Why Was Normandy Selected For D-Day? 

Huge thanks to Simon Clark for reading that radio announcement last minute yesterday. The original version of this video on Nebula has the original radio speech, but some American music label seems to think they own the rights to BBC speech from 1944...

*Because the English wanted to get back on the Normans from 1066*

You left out one of the key reason for Normandy being picked, The french resistance captured plans for defense construction for Normandy, which made it a prime location for consideration.

As oversimplified said “Because it was less defended, and the beaches were nicer.”

The two swimmers mentioned were one of several beach reconnaissance teams. I seem to recall in the history of the SBS, Special Boat Service [but it might have been the early days of the Commands], teams were landed from midget submarines. Carrying no guns but survey equipment they stood on the sandy beach in the dead of night using drills to take core samples of the sand which was used to assess the maximum weight of vehicles the sand would support without bogging down and becoming stuck. Tanks obviously spread their great weight over the foot print of the tank tracks. Lorries, while much lighter, might only have six wheels and a much smaller foot print of rubber tyre to spread their weight. So the assumption that "If its alright for tanks it will be fine for lorry carrying a ton or two of supplies" isn't as clear an assumption as it might first appear. Thus any beach the allies were seriously interested in using, this assessment had to be made for each beach. These were high risk missions because if the team were discovered their presence would indicate a clear higher than normal interest in that beach. If the technicians back at base weren't able to get satisfactory core samples the team were sent back again. This information was critical to the allies. Further the gradient of the beach wasn't the only consideration.Often a false foreshore, or sand bar was formed in the sand some yards off the real beach. The effect of this was to stop the landing craft short of the real beach thinking they had touched down in shallow water. When the vehicles were discharged they'd soon find themselves completely submerged on the shore side of the sand bar and still way off the real beach. Of course this all sounds tricky enough while carrying no mention of the mined obstacles littering the beaches foreshore, all of which had to be negotiated to get teams on to and off the beach with this vital information., Midget submarines were in place off the D-Day beaches atleast the night before [more likely several days before] as they acted as marker buoys or navigation lights pointing only out to sea to guide the landing teams into the right corridors towards the beaches. In part this small but vital role was afforded to them in recognition of many missions they had made collecting information in the run up to D-Day.

The allies also invaded North Africa and Italy, so it’s not like they didn’t have experience with naval landings.

I'm from Guernsey (shown quite a lot in this video but not mentioned) and we had a lot of the atlantic wall built here, being the only british soil occupied by the Nazi's during the war they wanted to hold onto us, "Almost 10% of all the concrete used in the Atlantic Wall was used in the Channel Islands"

because landing in berlin directly through the spree-channel was deemed a tad cocky by high command

Soviets: Why did the Soviets pick everywhere.

Wait a minute, I know that voice

"led by britain and america." Canada cries every night lol Edit: I appear to to have started a war. All I remember from grade 10 history is Canada decided on its own to join the war, so for this instance, it was technically “independent” in its decision making.

"because it was less fortified, and the beaches were a lot nicer"

Loved this video. I went to Normandy when I was 16. Going there is a strange and sombre experience. You can still see the war there with the floating harbour being a stark reminder that no matter how long ago the war was, the struggle of those men will never leave those beaches.

Can we talk about the fact that he definitely says “power troopers” rather than “paratroopers” at 4:58

I first read "Why Did The Aliens Pick Normandy?" :D

Who knew that Normandy had many upsides to the Allies during D-day; had it been different, Normandy wouldn't been the primary contender and wouldn't been remembered. Also, its really amazing how much work and time the surveyors put in to give the High Command much needed information about Normandy, good job🍻

Canadian Soldiers were victim of poor communication and planing and got badly defeated at Dieppe. But we got a second chance a Juno and we were (with Sword, i think) the best. Proud of our soldiers!🇨🇦 Fier de nos soldat!🇨🇦

This video has next level editing. Well done!

I already know why but it’s just fun and it feels good to learn about this.

Normans: invade Britain in the old times WWII Britain: *well well well, look how the tables turned*

Im such a fan of how this is basically a verbal essay on why they chose that particular beach. Laying out the reasons, proving them, then recapping. So satisfying to listen to.

