Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:11,680
June 6, 1944.
2
00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:16,920
As Germans and Soviets fight fiercely in Eastern Europe, the Allies launch their
3
00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:24,560
attack on Hitler-occupied France. In a few hours they manage to take over the beaches
4
00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:32,200
and by the end of the day thousands of soldiers have disembarked. But the story doesn't end there.
5
00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,360
In the coming weeks there would be one of the toughest battles of the entire war
6
00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:42,160
for control of France. And the Germans, despite fighting
7
00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:46,720
the Soviets in the east, were able to mount a more than respectable defense
8
00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:52,520
in the French countryside. This is the story of the German defeat in
9
00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:59,920
France after the Normandy landings and the liberation of Paris around 1944.
10
00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:18,040
During the day of June 6, the allies managed to take the beaches of Normandy and disembark
11
00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:23,480
about 160 thousand by the end of the day. soldiers, who are preparing to liberate France from German occupation
12
00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:29,920
. Canadians, Americans, English, Australians, Poles and others
13
00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:35,880
are ready to march towards Paris with an overwhelming superiority of resources.
14
00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:40,720
The Germans now face a massive landing, although the high command still
15
00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:47,360
believes that Normandy is a farce, and that the main attack would come through the Pas de Calais.
16
00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:52,440
In the afternoon hours of June 6, and in the face of countless demands from von Rundstedt,
17
00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:56,960
the high command released the two panzer divisions that had been held for more than 10 hours
18
00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:03,520
in the Paris area. These are the 12 SS and the Lehr panzer, which arrive on the
19
00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:09,120
coast between June 7 and 9, when it is too late to turn the invasion around.
20
00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:16,400
With this delay the Germans lose the only chance to stop the Allied attack.
21
00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:21,160
Initial Allied plans aim to capture Saint-Lô,
22
00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:26,440
Caen and Bayú on the first day. They are not available. But the beachheads are
23
00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:32,960
established. There are almost 100 km of front and the casualties are less than expected.
24
00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:39,520
Once Caen and Bayeux are occupied, the Allied objective is to establish themselves between the Loire and the Seine. Take
25
00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:46,760
Cherbourg and Brest, then liberate Paris and the rest of France, then march towards Germany.
26
00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:52,800
Given the success of Normandy, Yosef Stalin sent a congratulatory telegram to Winston Churchill:
27
00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:57,800
“Hitler, who boasted for two years that he would force the English Channel,
28
00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,640
was unable to bring himself to even hint that he would try to carry out
29
00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:09,120
his threat. History will record this fact as an achievement of the highest order.”
30
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:09,320
Stalin sarcastically refers to the frustrated “Operation Sea Lion” planned by Hitler
to invade the British Isles and frustrated by the defeat in the Air Battle of Britain.
31
00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:14,000
Returning to the front, the Americans target the port of Cherbourg
32
00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:20,000
on the Cotentin Peninsula, located northeast of Utah and Omaha. For this mission,
33
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:26,200
two elite North American divisions had been parachuted in. The 101st led
34
00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:33,113
by Maxwell Taylor and the 82nd led by Matthew Ridway, both of enormous caliber.
35
00:03:33,113 --> 00:03:33,308
Ridway, about 10 years later, will be the commander in chief of the US army in the
Korean War. Taylor, on the other hand, will be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and also the main
36
00:03:33,308 --> 00:03:38,000
military advisor to President John Kennedy in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
The capture of Cherbourg is a key and difficult objective from the beginning.
37
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,600
General Matthew Ridway sums up the spirit in one sentence:
38
00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:46,320
“You never give up gained ground.”
39
00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:51,240
The British, Canadians and other allies focus on taking the city of Caen,
40
00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:57,280
across from Sword, Gold and Juno beaches. For June 7, Normandy, which was a
41
00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:03,480
dream place since the Middle Ages, is about to become a nightmare place.
42
00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:09,000
The Allies launch “Operation Perch” to surround and take the city of Caen. But they do not
43
00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:17,000
succeed due to fierce German resistance. The allied attempt fails 3 times. The obstacle
44
00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:23,240
is none other than the 12th Panzer Division HitlerJugend of the Waffen SS, with its four
45
00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:29,720
H variant panzer tanks, which have 75 millimeter guns. The HitlerJugend troops,
46
00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:38,040
made up of young people of 17 or 18 years old, fight with fanaticism and ferocity. They are the toughest troops
47
00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:43,000
that the allies face in France and at the time of their withdrawal the casualties would reach 60%.
48
00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:48,680
Lieutenant Walter Kruger of the 12th Division comments on the sentiment of:
49
00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:53,520
“Absolute confidence in victory from start to finish. They had received
50
00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:59,640
proper training. “They had an absolute sense of order and discipline.”
