Hitler's Last Stand (2018) s03e01 Episode Script
No Better Place to Die
1
NARRATOR:
June 1944.
(explosion)
After his commanding officer is killed,
and his platoon runs low on ammunition,
an American sergeant requests
permission to withdraw
during a heavy German counterattack.
(gunfire)
But with their position critical
to getting Allied troops off the beaches,
the order he receives
in response is clear:
“We stay.
There is no better place to die.”
♪
(explosion)
On June 6th, 1944,
Allied forces finally land
troops in Normandy
to open the Western Front.
(explosion)
(speaks German)
But Nazi fanatics and diehards continue
to fight ferociously for survival.
D-Day was a battle.
They still need to win the war.
June 5th, 1944.
Somewhere over the English channel.
♪
American Brigadier General, James Gavin,
flies onboard a C-47 aircraft
with his stick of paratroopers
from the 82nd Airborne Division.
♪
Gavin watches through the darkness
for the shores of France,
in a bid to locate landmarks.
As he detects the outline of the coast,
their plane slams into a cloud bank.
Gavin suspects a German smoke screen,
and quickly checks his watch.
With no visibility, Gavin must now
rely on time to pinpoint his drop zone.
(tense music playing)
Hundreds of American aircraft
will take off from England,
then approach their targets from the west.
Gavin needs to time out exactly
eight and a half minutes
from their arrival at the French coast.
Without visual references,
it will be easy to miss their drop zones,
and if they wait too long,
they could end up in the English Channel.
As June 5th ends,
the day the world has waited for since
the Nazis occupied much
of Western Europe begins.
James Gavin and his men prepare
to be part of a critical first strike.
The Allies plan to deliver
thousands of airborne troops into France.
DR. JOHN MCMANUS:
They’re gonna drop in
amid the darkness, and they’re gonna
take on any Germans they find,
and they’re gonna secure
control the choke points.
Basically, any way
they can run interference
for the invasion folks, and make life
more of a headache for the Germans,
you know, they’re gonna do exactly that.
NARRATOR: But
Generalfeldmarschall, Erwin Rommel,
has anticipated an Allied airborne attack.
DR. PETER LIEB:
Rommel knows that he
needs to supply his fighting forces
at the beaches,
and if the rear areas
are threatened by airborne troops,
and those airborne troops
cut off the supply lines,
it means that the troops
at the beaches would starve.
NARRATOR:
To confuse pilots and drown paratroopers,
the Germans dam local rivers
to flood French fields.
They also erect thousands of booby-traps.
The “Rommelspargel”
or “Rommel’s Asparagus”
is named after Rommel himself.
DR. LIEB:
These are poles eight to 10 feet high
driven into the ground, wired together,
equipped with mines and explosive,
so any Allied glider that is trying
to land in this area will blow up,
will explode.
NARRATOR: General Rommel brags
that a single German corps
has erected 900,000 of his asparagus
to counter an air invasion.
Allied reconnaissance flyovers
detect the density of “asparagus,”
and other preparations
in their proposed drop zones.
DR. MCMANUS: There's a, kind of,
an adjustment on the fly,
but there's also some consideration
given to terminating
the airborne mission altogether.
NARRATOR:
In the end, airborne planners decide
to move their drop zones
to avoid the hazards.
♪
Now over France,
James Gavin mobilizes his paratroopers.
BG JAMES GAVIN (shouts):
Get ready! Everybody up!
NARRATOR: Most airborne generals
had jumpmasters, but not Gavin.
He is his own jumpmaster.
BG GAVIN (shouts):
Equipment check!
NARRATOR: He teaches and trains
others to parachute safely.
BG GAVIN (shouts):
Sound off!
- PARATROOPER 8 (off screen): Eight okay!
- PARATROOPER 7 (off screen): Seven okay!
- PARATROOPER 6 (off screen): Six okay!
- PARATROOPER 5: Five okay!
- PARATROOPER 4 (off screen): Four okay!
- PARATROOPER 3: Three okay!
ED RUGGERO:
Jim Gavin used to tell his paratroopers,
"You have to be last one in the chow line,
and first one out the door."
This is bigger than just
how ya get off an airplane,
uh, or how you line up for chow.
It really encompasses everything.
The leader needs to be out front
when, uh, it's time to take a risk,
and needs to put himself last
when it's a benefit to the troops.
NARRATOR: It has been seven minutes
since Gavin’s C-47 hit the cloud bank.
When the sky clears
he gets a quick look
at the landscape below.
(gunfire)
Without warning, flak and small arms fire
pepper the sky around the plane.
(gunfire and explosion)
RUGGERO: Gavin describes
the sound of the anti-aircraft fire
as like pebbles on the roof,
hitting the airplane,
but the airplane is unarmored,
the fuel tanks, in particular, unarmored,
and, of course, those pebbles
are incoming fire,
all of which pose
a threat to the soldiers.
There's a lot of emphasis on getting out
of the airplane very quickly.
NARRATOR: Under attack, one of their
pilots switches on the green light.
BG GAVIN (shouts):
Go!
NARRATOR: With a last look at the ground,
Gavin jumps into the darkness.
The plan is to release the paratroopers
at an altitude of about 600 feet.
DR. MCMANUS: You’re gonna have
greater accuracy dropping lower,
and accuracy is very important
because you want to be able
to assemble quickly.
But, of course, on D-Day,
many of them do drop
at a - at a lower altitude
just because of the chaos of the moment.
♪
NARRATOR: Gavin has just enough time
for his parachute to open.
- (thumps)
- NARRATOR: He lands hard.
- (cow moos)
- RUGGERO: Gavin thinks it's a good sign
when he lands and notices
cows right in the area,
because he knows it's not
a German minefield.
NARRATOR:
It is a good landing
but other paratroopers
are not so fortunate.
DR. MCMANUS: In World War II,
the parachutes gave you
very little control over where
you were gonna go,
and where you were gonna land.
And it's very, very possible
that you'd have this horrible experience
of drifting toward a fire,
and not being able to avoid it.
(splashes in water)
NARRATOR: Obstacles, bullets,
and fields flooded to drown,
also await many unlucky troopers
as they arrive in the French countryside.
(dramatic music playing)
- GERMAN SOLDIER (shouts): Feuern!
- (gunshots)
NARRATOR: Gavin frees himself
from his chute and begins to orientate.
He has lost his watch
but locates his weapon.
He hears a noise across a hedgerow.
DR. MCMANUS:
Deciding whether someone's friend or foe
in this circumstance
could mean life or death.
MALE VOICE (off screen):
Flash.
MALE VOICE (off screen):
Thunder.
NARRATOR:
In addition to verbal challenges,
which require the correct
code word in return,
some airborne troops
also use a clicker or cricket.
- A single click is the challenge.
- (clicks)
NARRATOR: If the response is two clicks,
you have found a friendly.
If not, you had better be ready to shoot.
With the correct replies,
Gavin starts to assemble his men.
He does not recognize his surroundings.
Gavin, like many
of the 82nd Airborne Division,
has landed off target.
The cloud bank disoriented
the C-47 pilots,
and most paratroopers are dropped
well outside their drop zones.
Just before dawn,
Gavin’s men locate a welcome landmark
a raised railroad.
Unfortunately, it runs along
the far side of a marsh.
(gunshot)
NARRATOR:
Also, the Germans have now detected
the American presence,
and begun to attack.
(gunfire)
NARRATOR: As German gunfire intensifies
Gavin leads his men into the water.
(gunfire)
NARRATOR:
June 6th, 1944. Normandy, France.
