The Longest Day

London calling... with Frenchmen speaking to their countrymen.

Take a look at that! What a handsome sight...

...the pride of the Third Reich!

The brave sergeant taking coffee to the beachgunners.

So that's a sample of the master race! In a pig's eye!

In this darkest hour, in the gloom of night...

...we must not despair.

For each of us...

...deliverance is coming!

We need mines and obstacles along the whole coast.

At every beach, on every dune...

...on every rock.

How many have been installed?

Four million, Herr Field Marshal.

The work has completely exhausted our troops.

Which would your troops rather be...

...exhausted or dead?

Just look at it, gentlemen.

How calm... how peaceful it is.

A strip of water between England and the Continent...

...between the Allies and us.

But beyond that peaceful horizon... a monster waits!

A coiled spring of men, ships and planes...

...straining to be released against us.

But not a single Allied soldier shall reach the shore.

Whenever or wherever this invasion may come, gentlemen...

...I shall destroy the enemy there...at the water's edge!

Believe me, gentlemen.

The first 24 hours of the invasion will be decisive.

For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day...

...the longest day!

The poem by Verlaine?

Play it back!

Frenchmen speaking to their countrymen.

Here are some personal messages.

"The long sobs of the violins of autumn."

I repeat:

"The long sobs of the violins of autumn."

Have you notified all commands?

If Berlin is right, when we intercept the second verse...

...it will mean the invasion will come within 24 hours.

Give me the text of the second verse.

"Wounds my heart with a monotonous languor."

We've intercepted hundreds of messages in the last year... hundreds!

I've ordered alerts again and again.

Why should this poem mean more than other messages?

Tell me this:

Does it give us any clue as to where they will land and when?

Of course it doesn't.

How can I maintain discipline if I keep my troops on the alert...

...just because a pair of nitwits in Berlin intercept a poem?

No, Blumentritt... no alert!

And especially not in this weather!

- Anything else? - No, sir.

Good morning, Field Marshal.

- Any news? - Nothing important.

Fighter bombers hit the Pas-de- Calais yesterday afternoon.

Nothing much happened last night... the storm.

That's all I'm interested in this morning... the storm.

It came from nowhere... blew my roses to bits.

There are five-foot waves in the Channel...

...and winds of 30 to 40 miles per hour.

For the month of June...

...it's the worst Channel storm in 20 years.

My appointment at Berchtesgaden?

General Jodl will see the Führer today...

...and confirm the appointment for you.

Will you still go to Germany as planned?

Can you think of a better time?

The weather is expected to continue like this for another week.

Snap it up. Jerk the lead.

Snap it up.

Jerk the lead.

Snap it up.

Jerk the lead.

You expect us to eat this slop again?

I don't care what you do with it, mac.

Eat it, throw it out.

I get paid for cooking it.

Come on. Put it on.

Snap it up.

Jerk the lead.

Didn't you get any sleep?

Are you kidding? I haven't slept since we got here.

I got the absolute lowdown.

It's on for tonight. For sure.

Yeah.

I got in this crap game with this guy from F Company.

- He's an orderly for some general. - Move it. Move it.

Hey, Hutchy!

Hutchy, I want to ask you something.

Hey, Hutchinson...

...do you think they'd let me write home? If it was really important?

Not likely, mate. Security.

I don't think old Churchill trusts us.

It's the wife, you see. She's going to have a baby.

Your first, is it?

Oh, it's not mine, but I'm dead worried about her.

She's not too strong, you see.

Man, that stink.

Diesel oil, backed-up toilets, vomit.

And there ain't no place left to get sick in.

The puke bags is full.

The fire buckets is full.

All we got left is our helmets.

June.

Every June my old man used to take me camping...

...up in the Blue Mountains.

We'd hunt and fish all day long.

And at night...

...we'd sleep out under the stars.

Didn't even need a blanket.

June.

Wind and rain. Wind and rain.

Don't it ever stop?

Look, Dad, all I want to do is get going.

Wind or no wind. Even if we land in Paris on the Eiffel Tower.

- Come to think of it-- - Colonel wants us.

All of us.

All troops will participate in ground tactics and deployment.

In this weather, sir?

Of course, Harding, if you can ensure that we'll land in France...

- ...in sunshine and dry weather. - Didn't mean that.

- What did you mean? - It isn't the weather.

It's the waiting. These men are itching to go.

I don't think I have to remind you...

...that this war has been going on for almost five years.

Half of Europe has been overrun and occupied.

We're comparative newcomers.

England's gone through a blitz with a knife at her throat since 1940.

I am quite sure that they too are impatient and itching to go.

Do I make myself clear?

Yes, sir. Quite clear.

Three million men penned up on this island.

All over England, in staging areas like this.

We're on the threshold of the most crucial day of our times.

Three million men out there...

...keyed up, and waiting for that big step-off.

They aren't exactly alone.

Notify the men. Full packs and equipment, 14:00 hours.

Yes, sir.

This allows you more freedom.

Quicker to get rid of when we hit the beach.

- Well? - It's on.

Tonight, as scheduled.

- If the weather isn't worse. - How worse can it get?

Ike has called a high-level conference for 9:30.

I am not Eisenhower. I am an assistant division commander.

I don't know from nothing, but he can't call it off again.

Frank, turn that thing off.

Four thousand ships loaded for bear.

Troops ready to go.

Eleven thousand planes on the line.

Eighteen thousand paratroopers. God only knows how many gliders.

Norm, relax.

RAF says the gale can stop as suddenly as it began.

So they told us yesterday and the day before.

Look, Norm.

We're all of us just as...

...dedicated to this thing as you are, just as anxious to get going.

And that includes Ike.

Now if he calls it off again, he knows what he's doing.

Of course he does. I know that.

I'm just thinking about those assault troops. 200,000 of them...

...out there on those ships. They're probably seasick as hell.

Some of those men have been on those tubs for almost three days.

I say go.

Go. Weather or no weather.

No!

A hundred on the bone! Let's go.

- Hey, give me $50. I'm busted. - I'm not doing so good myself.

Hey, lend me $50?

- Lend me 20 bucks? - Drop dead.

Lend me $10?

- Fifty on a bet. - I got it.

One, two, three, four, five.

Fifty!

Let me hear it, let me hear it.

- Five and two, four and three. - Six! That's the way we go!

Seven points in a row. It ain't logical, it just ain't logical.

- There's a hundred out there. - $100 dollars, $20 dollars.

Anything open?

- Forty more. - Forty more.

You got a bet.

- Okay, you mother-loving-- - Just a minute. Wait a minute.

Here you are. Use this.

- You don't think I'd-- - I don't think anything.

I just like to hear the sound when it comes out of the cup.

That's it. Shake it.

Okay. Let me see what you do with it now. Go ahead. Shoot.

- What is it? - Nothing.

- Seven! - That's what I wanted!

Who put this cup in the game?

- Next shooter. Who's coming up? - I'll go $100.

He's shooting a hundred. Who's got it?

- Watch your side bets. - $100.

You got a letter for me. Schultz, huh?

Yeah, that's it.

Thanks, buddy.

- How much did you take him for? - Not much. Just a hair over $2500.