51
00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:06,280
The 21st Panzer Division also participates, whose commander in chief is the Obergruppenführer or
52
00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:13,320
general of the Waffen SS, Sepp Dietrich. Dietrich was, along with Paul Hausser, the highest-
53
00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:19,880
ranking officer within the Waffen SS, having fought in Poland, Holland, France, Greece and the
54
00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:27,560
Russian front. Without a doubt, extensive experience that is worth a lot when fighting with numerical inferiority.
55
00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:32,600
The Germans considered the Caen area the base of their position in Normandy and were
56
00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:37,280
determined to maintain a defensive arc from the English Channel to the western bank
57
00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:46,200
of the River Orne. Within the 21st panzer division, the 503rd heavy panzer battalion had its place,
58
00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:53,000
composed among others of 10 King Taigers weighing 69 tons. These beasts could withstand
59
00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:57,280
fire from any Allied tank and had an outstanding range of more than
60
00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:03,800
2 and a half kilometers thanks to their 88 millimeter cannon. Movements,
61
00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:09,040
however, were not his forte due to his low speed of 38 kilometers per hour on the
62
00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:14,600
road and 20 in the open field. Due to this and the Allied air superiority,
63
00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:20,720
position changes were usually carried out at night when it was more difficult to be seen.
64
00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:23,760
Faced with stiff resistance from the panzer divisions,
65
00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:28,280
the British bombed the city, destroying 70% of it and causing the
66
00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:35,040
death of 400 civilians. In addition to lives and property, irrecoverable artistic treasures are lost.
67
00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:42,560
The battle for Caen would take several British operations to win, with Operation
68
00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:49,560
Godwud being the last of all, which occurred on July 18. In this operation the Germans sold
69
00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:55,920
their retreat very dearly, causing between 4,000 and 5,000 casualties for the Allies and between 200 and 400
70
00:06:55,920 --> 00:07:03,080
tanks out of action. The Germans would lose around 100 tanks and about 2 thousand soldiers.
71
00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:08,080
Despite having a preponderant force and air superiority, British progress
72
00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:13,520
ended up being slow and disorderly and ultimately failed to break the front forcefully.
73
00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:19,920
Caen would finally fall on July 20, but not in the way the Allies expected.
74
00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:25,680
From the Allied side, General Patton questions Montgomery:
75
00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:29,640
“Monty has been too slow in attacking and thus has allowed
76
00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:36,040
the Germans to consolidate in fixed positions and have had time to bring in reinforcements.”
77
00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:41,600
Churchill himself is worried. He believes that if there is not a rapid breakup of the
78
00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:47,600
front it will take a year to reach the Seine and the Rhine. He is sincere with Supreme Commander Eisenhower,
79
00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:52,000
telling him: “You only have to express your dissatisfaction with any
80
00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:55,320
British officer regardless of his rank for "He is
81
00:07:55,320 --> 00:08:03,200
relieved of his position." Monty is included, or Churchill refers to him specifically.
82
00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:08,200
From the German side, the arrival of reinforcements to Normandy, as General Heinz
83
00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:13,560
Guderian states, is practically impossible. Allied bombing and resistance sabotage
84
00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:19,800
have blocked access to the region. The delays are endless.
85
00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:23,280
Once again, Rommel's theory of keeping panzer divisions
86
00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:26,440
close to the coast demonstrates its strong support.
87
00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:31,560
With the gradual advance of the allies, little by little there would begin to be cases
88
00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:36,039
of rape of French women and also robberies on public roads. The
89
00:08:36,039 --> 00:08:40,039
American soldiers sometimes drank too much and attacked
90
00:08:40,039 --> 00:08:44,920
the French women or attacked the French by stealing objects from them.
91
00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:49,640
The American military courts installed on French territory would try
92
00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:56,720
139 soldiers for rape. Of them, 68 were sentenced to life imprisonment
93
00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:02,520
and 22 to the death penalty, but many other victims never filed a complaint.
94
00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:06,720
General Eisenhower himself ordered that the executions be public,
95
00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:12,680
at the scene and with the assistance of the victims, relatives and neighbors. He thus sought
96
00:09:12,680 --> 00:09:18,800
to calm the wave of protests that began to flood the press of the time. Despite this,
97
00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:23,400
in German territory the violations by the United States would continue and reach
98
00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:29,480
eleven thousand according to researcher Robert Lily. On the eastern side, the Soviets
99
00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:34,360
would rape at least a million German women as they moved deeper into
100
00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:42,520
in German territory. East Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania and Berlin would bear the brunt.
101
00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:48,760
On the German side, around June 10, the “Oradour Massacre” took place. This was German retaliation
102
00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:55,720
for the murder of an officer by the resistance. In it, the SS Das
103
00:09:55,720 --> 00:10:02,600
Reich division burned the town of Oradour, killing 600 people. Faced with this event, Rommel complains
104
00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:08,480
to Hitler but the Führer's response is blunt: “Don't get involved in that. Resisting the
105
00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:15,720
invasion is your only job.” The distance between Rommel and Hitler was beginning to become evident.
