Overlord

Summary

World War II with Tom Hanks

Episode 13: Overlord

Release Date: July 7, 2026

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Main Theme and Purpose

This episode, "Overlord," meticulously chronicles the conception, planning, and execution of Operation Overlord—better known as D-Day—the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Guided by Tom Hanks, the story places special emphasis on the strategy, stakes, and human cost behind history’s largest amphibious invasion, while highlighting the immense complexity of Allied decision-making, coordination, and leadership, particularly that of General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Tehran Conference and Allied Strategy (00:38 – 04:27)

• The “Big Three”—Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill—meet in person for the first time at Tehran in late 1943, setting the command architecture and finalizing the commitment for a Western European invasion.
• Diverging American, British, and Soviet perspectives on how best to defeat Nazi Germany:
  • British: Favor peripheral operations (Mediterranean, raids, and a measured approach to avoid WWI-style bloodbaths).
  • Americans & Soviets: Press for a direct cross-Channel invasion to relieve pressure on the Red Army.
  • Quote: “The Red Army’s been carrying the burden of the land war for years... Stalin says... get in some ships, cross the English Channel, land in France and open up that proper second front.” — History Channel Host (03:32)
• Political dynamics: Churchill is marginalized as Roosevelt and Stalin’s visions for the war align.

2. Selection of Supreme Commander (04:51 – 06:37)

• Initial expectation: George Marshall to lead Overlord, but Roosevelt keeps him in Washington.
• Churchill’s hope for Montgomery is dashed as American strength tips the balance, leading to Eisenhower’s appointment.
  • Quote: “Montgomery... is absolutely certain that there is one man perfectly suited to be supreme commander of the Allied effort, and that is Montgomery himself.” — Historian/Expert (05:21)
  • Eisenhower’s strength is “the kind of political skill and savvy that’s going to be necessary to keep the alliance together...” — Military Historian (05:56)
  • Criticism: “Nice chap, no soldier.” — Attributed to Montgomery regarding Eisenhower (06:26)

3. German Preparations and the Atlantic Wall (06:37 – 08:42)

• Hitler anticipates invasion, but not its timing or location.
• Under Rommel, accelerated construction of the Atlantic Wall, despite gaps and use of forced French labor.
  • “Rommel is already a known commodity. He’s beloved by the German people... gets the job done. And... tells the West, you got your work cut out for you.” — Military Analyst (07:46)

4. Overlord Planning and Expansion (08:10 – 09:37)

• Normandy selected for its geographical and logistical advantages.
• Eisenhower persuades for a larger invasion force—expanding to five beaches and delaying the operation.
  • “If you’ve got one shot at this... You go for the King, you best not miss.” — Historian/Expert (08:48)
  • Eisenhower’s tactical diplomacy: involves Montgomery in expanding the plan (09:06)
• Risk: Delays give both sides precious extra preparation time.

5. Operation Fortitude: Deceiving the Germans (11:44 – 13:10)

• Extensive ruses to mislead German intelligence into expecting an attack at Pas de Calais—including fake armies, dummy equipment, manipulated radio traffic.
  • “The elements that were involved in trying to convince the Germans that the attack was coming in another place... It’s massive.” — Podcast Host (12:02)
• Objective: Force German forces to remain dispersed and buy the Allies precious time when Normandy is actually attacked.

6. The Critical Role of Air Power (13:10 – 15:14, 16:22 – 17:15)

• Eisenhower demands direct control over all Allied air assets to ensure success at Normandy, threatening resignation until theatrical bombing priorities are redirected.
• Weeks of pre-invasion bombing target French infrastructure to impede German reinforcements.
  • “He needs to use overwhelming strength to guarantee success. Because... Hitler’s panzers... will be hurled at those Allied landing forces so they can... turn the waters red with your blood.” — Historian/Expert (14:49)
• Air domination and infrastructure destruction are key to limiting Germany's ability to respond.

7. German Command Dilemmas and Defensive Postures (17:34 – 18:54)

• German doctrine conflicts: Rommel favors immediate, beach-edge tank deployment; others (and tradition) prefer waiting inland for a concerted armored strike.
  • “The only person who can decide which option... is Hitler himself. But Hitler never wants to give too much power into one hand.” — German Analyst (18:32)
• Hitlers’s indecisiveness and micromanagement undermine German reaction time—operational reserve Panzers can only be released with his explicit order.

