“ TRAFFIC CONTROL IN THE NORMANDY INVASION ” 1945 D-DAY INVASION LOGISTICS DOCUMENTARY XD75914
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This 1945 War Department film shows traffic control and logistics during the famous Allied invasion of Normandy, Occupied France during World War II, on June 6th, 1944. It also shows the traffic control work of military policemen (MPs). The film follows a convoy as it moves from English bivouac area to the marshalling areas and later to the beach landings. This film was originally classified as restricted (:12). It was produced by the Army Pictorial Service (:25). Opening scenes are from June 6th as a three pronged attack from land, sea and air began (:45). Soldiers move from LST’s to the shoreline (:54). Supplies follow them in (1:00). The large caravan moves down the road as ground troops move up a hill (1:10). Military Police were in charge of trafficking this massive caravan (1:16). Plans for this movement were set into place in the London, England traffic headquarters (1:37). The British Isles were chosen as the best route to move through the southern tip of England to cross the English Channel into France. Crates of rations (2:18), fuel tanks (2:20) and ammunition must be transported (2:22). A unit prepares to move out of an English bivouac area (2:26). The markings on the back of the vehicle (2:31) correspond to the number of the LST which was to take the vehicle across the channel. MP’s are seen in small cars (2:45) moving the group for the marshalling areas. Supply trucks and tanks roll forward (3:01). Reconnaissance (3:09), jeeps and motorcyclists follow (3:17). An MP rides a motorcycle (3:30) allowing a tank to pass. Civilian traffic was only allowed in specific allotments of time which would not interfere with the caravan’s movement (3:36). Two MP’s are stationed at ground positions (3:47). The convoy is stopped to receive last minute instruction (4:00). A MP shows a carefully designed hand signal (4:27). The unit moves through town (4:39). Cattle interrupt the caravan as it bubbles around them (5:25). Road signs were employed to assist in areas where MP’s may not be available (5:33). Another MP stands at a traffic post (5:40) communicating over radio to the headquarters. The convoy approaches the marshalling area (6:10). The movements are displayed on an animated map (6:24). Soldiers spread camouflaged nets over supplies and vehicles (7:01). MP’s were to guide the group from the marshaling areas to the parking lanes (7:33). Concrete blocks were set upon the beach (8:03). LST’s are loaded (8:14) with the back end first (8:29). From here, the destination was Omaha beach (8:40). Soldiers on this beach in France await the convoy (8:50). These men are of the 1st Engineer Special Brigade (8:50); the amphibious forces which had been developed during this war. Supply trucks loaded with equipment roll ashore (9:00). An army jeep moves out from a LST (9:08) as a blimp floats above. Amphibious vehicles leave water for sand (9:11). The vulnerable caravan is moved rapidly inland with heavy cover (9:20). Men regroup at assembly areas (9:28). An amphibious tank is readied for action (9:38). A map notes the location of the assembly areas in relation to the fighting front (9:45). Groups will reorganize in the assembly areas prior to moving to the front. Once in the combat zone, traffic control rests upon MP’s assigned to tactical units (10:18). A shot is provided of one of the specially prepared maps which these combat MP’s used (10:26). Duplicators work to get schedules and routes out (10:40). Men group and discuss areas for which they were to cover (10:49). Troops move to their convoy (11:20) guided by MPs. A sign follows showing maximum speeds for single vehicles versus the convoys (11:32). This sign also warns the MP’s the convoy is now in the forward area of the combat zone as enemy combat fire booms ominously (11:41). MP’s continue to guide the way (11:47) with bright white sleeves. The convoy moves through crumbling buildings as they near combat (11:57). An MP conducts slow hand signals with the roman numeral of 19 hanging around his neck (12:04). This convoy would soon provide much needed support for the push inland.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com
Пікірлер: 82
My grandfather was a US Army combat engineer and arrived in Normandy D-Day +2. Was tasked with clearing mines. Ended up taking two bullets in his torso in the Hurtgen Forest and was sent home after his stay in a hospital in England. Lived the rest of his life with one of the bullets lodged close to his spinal cord.
@cliffstockwell9956
Жыл бұрын
😊
@Peter_Scheen
Жыл бұрын
I live near the Hurtgenwald. I visited it several times. It is a tranquil forest and when you realize the violence that took place there it makes you silent.
