love the little wry smile and shake of the head ..a little vindication for himself and probably a little nod for Ike for taking him total by surprise for taking such a gamble..great scene from a classic movie
Macks' little smile at the end pretty much says, "Eisenhower you mad dog, you actually went through with what I thought you would if I believed you were crazy enough".
but why would they ever have thought that Ike made the invasion plan? That was done by others and confirmed by the Combined Chiefs, Ike's job was simply to administer and coordinate it
@@ciroalb3 It wasn't so much Ike making the plan, but rather Ike having the audacity to go through with such a risky plan. He might not have come up with it, but he was the one to determine what plan the allies would use. Mack didn't think Ike would be so bold, he was wrong.
True and it was actually what he was going to do at the War Games so in a way he won and lost. He was killed in an Allied air attack six days later on the 12 June.
To confuse your enemy: diversions that are false, that are reported to the enemy leaders, behind the diversions are the real attacks, which are then reported and contradict what the enemy leadership now believe. A true double-bluff.
Marcks was one of the true strategic thinkers that the German's had in 1944. He was a fantastic Offensive general, but defense was not his area of expertise. He was smart though, he figured it out very quickly. He was the one who's arguments got the tanks freed up, but he died before he could see the result. His quick thinking kept the American's and British penned up for almost a month. But in the end, material won out. When you can throw unlimited resources at a project, you can't lose.
Yes but he had nothing to work with commanding LXXXIV - the only regular German division at the beaches was where the Americans landed at Omaha (352nd) . The other two German static divisions were old men, Russian volunteers (Ostbataillonen) and Hitler Youth with no actual battle experience.
@@ralphraffles1394 I never spoke about 21 Panzer- I talked about two of the static infantry divisions stuck in place on the beaches. The 21 Panzer was destroyed in North Africa and reformed in France where it did nothing for ten months. 21 Panzer wasn't on the beach- Feuchtinger was 20 miles southeast of Caen. They were SLAUGHTERED in airstrikes and took three hours to move 10 miles. Hermann Oppeln-Bronikowski and Colonel Joseph Rauch commanded the best units. The 1st Battalion of Rauch's regiment managed to hit the seam between the British and Canadian landing forces and reach the sea- and then realized that they were fucked. They got pounded from the air, sea and both flanks. .
@@ralphraffles1394 Hitler Youth were the 12th SS Panzer, an SS unit. Lehr and 21st Panzer were the Heer, the regular army. The distinction is important, especially when it comes to equipment, experience and composition.
Love that little look of satisfaction at 4:26. Even though it meant bad news for the Germans, Marcks had to feel at least a small bit of smug satisfaction knowing his tactics were working.
@@aldebaran19752000 Yes and No- His plan was meant to engage the Red Army and force them to fight a prolonged battle- he correctly detailed the poor roads and logistical nightmare that invading Russia meant- his plan called for the main drive to be aimed right at Moscow. He predicted that this was the one target that Russia would defend as long as they could with everything they had. As it was- in Barbarossa- you had three AG's and instead of putting the pressure of Moscow and making it the key focus of the invasion- Hitler diverted his main strength north and south at Yelnya.
Yes. If I remember correctly (and I might well be wrong) General Marcks had lost a leg earlier in the war (or in WW1), and with his artificial leg he couldn't get out of the car in time to avoid the attack from the Typhoon.
By this time in the war, loyalty to Hitler trumped competence, and some really good generals such as Guderian were sidelined. There's that word again, and in context -- Trump BTW Marcks was fatally wounded in an air attack a little over a month later.
@@jameshorn270 Try six days later. Who are these really good generals sidelined now in context? Hillary & Bill are the ones maintaining Enemies lists. Give it a rest.
General Marcks had made the first plan against the Soviet Union namend "Barbarossa". Hitler let General Paulus, the commander of the 6th army, to complete and fullfill this plan, because Marcks had warned Hitler, to attack the superior USSR, which would become the new ally of Great Britian. Therefore Marcks was sent to France and the stupid Hitler lost the war.
One of my favorite movies. I like how the directors show things from various perspective. We are lucky Hitler was going crazy and micro-managing by this point. His failure to release the reserve tanks (and his staff being unwilling to wake him because of his screaming fits) was a big factor. If the many competent, astute commanders had bern allowed to do as they thought best, they may have fought us to a standstill in June and July of 1944. That would have meant prolonged bombing until we could muster the men and resources for a new land campaign. Also, nuclear weapons may have been used, resulting in more death and destruction. The war likely would have dragged on until 1946, with even more loss of life. The Holocaust would have continued that whole time too.
@@whiteknightcat The Germans were never even close to nuclear weapons. Also don't forget, simultaneously with D-Day the Red Army was winning in the East.