8. Allied Preparation, Training, and Exercise Tiger (19:15 – 21:48)

• Southeast England becomes a vast armed camp as resources flow in.
• Exercise Tiger, a large-scale rehearsal, turns tragic: friendly fire and a German E-boat attack kills over 700, raising alarming questions about readiness.
  • “If a well controlled dress rehearsal goes this badly under the best of possible conditions, what’s going to happen when they can’t just stroll ashore... under fire?” — Military Historian (21:30)

9. The Weather Factor—the Crucial Variable (21:48 – 25:58)

• Narrow weather window: Jun 5–7 for optimal tides and moonlight.
• Unexpected storms force a last-minute postponement; Eisenhower must make the fateful call for a June 6 invasion based on a brief improvement, carrying the full weight and risk.
  • “He felt like the loneliest man in all of England.” — Meteorologist/Advisor, recalling Eisenhower (25:24)
  • “Okay, let’s go.” — Eisenhower’s historic decision, as recounted (25:58)

10. The Invasion (D-Day) Unfolds (26:09 – 37:36)

• Paratroopers (101st & 82nd Airborne, British 6th) precede the amphibious assault, tasked with securing vital points and flanks.
• Immense weather challenges: six-foot swells, seasickness, freezing water, and anxiety in landing craft.
  • “If one [man] vomits, you all vomit... the longer that goes on, the more you’re thinking... what is going to happen when that ramp goes.” — Weather Expert (29:10)
• Omaha Beach is a bloodbath due to strong German defenses.
  • “Ramp would drop and then there’s just absolute massive fire.” — Veteran/Expert (29:46)
  • “85 machine guns laying down... People start getting shot and killed. You see dead people floating in the water. You’re soaking wet. You don’t run up the beach, you stagger up the beach.” — Podcast Host (30:09)
• Eisenhower takes full responsibility; his pre-written message obsolescent thanks to the invasion's eventual success:
  • “If any blame or fault is attached to the attempt, it is mine alone.” — (31:17)

11. The Aftermath and Legacy (33:00 – 38:34)

• Utah, Gold, and Sword see Allied advances, while Juno (Canada) faces heavier resistance.

• Notable leadership and heroism:

  • Teddy Roosevelt Jr. lands in the wrong place but pushes forward: “To hell with it. The war starts here.” — Historian/Expert (35:49)
  • Waverly Woodson, wounded, treats nearly 200 fellow soldiers under fire (36:20)

• German high command failures: Rommel is away celebrating his wife’s birthday, Hitler is asleep; critical delays allow the Allies to consolidate the beachhead.

• By the evening of June 6, Allied success is assured, but greater challenges await on the continent.

  • “He’s accountable. He’s responsible. That’s what leaders do in good times and bad. Right man for the job.” — Podcast Host (36:59)
  • “The US Theory... You can have a multinational alliance pull off the most complex military operation the world had ever seen.” — Military Historian (37:07)

• Tom Hanks concludes with FDR’s “D-Day Prayer,” underscoring the monumental stakes and moments of personal and national endurance:

  • “This day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.” — Tom Hanks, quoting FDR (37:52)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Churchill’s reluctance and US pressure:

  • “The idea of gambling everything on a cross Channel invasion into France, the exact place, by the way, that so many terrible things happened in trench warfare back in the First World War, all that mattered was we don't do that again.” — Podcast Host/Commentator (03:04)

• On Eisenhower’s leadership:

  • “He gets buy in from people and then get whatever he wants done.” — Veteran/Expert (09:06)
  • “He needs to use overwhelming strength to guarantee success... turn the waters red with your blood.” — Historian/Expert (14:49)
  • “He felt like the loneliest man in all of England.” — Meteorologist/Advisor (25:24)

• On the brutality of D-Day landing:

  • “You don’t run up the beach, you stagger up the beach. Guys are trying to clear obstacles, you’re trying to move ahead. Your senses are overwhelmed with all the things going around you.” — Podcast Host (30:09)

• On Eisenhower’s accountability:

  • “If any blame or fault is attached to the attempt, it is mine alone.” — Eisenhower letter, read by Tom Hanks (31:17)

• On D-Day’s broader meaning:

  • “It’s not just the infantry. It’s all the airmen... It’s a global effort to make D Day work.” — Podcast Host (37:36)

