we're very excited to announce that today's video is sponsored by audible more on that later [Music] you're probably already familiar with the iconic normandy landings but chances are you're more familiar with the experiences of those who landed on the beaches as opposed to that of the defenders and this is fairly understandable as military historian robert m citino puts it the d-day landings have become one of the allies great historical epics whereas for the opposite side the romance vanishes leaving the uninspiring spectacle of a once proud military force no longer up to the challenge as one can expect this leaves any military history enthusiast short on information about the axis perspective in this battle to be absolutely clear our intent is not to sympathize with the nazi regime its supporters or its ideology we are simply interested in uncovering the human element of the less talked about side in this near mythological clash first we'll need to provide context before discussing the landings at normandy the confrontation on the atlantic shoreline was long in the coming as early as autumn of 1943 hitler had gathered his chiefs of staff and told them that all signs point to an offensive against the western front no later than spring 1944 but spring passed and the allies had yet to strike making the atmosphere for the germans almost unbearably tense it didn't help that field marshals von runestet and rommel the two men charged with protecting the atlantic coast fundamentally disagreed over the issue of tank placement rommel knew that because the luftwaffe was occupied on the eastern front keeping panzer divisions stationed inland as van roonstedt ordered them to do was folly the north african campaign taught him that without air superiority moving tanks across the countryside was a near impossible task the german soldiers meanwhile did the only thing they could do to mask their apprehension they made jokes one went something like if you see a black plane it's british if you see a white plane it's american when you see nothing at all it's the luftwaffe the others among them who were polish georgian and soviet prisoners impressed into nazi service called the ostigun probably weren't in the mood for making jokes having been dragged hundreds of miles away from their home countries they along with the german soldiers who had been wounded in action made up a significant portion of soldiers stationed on the atlantic coast by the time the invasion broke out some of these troops had not been fed for several days one soldier paul goats who was only 17 at the time recalls the following i hadn't had any food or water for three days so around 6am i walked to a village and begged for milk the french there knew me but this time they said go away the allies already landed with tanks it seems that at this juncture the french no longer felt the need to be as friendly to their occupiers to make matters worse for the german side they lacked not only food and supplies but directive in the immediate lead-up to d-day having been convinced that the allies wouldn't dare cross the channel in june because of poor weather conditions rommel had gone home to celebrate his wife's birthday and to subsequently meet with hitler von roonstedt opted not to disturb rommel because of his mistaken belief that the paratrooper landings which took place on june 5th a day before the naval invasion were a ploy to distract the germans from the real allied target kalei by the time rommel arrived on the evening of june 6 it was too late all five of the landing sites the allies selected were secured operation fortitude the allied deception strategy had done its work now that we understand the lead up to this momentous event let's take a look at the normandy landings through the german soldiers perspective the location we'll be evaluating in this video is codenamed utah beach it is one of the five landing sites that the allies chose for their invasion in the months preceding the landing the soldiers stationed there had been busy at work erecting gun emplacements and setting up stakes tripods barbed wire and land mines streams had been damned and the floodgates of the duve were open to flood the land behind the beach as another deterrent such obstacles would not have been present in normandy if erwin rommel hadn't learned from ax's mistakes at the allied landings at salerno italy in 1943. how many times must the german soldier have laid awake at night questioning themselves would it all be enough it was on a night like this around midnight that over 2 000 allied bombers began wreaking havoc on the coast the effectiveness of the bombing raid on the night of june 5th is disputable but unlike bombing raids of the past there was further escalation paratroopers also started landing in the vicinity skirmishes between the paratroopers and the defenders continued until the sun came up but by that point it became clear that the paratroopers had not come alone a wall of ships was slowly coming into view on the horizon and a naval bombardment commenced paul goats the same soldier we referred to earlier said this of the scene as soon as we walked over the dunes and saw thousands of ships and also slanding boats and barrage balloons i knew the wall was lost who could blame him for his hope vanishing all around him buildings crumbled and domesticated animals ran freely but whether they clung to hope or not the defenders were still prepared to put up a fight despite the chaos unleashed around them with minimal air support they knew it was up to them to try to stop the allied advance at least a few soldiers must have been glad to finally face action liberated of that feeling of not knowing when the inevitable would come joseph b a staff sergeant wrote this finally the hour has come although it had to happen and was foreseeable it impressed me a lot of course it is not a trifle for sure these hours the greatest battle is taking place that the world has ever seen hopefully fortune is with us now many of the soldiers away from their positions tried to regroup amid the maelstrom those that did make it converged in fortified bunkers equipped with mounted machine guns and anti-aircraft flat guns however they could only fire upon the invaders in vain as waves and waves of troops landed on the beaches when u. s soldiers inevitably closed in on the bunkers incendiary weapons like flamethrowers and white phosphorus were used with great effect arms experts at globalsecurity.
org write these weapons are particularly nasty because white phosphorus continues to burn until it disappears if service members are hit by pieces of white phosphorus it could burn right down to the bone just on normandy five american medal of honors were given in part to the usage of white phosphorus grenades by the end of the morning on june 6 most of the resistance points in all of the beaches had fallen to the allies allowing their armored divisions to support the infantry's inland advance much like at utah beach german forces at sword beach had to contend with paratroopers who had dropped behind their lines and captured critical points helmet rumor a german soldier captured after hiding for 36 hours wrote we were exhausted we decided to hand ourselves over to the british at gold beach the defenders were severely weakened by an aerial bombardment and therefore were defeated within an hour at juno beach the canadian troops managed to not only secure their objective but they also marched further inland than any other landing party finally at omaha german resistance was the most effective because of how close the bunkers were placed to the shore but with so many troops landing the german defenders at omaha were also overrun if you'd like to learn more about the events that brought hitler's ruin with some of my favorite books on the topic we have an exciting announcement for you books on d-day by stephen ambrose anthony beaver and rick atkinson are all available among the unmatched selection of audiobooks on audible in fact if you decide to try audible for free for 30 days you can find an audio book related to just about every topic that we've covered on this channel visit audible. com slash armchair historian or text armchair historian to 500-500 if you become a member you'll unlock one of my favorite features audible originals which gives you access to a wide array of tales told by acclaimed storytellers in the worlds of history politics literature and more and what better time to try audible than after new year's when your personal resolutions are being formulated join us and the other armchair historians who have already signed up and visit audible.
