[00:00.00] Would nature be on the side of the Allied forces as they prepared to invade mainland Europe
[00:06.87]or would it favour the Germans?No one was certain.
[00:11.42]THE NORMANDY LANDINGS by Anthony Ward'
[00:15.88]The largest and most ambitious military expedition in history was the invasion of Normandy in northern France by British,
[00:25.39]American and Canadian forces that took place in the summer of 1944.Evern nature played a role.
[00:34.56]It took more than a year for military planners to orchestrate every movement of troops,artillery,ships and aircraft
[00:43.21]and to set everything in place for the move that was to open up a second front in Europe.
[00:50.16]This would liberate France and open the way for the final assault on Germany itself.
[00:56.92]Everything was controlled;right down to the placement of military decoys across the English Channel
[01:04.03]to fool the Germans into thinking the attack would come from Britain's closest point to France at Pas de Calais
[01:12.39]rather than in Normandy as planned.
[01:15.99]Everything was controlled,that is,except the weather.
[01:20.46]D-Day,the code name given to the day of invasion,was originally scheduled for5 June 1944.
[01:29.00]This date had been arrived at by considering two factors-moonlight and tide.
[01:35.58]The hour of the invasion would need to be near sunrise,when the seaborne tropps would have a rising tide.
[01:42.84]This would enable them to land close to the obstacles that had been placed to hinder their landing
[01:49.48]without coming ashore on top of them.The paratroopers needed a full moon for visibility.
[01:56.98]The days with the proper tide-moonlight formula closest to the target date were5,6and7June.
[02:05.68](1)The fifth was chosen for D-Day to allow a safety margin in case the attack needed to be postponed.
[02:14.40]In addition to moonlight and favourable tides,calm seas were needed for the crossing.
[02:20.80](2)But an unusually stormy transition from spring woward summer that year held out little hope
[02:28.24]that there would be a suitable break in the weather .It also meant the possiblity that Operation Overlord,
[02:36.79]as the invasion was called,might have to be postponed until later in the year or even the following year.
[02:45.07]With the arrival of 5June,the weather was so bad that General Eisenhower,supreme commander of the invasion forces,
[02:54.18]was forced to postpone the invasion by one day.When he met with his staff to review their options,
[03:02.20]they were faced with the grim reality that 6June did not look much better than the original D-Day.
[03:09.83]The meteorological report gave a thin ray of hope that a lull in the storm would allow enough time to launch the invasion.
[03:18.77]Consulations went on late into the night on whether to press ahead.Opinions were divided.Finally,Eisenhower made his decision
[03:29.61]"I am quite positive we must give the order,"he said."I don't like it,but there it is.
[03:36.50]I don't see how we can do anything else."Within hours,an armada of 3,000landing craft,2,500other ships,
[03:47.13]and500 naval vessels began to leave English ports.
[03:52.46]Meanwhile,critical errors by the German side allowed them to be taken completely by surprise.
[03:59.73]Due to the bad weather,the German navy cancelled its usual patrol of the English Channel.
[04:05.52]Also,a practice drill scheduled for June6 was called off.
[04:11.43]The German meteorological services were unaware of the break in the weather.
[04:17.23]On the eve of the attack,many of the top German leaders were absent from their commands.Rommel
[04:25.25]the general in charge of the coastal defences,was in Germany visiting his wife on her birthday,
[04:32.33]and several officers were some distance away in Rennes or on their way there for a war-game exercise.
[04:41.18]The assault on Normandy began at 12:15 a.m.,
[04:46.28]when the pathfinders for the American airborne airborne units letf their planes and parachuted to earth.
[04:53.64]Five minutes later,on the other side of the invasion area,the British pathfinders made their jump.
[05:01.53]The pathfinders were specially trained to find and mark the drop zones.
[05:07.70]The main airborne assault was to commence within the hour.
[05:12.87]The airborne attack became confused because of stiff winds and the evasive flying of the transport planes
[05:21.38]when they encountered anti-aircraft fire.
