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I still get the same reaction
when I see a B-17.
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But isn't that a beautiful aircraft?
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It's like a piece of sculpture.
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{\an8}And it's lovely in the air
when your wheels are up.
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When you flew in formation...
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sometimes with a thousand aircraft...
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it was a very beautiful
and dramatic sight.
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[Hanks]
In the cold, blue skies over Europe,
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a new kind of combat was fought
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in an environment
that had never been experienced before.
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It was a singular event
in the history of warfare.
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Unprecedented and never to be repeated.
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Airmen from 40 American bomber groups
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bled and died in staggering numbers
in air combat.
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One of these groups,
hyperaggressive and undisciplined,
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suffered so many casualties
in such a short period of time
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it became known as the Bloody Hundredth.
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[crowd cheering, whistling]
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[Hitler speaking German]
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[crowd cheering]
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[reporter 1] Germany has invaded Poland.
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{\an8}In a big attack, about nine o'clock,
Warsaw itself was bombed.
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{\an8}[reporter 2] The German army invaded
Holland and Belgium early this morning
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by land and from parachutes
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{\an8}[Churchill] You ask, what is our policy?
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It is to wage war by sea, land and air.
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To wage war against
a monstrous tyranny never surpassed
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in the dark
and lamentable catalog of human crime.
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[Roosevelt] If Great Britain goes down,
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{\an8}the Axis powers will control
the continents of Europe and Asia
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{\an8}and Africa, and they will be in a position
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to bring enormous military and naval
resources against this hemisphere.
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{\an8}[reporter 3]
We have witnessed this morning
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{\an8}severe bombing of Pearl Harbor
by enemy planes.
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It is no joke.
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It is a real war.
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{\an8}[Roosevelt]
I ask that the Congress declare
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{\an8}that since the unprovoked
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{\an8}and dastardly attack by Japan,
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a state of war.
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- [troops marching]
- [crowd cheering, whistling]
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[Hanks] At this point in the war,
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{\an8}Hitler's Germany
controlled continental Europe.
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{\an8}Great Britain stood alone and vulnerable,
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the last surviving European democracy
at war with the Nazis.
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And the question became
how to hit back at the enemy.
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Britain's bomber command
had been striking Germany incessantly
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but ineffectively since 1940,
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taking huge losses in night raids
that often missed their targets by miles.
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[Spielberg] There was a clear
and present danger to global democracy
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because of the Nazis.
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{\an8}So, patriotism was something
that the Greatest Generation,
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{\an8}my father's generation,
took very, very seriously.
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Now, it isn't as if it was
a chore for me to talk to you
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{\an8}because I wanna speak on my
favorite subject, the Army Air Forces.
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{\an8}I-I can't speak from long experience.
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I've only been in the service a year,
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but I've learned a lot about
what the air forces have to offer.
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That's what I wanna talk to you about.
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The Army Air Forces need 15,000 captains,
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40,000 lieutenants,
35,000 flying sergeants.
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Young men of America,
your future's in the sky.
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Your wings are waiting.
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[Luckadoo] I was in the middle
of my sophomore year in college
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{\an8}and didn't have a lot on my mind but
chasing girls and-- and drinking whiskey.
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[chuckles]
Meantime, Pearl Harbor happens, and then,
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along with my other fraternity brothers,
were recruited as aviation cadets.
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[officer] Attention!
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[crowd cheering]
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[Rosenthal] At that time,
there was a great deal of anti-Semitism.
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And Hitler, with his talk of superiority
of the Aryan nation,
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I had a sense of frustration
that I couldn't do anything about it.
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Suddenly, that frustration disappeared.
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I'd felt now that I could do something.
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{\an8}I thought the most effective
way to serve would be as a pilot.
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I went down the next day
and volunteered to be an air force cadet.
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[Hanks] Before enlisting, thousands
of American flyers had never set foot
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in an airplane or fired a shot at
anything more threatening than a squirrel.
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The crews were made up of men
from every part of America
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and nearly every station in life.
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There were Harvard history majors
and West Virginia coal miners.
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Wall Street lawyers
and Oklahoma cowpunchers.
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Hollywood idols and football heroes.
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[reporter 4]
The cadets have passed their test.
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And now, they'll get their flying lessons.
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[Rosenthal]
Each instructor had four students.
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The other three students
had previous flight training, I had none.
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I had never been inside of an airplane.
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[Clark]
After about ten hours, we'd have solo.
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{\an8}When those wheels leave the ground,
there's no one to help you.
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{\an8}You're on your own.
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{\an8}[Crosby] I became a navigator
because I was a flop as a pilot.
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[Armanini] I got washed out.
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{\an8}I'll never forget the guy that
washed me out was Lieutenant Maytag,
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{\an8}proper name for a-- washing out
a prospective flying student.
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[Luckadoo] I had a military instructor,
and he was about to wash me out,
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and he said,
"You're gonna kill yourself anyway,
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but I'll tell you what,
I'm gonna go over and sit under that tree.
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{\an8}If you can take this up three times and
around the pattern and land it, you're in.
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If not, you're out."
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[Rosenthal] We flew from eight o'clock
in the morning to eight o'clock at night.
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I did various maneuvers
of chandelles and lazy S's.
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And on a rare day off, we would dogfight.
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I never enjoyed anything
more than I did at that time.
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[speaking indistinctly]
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[Luckadoo] Forty of my classmates,
just graduated from flying school,
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along with me,
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were all assigned to fly the B-17.
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We'd never been in a B-17 before.
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[reporter 5] The Boeing Flying Fortress,
manned by ten men,
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this new bomber has a speed
of nearly 300 miles an hour.
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The bulges on its fuselage
are turrets for machine guns.
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With 4,000 horsepower engines,
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it can cruise for 3,000 miles
without landing to refuel.
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B-17 was the first both offensive
and defensive aircraft ever designed.
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Offensively, it dropped
very heavy payloads for its day.
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And it was called the Flying Fortress
because it had so many 50-caliber guns.
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[Rosenthal]
The feel of the B-17 was wonderful.
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The plane responded so beautifully that I,
uh, immediately related to it.
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I was very happy to be on B-17s.
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[Murphy] We had about
five or six months of practice training
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and getting ready
for an overseas assignment.
