Old Week
Abstract: The war blockbuster "The Longest Day", which was released sixty years ago, is hailed as the most classic war film, but most viewers are impressed by this film with many small characters and details, and it is the three main lines of the entire film that organically blend and switch to reflect the largest amphibious landing battle ever. Why aren't the battle scenes in the film impressive?
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Figure 20: The opening poster for "The Longest Day"
【Continued from the previous part】
Sixty years ago, the war blockbuster "The Longest Day" was hailed as the most classic war film, but most viewers were impressed by the many small characters and details of this film, and it was the three main lines of the entire film that organically blended and switched to reflect the largest amphibious landing battle ever. Why aren't the battle scenes in the film impressive?
Although the film is nearly three hours (178 minutes), the real war is not too long, and if you add up the time of all the war scenes, it does not reach a third of the length, which is obviously not enough for a film that is known as a war blockbuster. Therefore, "The Longest Day" does not rely on battle scenes to win, but mainly through the portrayal of characters and the description of details to show the war.
Let's take stock of the war scenes in "The Longest Day":
The first section was when the British Howard Commando seized the Bridge over the Orne River. In the film, the British commando team landed on a glider, the officers and soldiers jumped out of the cabin, immediately launched an attack on the German troops guarding the bridge, and quickly eliminated the German army with submachine guns and grenades, while several soldiers hung forward with their hands from under the bridge, and removed the explosives that the German army had placed under the bridge first. After only a short battle, the British captured the bridge in its entirety, but the capture of the bridge was only the first step, and the most important task of the Howard Commando was to hold the bridge and hold out until the main force landing from the beach arrived. Because the bridge was the choke point for the landing force to advance deeper, it was sent to the commandos to seize it by surprise before the landing began, otherwise once the Germans blew up the bridge, the landing force would have difficulty crossing the obstruction of the Orne River and marching inland.
Figure 21: Richard Todd plays Major Howard, a former captain in the 7th Regiment of the 5th Parachute Brigade of the British 6th Airborne Division, who took part in the airborne operation in Normandy
Historically, the commandos led by Major Howard were based on D Company D, 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regiments, of which Major Howard was the company commander, and strengthened the combat backbone and the volunteers of the Royal Engineering Force selected from the whole regiment, for a total of 180 people. Their task was to seize two bridges over the Orne and Caen Canals in the villages of Longville and Benovere and hold out until the landing forces arrived.
Plane No. 1, piloted by pilots Sg. Jim Volwalk and Sergeant John Ains vaughan, landed very accurately just a few meters from the scheduled landing site - this landing was hailed as "the most accurate glider landing in World War II", although the landing site was only 50 meters from the bridge, and the sound of the glider landing was very obvious in the silent night, but the German sentry standing guard at the bridgehead thought that the air raided Allied bombers were shot down and crashed, and did not think that it was the British glider landing. So Howard's commandos still had the advantage of surprise and suddenness. Indeed, as in the film, the British commandos seized the two bridges in one fell swoop. They then repelled the Germans who were trying to retake the bridge, successfully holding out until the landing forces arrived.
After the war, in order to commemorate the legendary attack of howard commandos, france renamed the two bridges "Pegasus Bridge" and "Hossa Bridge" respectively, pegasus is the armband pattern of the British glider unit, and Hosha is the hossage glider transporting the commando team.
Figure 22: The Benoville Village Bridge, which today has been renamed pegasus bridge, was crucial for the Normandy landings
The second phase of the battle was the airborne landing of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division in the town of St. Melis-Eglis. This is arguably the most impressive battle scene in the film, including the fact that the American officer mentioned in the film that the F Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 505th Regiment landed in the center of the town and was almost slaughtered, and the whole army was destroyed.
A building on the edge of the town center square was hit by incendiary bombs dropped by Allied aircraft, and a fire broke out, so the mayor of Renault asked the Germans to lift the curfew, rang the bell of the town's famous Gothic church (which is also a landmark building in the town of St. Melis-Eglis), and organized hundreds of residents to extinguish the fire. Just then, a large number of Allied transport planes flew low, and then more than twenty paratroopers fell towards the central square of the town, and because of the flames, the paratroopers who were slowly descending in the night sky were very conspicuous, and the German soldiers who were monitoring the residents on the square immediately opened fire. The Germans considered the square to be the center of the Allied paratroopers' airborne landings, so Germans from elsewhere in the town rushed to reinforcements. The residents of the square thought they were at the center of a fierce battle, and they were terrified. In fact, the German army was also very nervous, so it was almost crazy to shoot in the air, many paratroopers were already beaten into a sieve in the air, some were knocked down by dense bullets just after landing, and one or two paratroopers fell directly into the burning building, and the ammunition they carried was immediately detonated...
