Based on the book Ten Days to D-Day by David Stafford, this program unfolds day-by-day, revealing through the letters and diaries of ten people the momentous ten days that led to the Allied invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944. the most ambitious military operation in history. The aim: to liberate Europe from Nazi rule. Ten Days To D-Day uses remarkable archival footage, realistic recreations, insightful interviews, and the unpublished letters and diaries from a Canadian infantryman, Australian naval officer, a French resistance fighter, a German soldier, generals, admirals, double agents and meteorologists whose fate dictated Europe's fate. Ten Days To D-Day revisits the dramatic week and a half when bad weather forced U.S. General Eisenhower to cancel the first planned assault; when German General Rommel went home to celebrate his wife's birthday; when French resistance fighters prepared for the great invasion; when ordinary German soldiers wrote home apparently without a care in the world; when British and American paratroopers and commandoes learnt their targets in Normandy; when double agent 'Garbo' sent his last messages of deception to Germany and when an Australian gunnery officer directed his ship's guns on to the fortified German defences. Through the reconstruction of pivotal scenes, the program also details the stories of the three key titans at the top: Churchill, Eisenhower and Rommel. With each diary entry, interview, archive segment and substantial reconstruction, the program is propelled forward, closer and closer to the beaches and flak-filled skies of D-Day. Produced by Carlton Production LLC & 3BM Television for the History Channel in association with Channel Four and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
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