The Battle Of Normandy: The Final Collapse Of The German Panzers

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:02]June 6th, 1944.

[00:00:04]D-Day.

[00:00:06]Canadian Sherman tanks and infantry land on Juno Beach in Normandy under murderous fire.

[00:00:13]There was so bloody much tanks burning.

[00:00:16]It felt like you were just in a bloody jungle.

[00:00:19]You saw one of your tanks in front of you hit. You didn't know what was happening. You kept going. You kept going.

[00:00:28]The Canadians overwhelm German's coastal defenses and advance inland. I thought, "Wow, this is a breeze. We'll be on our way to Berlin next week. Only to come turret to turret with the most ruthless killers in the German army.

[00:00:43]The panzers and the battle hardened SS.

[00:00:47]After my first >> There was really no need to fear a Sherman.

[00:00:50]They were easy opponents for us.

[00:00:54]This is armored warfare at its bloodiest. The Battle of Normandy.

[00:01:00]Finally, I said, "Fire."

[00:01:29]Juno Beach.

[00:01:32]8 km of gently sloping shoreline along the coast of Normandy.

[00:01:40]In the late spring of 1944, this was one of the beaches where the greatest amphibious operation in history took place.

[00:01:49]The allies' all-out attack on Hitler's Atlantic Wall.

[00:02:00]Since the fall of France in 1940, the Germans have been preparing for the inevitable Allied invasion.

[00:02:07]Building a 5,000 km chain of fortifications stretching from Norway to the Spanish border.

[00:02:14]This Atlantic Wall is considered impregnable with kilometers of concrete bunkers, tens of thousands of mines, and anti-tank obstacles.

[00:02:24]And protected by over 3,000 big guns.

[00:02:30]This impressive defensive line seems a most unlikely place for an attack. But on June 6th, 1944, that's exactly what the allies do.

[00:02:41]At 0300 hours, a force tens of [music] thousands of men strong approaches the Norman coast and unleashes a massive naval bombardment.

[00:02:51]All of a sudden, they started firing.

[00:03:03]There was a British cruiser right behind us and these 6-in guns fired right over our heads. And my god, [music] a 6-in gun when it fires, I [ __ ] my pants like a window blind.

[00:03:19]Scared the hell out of me.

[00:03:23]You can see it falling on the on the towns and way up in front of you and pounding all over the place.

[00:03:32]Operation Overlord is a joint Allied attack.

[00:03:36]And the Canadian objective is 8 km of heavily defended coast code-named Juno Beach.

[00:03:44]Leading the assault is the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. Their mission, neutralize the German defenses [music] and secure a beachhead for the infantry.

[00:03:54]At 0800 hours, the Canadians launch their attack. And leading the way are scores of amphibious tanks. [music] They gave us all the basic training of of preserving [music] a tank in the water.

[00:04:09]We did the drill. Let the water come up and so on. Don't get panicked.

[00:04:18]First man that gets out is the driver.

[00:04:22]Stands on the back after he's got to steer this bloody thing, see?

[00:04:29]The DD or swimming tank has a sealed lower hull to keep it from sinking. And it gains extra buoyancy from high canvas skirts.

[00:04:38]But its most unique feature is its duplex drive. Twin propellers that push it along at a speed of almost four knots.

[00:04:47]The DD is an ungainly 30-ton monster and is slow and hard to maneuver in rough seas.

[00:04:53]The skipper said, [music] "Okay, we're going on a running. Be prepared." And in we ran.

[00:05:02]And of course, it's an awkward bloody thing to steer because it doesn't work very well in the tide and the wind. And it was an an awfully rough day.

[00:05:13]The 5-km run into Juno Beach is harrowing and lethal.

[00:05:19]High waves sink the tanks.

[00:05:22]As do underwater mines.

[00:05:37]As they near shore, they come within range of the Germans' well-placed guns.

[00:05:51]Of the 67 tanks launched from the landing craft, 11 never reach shore.

[00:06:04]Those that do have to lower the canvas skirts under heavy fire before bringing their guns into action.

[00:06:13]There was confusion.