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{\an8}In May of 1943 we were sent to England
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{\an8}to become a part
of the Eighth Air Force.
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[Luckadoo]
We were told before we went overseas,
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"You look on your left and your right,
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and only one of you is gonna come back."
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We were going overseas to die.
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[Hanks] Just as the crews of the 100th
began arriving at their new base
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in rural eastern England,
the European war entered a new phase.
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It was the official beginning
of Pointblank,
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an around-the-clock bombing campaign,
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with the Americans bombing by day
and the British by night.
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Its purpose, to achieve air supremacy
over northern Europe
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by the D-Day invasion
the following spring.
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Without air supremacy, the Allies
could not invade the European continent.
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[airmen chanting]
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[Roane] We'd just got there
and getting to know one another,
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{\an8}and King, the pilot, asked me,
"What had you done before?"
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00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:11,278
{\an8}I said, "Well,
recently I did the work of a cowboy."
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{\an8}And he said, "Well, fine,
you'll be Cowboy from now on."
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[Miller] The 100th is a young outfit,
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00:10:17,910 --> 00:10:20,913
and it had some
pretty reckless young commanders.
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{\an8}A guy named Gale Cleven,
who was a squadron commander
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{\an8}and an air executive named John Egan.
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{\an8}Egan and Cleven didn't have to fly
as squadron leaders, but always did.
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{\an8}And that's one of the reasons
the men admired them.
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[Luckadoo] Buck Cleven,
along with Bucky Egan, they wore scarves
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and their hats cocked
on one side of their heads,
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and they were pretty cocky.
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{\an8}They'd be at the officers' club,
and they would say,
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{\an8}"Lieutenant, taxi over here,
I wanna talk to you."
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{\an8}[Paridon] John Egan, Gale Cleven,
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00:10:52,444 --> 00:10:55,322
{\an8}their life's ambition
was to fly an airplane.
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00:10:55,405 --> 00:10:56,823
And here they are, flying an airplane.
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{\an8}Doing something that they love
for a country that they love
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00:11:00,077 --> 00:11:01,495
{\an8}on a mission that they believe in.
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[Hanks] Cleven and Egan
would help lead the 100th
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against the most formidable air force
in the world, the German Luftwaffe,
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00:11:09,670 --> 00:11:14,299
whose veteran pilots had seen action
over Spain, Norway, Poland,
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00:11:14,383 --> 00:11:19,680
France, Russia, Greece,
North Africa and England.
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{\an8}They will understand the enormity
of their miscalculation
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{\an8}that the Nazis would always have
the advantage of superior air power.
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That superiority has gone forever.
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00:11:35,946 --> 00:11:41,326
We believe that the Nazis
and the fascists have asked for it,
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00:11:41,410 --> 00:11:43,328
and they're going to get it.
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[officer] Captain Kirk, Captain Thompson,
Lieutenant Bushka,
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00:11:55,090 --> 00:11:57,426
Iverson, Holloway and Hawkers
scheduled to fly.
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Snap it up.
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00:12:02,014 --> 00:12:04,391
[Alshouse] The commanding officer,
he'd come in, he'd come up the front,
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00:12:05,225 --> 00:12:07,519
he'd pull back a, uh, curtain,
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{\an8}and there'd be a red ribbon from
Thorpe Abbotts all the way to the target.
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[officer] This group of buildings here
is your target.
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This building will be the aiming point.
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If your bomb pattern
is concentrated in this area,
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it should very effectively
knock out the factory.
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[Wolff] After getting off the jeep
and getting some of the stuff stowed,
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00:12:39,051 --> 00:12:42,304
{\an8}then climbed aboard, got settled in,
and fired up.
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[Hanks]
Flying in a self-defending formation
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they called a combat box,
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00:13:00,405 --> 00:13:04,826
with accumulative firepower
of as many as 13 guns on each plane,
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they could muscle their way to
the target through waves of enemy planes.
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[reporter 6] At the fighter fields,
Thunderbolts are ready.
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They set out to meet the bombers.
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The two groups make
rendezvous over the English Channel,
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and with the fighters patrolling
the skies around the bomber formation,
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the air armada moves into enemy territory.
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[Hanks] The bombers received
limited protection from the smaller,
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00:13:35,691 --> 00:13:39,528
more nimble fighter planes,
like the P-47 Thunderbolt,
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whose limited fuel capacity
forced it to leave the bombers
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once they crossed deep into Germany.
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00:13:45,576 --> 00:13:47,452
[Paridon]
The crewmen were in an alien world
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00:13:47,536 --> 00:13:52,416
to where they physically could not survive
without specialized clothing,
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00:13:52,499 --> 00:13:54,209
without specialized equipment,
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00:13:54,293 --> 00:13:57,254
without breathing oxygen
that was being pumped to them.
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[Luckadoo] As soon as we got to altitude,
we had to go on oxygen,
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00:14:00,674 --> 00:14:03,135
so we had an oxygen mask
clasped on our face.
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00:14:03,218 --> 00:14:05,012
And the-- the stark cold.
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00:14:05,095 --> 00:14:07,431
The frigid temperatures.
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00:14:07,514 --> 00:14:11,310
We were operating
in 50 or 60 degrees below zero.
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00:14:17,941 --> 00:14:21,153
[Paridon]
The fighter escort did not have the range
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00:14:21,236 --> 00:14:25,282
to escort the B-17s all the way
to the targets inside of Germany,
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00:14:25,365 --> 00:14:27,534
so the Allied fighters turned around
and went back to England.
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00:14:35,334 --> 00:14:39,129
[Murphy] I remember that when
we first crossed over the English Channel,
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00:14:39,213 --> 00:14:43,383
I remember looking down and realizing
that we were over enemy territory,
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00:14:43,467 --> 00:14:45,427
and I had a lump in my throat.
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00:14:45,511 --> 00:14:46,845
I was-- [stammers] I was nervous.
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00:14:46,929 --> 00:14:49,598
[shells exploding]
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[reporter 7]
There are the black smudges of the flak
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00:14:51,767 --> 00:14:53,977
that come up from
the antiaircraft guns below.