The atmosphere of this scene in the film is very tragic, but it does not match the real history. In fact, the town of St. Melis-Egliss was the scattered paratroopers of the 2nd Battalion E Company of the 505th Regiment and the 508th Regiment who deviated from the scheduled landing site, a total of about 30 people, and about 20 people fell to the town center square, and the final casualties were only 12.
Lieutenant Colonel Klaus, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 505th Regiment, gathered 150 paratroopers outside the town and found a native Frenchman as a guide, who told Klaus that due to the previous battle in the square, the German army in the town was still in the woods, and most of them withdrew to the woods south of the town, and now there were only 40 Germans left in the town. So Klaus commanded his troops to adopt sneak tactics, sneaked into the town, killed 10 Germans, captured 30, and captured the town of St. Melis-Eglis in one fell swoop. Klaus then raised an American flag in the town hall, which is not simple, it is the flag raised by the 505th Regiment after it invaded Naples, Italy, a year ago, which was also the first flag raised by the Us military in a French town.
Figure 23: The body of an American paratrooper is hung on a power bar in the film
The third battle scene is the landing on the beach. The Allied forces on the beach of "Omaha" were suppressed by German fire on the beach, with heavy casualties; There were also Allied troops on Utah Beach who landed smoothly. In this battle scene, it is mainly to capture the commanding heights of "Omaha" Beach, Cape Oak. In the film, the U.S. military uses mortars to throw a steel grappling hook with a rope onto a cliff, using the grappling hook to hook a barbed wire fence or a gap in a rock, then grabbing the rope and starting to climb, and finally climbing the cliff, eliminating the German army on the cliff.
Historically, the 155 mm shore guns deployed by the German army on Cape Oak at an altitude of about 40 meters above sea level could pose a great threat to the Allied warships operating along the coast of "Omaha", so the Allies had sent bombers to bomb several weeks ago, and by June 6, the US Navy battleship "Texas" was specially sent to bombard Cape Oak with a 356 mm main gun, and the Allied forces on this shore artillery position had accumulated 10,000 tons of ammunition and did not destroy it!
So the U.S. army sent the 2nd Ranger Assault Battalion to capture Cape Oak to remove the nail. Since many of the landing craft had strayed from their intended positions, less than 200 people had actually landed at Cape Oak, and fortunately The commander of the 2nd Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Rad, was among those 200 men, so he quickly organized his troops to begin the offensive. With their 4 amphibious tanks, 1 sunk into the sea, 3 drove to the beach, but because the pebble embankment is wet and slippery clay can not be crossed, so it can only rely on the Rangers themselves, the Rangers use telescopic ladders and secret weapons - steel grapple hooks with ropes fired by mortars, but because the ropes are soaked by the sea and increase the weight, many of the rope grapple hooks have not been able to hook the dirt on the top of the cliff, fortunately, there are still a few successes, the Rangers grab the rope and start climbing, The Germans on Cape Oak spotted and began to shoot and throw grenades under the cliff, and the Rangers under the cliff immediately returned fire with heavy fire, suppressing the Germans, and the comrades who covered the climb successfully climbed to the top of the mountain, and after a short battle, the Rangers occupied Cape Oak. However, they found no shore guns in the artillery bunker protected by concrete fortifications, only four black-painted telephone poles! But indications in the fort showed that these 155 mm heavy guns had apparently just been transferred under heavy Allied air raids, and then the Rangers searched and finally found 4 155 mm shore guns that were ready for firing at 250 meters away, and immediately destroyed all 4 shore guns with a thermogen grenade and detonated all the shells - at this time, at 9 o'clock, the 2nd Assault Battalion successfully completed the task!
Figure 24: American soldiers climb Cape Oak in the film
Figure 25: Historical photo of the U.S. Rangers climbing Cape Oak, with a steel grappling hook in the lower left corner
The film basically restores the battle of the Ranger's 2nd Assault Battalion to capture Cape Oak, and then introduces the cavalry downstream, which is the oldest special forces unit in the U.S. Army, and when it landed in Normandy, the now famous green berets and Delta Troops had not yet been born.
Ranger, also translated as Einsatzgruppen or Commando. Because the Ranger's uniform is a black beret, it is also called a "black beret" to distinguish it from another special forces unit of the U.S. Army, the Green Beret.
The origins of the Rangers can be traced back to the American colonies in 1670, when the British used the term "Rangers" to refer to the light cavalry detachments responsible for patrolling, reconnaissance and providing early warning.