After dropping behind
enemy lines hours before,
American Brigadier General James Gavin
of the 82nd Airborne Division
must make his way to a raised railway
on the far side of a swamp
with his paratroopers under fire.
(gunfire)
They wade through the water
trying to keep their weapons dry.
Gavin and his men reach the embankment
on the other side as daylight brightens.
(gunfire)
Still wet, and with the marsh
and long night behind them,
they hear gunfire in the distance.
(gunfire)
RUGGERO: He recognizes
soldiers of the 505th,
which is the regiment that
he commanded in Sicily
the year before.
Lieutenant Dolan was
a commander of A Company.
His company executed
a very tight drop zone.
They landed together in the right spot.
That's something he figured out
within 20 or 30 minutes.
He moved off with 90 percent
of his company right on time.
NARRATOR: Like Dolan, Gavin has located
one the 82nd Airborne’s objectives:
the La Fière Bridgehead.
A manoir guards a small stone bridge
and narrow causeway.
It is one of only two bridges
over the Merderet River.
The 82nd must also capture
the other bridge near Chef-du-Pont,
and secure the neighboring town
of Sainte-Mère-Église.
With control of all three,
the Americans hope to protect Utah Beach
from German reinforcements
during the D-Day landings.
(gunfire)
In the early fighting,
Dolan and his men had rooted out
German snipers and machine guns,
which surrounded the manoir.
Confident the 505th has the situation
at La Fière under control,
Gavin leads his group
of paratroopers south
to capture the second
crossing at Chef-du-Pont.
(gunfire)
Dolan now turns his attention
to the Germans inside the manoir.
They empty heavy fire into the building.
(explosion)
♪
Finally, the last occupying
Germans emerge
and surrender their weapons.
With the capture of the manoir,
the 82nd now controls their
first objective: La Fière Crossing.
Dolan and members of the 505
dig in on the east side at the manoir,
placing mines and obstacles
to protect the bridge
while paratroopers from
the 507th and 508th
regiments cross the causeway,
towards a village on
the west side of the river.
DR. MCMANUS: You've
captured a key objective,
the question now is
whether you can hold it,
and I think almost
every trooper who's there,
you know, that - that morning knows
there’s gonna be a German reaction.
NARRATOR:
But in the early hours of June 6th,
German defenses in Normandy
had suffered a serious blow.
SOLIDER (softly):
Get down! Get down!
NARRATOR: The 91st Division Commander,
Generalmajor Wilhelm Falley,
returns to his headquarters
from war games in Rennes
when recently landed American paratroopers
attack his vehicle.
(gunfire)
(intense music playing)
SOLDIER (off screen):
Halt! Halt!
SOLDIER (off screen):
Hey, hands up! Hands up!
Hände hoch!
- SOLDIER: Stop!
- (gunshot)
DR. LIEB: When General Falley
is killed in an ambush,
it means for the Germans,
that they cannot coordinate their defense
as good as they wish to.
Any response will take longer,
and any minute, any hour,
is crucial in these first moments
after the Allied landing.
NARRATOR: This is compounded
by the missed drop zones
of so many American paratroopers.
DR. LIEB: You had messages
coming in from everywhere,
“Wow, we've got airborne
troops landing here.
We've got airborne troops landing there."
So, it's very difficult for the Germans
to get a complete picture of the landings.
NARRATOR: But by the afternoon,
the German defenders have regrouped.
German command sends
the 1057th Panzergrenadier regiment
with tank support from the 100th
Panzer replacement battalion
to the west side of La Fière Causeway.
The Germans quickly overwhelm
the American bridgehead there.
♪
SOLDIER:
Move out, men!
NARRATOR: On the east side,
they get reports of the firefight,
but they have no idea
of the scale of the German response.
Most of the paratroopers,
even Command HQ and officers,
are without radios.
Many were lost in the swamps
during their landings.
DR. MCMANUS: Airborne troops
in the early hours of June 6th
are largely communicating by runner.
It's very old-fashioned.
I mean, it's almost straight out
of the Civil War.
So, what you end up with is clumps
of small unit engagements
that really aren't very far
from one another,
but don't know what's going on,
even like half a mile away.
♪
NARRATOR:
Dolan’s men see fellow paratroopers
withdraw hastily toward their positions
by La Fière Bridge.
The range of their weapons
makes it difficult to cover the retreat.
(German soldier speaking)
And, suddenly, German artillery opens up.
(shots firing)
(explosion)
The American scramble for cover continues.
As the artillery barrage lifts,
three German tanks begin their advance
against the American defenders.
NARRATOR: June 6th, 1944.
Outside Sainte-Mère-Église, France.
Paratroopers of the American
82nd Airborne Division
have been driven from a bridgehead
they recently captured,
by a major German counterattack.
(explosion)
As German armor rumbles forward
the lead tank stops short of the bridge,
and the commander appears from the hatch
to inspect the approach.
The Americans respond with a volley
of machine gun and small arms fire.
A shot strikes and kills
the German tank commander.
Amidst the fighting,
an American bazooka team
emerges from near the bridge.
DR. MCMANUS:
The bazooka is
absolutely a vital piece of equipment
for any airborne commander.
You basically have light infantrymen who
are armed with machine guns and rifles.
The bazooka is one way
that you can probably
take out a tank, and, kind of,
equalize the situation.
NARRATOR:
Private First Class, Lenold Peterson,
and Private Marcus Heim
set up their attack.
RUGGERO:
It’s a two-man operation.
One man gets aim
and stands with this rocket
launcher on his shoulder,
and the other one loads the rocket.
- (shots fired)
- (explosion)
NARRATOR: German tank replies
with a round in their direction.
RUGGERO: They're only 50 yards
or so from that lead tank,
which is trying to kill them
at the same time.
They have to stand out in the open,
and they manage to get off
a number of rounds.
It's absolutely incredible, the cool that
it took on Peterson's part to do that.
NARRATOR: They continue to calmly fire
until they immobilize the first tank.
They move forward
to attack the second German tank as well,
(explosion)
and manage to set it ablaze.
(explosion)
NARRATOR:
But as a third German tank approaches,
Heim and Peterson realize they
are almost out of rockets.
They know the only way to hold off
this attack is to keep firing.
Peterson sends his loader, Heim,
to locate more of the projectiles.
The private bolts across the road,
dodging bullets fired
from both sides of the bridge.
Heim expects to find
another bazooka team there,
but instead, he finds a dead paratrooper.
(gunfire)
Undeterred, Heim uncovers
some remaining rockets
(gunfire)
and rushes back to Peterson.
(intense music playing)
The bazooka men resume their attack,
and with the aid of
a 57mm anti-tank gun
♪
knock out the third and final German tank.
(German soldier screaming)
With their armor in flames,
the German infantry retreat back
across the causeway for now.
Brigadier General James Gavin, returns
to assess conditions at the manoir.
He concludes another
counterattack is inevitable,
and La Fière will need extra attention.
DR. MCMANUS: General Gavin is,
sort of, migrating back and forth,
uh, between Chef-du-Pont and La Fière.
Communications aren't very good,
so it's important now here
to have what he is,
a young, dynamic commander,
who is going to be in the thick of combat,
and also, somehow,
try to sort out what's going on
in an extremely confusing situation.
NARRATOR: He sets up a command post
at the road behind the manoir,
so now he can move
between the two bridges,
and make decisions as needed.
Gavin also assigns
a new battalion commander
to oversee the defense of La Fière Bridge
to replace the one killed
during the earlier fighting.
Gavin tells the new battalion commander,
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Alexander,
and A Company commander,
Lieutenant John Dolan,
to hold their positions at all costs.
