Sir Antony Beevor on Why D-Day Matters Today

ANTHONY WEAVER, WELCOME TO THE PROGRAM.

YOU HAVE RISEN SO MUCH.

I WONDER WHAT YOU MAKE OF TODAY'S TRIBUTE, THE 75th ANNIVERSARY WHICH MAY BE THE LAST OF ITS KIND.

WELL, IT IS, INDEED ALMOST CERTAINLY THE LAST OF ITS KIND AND OBVIOUSLY THE TRIBUTES HAVE BEEN FULSOME AND IT'S BEEN QUITE STRIKING TO SEE SOME OF THE POLITICAL SUBTEXT IN THE STREET AND SOME OF THE SPEECHES AND AT THE SAME TIME THE VERY MOVING ELEMENT ON THE PERSONAL ELEMENT.

TELL ME ABOUT -- YOU'VE WRITTEN SO MUCH ABOUT THAT PARTICULAR DAY, THE PREPARATION, THE DAY, THE LANDING AND WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR THE SOLDIERS AS THEY WAITED?

BECAUSE WE HEAR SO MUCH ABOUT THOSE WHO SURVIVED AND NOT TO MENTION THE DEADLINED UP IN THE GRAVES IN THE CEMETERY BEHIND ME, BUT WHAT WAS IT LIKE, THE PREPARATION FOR IT?

WELL, THE PREPARATION WAS INTENSE.

I MEAN, NO OPERATION IN THE HISTORY OF WARFARE HAS BEEN PREPARED AS INTENSIVELY AS D-DAY AS OPERATION OVERLORD, BUT FOR THE SOLDIERS JUST BEFOREHAND IT WAS AWAITING WHICH WAS THE WORST AND ESPECIALLY WHEN THE OPERATION HAD BEEN DELAYED FROM A DAY FROM THE 5th OF JUNE TO THE 6th OF JUNE BECAUSE OF THE BAD WEATHER AND MANY OF THEM HAD BEEN CLOSED UP IN THEIR LANDING CRAFT AND VARIOUS TRANSPORT VESSELS, AND THEN BY THE TIME, OF COURSE, THEY GOT INTO THE LANDING CRAFT TO ACTUALLY REACH THE SHORE THEY'D BEEN PRETTY SICK AND EXHAUSTED AND THEN THEY HAD THE WORST PART WHICH WAS THE VERY ROUGH SEAS WHICH TOOK THEM TO THE SHORE ITSELF.

ENTER ALL OF THEM, THE FEAR MUST HAVE BEEN INTENSE, AND THE UNIMAGINE TIFF BEING NOT HAVE BEEN AFRAID, AND I AM THINK THE EXHAUSTION AFTER THE VOMIT AND THE CHEER AND SO FORTH, MANY OF THEM WERE COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED BEFORE THEY EVEN STARTED.

I EMPLOY THEY HAD TO OVERCOME THAT AND THIS WAS THE REAL DETERMINATION THAT CAME THROUGH.

NOT FOR EVERYBODY, BUT ENOUGH TO PERSUADE THE OTHERS TO FIGHT THEIR WAY ESPECIALLY ON OMAHA BEACH, WHICH IS THE ONE BELOW THAT, THE SICHLETRY, YOU'VE STUDIED THIS A LOT AND YOU OUTLINED THE MAIN REPRESENTS AND OBVIOUSLY, THE ATTACK AND THE INFLATION LOCATION WAS A SURPRISE, AND JUST FILL US IN WHY THESE GERMANS WHO OCCUPIED THIS PLACE, AND THEY HAD THEIR DEFENSES.

WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY AND THOSE DAYS?

WELL, THE GERMANS KNEW THE INVASION WAS COMING, BUT THEY HAD NO IDEA EXACTLY WHERE OR EXACTLY WHEN AND THE OPERATION DECEPTION PLANNED FORTITUDE