A huge shoutout to Steve Greene and his research organization, Historicity - check him out here: historicity.co - ALSO a huge thank you to George Retelas, who helped a great deal with shooting and planning this project. Check out his fantastic channel here! th-cam.com/users/GeorgeRetelas
This is AMAZING to watch footage never seen before in WW2....l am so sorry i am late again,for some reason your videos never get posted on my PC by youtube.....Thank y'all.... Old F-4 II Shoe🇺🇸
@@TJ3 Oh TJ, grovel kowtow blowing smoke up your brass! You are so amazing and so great I love you and worship your shadow and please forgive my pathetic late reply! please please please I beg thee! Don't ignore me I begs! Just give me some love too just a heart I beg!
This all needs to be digitalized for posterity regardless of who might think it unworthy or sensitive in nature. It is history and needs to be preserved. PERIOD And the National Archives needs to come clean with what was actually done with hundreds of thousands of veteran's medical records. We know they have them, because our medical review boards reference data found only within those records. Yet no one knows where our records are being held and why. There is a rigorous chain of custody for all records in the National Archives, which means someone knows who took them, where they took them, and when they took them.
I definitely agree that there should be an effort to digitalize film shot from ww2, as well as releasing information on veterans medical records that are supposedly “missing”, my grandfather was an Army infantryman during the battle of the bulge and received a Purple Heart, but that’s all we know just by word of mouth, all of his records were supposedly “lost during a fire” but I believe they still have records that we either can’t find, or they just haven’t been publicly released, we still occasionally try to dig for any form of documentation because we never knew his rank or role during his time there
@@briancooper2112not talking about black and white footage talking about making it digital so when the film rots it isn’t lost forever. And your right cameramen and a ton of others were killed which is why we should make it stick around instead of their work they died for being lost forever. Not quite sure what you are on about. You go die for something and then have someone say nah whatever just let it go
The story is they were on a dock, and someone knocked them into the water in the sea water destroyed most of the footage. I'm pretty sure it was in the theater of operations and not back at home, but I'm not sure where it happened.
i saw a vid. that said the pictures of all the dead kids on the beach were misplaced on purpose, so America would not see all the dead bodies on the beach. They were afraid America would shut it down. If true, then nothing has changed.
Totally in awe of the footage shown, wish i could see it all but all the same thank you for your work & passion. My grandfather was in Europe for 2yrs of combat during ww2. When he passed two squad members were still alive & attended the funeral. I saw binders of photographs for the first time of his and war buddies. I had no idea he was in what he was in. He never talked about it and spent his last years living holed up in the basement. He said war was hell but i will always wonder what exactly he saw. I dont even know what unit he was in but the pictures i saw of him with his unit & squad members after funeral were unbelievable & incredible.
18:25 and 21:40, that's definitely a British landing craft, a LCA (Landing Craft Assault). You can clearly see the bullet proof steering position (with the white painted diamond shape) visible on the front right side of the craft. Also visible are the side roofs that ran the length of the troop compartments on the LCA. LCAs also had 3 lines of seating, benches for the troops. The American Higgins boat didn't have these side roofs or any seating for troops. My Grandad, William Francis Diffell, a LCA Sternsheetman / Signaller, and his Royal Navy Flotilla, Flotilla 550, landed American troops, L Company 16th Infantry, onto FOX RED (it was meant to have been FOX GREEN) sector of Omaha Beach as part of the first infantry wave on D-Day. I reckon this footage is of Omaha Beach, possibly the second wave on D-Day? Those cliffs 19:53 and 20:53 look very much like those seen in the FOX RED sector on the far eastern end of Omaha Beach. These troops were not meant to land this far east, but it turned out to be a blessing, as once at the base of those cliffs, they did offer some protection from the German strong point, WN60, directly above. Due to a combination of the strong sea current that day, the sea mist and also smoke from the fires on the bluffs above, these elements badly hindered navigation for the landing craft crews coming into the beach. All the units of the first wave on Omaha, apart from the Rangers on the right flank, landed significantly east of their intended positions. Indeed, half of my Grandad's own Flotilla, 6 LCAs were heading off towards Port-en-Bessin before they realised their mistake and turned around almost running parallel with the coast to get back to Omaha Beach. They would land nearly an hour late.The reason the Rangers, who were also brought in by British LCAs and crewed Royal Navy personnel, landed in their correct sectors? Possibly because that western end of the beach was more sheltered by the horseshoe shape of Omaha Beach? But yes, i do reckon those cliffs are those of FOX RED sector, eastern end of Omaha Beach. No other D-Day beach, apart from Pointe du Hoc, had cliffs like that.
Greetings! It's nice to see young people interested in ww2 history and bringing it to light. I personally can and have seen and read lots of material about it (a lifetime,it seems) . yes, those were the 101st airborne boys in town next the small tracked vehicle, picture of paratroopers standing in the sidewalk in front of the caffe had been identified, same with the ones holding a Nazi flag and a machete. Thanks for your work👍👍👍.
The old AV geek in me had a shudder of nostalgia watching the routing of the film. Seriously, the coolest job in school, you could get yanked out of class to run a projector for a class, set up a a video tape recorder/player and no, not a VCR; a reel to reel. Or the big show, movies in assembly. 😂 John Ford also filmed Midway. He was actually wounded but refused to bunker up so he could direct the filming of the ongoing attacks on Hensley Field. WOW! A feature length film! Incredible @TJ3 History . What a ways from the IL2 straight up streaming days, which were always a blast. Fantastic find TJ.
Awesome job & Unreal discovery. 80 years 🫡 & many more to come. Thanks to all who helped document, preserve & present this archive footage & thanks to TH-cam for giving us a place to view it.
Not all forces were brought ashore via the Royal Navy. They possibly brought the Canadian and British forces and some small numbers of Americans but in large part I believe the US Coast Guard brought most of America's men to the shore.
My coworker’s dad was George Hjorth. He was a somewhat famous child actor in the early TV days. He escorted Shirley Temple to the Academy Awards. He didn’t like acting and switched to cameraman. He volunteered for the war effort and worked for the OSS. They would parachute him behind enemy lines in Frances and he would film things like the V-1 launchers and things. He was parachuted into France a few days before D day. He was told to store his film gear at the foot of the bluffs at Omaha beach. He was instructed to sleep at the foot of the bluff the night before the attack. He filmed the slaughter from the bluffs. You can read about his exploits in a LA Times article.