106
00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:19,360
The Germans would have similar actions in several other towns,
107
00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:24,400
also including mass shootings in other parts of France.
108
00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:30,920
By June 11, five days before the invasion, Rommel sees the worst coming. He tells Admiral
109
00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:35,760
Friederich Ruge: “Even if the British dominate us, it is better to end the war
110
00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:42,360
now than to see Germany completely ruined. “I know Hitler and he will not commit suicide as long as there is
111
00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:48,960
one house left standing in Germany, without caring in the least about the German people.”
112
00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:53,720
The next day Rommel informed his superiors: “
113
00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:59,400
Our enemy's ground power is growing at a speed much faster than our reserves to reach the front.
114
00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:03,200
Our operations in Normandy will be made exceptionally difficult,
115
00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:07,720
and even particularly impossible, by the overwhelming superiority of the
116
00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:12,840
Allied air forces and the effects of heavy naval artillery.
117
00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:19,560
Sergeant Helmut Gunther of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division sees it his way:
118
00:11:19,560 --> 00:11:22,280
“We no longer expected to achieve total victory,
119
00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:27,320
but we still had an absolute sense of loyalty. In Russia we had fought
120
00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:33,440
men against men. “We knew that in Normandy it would be men against machines.”
121
00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:37,560
That June 12,
122
00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:38,080
the head of the 12th Panzer Division HitlerJugend of the Waffen SS that does so much work in
123
00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:41,685
Caen, Brigandeführer (or brigadier general) Fritz Witt, dies from fire from an English ship.
124
00:11:41,685 --> 00:11:42,677
Witt's superior, Waffen SS General Sepp Dietrich, confesses: “One of the best is
125
00:11:42,677 --> 00:11:47,560
gone. Witt was a great soldier who could not survive long.”
126
00:11:47,560 --> 00:11:55,040
Replacing Witt comes the young 33-year-old Brigandeführer Kurt Meyer. Nicknamed “panzer Meyer”, he is
127
00:11:55,040 --> 00:12:00,480
the youngest to hold that rank and upon assuming office he is already famous among his troops and also his enemies,
128
00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:06,520
for his exploits in France, Greece and Russia. Meyer is a convinced National Socialist,
129
00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:11,480
and has a very risky combat style, always being close to danger and leading
130
00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:17,360
by example. Upon assuming command of the Hitler division, Jugend comments:
131
00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:24,800
“I have received the order to defend Caen. Our men are 17 or 18 years old, weeks ago
132
00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:31,560
they had entered combat with fresh and flourishing faces. But now their muddy hooves
133
00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:40,360
cast a shadow on their faces, whose eyes have looked into another world. They stagger sleepily with
134
00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:46,520
ammunition strips around their necks. We all know that the fight will end with death or being
135
00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:57,160
captured. But no one is willing to stop fighting, we will continue fighting for our country.”
136
00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:02,320
The fanatical 12th SS division led by Meyer would continue fighting in France
137
00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:07,360
until it was reduced to a group of just over a thousand men. Meyer himself
138
00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:12,880
would be captured in September 1944 and as a prisoner of war would declare:
139
00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:17,280
“You will hear many things against Adolf Hitler in this camp, but never from my
140
00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:25,320
mouth. As far as I'm concerned, it was and remains the best thing that happened to Germany.”
141
00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:30,760
By mid-June, the Allies use the artificial concrete ports built at
142
00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:37,440
Churchill's initiative. Nicknamed Mulberry, it is a feat of engineering. Cement blocks
143
00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:42,960
that are driven to their location and sunk. These allow thousands of
144
00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:48,160
men and tons to be unloaded every day to swell the allied army.
145
00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:51,040
On those same dates, General Dietrich of
146
00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:55,600
the Waffen SS confesses to his superior Marshal Rommel that:
147
00:13:55,600 --> 00:14:01,400
“I am bleeding to death and I am getting nowhere. We need another eight or ten divisions
148
00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:08,480
in a day or two, or we will be finished.” Just a few days later and as we already reported,
149
00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,960
the divisions of the first SS corps under Dietrich withdrew from Caen
150
00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:19,680
on June 20, handing the city over to the British after a month and a half of fighting.
151
00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:24,640
As if the situation in the West were not enough, the largest operation of the Red Army was about to take place on the Russian front
152
00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:31,200
. Around June 22, just 16 days after D-Day,
153
00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:36,760
Stalin launches Operation Bagration in central Belarus. This
154
00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:41,840
attack composed of 2 million Soviet soldiers devastates the central German army,
155
00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:51,440
generating 400 thousand casualties in a month and a half. The Wehrmacht will never recover from this catastrophe.
156
00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:57,520
That June 22, when Bagration begins, the Americans attack the city of Cherbourg,
157
00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:02,400
at the tip of the Contentin peninsula. The German defenses are prepared for
158
00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:07,800
an attack from the sea, but not from land. Delays in the campaign lead Eisenhower
159
00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:12,920
to say angrily: “There are times I wish I had George Patton there.”