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Timelines for Key Segments

• The Allied Debate on Strategy: 00:38 – 04:27
• Command Decisions and Eisenhower’s Appointment: 04:51 – 06:37
• German Defenses & Atlantic Wall: 06:37 – 08:42
• Planning Operation Overlord: 08:10 – 09:37
• Operation Fortitude (Deception): 11:44 – 13:10
• Air Power Controversies: 13:10 – 15:14; 16:22 – 17:15
• Exercise Tiger Disaster: 19:15 – 21:48
• The Weather Crisis: 21:48 – 25:58
• D-Day Launches: 26:09 – 29:46
• Omaha Beach Drama: 29:46 – 31:17
• Aftermath and Historic Reflections: 33:00 – 38:34

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Conclusion

“Overlord” offers a sweeping, humanized account of how the fate of Europe turned on a coalition of uneasy Allies, the leadership of Eisenhower, daring and sacrifice on the beaches, and fate itself—as seen in the weather and a single, all-or-nothing decision. By blending dramatized narration, expert analysis, and first-hand accounts, the episode illuminates both the strategic complexity and the profound emotional gravity of D-Day for a new generation.

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For those interested in the complete saga, “World War II with Tom Hanks” continues to explore the evolving war fronts and the pivotal moments that reshaped our world.

Transcript

[Narrator/Advertiser]

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[History Channel Host]

the History Channel Original Podcast.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

By the late fall of 1943, the Western Allies and the Soviet Union have dealt the Third Reich multiple blows. The Allies have dislodged the Germans from North Africa and Sicily and are fighting their way up the Italian boot, while the Red army, after victories at Stalingrad and Kursk, pushes west towards Germany. The next step for the Allies is the long anticipated invasion of Northern Europe. This is World War II with Tom Hanks Episode 13 Overlord, Wings over the Mountains by Baghdad and the Dead Sea. Three planes from the supreme headquarters of Britain, the United States and the USSR bring to the capital of Persia the leaders of the war against Germany. This is for the three way conference, so long expected, so often postponed, is

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

a hugely important conference. It's the first time the big three get together in person. You've got Joe Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. You've got Roosevelt, President of the usa. And you've got Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the warlord of the British Empire. This is the central organizing brain for the Allied war effort. And they're going to establish at this conference the roadmap, the blueprint for how they're going to defeat the Axis in the Second World War.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Since the US entry into the war, American and British military strategists have debated the best way to defeat Nazi Germany.

[Military Analyst]

The British want to prosecute this war as they have prosecuted past ones. Mastery of the sea, control of commerce, raids around the periphery until the enemy simply collapses.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

The British advocate for campaigns in North Africa and the Mediterranean, but American military leaders, along with the Soviets, want the Allies to directly attack.

[History Channel Host]

The Red Army's been carrying the burden of the land war for years. Millions, literally millions of casualties on a thousand mile front. And so the big concern for Stalin is when are you going to open a second front?

[Narrator/Advertiser]

So the Americans are looking at the map and saying we can cross the channel from Britain, hit France. Why wouldn't you just do that for the British?

[Podcast Host/Commentator]

They could think of nothing worse. Churchill's entire generation of British politicians either fought in or commanded in the First World War and was scarred. And so the idea of gambling everything on a cross Channel invasion into France, the exact place, by the way, that so many terrible things happened in trench warfare back in the First World War, all that mattered was we don't do that again.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Winston Churchill is thinking, maybe we land in Greece and Yugoslavia, maybe we push up through Slovenia, maybe we land in Norway. Stalin says, I don't care about any of this stuff. It's nonsense. Get in some ships, cross the English Channel, land in France and open up that proper second front against the Germans.

[Podcast Host/Commentator]

If you think about Allied leadership, it looks as if it's the big three. But what Roosevelt understands, what Stalin understands, and what church to his great anguish is coming to understand, is that there's only room for two people at the summit and that the fate of his nation was to be somewhat in eclipse.

[Military Analyst]

At Tehran, the Americans and the Soviets finally get their way. A big American dominated invasion of Western Europe. Operation Overlord.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Operation Overlord will be a massive coordinated invasion by air, land and sea, scheduled to launch in May 1944, a mere six months away. If it succeeds, the Western Allies and the Red army will be able to advance on Germany from two fronts. But who is to command this enormous effort?

[Military Historian/Analyst]

The obvious choice is George Marshall. George Marshall is the Army Chief of Staff and he is unquestionably the most respected military man certainly in the United States and maybe even the world.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

And so everybody assumes that he's going to get it. What becomes clear though, is that Roosevelt realizes that he can't have Marshall out of Washington. He needs him too much to be sort of running the entire war effort. And so then the question is, who?

