Essay on The Longest Day

At the very beginning of the movie they showed the United States Army invading the Omaha Beach. In this scene, they showed all of the casualties on the beach. The scene was able to show the sand was just covered in blood and bodies. Those bodies lying on the sand weren’t all dead either. Some of the bodies on the sand were people still alive, they were just suffering from their wounds from the gun fires and bombs. This particular part in the movie was completely true to what actually happened in real life during WWII.

Before the invasions started, six-thousand vessels and eleven-thousand planes were heading to Normandy. When the invasions began, the invaders used planes and warships to distract the Germans. That´s when the planes dropped the troops behind the defenses to block roads so the Germans couldn't call for help. The troops kept fighting on all the beaches and eventually held victory on each of the beaches. Over a hundred fifty-thousand troops survived the attacks and there were about four-thousand to nine-thousand deaths for German soldiers. As previously stated, the hardest part of the invasion was taking control of Omaha beach. According to the CBBC Newsround, “The heaviest fighting was on Omaha beach. Overall the allies suffered about 10,000 casualties (dead or wounded) on D-Day itself”(CBBC 4). Additionally, the beaches had their fair share of fighting, but none of them compared to the fighting on Omaha beach. Many of the troops were outsmarted by the Germans on Omaha which led to them losing ten-thousand people. To conclude, many of the events on D-day were very crucial and impactful on the

The Battle of Omaha Beach was known as one of the deadliest battles to date within our history. Shortly after the United States entered World War II in 1941, U.S. and allied mission planning began two years prior to the battle of Omaha Beach and the Invasion of Normandy. The intent of the operation was to overthrow Nazi occupied Germany

Hitler and the Allies realized that a battle on the western coast of Europe would decide the outcome of the war. The Allies utilized this knowledge and began immediately planning Operation Overlord. Little did they know, the battle of Normandy would be the most significant Allied offensive battle on the Western front(Walker). In total, the operation would take the combined effort of “ 176,475 men, 3,000 guns, 1,500 tanks, and 15,000 other assorted vehicles”(Walker). People recognize the glorious outcome of that fateful day, June 6,1944, but they don’t know that it took months of strategizing, training, and weather forecasts until Operation Overlord became a legend amongst international armies.

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.

During the Normandy invasion (D-Day), many units came together for the initial assault to help liberate France. One of the big factors for the war was the ability to send airborne artillery and equipment into Normandy using British Horsa gliders (Todd, 2016). These gliders were hard to steer and unreliable, usually smashing into the ground and breaking into pieces. The 319th Glider Field Artillery Regiment (GFAR) was responsible for the artillery portion of the big jump. They landed inside landing zone W, just outside of Ste. Mere Eglise. There were a total of 337 men that flew in 40 gliders during the late hours of June 6th, 1944. Of those 337 men, 15 of them died in action and 58 wounded in action during the glider landings (Todd, 2016). This ended up coming out to a 22 percent casualty rate (Todd, 2016).

The invasion of Normandy, also known as Operation Overlord or D-Day, was perhaps one of the most important battles in the human history. The invasion took place on June 4, 1944, at the Coast of Normandy in France. Troops from over twelve countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America participated in the fight against Germany. Although the battles were enduring and hard-fought, the Allies achieved the final victory; the Allies were finally able to set their feet on the European soil again. The Allied invasion of Normandy was a major turning point of the war that led to the ultimate liberation of Europe from the Nazi forces.

The units that were supposed to come ashore before the first wave were special tanks called DD, or Duplex Drive, tanks. These tanks, especially in the case of Omaha Beach, either sank before or were destroyed as they came ashore. The loss of these tanks meant that the troops landing on Omaha Beach would not have any close support from heavy weapons. ONce the troops began to land, this became a serious problem which the destroyers of the Allied armada solved for the troops on the beach. Destroyers would take turns cruising in as close as they could and then would proceed to provide fire support for the besieged troops by blasting machine gun and 88 mm gun emplacements with their five-inch guns. This fire support was crucial to the formation of a beachhead on Omaha Beach, in doing so, preventing the Allied invasion on Omaha Beach from being thrown back and possibly ending the invasion of France in defeat.

Lt Col Wise described as he received several reports of the Marine successes in the battle as reports of objectives gained came in. Also several German prisoners were taken. The Germans put up a good fight with their machine guns but as Capt. Wass, one of Wise’s officers said,

Paratroopers mission was to take control over road intersections and key bridges on the east and west fronts. In addition to carrying their guns, troops carried extra ammunition, rations, grenades, dynamite, and landmines due to mission possibly lasting 2 or 3 days. Not all paratroopers arrived to their targets they were shot down by enemy fire, downed by heavy gear, or got stuck and captured. Battles on the 5 Normandy shores had terrible conditions on Omaha shores but conditions were smooth on Swords beach. On shores of Juno, Canadian forces landed with the first wave of soldiers that consisted of many losses. As a result ⅓ of Canadians landing crafts were left in poor conditions, 1,200 Canadian casualties, and by morning joined together with the British on Gold beach. British soldiers occupied Gold beach, as the men arrived they met a firm resistance. Mines damaged the first landing craft that included military vehicles as consequence 20 armoured cars were harmed. Naval and air forces destroyed German defenders which was vital for the battle at Gold beach. Sword beach battle went smoothly for the British with most of vehicles making it ashore. But British fighters could not continue ahead as a result of

The Germans had deployed the 352nd infantry division in a defensive doctrine on Omaha beach , Normandy. In hopes of

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.

at German lines which scattered the very land that the allies needed to storm with

For a long time, when anyone thought of a war movie, they immediately thought of Darryl F. Zanuck’s, The Longest Day. Cornelius Ryan, who was the author of the book by the same name, and happened to be a D-day veteran himself, wrote the movie. The book meticulously recreates the events preceding and during the invasion. It is filled with detailed descriptions of multiple occurrences during the invasion. It explains everything from mass attacks on beaches and towns to humorous anecdotes. The book wasn’t exactly a story involving characters, and neither was the film. The Longest Day is more a story of tragedy, glory, and courage surrounding one very important day. And even though mainly American and

However, putting our superficial analytical approach beside and using our holistic approach, its quite evident that Spielberg tries to make this war look like all American as he ignored the contributions of other nations in the D Day landing on the Omaha beach specifically. On the other hand, Spielberg’s best ever can also be criticized on the basis of