160
00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:16,760
The terrain is more complicated for the advance of armor and infantry
161
00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:21,760
through the French “Bocage” terrain. Plots separated by dense hedges that
162
00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:27,800
are very characteristic of the Norman landscape. The difficulties would be repeated on the route to Paris,
163
00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:34,400
but not only for the allies. Also for the German troops in their retreat.
164
00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:38,880
US General James Gavin explains the regulated topography, and
165
00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:44,480
in particular the access to Cherbourg, very clearly: “None of us had
166
00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:50,320
really anticipated the difficulties it would entail. Those enormous walls of earth, lushly covered
167
00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:55,840
with trees and bushes, that bordered each field were impenetrable for battle tanks;
168
00:15:55,840 --> 00:16:03,400
each was a natural fortified line. On the Cotentin peninsula, the difficulties
169
00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:07,640
of the terrain were aggravated by large areas of wetlands equally impassable
170
00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:13,560
for armored vehicles, which were thus restricted to roads.”
171
00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:18,480
By June 26, with German armor bogged down in the fighting for Caen,
172
00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:22,200
Cherbourg finally falls. The port is occupied on
173
00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:27,720
July 1st but is destroyed and will not be used until September.
174
00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,800
Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the High Command,
175
00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:34,200
calls Marshal von Rundstedt and this conversation takes place:
176
00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:38,400
Keitel exclaims in despair: “And what are we going to do now?”
177
00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:45,480
Rundstedt replies: “Call for peace, idiots. What else can they do now.”
178
00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:50,960
Following this incident, the aristocratic Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, nicknamed "the last Prussian",
179
00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:55,560
who privately refers to the Führer as "that Bohemian corporal", is replaced as head
180
00:16:55,560 --> 00:17:02,440
of the Western Front by Field Marshal Günter von Kluge, recently arrived from the Russian front.
181
00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:08,079
On June 28, Rommel is recalled to Berlin at the Führer's request. Hitler
182
00:17:08,079 --> 00:17:13,359
wants to motivate him to continue resisting. The Desert Fox, on the other hand,
183
00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:17,519
once again presents with crudeness and his usual honesty the reality on the
184
00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:23,480
front and the need to evaluate an armistice with the allies. He even (and in reference to
185
00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:28,840
Dietrich) tells Himmler to ask his Waffen SS officers their opinion.
186
00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:33,760
Hitler's response to the proposal is icy and unexpected.
187
00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:39,080
-Rommel: “Mein Führer, I must speak bluntly. “I can’t leave here
188
00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:41,831
without talking about the issue of Germany.” (refers to peace with the allies)
189
00:17:41,831 --> 00:17:46,080
-Hitler: “You didn't come here to talk about politics, Marshal”
190
00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:49,840
Given Rommel's respectful insistence, the response is unexpected.
191
00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:56,760
-Hitler: “Please leave the room. I think it will be better this way.”
192
00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:58,840
That would be the last meeting between the two.
193
00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:01,160
July 6, 1944:
194
00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:07,080
On the morning of July 6, General Patton escorted by 4 P47 Thunderbolt fighters heads
195
00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:12,840
by plane to France. He lands in “Omaha”, and cannot help but stand up in the jeep that
196
00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:18,760
is going to pick him up to go see Eisenhower and Bradley. He addresses some words to the soldiers present that
197
00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:25,120
become iconic: “I feel proud to be here to fight at your side. Now,
198
00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:30,600
let's cut the crap out of those Germans and get the hell out of Berlin! And when
199
00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:35,920
we get to Berlin, I'm going to shoot that son of a bitch wallpaperer myself.”
200
00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,840
The applause and excitement are general. Patton
201
00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:45,040
will assume control of the US Third Army in early August.
202
00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:49,320
From the German side, things look very bleak by mid-August.
203
00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:54,760
Rommel obsessed with the destruction of Germany and the advance of the Soviet hordes,
204
00:18:54,760 --> 00:19:00,480
He sounds out officers at the front about an armistice with the Western Allies.
205
00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:04,080
His personal aide-de-camp Captain Helmuth Lang declares that
206
00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,680
even General Sepp Dietrich at the front shares his opinion:
207
00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:13,680
“You are the boss Herr Marshal. “I will only obey you, whatever you are proposing.”
208
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:20,040
But on July 17, the Allied aircraft accidentally attacked Rommel's car in a bombing raid.
209
00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:26,320
He is seriously injured and miraculously survives. Rommel, despite his wounds, prepared a
210
00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:31,240
complete report for his new Chief of the Western Front, Marshal von Kluge, in which,
211
00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:37,200
among other things, he pointed out that: “Our aviation has hardly taken part in the combat.
212
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:42,200
Our troops fight heroically but the end of this battle leaves no doubt.”