@@tonybarnes3858 Georgetown University was looking for it. The last time George saw it, the OSS had developed the film and were starting to look at it. The guy ended up yelling at George and told him to get out. That was the last that he saw it.
@@tonybarnes3858 Georgetown University is scouring archives looking for it. George came back stateside with the footage. They developed the film and were starting to view it. George walked in during the viewing and the OSS guy dressed him up and down and George walked out and never saw it again. He was easy going and shrugged at most of life. Never told his son about his war exploits until the LA times article came up.
That's a popular legend, but nothing more. Hjorth was actually offshore filming from a ship on D-Day. George must have been pulling you dad's leg. I hope no one seriously believes Hjorth was instructed to hide among very German defensive positions which were scheduled to be the subject of heavy bombers, naval shelling, and salvos of rockets that morning.
I'm dumbfounded that that footage has been sitting there, they go down there Monday through Friday 8 hours a day, and no one has digitized it yet? Come on, that's almost incompetence in my book.
I had read, and also heard, back in the 1970’s, that the footage taken on Omaha by Army cameramen was accidentally dropped in the sea when the Lt. carrying the bag of film up the rope ladder dropped it. Unlike Robert Capa’s photos on Omaha, which I think were ruined by an impatient dark room technician, I always felt that the film reels went missing because the beach was something that you did not want the public to see. In the first five minutes there was not one officer or non-com from the Big Read One left alive on the beach and the 29th fared just as badly. There was a reason why the Commonwealth footage predominated and possibly a good one at the time. The story of the Buna Beach photo of three dead Americans and the fight that Life went through to publish them in ’43 will tell you how concerned the government was. Tarawa was another. I always felt that Omaha just would have been too much with the thousands of American casualties. They had decided, initially, to bypass the beach but then realize that they needed it to tie Utah in with the other beaches. Cota wanted to land at night, they knew it would be that bad. That cliff that you were trying to figure out was the base of Pointe du Hoc where the wounded were being treated. They were not under fire at the time.
Thank you so much for showing us this bit of history. Those men are the fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers of people today some of whom may be researching their family's genealogy. I actually wondered if someone watching this recognized a a soldier or sailor as a family member. This is all so fascinating and interesting to me. Thank you and your associates for this important work.👍👏
Totally INCREDIBLE !!!! Thank you for sharing. The History of Truth on one day that changed human life on Earth. George is the best. Peace and Love and no wards can capture what you captured. Incredible but TRUE.
Wow, great stuff as usual TJ. Very very neat to see the work that Steve Greene has done, and some of the facility at the National Archives. Keep up the great work!
I can’t prove it. My belief, in tradition with U.S. information control, is that the Utah Beach footage was never going to be allowed to be viewed by the American public. If Americans “back home” viewed news in theaters that mirrored the “Private Ryan” version of the invasion on that beach public support for the war would have vanished. Considering six thousand men died horribly taking that beach I wouldn’t have blamed the viewers for wanting their men to come home. I’ll always believe that footage was destroyed intentionally.
I’m no expert, but to me the creators of the video have taken a bit license to increase the drama by claiming “never before seen footage.” I’ve seen much of this footage before. For me, the take alway is that there seems to be more than one edited reel of invasion footage that was compiled under Ford’s direction. I’ve seen the SHAEF one before but not the other ones. But some of the scenes in the other ones I have seen before. Some of scenes obviously come from British and Canadian cameramen. I was able to identify those. Also I think there are quite a few scenes shown of the footage that George Stevens’ team shot aboard HMS Belfast. This is where it can get confusing for a lot of people. A lot of people don’t seem to know that George Stevens’ Special Coverage Units were also assigned to various British and Canadian ships. Thus you get the case of Americans shooting footage of British and Canadians. The film from HMCS Algonquin is an example of this that one can find on TH-cam. On the other hand, the scenes of American troops aboard LCA’s piloted by British crews heading into Omaha seems to have confused the creators of the video, but I have no doubt that the cameramen or the just the cameras (if they were automatic ones) were American. However, it is well documented that many of the landing craft that took Americans to the beach especially Omaha were piloted by British crews. I would agree with many of the commenters that this material should be digitized, made accessible and, most importantly, properly labelled. Just a few years ago I was able to find my father in colour footage landing American troops on Omaha Beach on June 11. He was in the Royal Canadian Navy, on a Canadian LCI, but the film had been mislabelled when digitized.
I agree with you, I have seen almost all of this before: The 82nd & 101st Airborne, the 1st Infantry Division guys in the British LCA approaching Omaha Beach, the 4th Infantry Division guys walking inland (wrongly referred to as the 82nd by the speaker), the troops by the cliff at Fox Red... All of this has been broadcast before and is also available on several other TH-cam channels. It is also available in digital form on the Critical Past website. All of the D-Day footage on the beach shown here was shot by Army Signal Corps cameramen of the 165th Signal Photographic Company who are known and who were not serving under John Ford. I'm all for discovering any unseen footage from D-Day but most of what is shown here has been widely disseminated before.
@@VictoreeatCyep this seems a poorly thought out video. Wouldn’t have taken long to realise this is mostly regurgitated footage if they knew a little more on the subject
There are so many historical films and artifacts and items of all kind that are hidden that we do not know about. My father worked as a curator at a famous museum in America and there were the most fascinating items locked away and never shown
Once again you have out done yourself and knocked it out of the park. Thank you for all your hard work to find these amazing videos that has never been seen by the public. I have already rewatched it 4 times. I can't wait until June 6th now. Have you ever thought about making another pay channel thats not restrictive as youtube like The Donut Operator and many others youtubers have done to show and say what they want? I can't believe we just got to see W.W. 2 video that I've never seen before. That was so cool. I Have a good weekend TJ and please keep 'em flyin.
