1944,

268
00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:12,640
Allied Air Force strategy

269
00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,960
focuses on destroying the Luftwaffe,
so that troops can land in Normandy

270
00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:18,560
without fear of German air attacks.

271
00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:22,760
But Eisenhower also
wants to hit railways

272
00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,160
and transportation
hubs throughout France.

273
00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:29,840
Eisenhower wants
the roads destroyed,

274
00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:32,720
he wants the bridges destroyed.

275
00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:34,960
he wants the railway yards
destroyed.

276
00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:38,480
He does not want one German unit
moving two miles down the road

277
00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:40,840
without him having
to build another bridge.

278
00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:42,640
And so Eisenhower says,

279
00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:44,600
"Those very valuable
bomber formations

280
00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,040
"need to be working to my plan."

281
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,040
Now, the bomber commander is, like,
"No,

282
00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:53,600
"we've got our own
way of winning this war."

283
00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:56,440
Everybody wants to support
the landings in Normandy,

284
00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:58,520
but the Allied Air Forces argue

285
00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:00,720
that the best way to do that
is to continue

286
00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:02,760
with more heavy attacks on Germany.

287
00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:08,400
This becomes a knockdown,
drag-out fight.

288
00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:12,000
So Eisenhower, you know,
basically threatens to resign,

289
00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,160
if he's not given control
over all the air forces.

290
00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:17,080
He's fighting day in and day out

291
00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:19,000
with the British, with the French,

292
00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:20,880
with his own bosses
back in Washington

293
00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:22,760
on every little detail of the war,

294
00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:25,000
and everyone is throwing up
nothing but obstructions,

295
00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:28,480
and he just doesn't have time
for this anymore, right?

296
00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:30,880
He is at his wits end.

297
00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,280
He needs overwhelming
strength to guarantee success

298
00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:36,040
because you know what?

299
00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:38,120
You've got one of history's
most effective armies,

300
00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:40,480
Hitlers panzers,

301
00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,640
who will be hurled
at those Allied landing forces,

302
00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:45,720
so they can chop you down
in the shallows

303
00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:47,840
and turn the waters
red with your blood.

304
00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:03,400
Early spring 1944.

305
00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:06,640
Supreme Allied Commander
Dwight Eisenhower

306
00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:10,280
has now been given full command
of all Allied air forces.

307
00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:15,920
In the end, he's got the air-power
weapon he needs

308
00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:19,680
to attack the French
transportation system.

309
00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:22,840
That's roads, railways, and bridges

310
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,720
that the Germans will use to move
forces to oppose the landings.

311
00:17:30,120 --> 00:17:33,680
And so he wins, and we take that
for granted, but it wasn't easy.

312
00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,280
He had to, like wrestle, with all
these powerful figures and egos,

313
00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:41,080
not only within the US military,
but the British military as well.

314
00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,520
It's another example of Eisenhower's
real quality as a leader.

315
00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,880
And so for 90 days before D-Day,

316
00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:53,040
you've got thousands of sorties.

317
00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:54,640
Bombs away.

318
00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:03,280
By P-47 and B-26 marauders

319
00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:05,560
that are flying behind
the German lines...

320
00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:10,920
...in the Pas-de-Calais in Normandy.

321
00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:14,440
It's just absolutely punishing
the road and rail network.

322
00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,560
Defending multiple fronts,
the resources of Hitler

323
00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:35,600
and his Third Reich
are stretched thin.

324
00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:41,880
For the Germans in 1944,

325
00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:44,240
their last big trump card
are the tanks.

326
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:56,520
Rommel's plan is to deploy them
as close as possible to the beaches.

327
00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,880
The advantage is that
you can bring them in

328
00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:02,040
much quicker as reinforcements,

329
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:06,720
but this idea runs against
traditional German doctrine.

330
00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:08,280
It's totally the opposite.

331
00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:13,400
The orthodox approach
amongst German commanders

332
00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,920
is to group your tank divisions
into a concentrated mass,

333
00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:19,000
let the Allies land,

334
00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,680
and then, as they stumble
into the French interior,

335
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:25,720
hit them at a time
and place of your choosing.

336
00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:31,360
Rommel says, " Realistically we
can't manoeuvre against them

337
00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:35,000
"when they come inland because
they have total air superiority."