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Montgomery, Churchill's star general, is absolutely certain that there is one man perfectly suited to be supreme commander of the Allied effort, and that is Montgomery himself.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

But with the American contribution in men and materiel about to dominate the Allied effort, it's clear that an American must be placed in command. President Roosevelt selects General Dwight Eisenhower, a protege of George Marshall and the successful commander of the campaigns in North Africa and Sicily.

[Military Historian/Analyst]

Roosevelt sees in Eisenhower the kind of political skill and savvy that's going to be necessary to keep the alliance together and to pull off what is going to be one of the most high risk military operations in all of human history.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

At the same time, Eisenhower did not have a huge CV of combat experience. He hadn't served in France during the First World War. And so many of his competitors are looking around going, how'd this guy get the job?

[Narrator/Advertiser]

British General Montgomery maybe encapsulates the criticism of Eisenhower when he says, nice chap, no soldier.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Hitler and his high command know the Western Allies are going to invade Northern Europe, but they don't know when and they don't know where.

[Military Analyst]

Hitler is not surprised that an invasion is coming. He said, so at the end of 1943 they'll be here next year and we have to be ready to meet them.

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

In his own mind, he was willing this cross channel invasion because he said, you know, whenever they come and wherever they come, we're going to beat them.

[German Military Analyst]

An amphibious landing is a very demanding operation. And so he thinks he will throw his reserves to the west and push the Allies back into the sea.

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

He'd then be able to win the war by turning everything he has against the Soviet Union.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

In the east, under the direction of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the Germans accelerate the construction of the Atlantic Wal, a network of bunkers, minefields and beach obstacles stretching several thousand miles from France to Norway. Much of the work is performed by conscripted French labor.

[Military Analyst]

Rommel is already a known commodity. He's beloved by the German people. He's young, he's unorthodox, he's energetic. He's a man very much to the Fuhrer's taste. He wakes up early, he works hard all day, he gets the job done. And choosing right, Rommel tells the west, you got your work cut out for you.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

By January, Operation Overlord, the joint British American plan to invade northwest Europe has been largely mapped out. The coast of Normandy is chosen as the landing site because of its long flat beaches, numerous access roads and proximity to the deep water port of Cherbourg. When Eisenhower and his staff take control of Overlord, they looked to expand the scale and scope of the entire operation.

[History Channel Host]

From the very beginning, it was clear to Eisenhower that a three division invasion in northern France would not be adequate. The Allies used six divisions to invade Sicily.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Eisenhower realized, if you've got one shot at this, you've got to cross this brutal stretch of water and land on a heavily defended coastline manned by one of the best armies in history. You need to bring overwhelming force. You go for the King, you best not miss.

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

But he has to somehow get the Brits to come around and agree. His act of genius is to name Montgomery commander of the ground forces in the invasion. He says, monty, will you do this? Monty says, yes. And then Eisenhower says, but I think three divisions a bit small. Shouldn't it be bigger Monty. Oh, it should be much bigger. It's a perfect example of Eisenhower's leadership style. He gets buy in from people and then get whatever he wants done.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Overlord increases to five beaches and six divisions, which delays the operation for a month.

[Military Analyst]

Eisenhower knows that in delaying Overlord, he's running a risk, and the risk is he's going to use that extra month for preparation. But of course, so is his adversary. With each passing day, German defenses are going to get stronger.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel believes the first 24 hours of the invasion will be decisive. He will say to an aide, the fate of Germany depends on the outcome. For the Allies as well as Germany, it will be the longest day.

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

Rommel thinks that you have to defeat the Allied invasion when it comes at the water's edge. But the thing is, there's so many points that the Allies can invade. They've scattered fortifications everywhere. So he's like, how do I take this incomplete Atlantic wall and fill in the gaps? And the way you do it is you do it with things that are relatively cheap, like tank obstacles, like mines.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Rommel's strategy is to stop the Allies on the beaches. He can then bring in his panzers where necessary.

[Military Analyst]

Rommel has a lot of experience fighting the Western powers. He knows this isn't going to be easy. Every minute he prepares, he believes, is a minute closer to a German victory.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

In Britain, the Allies amass resources for Operation Overlord. The United States sends soldiers, tanks, aircraft, and large amounts of supplies.

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

You have to coordinate this massive Allied coalition, which by now is entirely dominated by the Americans, you know, on the supply side, right? You've got a ship over all the oil, all the materiel, all the vehicles.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

The scale of Operation Overlord is just enormous.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

You're talking about nearly 7,000 vessels involved.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

You're talking about tens of thousands of artillery pieces. You're talking about hundreds of thousands of men.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

But what that means is that Britain,

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

for the last two and a half years, has just been turning into one huge, great big military camp.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

To deceive the Germans, the Allies devise and execute a deception plan. Operation Fortitude is a false army operation created to trick into thinking the Allies will land at Pas de Calais, which is the shortest route across the English Channel.