♪
Gavin and his superior,
Major General Matthew Ridgway,
decided that even if the D-Day landings
have somehow failed,
the 82nd will fight
to hold their objectives,
in defiance of the German resistance.
DR. MCMANUS:
As most of D-Day unfolds,
they don’t really know
what’s going on at Utah Beach.
I think it’s worthwhile to step back,
and - and think about
the uncertainty of that first
10, 12, 14 hours of the invasion,
and what that means for Gavin
and the - and the other leaders.
NARRATOR:
Now in the morning hours of June 7th,
the Germans open up again
with mortar and artillery fire.
DR. LIEB:
Initially the Germans
are shocked and surprised,
but very soon, they regroup.
And so, the pressure
is building up in this area,
and the Germans are trying to push back
the Allies into the sea.
(explosion)
NARRATOR: Private First Class Peterson
and Private Heim jump into action again
as another German tank rumbles forward.
(explosion)
Once more, the American bazooka men
neutralize the first tank.
But this time, the German infantry
finds cover and returns fire.
RUGGERO: One thing the Germans
did differently on June 7th
is they put the infantry up front.
The panzergrenadiers held
the ground, uh, for a long time,
even after their tanks were destroyed.
NARRATOR:
Under pressure
(explosions)
American casualties increase.
RUGGERO: Command of one of the platoons
falls to Sergeant William Owens
who is, uh, older than
most of the paratroopers.
He had been a drill press operator
in civilian life.
NARRATOR: Owens dashes out of his foxhole,
and fires into the advancing Germans.
(gunfire)
When his machine gun overheats,
Owens retrieves
a browning automatic rifle, or B.A.R.,
from a wounded soldier,
and continues his single-minded assault
(gunfire)
until he is out of bullets.
But the German attack has reduced
Owens’ platoon to only 15 fighters,
and a shrinking ammunition supply.
As the Germans close in,
his men ask their sergeant to withdraw.
SOLDIER:
Find out what the lieutenant wants!
NARRATOR:
But that is not a call for Owens to make,
and he must follow orders.
RUGGERO:
The only way Owens has to communicate
with his boss, Lieutenant Dolan,
is, uh, by word of mouth.
He sends an eighteen-year-old
paratrooper named Bob Murphy.
Murphy runs to Dolan.
NARRATOR: Murphy tells Dolan about
their casualties and lack of ammunition,
and asks for permission to withdraw.
Dolan writes a reply for Sergeant Owens.
(distant gunfire)
(explosions)
Murphy picks his way through
the fighting to the sergeant.
♪
RUGGERO: Lieutenant Dolan,
the commander of A Company,
sends back a very clear message
with young Murphy.
He says, “We stay.
There is no better place to die.”
♪
(gunshot)
NARRATOR:
On the morning after D-Day,
the American 82nd Airborne Division
fights to keep a key bridge
in Allied hands
eight miles southwest of Utah Beach.
With his commanding officer dead,
and his platoon almost out of ammunition,
Sergeant William Owens dispatches
a runner to request orders.
Lieutenant John Dolan’s reply is clear,
"We stay.
There is no better place to die."
DR. MCMANUS:
That is the most
stark message you could possibly have.
They're telling you this objective
matters a lot more than your life.
That's a very sobering thing.
(gunshots)
(explosion)
NARRATOR:
The Germans continue their advance
(gunfire)
and move within 25 yards
of Owens and his depleted platoon.
(gunfire)
Suddenly, the shooting stops.
DR. MCMANUS:
The, uh, Red Cross flag and the ceasefire
comes at a perfect time for the Americans.
They were wondering how long
they could hold on.
They'd taken some casualties,
and then they really did need
that, kind of, breathing space.
(somber music playing)
NARRATOR: Dolan, Owens, and the rest
of the 505-parachute infantry regiment
have held off two massive
German counterattacks,
without tank or heavy artillery support.
But the Germans
have also suffered heavy losses.
American Lieutenant Colonel Mark Alexander
and Lieutenant John Dolan
agree to the pause in fighting
to allow both sides to recover,
and treat their wounded.
DR. MCMANUS: If the Germans had known
the real American situation,
you know, that the Americans
are, kind of, on the ropes,
I don't - I don't know that they
would've asked for that truce at all.
NARRATOR: The 82nd Airborne now holds
the town of Sainte-Mère-Église,
and the bridge at Chef-du-Pont,
but the La Fière Causeway
remains contested.
The Germans control the west side,
and continue the fight to push
the Americans further back.
The 82nd must control
both ends of the causeway,
but without proper artillery
or armor support,
another direct attack to secure
the crossing seems futile.
Instead, Gavin’s superior,
Major General Matthew Ridgway,
considers another option.
A Frenchman has led
two American paratroopers
over the Merderet River across
a sunken road in the marsh.
They report to Ridgway that
about 150 American paratroopers
hold an orchard
on the west side of the river.
Ridgway decides to send men
back along the sunken road
to link up with the troops in the orchard.
Once reinforced, they can head south,
and attack the Germans
holding the west end of the causeway,
from the side.
♪
The mission falls to a brand-new class
of warrior within the 82nd Airborne
the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment.
Most airborne troops land by parachute,
with only what they can carry.
Gliders are an attempt
to deliver heavy equipment,
like jeeps and anti-tank guns, by air.
But gliders cannot fly
under their own power,
and must be towed by other aircraft.
♪
Without armor or armaments,
they are very vulnerable to enemy attack.
11% of the 325th’s glider men
are killed in the Normandy landings.
It is a dangerous job,
but necessary to bring
heavy weapons, soldiers,
and supplies behind enemy lines.
After darkness falls,
Ridgway initiates the flanking maneuver.
The glider men link up
with Lieutenant Colonel Charles Timmes
of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment
and his men in the orchard.
Together, they push south
through the hedgerows
towards the western end of the causeway.
♪
But when the glider men
of Company C emerge onto a road,
they stumble into a German position.
- (cans clinking)
- (gunfire)
The dug-in Germans quickly
overwhelm the airborne troops.
Outgunned, C Company begins to retreat,
(gunfire)
but heavy fire cuts off
one of its platoons from safety.
NARRATOR:
June 9th, 1944. Normandy, France.
Overnight, the commanders of
the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division
send glider men to outflank
a German position
on the west side of the Merderet River.
(gunfire)
Heavy German fire pins down
a platoon of C Company.
RUGGERO: PFC Charles DeGlopper
steps out into the open with a B.A.R.,
which looked like a rifle on this big man,
and, uh, engages the enemy in fire.
NARRATOR:
Well over six feet tall and 240 pounds,
DeGlopper is the largest man
in the 82nd Airborne.
As he shoots, he calls for the men
from the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment
to take cover behind the hedgerow.
Under normal conditions,
the B.A.R. is operated by teams of two,
with an assistant to carry
the required ammunition.
Tonight, DeGlopper works alone.
Exposed in the middle of the road,
DeGlopper draws the enemy’s fire.
(gunfire)
Although repeatedly struck,
he keeps shooting.
He reloads and continues
to fire from his knees.
Until finally, the Germans
bring the big private down.
- (grunts)
- (gunfire)
Brigadier General James Gavin
receives word later that morning
that the Germans have repelled
the flanking maneuver.
Gavin has few options.
And as time passes,
the German resistance grows.
He decides to mount
a new attack across the causeway
using another battalion from
the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment.
(tense music playing)
When Gavin summons
the battalion’s commander
to present the plan,
he gets an unexpected response.
The lieutenant colonel refuses
Gavin’s order to lead the charge.