One of the US atomic bombs was slated to be dropped on Berlin, Germany, but the Soviets got there before the bomb was ready to be dropped. So both were dropped on Japan. I saw that in one documentary. Not certain how accurate it is.
@@rutabagasteu I think our bombs were not even ready until Germany was about to fall, or even afterward. I forget when the Trinity test was. But the bombs were shipped to Tinian, and i imagine they did not sit around for very long before they were used.
Bernhard Wicki, the director of The Bridge, directed all the German language scenes in this film. The studios used that same idea in Tora Tora Tora by having Japanese directors (including Akira Kurosawa) handle the Japanese POV scenes. Different times!
I wish Wicki had made separate movie of the D-Day with the same actors, to show the German side even fully. German actors nail every scene beautifully, and there are no comic book portrayals.
Kurosawa began to shoot Tora Tora Tora, but was replaced by Fukusaku (IIRC) as he was producing too little. Apparently some of his shots are still in the film, and may be the more formal and squarely-framed scenes such as the Japanese Admirals and the (usually cut) scenes of Yamamoto visiting the Emperor.
Marcks knew they were not ready, but it didn't matter. Eisenhower's plan was not based on brilliant tactics but basic planning and logistics that created an unstoppable machine. Nothing was going to stop the invasion from succeeding. The uncertainty was nerve wracking on an individual basis but the invasion implementation was sound. The Allies had Air Superiority and an overwhelming force. Had the Germans stopped one beach the others would have still succeeded. The fact that the allies were delayed for only one day on one beach shows how overwhelming the force was and how weak the Germans were. At no time in the allied offensive were the Germans able to retake contested ground. They slowed the allies down for a short while in the bocage country, but at the cost of losing virtually all their armor in the West while the allies just got stronger.
When one believes you have the enemy’s plan distilled and predicted. That is when you should be wary as should always expect the enemy to be unpredictable and surprise you. As allies did by making use if he keys that they would never invade in such weather and via Normandy.
Why do we always look forward to the german scenes in war movies or is that just me I think like Darth vader we like the bad guys knowing they loose in the end.
That last scene includes 'the roads are under aerial attack.' Marcks died due to an aerial attack while travelling by car. Rommel nearly died the same way. The aerial bombardment of areas in front of US troops resulted in the death of at least one American General, so there's that. Blunt instruments. Later US Generals stayed away from the front, and fighting ability dropped dramatically late in the war.
Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck: Directed by Half of Hollywood, Acted in by the Other half. Yes, the British weather people stated the weather was more like early Winter (November) than Spring (they'd never been to Michigan= or Colorado!)
4:03 A little Easter Egg....Six days after the invasion on June sixth. General Marks was killed while driving in daylight on a road near St. Lo by a strafing attack from an American P47 .
I don't speak German practically at all. But I do know a little and I know quite a few words. Maybe someone can help me with this...at 0:50 when he is talking about where the Allies are "expected" the caption reads; "We expect them to cross at the narrowest part of the channel..." but he uses the word "attack" in his speaking. So why was the captioning not reflective of what he actually said?
They missed out the attack line. The correct translation ( word for word) would be. "We expect them to attack the port of Calais, at the narrowest part of the channel, dont we?" I dont know why they did it, but they missed or misstranslated some words / meanings during the film.
Subtitles in this movie are the "gist" for Civilian Audiences. Not literal translations. However, much of the Dialogue Is as Accurate as possible. History buffs, military Veterans, etc. have a better understanding.
75 years ago next 6 June. If German General's would have reacted to situation on ground, instead of waiting for orders, the outcome might have been different.
hitlerdidn'ttruthsfrontlinegeneralsnottogthisreservesboggeddown in an infantry's.tabnk kerflufflesoheheldthereserveundrrhis personal control. Inaway heaccusedhisgenerslsofhisownpersonality failing:control freakeryona massivescale!
Yeah- but Hitler didn't listen nor follow the plan- he changed it all around. The key part of the Marcks Plan was the drive on Moscow- which would force the Red Army to fight and keep the pressure on- using the few decent roads in Russia. He also detailed building vast POW holding stations as he felt the Red Army prisoners would need reasonable care or else they would fight harder if they knew surrender meant almost certain death - interestingly- that is exactly what would happen.
The invasion of the U.S.S.R. was expected to cost 30 million civilian lives when the Germans appropriated their "lebensmittel" for themselves so that the invading Wehrmacht forces could live off the land . The Army did the pre-invasion calculation of these "necessary" civilian losses, not the S.S., and none of the German top brass had any reservations about the planned-for starvation and neglect of so many helpless people. So much for the German Army's being morally superior to the S.S.. There was a lot of U.S.-sponsored rehabilitation of former Nazis during the '50s and almost all those involved in mass-murder of one kind or another got away with it.