My husbands grandfather was in the British navy and he was on one of the ships set out in the bay sorting out the men on the landing ships and was shelling the Germans on the beach that day and told my husband everything. My grandad was a Japanese prisoner of war and refused to speak about anything sadly so we will never know what happened. I am honestly so glad that there is still footage available as it is so important to the history xx
At last, a docu that you can trust in. Awesome footages all the way and real experts that give you proper, correct explanations. Also very enjoyable, even exciting. Good work, many thanks! 👌🏻👍🏻 Subscriber here.
The footage of "This might be the 101st" is well documented and actually features several known Easy Company men. That's Albert Blithe standing next to the soldier with the machete.
You look at the footage and wonder... ...did any of those soldiers make it through the war? ...what families have loved ones in that footage and never knew about it? "you can't preserve everything." What else did we miss? Awesome video TJ! Can't wait to help you guys with the research assistance for Flying The Fortress!
I used to watch the longest day and always wanted to see some real footage but though it didnt exost or get destroyed. My breath has truly been taken away, seeing that glider bounce on the runways was crazy. Thank you for doing this. Please digitise them.
The landing craft were generally manned by Royal Navy sailors on D-Day, as the crew, hence them wearing British helmets. I don't know if ALL the LCI's were manned by British sailors, but many certainly were.
That was an amphibious combat tank light series (CTLS) tankette. Two model variants were manufactured by Marmon Herrington. The 2 models were the CTLS-4TAC and the CTLS-4TAY combat tank light series. They were used during the first faze of the war. They proved somewhat reliable as soldiers were able to drive up closer to enemy positions and had armor which kept the crew, driver and gunner safe from small arms munitions. They had .30 cal M1919 machine guns and 2 x .50 cal M2 browning machine guns. The driver sat in the hull which also carried ammunition & medium size armaments like mortar shells for soldiers with boots on the ground. The ammo kept dry and saved a lot of time by not having to send a soldier to fetch ammunition. It meant they could keep advancing as one drives the gunner mowed down the enemy and could just bend down reach into the hull and grab ammunition. During WW2 soldiers had zero body armor which made the CTLS loved by many US soldiers. They did not last long in the battle as they were often targeted by enemy with armor piercing rounds which set off armament’s and ammo causing explosions that killed and wounded a lot of soldiers from the explosion or shrapnel. The U.S military decided it was not effective and was immediately removed from the theater. Other nations manufactured micro tanks which they continued using throughout WW2.
I recall hearing a mention years ago on some tv show that there had been camera men para dropped into France before D-day. At least one having filmed the landing from the shore. If it still exists it must be found and preserved.
During those days, my dad was in signals, and he watched a lot of RAW UNEDITED combat films, films that today are buried so deep in some forgotten vault, recorded under a non-descript name, that none of them will never look for them or again be seen or see the light of day. Footage so graphic, gory and horrifying that he would only describe a tiny bit of it to me only one time. I agreed with my dad, this kind of stuff should remain buried; preserved but never destroyed.
@@wirelessone2986 I have never seen any footage that remotely compares to what he described; nothing remotely close to anything you or I have ever seen.
Agree and disagree, but with respect. It's clear, and so very sad to see now that "we" have learnt nothing. Half of Europe yearns for the war, again. (And always them who wouldn't have to go to the battlefield anyway, but they are so eager to convince others about the necessity of the war.) The western world is misleaden, misinformed or simply biased. Respect for the exception. So I believe we have to see and watch these footages to remember what the war IS. 😐😑😔
It was said many years ago that many of the Cameramen on D-Day were given Color Film, it was the Greatest Invasion Of All Time! They also scoured the Beaches at Omaha for Any and All Cameras! So why is there So Little Footage of Omaha Beach??? It was said that some of it was shown to the Heads of SHAEF as soon as it was processed... It Made Them Sick!!! In B&W it's blurry and obscure. But in Color the carnage was all to vivid! Veterans of D-day said that Saving Private Ryan got it right... The Heads of SHAEF declared that Film from Omaha Beach should never be seen by the American Public, because they would Never consent to fight another War! They were really afraid the American Public would Demand an Immediate End To 'The War' [WW2]!!! It was that bad! That Film was to be sent to the National Archives and preserved, But Kept Secret! So it may still be there, but seemingly Mislabeled, or Labeled as something boring! Or not about WW2 at all... Look under the rocks! Everywhere!!!
A good percentage of those used to man the various guns and nests were actually no German, but those who they recruited from the POW Camps near the eastern front, as well as those who weren't given a choice. Wow, this is so awesome!
Of great use would be an index of time-frames/locations where filming occurred; potentially indicating unit identification. Have always held the hope of seeing my father (yes, first generation) on film. He landed with Battery "A", 32nd Field Artillery Battalion... 18th Regimental Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division... (where he was amazingly awarded a Bronze Star w/"V") Generally, the 32nd landed mid to late afternoon, where filming would be more realistic/probable.(he died, 1964, when I was 7). Also, is there a project digitizing The landings at Gela, Sicily? (June 9, 1942); where he also participated (same unit). I have one photo of him "somewhere in France '45" as well as his WD AGO 53-55 and complete set of replacement awards and decs.
This is just mind blowing. I love following ww2 history all the way. The footage of the American soldiers dealing with captured German soldiers, can you imagine what goes through both minds knowing, you're there to kill them, they're there to kill you.
A documenty I watched 4 or 5 yrs ago claimed that a large number of omaha d day reels were accidental dropped into the channel in the hand off from the beach transport to the receiving ship meant to take them to England. My thoughts are that Omaha was so bloody the military hid the footage
Am fairly certain 17:32 on the far right is Pvt. Albert Blithe, Easy Co. 506 PIR, 101st Airborne. This should be the rally point at or near St.Marie-du-Mont.
The story I recall had to do with a rush to develop the first films from the invasion that the dark room was exposed to white light when someone entered prematurely to see the films
Nonne of that footage was at Utah. Utah did not have cliffs or bluffs. Utah was flat marshy ground and did not have machine gun positions firing on the beach . Most of the casualties on Utah were from either mortars or mines.Most of it was in the Easy and Fox sectores of Omaha beach. I thought that the tracked vehicles were Bren carriers lent to the 82nd by the British Airborne which happened at Market Garden. But I read in the comments these are French Renault UE Chenillette armored carrier whihc look a lot like Bren carriers. They were probably captured by the 82nd airborne after they captured Ste. Mere Eglise. Lastly the reason why the helmets are different in that run into the beach scene was becasue the coxwains are Royal Navy. taking in American troops.