[05:25.41]As a result,the paratroopers were scattered over a wide area and most missed their drop zones,
[05:33.48]some by as much as 20miles.Other complications were caused by the terrain,and the worst terrain was on the CotentinPeninsula
[05:44.76]The Germans had laced the open fields with anti-personnel and glider stakes and flooded the low areas.
[05:53.10]The flooding caused the most trouble for the Americans of the101 st and82 nd Airborne divisions,
[06:01.14]with many of the troops drowned,laden down by their heavy equipment.
[06:06.84]The airborne units were to secure the flanks of the amphibious assault.That meant capturing bridges,
[06:15.38]crossroads and coastal batteries.After accomplishing those tasks,
[06:22.15]the paratroopers had to withstand any German couterattacks.
[06:27.06]As the airborne units struggled to achieve their goals,
[06:31.71]the great fleet made its way across the channel to its appointment with destiny.Leading that
[06:39.52]grand armada were the minesweepers.Behind them followed a vast array of naval vessels of every conceivable type.
[06:48.66]Never before had such a fleet been assembled.Including the landing craft carried on board,
[06:56.26]the combined Alliedinvasion armada numbered up to6,000ships.Approximately150,000men were to cross the English Channnel
[07:07.81]and land at assault beaches code-named"Utah,""Omaha,"Gold," "Juno"and"Sword."
[07:16.64]The first areas of French soil wrested from German control were a group of small islands
[07:23.35]located three miles off Utah Beach.
[07:27.43]Allied commanders were concerned that these islands could be used as sites for heavy guns.
[07:33.72]The men of the U.S.4th and 24th Cavalry squadrons were designated to take the islands prior to the main invasion.
[07:42.60]The assault teams found only land mines.The Germans had left the islands unoccupied.
[07:49.68]For the majority of the assault troops,however,the war had not begun yet.
[07:55.14]After spending as long as48 hours aboard the various transport ships as a result of the delay,
[08:02.32]many of the man were miserably seasick and in poor shape for the challenge ahead.
[08:08.52]The naval bombarment began around 5:45a.m.The air attack followed.The naval and air bombardments
[08:19.10]were designed to destroy the beach guns and obstacles,pin down the enemy and provide shelter for the ground troops
[08:28.24]on the open beaches by making craters.Both,however,largely failed in their objectives.Weather conditions had improved,
[08:38.95]but they were not perfect.Because of poor visibility caused by low cloud cover,
[08:46.03]it was decided that the bomber would delay the release of bombs 30seconds to avoid hitting the assaulting troops.
[08:53.84]As a result, the bombs fell inland and missed their targets.Although the naval bombardment was more accurate,
[09:03.35]it was not much more effective against the hardened German gun emplacements.
[09:09.43]The weather also was partially responsible for causing some of the assault craft to miss their assigned landing areas.
[09:17.37]Additionally,many of the landing craft and amphibious tanks foundered in the rough sea.In the Omaha area,
[09:26.78]most of the craft carrying artillery and tanks intended to support the incoming troops sank in the high waves.
[09:35.27]At Utah Beach,however,a strange stroke of good fortune occurred
[09:40.86]when the assault craft encoutered a southerly current that caused them to land in the wrong sector.
[09:47.78]The German shore batteries that would have contested a landing in the original area would undoubtedly have taken a heavy toll
[09:56.22]The landing at the new sector was virtually unopposed.
[10:01.23]Despite difficulties,Eisenhower's gamble with the elements was to pay off.
[10:07.11]The invasion forces succeeded in establishing a toehold on French soil.
[10:12.62]Reinforcements began to pour in,thrusting on deep into France.
[10:18.55]Within a year Hitler's empire,which he had boasted would last a thousand years,lay in ruins.
[10:26.73]obstacle in case faviurable hold out
[10:30.39]障碍物 假使 有利的 提出
[10:34.04]due to cancel call off on the eve of
[10:37.77]由于 取消 取消 在……前夕
[10:41.49]absent stiff complication withstand
[10:45.24]没有的 硬的 困难 抵挡
[10:48.99]concerned prior to pin down object
[10:53.02]担心的 在……之前 把……困住 目标
[11:00.64]负责 争夺 成功 吹嘘
[00:06.87]or would it favour the Germans?No one was certain.