DR. MCMANUS:
Now, the battalion commander tells Gavin
that he feels sick and that he - he cannot
lead this charge.
Gavin interprets that as either,
I - I don't know if I'd say cowardice,
but unwillingness or unfitness to lead.
And Gavin has no time
for that at that moment.
NARRATOR: He immediately replaces
the battalion commander.
Despite a lack of communication
since D-Day,
Gavin receives a boost when help
starts to trickle in from the beaches
in the form of big guns and tanks.
Now with artillery and armor,
Gavin sets the charge for 10:45.
At 10:30, the American artillery
unleashes a heavy barrage
on the German defenders.
(explosions)
As the glider men of the 325th
prepare for their attack,
Gavin adds one more layer to his plan.
He informs Captain Robert Rae
from the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment
to be ready with his paratroopers
as a contingency
if the glider men falter or fail.
RUGGERO:
Gavin is worried about these glider men
because this is their first combat,
and he's just relieved
their commanding officer.
And so, he backs them up
with paratroopers.
NARRATOR:
At 10:40, Captain John Sauls
and his 2nd platoon from the 325th,
press against the wall
next to the La Fière Bridge.
At 10:45, Sauls sprints into the open
followed closely by his men.
(rapid gunfire)
They are met with blistering fire
from the German lines.
(gunfire)
Sauls, and around 30 of the glider men,
make it safely to the other end
of the causeway.
DR. MCMANUS: He looks back, and it seems
like no one has come with him.
It's gotta be the loneliest
feeling in the world.
Well, the question now is:
What to do next?
NARRATOR:
They split up to engage
the German defenders
with the forces they have.
(gunfire)
Back at the bridge side of the causeway,
shortly after Sauls’ initial charge,
an American private steps out
from cover and is shot.
His body blocks a small opening
in the stone wall.
The glider men behind him freeze.
RUGGERO:
His body lies there for a good 10 minutes
while they try to get up
the nerve to pass him
in this open area in the wall.
NARRATOR:
Lieutenant Frank Amino must find a way
to propel his men forward.
He jumps up and yells,
"Let’s go and kill the sons of bitches,"
(gunfire)
and charges onto the causeway.
The shocked troops begin to follow.
But now, their progress is bogged down by
fallen soldiers and intense German fire.
- (gunfire)
- (explosion)
Dead bodies surrendering Germans,
and wounded men,
all become obstacles to their advance.
(intense music playing)
Finally, an American tank arrives,
ready to break the human traffic jam.
But as it rolls off the stone bridge
onto the causeway,
an explosion goes off.
(explosion)
NARRATOR: June 9th, 1944.
About eight miles southwest of Utah Beach.
Members of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division
have fought for three days for control
of the La Fière Causeway,
a key crossing over the Merderet River.
(explosion)
DR. MCMANUS:
At this point, La Fière is just a mess
Just looks like a shattered mess
of prone bodies, damaged bridge,
and a few of these,
orphan, stranded, destroyed tanks.
(gunfire)
NARRATOR:
Generals James Gavin and Matthew Ridgway
move to break the impasse.
BG GAVIN (shouts):
Let’s go!
NARRATOR:
Both men physically enter the fray.
They encourage, order,
and, sometimes, shove men forward.
(explosion)
But it is not enough.
BG GAVIN (shouts):
C’mon, let’s go! Let’s go! Rae! Let’s go!
NARRATOR:
Gavin turns to Captain Robert Rae,
and a company of paratroopers
from the 507th.
Dropped in the wrong sector
early on June 6th,
Rae had collected
other members of the 82nd,
and made their way across enemy territory
to reach the objective.
RUGGERO:
And because he's a paratrooper,
when he's given the order,
he's going to go.
And Gavin trusts that
this is gonna be enough.
NARRATOR: Rae, his officers,
and his men pour out onto the causeway.
They throw themselves into the battle.
They shout, cajole, and drag
any straggler along with them.
CPT ROBERT RAE (shouts):
Go! Move through! Move up! Move up!
LT BRUCE BOOKER (shouts):
Keep moving!
NARRATOR:
Lieutenant Bruce Booker
makes trips up and down the causeway
to urge men forward under enemy fire.
After he is shot in both legs,
he does not give up.
He drags himself along the causeway,
shouting at the men.
LT BOOKER (shouts):
C’mon! Go! Move! Go! Go!
RUGGERO: Lieutenant Booker sees
some paratroopers trying to retreat,
takes out his pistol,
and fires shots over their head
with the implication that his next shots
are gonna be into them.
(gunfire)
NARRATOR:
The chaos continues.
But slowly, the tide
of battle begins to shift.
LT BOOKER (shouts):
Keep going! Keep going!
NARRATOR:
Despite the heavy enemy fire
one by one,
more of Gavin’s men reach
the far side of the causeway
♪
and captured German soldiers stream
in the opposite direction.
(tense music playing)
Finally, American tanks begin
to roll across the La Fière Bridge.
After an hour and a half
of heavy fighting,
the 82nd Airborne gains
full control of the causeway
and the opposite bridgehead.
♪
When Gavin himself finally crosses
into the village of Cauquigny
on the other side,
he realizes he had underestimated
the strength of the German resistance.
Destruction, abandoned equipment,
and casualties line the road.
RUGGERO:
Jim Gavin, in looking around,
seeing how far his troops have advanced,
comes on the body
of a young German soldier, an officer
and takes a map from him which has
the German's positions on one side.
Gavin takes this officer's watch
because his own watch
had been lost in the jump.
NARRATOR: A little further, he is
confronted by the grim cost of the attack.
RUGGERO:
Jim Gavin also sees the body
of an American paratrooper
hanging in a tree
where he'd been shot by the Germans,
rather than taking him prisoner.
NARRATOR: Despite his fatigue,
this fuels Gavin’s anger to keep fighting.
♪
The 82nd Airborne has
captured all three objectives:
Sainte-Mère-Église,
the bridge at Chef-du-Pont,
and the crossing at La Fière.
As tanks and men roll off Utah Beach,
the U.S. army can now cross
the Merderet River,
and deliver troops deeper into France.
The 82nd destroys the German defenders
from the 1057th Grenadier Regiment.
It will never fight as a unit again.
Normally, airborne units are withdrawn
after securing their objectives.
DR. MCMANUS:
The 82nd Airborne stays in action
because the Allies have
almost no other choice.
The casualty rates are just
shocking and horrendous
as the battle was turning into
this terrible battle of attrition
throughout the latter part of June,
and now, as you get into July and beyond.
So, the Allies don't
really have the luxury
of taking a really good unit
out of the line,
and sending it back to England
like it should be.
NARRATOR:
Private First Class Lenold Peterson
and Private Marcus Heim,
the two bazooka men from the 505th,
along with Captain Robert Rae,
are awarded distinguished service crosses
for their heroic actions on the causeway.
Private First Class, Charles DeGlopper,
earns the highest award
in the U.S. military,
the Congressional Medal of Honor,
posthumously, for his bravery
protecting the men of his platoon.
Generals James Gavin and Matthew Ridgway
return to the fight in Europe
after brief R&R in England.
Gavin, despite breaking his back
when he drops into the Netherlands
during Market Garden,
continues to lead the 82nd Airborne,
and lives his motto of,
“Jumping first and eating last,”
throughout the remainder of the war.
♪
The 82nd helped the Allies
gain a foothold in France,
but expanding that control
will be treacherous.
The Nazis, under strict orders from Hitler
to fight to the last man,
dig in to defend their strongholds
and port cities along the Western Front.
(explosion)
The war in Europe will rage
for another 11 months.