[00:06:16]It looked like chaos.

[00:06:20]And there were a lot of vehicles, but they were all moving as they were supposed to.

[00:06:27]>> [screaming] >> During the first hours of the battle, the Canadians lose hundreds of men and 19 tanks.

[00:06:45]I saw Canadians [music] lying on the beach.

[00:06:50]Some of them with stuff thrown over them.

[00:06:57]Despite their losses, they overrun the German defenses and take Juno Beach.

[00:07:07]By the end of D-Day, the allies have breached Hitler's Atlantic Wall along 80 km of Normandy coastline and have begun their advance inland.

[00:07:17]Their strategy is to encircle and destroy the German forces in occupied France. The Americans are to swing west while British and Canadian forces head south toward their next objective, the strategically important city of Caen.

[00:07:42]But scarcely have the tanks of the [music] 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade rolled off the beach when they encounter a new kind of peril, the picturesque Normandy [music] landscape.

[00:07:52]It's a maze of narrow fields, 5-m high hedgerows, sunken lanes, a tanker's nightmare.

[00:08:06]Maneuvering a tank through this is difficult [music] and dangerous.

[00:08:13]>> [music] >> This is nothing like the wide open desert of North Africa or the steppes on the Eastern Front.

[00:08:24]In Normandy, the fighting [music] is at close range, making surprise absolutely vital.

[00:08:31]The the first idea you get is for Christ's sake, get out in the field and start moving.

[00:08:43]Suddenly, you're up against Normandy hedge, which is 14-ft high. It's on about 2-ft high bank. You go crashing through it.

[00:09:01]And you go down into a sunken road >> [music] >> 4-ft deep. You go across the road and you're into another Normandy hedge.

[00:09:15]Very difficult to get into and very difficult to get out of. And you can get hung up in the hedge and you're totally vulnerable at that point. But if you don't have a plan, you'll get you'll get nailed.

[00:09:29]Because the enemy always has a plan.

[00:09:34]D-Day plus one.

[00:09:36]Despite the difficult terrain, Canadian tankers of the 2nd Armoured Brigade make steady progress towards Caen.

[00:09:46]And as the battle enters its second day, they encounter a column of nine German Panther tanks.

[00:09:58]The Panther is considered one of the best tanks in the Second World War.

[00:10:02]Its long-barreled 75-mm cannon is deadly even at long range.

[00:10:09]It's protected by 80-mm of frontal armor welded at a steep 50° slope making it almost invulnerable to frontal attack.

[00:10:22]The Panther was and this was pretty well known the most functional and best tank in the war based on three components.

[00:10:32]Gun velocity cross-country mobility and armor protection.

[00:10:44]But those advantages won't help these Panthers.

[00:10:48]Their frontal armor won't do them any good. They're side-on to the Shermans and highly exposed.

[00:10:59]The Sherman has a short-barreled less powerful 75-mm gun and thinner 51-mm armor plating making it vulnerable in a head-on battle with a Panther but deadly at close range if they catch the Germans off guard.

[00:11:21]For wireless operator Phil Lawrence and the other rookies of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers, this will be their first head-to-head encounter with the enemy.

[00:11:33]We heard from the infantry that there were some Panther tanks coming.

[00:11:41]We heard the tanks were fairly close there about 900 yd, 1,000 yd away.

[00:11:47]And meanwhile, I'm trying to wake up my gunner.

[00:11:52]The captain got us all lined up.

[00:11:55]Each was given a target.

[00:11:58]And I'm kicking alien's legs try to get some life into him.

[00:12:06]By this time, the order to fire has been given.

[00:12:14]And my gunner is fast asleep.

[00:12:29]June 6, 1944, D-Day.

[00:12:34]Canadian tanks and infantry land at Juno Beach in Normandy under intense fire.

[00:12:45]They take heavy losses but overrun German defenses and move inland.

[00:12:54]The Allied plan is to encircle and destroy the German forces in Normandy with the Americans swinging west while British and Canadian forces push south towards the strategically important city of Caen.