In 1756, the U.S. Army established its first regular Ranger unit, and Major Robert Rogers integrated nine companies of Rangers to extensively use guerrilla and reconnaissance tactics to penetrate behind enemy lines. The 19 Rangers rules created by Major Rogers and the wearing of a black beret continue to this day.
During the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Armies established Ranger units and performed well in the war, so after the Independence of the United States, the Army retained 12 companies of Rangers, but later they were gradually abolished.
After the outbreak of World War II, Major General Lucian Truscote decided to set up a special forces unit that could fight alongside the British "Glamand" commandos, and named it "Ranger" in order to highlight the American characteristics. In June 1942, the 1st Ranger Battalion was formally established, and a month later 49 officers and men were sent to participate in the Battle of Dieppe. As a result, the Rangers became the first American unit to fight the Germans in the war.
Later, in the North African theater, the Rangers were active behind the German lines and achieved a series of victories, thus winning the full recognition of the American high command and rapidly expanding to 6 battalions. The expanded Rangers performed well in the Italian battlefield and the Indo-Burmese battlefield.
In June 1944, the 2nd and 5th Battalions of the Rangers took part in the Normandy landings, and the rangers' heroic and good fighting impressed Brigadier General Kota, deputy commander of the 29th Division, with his words "Rangers, pioneers!" (Rangers, lead the way) thus became the Ranger's motto.
Figure 26: Logo of the U.S. Ranger Unit
Captain John Miller, played by Tom Hanks in another classic war film, Save Private Ryan, is part of Company C, the Rangers' 2nd Assault Battalion, which has a strength of 70 men and suffered 58 casualties in the Battle of Normandy, with a casualty rate of more than 82%.
After the end of World War II, 6 Ranger battalions were dismantled one after another. Only the 5307th Mixed Detachment in the Indo-Burma Theater was retained and reorganized into the 75th Infantry Regiment in 1954.
During the Korean War, the U.S. army revived the Rangers, but it was very different from the World War II period, with a 112-man Ranger company assigned to various infantry divisions, undertaking unconventional combat tasks such as reconnaissance and assault. The Korean War ended and the Rangers were disbanded again.
In 1969, reconnaissance companies from 9 infantry divisions and the 75th Infantry Regiment were combined to re-establish the Ranger Unit. Due to its outstanding performance in the Vietnam War, the U.S. Military established a permanent Ranger Unit, the 75th Ranger Regiment, in 1974 to deal with various emergencies.
The 75th Ranger Regiment has a strength of 2,300 men and consists of 3 battalions, regimental headquarters and 3 battalions in Fort Benning, Georgia, 1 battalion in Fort Stuart, Georgia, and 2 battalions in Fort Louis, Washington. The 3 battalions rotated as Rangers on duty and were able to deploy to any corner of the world within 18 hours of receiving an order.
After its establishment, the 75th Ranger Regiment participated in Operation Desert 1, which rescued iranian embassy hostages in 1980, Operation Fury, which invaded Grenada in 1983, Operation Just Cause, which invaded Panama in 1984, the Gulf War in 1991, and the Somalia peacekeeping operation in 1993.
The 1993 Somali peacekeeping operation was the prototype for the film Black Hawk Down. Although the B Company of the 3rd Battalion of rangers suffered heavy losses of 16 killed, 74 wounded, 1 missing and 1 captured in this operation, the rangers' sacrifice and dedication in battle were still highly praised.
Figure 27: Today's Rangers are still the elite units of the American Army
The fourth scene of the battle is when French commandos attack the small town of Benoville. From the time the French commander ordered the charge, the commandos rushed forward along the road by the dock, rushed all the way to the end of the road, and then rushed over a small iron bridge to continue to advance deep into the town, and were suppressed by the fierce fire of a German defensive support point, to the French commander had to order a pause in the attack to hide in place. It's a long shot of more than two minutes in one go, and it's a classic. This defensive support point of the German army was rebuilt from a three-story hotel building, the roof of which was equipped with machine guns and 20 mm machine guns, and on the ground floor near the ground, it was a hidden gun position, and a gun was arranged, which should be a 75 mm Pak40 anti-tank gun from the muzzle style and the shape of the gun body. The French army used the American "Bazouga" rocket artillery and the German or artillery to bombard, because the German gun position is very hidden, only to expose a firing hole, so it is difficult to accurately destroy. So the French commander had to brave German fire and rush across the small iron bridge - the iron bridge was blown off by a German artillery shell, the commander pulled the iron railing from the half-cut iron bridge to climb ashore, and then brought an M4 "Sherman" tank, a cannon collapsed the building above the German gun position to block the firing hole, and then the shell bombed off the fire point on the roof, the French soldiers immediately shouted out, and the Germans had to shoot out the white flag.