[Podcast Host/Commentator]

The elements that were involved in trying to convince the Germans that the attack was coming in another place, another direction, another location. It's massive. False radio traffic, the creation of false armies. They use dummy vehicles, balloons and rubber tanks and aircraft.

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

This is all part of the deception campaign to keep the Germans guessing until the last second,

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Eisenhower hopes fortitude will prompt the Germans to concentrate their forces near Calais rather than Normandy.

[Military Historian/Analyst]

The Germans have about three quarters of a million men who are poised to be able to mobilize to wherever the Allies invade in Northern Europe. And so he knows that this is going to be a race. It's going to be the Allies over water and the Germans over land. And the Germans are always going to have an advantage in moving over land, and so Eisenhower needs to slow them down. The only tool that Eisenhower has at his disposal are the bombers.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Eisenhower knows from previous experience he can't pull off an amphibious invasion and keep it ashore without dominance in the air. Unless Allied air power is there. For Eisenhower, this landing is not never going to happen.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Starting in 1944, Allied Air Force strategy focuses on destroying the Luftwaffe so that troops could land in Normandy without fear of German air attacks. But Eisenhower also wants to hit railways and transportation hubs throughout France.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Eisenhower wants the roads destroyed, he wants the bridges destroyed, he wants the railway yards destroyed. He does not want one German unit moving two miles down the road without having to build another bridge. And so Eisenhower says those very valuable bomber formations need to be working to my plan. Now the bomber commander's like, no, we've got our own way of winning this war.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Everybody wants to support the landings in Normandy. But the Allied air forces argued that the best way to do that is to continue with more heavy attacks on Germany.

[Military Historian/Analyst]

This becomes a knockdown, drag out fight. So Eisenhower, you know, basically threatens to resign if he is not given control over all the air forces. He's fighting day in and day out with the British, with the French, with his own bosses back in Washington on every little detail of the war and everyone is throwing up nothing but obstructions and he just doesn't have time for this anymore.

[History Channel Host]

Right?

[Military Historian/Analyst]

He is at his wit's end.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

He needs to use overwhelming strength to guarantee success. Because you know what? You've got one of history's most effective armies, Hitler's panzers, who will be hurled at those Allied landing forces so they can chop you down in the shallows and turn the waters red with your blood.

[Podcast Host/Commentator]

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[Military Historian/Analyst]

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[Meteorologist/Advisor]

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[Military Historian/Analyst]

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[Military Historian/Analyst]

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[Meteorologist/Advisor]

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[Military Historian/Analyst]

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[Meteorologist/Advisor]

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[Military Historian/Analyst]

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[Military Analyst]

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[Military Historian/Analyst]

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[Podcast Host/Commentator]

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[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Early spring 1944 Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower has now been given full command of all Allied air forces.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

In the end, he's got the air power weapon he needs to attack the French transportation system. That's roads, railways and bridges that the Germans will use to move forces to oppose the

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

and so he wins. And we take that for granted. But it wasn't easy. You know, he had to like wrestle with all these powerful figures and powerful egos, not only within the US Military, but the British military as well. It's another example of Eisenhower's real quality as a leader. And so for 90 days before D Day, you've got thousands of sorties

[Weather Expert]

all

[Meteorologist/Advisor]

the way

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

by P47s and B26 Marocs that are flying behind the German lines in the Pas de Calais in Normandy is just absolutely punishing the road and rail network.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Defending multiple fronts. The resources of Hitler and his Third Reich are stretched thin.

[German Military Analyst]

For the Germans in 1944, their last big trump card are the tanks. Rommel's plan is to deploy them as close as possible to the beat. The advantage is that you can bring them in much quicker as reinforcements. But this idea runs against traditional German doctrine. It's totally the opposite.

[Military Analyst]

The orthodox approach amongst German commanders is to group your tank divisions into a concentrated mass, let the Allies land, and then, as they stumble into the French interior, hit them at a time and place of your choosing.

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

But Rommel says, look realistically, we can't maneuver against them when they come inland because they have total air superiority.

[German Military Analyst]

The only person who can decide which option will be the better one is Hitler himself. But Hitler never wants to give too much power into one hand.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Suspecting that the Allies will land near Calais, Hitler spreads his panzers along northwestern France, but he reserves operational control for himself.