[00:13:09]Leading the Canadian advance are the tanks of the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade.

[00:13:17]A few kilometers inland, they encounter a column of German Panther tanks.

[00:13:26]The tanks were [music] fairly close there about 900 yd, 1,000 yd away.

[00:13:32]By this time, the order to fire has been given.

[00:13:35]And my gunner is fast asleep.

[00:13:39]It's very scary.

[00:13:41]And the crew commander batting him with his his head with his hands to wake him up.

[00:13:48]He says to the gunner, "You you useless son of a [ __ ] You were not a co-driver. Turn and get in there and don't get in anybody's way."

[00:14:02]Finally, he traversed around and fired.

[00:14:08]The tank was up on its springs.

[00:14:13]And the gun recoils and runs out and the turret fills up with fire and smoke.

[00:14:20]Makes a tremendous roar. It's very scary.

[00:14:23]>> [screaming] >> It wasn't so much a battle as it was an ambush.

[00:14:28]Those poor buggers never knew what hit them.

[00:14:33]And one minute they're riding along one behind the other and the next minute you know, everything's on fire.

[00:14:41]They fought them in a way that we thought was kind of stupid.

[00:14:45]They used to sit side-on.

[00:14:50]The Panther has just 50-mm of side armor about half as much as it has in front.

[00:14:57]Head-on, a Panther can withstand almost any Allied attack but catch it side-on at a close range and it's very vulnerable.

[00:15:07]You could knock them all easily.

[00:15:10]All nine Panthers were knocked out like that.

[00:15:27]I thought, "Wow, this is a breeze. This is great. I like this.

[00:15:34]We'll be on our way to Berlin next week."

[00:15:41]But the Canadians are about to get a surprise of their own.

[00:15:48]Rushing to meet them with orders from the German High Command to stop the Allied advance are units of the newly formed 12th SS Panzer Division led by some of Hitler's most experienced tank commanders. [music] The 12th SS is equipped with 48 Panthers.

[00:16:09]Dozens of heavy guns and almost 100 Panzer IVs.

[00:16:16]The SS were rough lot but they were very good at what they did.

[00:16:29]If you make a mistake, they'll kill you.

[00:16:36]We knew that it was our duty as soldiers of the German Wehrmacht to serve whether we thought it would be successful or not.

[00:16:48]This was none of our business.

[00:16:56]The 12th SS, also known as the Hitler Youth Division, is led by Kurt Meyer, a decorated veteran of the Eastern Front with a reputation as an aggressive and ruthless tank commander.

[00:17:09]His troops call him Panzer Meyer.

[00:17:15]Battalion after battalion arrived. The soldiers waved at me.

[00:17:19]They were moving forward to their baptism of fire in a calm manner.

[00:17:24]They showed no self-pity.

[00:17:26]They were determined to prove themselves.

[00:17:35]D-Day plus one.

[00:17:39]Kurt Meyer and his Panthers take up positions in the historic 12th century Abbaye d'Ardenne.

[00:17:46]There in the monastery gardens, the 12th SS Panzer Division lies in wait for the tanks of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers >> [music] >> who are supporting the North Nova Scotia Highlanders slowly advancing on route to Caen.

[00:17:59]From high atop the Abbey tower, Kurt Meyer can see them coming.

[00:18:07]He climbed up the tower of the Ardenne Church. The Abbey is 67 m above sea level.

[00:18:15]The church itself is 26 m high.

[00:18:19]He was able to see all the way to the western end of Juno Beach.

[00:18:25]The terrain as far as the coast was spread before me like a sand table.

[00:18:29]The whole expanse looked like an ant hill.

[00:18:33]He noticed the Canadian troops advancing.

[00:18:38]I then saw what was happening.

[00:18:41]My god, what an opportunity.

[00:18:45]I issued orders to all battalions, the artillery, and the tanks.

[00:18:49]Fire on my command only.

[00:18:58]The squadron stopped. They had snacks.

[00:19:01]They ate.

[00:19:07]The Canadian continued but Canadians had no protection on their flank.

[00:19:16]The tanks were right across the front of our regiment.