Historically, the Normandy landings did include a French commando, the French 1st Flintlock Assault Company, which was part of the 1st Assault Brigade of the British Joint Operations Command. In 1940, britain formed the world's first modern special forces force , the " Göhmand " unit , which subsequently conducted a series of surprise operations against the German occupation zone in Europe. Captain Philipp Kofir of the French Navy was very respectful of the "Göhmand" forces, and he suggested that a similar force be formed in the Free French Army, which was quickly approved. So Captain Philippe (that is, the French commander in the film) recruited a group of volunteers from the French army to form a French naval commando team, trained by the British "Gomand" unit, who was more rigorous and hardworking than the British army in training, so there were many casualties in training. And before the Normandy landings, they had infiltrated the French mainland many times to carry out surprise operations. At the time of the Normandy landings, Philippe led the 1st Flintlock Assault Company, composed of 177 French commandos, to land with the British at "Sword" Beach, becoming the first French army to land on the land of the motherland from the sea.
Figure 28: Captain Philippe Kofir, commander of the French commando
They then pushed inland and, as shown in the film, captured the town of Benoville in one fell swoop. On the first day of the Battle of Normandy, the 177-man French commando team suffered 21 casualties and 95 wounded (53 of whom were seriously wounded), and Captain Philippe was wounded twice, with a casualty rate of up to two-thirds, which showed the bravery of its combat.
The British "Gomander" troops all wore red berets, but the French commandos wore green berets to distinguish them from the British. Although the U.S. Army Special Forces were later known for their green berets, the French Naval Commandos, which also wore green berets, were established earlier than the green berets of the U.S. Army. In the film, you can see that the French commandos are wearing berets, but because of the black-and-white film, it is impossible to see that it is green.
Today, the company has developed into the most elite special forces unit in France, the Hubert Commando of the Naval Commando. It has performed very well in all local conflicts and counter-terrorism operations.
Fig. 29: The uniform of the French naval commando, wearing a green beret on the head, please note the logo of free France in the upper right corner, the red, white and blue tricolor flag with the Lorraine cross, the Lorraine cross is to add a small horizontal bar to the common cross, the earliest is the symbol of Joan of Arc, and later gradually known as the symbol of indomitability and freedom
The final scene of the battle was at Omaha Beach, where Brigadier General Kota, deputy commander of the 29th Division, boosted morale and reorganized the sappers to blast through the barricades, allowing the troops to rush out of the beach and push inland.
Historically, Kota personally commanded the sappers to blow up the barbed wire in front of the pebble embankment with an explosive canister, and then led the troops over the pebble embankment, and then began to climb the cliff from behind to attack the German army on the cliff, which opened the passage out of the beach. However, Commodore Kota is only a small section of the "Omaha" beach, which was eventually able to turn the tide of defeat, mainly by the U.S. Navy, but it is not shown in the film.
Figure 30: Brigadier General Kota, deputy commander of the U.S. 29th Division
The Ranger 2nd Assault Battalion removed the German shore guns at Cape Oak, and the Allied naval warships were able to approach the coast without any hesitation in providing naval gun support. In fact, long before the Rangers captured Cape Oak, the Allied naval warships had already taken the initiative to support the shore troops with naval guns - watching the landing troops on the shore being suppressed on the beach by the fierce German fire, it was difficult to walk and kill the pillow, only the 20 mm guns on the landing craft could fire support, but the 20 mm guns were too weak to help, and the battleships, cruisers, and destroyers on the sea had powerful large-caliber naval guns, but because the Allies were worried that the guns had accidentally injured the landing troops, they were strictly ordered after the extension of the naval gun fire Without the guidance of the naval artillery fire control team, it is not allowed to fire at will. However, seeing that the landing troops suffered heavy casualties under German fire, they could not fire a single shot, which was too humiliating!
Finally, the battleships took the initiative to fire their guns in defiance of the order, and it was believed that the first to do so was the destroyer USS McCook (hull number DD-252), and the captain, Major Ralph Remy, commanded the "McCock" close to the beach and paralleled the side of the ship to the beach, so as to fully develop the fire to the German artillery, machine gun fire points and fortifications, and the destroyer's 127 mm main gun was nothing in the warship, but it could be regarded as a heavy gun on land.