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00:14:54,770 --> 00:14:56,939
[Miller] A flak gun is a German 88 gun,
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00:14:57,022 --> 00:15:00,067
and it could fire a shell
up to 40,000 feet.
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00:15:00,150 --> 00:15:05,197
The shell would explode in the air,
and it would throw shards of shrapnel.
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00:15:07,574 --> 00:15:10,661
The skin of the plane is not steel,
it's aluminum.
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00:15:10,744 --> 00:15:13,121
So, that meant
flak just blew holes in the plane.
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00:15:13,205 --> 00:15:15,165
[flak hitting metal]
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00:15:15,249 --> 00:15:20,337
[Murphy] That was my first time to be
exposed to very heavy antiaircraft fire,
220
00:15:20,420 --> 00:15:23,298
and, uh, it was-- [stammers]
it was frightening.
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00:15:23,382 --> 00:15:25,843
[gunfire]
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00:15:28,053 --> 00:15:31,682
[Luckadoo] We were being confronted
by very experienced
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00:15:31,765 --> 00:15:36,061
and very well equipped
and very well trained opposition.
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00:15:36,144 --> 00:15:39,857
They were pros, and we were rank amateurs.
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00:15:43,902 --> 00:15:46,488
[Hanks]
When the formation neared its target,
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00:15:46,572 --> 00:15:50,200
the bombardiers entered variables
such as airspeed and wind drift
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00:15:50,284 --> 00:15:51,910
into their Norden bombsights,
228
00:15:51,994 --> 00:15:55,455
top-secret aiming devices
designed to guide the planes
229
00:15:55,539 --> 00:15:59,001
to the optimal release point
for dropping their payloads.
230
00:15:59,585 --> 00:16:02,546
[Miller] The Norden bombsight,
it's supposed to be so accurate
231
00:16:02,629 --> 00:16:07,801
that you can bomb from 20,000 feet
and drop your bombs into a pickle barrel.
232
00:16:10,596 --> 00:16:12,055
[Bankston] When we dropped our bombs,
233
00:16:12,139 --> 00:16:14,641
{\an8}I could see bombs from the planes
ahead of us dropping
234
00:16:14,725 --> 00:16:17,644
{\an8}but also I could lean out
in the plexiglass nose
235
00:16:17,728 --> 00:16:21,231
and see the bombs
falling directly down from us.
236
00:16:21,315 --> 00:16:25,569
And then, when they exploded,
we could actually see the explosions.
237
00:16:25,652 --> 00:16:27,237
[reporter 8]
The first bombers have been over,
238
00:16:27,321 --> 00:16:30,574
and the target's already partially
obscured by the fires they've started.
239
00:16:31,366 --> 00:16:34,912
Hits were scored on a power plant,
submarines under construction,
240
00:16:34,995 --> 00:16:36,955
and at least one U-boat in the water.
241
00:16:38,957 --> 00:16:40,375
[Wolff] We dropped our bombs,
242
00:16:40,459 --> 00:16:43,045
a couple of fighter attacks,
nobody got hurt.
243
00:16:43,629 --> 00:16:46,131
{\an8}And I thought, "Well, this isn't so bad."
[chuckles]
244
00:16:48,509 --> 00:16:52,221
[Hanks] The early missions for the 100th
were mostly coastal targets,
245
00:16:52,304 --> 00:16:56,558
like submarine pens
and industrial sites in France and Norway.
246
00:16:57,518 --> 00:16:59,770
[Spielberg]
The air force was trying to destroy
247
00:16:59,853 --> 00:17:02,147
the war machine of Nazi Germany.
248
00:17:02,231 --> 00:17:05,442
The factories that made planes,
that made tanks.
249
00:17:05,526 --> 00:17:07,194
The factories that produced ball bearings.
250
00:17:07,778 --> 00:17:09,488
[reporter 9]
At the British landing fields,
251
00:17:09,570 --> 00:17:11,114
word on the sky battle was out.
252
00:17:12,199 --> 00:17:14,826
Many of the fortresses themselves
were crippled.
253
00:17:14,910 --> 00:17:19,164
A few came in with feathered props
or with knocked-out landing gear.
254
00:17:20,249 --> 00:17:23,210
[Crosby] The B-17 had the reputation
of being trustworthy and safe
255
00:17:23,292 --> 00:17:24,502
and getting people back.
256
00:17:24,586 --> 00:17:26,630
You could lose three engines and get home.
257
00:17:26,713 --> 00:17:30,050
You could lose half
of your vertical stabilizer on the tail
258
00:17:30,133 --> 00:17:31,176
and get home.
259
00:17:31,260 --> 00:17:34,054
[Jeffrey]
It would bring you home on two engines,
260
00:17:34,137 --> 00:17:36,557
{\an8}and I've seen 'em come in with only one.
261
00:17:42,729 --> 00:17:44,940
[Hanks] Everything was
about to change for the Eighth
262
00:17:45,023 --> 00:17:47,568
with the largest raid
they would undertake up to now.
263
00:17:47,651 --> 00:17:51,363
A double strike against
ball bearing plants in Schweinfurt
264
00:17:51,446 --> 00:17:54,241
and Messerschmitt factories in Regensburg,
265
00:17:54,324 --> 00:17:58,203
massively defended targets
deep inside Germany.
266
00:17:58,287 --> 00:18:01,498
The 100th was assigned
to the Regensburg Force.
267
00:18:02,165 --> 00:18:04,960
[Wolff] When they pulled the curtain
away from the map,
268
00:18:05,043 --> 00:18:07,963
and you saw that red line
going all across Germany,
269
00:18:08,046 --> 00:18:10,048
{\an8}you know, we thought, "Holy cow."
270
00:18:10,716 --> 00:18:13,427
[Crane] The plan as designed
is really brilliant when you look at it.
271
00:18:13,510 --> 00:18:14,344
So, you've got
272
00:18:14,428 --> 00:18:19,057
{\an8}Curtis LeMay's Third
Bombardment Division is going to fly
273
00:18:19,141 --> 00:18:23,270
and attack the Messerschmitt factories
at Regensburg and then head for Africa.
274
00:18:23,353 --> 00:18:27,232
And ten minutes behind them is gonna be
the First Bombardment Division,
275
00:18:27,316 --> 00:18:30,068
{\an8}and they're gonna attack
the ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt
276
00:18:30,152 --> 00:18:31,653
{\an8}and then go back to England.
