D-Day Revisited

Guy Martin undertakes a challenge to restore a plane from the Second World War, and recreate a parachute jump into Normandy, as thousands of Allied soldiers did during D-Day.

Gold Beach is the story of the highly successful assault by 50th Northumbrian Division and 231 Malta Bde on the central beach of the Allied D day landings. The beach was one of the 2 extra beaches that Montgomery had added to the COSSAC plan and the two veteran formations chosen were highly successful achieving nearly all their objectives despite some hard and bloody fighting. It was on this beach that WO2 Stan Hollis won the only VC of D Day.

The most implacable opponents of the British and Canadians fighting in Normandy were the largely teenage soldiers of the Hitlerjugend. From D+1 through to attacking back into the Falaise Pocket, this unique division constantly thwarted Montgomery's plans and exacted a terrible price on the Allies for every mile gained. Formed from 'volunteers' from the Hitler Youth Movement in the aftermath of Stalingrad, this division of boys, aged 17 on recruitment into the SS, came of age and were declared fully operational just before D Day. Coming from a fully militarized society they made exceptional and highly committed soldiers but with officers and non-commissioned officers from the Leibstandarte commanding them, they were to become a ruthless and brutal arm of the Nazi fighting machine that battled towards the Eastern Front. Both Hitlerjugend's alleged atrocities and their remarkable doggedness in battle made them a loathed but grudgingly respected opponent to all who fought them.

Unflinching and deeply personal, D-Day In 14 Stories interviews many of the last surviving veterans who were on the beaches of Normandy that fateful day 75 years ago (a rare spectrum of Allies and Axis); seldom-heard voices, including a female Resistance fighter, an African American, a Native American, Jewish Americans and a 5-year old French boy.

This film tells the story of Col Rudder’s 2nd Ranger Bn and their heroic attack on the gun battery at Pointe du Hoc, which covered both Omaha and Utah beaches. Despite their thorough training scaling techniques that included sectional aluminium commando ladders, rocket grapples and ropes experienced commanders predicted a disaster. In the event bad weather, navigational errors and communications failure meant that less than 200 Rangers were delivered to the foot of the cliffs late and under enemy fire. Small groups of Rangers battled their way up ropes and ladders, with grenades bursting around them, to scale the muddy unstable cliff. A handful of men spread out and cleared the stunned defenders but, as often is the case, seizing the objective was only a part of the battle. Isolated for over 24 hours, with no relief from the near disaster at Omaha, the Rangers fought on against increasingly determined German counter-attacks.

The German paratroopers established a reputation in Crete as an elite force. A battalion commander now led a new Fallschirmjäger regiment, deployed to Normandy in the spring of 1944 to the very area where the US Paratroopers were to drop on D Day. This DVD will tell the story of this regiment, one that was more like a pocket division than a regiment, and its six day battle around the base of the Cotentin Peninsula to prevent the effective link up between Omaha and Utah Beaches.Using the established and popular style of expert interviews, pieces filmed on the ground where the battle happened, illustrated with contemporary re-enactment footage and numerous maps, the story of the part played by the 6th Fallschirmjäger in the key engagements against the 101st Airborne Division around Saint-Come-du-Mont, the flooded marshes and the key town of Carentan will be told in graphic and controversial detail.

A documentary account of the allied invasion of Europe during World War II compiled from the footage shot by nearly 1400 cameramen. It opens as the assembled allied forces plan and train for the D-Day invasion at bases in Great Britain and covers all the major events of the war in Europe from the Normandy landings to the fall of Berlin.

Eighty years on, the BBC has been gathering first-hand accounts from the UK's D-Day veterans – some now more than 100 years of age. Rachel Burden traces their stories in Normandy and hears memories of the massive beach invasion and the battles that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of the Second World War in Europe.

Over a period of two years, Mark Cowen and his crew travelled to thirty U.S. states and ten European cities, to interview the veterans of Easy Company. The stories told by the veterans themselves, create a history of the Second World War from the point of view of this heroic company of men, made famous in the mini-series Band of Brothers.