213
00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:47,000
Von Kluge makes his own assessment of the situation and sends it to Hitler:
214
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:51,280
“After long discussions with the responsible leaders of the various fronts,
215
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:57,120
in particular with the SS leaders, I have come to the conclusion that, unfortunately,
216
00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:02,560
Marshal Rommel had reason. There is absolutely no possibility of
217
00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:09,080
conducting a battle facing such a powerful air force without giving ground.”
218
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:16,520
Precisely what Hitler does not accept under any circumstances. Withdrawals or surrenders.
219
00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:21,840
On July 19, the town of Saint Lu is liberated after almost 50 days of
220
00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:29,920
fighting. 95% of the city is destroyed and 500 of its 12,000 inhabitants die. For the
221
00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:39,000
allies it is a bittersweet victory. Between dead, wounded and missing, the casualties reach 1,200.
222
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:44,960
The next day, July 20, 1944, a powerful bomb explodes in
223
00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:52,360
the conference room of the Führer headquarters in East Prussia. Hitler
224
00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:58,600
is meeting with his generals and was waiting for Mussolini that afternoon. Miraculously,
225
00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,240
he emerges unscathed from the explosion. Just after the explosion,
226
00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:07,920
Keitel discovers that Hitler, with his clothes torn, survived the attack; As soon
227
00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:14,760
as he got up, she embraced him, exclaiming: "Mein Führer, he's alive, he's alive!"
228
00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:21,200
But this is not just another attack. It is Operation Valkyrie, a civil-military plot with wide
229
00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:26,640
ramifications in the Army commands. The plan contemplates the assassination of Hitler,
230
00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:30,200
and the mobilization of the reserve army to seize power and
231
00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:34,040
neutralize Heinrich Himmler's SS.
232
00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:38,400
The bomb had been planted by Colonel Claus von Stauffemberg.
233
00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:42,080
Those involved reach all levels of the army and all
234
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:48,560
fronts. And in particular that of Normandy. No less than 7,000 civilians and soldiers are
235
00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:53,800
arrested by the Gestapo. Among them the Chief of Army Intelligence,
236
00:21:53,800 --> 00:22:00,320
Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, the Military Commander of Belgium, Baron Alexander von Falkenhausen,
237
00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:05,360
the Chief of the General Staff, General Franz Halder, the Head of the General Office of the
238
00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:09,960
Army and the General Friederich Olbricht, among them von Stauffemberg.
239
00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:16,720
Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, destined to be Chief of the Army, is arrested and sentenced
240
00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:22,680
to death. Upon hearing his sentence he told the trial prosecutor Roland Freisler:
241
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:27,760
“You can hand us over to the executioner, but within three months the people, disgusted and vexed,
242
00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:34,680
will ask you to account and drag all of you through the filth of the streets.”
243
00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:39,360
The ramifications of the plot against Hitler arrive like a blow to the Normandy front.
244
00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:45,560
Rommel knows of the plot from his Chief of Staff, General Hans Speidel, and is willing to
245
00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:51,800
collaborate with the new government. But he does not agree to participate, above all he is a loyal soldier.
246
00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:55,800
In the case of von Kluge he is more involved than Rommel.
247
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:59,480
His Chief of Intelligence Colonel Rudolf von Gerdsorff is arrested
248
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:03,680
and his Chief of Staff General Gunther Blumentritt is implicated.
249
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:07,560
Von Kluge and Rommel are finally forced to swallow a
250
00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:16,229
cyanide capsule. Von Kluge on August 19 and Rommel on October 14, 1944.
251
00:23:16,229 --> 00:23:16,400
Both Chiefs of Staff survive. In the case of Speidel, after the war, he would become
Supreme Commander of the NATO Land Forces between 1957 and 1963.
252
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:21,000
Returning to the front, once the Contentin peninsula was taken at the end of July,
253
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,400
the allies launched Operation Cobra,
254
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:29,840
with the objective of overtaking the German troops retreating from Caen on the southern flank.
255
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:35,080
Along these lines, Patton would lead the Third US Army.
256
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:40,520
Patton's choice is Eisenhower's and he takes it in England a month before the landing.
257
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:46,960
Bradley was previously Patton's subordinate in Africa and Sicily, but is now his superior.
258
00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:54,440
They are two opposite personalities. Patton is self-centered, arrogant and impulsive. Bradley
259
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:58,440
has a very low profile and is completely professional.
260
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:02,880
Bradley sees the situation this way: "This is an opportunity that a commander
261
00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:08,320
encounters less than once every hundred years. We are about to destroy a
262
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:13,680
hostile army almost in its entirety and advance from here to the German border."
263
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:18,120
To optimize His advance, the meticulous Patton studies
264
00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:22,920
William the Conqueror's conquest of Normandy . He says in his memoirs: “I read
265
00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:27,760
Freeman's “The Conquest of Normandy” paying attention to the roads used in Normandy and Brittany.”
266
00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:34,760
In August 1944, the United States Army advances through the
267
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:39,760
Brittany peninsula with the aim of taking Brest with its important port.