277
00:18:31,737 --> 00:18:35,032
{\an8}So, the Germans are gonna have to
decide which of these groups to hit.
278
00:18:35,115 --> 00:18:39,703
{\an8}The problem is-- surprise, it's August,
and there's fog in Great Britain.
279
00:18:41,205 --> 00:18:42,623
[LeMay] We went out that morning.
280
00:18:42,706 --> 00:18:47,169
{\an8}I had took lanterns and flashlights
and lead the airplanes out.
281
00:18:48,086 --> 00:18:51,423
I got assembled about ten minutes late,
but we got off.
282
00:18:51,507 --> 00:18:54,426
[Crane] Curtis LeMay has trained
his bombardment division
283
00:18:54,510 --> 00:18:56,512
to take off in-- in English fog.
284
00:18:56,595 --> 00:18:59,014
The other bombardment division hadn't.
285
00:18:59,097 --> 00:19:02,643
So, all of a sudden, LeMay gets
his guys up and gets them all formed,
286
00:19:02,726 --> 00:19:05,020
and the other bombardment division
hasn't even taken off yet.
287
00:19:05,771 --> 00:19:08,774
So, it ends up, instead of
a ten-minute gap, a two-hour gap.
288
00:19:09,525 --> 00:19:10,609
[siren wailing]
289
00:19:11,235 --> 00:19:14,112
[reporter 10] This captured German film
shows how quickly their 109s
290
00:19:14,196 --> 00:19:17,157
and Focke-Wulf 190s
got into action after a warning.
291
00:19:17,658 --> 00:19:21,036
They had plenty of time to amass
their fighters at a chosen point of attack
292
00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:24,790
and to outnumber our escort
at anything from 2-to-1 to 10-to-1.
293
00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:30,963
[Wolff] Flew across the channel.
It was a beautiful day out there.
294
00:19:31,755 --> 00:19:32,840
They hit the Dutch coast,
295
00:19:32,923 --> 00:19:35,133
and all of a sudden
the whole world exploded.
296
00:19:36,176 --> 00:19:38,136
Kept up for the next two hours.
297
00:19:41,014 --> 00:19:44,184
[Roane] The training we'd had previously
gave us the idea
298
00:19:44,268 --> 00:19:46,728
that we could outrun German fighters.
299
00:19:46,812 --> 00:19:50,107
Of course,
we learned that that was not true.
300
00:19:50,983 --> 00:19:55,153
{\an8}[Wolff] There was flak, there were
fighters, more flak, more fighters.
301
00:19:55,237 --> 00:19:59,867
{\an8}And I could hear the top turret
chattering away with machine-gun fire.
302
00:20:00,534 --> 00:20:04,246
[Miller] Cleven's plane took six hits.
303
00:20:04,329 --> 00:20:07,249
They knocked out the hydraulic system.
They knocked out one of the engines.
304
00:20:07,833 --> 00:20:09,501
The cockpit is on fire.
305
00:20:09,585 --> 00:20:13,589
Cleven turns around, and he...
[stammers] ...looks at the radio gunner,
306
00:20:13,672 --> 00:20:15,883
and the radio gunner
doesn't have any legs.
307
00:20:15,966 --> 00:20:17,050
They'd been sheared off.
308
00:20:19,887 --> 00:20:22,014
[Wolff] And I still remember one plane,
309
00:20:22,097 --> 00:20:24,808
fire was coming out
of every opening in that hull.
310
00:20:26,810 --> 00:20:29,521
I dreamed about that one for a long time.
311
00:20:30,564 --> 00:20:32,399
[Spielberg]
Every single member of that flight crew
312
00:20:32,482 --> 00:20:35,611
was fighting so democracy
and freedom could reign.
313
00:20:35,694 --> 00:20:39,198
But when you're in combat,
you know who you're fighting for?
314
00:20:39,281 --> 00:20:41,992
The guy to your left
and the guy to your right.
315
00:20:42,075 --> 00:20:44,328
The guy just ahead of you
and the guy just behind you.
316
00:20:44,411 --> 00:20:45,746
That's the pod you're fighting for.
317
00:20:47,789 --> 00:20:48,624
[gunfire]
318
00:20:48,707 --> 00:20:53,545
[Miller] Cleven is sitting in the cockpit,
and his copilot said, in so many words,
319
00:20:53,629 --> 00:20:55,672
"We gotta get out of here.
Let's hit the bail out bell."
320
00:20:55,756 --> 00:20:57,841
Cleven said,
"We-- We gotta get to the target.
321
00:20:57,925 --> 00:21:00,093
We're gonna complete the bomb run."
322
00:21:00,177 --> 00:21:05,432
[Wolff] Five minutes before we got to
the target, everything stopped.
323
00:21:05,516 --> 00:21:07,392
No fighters, no flak, no nothing.
324
00:21:08,227 --> 00:21:10,812
We succeeded in dropping our bombs.
325
00:21:13,982 --> 00:21:16,068
[Hanks] Perilously low on fuel,
326
00:21:16,151 --> 00:21:21,240
the Regensburg group fought its way
over the Alps down to North Africa,
327
00:21:21,323 --> 00:21:25,953
while the Schweinfurt group flew straight
into the full brunt of the Luftwaffe.
328
00:21:26,828 --> 00:21:30,207
So that means for the Germans,
they get up and ravage LeMay's guys,
329
00:21:30,290 --> 00:21:33,544
then they get to land and have
a schnapps and rearm and refuel too.
330
00:21:33,627 --> 00:21:35,420
And then they get to hit
the Schweinfurt guys.
331
00:21:39,174 --> 00:21:44,513
The whole Luftwaffe jumped on the
Schweinfurt group and just shattered them.
332
00:21:51,812 --> 00:21:53,939
[Hanks] Having made it to North Africa
by day's end,
333
00:21:54,523 --> 00:21:58,652
the crews of the 100th Bomb Group were
battle-worn and weary,
334
00:21:59,194 --> 00:22:01,530
but feeling lucky to be alive.