Captioned by Point.360
NARRATOR:
June 1944.
(explosion)
After his commanding officer is killed,
and his platoon runs low on ammunition,
an American sergeant requests
permission to withdraw
during a heavy German counterattack.
(gunfire)
But with their position critical
to getting Allied troops off the beaches,
the order he receives
in response is clear:
“We stay.
There is no better place to die.”
♪
(explosion)
On June 6th, 1944,
Allied forces finally land
troops in Normandy
to open the Western Front.
(explosion)
(speaks German)
But Nazi fanatics and diehards continue
to fight ferociously for survival.
D-Day was a battle.
They still need to win the war.
June 5th, 1944.
Somewhere over the English channel.
♪
American Brigadier General, James Gavin,
flies onboard a C-47 aircraft
with his stick of paratroopers
from the 82nd Airborne Division.
♪
Gavin watches through the darkness
for the shores of France,
in a bid to locate landmarks.
As he detects the outline of the coast,
their plane slams into a cloud bank.
Gavin suspects a German smoke screen,
and quickly checks his watch.
With no visibility, Gavin must now
rely on time to pinpoint his drop zone.
(tense music playing)
Hundreds of American aircraft
will take off from England,
then approach their targets from the west.
Gavin needs to time out exactly
eight and a half minutes
from their arrival at the French coast.
Without visual references,
it will be easy to miss their drop zones,
and if they wait too long,
they could end up in the English Channel.
As June 5th ends,
the day the world has waited for since
the Nazis occupied much
of Western Europe begins.
James Gavin and his men prepare
to be part of a critical first strike.
The Allies plan to deliver
thousands of airborne troops into France.
DR. JOHN MCMANUS:
They’re gonna drop in
amid the darkness, and they’re gonna
take on any Germans they find,
and they’re gonna secure
control the choke points.
Basically, any way
they can run interference
for the invasion folks, and make life
more of a headache for the Germans,
you know, they’re gonna do exactly that.
NARRATOR: But
Generalfeldmarschall, Erwin Rommel,
has anticipated an Allied airborne attack.
DR. PETER LIEB:
Rommel knows that he
needs to supply his fighting forces
at the beaches,
and if the rear areas
are threatened by airborne troops,
and those airborne troops
cut off the supply lines,
it means that the troops
at the beaches would starve.
NARRATOR:
To confuse pilots and drown paratroopers,
the Germans dam local rivers
to flood French fields.
They also erect thousands of booby-traps.
The “Rommelspargel”
or “Rommel’s Asparagus”
is named after Rommel himself.
DR. LIEB:
These are poles eight to 10 feet high
driven into the ground, wired together,
equipped with mines and explosive,
so any Allied glider that is trying
to land in this area will blow up,
will explode.
NARRATOR: General Rommel brags
that a single German corps
has erected 900,000 of his asparagus
to counter an air invasion.
Allied reconnaissance flyovers
detect the density of “asparagus,”
and other preparations
in their proposed drop zones.
DR. MCMANUS: There's a, kind of,
an adjustment on the fly,
but there's also some consideration
given to terminating
the airborne mission altogether.
NARRATOR:
In the end, airborne planners decide
to move their drop zones
to avoid the hazards.
♪
Now over France,
James Gavin mobilizes his paratroopers.
BG JAMES GAVIN (shouts):
Get ready! Everybody up!
NARRATOR: Most airborne generals
had jumpmasters, but not Gavin.
He is his own jumpmaster.
BG GAVIN (shouts):
Equipment check!
NARRATOR: He teaches and trains
others to parachute safely.
BG GAVIN (shouts):
Sound off!
- PARATROOPER 8 (off screen): Eight okay!
- PARATROOPER 7 (off screen): Seven okay!
- PARATROOPER 6 (off screen): Six okay!
- PARATROOPER 5: Five okay!
- PARATROOPER 4 (off screen): Four okay!
- PARATROOPER 3: Three okay!
ED RUGGERO:
Jim Gavin used to tell his paratroopers,
"You have to be last one in the chow line,
and first one out the door."
This is bigger than just
how ya get off an airplane,
uh, or how you line up for chow.
It really encompasses everything.
The leader needs to be out front
when, uh, it's time to take a risk,
and needs to put himself last
when it's a benefit to the troops.
NARRATOR: It has been seven minutes
since Gavin’s C-47 hit the cloud bank.
When the sky clears
he gets a quick look
at the landscape below.
(gunfire)
Without warning, flak and small arms fire
pepper the sky around the plane.
(gunfire and explosion)
RUGGERO: Gavin describes
the sound of the anti-aircraft fire
as like pebbles on the roof,
hitting the airplane,
but the airplane is unarmored,
the fuel tanks, in particular, unarmored,
and, of course, those pebbles
are incoming fire,
all of which pose
a threat to the soldiers.
There's a lot of emphasis on getting out
of the airplane very quickly.
NARRATOR: Under attack, one of their
pilots switches on the green light.
BG GAVIN (shouts):
Go!
NARRATOR: With a last look at the ground,
Gavin jumps into the darkness.
The plan is to release the paratroopers
at an altitude of about 600 feet.
DR. MCMANUS: You’re gonna have
greater accuracy dropping lower,
and accuracy is very important
because you want to be able
to assemble quickly.
But, of course, on D-Day,
many of them do drop
at a - at a lower altitude
just because of the chaos of the moment.
♪
NARRATOR: Gavin has just enough time
for his parachute to open.
- (thumps)
- NARRATOR: He lands hard.
- (cow moos)
- RUGGERO: Gavin thinks it's a good sign
when he lands and notices
cows right in the area,
because he knows it's not
a German minefield.
NARRATOR:
It is a good landing
but other paratroopers
are not so fortunate.
DR. MCMANUS: In World War II,
the parachutes gave you
very little control over where
you were gonna go,
and where you were gonna land.
And it's very, very possible
that you'd have this horrible experience
of drifting toward a fire,
and not being able to avoid it.
(splashes in water)
NARRATOR: Obstacles, bullets,
and fields flooded to drown,
also await many unlucky troopers
as they arrive in the French countryside.
(dramatic music playing)
- GERMAN SOLDIER (shouts): Feuern!
- (gunshots)
NARRATOR: Gavin frees himself
from his chute and begins to orientate.
He has lost his watch
but locates his weapon.
He hears a noise across a hedgerow.
DR. MCMANUS:
Deciding whether someone's friend or foe
in this circumstance
could mean life or death.
MALE VOICE (off screen):
Flash.
MALE VOICE (off screen):
Thunder.
NARRATOR:
In addition to verbal challenges,
which require the correct
code word in return,
some airborne troops
also use a clicker or cricket.
- A single click is the challenge.
- (clicks)
NARRATOR: If the response is two clicks,
you have found a friendly.
If not, you had better be ready to shoot.
With the correct replies,
Gavin starts to assemble his men.
He does not recognize his surroundings.
Gavin, like many
of the 82nd Airborne Division,
has landed off target.
The cloud bank disoriented
the C-47 pilots,
and most paratroopers are dropped
well outside their drop zones.
Just before dawn,
Gavin’s men locate a welcome landmark
a raised railroad.
Unfortunately, it runs along
the far side of a marsh.
(gunshot)
NARRATOR:
Also, the Germans have now detected
the American presence,
and begun to attack.
(gunfire)
NARRATOR: As German gunfire intensifies
Gavin leads his men into the water.
(gunfire)
NARRATOR:
June 6th, 1944. Normandy, France.
After dropping behind
enemy lines hours before,
American Brigadier General James Gavin
of the 82nd Airborne Division
must make his way to a raised railway
on the far side of a swamp
with his paratroopers under fire.