Using restored, colorized archives and testimonies from all the players in this conflict, this documentary covers the hundred days of apocalyptic fighting that wrote History. June 1944, the Allies landed in Normandy. This odyssey was meticulously prepared for months. The construction of two artificial ports, the transport of Anglo-American troops, their training cost colossal efforts, and caused many cold sweats: the secret of D-Day almost came to light several times. The documentary reveals the inner workings of Operation Overlord, it also deciphers the military operations, and evokes the choices of the high command. Placed at human level, it retraces the fate of Norman civilians subjected to deadly bombings, the attitude of the Allied soldiers and their German adversaries, as well as the aspirations of the French population, torn between fear and hope.

A young filmmaker joins a tour of WWII veterans from the 29th Infantry through celebrations surrounding the 70th anniversary of D-Day in a quest to better know her late grandfather.

An extraordinary journey into the past to that fateful day, June 6, 1944. Relive the event of D-Day on the beaches of Normandy with Company Sergeant-Major Charlie Martin of the Queen's Own Rifles. Experience an emotional and intensely personal account of D-Day through a combination of interviews, archival film and Charlie Martin's diary excerpts.

Recent study shows that the chance of surviving the invasion beaches was 25%. Then how is it possible 50% of the men survived? This documentary which has been recognized as the best D-Day documentary ever tells a different story. A beautifully made detailed reconstruction shows what happened on that day on the beaches. In the first hour of the attack one third of the American soldiers dies. This battle will be decisive in the further course of the war. Survivors tell about the factors that made it so hard to conquer the coastlines. The animated images show it all.

On June 6th, 1944 the largest military invasion and defence the world has ever seen occurred. D-Day tells the epic story of the preparation and execution of the Allied invasion of Normandy. It tells the story of the defence of the Western Front by the forces of the German Empire, and of the complex and deadly secret war fought by the men and women of France and mainland Europe. D-Day brings to life the dramatic and astounding tales of courage and sacrifice, joy and despair, love and betrayal. The planning for the Allied invasion on June 6th 1944 took two years and cost thousands of lives. It involved a deception of breathtaking audacity. Both the preparation leading up to and the actions and events on the day itself relied on the absolute discretion of many and the genius and nerve of a few. D-Day examines the intricate jigsaw from both sides - presenting events through the eyes of the men and women who were there, telling their extraordinary stories.

George Stevens's remarkable film is acclaimed by historians as the most important colour footage taken during the war. Milestones covered include the liberation of Paris, the link-up between the Russian and American armies on the River Elbe and the Allied capture of the Dachau concentration camp.

Ireland, June 1944. The crucial decision about the right time to start Operation Overlord on D-Day comes to depend on the readings taken by Maureen Flavin, a young girl who works at a post office, used as a weather station, in Blacksod, in County Mayo, the westernmost promontory of Europe, far from the many lands devastated by the iron storms of World War II.

The Normandy landings of 6 June 1944 were pivotal to the outcome of WW2. We learn when Churchill and Roosevelt first proposed the operation and how preparations started—finishing with the key events of D-Day and the far-reaching effects of its outcome.

Live from Southsea Common in Portsmouth, Huw Edwards introduces coverage of the National Commemorative Event taking place to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

Behind the scenes look at the D-Day special effects created in filming The Americanization of Emily (1964).

Madame Simone Renaud witnessed the liberation of France on June 6, 1944 from a very unique viewpoint: St. Mere Eglise, the first town liberated during the D-Day invasion. It was here that she and her husband, the mayor of St. Mere Eglise, witnessed so many American soldiers giving their lives to protect freedom and democracy. Their small town became these soldiers' final resting place and Madame Renaud spent a lifetime tending to their graves and corresponding with their loved ones back home. She became a friend, family and touchstone to those whose lives were forever changed on that day.