335
00:22:02,906 --> 00:22:05,784
[Eaker] Any commander
that had to commit forces to combat
336
00:22:05,868 --> 00:22:07,744
when they were outnumbered
337
00:22:07,828 --> 00:22:10,038
and with equipment which was not suitable
338
00:22:10,122 --> 00:22:15,794
{\an8}and with a minimum of training,
faced very tough decisions.
339
00:22:15,878 --> 00:22:19,131
Uh-- [stammers]
It's like, uh, sentencing men to death.
340
00:22:23,594 --> 00:22:28,932
{\an8}[Rosenthal] I had landed in England
in the summer of 1943,
341
00:22:30,184 --> 00:22:33,520
{\an8}and I was sent to the 100th Bomb Group.
342
00:22:33,604 --> 00:22:36,481
[Luckadoo]
Rosie Rosenthal, uh, arrived at the group
343
00:22:36,565 --> 00:22:40,736
as a replacement crew
for crews that were lost.
344
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:45,324
[Miller] Egan had gotten word that
this kid, Rosie, was a pretty good flyer.
345
00:22:45,407 --> 00:22:48,952
And so, Egan took him out
and ran him through the-- the struts
346
00:22:49,036 --> 00:22:51,038
and said, "I want you in my squadron."
347
00:22:54,875 --> 00:22:56,668
[Luckadoo] I happened to be in the bar.
348
00:22:56,752 --> 00:23:03,258
And I was having my usual Scotch
and felt this tap on my shoulder
349
00:23:03,759 --> 00:23:06,887
and turned around,
and here was the squadron commander.
350
00:23:07,471 --> 00:23:10,390
He said, "Lucky, you better go home
and get some sleep.
351
00:23:11,058 --> 00:23:12,392
You're flying tomorrow."
352
00:23:16,522 --> 00:23:20,234
[Hanks] When the weather over Germany
cleared on October 8th,
353
00:23:20,317 --> 00:23:24,238
the Americans launched a succession
of maximum-effort missions
354
00:23:24,321 --> 00:23:27,366
to take out aircraft manufacturing plants.
355
00:23:28,158 --> 00:23:31,870
The airmen would
eventually call it Black Week.
356
00:23:32,579 --> 00:23:36,375
[reporter 11] On October 8th,
855 planes left Great Britain
357
00:23:36,458 --> 00:23:38,877
for a raid on Bremen and Vegesack.
358
00:23:38,961 --> 00:23:41,713
They were loaded with
two and a half million pounds of bombs.
359
00:23:41,797 --> 00:23:44,591
Two and three-quarter million
rounds of ammunition.
360
00:23:46,510 --> 00:23:50,013
[Luckadoo] As we came off the target,
out of the corner of my eye,
361
00:23:50,097 --> 00:23:56,353
I saw this flight of two Fw 190s
aiming directly for us.
362
00:23:56,436 --> 00:23:59,815
He shot down the ship
directly in front of me,
363
00:23:59,898 --> 00:24:03,735
and it blew them out of the formation,
and they exploded.
364
00:24:05,070 --> 00:24:06,738
[Crosby] The group was decimated.
365
00:24:06,822 --> 00:24:10,617
We were shot clear out of the formation.
Our number three engine was on fire.
366
00:24:11,869 --> 00:24:13,370
[Luckadoo] Cleven tried to move up
367
00:24:13,453 --> 00:24:16,498
and take over the group
when he was shot down.
368
00:24:17,833 --> 00:24:18,959
[Miller] Cleven, he got hit.
369
00:24:19,668 --> 00:24:21,670
There's a lot of chaos in the plane.
370
00:24:21,753 --> 00:24:23,589
The cockpit caught fire. They gotta bail.
371
00:24:27,384 --> 00:24:28,927
[Paridon] Gale Cleven is shot down.
372
00:24:29,011 --> 00:24:33,098
This is a huge hole
left in the 100th Bomb Group at this time.
373
00:24:33,182 --> 00:24:36,476
And for all intents and purposes,
everybody thinks he's dead.
374
00:24:37,811 --> 00:24:43,317
That was the first time that I doubted
that I really was gonna get back.
375
00:24:44,318 --> 00:24:49,114
{\an8}[Rosenthal] My plane, Rosie's Riveters,
was badly damaged,
376
00:24:49,198 --> 00:24:51,325
and a couple of engines were out.
377
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:54,912
[Luckadoo] After we dropped our bombs,
378
00:24:54,995 --> 00:24:58,665
I brought what was left
of the formation home,
379
00:24:58,749 --> 00:25:01,084
which was only six airplanes.
380
00:25:04,379 --> 00:25:08,425
[Crane] I mean, imagine the morale,
to lose all those crews in one day.
381
00:25:09,009 --> 00:25:11,303
What they would try to do
is clean out the barracks.
382
00:25:11,386 --> 00:25:13,388
As soon as a plane went down,
they'd clean it out.
383
00:25:13,472 --> 00:25:15,933
So, you'd walk in--
you'd walk into an empty barracks.
384
00:25:17,267 --> 00:25:20,771
[Luckadoo] Egan was in London on leave,
385
00:25:20,854 --> 00:25:23,565
and he got word
that Cleven had been shot down.
386
00:25:24,816 --> 00:25:28,695
Egan was so incensed that
he immediately canceled his leave
387
00:25:28,779 --> 00:25:33,450
and returned to the base,
and said, "I'm leading the next mission."
388
00:25:34,201 --> 00:25:37,162
[Hanks] The Münster raid
was a city-busting operation,
389
00:25:37,246 --> 00:25:39,289
a new thing for the Eighth Air Force.
390
00:25:39,373 --> 00:25:43,710
The target was a strategically essential
rail yard in the city center
391
00:25:43,794 --> 00:25:47,589
and also a neighborhood
of workers' housing that abutted it.
392
00:25:48,215 --> 00:25:53,345
In the fight against Nazi tyranny,
human flesh and bone became a target,
393
00:25:53,428 --> 00:25:56,557
an essential part
of the Reich's war machine.
394
00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:58,559
[Miller] There was tension in the room.
395
00:25:58,642 --> 00:26:01,645
A lot of the airmen,
for the first time ever,
396
00:26:01,728 --> 00:26:03,105
questioned the mission.