@@mkoschier You are correct to a point. The preliminary or initial draft was done by Marcks and after it was approved by Hitler, it was passed over to OKH (Paulus) for further development. See Col. Albert Seaton, The Battle for Moscow which is where I got this information.
@IJNAkagi1942 Yes I have considered it. The war would have taken up to two more years to win. The allied giant would have been slowed down; but not beaten. As in WW1, Germany was starving for food, men and materiel. Even more death and destruction if atomic weapons were used in late '45 or '46.
And to think ... "the war games in Rennes" became the story line for ":The Dirty Dozen"!! How many of the upper ranking German generals really knew the writings of Von Klauswitz, and were not propped up "yes men" to "The Bohemian Corporal"?
@JapFish Indeed, they had some of the greatest military and technological minds in their arsenal, all wasted by the ineptitude and mismanagement of one who believed he knew better than everyone else.
@@mxplk Are you forgetting the Prussian-Danish War a few years before that? Also, before Germany was united in 1870, there was no Germany. The Prussians were on the winning side in 1815, and they arguably won the Seven Years War as well as the War of the Spanish Succession.
The first draft of Barbarossa was his. A good general. Pity that most of his divisions were crapy ones (exept the 352) and his superior (General Speidel of Heersesgruppe B in absence of Rommel who was in Germany being member of the conspiracy did nothing to repel the invasion and if decisions were to be made he referred his interlocutor to OB West)
ER was in Germany due his wife birthday, he believed the bad weather would deter any invasion and had he had time to complete his reinforcement of the Atlantic Wall there would be more bunkers,mines and gun and artillery nests all over the coast...." According to an affidavit left by Heinz Guderian and Heinrich Kirchheim, during interrogation Speidel blurted out Rommel's name. Maurice Remy comments that Speidel's testimony did not truly betray Rommel, although Speidel probably blamed himself until his death for his revered Field Marshal's fate afterwards. Unknown to Speidel though, his statement offered nothing new or startling to the interrogators, who had already obtained from other co-conspirators the information that Rommel not only knew about but agreed with the assassination".
THere are all sorts of what ifss. What if the bombers at Omaha Beach had not been so scared to hit their own troops late and missed the German fortifications. Several hundred bombs on target would have trashed the German fortifications.
@@jameshorn270 Some moron staff officer gave the order for them to wait an extra 1 to 2 seconds before dropping their bombs. French cows were killed but no craters on the beaches nor were the defenses damaged.
What did the Germans expect? They invaded France, so not everyone is going to welcome them with open arms. Rest in Peace to all the brave French Resistance who helped to free their country from the Nazi tyranny.
@Von Musklaus Well,of course, you can't be friends with everyone. However, I have met some,really great French people. As long as you are true to your heart, and show the good side of humanity,, you will emerge with full credit.
You know little of history. Millions of French were more right wing than the Nazis and recognized the dangers of Communists and Anarchists. Hence the Vichy government. And millions of Frenchmen collaborated. The Germans could not occupy a country as big as France otherwise
Tja was haben denn die Franzosen erwartet wenn sie Deutschland den Krieg erklären dass dieser sitzkrieg bis in die 2000er Jahre geht oder was da gab es für den Versailler Vertrag mal richtig eine auf die Mütze was ist denn hochnäsigen Franzosen gönne der Nacht der Vietnamkrieg ist ein französisches Kind das sollte man nicht vergessen und zwar auf Erpressung von Charles de Gaulle😢😢😢😢😢
He was right. He just didn't think Ike would gamble with bad weather. It never occurred to him they could attack in a break in the weather. If he knew the Allies had that type of meteorology, I'm sure an alert would have been sounded.
They should do a remake from this movie , with directors Christopher Nolan , Kenneth Branagh , Tom Tykwer ,Nicolas Winding Refn , Jacques Audiard ! Produced : Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks / James Cameron /Ali Baba aka : Jack Ma , acting : Jake Gyllenhaal , Tom Cruise , Tom Hardy , Joaquin Phoenix , Daniel Graig , Tom Hanks , Leonardo DiCaprio , Marion Cottiard , Tobey Jones , Gary Oldman , Colin Firth , Kathy Burke , Benedict Cumberbatch , Dakota Fanning , Casey Affleck , Michele Williams , Carey mulligan , Mark Strong , Tobey , Story telling , Gene Hackman
The movie bombed at the box office. Not only production costs but paying the cost of dozens of A list celebs (singers Fabian and another did some acting). Anyway, 50 plus years down the line and we are richer for it. Battle of Britain also bombed at the box office, but truly amazing footage. Tora Tora Tora, from a business sense, did it right using character actors instead of A list talent. An amazing movie. Midway, from a historical point of view did it right, but the subplot about the Japanese family was unnecessary. Overall, a good movie.