[00:19:21]The barrels of our guns were pointing at them.

[00:19:30]Then I gave the signal for the attack.

[00:19:33]All of a sudden, bang.

[00:19:46]The Canadians were caught off guard.

[00:19:51]They seemed totally surprised.

[00:19:55]There was so bloody much smoke and tanks burning that that we were just in a bloody jungle.

[00:20:16]D-Day plus one.

[00:20:18]Over the last 36 hours, [music] the Canadian second armored brigade has broken out from their Normandy beachhead and begun to battle their way inland.

[00:20:37]Rushing to meet them are tanks of the 12th SS Panzer division led by the infamous Kurt Meyer.

[00:20:43]His forces take up position in the Abbey Ardenne.

[00:20:48]There the 12th SS [music] set a trap of the tanks of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers now slowly advancing toward the city of Caen.

[00:20:58]All of a sudden, bang.

[00:21:04]Come in on the battle started.

[00:21:19]There was so bloody much smoke and dust and tanks burning that that we were just in a bloody jungle.

[00:21:32]The Canadians are caught by surprise.

[00:21:36]Within seconds, the lead tanks of the Fusiliers column are destroyed.

[00:21:41]Our commanding officer needs some more strength forward and he asked my squadron [music] commander to send up a troop of tanks and he asked for another troop.

[00:22:04]And now there's well, my squadron commander, myself and the third tank, that's all we got. And then the message comes from him saying, "The Germans are breaking through on your left.

[00:22:19]Move over to your left."

[00:22:21]And he still thought we had a squadron, I guess.

[00:22:26]All of a sudden, the action started to move around our way.

[00:22:33]And at first I saw the tanks and they were at about 4,000 yards away.

[00:22:45]Well, each one of us, you know, you had the jitters every time you saw the buggers because the gun was so much superior.

[00:22:59]The Panzer 4 carries a powerful 75 mm cannon.

[00:23:07]And although it has a shorter barrel than the Panther, a shell from a Panzer 4 can still rip through the weak armor of a Sherman tank.

[00:23:18]Was the Sherman uh The Sherman was an easy opponent for us.

[00:23:26]If you were able to keep your distance then there was no need to fear a Sherman.

[00:23:34]The short-barreled Sherman doesn't have nearly as much punch as the Panzer 4.

[00:23:39]You have to start playing the game of tactics.

[00:23:43]And I started firing my smoke in front of it.

[00:23:50]Along with high explosive and armor-piercing rounds, the Sherman is also equipped with white phosphorus incendiaries.

[00:23:57]These shells can be used by tankers to mark enemy targets or fire to create smoke screens to provide tactical cover.

[00:24:08]And they were at about 4,000 yards away.

[00:24:13]And I said, "I think let them come in close."

[00:24:18]And watch the right-hand corner of where I just put down the smoke because you may see something come around the corner there taking a look at us.

[00:24:28]And sure enough you see a tank just sticking his nose around looking trying to get some some view.

[00:24:39]Finally, I said, >> [music] >> "Fire."

[00:24:45]And I hit him at about well, it must have been in 8 or 900 yards, I guess.

[00:24:55]I can always remember the thing >> [music] >> actually burning.

[00:25:01]It's Radley Walters' first tank kill.

[00:25:04]By war's end, he will have 17 more and recognition as Canada's leading tank ace.

[00:25:13]>> [music] >> But on this day, the Canadians take a beating.

[00:25:20]They lose 28 tanks.

[00:25:23]110 men killed and 128 taken prisoner.

[00:25:30]18 of the captured are delivered to a terrible fate.

[00:25:38]The first group, which was mostly the North Nova Scotias, were brought to this courtyard here in Caen.

[00:25:47]These Canadian soldiers would have come up these stairs and into this park.

[00:25:52]They came along here.

[00:26:02]At the top of the stairs, there was an SS who would kill each one with a bullet in the back of the neck.

[00:26:27]>> [music] >> The ruthless Kurt Meyer and his 12th SS Panzer division have all but stopped the Canadians in their tracks.