397
00:26:03,689 --> 00:26:05,607
Egan makes a speech.
398
00:26:05,691 --> 00:26:10,279
They were gonna fly this one for Cleven,
and this is a revenge raid.
399
00:26:14,783 --> 00:26:19,913
{\an8}[Rosenthal] Because we had high losses,
our group was pretty well banged up,
400
00:26:20,414 --> 00:26:24,376
{\an8}and we could only
put 13 planes in the air.
401
00:26:26,003 --> 00:26:28,672
{\an8}[Paridon]
When it came to German fighter attacks,
402
00:26:28,755 --> 00:26:34,136
if your formations were loose,
if you had 13 aircraft as opposed to 18,
403
00:26:34,219 --> 00:26:36,513
the Germans are gonna
attack the lesser target.
404
00:26:36,597 --> 00:26:40,767
[Murphy] We were immediately attacked
by over 200 German fighter aircraft.
405
00:26:41,351 --> 00:26:46,523
Two, uh, Me 109s came in behind us
and killed our tail gunner.
406
00:26:46,607 --> 00:26:50,360
I was sprayed with shrapnel flak
from an exploding cannon shell
407
00:26:50,444 --> 00:26:51,904
and knocked to the floor.
408
00:26:51,987 --> 00:26:54,781
It was clear
that the airplane was out of control,
409
00:26:54,865 --> 00:26:57,034
and we were going to go down.
410
00:26:57,576 --> 00:27:00,746
I remember we were about 21-- 22,000 feet.
411
00:27:00,829 --> 00:27:04,833
The ground looked a million miles away,
but I had no choice.
412
00:27:04,917 --> 00:27:07,252
I had to go out, and so I did.
413
00:27:07,336 --> 00:27:09,087
[gunfire]
414
00:27:15,719 --> 00:27:20,140
We went down the flight line,
and we kept waiting around.
415
00:27:24,478 --> 00:27:26,855
Finally, one of ours came in.
416
00:27:28,023 --> 00:27:30,817
[Jeffrey] Only one airplane
of the 100th had returned.
417
00:27:30,901 --> 00:27:33,904
Uh, Rosenthal was the man
that was flying that airplane.
418
00:27:33,987 --> 00:27:38,700
So, he had seen, uh, his share of, uh--
of rough times.
419
00:27:40,994 --> 00:27:43,872
[Rosenthal]
We returned to the officers' club.
420
00:27:43,956 --> 00:27:46,792
There was an eerie silence there.
421
00:27:46,875 --> 00:27:49,920
There were a few people
who hadn't flown the mission,
422
00:27:50,546 --> 00:27:53,173
and nobody seemed to approach us.
423
00:27:53,257 --> 00:27:55,092
We were sort of left by ourselves.
424
00:27:55,175 --> 00:27:57,594
It was a very strange feeling.
425
00:27:59,179 --> 00:28:04,268
[Roane] We certainly felt the loss
of the people that had been shot down.
426
00:28:04,351 --> 00:28:10,899
I especially l-lost my very best friend
on the Münster mission.
427
00:28:14,486 --> 00:28:17,948
[Luckadoo] When Bucky Egan and Cleven
were shot down,
428
00:28:18,031 --> 00:28:20,993
it was really a tremendous morale factor
429
00:28:21,076 --> 00:28:24,788
because everybody just assumed
they were invincible.
430
00:28:26,582 --> 00:28:30,544
[Hanks] The Münster mission was
the greatest air battle up to that time.
431
00:28:30,627 --> 00:28:33,338
Not just a raid, but a titanic struggle
432
00:28:33,422 --> 00:28:37,009
between two large
and murderous air armies.
433
00:28:37,092 --> 00:28:40,888
The 100th had arrived in England
four months before Münster
434
00:28:40,971 --> 00:28:43,807
with 140 flying officers.
435
00:28:43,891 --> 00:28:48,854
After Münster, only three of them
were still able to fly and fight.
436
00:28:49,354 --> 00:28:52,065
{\an8}[Rosenthal]
This kind of record got around,
437
00:28:52,149 --> 00:28:54,359
{\an8}and people became worried about us.
438
00:28:54,443 --> 00:28:56,361
{\an8}They called us the Bloody Hundredth.
439
00:28:58,697 --> 00:29:00,407
[Crane]
When you're an airman, and you go out,
440
00:29:00,490 --> 00:29:02,534
you have four hours of pure terror.
441
00:29:02,618 --> 00:29:04,953
All of a sudden, you get on your bicycle,
go to the local pub,
442
00:29:05,037 --> 00:29:07,956
drink a beer, go out with a local girl,
go back to base,
443
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:09,291
sit nice and peaceful.
444
00:29:09,374 --> 00:29:12,461
Then, the next day, you're up,
and you're back into the terror again.
445
00:29:15,047 --> 00:29:22,012
This had the ultimate result,
in some cases, of causing people to crack.
446
00:29:25,599 --> 00:29:27,100
[Hanks] After Black Week,
447
00:29:27,184 --> 00:29:30,270
morale in the Eighth
plummeted to a new low,
448
00:29:30,354 --> 00:29:32,856
and commanders worried about crew revolts.
449
00:29:33,398 --> 00:29:35,901
There were distressing reports
from flight surgeons
450
00:29:35,984 --> 00:29:40,906
and air force psychiatrists
of abnormal behavior among crewmen
451
00:29:40,989 --> 00:29:46,578
as combat insidiously shook the moorings
of airmen's self-control.
452
00:29:46,662 --> 00:29:48,664
[Luckadoo] I have seen instances
453
00:29:48,747 --> 00:29:53,961
where they weren't in control enough
to just walk out of the airplane.
454
00:29:54,962 --> 00:29:57,673
Those were individuals
that were on the verge
455
00:29:57,756 --> 00:30:01,051
of what we called
victims of combat fatigue.
456
00:30:03,345 --> 00:30:06,098
[reporter 12] We have learned that
many of these men with neurotic reactions
457
00:30:06,181 --> 00:30:07,349
can recover quickly
458
00:30:07,432 --> 00:30:10,269
when the battle situation
has been left behind temporarily.
459
00:30:10,769 --> 00:30:13,397
Fundamentally, we must depend
for this recovery
460
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:16,108
on the patient's own recuperative powers.
