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Paul as a British Army 22 year Veteran this coverage of a British battle has made me very happy. We do not get enough Utube videos on what we did in Normandy. Its all down to Hollywood and the movies. Every Country that took part did their fare share. Hat of to you my friend. And thanks for sharing 👍
Agreed. One of my good friends here in the States is a Nottingham guy. I will be sure to discuss this battle with him. This US ARMY vet appreciates the British/American brotherhood.
Thanks for your long service ! I agree there should be more history. I remarked the other day that there's no shortage of a-hole tourists making fun of Her Majesty's Royal Guards... And was shocked at the number of kids in the UK today who don't know about Dunkirk, and Churchill's Auxiliary Corps ... And there's kids over here in America who are equally ignorant of history and patriotism. By an American veteran 🇺🇲🤜🤛🇬🇧
Agreed. Hopefully, people are sharing these videos and we can all work together to broaden our understanding of what happened on all fronts in the Battle of Normandy.
I’m 55. American. Well versed in WWII and DDAY history. But still learning. EVERY ALLIED SOLDIER who hit Normandy June 6 44 was a hero. Great presentation as usual. 🦅🇺🇸🇬🇧🇨🇦🇮🇪🇱🇺🇫🇷🇵🇱
For a Yank this guy is just awesome being able to make people feel they've been there and his credit to Brits and Canadians are beyond commendable. About time folks.
I went to Normandy with my great uncle. He did it for my 21st birthday years ago. He landed with the 29th on Omaha. It was a mixed feeling. The reception was heartwarming but when we saw the sector of beach he landed on you get this massive chill down your spine knowing this place was a miracle he survived.
I am in my 80's now but I visited Normandy about 20 years ago. I cannot imagine the fear and anxiety the individuals felt. To understand the bravery of the allies you have to visit the beaches and then you have to pay tribute to the men buried at all the cemeteries. You're sad but proud of the men and women who sacrificed their all.
Have to say, even without the Brit fella currating fantastically, the content here is awesome. Adding the insight from the British perspective just makes this video among your best. Kudos JD. I can't get enuff of this Normandy series. Great stuff, brother.
Another great episode, thank you. And thanks especially for bringing the British contribution on D-Day to our friends in America. It's also worth reflecting on the fact that, had Britain not "stood alone" from 1940 onwards, there'd have been no jumping-off point for D-Day in 1944 (and I do appreciate that America kept us supplied during that period). We may be in a pretty poor state today, but I'm proud of what we did then. I once asked my mother, who served in the ATS (the women's branch of the British Army) in WW2, if she ever worried that we'd lose the war especially in the dark days of the Blitz etc. She said "No, never".
Nice to learn more about British and Canadian involvement on D-day. All involved had an important part in this invasion. Thank you JD and Paul for more education of this incredible under taking.
Thank you. It's a great service to us internetters to show why the Brits struggled to move in further. Is it me, or did the British and Canadian beach sections seem lower down than on the US sides? If so, an inland defence in depth (as opposed to an immediate tough wall of defences on cliffs, on the US terrain) and long delaying minefields seemed perfectly logical way of attempting to contain the invading Allied force behind Sword beach. Whatever the obstacles, it was clear that courage was amply required by all the Allied men on that day and in the period to come.
Yeah, that's accurate. You don't really see the bluffs on Sword and Juno like what you do on Omaha and to a certain extent, Gold. Much different areas that presented different challenges.
@@TheHistoryUnderground The Utah Beach areas were lower lying still but had more water obstacles. Hence the need to sieze and hold the causeways. The marshes between Carentan and Isigny were virtually impassable and US forces were not linked until 10th June ( the other beaches were linked by the 7th). Fusion of the beachheads was completed by the 12th.
This was very informative and also sheds a huge light on the German defenses on and behind Sword beach that our Allies faced. Truly brings to the forefront what exactly stalled the British advance on June 6 and the push to Caen. Hats off and much respect to our British Brothers in Arms and the whole 'Allied Expeditionary Forces'.
My two great uncles were with the Royal Ulster Rifles 2nd Battalion and landed in Normandy and fought on D-Day on Sword Beach. We are so very proud of their service.