338
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,320
The only person who can decide

339
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,480
which option will be the better one
is Hitler himself.

340
00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:45,800
But Hitler never wants to give
too much power into one hand.

341
00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:49,760
Suspecting that the Allies
will land near Calais,

342
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:53,200
Hitler spreads his panzers
along Northwestern France,

343
00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:56,800
but he reserves operational
control for himself.

344
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:01,080
They can only be released into
combat by Hitler's express order,

345
00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:03,720
which is probably the Achilles' heel
of that plan.

346
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,040
In the spring of 1944,

347
00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:20,240
there are over two
and a half million troops

348
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:24,120
from multiple Allied nations
crowded into Southeast England.

349
00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,640
The invasion would send
ashore combat-experienced troops

350
00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,240
who had participated
in landings previously

351
00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:34,760
as well as troops
who had never done it before.

352
00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:37,800
So the way you
prepare is you have exercises.

353
00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:40,720
You have rehearsals
just like in a play.

354
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:42,800
So a series of exercises
are undertaken

355
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:45,600
to include something
called Exercise Tiger.

356
00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:58,280
Exercise Tiger is going to invade
a beach called Slapton Sands.

357
00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:01,240
And Slapton Sands is
a British resort town

358
00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:06,840
that, remarkably, looks exactly
like parts of the Normandy coast.

359
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:10,200
Secrecy is vital
for this training mission.

360
00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:13,560
3,000 British citizens are
evacuated from the area.

361
00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:17,080
Operational security
is absolutely paramount.

362
00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:21,080
The Allies have to have tactical
surprise on the morning of D-Day,

363
00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:23,800
so the Germans must be
completely blindsided.

364
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,080
It's a practice run for D-Day,

365
00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:33,320
but from the start,
things go horribly wrong.

366
00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:37,200
Because of a breakdown
in communication,

367
00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:39,960
the navy fires on its own men.

368
00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:44,720
As if that tragedy
wasn't bad enough,

369
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,360
the next day something
even worse happens.

370
00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,560
In the middle of the night,
the LST's,

371
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:56,320
these large ships that have
personnel and tanks in them,

372
00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:58,440
are preparing to do their
part in Exercise Tiger

373
00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:00,640
and circling about to do
the second landing wave.

374
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:02,560
And then, all of a sudden,

375
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,360
a pack of German fast boats,
or E-boats,

376
00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:07,680
stumbles upon these LST's.

377
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:11,840
And the Germans began firing,
and tracer bullets

378
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,360
are flying across the ships, and
some of the men on board thought,

379
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,800
"Wow, this is a pretty realistic
exercise."

380
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,480
And it wasn't really
until the torpedoes began

381
00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,760
to explode against the sides
of the LST's

382
00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:28,840
that they realise this is not an
exercise; this is an attack.

383
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:33,560
They sink three LST's,

384
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:36,400
which are really precious by this
point. They need every one.

385
00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:40,360
More than 700 men were killed
in Exercise Tiger.

386
00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:44,120
So this was a very costly
loss of life.

387
00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:48,520
If a, you know,
well-controlled, dress rehearsal

388
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:51,520
goes this badly under the
best of possible conditions,

389
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:53,240
what's going to happen

390
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:56,680
when they can't just stroll
ashore on a British resort town,

391
00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:58,720
but are being fired
at by German guns?

392
00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:19,720
Operation Overlord has been
planned down to the closest detail,

393
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:23,560
but there's one crucial element
no-one can anticipate -

394
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:26,960
the weather.

395
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,480
They have a three-day window,
June 5th to June 7th.

396
00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,440
If they delay the invasion
past that window,

397
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:38,080
the moon is no longer going to be
right for the airborne operation,

398
00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:40,360
the tides are no longer
going to be right

399
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:42,560
for the landing forces,
and this delicate ballet

400
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,960
of air, ground, and naval forces

401
00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:48,480
won't have the necessary
weather conditions

402
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:50,960
to co-ordinate and hit
the beach with full force.

403
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:57,200
Eisenhower and his staff rely
on Group Captain James Stagg

404
00:23:57,360 --> 00:23:59,360
and his team of meteorologists...

405
00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:02,800
...to provide the most
accurate advice possible.

406
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,920
The weather leading up to
the original D-Day is gorgeous,

407
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:18,880
and it's so good that it
almost feels like an omen.