@djosbun
Жыл бұрын
@@Peter_Scheen Sounds very nice today, Peter. Thank you for sharing. 👍🏼
This is the type of seemingly pedestrian and ordinary, but crucial, components of D-day that most people give not one thought about. All you ever hear about are events that occurred during the actual invasion. You never hear or read anything about the logistical nightmare this must have posed for supplies shortly afterwards.
I’m an air traffic controller that served in Iraq, and I love getting any little glimpse into WWII ATC. Wish I could find more.
What makes this even more incredible is that is was decades before computers were used for logistics as they are now. Getting tons of rations, ammo, bandages, fuel, etc., etc., from point A to point B - to the correct staging area, on board the correct landing craft, to the correct assembly point on a continuing basis is just staggering.
@thomasdragosr.841
Жыл бұрын
It amazes me that England was a huge supply depot and the Germans didn't seem to notice until the invasion.
@damijoseph
Жыл бұрын
Recording and editing this motion pictures was very impressive too.
@AudieHolland
Жыл бұрын
They did have analog computers like the Torpedo Data Computer (TDC) onboard US submarines, that helped calculate the trajectories of their torpedoes. Various gunsights were also controlled by analog computers, especially later in the war, on the B-29 gun turrets that were fired and controlled remotely. And the punch card system was already invented in 1881. Just because we don't see those systems in the movies, they feel out of place and way ahead of their time when we learn they already existed. Know the Wild West cliché of the lone cowboy rolling his cigarette by hand? Cigarette rolling machines in factories were invented in 1880 already.
@theallseeingmaster
Жыл бұрын
This whole invasion, everything single minute detail, was planned using paper, pencil and the brainpower of hundreds of brilliant people (all of them experts in their respective fields).
@zeedub8560
Жыл бұрын
They did have computers. Warehouses full of people doing math. They were literally called computers, because they were computing. With slide rules, adding machines, and pencils. The first analog computer was built to do calculations for ballistic tables, because even with warehouses full of people that took forever.
What a fascinating film! When thinking about the period, obviously the combat tends to dominate one’s thoughts. But the logistics problem that was supplying all the combat units is absolutely staggering. 🤯
79 years ago, my Moms Dad, my Grand Dad, Charles Ray Drury landed in Normandy on D Day +6 as an MP. This popped up in my KZread feed today. My Grand Dads job was at the 10:30 mark. It wasn't the biggest or bravest job there, but it was part of the overall Invasion of France. He never talked much about his service to his family, but I'm glad he was there.
@clayz1
Жыл бұрын
I like how you managed to let us know that your mom’s dad was also your grand dad. Glad he made it through the war. Being an MP seems like a less miserable job ithan being a GI. GI’s ARE the front. Hazardous duty no matter what. Cheers mate.
@TiredWings
Жыл бұрын
@ClayZ Well, I cross posted it on my FB profile, so I wanted family friends keeping things straight. As far as MP duty not being hazardous, he was working guard in the Cherbourg area and had some Germans trying to sneak through the lines try to ambush him and some fellow MPs one night. Towards the end of things wrapping up in Europe he was put on a boat and told he would be in the 8th wave to land in Japan and to expect 80% casualties. The bombs dropped, and canceled that, so that allowed me to be here:)
@jamestiscareno4387
Жыл бұрын
Mr. Drury has my full respect for his important contribution to what was a huge team effort needed to preserve freedom and defeat tyranny.
@thomasdragosr.841
Жыл бұрын
Everyone did their part...
@AudieHolland
Жыл бұрын
The actual combat units were literally the tip of the spearhead. Six personnel are needed to support one combat soldier. And logically, since most casualties will be suffered by the combat soldiers, by far most veterans will have been in support functions.
Although this is a USA film, much the same occurred in the British/Canadian sectors. My wifes grandfather was an MP in the British Army but attached to the Canadians. He went ashore on Juno , One of his first jobs involved getting a house demolished and bulldozed to form a ramp for vehicles to get over the sea wall and off the beach. Later on he was put on point duty, simple traffic control , near to Pegasus bridge which was being shelled at the time. Several of his comrades were killed and injured doing that job. Near the end of the war he was one of a group that found a concentration camp and rescued the inmates. Like many of his unit he had been an AA patrolman before the war. (Automobile Association) If you look carefully at some film of the British Zone in Normandy you might get a glimpse of the temporary road signs put out by the MPs. complete with the 'AA' Logo! He returned to the AA after the war and lived a long happy life but never spoke about his war until just before he died. As for luck, he not only went ashore on D-Day, but had previously survived being rescued at Dunkirk.