7:36 "Equipped with Spitfires, modified with F 52 cameras" *Shows footage of a Typhoon*

Dude hearing the radio broadcast at the beginning gave me chills I can’t imagine turning on the radio and hearing that happening live that would have been so intense

As someone whose visited Normandy, I can say it’s very very impressive.... the amount of Cemeteries and graves inside of those really is not normal. I’d love to visit again, to see a little more.... right now this isn’t possible (due to the pandemic) ;(

for the detailed video on the dieppe invasion, check the mark felton production. he got a lot of historical stories that aren't well known

It's amazing to see how your channel has progressed. The production quality and information is great. Very happy for you.

A year or so ago the Dieppe plans were released to the public. The public reason that it was a practice run for D-Day, were part of the cover for the original reason of the operation . The Dieppe landing was called operation “Pinch” (pinch is slang for ‘to steal”), it operational goal was to capture the latest Enigma machine, and the operation failed. The UK forces needed to keep the intention for the raid secret to protect the ongoing decryption work being done at Bletchley Park.

Damn the editting on this video is insane

Brian, I dont know who had an extra hand in this video or if all Nebula videos get this treatment. There's something extra about this. It might be the subtle soundtrack, or extra editing of the script but this is a special video. There's no fluff. Honestly videos like this will make me sign up for Nebula. Seriously this is good stuff. No clickbaity title, quality, sourced content. Great job!

Brilliant video... excellent history of the analysis that went on prior to the invasion. Thank you so much.

Great stuff! I have been planning to watch these for a a while. The good news is that I already subscribed for Nebula a few months ago, so you have my support. Thanks again for these high quality materials!

Real Engineering. Thank you so much for your time and effort in making this video possible. I for one really appreciate it. This video is so insightful/interesting. I can't wait for the others to come out.

Thank you for putting this on RU-vid.

Its absolutely amazing how much planning went into the landing.

This episode passed so fast... Thank you so much for this production! (Breathtaking)

Please do more videos like this! I don’t like war, despite having been in it, but I’ve always found the logistics of it to be awe inspiring

@Brian you and the fantastic content and the enormous work you put in producing those amazing videos are the reason why I just subscribed to curiosity stream ;-)

This is what I subscribed for, entertaining and informitive videos about engineering from the past. I cannot explain how happy it makes me that you are doing videos like this again.

Much better video than the past couple! Love this kind of stuff!

I have always admired the quality of your videos and the effort you put into making them, but this one has truly blown me away. Utterly fantastic. Time for me to figure out how to get a curiosity stream subscription.

Thank you, so much, for this informative video. I've often wondered why the Allies chose to assault a cliff when the terrain was relatively flat just three miles to the east.

My Grandfather stormed the beaches of Normandy. He was given a Silver Star for his actions that day.

Thanks for the info and review,have a nice day

Absolutely fascinating this is the type of thing you could mak a history mini series out of excellent work

Didn't know there was this much geology involved

Stay Healthy and keep up the good work! we appreciate you.

Very good detail, including learning from our mistakes at Dieppe. Learning the lessons of the importance of history. Not to repeat those earlier mistakes. Strong example of why studying history is important.

Man great job! Keep it up- I love the effort you put into this ( I’m not sure if you work solo or not but if not great team)

Love your ww2 videos so much, thank you! As soon as I'm back in work I'll be subscribing on patreon.

0:48 "Innit." - D. Eisenhower, 1944, before he drove off with his '01 Ford Focus.

What a tease, you got me all worked up and interested in this subject which I thought I knew all about already, and now I have to come up with some cold hard cash to see the rest of the series and get some satisfaction. I would ante up and get that Curiosity Stream thing but I am now out of work, for the time being anyway, and am having to pinch pennies.

You did a good job on episode one. Will be sure to catch the rest. Thanks.

Great videos

there was a time you talked specifically about Real Engineering

Excellent video. I used to be an armor (armour for my friends across the pond. And up north. And of course, down under. Actually for most of the world except the U.S. But I digress. Oops) and cavalry officer, and at first I didn't think too much about logistics, other than my own immediate combat support. When I called for fuel, for ammo, etc, it was always there. As I rose through the ranks, I began to gain a real appreciation for the amount of planning that was needed to ensure that what I needed was actually available. While the focus of most military study is on tactics, equipment, etc, many don't realize that in order to be successful, you need more people supplying everyone than actually fighting. Thanks again for a very interesting series of videos!

Wow, great production value looks so professional. Awesome video.

6:02 to 6:20 speaking in Rhyming couplets

3:41 I strongly disagree with this statement over the years and personally I find it's just another myth. Dieppe was a raid, not a invasions, the Allies knew how to handle an invasion force, just look at Operation Torch that would happen 3 months later, which by the way involved two raids on Vichy French ports that ended in pretty much the same way as Dieppe. There will also be Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and plenty of other Pacific island, Operation Husky, Salerno and Anzio. These landings should be considered the lessens to the Normandy landings not a singular raid.

