D-Day: The Unheard Tapes, BBC2 and Iplayer

[hidetheelephants]

Audio recordings of those who were there, quite a thing listening to it in their own words.

[Nickp82]

A captivating watch. I thought the acting was very good, it would be easy to over do it I imagine but they didn’t . Looking forward to second and third parts.

[mcelliott]

Enjoyed that, the beeb are very good at this stuff. I swim off of Utah beach quite a lot and every time I walk back up to top of the beach I just can't imagine what those brave men went through, just a huge expanse of nothing, incredible.

[rdjohn]

Very moving.

[cuprabob]

Humbling...

[and31]

Absolutely brilliant

[hidetheelephants]

There's a Radio 4 series made as a companion to this; not listened to it yet but thought I'd post it up. I also watched this documentary made by CBS in 1964, Walter Cronkite interviews General Eisenhower about the invasion he lead 20 years before, or more correctly lets Ike tell it with little interruption.

[Castrol for a knave]

We Have Ways of Making You Talk, the excellent podcast by Al Murray and James Holland has a fascinating 5 parter about the lead up to D Day

A lot of minutiae and fresh take on some of the myths

[nicanary]

I've just returned from walking the dog and switched on the TV. It's the D-Day 80 - the Allies prepare. Gettiing a bit dusty in here.

[nicanary]

Meant to add - Old guy came on to address the crowd - 99 years old and word perfect. He spoke clearly and only referred to his crib sheet occasionally. Then at the end he casually added that his tank was hit and he lost both legs below the knee. As you do.

Getting even dustier.........

[Eric Mc]

He also said that he was one of the lucky ones.

No self pity there.

[hidetheelephants]

Many had been aboard their vessels since the 3rd and 4th as the 5th was originally the date, the strain of the wait cooped up in ships not really fitted for this job must have taken its toll.

[g3org3y]

Thanks for linking. Half way through episode 2. Such an experience is (thankfully) so beyond anything one would experience now.

[Riley Blue]

We watched the first episode last night and were spellbound throughout; an excellent production.

[grumpy52]

nicanary said:

Meant to add - Old guy came on to address the crowd - 99 years old and word perfect. He spoke clearly and only referred to his crib sheet occasionally. Then at the end he casually added that his tank was hit and he lost both legs below the knee. As you do.

Getting even dustier.........

Every one of the sections of the veterans own words no matter if spoken by the veterans or by others certain made me stop and think . It was very dusty in my lounge both last night and this morning. Always amazed at the forces "Minders" of the veterans,so attentive and proud to support each of them .

[hidetheelephants]

In a similar vein; War Walks by Richard Holmes. It covers Operation Goodwood which was several weeks after D Day but it features testimony from Ken Tout, who was a tank gunner at Normandy.

Edited by hidetheelephants on Friday 7th June 23:12

[and31]

hidetheelephants said:

In a similar vein; War Walks by Richard Holmes. It covers Operation Goodwood which was several weeks after D Day but it features testimony from Ken Tout, who was in a tank gunner at Normandy.

Ken tout’s book is very good-im afraid I can’t remember the name of it

[hidetheelephants]

and31 said:

hidetheelephants said:

In a similar vein; War Walks by Richard Holmes. It covers Operation Goodwood which was several weeks after D Day but it features testimony from Ken Tout, who was a tank gunner at Normandy.

Ken tout’s book is very good-im afraid I can’t remember the name of it

The confusingly named "Tank!" perhaps? He did write others.

Edited by hidetheelephants on Friday 7th June 23:12

[and31]

hidetheelephants said:

and31 said:

hidetheelephants said:

In a similar vein; War Walks by Richard Holmes. It covers Operation Goodwood which was several weeks after D Day but it features testimony from Ken Tout, who was in a tank gunner at Normandy.

Ken tout’s book is very good-im afraid I can’t remember the name of it

The confusingly named "Tank!" perhaps? He did write others.

That might be it
Another good read is By tank into Normandy by Stuart Hills

Edited by and31 on Friday 7th June 23:14

[and31]

hidetheelephants said:

and31 said:

hidetheelephants said:

In a similar vein; War Walks by Richard Holmes. It covers Operation Goodwood which was several weeks after D Day but it features testimony from Ken Tout, who was in a tank gunner at Normandy.

Ken tout’s book is very good-im afraid I can’t remember the name of it

The confusingly named "Tank!" perhaps? He did write others.

That might be it