[Military Analyst]

They can only be released into combat by Hitler's express order, which is probably the Achilles heel of that plan.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

In the spring of 1944, there are over two and a half million troops from multiple Allied nations crowded into southeast England.

[Meteorologist/Advisor]

The invasion would send ashore combat experienced troops who had participated in landings previously, as well as troops who had never done it before.

[Military Historian/Analyst]

So the way you prepare is you have exercises, you have rehearsals, just like in a play. So a series of exercises are undertaken to include something called Exercise Tiger. Exercise Tiger is going to invade a beach called Slapton Sands. And Slapton Sands Sands is a British resort town that remarkably looks exactly like parts of the Normandy coast.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Secrecy is vital for this training mission. 3,000 British citizens are evacuated from the area.

[Weather Expert]

Operational security is absolutely paramount. The Allies have to have tactical surprise on the morning of D Day, so the Germans must be completely blindsided.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

It's a practice run for D Day. But from the start, things go horribly wrong. Because of a breakdown in communication, the Navy fires on its own men.

[Meteorologist/Advisor]

As if that tragedy wasn't bad enough, the next day something even worse happens.

[Military Historian/Analyst]

In the middle of the night. The LSTs, these large ships that have personnel and tanks in them are preparing to do their part in Exercise Tiger and circling about to do the second landing wave. And then all of a sudden a pack of German fast boats or E boats stumbles upon these LSTs and the Germans began firing.

[History Channel Host]

And tracer bullets are flying across the ships. And some of the men on board thought, wow, this is a pretty realistic exercise. And it wasn't really until the torpedoes began to explode against the sides of the LSTs, that they realize this is not a realistic exercise. This is an attack.

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

They sink. Three LSTs, which are really precious by this point. They need everyone.

[History Channel Host]

More than 700 men were killed in Exercise Tiger. So this was a very costly loss of life.

[Military Historian/Analyst]

If a well controlled dress rehearsal goes this badly under the best of possible conditions, what's going to happen when they can't just stroll ashore on a British resort town that are being fired at by German guns.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Operation Overlord has been planned down to the closest detail. But there's one crucial element no one can anticipate. The weather.

[Military Historian/Analyst]

They have a three day window, June 5 to June 7. If they delay the invasion past that window, the moon is no longer going to be right for the airborne operation. The tides are no longer going to be right for the landing forces. And this delicate ballet of air, ground and naval forces won't have the necessary weather conditions to coordinate and hit the beach with full force.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Eisenhower and his staff rely on Group Captain James Stack Hank and his team of meteorologists to provide the most accurate Advice possible.

[Military Historian/Analyst]

The weather leading up to the original D Day is gorgeous and it's so good that it almost feels like an omen. It's two days before the invasion. They're gearing up to launch on June 5 as scheduled. And James Martin Stagg comes to Eisenhower as part of the command conference and says, there's been a turn in the weather. A storm is a bruin.

[Weather Expert]

It's just frankly terrible news. 15 foot waves in the Channel, high winds, unpredictable seas, rolling fronts coming in from all directions, and it's just the last thing they can possibly deal with.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Amphibious operations are a total nightmare. And on top of that, the English Channel is a rough stretch of water. You get winds that howl up that channel, that kick up a swell, that make it impossible to operate ships near the coastline.

[History Channel Host]

Eisenhower had to consider what that meant and he said, well, we'll postpone making a decision until 4 o' clock in the morning when you'll know more. 4 o' clock in the morning on the 4th, tag came in looking not happy and said, it's going to be worse. Will have to postpone until the 6th of June.

[Weather Expert]

The pressure's really there now to, well, we really want to try and get this done in this window or they've got to wait again for all the situations to coalesce. The weather and the tides and the moon might be a few weeks, it might be months. And the problem is you've got all these hundreds of thousands of men in camps who've been sharpened to this, this edge of ready to go in and get their job. Then you've got to say to them, actually, no, sorry, lads, we're going to back down again.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Even the Germans think the conditions are unsuitable for an invasion.

[German Military Analyst]

Rommel gets his weather report on the 4th of June and doesn't look very good. And he thinks there will be no opportunities for the Allies to land for the coming days. And so he decides to go to Germany and celebrate his wife's birthday. The problem, though, is that the Germans don't have meteorological stations in the Atlantic, in contrast to the Allies. And where does the weather in Europe mostly come from? From the Atlantic.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Late in the evening on June 4, the Allies receive a report from a weather station in Ireland.