408
00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:21,000
It's two days before the invasion.

409
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,840
They're gearing up to launch
on June 5th as scheduled,

410
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,240
and James Martin Stagg
comes to Eisenhower

411
00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:28,160
as part of the command conference
and says,

412
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:31,360
"There's been a turn in the weather.
A storm is a-brewin'."

413
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:36,840
It's just frankly terrible news.

414
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,000
15-foot waves in the Channel,
high winds,

415
00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:40,840
unpredictable seas,

416
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:42,800
rolling fronts
coming in from all directions,

417
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,920
and it's just the last thing
they can possibly deal with.

418
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,920
Amphibious operations
are a total nightmare.

419
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:54,760
And on top of that, the English
Channel is a rough stretch of water.

420
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:57,720
You get winds that
howl up that Channel,

421
00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:00,080
that kick up a swell that
make it impossible to operate,

422
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,360
you know, ships
near the coastline.

423
00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,480
Eisenhower had to consider
what that meant.

424
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,600
And he said, "Well, we'll
postpone making a decision

425
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,800
"until four o'clock in the morning
when you'll know more."

426
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:16,680
Four o'clock in the morning
on the 4th,

427
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:18,760
Stagg came in looking not happy

428
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:20,680
and said "It's gonna be worse.

429
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:25,920
"We'll have to postpone
until the 6th of June."

430
00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:30,120
The pressure's really there now

431
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:33,440
to, "Well, we really want to try and
get this done in this window,"

432
00:25:34,120 --> 00:25:37,400
or they've gotta wait again for
all the situations to coalesce,

433
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:40,200
the weather, and the tides,
and the moon.

434
00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:42,120
It might be a few weeks.
It might be months.

435
00:25:43,120 --> 00:25:45,600
And the problem is you've got all
these hundreds of thousands of men

436
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,400
in camps who've been sharpened
to this edge

437
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:50,640
of ready to go in and get their job.

438
00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,440
Then you say, "Actually, no, sorry
lads. We're gonna back down again."

439
00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:00,000
Even the Germans
think the conditions

440
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,640
are unsuitable for an invasion.

441
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:06,360
Rommel gets his weather report
on the 4th of June,

442
00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:08,200
and doesn't look very good,

443
00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:10,720
and he thinks there
will be no opportunities

444
00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,440
for the Allies to land
for the coming days,

445
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,560
and so he decides to go to Germany

446
00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:19,200
and celebrate his wife's birthday.

447
00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:21,520
The problem, though, is
that the Germans

448
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,200
don't have meteorological stations
in the Atlantic,

449
00:26:24,360 --> 00:26:26,200
in contrast to the Allies.

450
00:26:26,360 --> 00:26:28,760
And where does the weather
in Europe mostly come from?

451
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:31,400
From the Atlantic.

452
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:34,880
Late in the evening on June 4th,

453
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,760
the Allies receive a report from
a weather station in Ireland.

454
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:42,520
Captain Stagg is
gonna come in and go, "Alright,

455
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:44,960
the weather conditions look
like they're going to improve,

456
00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:48,560
"such that in the afternoon
on Tuesday, June 6th,

457
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:50,440
"you might be able to pull it off."

458
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:56,760
Eisenhower polls his commanders.

459
00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:02,920
But the final decision
is his alone.

460
00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,040
Eisenhower will ultimately reflect
on this 20 years afterward,

461
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,960
and he'll say that he felt like the
loneliest man in all of England.

462
00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:14,880
And what must have run
through that man's mind

463
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:17,600
was, "Well, the gliders
are not gonna do well

464
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:20,120
"in winds this high. Paratroopers
are gonna be blown off course."

465
00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:24,840
He had to recognise
all of the things

466
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:26,840
that are going to go wrong,

467
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,880
not things that might go wrong,
but definitely gonna go wrong.

468
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,240
"But at the same time,
I can't come back next month.

469
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,440
"I can't come back in August.
It's now or never."

470
00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:42,480
And he is sitting there, listening
to the wind howling around...

471
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:46,200
...and he says, "OK, let's go."

472
00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:57,640
Operation Overlord, D-Day,

473
00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:01,000
is the largest amphibious invasion
in history,

474
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:04,240
and it's being attempted by
a coalition of many nations,

475
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,080
some of which have lived
under the Nazi yoke for years.