(gunfire)
They wade through the water
trying to keep their weapons dry.
Gavin and his men reach the embankment
on the other side as daylight brightens.
(gunfire)
Still wet, and with the marsh
and long night behind them,
they hear gunfire in the distance.
(gunfire)
RUGGERO: He recognizes
soldiers of the 505th,
which is the regiment that
he commanded in Sicily
the year before.
Lieutenant Dolan was
a commander of A Company.
His company executed
a very tight drop zone.
They landed together in the right spot.
That's something he figured out
within 20 or 30 minutes.
He moved off with 90 percent
of his company right on time.
NARRATOR: Like Dolan, Gavin has located
one the 82nd Airborne’s objectives:
the La Fière Bridgehead.
A manoir guards a small stone bridge
and narrow causeway.
It is one of only two bridges
over the Merderet River.
The 82nd must also capture
the other bridge near Chef-du-Pont,
and secure the neighboring town
of Sainte-Mère-Église.
With control of all three,
the Americans hope to protect Utah Beach
from German reinforcements
during the D-Day landings.
(gunfire)
In the early fighting,
Dolan and his men had rooted out
German snipers and machine guns,
which surrounded the manoir.
Confident the 505th has the situation
at La Fière under control,
Gavin leads his group
of paratroopers south
to capture the second
crossing at Chef-du-Pont.
(gunfire)
Dolan now turns his attention
to the Germans inside the manoir.
They empty heavy fire into the building.
(explosion)
♪
Finally, the last occupying
Germans emerge
and surrender their weapons.
With the capture of the manoir,
the 82nd now controls their
first objective: La Fière Crossing.
Dolan and members of the 505
dig in on the east side at the manoir,
placing mines and obstacles
to protect the bridge
while paratroopers from
the 507th and 508th
regiments cross the causeway,
towards a village on
the west side of the river.
DR. MCMANUS: You've
captured a key objective,
the question now is
whether you can hold it,
and I think almost
every trooper who's there,
you know, that - that morning knows
there’s gonna be a German reaction.
NARRATOR:
But in the early hours of June 6th,
German defenses in Normandy
had suffered a serious blow.
SOLIDER (softly):
Get down! Get down!
NARRATOR: The 91st Division Commander,
Generalmajor Wilhelm Falley,
returns to his headquarters
from war games in Rennes
when recently landed American paratroopers
attack his vehicle.
(gunfire)
(intense music playing)
SOLDIER (off screen):
Halt! Halt!
SOLDIER (off screen):
Hey, hands up! Hands up!
Hände hoch!
- SOLDIER: Stop!
- (gunshot)
DR. LIEB: When General Falley
is killed in an ambush,
it means for the Germans,
that they cannot coordinate their defense
as good as they wish to.
Any response will take longer,
and any minute, any hour,
is crucial in these first moments
after the Allied landing.
NARRATOR: This is compounded
by the missed drop zones
of so many American paratroopers.
DR. LIEB: You had messages
coming in from everywhere,
“Wow, we've got airborne
troops landing here.
We've got airborne troops landing there."
So, it's very difficult for the Germans
to get a complete picture of the landings.
NARRATOR: But by the afternoon,
the German defenders have regrouped.
German command sends
the 1057th Panzergrenadier regiment
with tank support from the 100th
Panzer replacement battalion
to the west side of La Fière Causeway.
The Germans quickly overwhelm
the American bridgehead there.
♪
SOLDIER:
Move out, men!
NARRATOR: On the east side,
they get reports of the firefight,
but they have no idea
of the scale of the German response.
Most of the paratroopers,
even Command HQ and officers,
are without radios.
Many were lost in the swamps
during their landings.
DR. MCMANUS: Airborne troops
in the early hours of June 6th
are largely communicating by runner.
It's very old-fashioned.
I mean, it's almost straight out
of the Civil War.
So, what you end up with is clumps
of small unit engagements
that really aren't very far
from one another,
but don't know what's going on,
even like half a mile away.
♪
NARRATOR:
Dolan’s men see fellow paratroopers
withdraw hastily toward their positions
by La Fière Bridge.
The range of their weapons
makes it difficult to cover the retreat.
(German soldier speaking)
And, suddenly, German artillery opens up.
(shots firing)
(explosion)
The American scramble for cover continues.
As the artillery barrage lifts,
three German tanks begin their advance
against the American defenders.
NARRATOR: June 6th, 1944.
Outside Sainte-Mère-Église, France.
Paratroopers of the American
82nd Airborne Division
have been driven from a bridgehead
they recently captured,
by a major German counterattack.
(explosion)
As German armor rumbles forward
the lead tank stops short of the bridge,
and the commander appears from the hatch
to inspect the approach.
The Americans respond with a volley
of machine gun and small arms fire.
A shot strikes and kills
the German tank commander.
Amidst the fighting,
an American bazooka team
emerges from near the bridge.
DR. MCMANUS:
The bazooka is
absolutely a vital piece of equipment
for any airborne commander.
You basically have light infantrymen who
are armed with machine guns and rifles.
The bazooka is one way
that you can probably
take out a tank, and, kind of,
equalize the situation.
NARRATOR:
Private First Class, Lenold Peterson,
and Private Marcus Heim
set up their attack.
RUGGERO:
It’s a two-man operation.
One man gets aim
and stands with this rocket
launcher on his shoulder,
and the other one loads the rocket.
- (shots fired)
- (explosion)
NARRATOR: German tank replies
with a round in their direction.
RUGGERO: They're only 50 yards
or so from that lead tank,
which is trying to kill them
at the same time.
They have to stand out in the open,
and they manage to get off
a number of rounds.
It's absolutely incredible, the cool that
it took on Peterson's part to do that.
NARRATOR: They continue to calmly fire
until they immobilize the first tank.
They move forward
to attack the second German tank as well,
(explosion)
and manage to set it ablaze.
(explosion)
NARRATOR:
But as a third German tank approaches,
Heim and Peterson realize they
are almost out of rockets.
They know the only way to hold off
this attack is to keep firing.
Peterson sends his loader, Heim,
to locate more of the projectiles.
The private bolts across the road,
dodging bullets fired
from both sides of the bridge.
Heim expects to find
another bazooka team there,
but instead, he finds a dead paratrooper.
(gunfire)
Undeterred, Heim uncovers
some remaining rockets
(gunfire)
and rushes back to Peterson.
(intense music playing)
The bazooka men resume their attack,
and with the aid of
a 57mm anti-tank gun
♪
knock out the third and final German tank.
(German soldier screaming)
With their armor in flames,
the German infantry retreat back
across the causeway for now.
Brigadier General James Gavin, returns
to assess conditions at the manoir.
He concludes another
counterattack is inevitable,
and La Fière will need extra attention.
DR. MCMANUS: General Gavin is,
sort of, migrating back and forth,
uh, between Chef-du-Pont and La Fière.
Communications aren't very good,
so it's important now here
to have what he is,
a young, dynamic commander,
who is going to be in the thick of combat,
and also, somehow,
try to sort out what's going on
in an extremely confusing situation.
NARRATOR: He sets up a command post
at the road behind the manoir,
so now he can move
between the two bridges,
and make decisions as needed.
Gavin also assigns
a new battalion commander
to oversee the defense of La Fière Bridge
to replace the one killed
during the earlier fighting.
Gavin tells the new battalion commander,
Lieutenant Colonel Mark Alexander,
and A Company commander,
Lieutenant John Dolan,
to hold their positions at all costs.
