D-Day: The Longest of Days

A day by day documentary on the preparation of US troops prior to the D-Day invasion and the immediate aftermath after the successful capture of the Normandy Beaches.

Amphibious training in England and the invasion of France at Omaha Beach.

Prefabricated concrete barges are manufactured in preparation for D-Day, and U.S. troops storm a beach in a practice landing assault; a look at how harbor facilities, which were made in England, were used in the Normandy invasion.

Activities just prior to and including D-Day; movements of American troops from all parts to Poe's prior to the Normandy invasion.

General Eisenhower and his aides map the Normandy invasion, with German pictures showing the extent of their coastal defences. Pictures of practice landings and airborne operations dramatise the actual invasion on June 6, 1944.

The greatest coordination of arms ever portrayed in the world; allied planes plant tons of pulverizing bombs on shore installations, strategic roads and bridges, before swooping down to strafe enemy trains, ships and planes.

The aerial and amphibious assault on the beaches of Normandy and the Allied convoys landing on the Normandy beaches, are planned by Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery and Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey.

The drama and battle action of the period of the landing at Normandy, and the fierce combat to overcome the wall of Fortress Europe in June 1944.

Gen. Eisenhower addresses troops in Southern England; the "Big Show" begins; airborne troops drop behind enemy lines; support aircraft drop everything from howitzers to motorcycles; bombers blast bridges and supply lines.

The processing of plasma and penicillin; troops in Normandy receive medical care; naval guns bombard Cherbourg; the 8th and 9th Air Forces bomb communication lines; British troops take Caen.

British artillery pounds German positions in northern France and troops advance through villages and care for civilians; tanks clear minefields; American troops enter Cherbourg; the 6th Airborne Div. Receives supplies by parachute.

Allied troops complete the conquest of the Cherbourg peninsula as reinforcements are flown in by air; 26,000 German prisoners were taken by the Allies, who either captured or destroyed the greater part of their equipment.

In France, Eisenhower observes General Bradley fire a giant howitzer, signalling the artillery into a massed crescendo of fire; following the landing battles in Normandy, the Canadians return to the thick of the fighting at Carpiquet.

French civilians and US Army engineers repair and salvage railroad yards, bridges and trains.

The invasion of Southern France by the 7th Army, and the subsequent junction with the US 3rd Army.

Allied troops invade southern France near Toulon in a combined amphibious and airborne assault; a coastal village is occupied after a raging battle between coastal batteries and naval guns; French underground members welcome the Allies.

Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin congregate at the Teheran Conference in 1943; U.S. troops land and fight on Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Saipan, Guam and other Pacific islands; Russian troops advance to Romania and capture German soldiers.