476
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,600
The whole world
awaits the outcome.

477
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:14,640
As the invasion got closer,

478
00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:16,600
Eisenhower got more tense.

479
00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:19,280
He's smoking four packs
of cigarettes a day.

480
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:21,160
He's barely sleeping.

481
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:24,840
He has nothing left to do,
but wait to hear

482
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:26,760
whether or not
he made the right call

483
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:28,720
in the middle of the night,
sleep deprived.

484
00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:33,320
But the most important
thing though, I think,

485
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,200
he does in that period is,

486
00:28:35,360 --> 00:28:39,360
he goes out and personally visits
the 101st Airborne.

487
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:47,200
The 101st Airborne,
along with the 82nd Airborne,

488
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:49,280
and the British 6th Division

489
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:52,240
will be the first to land
behind enemy lines.

490
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:56,680
The job of the Airborne
is to seize the causeways

491
00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:59,120
and cover the flanks
of the landing troops.

492
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:05,280
They will be the first soldiers
to fight the Germans in Normandy.

493
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:08,320
Eisenhower, with no fanfare,

494
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,560
just walks among
all these young men...

495
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:17,080
...all of whom are no older,
really, than his own son,

496
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:20,280
and he makes a point

497
00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:22,840
of looking each one of them
in the eye

498
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:24,720
as he shakes their hand.

499
00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:29,600
He gets an estimate
that about 50%

500
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:31,960
of the paratroopers
are gonna be killed.

501
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,680
And so, as he's shaking hands,

502
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:38,960
every other soldier

503
00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:42,640
is someone who he has reason to
believe he has sent to their death.

504
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,120
The most important thing
he could do in that moment

505
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:51,000
was just be there for them.

506
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,000
He spends all night doing that,
goes up to the roof nearby,

507
00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:00,040
watches the whole thing take off.

508
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:03,920
That's how he begins D-Day.

509
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:14,240
Under a full moon...

510
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,600
paratroopers,
including The 101st Airborne,

511
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,080
start dropping behind enemy lines.

512
00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,520
Before dawn landing crafts
are lowered into the water,

513
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:30,920
and troops start to board.

514
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:39,320
At sunrise, a fleet of warships
launch a naval barrage.

515
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:52,040
Ultimately, the ground troops
are gonna land on five beaches:

516
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:54,920
two American beaches,
Omaha and Utah;

517
00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,040
a Canadian beach, Juno;

518
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:01,880
and then Gold and Sword,
the British beaches.

519
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:05,840
They're then gonna try and
link up those different beaches...

520
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:09,360
...and then push inland to take on

521
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,560
and destroy the might
of the German army in France.

522
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:19,400
The morning of June 6th,
the weather patterns

523
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,680
are still chopping about
and the wind is still blowing.

524
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:23,320
It's not an ideal situation

525
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:25,640
to start ploughing these boats
towards the coast there.

526
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:28,920
Right from the jump,
the weather's a huge issue.

527
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:31,920
There's a six foot swell on D-Day.

528
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:37,360
The waves are swamping
over the sides.

529
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:39,240
You're standing in
freezing cold water.

530
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:43,000
You are there with 30 other guys.
If one vomits, you all vomit.

531
00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:47,680
Sea spray is lashing
into your face there.

532
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:49,440
You can't see.
Your eyes are stinging.

533
00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,600
The longer that goes on, the more
you are thinking to yourself,

534
00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:58,800
"What is gonna happen
when that ramp goes down?"

535
00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,480
Omaha is the largest
of the beaches,

536
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:11,000
a strip of the Normandy coast
six miles wide.

537
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:14,600
It's different
from all the other beaches

538
00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:16,680
in that it's almost
like an amphitheatre.

539
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,600
You know, you've got these high
bluffs overlooking the beach,

540
00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:21,520
almost like a extended bowl.

541
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:28,240
You'd be coming in, grey skies,
smoke, noise, ramp would drop,

542
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,400
and then there's this just
absolute mass of fire.

543
00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:42,080
85 machine guns laying down
100,000 rounds a minute.

544
00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:58,920
People start getting shot
and killed.

545
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:00,680
You see dead people
floating in the water.

546
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:06,720
You don't run up the beach.
You stagger up the beach.