Truly a marvel that an operation of this scale really happened. Thanks to Periscope for uploading this; so that events like this dont become some vaugely interesting bits of factoids. Its so important that we remember the millions of people involved in this, to varying degrees. Films like this let you see them as people just like us
The MP's and combat engineers are the most overlooked folks, with truck drivers and logistics being right there as well. Factories and logistics win wars! With great appreciation to all, best of luck to all of us!
My father was there, with the 713th Military Police Battalion.
@stevepettersen3283
Жыл бұрын
Unit motto: "Be Just and Fear Not".
It's amazing what we can achieve when we all work together, what we call today combined arms operations. 😊
@joshuaphillips755
Жыл бұрын
Sounds like communism.
Great choice of a video for this historic day.
I believe the ruined town at 12:00 is Saint Lo. Two of the signs behind the MP say ‘Canisy’ which about 5 miles SW of St. Lo, liberated in the first few days of Operation Cobra (started July 25) and ‘Tessy-sur-Vire’, about 15 miles south of St Lo, which was liberated August 2.
I remember reading that the success of any battle/war has far more reliance on eating, pooping, and supplies, than it does on actual combat ability. Logistics wins war.
@donaldatherton319
Жыл бұрын
took me a long time to figure that out
@subbywan1422
Жыл бұрын
@@donaldatherton319 your three best friends, regardless of situation, should be the cook, the janitor, and the quartermaster. You can move mountains then :D
"Bivouac" I love that word and all it entails.
Obviously the attention typically paid to D-Day is the heroism of the front-line troops who faced mortal danger as the bullets flew. Logistics is dry and boring by comparison. But this video shows how important logistics were to the success of those troops. What is blowing my mind as I watch this is how all of the preparation was done without the Germans finding out about it. They knew something was coming of course but they were taken completely by surprise in Normandy.
I'm glad this was declassified in time for the 79th anniversary of D-Day! What a great little film to remind us all just how complicated WWII was, and that lots of our troops weren't paratroopers or Private Ryans, but still did enormously important jobs which helped save the free world from Fascism. Thanks for this @PeriscopeFilm
I did Logistics for 24 years in the USAF. I love these movies and in awe still how we move.
I'm soo delighted that this film was restricted until *after the 24th February 2022.* I know, I know Putler doesn't know how a computer operates, but his minions might, and they could've seen it, if it had been released. If they had, just think what a dilemma for them; _"Shall we tell the Boss about this, or pretend the Special Op will be done in 3 days . . . ?"_
@Doodlesthegreat
Жыл бұрын
Nah, he wouldn't have learned anything useful. If he ignored the logistical lessons of the USSR vs. Germany, he sure as hell wasn't going to notice anything here.
@rapman5791
Жыл бұрын
@@Doodlesthegreat Any relation to Victor Gattuso that used to live in Mass.?
A master stroke of D Day, was having Gen Dwight D Eisenhower in overall control. While he certainly understood tactical action, he also was an excellent liaison between the Allies, diplomatic and patient, but above all else Ike's expertise in military LOGISTICS and planning is what is shown in this film. The 'Mulberry' docks creating a port out of no where are not mentioned in the film, and we get to see only a brief glimpse of it, but it was a stroke of brilliance in creating a way to receive supplies quickly at the beachhead. Someone below asked how could the Germans not see the bivouac and marshaling areas? Air superiority. Also, the Germans were expecting the attack to come in the Pas du Calais - the shortest distance across the channel, and were tricked into focusing their attention to that area. For several weeks after D Day, the Germans still expected the main blow to fall there.
Logistics is what wins wars. The "sharp point" without the supporting haft and the man and horse behind it just falls to the ground. A soldier without food, without weapons, without munitions, is just a casualty waiting to happen.
You know it's gonna be good when it has that timestamp format at the bottom.
One aspect of the operation in England not mentioned here was the topping off of all vehicle fuel tanks immediately before loading on the LSTs. A complex system of fuel tanks, bladders, and surface pipelines was set up to fill each vehicle to the brim. At a point in time some weeks after 6/6/44 a flexible gasoline pipeline was laid on the floor of the English Channel to pump gasoline to a fuel depot in Normandy where it was transferred to various tanker trucks and trailers and into hundreds of thousands of jerry cans which the deuce and a halfs then Red Balled to the front.