Had I known this was an ad for some off site I'm never going to, I would have skipped this video entirely.

Well written explained and told. So much good info in a short show. Good Job.

Canada was there too! Canadian soldiers always meet their responsibilities and are humble heroes. Then and now!🇨🇦

nice vid, this is the content ive been waiting for. my friends and i like your accent and pronunciations

As usual, an absolutely superb video with incredible detail. As a geologist who's researched this topic, have to congratulate you on showing the importance of this topic, which is often neglected from the story of D-Day. (Only tiny error is on the aviation side - those RAF "PR Spitfires" at ~07:30 are I believe ground-attack Tempests).

such good quality content. don't understand how this young guy produces such good stuff with expertise from so many different fields. veritable polymath.

Used to go to church with this old man, I knew he was there at D-day, but he never talked much about it. I asked the preacher once about him, he retold a story the old man had shared with him. This story takes place late in the day after the beach was taken. At the time he was a young soldier who was driving a transport for officers to get them to the top of beach. He said one trip up the beach the jeep came under fire from Germans. They made it to the top ok, passenger got out and went about his business. The soldier took the time to inspect his jeep. He said he counted 101 bullet holes..... This was just one story from one man at Normandy. Think of all the stories from that day. There's a reason they're known as the greatest generation.

Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Plans are worthless, planning is everything."

That speech at the beginning gives me goosebumps....

What a great message at the start. Imagine writing that order to the soldiers - trying to boost morale but also not fall into jingoism that would fall flat.

Hmmm. This sounds tactical

You wrote a post a few days ago saying that you are losing views. And even tho I like your vids like this one, with ones like that you will. For example, now you could make a video about how Respirators work which would probably get more views

Excellent video as always! Keep it up, and I can't wait for the future episodes of the logistics of the D-Day landings! Edit: spelling errors

Great video as always 👍😀 Thanks for sharing 👍😀

Sure, it's interesting, but I feel like these videos are missing the main point of why your channel got so successful: meaningful, interesting engineering breakdowns.

"Powertroopers" - intriguing...

being watching this D-Day stuff for the past week and its good to see a video about this

In al honesty, if I had the capital to get the curiosity stream, nebula bundle, I so freaking would. The nebula originals I’ve seen so far are so freaking good. Keep up the good work.

Are the following episodes gonna be on youtube aswell

Hey I know RU-vid algorithm has not been kind to you lately, but just know that you're doing an amazing job man. Your contents deserve a lot of views. But it's okay, we, your fans, are with you. Sending sanitized love your way.

Great video! Thank you for your sharing and knowledge! 👍🏻

Excellent work my friend

When you said 'led my Britain and America" you forgot to mention Canada, that was responsible for Juno.

10:29 - "I hate sand."

Been looking forward to this!

Superb research. It's all in the details.

The last time I was this early, they haven't even completed the Atlantic Wall

Before watching, my guess: the Allies didn’t do what the Germans thought the Allies thought the Germans would do if they were the Allies.

1:08 those are Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne. I marched to songs/cadences about these men at bootcamp in 1993.

Effing superb! This is what I wanted today!

"Because it was less fortified, and the beaches are nice"

4:55 Power Troopers. Yeah, I suppose those would have come in handy on D-Day...

I am so excited to watch it in the morning!

That was awesome!If not the iconic voice i would've thought that this is a TV show episode!

You asked a few weeks ago why you are getting less views. This is the case for me: I'm here for engineering. Sure these videos are interesting for a lot of people but i think a big part of your subscriber basis is interested in the engineering stuff. for example, my favorite videos are "Why do windmills have 3 blades" and your video on electric planes. These are strict engineering subjects with formulas, math, visulizations and all that sweet stuff. I don't wanna say that this content is bad, of course not, all iI'm saying is, that maybe, this stuff doesn't interest your subscribers as much as other topics.

This was informative.

Excellent research! Top shelf content, yo.

Rommel noted that Normandy was the most likely Place simply because it looked an awful lot like the same Beach at Sicily where we had landed previously. There was a lot of experience. On both sides.

Rommel suggested the Allies would land in Normandy because he thought it looked like the beaches they landed on in Sicily.

Doing part one of a series without telling me until the end that I need to go to another platform to see the rest is shitty.

I really enjoyed this, keep up the good work

This is SO interesting. Thank you!