Posted on 02/23/2009 4:09:30 PM PST by PotatoHeadMick
A Sherman tank trundles ashore while behind it soldiers stride through the waves, rifles at the ready.
But for the seaside guesthouses in the distance it could be a scene from the D-Day landings.
In fact, the pictures show American troops rehearsing for the invasion of Normandy on beaches in North Devon. They are stills from secret footage that has not been seen since World War II.
The remarkable film also shows Winston Churchill and Allied commander and future president Dwight Eisenhower visiting the troops in 1944, a few weeks before they were sent to Normandy.
The collection of ten-minute reels have lain forgotten in a National Archive in Baltimore in the eastern U.S. since the end of the war.
They are to go on show in Britain for the first time after being unearthed by a former BBC technician.
Tony Koorlander made the discovery while researching the wartime connections of his hometown of Bideford, in Devon.
The footage shot between October 1943 and June 1944 on Woolacombe beach and Braunton Burrows was originally intended to be shown to U.S. troops as a training video on amphibious landings.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Good thing CNN wasn’t around back then, they would have gladly shown the training live and beam the pictures to Berlin.
I’m having this sense of daja’vue
That is interesting. I would like to have a copy of that.
Good thing these reels are in the UK instead of the US. What, with Churchill’s mug in them, how could Zero stomach them?
No CNN would show the wounded and dieing men in theaters around the UK and US.
I agree. Just imagine if it were 1945 right now. Headline by NYT:
“DAWN INVASION IMMINENT ON NORMANDY.’
subtitle: Patton as decoy, OVERLORD secret codename for invasion”
“In other news: Secret bomb being built in Los Alamos against the Japs. More secrets to be published in the afternoon..”
Special New York Times Op-Ed by Pat Buchanan Sr. on why we should surrender to the Germans and apologize for interfering with their sovereign actions.
Secret footage unearthed of American troops practising D-Day landings at Devon
Daily Mail | 23 Feb 2009 | Daily Mail
Posted on 02/23/2009 7:16:50 AM PST by BGHater
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2191931/posts
According to the article, a number of them are in a National Archives warehouse in Baltimore.
I noted the Dailymail link, that a BBC technician dug them out, and somehow managed to miss the bit about where they were located!
Wow, imagine living in an America that still had a national identity and the will to not only survive but conquer and prosper. Really puts into perspective how far we’ve fallen.
Good still photos and movie clip.
Flashback to 1944...
I saw a flash of this this morning, but didn’t have time to really look at it. Thanks for the ping!
Good find! I was -10.
Cut Pat some slack, will ya?
He lost an uncle at Auschwitz....
Fell out of the guard tower?
Yep.
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