[00:11.42]THE NORMANDY LANDINGS by Anthony Ward'
[00:15.88]The largest and most ambitious military expedition in history was the invasion of Normandy in northern France by British,
[00:25.39]American and Canadian forces that took place in the summer of 1944.Evern nature played a role.
[00:34.56]It took more than a year for military planners to orchestrate every movement of troops,artillery,ships and aircraft
[00:43.21]and to set everything in place for the move that was to open up a second front in Europe.
[00:50.16]This would liberate France and open the way for the final assault on Germany itself.
[00:56.92]Everything was controlled;right down to the placement of military decoys across the English Channel
[01:04.03]to fool the Germans into thinking the attack would come from Britain's closest point to France at Pas de Calais
[01:12.39]rather than in Normandy as planned.
[01:15.99]Everything was controlled,that is,except the weather.
[01:20.46]D-Day,the code name given to the day of invasion,was originally scheduled for5 June 1944.
[01:29.00]This date had been arrived at by considering two factors-moonlight and tide.
[01:35.58]The hour of the invasion would need to be near sunrise,when the seaborne tropps would have a rising tide.
[01:42.84]This would enable them to land close to the obstacles that had been placed to hinder their landing
[01:49.48]without coming ashore on top of them.The paratroopers needed a full moon for visibility.
[01:56.98]The days with the proper tide-moonlight formula closest to the target date were5,6and7June.
[02:05.68](1)The fifth was chosen for D-Day to allow a safety margin in case the attack needed to be postponed.
[02:14.40]In addition to moonlight and favourable tides,calm seas were needed for the crossing.
[02:20.80](2)But an unusually stormy transition from spring woward summer that year held out little hope
[02:28.24]that there would be a suitable break in the weather .It also meant the possiblity that Operation Overlord,
[02:36.79]as the invasion was called,might have to be postponed until later in the year or even the following year.
[02:45.07]With the arrival of 5June,the weather was so bad that General Eisenhower,supreme commander of the invasion forces,
[02:54.18]was forced to postpone the invasion by one day.When he met with his staff to review their options,
[03:02.20]they were faced with the grim reality that 6June did not look much better than the original D-Day.
[03:09.83]The meteorological report gave a thin ray of hope that a lull in the storm would allow enough time to launch the invasion.
[03:18.77]Consulations went on late into the night on whether to press ahead.Opinions were divided.Finally,Eisenhower made his decision
[03:29.61]"I am quite positive we must give the order,"he said."I don't like it,but there it is.
[03:36.50]I don't see how we can do anything else."Within hours,an armada of 3,000landing craft,2,500other ships,
[03:47.13]and500 naval vessels began to leave English ports.
[03:52.46]Meanwhile,critical errors by the German side allowed them to be taken completely by surprise.
[03:59.73]Due to the bad weather,the German navy cancelled its usual patrol of the English Channel.
[04:05.52]Also,a practice drill scheduled for June6 was called off.
[04:11.43]The German meteorological services were unaware of the break in the weather.
[04:17.23]On the eve of the attack,many of the top German leaders were absent from their commands.Rommel
[04:25.25]the general in charge of the coastal defences,was in Germany visiting his wife on her birthday,
[04:32.33]and several officers were some distance away in Rennes or on their way there for a war-game exercise.
[04:41.18]The assault on Normandy began at 12:15 a.m.,
[04:46.28]when the pathfinders for the American airborne airborne units letf their planes and parachuted to earth.
[04:53.64]Five minutes later,on the other side of the invasion area,the British pathfinders made their jump.
[05:01.53]The pathfinders were specially trained to find and mark the drop zones.
[05:07.70]The main airborne assault was to commence within the hour.
[05:12.87]The airborne attack became confused because of stiff winds and the evasive flying of the transport planes
[05:21.38]when they encountered anti-aircraft fire.