268
00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:44,680
The battle of Brest is one of the toughest of the Norman campaign. The city
269
00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:50,120
is besieged by the VIII. Army Corps. The German paratroopers put up a
270
00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:57,520
tough resistance. They fought house to house. The city would surrender only on September 19,
271
00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:02,000
resisting more than Paris. The allies paid another high cost,
272
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:09,680
some 4,000 dead and 38,000 wounded. German prisoners.
273
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:15,000
After this Allied advance, Marshal Von Kluge asks Hitler for permission to withdraw, but
274
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:21,680
in exchange he receives a direct order to counterattack. The Führer orders a desperate counterattack (under
275
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:26,440
the name Operation Lüttich) to contain the Allied advance
276
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:31,680
. Hitler irrationally demands that all available panzer units cooperate in
277
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:35,320
a concentrated attack aimed at recapturing the Cotentin Peninsula
278
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:39,680
and cutting off the resupply of American forces in the province of Brittany.
279
00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:46,520
According to operations officer Bodo Zimmerman, Von Kluge knew "very well that carrying out this
280
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:52,320
order meant the collapse of the Normandy front", but his doubts were ignored.
281
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:56,520
Kluge suggested that there was no chance of success and that the German forces in
282
00:25:56,520 --> 00:26:02,640
Normandy should withdraw to the River Seine, pivoting on the intact defenses south of Caen,
283
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:07,960
but on August 4, Hitler categorically ordered the attack to be launched.
284
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:12,040
It demands that eight of the nine panzer divisions in Normandy be used in the
285
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:18,600
attack and that the Luftwaffe commit its entire reserve, including 1,000 fighter aircraft.
286
00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:23,800
Although ordered to wait "until all tanks, guns and aircraft were assembled",
287
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:28,240
Kluge and SS General Paul Hausser decide to attack as soon as possible,
288
00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:32,720
before the overall situation deteriorated further.
289
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:38,000
Instead of eight panzer divisions, only four (and one of them incomplete) could
290
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:42,120
be relieved of their defensive duties and assembled in time with a total of
291
00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:48,560
300 tanks. These were the 2nd SS Panzer Division and part of the first,
292
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:54,800
along with the 2nd Panzer Division and the 116th Panzer Division of the Army.
293
00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:57,560
The Panzer Corps was supported by two
294
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:04,000
Infantry Divisions and five Kampfgruppen, formed from the remains of other units.
295
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:09,480
The intention was to attack the US 30th Infantry Division east of Mortain,
296
00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:14,240
then break through American defenses to reach the coast.
297
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:18,800
Had surprise been achieved, the attack might well have been successful,
298
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:23,160
but Allied code-breakers had intercepted and deciphered the orders for
299
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:30,160
Operation Lüttich on 4 August, thus managing to warn of the attack in the early hours.
300
00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:35,440
At the beginning of the operation, the Germans manage to capture the town of Mortain, while the
301
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:40,280
2nd Panzer Division attacks several hours later, heading southwest towards Avranches.
302
00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:46,840
It manages to penetrate several kilometers into the American lines, before being stopped by
303
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:53,520
the 35th Infantry Division and a commando of the 3rd Armored Division just 3 km from Avranches.
304
00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:58,840
After these events, by noon the morning fog had dispersed
305
00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:02,680
and a large number of Allied aircraft appeared over the battlefield.
306
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:07,320
The Luftwaffe reports that its fighters are attacked by Allied aircraft from the
307
00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:12,560
moment they take off and cannot even reach the battlefield.
308
00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:17,720
With this, the Germans give orders to go on the defensive along the entire front,
309
00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:21,680
but poorly communicated orders make this impossible to achieve,
310
00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:26,240
with some forces withdrawing and others holding their position.
311
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:31,840
By August 13 and after 5 days of fighting, the offensive had completely stopped and the
312
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:38,120
German forces had been expelled from Mortain. The Germans had lost
313
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:44,520
120 tanks and assault guns to Allied counterattacks and air raids.
314
00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:47,480
Hitler, already suspicious of Kluge's involvement
315
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:53,040
in Valkyrie, relieves him and appoints Marshal Walter Model as his replacement.
316
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:57,360
After defeating the German counterattack, the allies gained momentum and launched
317
00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:01,840
Operation Tractable to take the town of Falés and surround the German forces that
318
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:07,040
were retreating as best they could. The Canadians and Poles attack from the North towards
319
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:12,600
the South, forming one arm of the pincer, and the French and Americans attack from the South,
320
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:16,720
taking the towns of Alenzón and Argentan towards the North.
321
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:23,000
The Falaise gap had closed, catching Marshal Model's forces in the act. However
322
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:28,160
, when the encirclement occurred, the 2nd SS Panzer Corps had begun
323
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:36,080
its counterattack against the Polish forces on Hill 262, to reopen the pocket and escape.
324
00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:39,360
With American and Canadian forces facing
325
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:43,640
German counterattacks in their sectors, the Poles had to defend against
326
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,480
two veteran panzer divisions to keep the gap closed.