[00:26:41]All along the northern front, the Allied advance slows to a crawl.

[00:26:47]The British and Canadians planned to take the city of Caen in three days, but it takes them 34.

[00:26:53]The fighting is the bloodiest they have yet seen.

[00:26:57]To break the German stubborn resistance, the Allies take drastic action and send in heavy bombers.

[00:27:04]Massive daily air raids reduce much of the ancient Norman city to rubble.

[00:27:22]What happened was Caen city was totally obliterated.

[00:27:37]On July 9th, D-Day plus 33, the Allies finally enter Caen.

[00:27:46]Our tank advanced down one of the main streets of Caen only to find that we were driving into huge multiple bomb craters. Some of them were so big that [music] the Sherman tank, which is 11 feet high was actually going down underground.

[00:28:11]Our motivation became a total stop.

[00:28:15]And I got up on the top of the tank and I couldn't see where we were being the normal ground level.

[00:28:31]There's rubble everywhere, but no Germans. They've withdrawn leaving the ruined city to the Allies who become bogged down in the wreckage created by their own bombs.

[00:28:54]The Germans have retreated south of Caen digging in along a 5 km stretch of high ground known as Verrières Ridge.

[00:29:03]The ridge rises 30 m above the lowlands making it an ideal defensive position for the Germans.

[00:29:13]From here, they can command the area all the way north to Caen making it a killing ground for the advancing Allied armor.

[00:29:22]The Germans deploy their arsenal including 72 88 mm anti-tank guns 40 Panthers and 80 heavy Tiger tanks.

[00:29:39]Even though they are facing one of the most formidable defensive positions in Normandy, on July 18th, nine days after entering Caen, British and Canadian forces launch Operation Goodwood, an armored assault aimed directly at the Germans on Verrières Ridge.

[00:29:58]And once again, the tankers of the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade are in the thick of it. Their orders, take and hold the small Norman village at the foot of the ridge.

[00:30:09]I remember being in a place called Saint-André-sur-Orne.

[00:30:17]They had reported that there were 64 German tanks in Saint-André. We said, "Well, uh that that means there's probably eight tanks."

[00:30:31]We tended to divide about eight, 1/8 of what they reported.

[00:30:37]So, we thought to be safe we'd send in 12.

[00:30:42]It was raining and we couldn't see very well.

[00:30:45]Very hard to make anything out.

[00:30:48]We got in there and by God there were 64.

[00:30:55]There were tanks everywhere.

[00:31:11]July 9th, 1944.

[00:31:14]After 34 days of fierce fighting, battered British and Canadian forces finally enter the heavily bombed Norman city of Caen.

[00:31:31]Nine days later, they are ready to continue their advance and link up with US forces routing the German army in southern France.

[00:31:39]But, German forces in the north are far from defeated.

[00:31:43]8 km south of Caen, they dig in along Verrières Ridge with masses of anti-tank guns and hundreds of tanks.

[00:31:51]The ridge is now one of the strongest defensive positions in France.

[00:31:58]July 18th, 1944.

[00:32:01]Combined British and Canadian forces launch Operation Goodwood aimed at driving the Germans off the ridge.

[00:32:12]On the western flank of the attack are the [music] tankers of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers with orders to seize and hold the village of Saint-André-sur-Orne.

[00:32:25]They had reported that there were 64 German tanks in Saint-André. We said, "Well, uh that that means there's probably eight tanks." We got in there and by God there were 64.

[00:32:38]There were tanks everywhere.

[00:32:45]And we couldn't get organized to take them on.

[00:32:55]And there was a lot of people getting knocked out.

[00:33:03]It was raining and you couldn't see very well.

[00:33:06]Very hard to make anything out.

[00:33:10]We kind of lost touch with everybody. We decided we'd better try to find a a safe position and some targets.

[00:33:24]We found an excellent position.

[00:33:27]It was a stone building on our right. We were covered from view and from fire from the right.

[00:33:33]You could hardly see us for this hedge.

[00:33:36]There were nine Panthers out about a thousand yards or so, side on.