461
00:30:16,191 --> 00:30:19,945
But these powers can best be
exercised away from a hospital atmosphere.
462
00:30:22,155 --> 00:30:26,660
[Luckadoo] We would try to get them
out of the wartime environment
463
00:30:26,743 --> 00:30:30,497
for a few days and sent to the rest home.
464
00:30:30,581 --> 00:30:32,457
We called it the Flak House.
465
00:30:33,500 --> 00:30:37,588
Oftentimes, it was effective.
Sometimes it was not.
466
00:30:39,089 --> 00:30:41,967
[Jeffrey] This was a problem
that all commanders had to deal with
467
00:30:42,050 --> 00:30:46,430
because there are some people
whose chemical and mental makeup,
468
00:30:46,513 --> 00:30:49,141
uh, is such that, uh,
they just can't stand this sort of thing.
469
00:30:49,808 --> 00:30:53,312
[Luckadoo] We had to
immediately remove those people
470
00:30:53,395 --> 00:30:56,440
from the crew and from the base
471
00:30:56,523 --> 00:31:00,611
because that sort of attitude
was contagious,
472
00:31:00,694 --> 00:31:04,448
and we couldn't afford to have it affect
the morale of the rest of the people
473
00:31:04,531 --> 00:31:08,660
that were going out every day
and continuing to perform their duties.
474
00:31:10,954 --> 00:31:13,832
[Crane] You can argue not only
has the Allied air forces
475
00:31:13,916 --> 00:31:17,002
don't have any sense of air superiority
over Germany and Europe,
476
00:31:17,085 --> 00:31:18,962
you could argue
they're losing the air war.
477
00:31:20,422 --> 00:31:23,800
[Clark] You know, we did not drop into
a pickle barrel all the time.
478
00:31:23,884 --> 00:31:27,095
{\an8}We would scatter bombs
even on good, clear days,
479
00:31:27,179 --> 00:31:29,640
{\an8}several miles from the intended target.
480
00:31:30,724 --> 00:31:32,351
[Hansen] They couldn't hit their targets,
481
00:31:32,434 --> 00:31:35,938
and they were much more,
themselves, a target
482
00:31:36,021 --> 00:31:39,650
{\an8}for German fighter defense.
So the force was being slaughtered.
483
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:43,779
[reporter 13] Every few cubic feet
of this pile contains a plane,
484
00:31:43,862 --> 00:31:46,198
22,000 hours of American labor.
485
00:31:47,157 --> 00:31:50,869
Every yard of it means
ten American boys dead or captured.
486
00:31:56,208 --> 00:31:59,795
[Murphy] Probably the most dreadful thing
that one could expect was to be shot down.
487
00:32:00,420 --> 00:32:02,214
We always knew it was possible.
488
00:32:02,297 --> 00:32:05,175
Being young
and thinking that we were immortal,
489
00:32:05,259 --> 00:32:07,678
we always figured that
they might get everybody else,
490
00:32:07,761 --> 00:32:09,012
but they wouldn't get us.
491
00:32:09,930 --> 00:32:12,683
I-I knew how much
my mother worried about me,
492
00:32:12,766 --> 00:32:14,601
and I knew that she would be getting
493
00:32:14,685 --> 00:32:18,605
a missing-in-action telegram
from the War Department,
494
00:32:18,689 --> 00:32:21,149
and she would not know
what happened to me.
495
00:32:23,527 --> 00:32:26,822
[Hanks] Airmen were given parachutes
but not trained how to use them,
496
00:32:26,905 --> 00:32:31,034
and they were given only scant training
in escape and evasion tactics.
497
00:32:31,118 --> 00:32:35,247
Nor were they properly warned
when civilians in bombed-out towns
498
00:32:35,330 --> 00:32:38,667
began to attack downed airmen
in increasing numbers.
499
00:32:40,794 --> 00:32:43,172
[Miller] Cleven, he goes down,
500
00:32:43,255 --> 00:32:46,717
and he can see
that farmers are gathering all around.
501
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:47,843
The next thing he remembers,
502
00:32:47,926 --> 00:32:51,471
a farmer has a pitchfork
a ninth of an inch in his chest
503
00:32:51,555 --> 00:32:52,639
and wants to press down on it.
504
00:32:53,307 --> 00:32:56,226
Some local Luftwaffe police show up.
505
00:32:58,312 --> 00:33:01,690
[Murphy]
I was taken to a German Air Force airfield
506
00:33:01,773 --> 00:33:03,066
that was a collection point
507
00:33:03,150 --> 00:33:06,236
for all of the American flyers
who had been captured that day.
508
00:33:11,700 --> 00:33:13,577
[Wolff] I got interviewed by this guy,
509
00:33:13,660 --> 00:33:17,289
and, uh, he congratulated me...
[chuckles] ...on my promotion.
510
00:33:18,207 --> 00:33:22,377
I had just gotten first lieutenant
about three days before.
511
00:33:22,461 --> 00:33:24,963
That sort of took me by surprise.
512
00:33:25,047 --> 00:33:27,716
And he hands me a 3-by-5 card,
513
00:33:27,799 --> 00:33:33,013
and there's my name and birth date,
my parents' name, and my address.
514
00:33:34,765 --> 00:33:37,643
[Miller] The Germans had spies
in the United States
515
00:33:37,726 --> 00:33:40,145
send them their hometown newspaper.
516
00:33:40,229 --> 00:33:41,313
So, they relax you
517
00:33:41,396 --> 00:33:43,941
to get this sense that
you're having a conversation,
518
00:33:44,024 --> 00:33:46,109
and they know everything about you.
519
00:33:46,193 --> 00:33:48,237
[Hanks] This cagey interrogation technique
520
00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:51,907
was sometimes effective
in persuading unsuspecting airmen
521
00:33:51,990 --> 00:33:55,452
to give up information
they considered inconsequential,
522
00:33:55,536 --> 00:33:58,372
but which master interrogators prized.
523
00:33:59,289 --> 00:34:02,626
[Wolff]
The next morning, they put us in a boxcar.
524
00:34:02,709 --> 00:34:05,796
There were 30 or 40 of us in the boxcar.