I have seen most of this footage there is about a few seconds of shots of film that are on par with the rest I haven't seen before that you pointed out I still feel like there is still more footage missing and most of it could be combat footage from the Beach head
100%. I’m pretty certain the shot with paratroopers holding the swastica are actual members of East company. Bill Guarnere with machete, David Webster with Glasses, & a mix of other companies within the 101st.
While it is understandable that people want to see their own countrymen in such historical footage, griping about more footage showing British and Canadian troops goes against the whole meaning behind the invasion - it was an allied effort and only succeeded because the allied nations worked and fought together as one army, air force and navy. to beat a common enemy.
Hi guys just a note...the footage at 11.26 minutes has been shown quite a lot of times...its a village called St macouf...sorry if its misspelt...of the 82 as you mention...a chanel called WW2 Wayfinder....they have all this...and the British guy explains it in detail down to the units involved....just thought I would point it out...he does the same location in 2024...were he standing in the exact same position as the 82nd did in 44
A duffel bag full of still and motion picture film was being hoisted aboard a ship off the Normandy beach and was dropped and lost. Also those playing card insignia on the paratrooper's helmets is another indication that they are 101st Airborne troops.
I personally don't like hearing the words "You can't save everything". Why not? I don't see why you can't or won't save every single frame of footage. Even seemingly mundane footage is worth saving, I think.
I am generally a fan of your channel and enjoy your content. I appreciate the research you do to bring the many stories to life knowing that as each day passes, we lose more of our veterans whose stories will go untold. I watched this one with mixed emotion. The reels were a gold mine and as I watched I cringed knowing that each run of the reel is a crap shoot. Will the media have decomposed? Is it brittle? Was it kept stored in such a was as to best preserve the footage? The one reel had many patches. Like the veterans whose lives are preserved on the reels, each day is a race against time for the film as well. I have been somewhat critical of your content when you say this but show that all the while enjoying the rare footage even if it is inaccurately inserted. You offer gold to all of us who are history buffs of WW2 and love the content. I thank you for your research and content. I can only hope that like old Hollywood reels, there are those who are racing to preserve what is left of the reels. They will be the only visual footage left of a time that reminds us that we should always stand strong for what is right and just. They did back then!
These were reference prints, likely printed in the 60's or 70's as "use copies". The National Archives will not screen film preservation elements for the public, those are used to make copies, Unfortunately, they are way behind in that process. Kept in cold storage, film lasts a very long time.
Half of these video material is digitilized since years and was published before.... These are some very famous shots from St. Marcouf and the Marmion Farm, also known as Stopka's Retreat. A mainly 502nd PIR strong hold near Ravenoville. Good researched and documented since ages.
I wished we could see the parts TH-cam want let you show us. I was just warned this morning by TH-cam about posting a negative comment, and I was like , how can that have been offensive? But yet a lot of the things we see on TH-cam are way worse than any comment, and what we're seeing here is history.. It's like they don't want the history of WW2 to be taught. I have 5 kids and my oldest daughter who's 21 yrs old, said she had heard a little bit about WW2 in school and my other 4 were never taught a thing about the WW2 or the Civil wars. It's ashamed
A huge shoutout to Steve Greene and his research organization, Historicity - check him out here: historicity.co - ALSO a huge thank you to George Retelas, who helped a great deal with shooting and planning this project. Check out his fantastic channel here! th-cam.com/users/GeorgeRetelas
Where is the digital copy you surely made of all this unique footage?
This is AMAZING to watch footage never seen before in WW2....l am so sorry i am late again,for some reason your videos never get posted on my PC by youtube.....Thank y'all....
Old F-4 II Shoe🇺🇸
@@steveshoemaker6347 Thanks for watching!!
He's a liar!
@@TJ3 Oh TJ, grovel kowtow blowing smoke up your brass! You are so amazing and so great I love you and worship your shadow and please forgive my pathetic late reply! please please please I beg thee! Don't ignore me I begs! Just give me some love too just a heart I beg!
This all needs to be digitalized for posterity regardless of who might think it unworthy or sensitive in nature. It is history and needs to be preserved. PERIOD And the National Archives needs to come clean with what was actually done with hundreds of thousands of veteran's medical records. We know they have them, because our medical review boards reference data found only within those records. Yet no one knows where our records are being held and why. There is a rigorous chain of custody for all records in the National Archives, which means someone knows who took them, where they took them, and when they took them.
No. It would ruin it. This was black and white film and should stay that way. Alot of cameraman were killed in the air or ground. Just leave it alone.
Digitizing it just means scanning it so we will still have it after the film eventually decays
Exactly. No one has analog equipment to view these images because everything is digital now. Digitize it so all the people can view them.
I definitely agree that there should be an effort to digitalize film shot from ww2, as well as releasing information on veterans medical records that are supposedly “missing”, my grandfather was an Army infantryman during the battle of the bulge and received a Purple Heart, but that’s all we know just by word of mouth, all of his records were supposedly “lost during a fire” but I believe they still have records that we either can’t find, or they just haven’t been publicly released, we still occasionally try to dig for any form of documentation because we never knew his rank or role during his time there
@@briancooper2112not talking about black and white footage talking about making it digital so when the film rots it isn’t lost forever. And your right cameramen and a ton of others were killed which is why we should make it stick around instead of their work they died for being lost forever. Not quite sure what you are on about. You go die for something and then have someone say nah whatever just let it go
I've said it 1000 times and will say again that this is the most underrated channel on TH-cam. Keep up the amazing work TJ
This is crazy to think that footage of one of the most important event in human history could be left in archives like that. Amazing video TJ🔥
I was told in Normandy that all the camera footage was gathered up and returned to the usa but it got damaged with water and thrown over board
The story is they were on a dock, and someone knocked them into the water in the sea water destroyed most of the footage. I'm pretty sure it was in the theater of operations and not back at home, but I'm not sure where it happened.
i saw a vid. that said the pictures of all the dead kids on the beach were misplaced on purpose, so America would not see all the dead bodies on the beach. They were afraid America would shut it down. If true, then nothing has changed.