Wow never knew how extensive the fortifications were defending Sword. Thanks for having Paul add his knowledge of the British sectors as it added a lot to the understanding of what went on. One of my takeaways of studying WWII in general is the multiple instances of intelligence failure (D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, and for that matter Pearl Harbor). Amazing what all these men accomplished with the lack of knowledge about what they were facing, and in many instances, the ineffectiveness of the bombing and naval gunfire. Heroes one and all. Excellent video thx
Nicely done and a tip of the hat to Woody. It should also be mentioned that Hillman was cleared out and cleaned up through the efforts of the local population, whom we should be thankful for in preserving this site. A hugely underestimated and overlooked piece of German in-depth defence.
Thank you JD for this content. As a proud Brit it has been a source of great frustration to me that the perceived lack of progress on Caen was a source of ridicule by American forces (reference was made in the film ‘Saving Private Ryan’). This was so unfair when you realise the extent of opposition that the British forces encountered in their efforts to secure Caen..... in addition to the heavy fortifications but there were also entire divisions of highly trained SS panzer Troops - which were not encountered to this extent anywhere else in the Normandy theatre. It’s no wonder it took a lot more time and effort to take Caen which ended in the bombing of the City.
Thank you! Americans don’t get to hear much about the British and Canadians sectors. Hopefully these videos will change that a bit. Feel free to share these videos and encourage others to do the same!
@@TheHistoryUnderground will do JD. If you get chance I’m sure you find the following video of great interest....ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RbS4Ivl85GQ.html Story covers action in Arnhem......very interesting . Best wishes
21st Army Group faced 9 German divisions and 700 tanks whereas Bradley faced 2 German divisions and 200 tanks. Hence Caen was not taken inwith the timerable. By the way the Americans did not take St Lo similarly but that failure ignored by Hollywood historians
@@terrysmith9362 Its straight ignorance to claim that hollywood ignores the American failures on D-Day. Americans didn't take St.Lo, because they were being massacred on Omaha Beach. Also, The Germans did not have 9 divisions defending Caen on D-Day, which was the timetable, so frankly your entire post makes no sense.
I can't even imagine facing this. My grandfather was an Army paratrooper. He broke both legs on a training jump for D-Day, and was recovering when it unfolded. Saved his life. Tremendous video, as always!
Awesome story. My grandfather is a Marine vet of the Korean War. During their last leave before they shipped out he got in a bar fight and broke his jaw. His entire platoon was basically wiped out during a landing. He always says that that night of drinking saved his life.
Thank you to Paul for this report! I've known more about Sword but never about Hillman. We as Americans need to understand the British/Canadian part of June 6 much more. It's understandable that the British didn't reach Caen that day. Best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Such truth in that statement. Every thing you do in combat must be changed as the battles evolve. Hollywood of course covers US side so much and British sadly doesn't get it's due. I'm glad you're covering so much that's needed JD. As always, bless you and Erik for doing ALL of this. Love that you're adding another drop a week!
Thanks! I've definitely learned a lot from Paul on this part of the battle. Like you said, Americans don't really get to hear much on the British and Canadian sectors.
This is why I had my family watch The Longest Day + rewatch Saving Private Ryan before visiting Normandy. The Longest Day so they would understand the bigger picture and appreciate places like Pegasus Bridge and Saving Private Ryan to appreciate the great cost. We visited Pegasus, the cemetery in Rainville, Arromanche, Juno, and Merville Battery. Unfortunately, we did not make it to Sword. It is truly incredible when you think of the scope of D-Day and the follow-up actions.
When I visited in the eighties we were left just wandering round the beach area. I never fancied one of the guided tours so missed a massive amount. When the summer comes, 2022, a few of us are going back, this time with a tour guide. Many thanks for making these excellent videos. RIP 🙏 to ALL the men who lost their lives in the fighting, I honestly don't think I could have done it.
Quite the place. Hopefully this series of videos helps with the planning of your trip. I've got another series from an earlier trip that shows some more Normandy sites that you might like.
I hope you have chosen a Good tour guide there is so much to see which sector do you want to visit First you will need at least 5 days just for the American sectors
Another great video. The more I watch these the better I understand what went on in Europe durning WWII. Seeing places I never heard of give me great appreciation for the soldiers who fought there. True hero’s everyone of them.
Really a great episode and thanks for bringing in Mr. Paul Woodadge and letting him speak. It's really helpful to hear an expert do his thing. As an American it's not that we don't want to hear about the exploits of our allies it's just that growing up we weren't exposed to them very much. And any more in schools they barely teach what Americans did in WW2 let alone what our allies did!
