The Longest Day

                                                                                                                                 
Alex Jennings reads a four-part adaptation of 
        Cornelius Ryan's gripping account of the Normandy landings.
  (1 hour)____________________________________ 
Cornelius Ryan's account of the Normandy landings takes us close-up to 
the crucial but terrifying events of D-day, a trump card played by the 
allies in one of the most sensational gambles in the history of war. 
Orchestrated with epic music and the sounds of battle, the series 
recalls some of the key heart-stopping moments of Operation 
Overlord, the allied invasion of Europe that was to be the beginning 
of the end of Hitler's ambitions to conquer the globe.

Filmed in 1962 with a huge cast that included Richard Burton, Paul Anka 
and Eddie Albert, Cornelius Ryan's painstakingly researched book is 
built upon interviews with participants of the invasion and conveys 
the fear, tension and uncertainty of life on the front line and at the 
command posts. As he says in his foreword "What follows is not 
military history. It is the story of people."

Part 1.

Field-Marshall Erwin Rommel, overseeing the defences 
of the coastal regions of occupied France, is making 
his periodic assessment of enemy intentions. Although 
the Allied forces appear to have reached "a high 
degree of readiness", an invasion seems not to be imminent. But as Rommel takes 
the opportunity for a rare few days leave, driving home to Germany with a gift 
for his wife's birthday, it will soon transpire that the brilliant military   
tactician has made a fatal error of judgment. Frau 
Rommel's birthday is on Tuesday June 6th, the day we 
now know as D-day.

Meanwhile, in England, Eisenhower, Supreme Allied 
Commander, has to make the most difficult decision of his military 
career. Upon the exact time of the planned attack will depend many 
thousands of lives.

Part 2

The Germans, assuming that the Allied invasion will be postponed because 
of the bad weather, fail to realize that Operation Overlord has begun. 
Hitler, tucked away in his Bavarian retreat, is also immunized from the 
impending threat. The BBC, however, is at this time transmitting the 
coded messages to the French resistance which triggers the sabotage 
missions that prelude the Allied assault.

The leviathan invasion armada of 21 US convoys 
and 38 British and Canadian convoys assembles in the Channel, awaiting 
orders. At this time, only hours before the dawn of D-Day, the worst enemy 
for the invading troops, in the choppy channel waters, is seasickness. 
Meanwhile, just after midnight, the airborne divisions are parachuting 
pathfinder troops into France, to prepare the drop zones.



Part 3.

Soaked, seasick and miserable, the troops on the invading Allied ships now 
approach the five invasion beaches. The bombers set out to soften up the 
German coastal defences have mixed fortunes, but much of the ordnance 
misses its targets. As a result, Omaha beach, one of the American invasion 
points, remains ferociously defended, and Omaha is the site of a terrible 
massacre.On other beaches the invading forces meet less resistance, 
and once through the formidable anti-personnel obstacles, they make progress 
inland.

Part 4

As Eisenhower declares that Allied troops have landed in France, Rommel rushes 
back from holiday leave in Germany, hoping that the 21st Panzers can save the 
day. But the firepower of Allied tanks is now superior and the Panzers are 
forced into retreat. The end of the war is only a year away.







Courtesy: The Longest Day
BBC Radio 2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2

 xx/xx/xx    1  Episode one
 xx/xx/xx    2  Episode Two
 xx/xx/xx    3  Episode Three
 xx/xx/xx    4  Episode Four



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