{"id":32645,"date":"2019-05-24T03:49:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T10:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=32645"},"modified":"2019-05-23T13:57:24","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T20:57:24","slug":"d-day-heroism-horror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/05\/24\/d-day-heroism-horror\/","title":{"rendered":"D-Day: heroism, horror"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fear, bloodshed and massive loss of life in the cause of freedom are illustrated through remarkable \u2013 and convincing \u2013 dramatic reenactments in D-Day in 14 Stories<\/em>. (photo from YAP Films and the History Channel)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The horrors and heroism of D-Day took place 75 years ago June 6. A remarkable new documentary, with distinct Canadian and Jewish connections, will air on the History Channel June 1. D-Day in 14 Stories<\/em> includes firsthand recollections from Allied and German soldiers and French civilians \u2013 many of them kids or teenagers at the time of the conflict.<\/p>\n

The massive battle of the Second World War saw more than 150,000 Canadian, American, British and other Allied soldiers storm the beaches of France, marking the turning point of Nazi \u2013 and Allied \u2013 fortunes.<\/p>\n

D-Day in 14 Stories<\/em> is a social history of D-Day, a joint production of YAP Films and the History Channel. The events on that long-ago day in 1944 are illuminated by eyewitness accounts from some of the few remaining veterans of that historic battle.<\/p>\n

On D-Day alone, 359 Canadian soldiers were killed. More than 5,000 Canadian soldiers died during the succeeding weeks of fighting in Normandy. The fear, bloodshed and massive loss of life in the cause of freedom are illustrated through remarkable \u2013 and convincing \u2013 dramatic reenactments, visual effects and historical footage, including a trove of colour film taken by a soldier using an early Bell and Howell handheld movie camera.<\/p>\n

Many soldiers on both sides were just following orders but, as Morton Waitzman recounts in the documentary, some Jewish soldiers felt a particular motivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing of the Jewish faith myself, and so many of my comrades, we knew we had to get over there as soon as possible to do whatever we could to stop this terrible curse,\u201d he said. As a communications specialist, he connected American and British forces with members of the French Underground to help coordinate the battle.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
D-Day in 14 Stories makes the effort to capture the particular experiences of African-American and First Nations soldiers. (photo from YAP Films and the History Channel)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Germans were anticipating an attack, but had no idea when, where or how large a force the Allies would assemble. The documentary follows a wall of soldiers parachuting through a cascade of tracers. In all, 13,000 Americans dropped inland by air to support the amphibious landing and undermine the German response.<\/p>\n

While one Allied soldier says, \u201cAnybody who says they weren\u2019t afraid is not telling the truth,\u201d a German soldier recounts, tellingly: \u201cWe had no fear. We were convinced that we would win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until D-Day, the British Air Force had strafed the Normandy coast, but returned to their island redoubt. French residents of the area were familiar with the routine: take shelter when the alarms go off and come back out when they ring again.<\/p>\n

Bernard Marie was a 5-year-old child in Normandy at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big difference is that, on June 6th, the siren never came back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In all, 7,000 vessels embarked from Britain to the French coast. The Allies had no illusions about the cost of the operation. Casualties were anticipated to reach 25 to 30%.<\/p>\n

Emotionally powerful dramatizations follow 16- and 17-year-olds as they face the life-and-death moment for themselves and the free world.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome never got off the boat,\u201d recalled one soldier. \u201cThey were shot, bodies laid all over, boats turned upside down, real chaos. We still kept going forward.\u2026 Soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n

One survivor remembers that, despite the explosions all around him, his sole consideration when coming ashore at Normandy was that his socks were soaked through.<\/p>\n

The average soldier was carrying 35 kilograms on his back and, for those whose vessels did not manage to make it close to shore, jumping off the ship, in many cases, led to almost instantaneous drowning.<\/p>\n

If they survived the initial landing, the soldiers had to confront the German enemy firing down from above at Allied soldiers who were effectively sitting ducks. A German soldier recalls: \u201cWe merely had to point that machine gun and it was like cutting wheat with a scythe. For the odd miss, we had a thousand hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film admirably makes the effort to capture the particular experiences of African-American and First Nations soldiers.<\/p>\n

Waitzman, the Jewish American soldier, went on to fight in Europe and participated in the liberation of concentration camps.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe became eyewitnesses to the Holocaust by what we saw,\u201d he says in the film. \u201cWe were very compelled to tell the details to young people. We had to talk, to fight this as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another veteran of the battle reflects on the loss of life, but ponders the alternative: \u201cGod knows what would\u2019ve happened if we hadn\u2019t done it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fear, bloodshed and massive loss of life in the cause of freedom are illustrated through remarkable \u2013 and convincing \u2013 dramatic reenactments in D-Day in 14 Stories. (photo from YAP Films and the History Channel) The horrors and heroism of D-Day took place 75 years ago June 6. A remarkable new documentary, with distinct […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[6513,4242,53,3189,7066],"class_list":["post-32645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-d-day","tag-history","tag-holocaust","tag-second-world-war","tag-television"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}