547
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:09,400
Guys are trying to clear obstacles.

548
00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:11,760
You're trying to move ahead.

549
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,360
Your senses are overwhelmed with
all the things going around you.

550
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,320
That first wave is getting mowed
down in great numbers.

551
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:22,320
It's roughly 85% killed

552
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:24,720
or wounded in the assault waves
on Omaha.

553
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,360
Eisenhower is receiving
only intermittent reports,

554
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:33,560
except, of course,
that on Omaha Beach,

555
00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:35,400
it's not going as planned.

556
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:39,560
While he tried to project
a confident demeanour,

557
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:44,040
you know that inside him
he's just roiling with concern.

558
00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:47,480
Failure is another Dunkirk.

559
00:33:47,640 --> 00:33:49,320
Failure's the loss
of all your equipment,

560
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:52,160
your troops being marched off
into captivity.

561
00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:55,880
If everything goes wrong,
it means a longer war.

562
00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:58,840
The day before the landings

563
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:01,280
General Eisenhower,
knowing the risks

564
00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:03,320
and understanding
the responsibility,

565
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:05,480
penned a brief note.

566
00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:10,400
"My decision to attack was based
upon the best information available.

567
00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:14,760
"The troops did all that bravery
and devotion to duty could do.

568
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:18,200
"If any blame or fault
is attached to the attempt,

569
00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:20,000
"it is mine alone."

570
00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:42,320
On the morning
of the Normandy invasion,

571
00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:45,160
the first wave of American troops
at Utah Beach

572
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:47,560
land almost a mile south
of their target...

573
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:51,360
...but quickly regroup and
manage to take the beach

574
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:53,520
and push inland.

575
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:56,920
The British landings at Gold
and Sword beaches

576
00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:58,880
go better than expected.

577
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:03,760
But at Juno Beach,
the first wave of Canadian troops

578
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:05,880
meets tough German resistance.

579
00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:14,040
And at Omaha Beach, rough seas
and intense German fire

580
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:17,120
wreak havoc
on the first American troops.

581
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,200
But more men are on their way.

582
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:26,360
The German defenders
on the Atlantic wall,

583
00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:28,160
they look out that morning,

584
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:30,120
and they're stunned
by what they see.

585
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,600
They see the biggest fleet
ever gathered for an invasion.

586
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,400
The Germans all talked about
how they were so densely packed.

587
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:38,600
It looked like you could just walk
from ship to ship.

588
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:44,560
For the average German soldier
on D-Day,

589
00:35:44,720 --> 00:35:48,560
the experience
is something totally new.

590
00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:52,680
This naval bombardment...

591
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,960
...it really shakes up the psyche
of the German soldiers.

592
00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:06,280
There are two crucial
German command failures.

593
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:08,640
One is that Rommel isn't there.

594
00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:12,360
He's back in Germany
celebrating his wife's birthday.

595
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:15,120
When he hears
that the landing has happened,

596
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:16,720
he says something
along the lines of,

597
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:18,640
"How could I have been so stupid?"

598
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:21,960
Even more important is Hitler.

599
00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:25,760
The morning of the invasion,
June 6th, 1944,

600
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:28,160
Adolf Hitler is asleep.

601
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:29,960
But nobody will dare wake him up,

602
00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:32,200
even though word has come in
about this invasion starting.

603
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:36,240
So in the crucial
five or six or seven hours

604
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:41,240
when the Germans might have landed
some quick blow against the Allies,

605
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:43,320
those Panzer divisions
in the central reserve

606
00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:47,520
that can only be released into
combat by Hitler's express order

607
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:49,360
are pretty much
without a commander.

608
00:36:50,720 --> 00:36:53,920
As a consequence,
the German's reactions on D-Day

609
00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:56,120
end up a big mess.

610
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:02,440
By midday, the troops at Gold,
Sword, Juno,

611
00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:05,040
and Utah have started
to push inland,

612
00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:09,560
and momentum finally shifts
at Omaha Beach.

613
00:37:09,720 --> 00:37:13,600
The sheer scale of the
invasion helps turn the tide,

614
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:18,080
but it also comes down
to individual acts of bravery.

615
00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:22,080
At Pointe du Hoc

616
00:37:22,240 --> 00:37:25,840
US Army Rangers scale
100-foot cliffs under fire.