Following the example of the McCook, destroyers harding, Shublick, Kamick, Frankfort, and Satley all approached the beach and opened fire on shore targets. The destroyers were dangerous at such a close distance to the coast, potentially stranded (it was true that the keels of several destroyers had hit the bottom of the sea, but the damage was minor), and there was the threat of German shore guns and mines, but the initiative of these destroyers became the only fire support for the landing forces on Omaha Beach in the most difficult times.
Seeing this, Major Bryant, commander of the Naval Artillery Fire Support Group in the Omaha sea, called all destroyers through the ship's intercom system to "Guys!" Lean up and kill them! A total of 11 destroyers joined the ranks of firing on the opposite shore, their guns sobbing that the Germans cried wolf, and even the Germans signaled surrender to the destroyers with flags and lights.
Figure 31: This most famous photo of the Normandy landings is Omah and the beach
Although there was no guidance from the naval gun fire control group, some of which were killed, some of which were damaged by the radio, and could not call the warship, the destroyer fired fiercely at every discovered German fire point, and also used the infantry to fire tracer bombs as a target guide, and the infantry soon understood that they would begin to use tracer bullets to guide the ship's guns to shoot, achieving a very tacit coordination between land and sea.
Just as Colonel Smith Mason, chief of staff of the 1st Infantry Division, later carefully inspected the German fortifications in Omaha and reported to the U.S. War Department that "the German fortifications can be said to be impregnable, and indeed the Germans repelled all our Army attacks." But there was one reason they couldn't resist, and that was our naval gun fire support. Without naval gunfire support, the landing would certainly not have been successful. ”
With the elimination of the threat of cape Oak shore guns, not only destroyers, but also cruisers and battleships sailed to the coast of Omaha, supporting the landing forces with naval guns under the instruction of spitfire fighters. The increasingly accurate and fierce naval gun fire not only broke the German defenses, but also greatly boosted the morale of the landing troops on the beach, and finally the landing troops broke the predicament, rushed out of the beach and began to advance inland.
On the day of D, the U.S. military landed a total of 34,000 people on the "Omaha" beach, with 2,374 casualties, a casualty rate of about 7%, which was the largest casualty among the five landing beaches, more than the total casualties of the other four beaches, but the expected casualty rate at the Allied high command was 12%, and if this was the case, the casualties were even more frightening.
Figure 32: The Normandy American Memorial Cemetery, where 9,387 American officers and soldiers who died in the Battle of Normandy, was buried by the French government as a gift to the United States for its sacrifices in lifting france
The most critical reason why the U.S. military can turn the tide is the Navy's naval gun support, just as the 5th Army Commander Jerro sent the first telegram to Bradley after coming ashore: "Thank God for creating the U.S. Navy for us!" You know, the contradiction between the U.S. Army and the Navy is very deep, and getting such an evaluation from the Army does show the huge role of the Navy in the "Omaha" beach.
The battle scene in "The Longest Day" is not grand, the length is not long, but it is still a more realistic restoration of the war at that time, of course, the same Normandy landing theme, the first twenty minutes of the "Omaha" beach battle scene of "Saving Private Ryan" released in 1998, whether it is visual or auditory effects, it is more realistic and shocking, after all, it is more realistic and shocking after more than thirty years of "The Longest Day", film technology and means of expression have been greatly developed, completely incomparable. It is considerable that in 1962, when "The Longest Day" was released, this war blockbuster is definitely the pinnacle of perfection, even after sixty years, it is still a classic, and every time it is brushed, it can still be touching and shocking.
Figure 33: Cover of Normandy Landings: The Greatest Landings of World War II
Figure 34: "Normandy Landings" in the Himalayas Online's Old Zhou Military column
Finally, if you are interested in the Normandy landing campaign, you can look at the "Normandy Landing Campaign: The Largest Landing Battle of the Second World War" edited by Lao Zhou and published by the Shanghai Institute of Social Sciences Press, which can be ordered on the official websites of Jingdong, Dangdang, Social Science Publishing House and the "Zhibingtang Bookstore" on the website of a treasure. Friends who like to listen to audio can search for "Normandy Landings" in the "Old Zhou Military" column on the Himalayas Network and listen to it for free.
(The picture of this article is from the network)
Lao Zhou, whose real name is Zhou Ming, once used the network name Guangting, has long been engaged in the study of military history, and has served as a guest of military columns on Phoenix Satellite TV and Shanghai Television for many times. He has published more than 20 military books, which can be consulted and purchased in the micro-store "Zhibingtang Bookstore" and a treasure online store "Zhibingtang Bookstore". Now there is a personal column in the Himalayas, "Old Zhou Military", which produces military audio programs. In major video platforms, the "Old Zhou New Observation" video number has been opened to interpret military hotspots, please support.