[Meteorologist/Advisor]

Captain Stagg is going to come in and go, all right. The weather conditions look like they're going to improve such that in the afternoon on Tuesday, June 6, you might be able to pull it off.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Eisenhower polls his commanders, but the final decision is his alone.

[Meteorologist/Advisor]

Eisenhower will ultimately reflect on this 20 years afterward. And he'll say that he felt like the loneliest man in all of England.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

And.

[Meteorologist/Advisor]

And what must have run through that man's mind was, well, the gliders are not going to do well, and when's the other this high, the paratroopers are all going to be blown off course. He had to recognize all of the things that are going to go wrong. Not things that might go wrong, but definitely going to go wrong. But at the same time, I can't come back next month. I can't come back in August. It's now or never.

[Military Historian/Analyst]

And he's sitting there listening to the wind howling around, and he says, okay, let's go.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Operation Overlord. D day is the largest amphibious invasion in history, and it's being attempted by a coalition of many nations, some of which have lived under the Nazi yoke for years. The whole world awaits the outcome.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

As the invasion got closer, Eisenhower got more tense. He's smoking four packs of cigarettes a day. He's barely sleeping.

[Military Historian/Analyst]

He has nothing left to do but wait to hear whether or not he made the right call in the middle of the night, sleep deprived. But the most important thing, though, I think he does in that period, is he goes out and personally visits the 101st Airborne.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

The 101st Airborne, along with the 82nd Airborne and the British 6th Division, will be the first to land behind enemy lines. The job of the airborne is to seize the causeways and cover the flanks of the landing troops. They will be the first soldiers to fight the Germans in Normandy.

[Military Historian/Analyst]

Eisenhower, with no fanfare, just walks among all these young men, all of whom are no older really than his own son. And he makes a point of looking each one of them in the eye as he shakes their hand. He gets an estimate that about 50% of the paratroopers are going to be killed. And so, as he's shaking hands, every other soldier is someone who he has every reason to believe he has sent to their death. The most important thing he could do in that moment was just be there for them. And he spends all night doing that. Goes up to the roof nearby, watches the whole thing take off. That's how he begins D day.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Under a full moon, paratroopers, including the 101st Airborne, start dropping behind enemy lines. Before dawn, landing crafts are lowered into the water, and troops start to board. At sunrise, a fleet of warships launch a naval barrage.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

Ultimately, the ground troops are going to land on five beaches. Two American beaches, Omaha and Utah. A Canadian beach, Juno, and then Gold and Sword, the British beaches. They're then going to try and link up those different beaches and then push inland to take on and destroy the might of the German army in France.

[Weather Expert]

The morning of Junisk, the weather patterns are still chopping about and the wind is still blowing. It's not an ideal situation to start plowing these boats towards the coast there.

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

Right from the jump, the weather's a huge issue. I mean, there's a six foot swell on D day.

[Weather Expert]

The waves are swamping over the side. You're standing in freezing cold water. You're there with 30 other guys. If one vomits, you all vomit. Sea spray is lashing into your face there. You can't see, your eyes are stinging. The longer that goes on, the more you're thinking to yourself what is going to happen when that ramp goes.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

Omaha is the largest of the beaches, a strip of the Normandy coast six miles wide.

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

It's different from all the other beaches in that it's almost like an amphitheater. You know, you've got these high bluffs overlooking the beach, almost like an extended bowl. You'd be coming in gray skies, smoke, noise. Ramp would drop and then there's this just absolute massive fire.

[Podcast Host/Commentator]

85 machine guns laying down 100. People start getting shot and killed. You see dead people floating in the water. You're soaking wet. You don't run up the beach, you stagger up the beach. Guys are trying to clear obstacles, you're trying to move ahead. Your senses are overwhelmed with all the things going around you.

[Weather Expert]

That first wave is getting mown down in great numbers. It's roughly 85% killed and or wounded in the assault waves. On Omaha,

[History Channel Host]

Eisenhower is receiving only intermittent reports, except, of course, that on Omaha beach it's not going as planned. While he tried to project a confident demeanor, you know that inside him he's just roiling with concern.

[Podcast Host/Commentator]

Failure is another Dunkirk. Failure is the loss of all your equipment. Failure is your troops being marched off into captivity. If everything goes wrong, it means a longer war.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

The day before the landings, General Eisenhower, knowing the risks and understanding the responsibility, penned a brief. My decision to attack was based upon the best information available. The troops did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blank or fault is attached to the attempt, it is mine alone.