♪
Gavin and his superior,
Major General Matthew Ridgway,
decided that even if the D-Day landings
have somehow failed,
the 82nd will fight
to hold their objectives,
in defiance of the German resistance.
DR. MCMANUS:
As most of D-Day unfolds,
they don’t really know
what’s going on at Utah Beach.
I think it’s worthwhile to step back,
and - and think about
the uncertainty of that first
10, 12, 14 hours of the invasion,
and what that means for Gavin
and the - and the other leaders.
NARRATOR:
Now in the morning hours of June 7th,
the Germans open up again
with mortar and artillery fire.
DR. LIEB:
Initially the Germans
are shocked and surprised,
but very soon, they regroup.
And so, the pressure
is building up in this area,
and the Germans are trying to push back
the Allies into the sea.
(explosion)
NARRATOR: Private First Class Peterson
and Private Heim jump into action again
as another German tank rumbles forward.
(explosion)
Once more, the American bazooka men
neutralize the first tank.
But this time, the German infantry
finds cover and returns fire.
RUGGERO: One thing the Germans
did differently on June 7th
is they put the infantry up front.
The panzergrenadiers held
the ground, uh, for a long time,
even after their tanks were destroyed.
NARRATOR:
Under pressure
(explosions)
American casualties increase.
RUGGERO: Command of one of the platoons
falls to Sergeant William Owens
who is, uh, older than
most of the paratroopers.
He had been a drill press operator
in civilian life.
NARRATOR: Owens dashes out of his foxhole,
and fires into the advancing Germans.
(gunfire)
When his machine gun overheats,
Owens retrieves
a browning automatic rifle, or B.A.R.,
from a wounded soldier,
and continues his single-minded assault
(gunfire)
until he is out of bullets.
But the German attack has reduced
Owens’ platoon to only 15 fighters,
and a shrinking ammunition supply.
As the Germans close in,
his men ask their sergeant to withdraw.
SOLDIER:
Find out what the lieutenant wants!
NARRATOR:
But that is not a call for Owens to make,
and he must follow orders.
RUGGERO:
The only way Owens has to communicate
with his boss, Lieutenant Dolan,
is, uh, by word of mouth.
He sends an eighteen-year-old
paratrooper named Bob Murphy.
Murphy runs to Dolan.
NARRATOR: Murphy tells Dolan about
their casualties and lack of ammunition,
and asks for permission to withdraw.
Dolan writes a reply for Sergeant Owens.
(distant gunfire)
(explosions)
Murphy picks his way through
the fighting to the sergeant.
♪
RUGGERO: Lieutenant Dolan,
the commander of A Company,
sends back a very clear message
with young Murphy.
He says, “We stay.
There is no better place to die.”
♪
(gunshot)
NARRATOR:
On the morning after D-Day,
the American 82nd Airborne Division
fights to keep a key bridge
in Allied hands
eight miles southwest of Utah Beach.
With his commanding officer dead,
and his platoon almost out of ammunition,
Sergeant William Owens dispatches
a runner to request orders.
Lieutenant John Dolan’s reply is clear,
"We stay.
There is no better place to die."
DR. MCMANUS:
That is the most
stark message you could possibly have.
They're telling you this objective
matters a lot more than your life.
That's a very sobering thing.
(gunshots)
(explosion)
NARRATOR:
The Germans continue their advance
(gunfire)
and move within 25 yards
of Owens and his depleted platoon.
(gunfire)
Suddenly, the shooting stops.
DR. MCMANUS:
The, uh, Red Cross flag and the ceasefire
comes at a perfect time for the Americans.
They were wondering how long
they could hold on.
They'd taken some casualties,
and then they really did need
that, kind of, breathing space.
(somber music playing)
NARRATOR: Dolan, Owens, and the rest
of the 505-parachute infantry regiment
have held off two massive
German counterattacks,
without tank or heavy artillery support.
But the Germans
have also suffered heavy losses.
American Lieutenant Colonel Mark Alexander
and Lieutenant John Dolan
agree to the pause in fighting
to allow both sides to recover,
and treat their wounded.
DR. MCMANUS: If the Germans had known
the real American situation,
you know, that the Americans
are, kind of, on the ropes,
I don't - I don't know that they
would've asked for that truce at all.
NARRATOR: The 82nd Airborne now holds
the town of Sainte-Mère-Église,
and the bridge at Chef-du-Pont,
but the La Fière Causeway
remains contested.
The Germans control the west side,
and continue the fight to push
the Americans further back.
The 82nd must control
both ends of the causeway,
but without proper artillery
or armor support,
another direct attack to secure
the crossing seems futile.
Instead, Gavin’s superior,
Major General Matthew Ridgway,
considers another option.
A Frenchman has led
two American paratroopers
over the Merderet River across
a sunken road in the marsh.
They report to Ridgway that
about 150 American paratroopers
hold an orchard
on the west side of the river.
Ridgway decides to send men
back along the sunken road
to link up with the troops in the orchard.
Once reinforced, they can head south,
and attack the Germans
holding the west end of the causeway,
from the side.
♪
The mission falls to a brand-new class
of warrior within the 82nd Airborne
the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment.
Most airborne troops land by parachute,
with only what they can carry.
Gliders are an attempt
to deliver heavy equipment,
like jeeps and anti-tank guns, by air.
But gliders cannot fly
under their own power,
and must be towed by other aircraft.
♪
Without armor or armaments,
they are very vulnerable to enemy attack.
11% of the 325th’s glider men
are killed in the Normandy landings.
It is a dangerous job,
but necessary to bring
heavy weapons, soldiers,
and supplies behind enemy lines.
After darkness falls,
Ridgway initiates the flanking maneuver.
The glider men link up
with Lieutenant Colonel Charles Timmes
of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment
and his men in the orchard.
Together, they push south
through the hedgerows
towards the western end of the causeway.
♪
But when the glider men
of Company C emerge onto a road,
they stumble into a German position.
- (cans clinking)
- (gunfire)
The dug-in Germans quickly
overwhelm the airborne troops.
Outgunned, C Company begins to retreat,
(gunfire)
but heavy fire cuts off
one of its platoons from safety.
NARRATOR:
June 9th, 1944. Normandy, France.
Overnight, the commanders of
the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division
send glider men to outflank
a German position
on the west side of the Merderet River.
(gunfire)
Heavy German fire pins down
a platoon of C Company.
RUGGERO: PFC Charles DeGlopper
steps out into the open with a B.A.R.,
which looked like a rifle on this big man,
and, uh, engages the enemy in fire.
NARRATOR:
Well over six feet tall and 240 pounds,
DeGlopper is the largest man
in the 82nd Airborne.
As he shoots, he calls for the men
from the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment
to take cover behind the hedgerow.
Under normal conditions,
the B.A.R. is operated by teams of two,
with an assistant to carry
the required ammunition.
Tonight, DeGlopper works alone.
Exposed in the middle of the road,
DeGlopper draws the enemy’s fire.
(gunfire)
Although repeatedly struck,
he keeps shooting.
He reloads and continues
to fire from his knees.
Until finally, the Germans
bring the big private down.
- (grunts)
- (gunfire)
Brigadier General James Gavin
receives word later that morning
that the Germans have repelled
the flanking maneuver.
Gavin has few options.
And as time passes,
the German resistance grows.
He decides to mount
a new attack across the causeway
using another battalion from
the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment.
(tense music playing)
When Gavin summons
the battalion’s commander
to present the plan,
he gets an unexpected response.
The lieutenant colonel refuses
Gavin’s order to lead the charge.