JD.... Again another enriching vlog. Your presentations are so dramatic. I know that I will never walk the beaches at Normandy. Your vlogs have made it possible for me to experience the battle. Thank you for your great effort.
This video is so educational. I never knew the British had this obstacle on D-Day. Would live to come and see all the sites from D-Day, not just the famous ones but all of them. Thank you for making these history videos, very fascinating.
Not just the famous ones indeed ! Mate, they're all famous. it's just that you've never studied anything other than Omaha beach, which is normally what most Americans for the past 79 years think D Day was. - Omaha. Quite sad really. Hillman was only 1 of 9 of these defensive positions in depth between Sword beach and Caen. Hillman alone covered approximately 25 acres. British & Canadians also had a tank battle against elements of the German 12th Panzer Division in the area between Sword & Juno beaches before the beachheads were even established. Apart from these types of defensive positions in depth, the British & Canadian armoured divisions faced 8 - that's 8, German Panzer divisions around and to the east of Caen. British, Canadian and later, Polish, armour destroyed them all on the drive from Normandy into Germany. This allowed Patton's American breakout to the south & east from St Lo to begin at the end of July. Americans faced just 2 German Panzer divisions in Normandy & Brittany.
We visited the Normandy beaches and Caen three years ago. Around the American beaches you still get the ‘bocage’ experience, glad I wasn’t the nominated driver! 😂 to walk on the beaches or around places like St Mere Eglise, Pont Du Hoc (which is breath taking), Lion Sur Mer, Pegasus Bridge, and Caen is such a privilege. Being a Brit we don’t usually have much good to say about the French but hats off to them in how they look after and genuinely cherish these sites. For anyone else visiting Normandy it truly is a beautiful place with St Lo and Bayeux being absolute musts to see some ‘real’ history on top of all the D-Day stuff. You could spend a whole summer there and still not scratch the surface.
Thanks Nick. We had booked a Norway and Mediterranean trip for October last year from Australia. We included a week to do the Normandy beaches staying at Bayeux...unfortunately Covid changed all that but is still on our bucket list to visit and tour these beaches, museums and historical sites....
The description of this battle, was AMAZING. My heart rate increased, my vision narrowed and ears opened to the mental visions and sounds that must have been. The battle Somme’s was tragic and to have WWII battle Hillman, described as such, really brings to light the ground battles that took place to liberate Europe. GREAT video series JD. I salute you.
Thanks! Unfortunately, American don't get much exposure to the stories of what happened in the British and Canadian sectors. Hopefully, we can do a bit to change that.
Another great episode! Your channel has shot to the top of the list of my favourite RU-vid channels. Can't wait for more. Also, its great to see Woody from WW2TV on the channel. I'm definitely adding Hillman to my list of places to visit once I get back to Normandy.
Put me in that group that knows very little about the D-Day landings of our allies. That being said, I am learning so much from your outstanding videos. This may be your best video yet. Thanks for helping us to understand the unbelieveable scope of the entire operation.
Thank you! Being from Ike's hometown, I've always been enthralled with Normandy and D-Day, both the battles, and the logistics. It was so complicated. There was deception, cooperation, and amazing bravery across the area. I think what has always intrigued me about WW2 in general is that it's the only war in history where people and technology and tactics all matched in importance. Air power and tech became more dominant after this point, whereas the maturity of tech was much less before this. I know that's a bit of oversimplification, but the combination of the 3 factors really is fascinating.
Man, this is very informative! Very much so the piece about Hillman. The bunker itself is awesome to see and i never knew the role it played on D-day. Much respect to the British troops who fought there, so good to pay attention to it. Well done!
My one Granddad was a German paratrooper my other Granddad was an American paratrooper they both have their words of wisdom when it comes to war and I can't remember which one told me but one of them said no one should be criticized for not knowing how much water to bring to put the fires of hell out
Thank you for this great story. I visited Hillman last year not knowing the entire story. This has given me full context. As a CDN, I appreciate the broad scope of your videos. Thank you
Great job as always ,the Brits fought just as hard as Americans maybe harder they had to deal with Hitler way longer than we had they almost lost there country to him, so this part on the invasion of Europe was a bit of pay back for those lads and I didn't know some of what you told also the range finders in that bunker was very cool and just showed how smart the Germans really were they just couldn't handle the fighting over freedom they knew they were wrong most knew that what they were doing was coming to a end but the Brits did what they had to, thanks once again for you're hard work on preserving history 😁😁🇺🇲🇺🇲🇬🇧🇬🇧
As a Brit I cringed when I heard Tom Hanks in 'Saving Private Ryan' comment that 'Montys taking his time taking Caen' and Ted Danson replies 'That guy is over rated'...OUCH!...That hurts!....Great channel...Big thanks to Gettyburg Museum guys....How'd I miss this channel?....SUBSCRIBED
Thank you JD for posting another informative video on WWII history. And now I must take anxiety medication when watching your videos because nearly every time you say "don't bump my head," you bump your head. I've picked up the habit now. I tell myself to be careful not to do something just before doing it. I call it JDing myself.