327
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:55,560
On the morning of August 20, the 2nd SS Das Reich Division and the 9th SS Hohenstaufen Panzer Division
328
00:29:55,560 --> 00:30:03,240
attacked the Polish positions on Hill 262. The ridge of Mont Ormel, with its commanding view
329
00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:08,880
of the area, was the only escape route. which was still open to the Germans.
330
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:14,000
The Poles managed to repel two German attacks, suffering heavy casualties and expending
331
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:19,840
almost all their ammunition. As an example, a German tank, positioned northeast
332
00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:25,320
of Mont Ormel, managed to destroy five Yerman tanks in just two minutes.
333
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:27,680
But despite being overwhelmed by counterattacks,
334
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:33,280
the Polish forces continued to hold the high ground on Mont Ormel, which they referred to
335
00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:39,200
as the "Mace", inflicting heavy casualties on the German forces through artillery fire.
336
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:43,680
After many hours, the Germans managed to isolate the ridge and force the opening of
337
00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:46,362
a narrow corridor. But lacking the combat power to close the corridor,
338
00:30:46,362 --> 00:30:46,520
the Poles directed constant and accurate artillery fire against
German units retreating from the pocket, causing heavy casualties.
339
00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:50,960
The next day, less intense attacks continued until noon,
340
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:54,520
when the last German attempt to overrun the position was defeated
341
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:59,880
at close range. After this, the Poles were relieved by the
342
00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:05,600
Canadian grenadiers shortly after noon. Their resistance had ensured the closure
343
00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:09,040
of the Falaise pocket and the collapse of the German position in Normandy.
344
00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:17,240
In the fighting around Hill 262, the Germans lost 2,000 men killed,
345
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:25,600
5,000 prisoners, 55 tanks, 152 more armored vehicles, and 44 guns.
346
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,880
After the stock market closed definitively, the Wehrmacht
347
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:34,680
in France had largely collapsed. The Lehr Panzer Division and the 9th SS Panzer Division
348
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:42,160
existed in name only. The 12th SS Panzer Division had lost 94 percent of its
349
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:49,120
armor and almost all of its field guns. 500 tanks are destroyed and some 40,000 to
350
00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:55,800
50,000 men are taken prisoner, for whom the war ends on August 21.
351
00:31:55,800 --> 00:32:01,280
Despite this and due to the effort to endure the siege and then try to
352
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:05,880
escape from it, some 100,000 German soldiers managed to escape from it,
353
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:10,960
which would generate serious criticism of General Montgomery for not closing the pocket forcefully before
354
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:18,240
. By the end of August, by any analysis, the German defense in France had already
355
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:27,040
been defeated and the failed counterattack ordered by Hitler had contributed to this.
356
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:30,600
On those dates, Operation PLUTO is already taking place.
357
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:35,520
which consists of the construction of a 130 kilometer pipeline under the English Channel
358
00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:40,480
from the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg to bring fuel to the Allied Army.
359
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:44,920
Through this energy route, almost 800 million liters of fuel
360
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:49,040
are supplied to the Western allied forces.
361
00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:54,280
By mid-August, the Allies also carry out a landing in southern France,
362
00:32:54,280 --> 00:33:00,760
Operation “Dragoon”. 100,000 men land on the coast of Provence near Nice.
363
00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:05,560
About 2,000 ships participate and the objective is to occupy the ports of Marseille and Toulon,
364
00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:11,240
and then link up with Overlord's troops. It is the final blow for the Axis forces in
365
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:17,000
France, which are already thinking about a defense behind the border of Belgium and Germany.
366
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:22,000
After the landings in the south, the French Resistance rises up against the Germans in
367
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:27,440
Paris. It is not a priority for the allies but Eisenhower makes the decision to help
368
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:32,720
the Resistance. The Americans fear a bloody fight like the one they saw in Brest,
369
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:38,000
Caen or Cherbourg. But in a city of 4 million inhabitants and with an
370
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:43,000
unmatched cultural treasure, entering the city is a danger.
371
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:48,240
Because of this, they plan to overtake the city, advance to Germany and have Paris surrender
372
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:55,400
without a street fight. The plan is carried out by General Patton without any major problems.
373
00:33:55,400 --> 00:34:00,240
Desperate, Hitler wrote an urgent cable to General Dietrich von Choltitz
374
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:04,960
who was governor of Paris: "Paris must not fall into the hands of the enemy except as a
375
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:11,800
field of ruins." The general with great courage ignores the message and pays no attention.
376
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:16,960
At that time great generals and marshals were being arrested and executed for the
377
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:22,719
July 20 plot. Furthermore, Choltitz has a wife and three children in Germany,
378
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:30,479
but that does not change him. his decision. Under his command, beautiful Paris would not be destroyed.