That was Robert Capa's footage from Omaha
Must have been the same bunch that lost all the original footage of the moon landings. Nothing to see here though
@@LoneWolf051 They were destroyed when being developed back in Britain. The assistant rushed the drying process, and turned a heater up too much.
Another amazing TJ3 video to get today started. Appreciate all you do GOAT
Totally in awe of the footage shown, wish i could see it all but all the same thank you for your work & passion. My grandfather was in Europe for 2yrs of combat during ww2. When he passed two squad members were still alive & attended the funeral. I saw binders of photographs for the first time of his and war buddies. I had no idea he was in what he was in. He never talked about it and spent his last years living holed up in the basement. He said war was hell but i will always wonder what exactly he saw. I dont even know what unit he was in but the pictures i saw of him with his unit & squad members after funeral were unbelievable & incredible.
So glad that this has been found, War is Tragedy, & we need to be reminded of that!
15:54 the guy chewing gum scene was 101st. Just keep looking at all the patches. Great film and thanks for showing some!
I am a big WW2 documentary watcher thank you gentlemen for this great footage… just awesome thank you again
18:25 and 21:40, that's definitely a British landing craft, a LCA (Landing Craft Assault). You can clearly see the bullet proof steering position (with the white painted diamond shape) visible on the front right side of the craft. Also visible are the side roofs that ran the length of the troop compartments on the LCA. LCAs also had 3 lines of seating, benches for the troops. The American Higgins boat didn't have these side roofs or any seating for troops. My Grandad, William Francis Diffell, a LCA Sternsheetman / Signaller, and his Royal Navy Flotilla, Flotilla 550, landed American troops, L Company 16th Infantry, onto FOX RED (it was meant to have been FOX GREEN) sector of Omaha Beach as part of the first infantry wave on D-Day. I reckon this footage is of Omaha Beach, possibly the second wave on D-Day? Those cliffs 19:53 and 20:53 look very much like those seen in the FOX RED sector on the far eastern end of Omaha Beach. These troops were not meant to land this far east, but it turned out to be a blessing, as once at the base of those cliffs, they did offer some protection from the German strong point, WN60, directly above. Due to a combination of the strong sea current that day, the sea mist and also smoke from the fires on the bluffs above, these elements badly hindered navigation for the landing craft crews coming into the beach. All the units of the first wave on Omaha, apart from the Rangers on the right flank, landed significantly east of their intended positions. Indeed, half of my Grandad's own Flotilla, 6 LCAs were heading off towards Port-en-Bessin before they realised their mistake and turned around almost running parallel with the coast to get back to Omaha Beach. They would land nearly an hour late.The reason the Rangers, who were also brought in by British LCAs and crewed Royal Navy personnel, landed in their correct sectors? Possibly because that western end of the beach was more sheltered by the horseshoe shape of Omaha Beach? But yes, i do reckon those cliffs are those of FOX RED sector, eastern end of Omaha Beach. No other D-Day beach, apart from Pointe du Hoc, had cliffs like that.
around 18:00 - YES that man is so correct ... worked at the Swiss National Broadcast Archive for 38 years and came to the exact same conclusion
Greetings! It's nice to see young people interested in ww2 history and bringing it to light. I personally can and have seen and read lots of material about it (a lifetime,it seems) . yes, those were the 101st airborne boys in town next the small tracked vehicle, picture of paratroopers standing in the sidewalk in front of the caffe had been identified, same with the ones holding a Nazi flag and a machete.
Thanks for your work👍👍👍.
The old AV geek in me had a shudder of nostalgia watching the routing of the film. Seriously, the coolest job in school, you could get yanked out of class to run a projector for a class, set up a a video tape recorder/player and no, not a VCR; a reel to reel. Or the big show, movies in assembly. 😂
John Ford also filmed Midway. He was actually wounded but refused to bunker up so he could direct the filming of the ongoing attacks on Hensley Field.
WOW! A feature length film! Incredible @TJ3 History . What a ways from the IL2 straight up streaming days, which were always a blast.
Fantastic find TJ.
That Ford shot Midway film is really amazing.
Thank you for a great presentation. God Bless. 🇺🇸
Awesome job & Unreal discovery.
80 years 🫡 & many more to come. Thanks to all who helped document, preserve & present this archive footage & thanks to TH-cam for giving us a place to view it.
Very amazing at what footage they can pull up or restore. I am impressed🤯.
At 14:57 that's a French Renault UE Chenillette armored carrier.
Popular misconception : 18:50 Royal Navy shipped the invasion forces onto the Beaches hence the different helmets
Not all forces were brought ashore via the Royal Navy. They possibly brought the Canadian and British forces and some small numbers of Americans but in large part I believe the US Coast Guard brought most of America's men to the shore.
Great job guys! So stoked for Footage Under Fire!
My coworker’s dad was George Hjorth. He was a somewhat famous child actor in the early TV days. He escorted Shirley Temple to the Academy Awards. He didn’t like acting and switched to cameraman. He volunteered for the war effort and worked for the OSS. They would parachute him behind enemy lines in Frances and he would film things like the V-1 launchers and things. He was parachuted into France a few days before D day. He was told to store his film gear at the foot of the bluffs at Omaha beach. He was instructed to sleep at the foot of the bluff the night before the attack. He filmed the slaughter from the bluffs. You can read about his exploits in a LA Times article.
That’s insane thanks for sharing this with us
Where's the footage?
@@tonybarnes3858 Georgetown University was looking for it. The last time George saw it, the OSS had developed the film and were starting to look at it. The guy ended up yelling at George and told him to get out. That was the last that he saw it.
@@tonybarnes3858 Georgetown University is scouring archives looking for it. George came back stateside with the footage. They developed the film and were starting to view it. George walked in during the viewing and the OSS guy dressed him up and down and George walked out and never saw it again. He was easy going and shrugged at most of life. Never told his son about his war exploits until the LA times article came up.
