logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2019
11m 50s

D-Day

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Eyewitness accounts of the Allied landings on the coast of Normandy during World War Two on 6 June 1944. The massive operation was a crucial step in the liberation of western Europe from years of Nazi rule and the defeat of Hitler's Germany. In this episode, we present the accounts of veterans held in the BBC archive.

Photo: The photo titled "The Jaws of Death" shows a landing craft disembarking US troops on Omaha beach, 6th June 1944 ( Robert Sargent / US COAST GUARD)

Up next
Jan 2025
The mystery of Raoul Wallenberg
Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis during World War Two.Once Soviet troops reached Budapest, Wallenberg reported to Soviet officials on 17 January 1945. But he was never seen in public again. Rumours of his fate have circled eve ... Show More
8m 58s
Dec 2024
The Purple Heart Warriors
During World War Two, a Japanese American battalion became one of the most decorated army units in US military history.The 442nd Regimental Combat Unit earned more than 4,000 Purple Hearts and seven Presidential Unit Citations for extraordinary heroism in battle.The unit was set ... Show More
10m 13s
Nov 2024
The woman who saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto
Irena Sendler was a Polish social worker who risked her life to save 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto during World War Two. Irena, a Catholic, was able to enter the ghetto because of her job. She was soon smuggling in food, medicine and clothing; and smuggling out chi ... Show More
9m 17s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2024
Saving lives on D-Day
Charles Norman Shay was a field medic in the United States Army when he landed on the Normandy beach codenamed Omaha on D-Day.On June 6, 1944, the US 1st Infantry Division faced a bombardment of machine gun fire from the German soldiers on surrounding cliffs. More than 1,700 men ... Show More
9m 6s
May 2020
The Wehrmacht exhibition that shocked Germany
An exhibition about the role of the German army the Wehrmacht during the Second World War caused a scandal when it launched in Hamburg in March 1995. “War of Annihilation: Crimes of the Wehrmacht 1941-1944” was a key moment in Germany’s reassessment of its Nazi past – but it was ... Show More
9 m
May 2020
115 - To VE Day Through German Eyes
80 years ago this month (thats May 2020, if you're reading this from the future) the Germans finally surrendered to the Allies. While there were a number different surrender ceremonies the 8 May 1945 was declared by the Western Allies to be Victory in Europe Day, VE Day (the Russ ... Show More
1 h
Jul 2021
Épisode 23 : 1944 - L’irrésistible avancée de l’Armée Rouge.
Sur le front de l’Est l’année 1944 va commencer par la fin du siège de Leningrad après 879 jours, le plus long siège de l’histoire moderne et qui aura fait 900.000 victimes civiles, mortes de faim, de froid ou sous les bombardements allemands. En Ukraine l’offensive soviétique co ... Show More
30m 10s
Sep 2019
The outbreak of World War Two
On September 1st 1939 German forces invaded Poland. Douglas Slocombe, a British cameraman, was there at the time and filmed the build-up to the war. In 2014 he spoke to Vincent Dowd about what he saw in Gdansk and Warsaw, before escaping from the country.This programme is a rebro ... Show More
8m 59s
May 2024
226 - D-Day and the Great Deception
As the Allied forces prepared for the monumental invasion of Normandy, concealing the massive build-up of troops in Britain from the Germans became increasingly challenging. To mislead German intelligence about the timing and location of the invasion, the Allies devised a series ... Show More
52m 37s
May 2020
The battle for Berlin
Hear the eyewitness account of a female Russian soldier and a German schoolboy who fought on opposing sides in the final, brutal battle for the capital of Nazi Germany. The fall of the city to Soviet forces led to the end of the Second World War in Europe in May 1945.Photo: A Sov ... Show More
12m 14s
Jan 2020
German atrocities in Poland during WW2
Towards the end of World War Two in Europe, Polish civilians suffered terribly at the hands of retreating German troops. But many never received any reparations for what they’d been through. Kevin Connolly has been speaking to one survivor who was a child in those final brutal da ... Show More
8m 57s
Jul 2020
The death of Heinrich Himmler
One of Hitler's most important henchmen was caught by British troops in the chaos of post-war Germany just after WW2 had ended in Europe. A British soldier described to the BBC how the leading Nazi bit down on a cyanide capsule and died. Gordon Corera has been listening to the ar ... Show More
10m 17s