Just the condition of the bunker complex says a lot about how it was taken. A brute force attack with more armor and artillery support would probably have shown a lot more damage. Amazing they were able to take it as quickly as they did. Very interesting video, learned a few things today 👍
For me it is a surprise every time that you know to find exactly the locations that I have already been allowed to visit, as if you are following my footsteps. In the US, only a few interesting locations that I hope you will cover, such as Antietam battlefield, Patriots Point, Bedford VA or the Mighty Eight museum in Savannah. If you ever come to this side of the ocean again, I would like to give you a tip to visit the battlefields of the First World War, because of the nature of that war more can be found. Certainly from the American perspective, a visit to the Salient of Saint-Michiel or Montfaucon is more than interesting. Big fan of your RU-vid channel. (By the way, Leuchturm is German for Lighthouse.) Warm regards from the Netherlands.
Thank you again JD for another great video. And it’s so awesome that you’re collaborating with Paul (and Eric too). I subscribe to WW2TV and I always thought you two working together would be great. And it is! 👍🏼
Fantastic segment and very informative as always Paul. Too many don't know the reason it took so long to take Caen and this explains much of that, as well as expanding on the "other" invasion beaches we don't hear enough about. Good job.
Thank you for your great work. Many of us had fathers who fought at Normandy but never really knew the details. So your work showing us what happened is very worthwhile. Their sacrifices were extraordinary and should never be forgotten.
Unfortunately the Brits and Canadians don’t get the credit they deserve because of what happened at Omaha and how long it took to take Caen, which is ridiculous, because all of us as Allies have story after story of incredible feats of heroism and sacrifice. As an American, I have nothing but love and admiration for every man who fought on all of these beaches, and I thank God for what they had to endure so we can all be free.
Good to start hearing more about British and Canadian beaches. As far as Hollywood is concerned D-Day was purely an American operation. For instance in the film 'The Longest Day', apart from the Pegasus Bridge assault, British beaches only feature for 13 minutes, and the Canadian beach Juno doesn't feature except for maybe 3 seconds in the strafing run by the German fighters.
Yeah, I'm hoping that this series informs people a bit more of what happened in the British and Canadian sectors. Hopefully, people are sharing them out so that more people can learn!
Don't forget about the pigeon who flew the wrong direction from Juno beach and was called a "traitor" for his efforts. Yes, I think Juno beach received a total of about 45 seconds of attention in "The Longest Day." 🙄🙄🙄
This is a great episode. As others have said Hollywood would have you think that it was only Americans that fought during D-Day. ALL did their part and I am very proud of America/Canada/UK and others who fought and died during 6th June 1944 and after and of course before.
Nice to see you making a video about the British and Canadian landings at Normandy. Always have the feeling that their (very important) landing is somewhat forgotten at times by all the attention the US landing on Omaha beach receives. Without the Commonwealth forces, the landing probably wouldn't have succeeded. So great stuff, thanks for sharing JD!
Awesome to see what the British and hopefully the Canadians had to contend with during this campaign. You're correct that this part of the battle isn't very well known in the US. About the only thing we hear about is Monty's failure to take Caen according to the battle's time table. Now I know why. Thanks again for sharing some history and perspective.
I get firsthand accounts of all of this!!! I have a customer of mine who is 99 years old .who was in World War II!!!.. He tells me all kinds of stories
This is why I love this channel, as much as I have read about d day have not heard of this battle in this type of depth thank you for such a great video.
In all the videos I have watched I always heard 'there was heavy fighting but the British were unable to advance toward Caen'. Now I can begin to understand what was happening and why they were held up. I realize now that there was a lot more going on than is told in many other presentations and for that I thank you for your work. Keep it up!