617
00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:32,360
At Utah Beach, Brigadier
General Teddy Roosevelt Jr,

618
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:36,040
the son of former president
Theodore Roosevelt,

619
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:39,200
leads a division that lands
south of the target.

620
00:37:40,240 --> 00:37:43,160
They came ashore and realised
that they were in the wrong bit.

621
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:45,880
And he said, "To hell with it.
The war starts here."

622
00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:49,800
Roosevelt's son,
Captain Quentin Roosevelt II,

623
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:52,320
is in the first landing wave
at Omaha.

624
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:54,280
They're the only father son duo

625
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,120
who will land on the beaches
that day.

626
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:00,600
Corporal Waverly Woodson,

627
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:03,920
a medic with the 320th
Barrage Balloon Battalion,

628
00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:07,680
is wounded before
he even hits the beach.

629
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:12,640
But he will treat almost
200 members of the US Army,

630
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:14,760
Navy, and British Navy

631
00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:16,480
as they come ashore
on Omaha Beach,

632
00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:19,680
all the while under intense mortar
and machine gun fire.

633
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:29,560
By the end of the day
on June 6th,

634
00:38:29,720 --> 00:38:32,320
the Allies have secured
all five beaches

635
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:34,160
and have pushed inland.

636
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,840
In the coming days, they will link
up with the airborne forces

637
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:44,280
to create a continuous,
connected front along the coast.

638
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:49,680
It was Eisenhower who meshed
all of the different nationalities.

639
00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:51,440
He brought them together,

640
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:53,600
and Eisenhower deserves
a lot of credit.

641
00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:56,280
He's accountable.
He's responsible.

642
00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:58,640
That's what leaders do
in good times and bad.

643
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:01,120
Right man for the job.

644
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:04,160
Eisenhower understands,
probably better than anyone,

645
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,880
the real fighting on the continent
of Europe is about to begin.

646
00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,640
And at the same time,
there's a ray of hope.

647
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:14,920
Allied victory is increasingly
going to become possible.

648
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:19,920
The US theory of
how you can wage war

649
00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:22,080
has now been proven correct.

650
00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:24,600
You can have
a multinational alliance

651
00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:26,560
pull off the most complex
military operation

652
00:39:26,720 --> 00:39:28,440
the world had ever seen.

653
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:33,040
It's not just the infantry,
all the airmen set the conditions.

654
00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:35,240
It's all the Coast Guardsmen

655
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:37,360
and the sailors that drew the ships.

656
00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:40,520
It's all the people who manufactured
all the stuff back in Detroit.

657
00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:42,920
It's a global effort
to make D-Day work.

658
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:46,320
My fellow Americans,

659
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:48,920
in this poignant hour,

660
00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:53,600
I ask you to join
with me in prayer.

661
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:59,360
Almighty God, our sons,
pride of our nation,

662
00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:03,840
this day have set upon
a mighty endeavour,

663
00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:07,640
a struggle to preserve our republic,

664
00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:12,440
our religion, and our civilisation,

665
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:16,440
and to set free
a suffering humanity.

666
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:21,880
President Roosevelt
says in his D-Day prayer,

667
00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:24,440
"Our forces will be thrown back.

668
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:26,960
"Their road will be long and hard."

669
00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:30,480
But we shall
return again and again.

670
00:40:32,720 --> 00:40:35,240
And we know that by thy grace

671
00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:38,560
and by the righteousness
of our cause,

672
00:40:38,720 --> 00:40:40,960
our sons will triumph.

673
00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:44,680
On D-Day, the 101st Airborne,

674
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:47,960
just hours after being addressed
by General Eisenhower,

675
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:50,680
parachuted into occupied France.

676
00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:53,720
Despite being scattered
across enemy territory,

677
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:56,360
these men cleared the path
for American forces

678
00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:00,360
to emerge off Utah Beach and
begin the advance on Germany.

679
00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:03,600
A second front is firmly established

680
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:05,360
on the continent of Europe.

681
00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:09,000
In the Pacific war,
the boundaries are enormous,

682
00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:12,040
ranging through Asia and
into numerous remote islands

683
00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:14,800
across the ocean.
Attacking this new front

684
00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:17,360
will require the most advanced
aircraft ever built.

685
00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:20,080
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