[05:25.41]As a result,the paratroopers were scattered over a wide area and most missed their drop zones,
[05:33.48]some by as much as 20miles.Other complications were caused by the terrain,and the worst terrain was on the CotentinPeninsula
[05:44.76]The Germans had laced the open fields with anti-personnel and glider stakes and flooded the low areas.
[05:53.10]The flooding caused the most trouble for the Americans of the101 st and82 nd Airborne divisions,
[06:01.14]with many of the troops drowned,laden down by their heavy equipment.
[06:06.84]The airborne units were to secure the flanks of the amphibious assault.That meant capturing bridges,
[06:15.38]crossroads and coastal batteries.After accomplishing those tasks,
[06:22.15]the paratroopers had to withstand any German couterattacks.
[06:27.06]As the airborne units struggled to achieve their goals,
[06:31.71]the great fleet made its way across the channel to its appointment with destiny.Leading that
[06:39.52]grand armada were the minesweepers.Behind them followed a vast array of naval vessels of every conceivable type.
[06:48.66]Never before had such a fleet been assembled.Including the landing craft carried on board,
[06:56.26]the combined Alliedinvasion armada numbered up to6,000ships.Approximately150,000men were to cross the English Channnel
[07:07.81]and land at assault beaches code-named"Utah,""Omaha,"Gold," "Juno"and"Sword."
[07:16.64]The first areas of French soil wrested from German control were a group of small islands
[07:23.35]located three miles off Utah Beach.
[07:27.43]Allied commanders were concerned that these islands could be used as sites for heavy guns.
[07:33.72]The men of the U.S.4th and 24th Cavalry squadrons were designated to take the islands prior to the main invasion.
[07:42.60]The assault teams found only land mines.The Germans had left the islands unoccupied.
[07:49.68]For the majority of the assault troops,however,the war had not begun yet.
[07:55.14]After spending as long as48 hours aboard the various transport ships as a result of the delay,
[08:02.32]many of the man were miserably seasick and in poor shape for the challenge ahead.
[08:08.52]The naval bombarment began around 5:45a.m.The air attack followed.The naval and air bombardments
[08:19.10]were designed to destroy the beach guns and obstacles,pin down the enemy and provide shelter for the ground troops
[08:28.24]on the open beaches by making craters.Both,however,largely failed in their objectives.Weather conditions had improved,
[08:38.95]but they were not perfect.Because of poor visibility caused by low cloud cover,
[08:46.03]it was decided that the bomber would delay the release of bombs 30seconds to avoid hitting the assaulting troops.
[08:53.84]As a result, the bombs fell inland and missed their targets.Although the naval bombardment was more accurate,
[09:03.35]it was not much more effective against the hardened German gun emplacements.
[09:09.43]The weather also was partially responsible for causing some of the assault craft to miss their assigned landing areas.
[09:17.37]Additionally,many of the landing craft and amphibious tanks foundered in the rough sea.In the Omaha area,
[09:26.78]most of the craft carrying artillery and tanks intended to support the incoming troops sank in the high waves.
[09:35.27]At Utah Beach,however,a strange stroke of good fortune occurred
[09:40.86]when the assault craft encoutered a southerly current that caused them to land in the wrong sector.
[09:47.78]The German shore batteries that would have contested a landing in the original area would undoubtedly have taken a heavy toll
[09:56.22]The landing at the new sector was virtually unopposed.
[10:01.23]Despite difficulties,Eisenhower's gamble with the elements was to pay off.
[10:07.11]The invasion forces succeeded in establishing a toehold on French soil.
[10:12.62]Reinforcements began to pour in,thrusting on deep into France.
[10:18.55]Within a year Hitler's empire,which he had boasted would last a thousand years,lay in ruins.
[10:26.73]obstacle in case faviurable hold out
[10:30.39]障碍物 假使 有利的 提出
[10:34.04]due to cancel call off on the eve of
[10:37.77]由于 取消 取消 在……前夕
[10:41.49]absent stiff complication withstand
[10:45.24]没有的 硬的 困难 抵挡
[10:48.99]concerned prior to pin down object
[10:53.02]担心的 在……之前 把……困住 目标
[11:00.64]负责 争夺 成功 吹嘘