379
00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:36,600
By August 24, Eisenhower was liberated at the request of French General
380
00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:42,560
De Gaulle, who was already thinking about the post-war period, allowing French troops to enter Paris first.
381
00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:47,320
Under the command of General Leclerc, the second armored division takes the main
382
00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:52,560
points and arrests the German general von Choltitz. But within this group,
383
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:59,160
there is also a group of 150 Spaniards who enter the Parisian city before anyone else.
384
00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:04,760
of General Franco, his tanks nicknamed “Madrid, Santander or Guernica”
385
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:11,480
travel along the Elysées Avenue. A member of said group named Manuel Fernández comments:
386
00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:15,720
“We were volunteers for the defense of freedom, which Franco took from us,
387
00:35:15,720 --> 00:35:19,760
always with the. “I thought that this would lead us to cross the Pyrenees and return
388
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:26,920
freedom to Spain, but it was not to be.” Paris is liberated with the French and Spanish
389
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:32,080
at the helm, saving itself from the fire planned by Hitler who had already sent a
390
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:38,960
detailed list of bridges, museums and even the Eiffel Tower to be destroyed. Intrigued by the
391
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:43,920
fate of his plan, the führer often asked. : “Is Paris burning?”
392
00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:50,080
But General Dietrich von Choltitz does not obey and surrenders that same day, signing the capitulation.
393
00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:57,640
Less than 3 months before D-Day, Vichy France is dead, and General de Gaulle's France. But
394
00:35:59,920 --> 00:36:05,880
why does von Choltitz disobey Hitler and not burn Paris? His attitude is the product of his
395
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:11,800
last personal meeting with the Führer a few days before. On August 6, he is summoned to the
396
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:17,520
Wolf's Lair in East Prussia before taking over as commander. of the Reich in the Paris region.
397
00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:22,480
Until then he had faith in the Fuhrer and had even murdered Jews in the east.
398
00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:28,440
But the image he gets of Hitler that afternoon is demoralizing:
399
00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:32,400
“An old, stooped and flabby man . , with thinning gray hair:
400
00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:36,160
a trembling and physically broken human being.
401
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:39,920
As Hitler ranted about the perfidy of the generals'
402
00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:45,920
July 20 plot to kill him, I witnessed the terrible eruption of a hate-filled mind.
403
00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:50,560
He spoke in bloodthirsty language with foam literally coming out of his mouth.
404
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:55,440
Sweat ran down his face as he spoke enthusiastically about the hanging
405
00:36:55,440 --> 00:37:01,960
of the generals. I saw in front of me someone who had lost his mind.
406
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:06,000
The fact that the life of our nation was in the hands of a crazy being who no longer
407
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:14,160
"I couldn't judge the situation or I wasn't willing to really see it, it depressed me immensely."
408
00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:19,680
Hitler was clearly no longer in his right mind, and Choltitz as he comments decided to save Paris at the
409
00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:25,240
risk of being executed along with his entire family. After being captured by the Allies,
410
00:37:25,240 --> 00:37:30,880
Choltitz always presented himself, not only as the “savior of Paris,” but as a
411
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:36,680
convinced anti-Nazi despite having acknowledged atrocious crimes. Once in captivity in England
412
00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:42,040
he would confess: “The worst task I carried out, although I carried it out with great efficiency,
413
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:49,200
was the liquidation of the Jews. I carried out that order down to the smallest detail.” Despite this,
414
00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:57,720
Choltitz would never be taken to a war tribunal and would die in 1966.
415
00:37:57,720 --> 00:38:03,400
With the liberation of Paris, the writer Ernest Hemingway returned and wrote in 1944:
416
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:09,920
”I had a feeling of suffocation in my throat. I put together the glasses because there now, below us,
417
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:16,440
gray and always beautiful, stretched the city that I love most in the entire world.”
418
00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:21,120
After the fall of Paris, the allies would continue advancing, with Montgomery to the
419
00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:27,600
north through Belgium and Holland and Patton to the center as the main protagonists. There would still
420
00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:32,560
be 8 long months of fighting before the end of the war in Europe.
421
00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:36,000
On the other side of the front, the Soviet Union was pressing
422
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:43,720
forcefully with an army of more than 6 million soldiers. By the end of 1944,
423
00:38:43,720 --> 00:38:47,760
the Soviets were already capturing Warsaw and approaching the
424
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:53,880
German border. Stalin's troops would arrive first in Berlin and achieve the German surrender on
425
00:38:53,880 --> 00:39:01,080
May 7, 1945 unconditionally, definitively ending National Socialism.
426
00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:06,200
The Allied landing in Normandy had not only served to accelerate Hitler's fall and to
427
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:11,360
save numerous Soviet and German lives. But it allowed
428
00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:16,720
the Americans and British to recover France, Belgium and Holland, which otherwise
429
00:39:16,720 --> 00:39:21,560
would have fallen into the hands of the Soviet Union, as happened with half of Germany,
430
00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:31,000
Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland, which from 1945 would be of socialist regime.
49026
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.