DR. MCMANUS:
Now, the battalion commander tells Gavin
that he feels sick and that he - he cannot
lead this charge.
Gavin interprets that as either,
I - I don't know if I'd say cowardice,
but unwillingness or unfitness to lead.
And Gavin has no time
for that at that moment.
NARRATOR: He immediately replaces
the battalion commander.
Despite a lack of communication
since D-Day,
Gavin receives a boost when help
starts to trickle in from the beaches
in the form of big guns and tanks.
Now with artillery and armor,
Gavin sets the charge for 10:45.
At 10:30, the American artillery
unleashes a heavy barrage
on the German defenders.
(explosions)
As the glider men of the 325th
prepare for their attack,
Gavin adds one more layer to his plan.
He informs Captain Robert Rae
from the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment
to be ready with his paratroopers
as a contingency
if the glider men falter or fail.
RUGGERO:
Gavin is worried about these glider men
because this is their first combat,
and he's just relieved
their commanding officer.
And so, he backs them up
with paratroopers.
NARRATOR:
At 10:40, Captain John Sauls
and his 2nd platoon from the 325th,
press against the wall
next to the La Fière Bridge.
At 10:45, Sauls sprints into the open
followed closely by his men.
(rapid gunfire)
They are met with blistering fire
from the German lines.
(gunfire)
Sauls, and around 30 of the glider men,
make it safely to the other end
of the causeway.
DR. MCMANUS: He looks back, and it seems
like no one has come with him.
It's gotta be the loneliest
feeling in the world.
Well, the question now is:
What to do next?
NARRATOR:
They split up to engage
the German defenders
with the forces they have.
(gunfire)
Back at the bridge side of the causeway,
shortly after Sauls’ initial charge,
an American private steps out
from cover and is shot.
His body blocks a small opening
in the stone wall.
The glider men behind him freeze.
RUGGERO:
His body lies there for a good 10 minutes
while they try to get up
the nerve to pass him
in this open area in the wall.
NARRATOR:
Lieutenant Frank Amino must find a way
to propel his men forward.
He jumps up and yells,
"Let’s go and kill the sons of bitches,"
(gunfire)
and charges onto the causeway.
The shocked troops begin to follow.
But now, their progress is bogged down by
fallen soldiers and intense German fire.
- (gunfire)
- (explosion)
Dead bodies surrendering Germans,
and wounded men,
all become obstacles to their advance.
(intense music playing)
Finally, an American tank arrives,
ready to break the human traffic jam.
But as it rolls off the stone bridge
onto the causeway,
an explosion goes off.
(explosion)
NARRATOR: June 9th, 1944.
About eight miles southwest of Utah Beach.
Members of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division
have fought for three days for control
of the La Fière Causeway,
a key crossing over the Merderet River.
(explosion)
DR. MCMANUS:
At this point, La Fière is just a mess
Just looks like a shattered mess
of prone bodies, damaged bridge,
and a few of these,
orphan, stranded, destroyed tanks.
(gunfire)
NARRATOR:
Generals James Gavin and Matthew Ridgway
move to break the impasse.
BG GAVIN (shouts):
Let’s go!
NARRATOR:
Both men physically enter the fray.
They encourage, order,
and, sometimes, shove men forward.
(explosion)
But it is not enough.
BG GAVIN (shouts):
C’mon, let’s go! Let’s go! Rae! Let’s go!
NARRATOR:
Gavin turns to Captain Robert Rae,
and a company of paratroopers
from the 507th.
Dropped in the wrong sector
early on June 6th,
Rae had collected
other members of the 82nd,
and made their way across enemy territory
to reach the objective.
RUGGERO:
And because he's a paratrooper,
when he's given the order,
he's going to go.
And Gavin trusts that
this is gonna be enough.
NARRATOR: Rae, his officers,
and his men pour out onto the causeway.
They throw themselves into the battle.
They shout, cajole, and drag
any straggler along with them.
CPT ROBERT RAE (shouts):
Go! Move through! Move up! Move up!
LT BRUCE BOOKER (shouts):
Keep moving!
NARRATOR:
Lieutenant Bruce Booker
makes trips up and down the causeway
to urge men forward under enemy fire.
After he is shot in both legs,
he does not give up.
He drags himself along the causeway,
shouting at the men.
LT BOOKER (shouts):
C’mon! Go! Move! Go! Go!
RUGGERO: Lieutenant Booker sees
some paratroopers trying to retreat,
takes out his pistol,
and fires shots over their head
with the implication that his next shots
are gonna be into them.
(gunfire)
NARRATOR:
The chaos continues.
But slowly, the tide
of battle begins to shift.
LT BOOKER (shouts):
Keep going! Keep going!
NARRATOR:
Despite the heavy enemy fire
one by one,
more of Gavin’s men reach
the far side of the causeway
♪
and captured German soldiers stream
in the opposite direction.
(tense music playing)
Finally, American tanks begin
to roll across the La Fière Bridge.
After an hour and a half
of heavy fighting,
the 82nd Airborne gains
full control of the causeway
and the opposite bridgehead.
♪
When Gavin himself finally crosses
into the village of Cauquigny
on the other side,
he realizes he had underestimated
the strength of the German resistance.
Destruction, abandoned equipment,
and casualties line the road.
RUGGERO:
Jim Gavin, in looking around,
seeing how far his troops have advanced,
comes on the body
of a young German soldier, an officer
and takes a map from him which has
the German's positions on one side.
Gavin takes this officer's watch
because his own watch
had been lost in the jump.
NARRATOR: A little further, he is
confronted by the grim cost of the attack.
RUGGERO:
Jim Gavin also sees the body
of an American paratrooper
hanging in a tree
where he'd been shot by the Germans,
rather than taking him prisoner.
NARRATOR: Despite his fatigue,
this fuels Gavin’s anger to keep fighting.
♪
The 82nd Airborne has
captured all three objectives:
Sainte-Mère-Église,
the bridge at Chef-du-Pont,
and the crossing at La Fière.
As tanks and men roll off Utah Beach,
the U.S. army can now cross
the Merderet River,
and deliver troops deeper into France.
The 82nd destroys the German defenders
from the 1057th Grenadier Regiment.
It will never fight as a unit again.
Normally, airborne units are withdrawn
after securing their objectives.
DR. MCMANUS:
The 82nd Airborne stays in action
because the Allies have
almost no other choice.
The casualty rates are just
shocking and horrendous
as the battle was turning into
this terrible battle of attrition
throughout the latter part of June,
and now, as you get into July and beyond.
So, the Allies don't
really have the luxury
of taking a really good unit
out of the line,
and sending it back to England
like it should be.
NARRATOR:
Private First Class Lenold Peterson
and Private Marcus Heim,
the two bazooka men from the 505th,
along with Captain Robert Rae,
are awarded distinguished service crosses
for their heroic actions on the causeway.
Private First Class, Charles DeGlopper,
earns the highest award
in the U.S. military,
the Congressional Medal of Honor,
posthumously, for his bravery
protecting the men of his platoon.
Generals James Gavin and Matthew Ridgway
return to the fight in Europe
after brief R&R in England.
Gavin, despite breaking his back
when he drops into the Netherlands
during Market Garden,
continues to lead the 82nd Airborne,
and lives his motto of,
“Jumping first and eating last,”
throughout the remainder of the war.
♪
The 82nd helped the Allies
gain a foothold in France,
but expanding that control
will be treacherous.
The Nazis, under strict orders from Hitler
to fight to the last man,
dig in to defend their strongholds
and port cities along the Western Front.
(explosion)
The war in Europe will rage
for another 11 months.
Captioned by Point.360