That's a popular legend, but nothing more. Hjorth was actually offshore filming from a ship on D-Day. George must have been pulling you dad's leg. I hope no one seriously believes Hjorth was instructed to hide among very German defensive positions which were scheduled to be the subject of heavy bombers, naval shelling, and salvos of rockets that morning.
TJ, this is an amazing find. Thank you for what you do. Smh, simply amazing.
Incredible. This needs to be digitised and made available.
I'm dumbfounded that that footage has been sitting there, they go down there Monday through Friday 8 hours a day, and no one has digitized it yet? Come on, that's almost incompetence in my book.
I had read, and also heard, back in the 1970’s, that the footage taken on Omaha by Army cameramen was accidentally dropped in the sea when the Lt. carrying the bag of film up the rope ladder dropped it. Unlike Robert Capa’s photos on Omaha, which I think were ruined by an impatient dark room technician, I always felt that the film reels went missing because the beach was something that you did not want the public to see. In the first five minutes there was not one officer or non-com from the Big Read One left alive on the beach and the 29th fared just as badly. There was a reason why the Commonwealth footage predominated and possibly a good one at the time. The story of the Buna Beach photo of three dead Americans and the fight that Life went through to publish them in ’43 will tell you how concerned the government was. Tarawa was another. I always felt that Omaha just would have been too much with the thousands of American casualties. They had decided, initially, to bypass the beach but then realize that they needed it to tie Utah in with the other beaches. Cota wanted to land at night, they knew it would be that bad. That cliff that you were trying to figure out was the base of Pointe du Hoc where the wounded were being treated. They were not under fire at the time.
Thank you so much for showing us this bit of history. Those men are the fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers of people today some of whom may be researching their family's genealogy. I actually wondered if someone watching this recognized a a soldier or sailor as a family member. This is all so fascinating and interesting to me.
Thank you and your associates for this important work.👍👏
Totally INCREDIBLE !!!! Thank you for sharing. The History of Truth on one day that changed human life on Earth. George is the best. Peace and Love and no wards can capture what you captured. Incredible but TRUE.
Wow, great stuff as usual TJ. Very very neat to see the work that Steve Greene has done, and some of the facility at the National Archives.
Keep up the great work!
I can’t prove it. My belief, in tradition with U.S. information control, is that the Utah Beach footage was never going to be allowed to be viewed by the American public.
If Americans “back home” viewed news in theaters that mirrored the “Private Ryan” version of the invasion on that beach public support for the war would have vanished.
Considering six thousand men died horribly taking that beach I wouldn’t have blamed the viewers for wanting their men to come home.
I’ll always believe that footage was destroyed intentionally.
I’m no expert, but to me the creators of the video have taken a bit license to increase the drama by claiming “never before seen footage.” I’ve seen much of this footage before. For me, the take alway is that there seems to be more than one edited reel of invasion footage that was compiled under Ford’s direction. I’ve seen the SHAEF one before but not the other ones. But some of the scenes in the other ones I have seen before. Some of scenes obviously come from British and Canadian cameramen. I was able to identify those. Also I think there are quite a few scenes shown of the footage that George Stevens’ team shot aboard HMS Belfast. This is where it can get confusing for a lot of people. A lot of people don’t seem to know that George Stevens’ Special Coverage Units were also assigned to various British and Canadian ships. Thus you get the case of Americans shooting footage of British and Canadians. The film from HMCS Algonquin is an example of this that one can find on TH-cam. On the other hand, the scenes of American troops aboard LCA’s piloted by British crews heading into Omaha seems to have confused the creators of the video, but I have no doubt that the cameramen or the just the cameras (if they were automatic ones) were American. However, it is well documented that many of the landing craft that took Americans to the beach especially Omaha were piloted by British crews. I would agree with many of the commenters that this material should be digitized, made accessible and, most importantly, properly labelled. Just a few years ago I was able to find my father in colour footage landing American troops on Omaha Beach on June 11. He was in the Royal Canadian Navy, on a Canadian LCI, but the film had been mislabelled when digitized.
I agree with you, I have seen almost all of this before: The 82nd & 101st Airborne, the 1st Infantry Division guys in the British LCA approaching Omaha Beach, the 4th Infantry Division guys walking inland (wrongly referred to as the 82nd by the speaker), the troops by the cliff at Fox Red... All of this has been broadcast before and is also available on several other TH-cam channels. It is also available in digital form on the Critical Past website. All of the D-Day footage on the beach shown here was shot by Army Signal Corps cameramen of the 165th Signal Photographic Company who are known and who were not serving under John Ford. I'm all for discovering any unseen footage from D-Day but most of what is shown here has been widely disseminated before.
@@VictoreeatCyep this seems a poorly thought out video. Wouldn’t have taken long to realise this is mostly regurgitated footage if they knew a little more on the subject
There are so many historical films and artifacts and items of all kind that are hidden that we do not know about. My father worked as a curator at a famous museum in America and there were the most fascinating items locked away and never shown
Once again you have out done yourself and knocked it out of the park. Thank you for all your hard work to find these amazing videos that has never been seen by the public. I have already rewatched it 4 times. I can't wait until June 6th now. Have you ever thought about making another pay channel thats not restrictive as youtube like The Donut Operator and many others youtubers have done to show and say what they want? I can't believe we just got to see W.W. 2 video that I've never seen before. That was so cool. I Have a good weekend TJ and please keep 'em flyin.
Thanks so much :) Very grateful to have your support!
My husbands grandfather was in the British navy and he was on one of the ships set out in the bay sorting out the men on the landing ships and was shelling the Germans on the beach that day and told my husband everything. My grandad was a Japanese prisoner of war and refused to speak about anything sadly so we will never know what happened.
I am honestly so glad that there is still footage available as it is so important to the history xx
At last, a docu that you can trust in. Awesome footages all the way and real experts that give you proper, correct explanations. Also very enjoyable, even exciting. Good work, many thanks! 👌🏻👍🏻
Subscriber here.
The footage of "This might be the 101st" is well documented and actually features several known Easy Company men. That's Albert Blithe standing next to the soldier with the machete.
You look at the footage and wonder...
...did any of those soldiers make it through the war?
...what families have loved ones in that footage and never knew about it?