[00:33:43]I had taken one last look out of out of the turret because I'm still having trouble with the the mist and rain and whatnot.

[00:33:54]And a Tiger [music] tank came around the corner of the building, saw the position, thought, "That's a great position."

[00:34:06]And they pulled in, stopped right in front of us.

[00:34:16]It was just the scariest damned apparition I've ever seen. Just loomed up like that. We were almost touching him.

[00:34:27]So, I had an AP up in the boat. I fired that and hit him and it just bounced off.

[00:34:33]And after we did fire the high explosive as fast as we could.

[00:34:41]About that fast.

[00:34:45]I was literally just holding the firing button down. The gun was firing, recoiling, running out, firing, recoiling, running. And my loader operator was playing the shells in.

[00:34:57]And then he fired back.

[00:35:02]A Tiger weighs 57 tons, almost twice as much as a Sherman.

[00:35:08]It has 100 mm of frontal armor, making it almost impregnable.

[00:35:13]It carries an 88 mm gun that can destroy a Sherman more than 2 km away.

[00:35:20]And this Tiger is practically on top of Lawrence's tank.

[00:35:27]There are no words that can convey the incredible violence of that strike.

[00:35:50]The AP shell that hit our turret, it looked as if someone had taken a torch and just burned a channel front to back.

[00:36:01]I said, "You want to drive in reverse, Howard Wright?"

[00:36:05]And our co-driver was driving and he wasn't a very good driver. And he went to go into reverse, he revved up the engine.

[00:36:13]The real driver grabbed the hand throttles.

[00:36:16]And then he just grabbed the gearshift lever and rammed it into reverse and he yelled into the face of the co-driver, "Let out that clutch and get the hell out of here!" And so we went shooting back.

[00:36:33]The Sherbrooke Fusiliers lose half their tanks and are forced to retreat.

[00:36:38]Other units suffer similar losses and fall back.

[00:36:43]Operation Goodwood is a disaster.

[00:36:47]The British sent 800 tanks across that open ground just south of Caen and 400 of them were knocked out.

[00:37:00]The Germans were up on the Bourguébus Verrières Ridge and were able to see for miles and miles.

[00:37:10]The long narrow miles, the Germans were entrenched in farmhouses, hidden away with their big guns.

[00:37:19]Able to see everything that moved. Able to cover the whole area with their 88 mm, their famous anti-tank guns, which were anti-aircraft guns, supposed to fire at aircraft 20,000 ft up in the air, but firing at us 200 yd away.

[00:37:45]On the 21st, the offensive against Verrières Ridge is called off as the enormity of the losses sinks in.

[00:37:52]In just four days, the Allies lose over 6,000 men and more than 300 tanks. And the Germans still remain firmly in control of the ridge.

[00:38:02]Now, our task was to go up that hill and find a way in which we could get through those German lines, which are now reported to be possibly the one of the strongest defenses the Germans set up anywhere in World War II.

[00:38:22]The Allies are desperate for a breakthrough.

[00:38:25]Canadian Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds comes up with a bold and risky plan to take the ridge.

[00:38:32]Code-named Operation Totalize, Simonds' plan calls for 400 tanks to quickly advance in six columns straight into the German defensive positions. And to reduce the effect of the German big guns, he will launch the attack at night.

[00:38:50]If one asks, "What did one see?" The simple answer is nothing.

[00:39:08]July 21st, 1944.

[00:39:12]After taking enormous casualties four days of bloody fighting, the Allies cancel their massive armored offensive aimed at eliminating the stubborn German defenses along Verrières Ridge.

[00:39:30]Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds comes up with a new plan.

[00:39:34]The Allies must take the ridge because a breakthrough is key to the overall campaign in Normandy.

[00:39:40]Code-named Operation Totalize, it calls for 400 tanks supported by infantry to rush forward in six columns headlong into the German guns.

[00:39:53]To reduce the effect of the guns, Simonds plans to strike under the cover of darkness.

[00:40:01]A nocturnal armored operation on this scale has never been tried before. So, Simonds orders his infantry and tanks to practice the attack in daylight over and over again.