Thanks! A lot of what happened in that sector is misunderstood. Another big factor is that the bulk of the German armor was thrown at Caen instead of a the Americans.
Thank you. It's worth remembering that Britain was 'war weary' by 1944. I'm proud of the part we played in the liberation of Europe but hats off to America for keeping us supplied throughout and obviously for the manpower and equipment that was needed. The 'special relationship' has pretty much gone now but it was 'special' then.
I wish the music you use was a Spotify playlist or something. It’s so inspiring and would be amazing to listen to when I study or am trying to de-stress
Thanks for a great video! I was unfamiliar with the story behind the Hillman Battery, so I learned a lot. And your camera work continues to be totally on point! Well done.
Such amazing history becomes tangible through your videos, and what great insight into aspects of those days that I didn’t know. Another great video, thank you for creating and posting these!
As a british ex infantry soldier, I have done many advance to contact, I can't imagine just walk. Up the hill completely open ground against a dug in fortified enemy that has years to plan the killing ground. Even in Afghanistan you would advance to contact across a field, even then though if you got contact it wasn't like this, its horrible to walk into a killing ground, as you have no where to go or cover, only thing you can can do is a fight through or left or right flak, hillman you couldn't flank. So it fight though, the fire they could bring on these old boys would have been a tough nut to crack. Any ex ww2 vet gets my maximum respect all allied men, thank you 🙏
Individual battles such as this, with well told stories and permanent scared land marks make for a vivid account of only 1 of so many battles that occurred during WW2. I learn and appreciate more with each episode. Thank you.
I want to thank you for your wife and your children and letting you go to these places to show us the history World War II and the Civil War another history stuff appreciate it and especially for watching this and understanding what the British had to go through adjectives so I pray for you and your family and God God bless you and your family as you travel to these places sometime with your family but I know it is expensive but I know the Lord will bless you as you Journey on these Adventures because I know there's a lot of people can't be able to visit these places until next time heavenly father bless this family and keep them safe
My dad was the last in my family in the Suffolk regiment in the 1950's. His dad and many uncles fought with the Suff's through WW2 and WW1. Thanks for making this.
It's nice hearing military history about great Britain. It's a different perspective and extremely interesting. Great Britain new Zealand Australia Canada are damn good allies. We are lucky to have them as allies. I thank them all for there service in wwtwo. Thanks for another awesome video. Thanks for sharing. God bless Dave blackburn
@@TheHistoryUnderground I am an Illinois native residing in Wisconsin, one thing I have learned while living here was the POW camps across the state and country. That would be an interesting History Travel for you.
Hobart's Funnies (the specialist vehicles that the British produced) are much underrated. The Americans decided not to use them, except the Sherman Duplex, and suffered for that decision. I knew a few British Normandy veterans and they all spoke well of these machines. One chap remembered the Churchill AVRE armed with the 29cm Petard mortar firing 40 pound shells ( the Flying Dustbin or Ashcan to you North Americans) that completely vapourised a couple of small concrete emplacements that faced his unit and later as they moved inland the AVRE fired several rounds to create craters across open land that the troops used for cover. The various other vehicles performed well and no doubt saved hundreds if not thousands of deaths and severe injuries to the British/Canadian/Polish and other Free European soldiers.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I seriously get upset when I think of all those American kids, teenagers and young 20 somethings, who were killed because their officers were such arrogant morons as to refuse to use Hobart's Funnies just because they were British inventions. 🙄
I’ve been a big fan of the Hobart’s Funnies since finding out our Canadian troops used them at Juno. I've seen it mentioned on many sites that not using more of Hobart's Funnies aside from the DD-Shermans, is what led to their higher casualties at Omaha. The big problem with this is the simple fact that Utah Beach had German defenses similar to Gold and Juno beaches yet Utah had the fewest casualties of the 5 beaches assaulted that day with only about 250 men killed despite the fact that they also didn't use any Hobart's Funnies other than the DD-tanks. Plus when you look at the facts, the British were barely able to supply themselves and our Canadians with the Churchill based AVRE never mind supplying the Americans with any. The books "Cracking Hitler's Atlantic Wall: The 1st Assault Brigade Royal Engineers on D-Day" by Richard Anderson Jr. as well as "Hobart's 79th Armoured Division at War: Invention, Innovation, and Inspiration" by Richard Dohertymake it abundantly clear that the Churchill AVRE in its various configurations only started to be received by the British & Canadians in early April/44. I don't recall off-hand when they were all delivered to the units needing them but I do know it was all very tight making it in time for the men to get some training on them before the invasion. There was also a delay with the Petard mortars and quite a number were mounted the day prior to the invasion. The special flying dustbin shells were in short supply as well and most tank crews only got 3 rounds to practice fire. Another indication of the haste due to the tight schedule is the fact that none of the AVRE's with the Petard mortar where equipped with proper gun sights simply because they didn't have the time to