"you can't preserve everything."
What else did we miss?
Awesome video TJ! Can't wait to help you guys with the research assistance for Flying The Fortress!
What a treasure. Truly remarkable and should be shown to all.
Lumps in the throat….
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Once again another great video, thank you much my friend.
This is fantastic. Great work.
I used to watch the longest day and always wanted to see some real footage but though it didnt exost or get destroyed. My breath has truly been taken away, seeing that glider bounce on the runways was crazy. Thank you for doing this. Please digitise them.
I love the history in Dday great work on the video TJ this year is the 80th anniversary and the Dday anniversary is also my birthday
This is incredible stuff guys! As a videographer who always does alot of digitizing, it’s fascinating!
Damn TJ i remember watching your IL2 streams
What a great video. So crazy!
Merci beaucoup pour ce documentaire!
Notre immense gratitude à tous ces hommes courageux !Nous n'oublierons jamais !
The landing craft were generally manned by Royal Navy sailors on D-Day, as the crew, hence them wearing British helmets. I don't know if ALL the LCI's were manned by British sailors, but many certainly were.
Awesome footage! Keep it coming!🇺🇸
This month will 80 years ago.
*90
Amazing work, guys. SNAHU Docs and WW2 Wayfinder just did videos at the locations some of these films were filmed at.
Great narration and production 👌
That was an amphibious combat tank light series (CTLS) tankette. Two model variants were manufactured by Marmon Herrington. The 2 models were the CTLS-4TAC and the CTLS-4TAY combat tank light series. They were used during the first faze of the war.
They proved somewhat reliable as soldiers were able to drive up closer to enemy positions and had armor which kept the crew, driver and gunner safe from small arms munitions. They had .30 cal M1919 machine guns and 2 x .50 cal M2 browning machine guns. The driver sat in the hull which also carried ammunition & medium size armaments like mortar shells for soldiers with boots on the ground. The ammo kept dry and saved a lot of time by not having to send a soldier to fetch ammunition. It meant they could keep advancing as one drives the gunner mowed down the enemy and could just bend down reach into the hull and grab ammunition. During WW2 soldiers had zero body armor which made the CTLS loved by many US soldiers. They did not last long in the battle as they were often targeted by enemy with armor piercing rounds which set off armament’s and ammo causing explosions that killed and wounded a lot of soldiers from the explosion or shrapnel. The U.S military decided it was not effective and was immediately removed from the theater. Other nations manufactured micro tanks which they continued using throughout WW2.
I recall hearing a mention years ago on some tv show that there had been camera men para dropped into France before D-day. At least one having filmed the landing from the shore. If it still exists it must be found and preserved.
Very interesting and entertaining.
Thank you for sharing your research and experiences for this video.
🙈🙉🙊 😎 🇺🇸
During those days, my dad was in signals, and he watched a lot of RAW UNEDITED combat films, films that today are buried so deep in some forgotten vault, recorded under a non-descript name, that none of them will never look for them or again be seen or see the light of day. Footage so graphic, gory and horrifying that he would only describe a tiny bit of it to me only one time.
I agreed with my dad, this kind of stuff should remain buried; preserved but never destroyed.
That is the "should we open the Pharoahs tomb" argument...respect or history?History usually wins over the respect argument.
@@wirelessone2986 I have never seen any footage that remotely compares to what he described; nothing remotely close to anything you or I have ever seen.
I wanna see the gruesome footage. Screwtube censorship blocks again.
Agree and disagree, but with respect. It's clear, and so very sad to see now that "we" have learnt nothing. Half of Europe yearns for the war, again. (And always them who wouldn't have to go to the battlefield anyway, but they are so eager to convince others about the necessity of the war.) The western world is misleaden, misinformed or simply biased. Respect for the exception. So I believe we have to see and watch these footages to remember what the war IS. 😐😑😔
Absolutely incredible!
It was said many years ago that many of the Cameramen on D-Day were given Color Film, it was the Greatest Invasion Of All Time! They also scoured the Beaches at Omaha for Any and All Cameras! So why is there So Little Footage of Omaha Beach???
It was said that some of it was shown to the Heads of SHAEF as soon as it was processed... It Made Them Sick!!! In B&W it's blurry and obscure. But in Color the carnage was all to vivid! Veterans of D-day said that Saving Private Ryan got it right...
The Heads of SHAEF declared that Film from Omaha Beach should never be seen by the American Public, because they would Never consent to fight another War! They were really afraid the American Public would Demand an Immediate End To 'The War' [WW2]!!! It was that bad!
That Film was to be sent to the National Archives and preserved, But Kept Secret! So it may still be there, but seemingly Mislabeled, or Labeled as something boring! Or not about WW2 at all...
Look under the rocks! Everywhere!!!
This video is incredible!
Hopefully, it would given "They Shall Not Grow Old" like treatment someday.
Amazing find!
This was great!
A good percentage of those used to man the various guns and nests were actually no German, but those who they recruited from the POW Camps near the eastern front, as well as those who weren't given a choice. Wow, this is so awesome!
Of great use would be an index of time-frames/locations where filming occurred; potentially indicating unit identification. Have always held the hope of seeing my father (yes, first generation) on film. He landed with Battery "A", 32nd Field Artillery Battalion... 18th Regimental Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division... (where he was amazingly awarded a Bronze Star w/"V")
Generally, the 32nd landed mid to late afternoon, where filming would be more realistic/probable.(he died, 1964, when I was 7). Also, is there a project digitizing The landings at Gela, Sicily? (June 9, 1942); where he also participated (same unit). I have one photo of him "somewhere in France '45" as well as his WD AGO 53-55 and complete set of replacement awards and decs.
This is so amazing!❤ Rest in peace to all thesebrave men who sacrificed Their life..😢😊
There were several reels of film that was lost to the sea on the trip back to an allied ship.
This is just mind blowing. I love following ww2 history all the way. The footage of the American soldiers dealing with captured German soldiers, can you imagine what goes through both minds knowing, you're there to kill them, they're there to kill you.