[00:40:16]Getting ready for Totalize was basically a a lot of week of really studying [music] how to put it together.

[00:40:26]They put 1 2 3 4. [music] They made up four columns. Behind those four tanks, they put four more. Behind that, they put four flails.

[00:40:36]>> [music] >> Behind that, another four flails.

[00:40:39]And then, four companies of [music] infantry in armored personnel carriers.

[00:40:45]Uh everything tracked, not one wheel vehicles at all.

[00:40:52]11:30 hours, August 8th.

[00:40:59]After a massive bombardment, Operation Totalize begins. 400 British and Canadian tanks lurch forward into the darkness.

[00:41:09]So, you were uh in a a mixture of uh sentiments. [music] You were afraid, you were proud, you were thrilled.

[00:41:20]Uh you were bewildered.

[00:41:28]The tanks stay close together, crawling slowly toward the ridge, following lines of tracer fire that point the way to each unit's objective.

[00:41:40]All you saw was a red tail light for the tank in front. So, you fixed your eyes on that red tail light and you followed for your life's sake.

[00:41:58]And the buggers would be putting in mines knowing reasonably well where we were and [music] which way we might come out against them.

[00:42:09]Total chaos with flashes going on all over the place, uh shells exploding.

[00:42:19]You hear the shooting going on all over the damn place.

[00:42:26]On the way, you saw some Germans in slit trenches, but you've been told not to stop, to keep going.

[00:42:36]You saw one of your tanks in front of you hit.

[00:42:41]And going up in flames, you saw another one hit. Going up in flames, you didn't know what was happening. You kept going, you kept going.

[00:42:56]By dawn on August 8th, Canadian and British forces have captured most of Verrières Ridge.

[00:43:03]By noon, the entire position is in Allied hands.

[00:43:09]Phase one of Operation Totalize is a success, opening the way for the Allies to advance and hook up with US forces further south.

[00:43:19]On August 21st, after two more weeks of fierce fighting, the Allies finally complete their encirclement of the German army in Normandy.

[00:43:28]Those Germans who remain trapped inside the pocket are now [music] easy prey for the Allies' superior air power.

[00:43:39]And for a while, this tremendous slaughter, you can only call it, went on.

[00:43:49]More and more bombers and fighter bombers attacked.

[00:43:53]The misery around us screamed to high heaven.

[00:43:57]Refugees and soldiers from the defeated German armies looked helplessly at the bombers flying continuously overhead.

[00:44:06]It was useless to take cover from the bursting shells and bombs.

[00:44:11]Concentrated in such a confined space, they offered once-in-a-lifetime targets to the enemy air power.

[00:44:19]Death and shadows passed at every step.

[00:44:24]We stood out like targets on a range.

[00:44:29]It was impossible to miss us.

[00:44:41]The destruction of the German army in France marks the end of the Battle of Normandy.

[00:44:47]German losses are horrific. 200,000 are killed or wounded and 1,300 tanks are destroyed.

[00:44:58]Normandy has become a [music] graveyard for the once mighty German Panzers.

[00:45:04]Of the 12th SS Panzer Division, only 10 tanks and 300 men are reported to have escaped, including Kurt Meyer, who was later put on trial for war crimes, including the killing of 18 Canadian prisoners [music] at the Abbaye d'Ardenne. But he spends just 9 years in prison.

[00:45:28]For the Allies, the Battle of Normandy is a great victory, but it comes at a steep [music] price.

[00:45:34]50,000 men are killed and over 150,000 are wounded.

[00:45:41]In the Battle of Normandy, the Sherbrooke Fusiliers suffer some of the heaviest losses of the war.

[00:45:48]Many still wonder how they survived.

[00:45:52]You know, I've been in tanks that were knocked out, but the shell didn't hit where I was. I've been in mortar uh barrages, but no mortar came down where I was.

[00:46:07]It's just dumb luck.

[00:46:11]I think everybody would agree on that.

[00:46:14]You You got to be skillful, you got to be thoughtful and careful and all of that, but if you're not lucky, you're not going to make it.