design them. It wasn't until August/44 that they were finally available and retrofitting was begun. This reduced the effective range of the petard mortar to only about 80 yards. Plus the dustbin round ammo was simply not capable of knocking out heavily reinforced concrete bunkers unless it happened to get a lucky shot at a gun embrasure. There's no doubt that the Churchill tank was the best choice for the AVRE conversion, especially with its outstanding climbing ability, but it was just as susceptible to flanking fire as the Shermans and the Germans had done a brilliant job of placing anti-tank guns on the easternmost & westernmost portions of Omaha Beach which was crescent-shaped so allowed those guns to have virtually unrestricted flanking fire along the entire 3 miles of Omaha Beach. Plus the shingle was just as impassable to the Churchills as it was to the Shermans. As for the Sherman crabs, on Feb 16/44, Sir Edwin Otway Herbert of the 21st Army Group issued a memo concerning "US Requirements for British Devices-OVERLORD". Among the items requested over and above British/Canadian requirements was 25 Sherman Crabs to be made available to the Americans. None of these were ever delivered presumably because not enough Sherman's where modified in time for D-Day. Not to say this was an exclusive problem with the British as the Americans undertook the task of converting 100 Sherman's into their version of the Crocodile. Seems like a straightforward process but after the initial prototype was completed in Feb/44, constant delays and setbacks resulted in only 4 being completed by D-Day and none were issued to the assault forces. Another thing that is often overlooked is the shortage of LCT's. The Americans had to resort to using amphibious DUKW's to land their artillery because there wasn't enough LCT's and it proved to be a big problem with the weather conditions the way they were. A lot of them sank on the way in. One thing for sure is that there weren't enough LCT's for any more of the Hobart's Funnies even if the British had managed to build enough of them. I should also mention that Anderson goes into great detail about how each type of Hobart's Funnies contributed to the invasion breaking it all down neatly on how well they fared clearing lanes for Sword, Gold & Juno. Interestingly, a successful lane clearing job didn't always translate into a successful beach penetration by troops and vice versa. This strange contradiction can be explained by the expected vagaries of war and the higher then usual coordination required. So despite the fact that the funnies may have done a superb job breaching the defenses, the landing craft with infantry to exploit the situation sometimes ending up at the wrong part of the beach. Other times, the main bunker or MG nest protecting a beach section might have been taken out by preparatory fire and even though the funnies failed to clear a lane, the attacking infantry was still able to mount a successful assault.
@@mako88sb I have heard recently that there were not enough of the Funnies to go around. We discussed it a bit on Paul Woodage's WW2TV site, and if I understand Paul correctly, this was not the case. Paul cites Peter Caddick Adam's "Sand and Steel." I don't have the book but it sounds like he confirms the US could have used the Funnies if they wanted to. Perhaps someone has read it and can let us know one way or the other. According to Wikipedia, an admittedly iffy source at times: "Montgomery considered that the US forces should use them. A third of the "funnies" were offered to the Americans of all the vehicles available, but take-up was minimal.[3] Eisenhower was in favour of the DD tanks but left the decision on the others to General Bradley. None of the other designs was used, because it was thought that they required specialised training and an additional support organisation. Also, the Americans were reluctant to make use of funnies based on the Churchill tank as they did not want the logistical complexity of adding another tank model to their inventory.[4]" The sources quoted seem authoritative. On Omaha, many of the American Sherman DD "swimming tanks" were launched much too far from shore, some three miles. Something like 29 of 31 in one group sank almost immediately. The consequences of this were terrible. On Utah the US got lucky when strong currents carried their main attack off course and had them land at a lightly defended area of the beach. They only took around 200 dead for the entire day. About one tenth of the total casualties suffered on Omaha. Exact numbers of dead are not known for Omaha (that I can find), Gold or Sword beaches but it is thought Omaha had the worst numbers. Juno was a costly battle, as well, with 359 Canadians being killed on June 6 alone, the second most known of any Allied beach. But they also took 7 miles of territory straight south on D Day, far more than any other beach, and then another 3 or 4 the next day. By noon on June 7 the Regina Rifles held Bretteville and the Winnipeg Rifles held Putot, just a few miles to the west. They would never give that territory up, though Putot changed hands a couple times, and the Germans launched numerous panzer attacks to no avail. This was the strategy dictated to the Nazis by the terrain of the five beaches. Only Juno was suitable for a panzer counter attack, and when the Canadians' Shermans, Fireflies and anti-tank crews defeated them the Germans knew they were largely done for. Without a breakthrough to Juno beach with strong panzer forces and then a turn to the east and west to roll up the other Allied beaches, the Germans, and Rommel in particular, knew they were a defeated army in the long run. All the Allies had to do was keep landing more armour and infantry than the Germans could replace and the battle would be won. 77 days later, 13 days ahead of schedule, the German armies in Normandy were destroyed and the Allies on their inexorable march to Germany. It seems very strange that to this day numbers killed in action only exist for Juno and Utah beaches, but that is the fact of the matter.