@Prestone44
Жыл бұрын
The pipe line under the Channel was called PLUTO = Pipe Line Under the Ocean
The logistics were amazing. Incredible film. When was it declassified? Could the general public have seen it after the war?
@rapman5791
Жыл бұрын
Probably not. For Most of WWII the US government had a tight stranglehold on the amount and kind of information that was released. Unlike today where journalists are actually embedded with the troops, back then that was highly unusual. For a lot of these types of films it would take decades for them to be de-classified and shown to the general public.
@AudieHolland
Жыл бұрын
The documentary style movie 'The True Glory (1945)' was released to the public in August of the same year. I would recommend it to anyone wishing to know what it was like to be part of the 'audience' back then.
Most interesting.
Dude. Like... dude.
@triple6758
Жыл бұрын
@Bob Valdez Awesome!
@561ram
Жыл бұрын
You just see your reflection for the first time???
When were these films declassified?
Fascinating (best not show Martin Sheen that Wales was labelled "England")😂 What's the saying? "Amateurs think tactics, professionals think logistics."
Amateurs discuss tactics, professionals discuss logistics.
1944
Interesting tho it's spoiled by the totally unnecessary time code.
@PeriscopeFilm
Жыл бұрын
Here's the issue: Tens of thousands of films similar to this one have been lost forever -- destroyed -- and many others are at risk. Our company preserves these precious bits of history one film at a time. How do we afford to do that? By selling them as stock footage to documentary filmmakers and broadcasters. If we did not have a counter, we could not afford to post films like these online, and no films would be preserved. It's that simple. So we ask you to bear with the watermark and timecodes. In the past we tried many different systems including placing our timer at the bottom corner of our videos. What happened? Unscrupulous KZread users downloaded our vids, blew them up so the timer was not visible, and re-posted them as their own content! We had to use content control to have the videos removed and shut down these channels. It's hard enough work preserving these films and posting them, without having to spend precious time dealing with policing thievery -- and not what we devoted ourselves to do. Love our channel and want to support what we do? You can help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.
Excuse me is that film was secret and later been declassified for audience?
@right..5651
Жыл бұрын
Apparently this film was restricted until after 24th February 2022.
@rapman5791
Жыл бұрын
@@right..5651 not really. This was de-classified well before 2022. The Feb 2022 date is only the date that Periscope Films released it on their platform.
Operation Overlord
MPs “First in last out” is the ethos of the Australian “cherry berets”.
A 1945 D Day... 🤔
D-Day was June 6, 1944. Not 1945.
@PeriscopeFilm
Жыл бұрын
True BUT the film was made and released in 1945.
@roboftherock
Жыл бұрын
@@PeriscopeFilm The wording of the title is the embodiment of ambiguity. Despite your avowance that "That's not how we do it" elsewhere, it needs to be re-written to remove the ambiguity. You know what you mean but that does not get across for the reader.
D-Day, to rescue Adolf Hitler. Who flew out of Germany on April 28, 1945, over the skies controlled by Washington. Adolf Hitler got Guarantees from Washington that he could safely escape through Washington's occupied Europe on his way to South America.
۞﷽ اَللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى سَيّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ سَيّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍﷺ۞ أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُوْلُ اللهِ
The year was 1944 not 1945!!!!!
@stellamcwick8455
Жыл бұрын
They might mean when the movie was produced, not when the invasion took place. This movie refers to the invasion in the past tense so that’s probably what is going on here.
1944, not 1945
@PeriscopeFilm
Жыл бұрын
The film was made and released in 1945.
@tombeck2792
Жыл бұрын
@@PeriscopeFilm But your title says 1945 D-Day invasion, maybe re-word the title
@PeriscopeFilm
Жыл бұрын
@@tombeck2792 No, that's not how we do things here. If the film was made in 1945, then the title will say 1945. Please read the film description which clearly states that D-Day was in 1944.
Back when American fascism destroyed German fascism...
@matttravers5764
Жыл бұрын
Funny how lies are not censored but the truth is in today’s world.
@matttravers5764
Жыл бұрын
Nowadays, everybody calls everyone who disagrees with them a fascist no matter what side they're on. Politics today is such a cluster F.
@johnrudy9404
Жыл бұрын
Go to China junior, they'll love you there.
@Ben942K
Жыл бұрын
@@matttravers5764 not when you know which side is being disingenuous.
@thomasburke7995
Жыл бұрын
GERMANY was not fascist.. they were socialist.. and American did not exterminate 6 million + of its own citizens