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[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

On the morning of the Normandy invasion, the first wave of American troops at Utah beach land almost a mile south of their target, but quickly regroup and manage to take the beach and push inland. The British landings at Gold and Sword beaches go better than expected. But at Juno beach, the first wave of Canadian troops meets tough German resistance. And at Omaha beach, rough seas and intense German fire wreak havoc on the first American troops. But more men are on their way.

[Veteran/Expert Commentator]

The German defenders on the Atlantic Wall. They look out that morning and they're stunned by what they see. I mean, they see the biggest fleet ever gathered for an invasion. The Germans all talked about how they were so densely packed, it looked like you could just walk from ship to ship ship.

[German Military Analyst]

For the average German soldier on D day, the experience is something totally new. This naval bombardment, it really shakes up the psyche of the German soldiers.

[Military Analyst]

There are two crucial German command failures. One is that Rommel isn't there. He's back in Germany, celebrating his wife's birthday. When he hears that the landing has happened, he says something along the lines of, how could I have been so stupid? Even more important is Hitler.

[Podcast Host/Commentator]

The morning of the invasion, June 6, 1944, Adolf Hitler is asleep, but nobody will dare wake him up, even though word has come in about this invasion starting.

[Military Analyst]

So in the crucial five or six or seven hours when the Germans might have landed some quick blow against the Allies, those panzer divisions in the central reserve that can only be released into combat by Hitler's express order are pretty much without a commander.

[German Military Analyst]

As a consequence, the Germans reactions on D day end up a big mess.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

By midday, the troops at Gold, Sword, Juneau and Utah have started to push inland, and momentum finally shifts. At Omaha beach. The sheer scale of the invasion helps turn the tide, but it also comes down to individual acts of bravery. At Pointe du Hoc, U.S. army Rangers scale 100 foot cliffs under fire. At Utah Beach, Brigadier General Teddy Roosevelt Jr. The son of former President Theodore Roosevelt, leads a division that lands south of the target.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

They came ashore and he suddenly realized that they were in completely the wrong and he said, to hell with it.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

The war starts here. Roosevelt's son, Captain Quentin Roosevelt ii, is in the first landing wave at Omaha. They're the only father son duo who will land on the beaches that day. Corporal Waverly Woodson, a medic with the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, is wounded before he even hits the beach.

[Podcast Host/Commentator]

But he will treat almost 200 members of the US Army Navy and British Navy as they come ashore on Omaha beach, all the while under intense mortar and machine gun fire.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

By the end of the day on June 6, the allies have secured all five beaches and have pushed inland. In the coming days, they will link up with the airborne forces to create a continuous, connected front along the coast.

[Historian/Expert Commentator]

It was Eisenhower who meshed all of those different nationalities. He brought them together. And Eisenhower deserves a lot of credit.

[Podcast Host/Commentator]

He's accountable. He's responsible. That's what leaders do in good times and bad. Right man for the job.

[Military Historian/Analyst]

Eisenhower understands probably better than anyone now the real hard fighting on the continent of Europe is about to begin. And at the same time, there's a ray of hope. Allied victory is increasingly going to become possible. The US Theory of how you can wage war has now been proven correct. You can have a multinational alliance pull off the most complex military operation the world had ever seen.

[Podcast Host/Commentator]

It's not just the infantry. It's all the airmen that set the conditions. It's all the Coast Guardsmen and the sailors that drew the ships. It's all the people who manufactured all the stuff back in Detroit. It's a global effort to make D Day work.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

My fellow Americans, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer. Almighty God, our son, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

[Podcast Host/Commentator]

President Roosevelt says in his D Day prayer, our forces will be thrown back. Their road will be long and hard.

[Tom Hanks (Narrator)]

But we shall return again and again. And we know that by thy grace and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph. On D day, the 101st Airborne, just hours after being addressed by General Eisenhower, parachuted into occupied France. Despite being scattered across enemy territory, these men cleared the path for American forces to emerge off Utah beach and begin the advance on Germany. A second front is firmly established on the continent of Europe. In the Pacific War, the boundaries are enormous, ranging through Asia and into numerous remote islands across the ocean. Attacking this new front will require the most advanced aircraft ever built. World War II with Tom Hanks is produced by A E Factual Studios, Newtopia Limited, Playtone Productions and Back Pocket Studios in association with Motion Entertainment for the History Channel. This episode was narrated by Tom Hanks and mixed by John Lloyd. Additional voicing provided by me, Jeremy Reagan from the History Channel. Our executive producers are Eli Lehrer and Liv Fiddler. For Playtone, executive producers are Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. For Back Pocket Studios, our executive producer is Ben Dickstein.