Analysis Of The Longest Day

The invasion of D-Day is the largest joint sea born invasion in the history of the world. Although very well planned, the amphibious landings were a gamble made by the Allied forces to gain foothold in Europe. Every American has heard about the Allied invasion of German-occupied Western Europe on D-Day. However, how many Americans stop and think about how much planning, preparation and luck that went into making it the success that it is remembered for? I will attempt to depict what it took to conquer the Normandy beaches using historical and military facts that make it such an iconic event in the world’s history still today.

There is one scene where the three flag raisers entered a crowded stadium before a football game which typified how an image of war can be so different to the reality of war. The flash photography, the cheering, the roar of the crowd all went to John Bradley’s head and he had flash backs of the fighting on Iwo Jima and the genuine heroes that he had left behind. This scene contrasts what the reality of war, were all the men are dug in and fighting for there life, and the images of war. Ira Hayes says “I know it’s a good thing, raising the money and that, ‘cause we need it. But, I can’t take them calling me a hero. All I did was try not to get shot. Some of the things I saw done, things I did, they weren’t things to be proud of, you know?” Clint Eastwood shows continuously, through his characters physiology shows how one single photo can be so different what really makes up the battle of Iwo Jima. The aim was to get war bonds; the minds of the three main characters through Clint Eastwood’s directing showed a strong insight to how the reality of a war and an image of war can be so contrasting.

“D-Day”, is considered one of the most significant battles of World War ll. D-Day is also known as the “Battle of Normandy”, or, “Operation Overlord”. The Battle of Normandy began in June 1944, and ended around August 1944. By the end of the war around August 1944, all of France had been cleared of Nazi forces. D-Day is considered a huge factor with the end of World War II and the Nazi Party due them having to push out of France and back into their initial land of Germany. Later on as the Nazi Party was pushed back into Germany, more allied forces collaborated to officially wipe out the Nazi Party in Germany. D-Day was initialized as it was approved by General Dwight D. Eisenhower. After the approval of the general, troops landed on the French coasts to neutralize the Nazi Party and to recover the land.

In the late 1944, during the wake of the Allied forces’ successful D-Day Invasion of Normandy, it seemed as if the Second World War was over. On December sixteenth, with the onset of winter, the German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied forces in a manner that would turn the tide of the war in Hitler’s favor. The battle that ensued is known historically as the Battle of the Bulge. The courage and fortitude of the American Soldier was tested against

I read the section about the battles that took place during WWII. It brought to my minds that in real life. There are more important things during a war than finding a private Ryan. War is a huge event and the little things like finding a person to keep the family name going is too small to include in war history. This is what separates the movies from the real life. Another difference is they don't show the actual planning it takes to start an attack or the inelegance that is needed to set up the perfect defense barrier to prevent the advancement of the enemy soldiers. A real battle can last days, weeks, months, or years, compared to movie war that lasts not even a day and has one guy or one platoon take on the entire other side. The casualties of real war is tremendous, rather than movies where you see almost the same characters in the whole movie accomplishing some of the most intense tasks with only one or two dying. Also, in movie war you don't see the other side's horror. You think all the opponents are bad horrible people that deserve to die, when they are just soldiers doing their job and the only reason we are fighting them is because of a bad leader or government. So in the movies every enemy deserves to die and should be shown no mercy, but the actual thing about that is that the enemy is just like any other soldier. And furthermore when the good guys lose a battle in a

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, it was commonly believed that the war was “America’s golden age, a peak in the life of society when everything worked out and the good guys definitely got a happy ending” (2), which is a direct result from Hollywood’s glamorization of the war. During the war, the film industry began to boom, using the war as inspiration for making movies. Lifeboat (1944) and The Moon Is Down (1943) for example, makes it clear who the enemies were because the enemies were always “…cruel, devious, and unprincipled…” (11). It was also clear who the good guys and heroes were. The film industry even glamorized how people died in the war. In these movies whenever an American died their death was quick, painless, and clean. However, when the

“D-Day an event that happened June 6, 1944, Allied troops raged German guards on the shorelines of Normandy (France) to open the best

D-Day, formally known as Operation Overlord, was one of the many monumental battles of World War 2 (The Reader’s Digest 298). It was led by American general Dwight Eisenhower, who was appointed the commander of the American Allied forces in 1944 (“D-Day”), In order to trick the Germans, the Allies had to put many plans into place before Operation Overlord could actually happen. Before the initial attack on the beaches of Normandy took place, the Allies had many plans to fool the Germans. They took war ships, tied balloons to the back of the ship, and sailed up the coast to another side of France. Trailing the

During World War II, ¨[h]undreds of short films, featurettes, and feature films were produced.¨ (ibblio.org.) The OWI produced 267 of these newsreels between 1942 and 1946. These ¨[n]ewsreels averaged 10 minutes in length and consisted of...events from the home front.¨(WWII UN Newsreels) These newsreels were often shown in movie theaters before the feature film, in order to make people pay attention and be completely ´informed´ about the war. A famous example of a newsreel is D-Day, about a decisive battle where the Allies invaded German controlled Europe in their campaign to liberate

The films of the World War II era were much more than just stories about life or love; each unique film showed a different portrayal of the war effort. Although the films showed aspects of the war such as American involvement and cultural aspects, it was not always obvious to see the propaganda behind the façade. Casablanca, directed by Michael Curtiz, is a wartime film that promotes American involvement and contains subtle propaganda.

In the film, the soldiers fought very hard. They went through a lot in this war. They had to defend themselves and their territory. Often times they ran low on food and water. A ton of men died everyday when they were fighting. The soldiers had to deal with orders that were not necessarily smart orders. They had to protect themselves against Germany.

The Normandy Invasion may have been the single most important battle on the Western Front of World War II. Much planning went into the siege of these beaches that ensured a tough, but inevitable victory, as well as other factors, such as the exploitation of the Germans’ ignorance of the attack.

One of the most significant encounters of World War II was the Battle of Normandy (the first day of which is commonly referred to as D-Day). Nearly three million soldiers were deployed for the invasion. Those deployed consisted mainly of American and British soldiers, however Canadian, French, Polish, Belgian, and Czech forces were represented as well (Jensen). The battle was fought in an effort to gain European ground and to reduce the German potential for overrunning Russia (Lucas). The Battle of Normandy was significant in that it was the turning point of World War II, incurred heavy casualties on each side, and was the greatest amphibious landing in history (Cohen).

Production of the film's intense attack scenes were filmed in the same area the actual attack took place on that fateful day in 1941. Large

The Longest Day is relevant to the modern era in many ways. It teaches us the madness and horrors of warfare, and that peace and respect are the only way to avoid such a massive loss of life. However, on the other hand it teaches us that freedom is one of our greatest ideals and is something worth fighting for. It also lets us see what the leaders of each side were thinking and how we can stop ourselves from repeating their mistakes.