Marcks died when vehicle strafed a few days later. Patton died December 21, 1945, as result of a vehicle accident (broken neck); paralysis led to blood clot.
@@taroman7100 I recall reading a story on that very point... during WWII, some French workers were in Germany on a detail in the countryside. They were trying to figure out how to approach the local peasant girls. They tried cutting wildflowers and presenting them with flowery language to match -- no luck. A local fellow demonstrated the efficacious approach -- he walked up and gave her a slap on the rump. Without turning around she threw up her arms and yelled, "Donnerwetter! Noch einmal!" (Thunderation! Do it again!)
@@memiller55 They like being ordered around, it would seem. Ian Fleming thought the Russians also "loved the knout". There's nothing like having a Strong Man, a Hitler or a Stalin, who you can go down on (figuratively, anyway).
If the studio had quite shoving money into that black hole known as Cleopatra, and put a few more millions into the longest day, it would have been twice the film. The longest Day made money for the studio and won awards. Cleopatra was cinematic dud.
@@mr.zondide2746 Believe it or not Mr. Zanuck was doing this film on a shoestring budget as Cleopatra was bleeding the studio dry. Mr. Zanuck wanted another two million dollars to colorized it and some other things and studio said no. If it wasn’t for the American fleet doing some maneuvers nearby, you wouldn’t have the fleet scenes.
@@remc70 don,t know about the shoestring budget but john Wayne got 250,000 dollars for just 3 days work,he had Zanuck over a barrel becasue he thought without have the duke in the movie that somehow it would be less of a cinematic success without America,s greatest war hero .Wayne was quoted as saying "I screwed that bastard over as payback"I never thought he would green light my outrageous demands",which Duke said even surprised him.
A mulher do Rommel também fazia anos no dia 6 e ele foi para a Alemanha na vespéra do dia D e quando o avisaram do ataque estava demasiado longe da Normandia e arrependeu-se de tetr ido para a Alemanha nesse dia,e chamou estupido a si mesmo por se ter enganado pelos aliados,deu oredm para estas tropas não pisarem as praias,mas isos não serviu de nada porque embora com muitos mortos os aliados conseguiram sair das praias e avançar em território francês e lutar contra os alemães e ir avançando em território francês eliminando os exercitos nazis e fazendo prisioneiros Rommel e outros generais não foram muito espertos,outros foram para Rennes para "jogos de guerra",mover bandeiras em quadros com mapas de territórios ocupados pela Alemanha e que foram pouco a pouco libertados pelas tropas aliadas.
It started that way, but eventually best soldiers were killed off, leaving more poorly trained replacements. And in the case of the Waffen SS, they were, indeed, fanatical, however, that led them to take chances in sometimes unwinnable situations. That's unsustainable in the long run.
the only thing wrong with this movie is that john wayne is in it . Visiting the nazi bunkers at Point du Hoc is an amazing site . the church at Sainte Mere- Eglise where the paratrooper was hanging from is still there .
1 minute, 30 seconds: Eisenhower would never take the gamble. Total Hollywood rubbish. Eisenhower was nothing to do with the planning - it was handled by professional soldiers, not a figurehead like him.
At it's most base level WWII was about Socialism vs Capitalism & Capitalism's productivity utterly destroyed the stupidity that is the very embodiment of Socialism.
You conveniently (deliberately) omit that the "Socialists" had already won the war and were still expanding before the US got involved. Anything to distract from the fact that your side (the anti-Semitic white nationalists) lost.
MORON, the Capitalist USA armed the Soviet Union during the War so they could maintain fighting on the Eastern Front. And, just like the Nazis (MORON), they were Socialists. But it was CAPITALISM that subdued the Fascists (another name for Socialism) with overwhelming PRODUCTIVITY. There is no comparison to what was produced by the USA vs the Axis Powers...MORON...
And like a typical white nationalist apologist (MORON) you falsely equate things that are dissimilar and create false conclusions to excuse the loss of your (MORON) Fascist prototypes. Your side lost due to incompetent leadership by fanatical ideologues, not their forms of economy ... MORON.
White Knight MORON, guys like you are too stupid to see the obvious links between fascism & Socialism. Mussolini got it though, when he said: "Everything of the State, for the State, and by the State." How about this MORON, please explain how fascism differed from Socialism. Of course, MORON, I'm sure you're aware that Nazi was short for: National Socialist German Workers' Party - Even their phraseology is just like that of the Communists. It's astounding how many stupid Fs like you exist - no doubt a product of Government-School indoctrination.
MORON Whitey: Had USA never entered the war (WWII) nor supplied Britain, China & Soviets w/vast amounts of War material, they'd be doing the Goose Step down the Champs-Élysées today. Once again A-hole, it's the Socialists on both sides who lost. We'll have to wait and see how the Socialist thieves in USA fair today & in the future.