A documenty I watched 4 or 5 yrs ago claimed that a large number of omaha d day reels were accidental dropped into the channel in the hand off from the beach transport to the receiving ship meant to take them to England. My thoughts are that Omaha was so bloody the military hid the footage
Am fairly certain 17:32 on the far right is Pvt. Albert Blithe, Easy Co. 506 PIR, 101st Airborne. This should be the rally point at or near St.Marie-du-Mont.
It wasn’t an accident that it fell into water. The world wouldn’t be able to stomach the d day footage
The story I recall had to do with a rush to develop the first films from the invasion that the dark room was exposed to white light when someone entered prematurely to see the films
Nonne of that footage was at Utah. Utah did not have cliffs or bluffs. Utah was flat marshy ground and did not have machine gun positions firing on the beach . Most of the casualties on Utah were from either mortars or mines.Most of it was in the Easy and Fox sectores of Omaha beach. I thought that the tracked vehicles were Bren carriers lent to the 82nd by the British Airborne which happened at Market Garden. But I read in the comments these are French Renault UE Chenillette armored carrier whihc look a lot like Bren carriers. They were probably captured by the 82nd airborne after they captured Ste. Mere Eglise. Lastly the reason why the helmets are different in that run into the beach scene was becasue the coxwains are Royal Navy. taking in American troops.
I have seen most of this footage there is about a few seconds of shots of film that are on par with the rest I haven't seen before that you pointed out I still feel like there is still more footage missing and most of it could be combat footage from the Beach head
17:06 definitely 101st
I seen the photo of it, Band of Brothers
Your next mission if you choose to accept it is to find the lost color footage of the moon landings.
Awesome film wish there was more
17:31 and 17:36 are likely Easy Company. Recall seeing some of these on History Underground or WW2tv videos
100%. I’m pretty certain the shot with paratroopers holding the swastica are actual members of East company. Bill Guarnere with machete, David Webster with Glasses, & a mix of other companies within the 101st.
While it is understandable that people want to see their own countrymen in such historical footage, griping about more footage showing British and Canadian troops goes against the whole meaning behind the invasion - it was an allied effort and only succeeded because the allied nations worked and fought together as one army, air force and navy. to beat a common enemy.
Wow!! This is good stuff. 😁
This is amazing. and to think this video has a 136K views. this is HISTORY should be shown like it
Will these discovered films be digitalized?
Aside from the importance of this work, saying "His dawgs were barkin and he needed a ride" was the most 2024 thing ever.
This is incredible. When do we see the cleaned up digitised version?
If you go to 4:20, the guy on the right looks like Carparzo(Vin Diesel) in Private Ryan.
I’ve previously seen about 40% of that footage that was ‘cleaned up’; The rest was new to me.
Love this video... Love to see the bits you can't show... Is there anywhere you can see these clips? A website perhaps
Hi guys just a note...the footage at 11.26 minutes has been shown quite a lot of times...its a village called St macouf...sorry if its misspelt...of the 82 as you mention...a chanel called WW2 Wayfinder....they have all this...and the British guy explains it in detail down to the units involved....just thought I would point it out...he does the same location in 2024...were he standing in the exact same position as the 82nd did in 44
I had read that some of the dday beach landing films was deemed too brutal and so was buried and kept from the public.
A duffel bag full of still and motion picture film was being hoisted aboard a ship off the Normandy beach and was dropped and lost. Also those playing card insignia on the paratrooper's helmets is another indication that they are 101st Airborne troops.
Please let us know ow where we can buy DVD or Blueray.
I personally don't like hearing the words "You can't save everything". Why not? I don't see why you can't or won't save every single frame of footage. Even seemingly mundane footage is worth saving, I think.
Different helmets as the landing craft crew were all British and would be wearing the Brodie helmet. Astonishing footage.
I have seen frags of skme of these fotages, like the guys in the bottom of the ridge with shellshock faces...particulary in a D day fotage documentary
I am generally a fan of your channel and enjoy your content. I appreciate the research you do to bring the many stories to life knowing that as each day passes, we lose more of our veterans whose stories will go untold. I watched this one with mixed emotion. The reels were a gold mine and as I watched I cringed knowing that each run of the reel is a crap shoot. Will the media have decomposed? Is it brittle? Was it kept stored in such a was as to best preserve the footage? The one reel had many patches. Like the veterans whose lives are preserved on the reels, each day is a race against time for the film as well. I have been somewhat critical of your content when you say this but show that all the while enjoying the rare footage even if it is inaccurately inserted. You offer gold to all of us who are history buffs of WW2 and love the content. I thank you for your research and content. I can only hope that like old Hollywood reels, there are those who are racing to preserve what is left of the reels. They will be the only visual footage left of a time that reminds us that we should always stand strong for what is right and just. They did back then!
These were reference prints, likely printed in the 60's or 70's as "use copies". The National Archives will not screen film preservation elements for the public, those are used to make copies, Unfortunately, they are way behind in that process. Kept in cold storage, film lasts a very long time.
Half of these video material is digitilized since years and was published before.... These are some very famous shots from St. Marcouf and the Marmion Farm, also known as Stopka's Retreat. A mainly 502nd PIR strong hold near Ravenoville. Good researched and documented since ages.
We need to be able to see the footage.
This is amazing
I said it a thousand times! The main emphasis of this and the point that we must NEVER forget is -
lemee see, I wrote it down somewhere
Curious what background music did you use, is very eerie and sombering. It really helps capture the significance of the invasion footage.
It’s annoying
I remember hearing that a full film reel was lost in the waters on the beach as well.
26:27 That was taken after June 6. They wouldn't be tending to wounded Germans on the beach on D-Day.
Will this be digitalized and uploaded?? Anywhere?
I wished we could see the parts TH-cam want let you show us.
I was just warned this morning by TH-cam about posting a negative comment, and I was like , how can that have been offensive? But yet a lot of the things we see on TH-cam are way worse than any comment, and what we're seeing here is history..
It's like they don't want the history of WW2 to be taught. I have 5 kids and my oldest daughter who's 21 yrs old, said she had heard a little bit about WW2 in school and my other 4 were never taught a thing about the WW2 or the Civil wars. It's ashamed
Despite what the movies show, most of the landing craft during D-Day were crewed by British naval personnel.
Alot of U.S.Coast guard piloted landing craft.