Todd Sauve Took the time to read a lot of reviews about Sand and Steel. There were enough singing its praises that I decided to add it to my shelf about the Normandy invasion. Received it last week and it didn’t take long to find on page 221 from the Ducks and Eagles chapter that Peter Caddick-Adams agrees with the other 2 authors in my first post that the British didn’t have the capability to convert enough Churchill tanks into the AVRE to supply any to the Americans. He even confirmed that the British were supposed to supply the Sherman Crab flail conversion to the Americans but again were unable to do so. So now that’s 2 British authors and one American author all saying the same thing. The later did extensive research using Commonwealth sourced war diaries and official records. As for the luck at Utah that resulted in the fewest casualties of the 5 beaches, yes that certainly helped. The circumstances that led up to the least undefended portion of the beach they happened to land at should go a long way to explaining why the situation at Omaha was so bad. At Utah, the preparatory aerial and naval bombardments were the most effective against the beach defensive positions of the 5 beaches assaulted. Particularly the defences were the first wave landed. Meanwhile at Omaha, those same preparatory bombardments were a dismal failure leaving the enemy positions virtually intact and were the least effective that day. This wasn’t the whole reason behind what happened at Omaha but it certainly was one of the main contributing factors. I’m not sure if Paul Woodage made a mistake referencing this book thinking about another? Regardless, Sand and Steel definitely supports what I said in my first post.
I am so happy that I found your channel! Because of you, my wifes Christmas present is another 3 day trip to Gettysburg. We stayed at the Brafferton Inn. last year. Beautiful place!
Being an American Jewish woman and of German and Polish decent i am aware of how rare it is that my family survived! Thank you for keeping alive what occurred through out WW2 so that we may never forget!
I love this lesser-known tidbit of major history surrounding the D-Day invasion! Thank you so much for your hard work to uncover these stories and present them in such an engaging manner.
Thanks for another great video, d-day is one of my favourite history subjects and I love learning more about it. Last time I went to see the normandy beaches was about 20 years ago. I have a .303 casing that my dad found in the 70s on the Normandy beaches
@@TheHistoryUnderground While there try going off the beaten path to some of the rural villages and you might be able to run across people that where actually involved in the action.
Thanks to both of you for giving an incite to one of the British landings to our American cousins. I think it proves that in many areas the beaches were well defended and the plan to reach Caen within 24 hrs of landing was out of reach.
Another great video! Learned a lot. Thank you for giving us the lay of the land and making it all so clear. What would be some good books to read on the subject?
Thanks! Appreciate that. "Normandy '44" by James Holland is one of the best overall treatments of the Battle of Normandy that I've read in awhile. It does a good job addressing the efforts to take Caen.
Great show. With Paul being is knowledgeable self. Hillman is on my to visit list, as is Ouistreham to revisit, especially the bunker wit it's rangefinder.
JD, your videos are fantastic and they keep getting better. Keep up the awesome work your doing. Always look forward to another History Traveler video every week.
Great video. To see these locations today in this way and accompanied with the narration is not only informative and educational, but very moving and poignant. If one could even imagine the sight and noise and smell of what was transpiring in those very locations shown in the video, not to mention the scale of it all. Fantastic to see these actual sights still in place.