525
00:34:07,089 --> 00:34:09,049
None of us knew what was gonna happen.
526
00:34:15,556 --> 00:34:17,558
[Wolff]
I can remember walking through the gate,
527
00:34:17,641 --> 00:34:19,935
and there were big, wooden stakes there,
528
00:34:20,018 --> 00:34:22,688
and there was barbed wire
all over the place,
529
00:34:22,771 --> 00:34:25,732
and there were guard towers
at all the corners.
530
00:34:25,815 --> 00:34:30,152
And there was about a 10- or 12-foot space
between the big fence,
531
00:34:30,237 --> 00:34:32,322
and then there was a smaller fence.
532
00:34:32,406 --> 00:34:35,324
We were told not to
go over the small fence, or we'd be shot.
533
00:34:36,577 --> 00:34:38,911
[Murphy] The American POWs who were there,
534
00:34:38,996 --> 00:34:41,456
many of whom, uh,
were members of the 100th Bomb Group
535
00:34:41,540 --> 00:34:44,501
who had been shot down
before I was shot down.
536
00:34:44,585 --> 00:34:46,378
The minute they saw us come in,
well, they--
537
00:34:46,460 --> 00:34:49,089
Some of them laughed and said,
"Well, we've been expecting you.
538
00:34:49,172 --> 00:34:50,174
You're finally here."
539
00:34:51,592 --> 00:34:56,096
{\an8}[Hanks] Cleven and Egan arrived at
Stalag Luft III within days of each other.
540
00:34:56,179 --> 00:34:59,683
Cleven was immediately wisecracking
with the injured Egan,
541
00:34:59,766 --> 00:35:02,269
and soon, the two were roommates again
542
00:35:02,352 --> 00:35:05,564
and quickly assumed leadership roles
inside the camp.
543
00:35:05,647 --> 00:35:08,275
[Wolff]
We lived together, cooked together,
544
00:35:08,358 --> 00:35:11,236
washed our clothes together,
showered together.
545
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,781
Showers were once a week,
maybe... [chuckles] ...if you were lucky.
546
00:35:15,782 --> 00:35:18,243
[Paridon]
Life inside the Stalag Luft camps
547
00:35:18,327 --> 00:35:19,953
was very, very regimented.
548
00:35:20,037 --> 00:35:23,248
Everything was done in a military way
to keep their minds busy,
549
00:35:23,332 --> 00:35:26,335
to keep discipline,
and basically to keep everybody alive.
550
00:35:31,882 --> 00:35:34,092
[Hanks] At a secret meeting
at the Tehran Conference
551
00:35:34,176 --> 00:35:36,094
in late November 1943,
552
00:35:36,178 --> 00:35:41,767
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin agreed to
a second front against Nazi Germany
553
00:35:41,850 --> 00:35:45,521
to be planned and executed principally by
the Americans and the British.
554
00:35:47,022 --> 00:35:49,483
There was to be
a massive amphibious assault,
555
00:35:49,566 --> 00:35:50,984
the greatest in history,
556
00:35:51,068 --> 00:35:55,656
across five beaches in Normandy, France,
code-named "Overlord."
557
00:35:55,739 --> 00:36:00,911
It was scheduled for May 1944,
just six months away.
558
00:36:01,787 --> 00:36:04,331
[Miller] General Eisenhower
has been brought to London.
559
00:36:05,666 --> 00:36:09,837
He said that we can't launch the fleet
until you knock out the Luftwaffe.
560
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,381
That is our mission now.
561
00:36:12,464 --> 00:36:17,803
[Jeffrey] We were aware
that no land invasion can occur
562
00:36:17,886 --> 00:36:20,722
unless air superiority has been achieved.
563
00:36:22,266 --> 00:36:25,102
[Hansen] The ultimate goal
was to shoot down so many fighters
564
00:36:25,185 --> 00:36:27,646
that the Germans could no longer
put up a fighter defense.
565
00:36:30,858 --> 00:36:36,738
{\an8}[Doolittle] We had been having
very high losses due to fighter action.
566
00:36:37,406 --> 00:36:42,661
{\an8}And so, a rush program at home
began to get us more and more fighters.
567
00:36:43,370 --> 00:36:46,331
[Paridon] Late 1943,
a fighter aircraft arrived in England,
568
00:36:46,415 --> 00:36:49,334
and it was the fighter plane that
the Eighth Air Force had been waiting for.
569
00:36:49,418 --> 00:36:51,170
It was the P-51 Mustang.
570
00:36:52,171 --> 00:36:54,423
{\an8}[reporter 14] The Mustang. The P-51.
571
00:36:54,506 --> 00:36:56,884
The longest-range fighter in the world.
572
00:36:56,967 --> 00:37:01,305
Speed, fast climb, quick dive, tight turn.
573
00:37:01,847 --> 00:37:03,891
[Rosenthal] When P-51s came over,
574
00:37:03,974 --> 00:37:08,645
they had the range to accompany us
to the target and back.
575
00:37:08,729 --> 00:37:11,857
And they also fixed up the 47s
576
00:37:11,940 --> 00:37:15,485
and put wing tanks on them
so that they could accompany us.
577
00:37:17,613 --> 00:37:21,491
[Crosby] When we went to Emden,
and I saw all those gorgeous P-51s,
578
00:37:21,575 --> 00:37:23,869
I thought, maybe for the first time,
"I'm gonna get through."
579
00:37:25,746 --> 00:37:26,872
[Miller] The primary mission
580
00:37:26,955 --> 00:37:28,790
is not to protect the bombers
and get 'em home safely.
581
00:37:28,874 --> 00:37:33,086
It'll be to go after the Luftwaffe
in the air and on the ground.
582
00:37:34,129 --> 00:37:36,465
[gunfire]
583
00:37:37,508 --> 00:37:40,135
[reporter 15] Sunday morning 20 February,
584
00:37:40,677 --> 00:37:42,930
we prepared for the heaviest assault
585
00:37:43,013 --> 00:37:46,808
in the history of the American
Strategic Air Forces up to that time.
586
00:37:47,976 --> 00:37:50,729
This was the prelude to invasion.
587
00:37:52,022 --> 00:37:57,027
[Miller] They planned a succession of
continuous raids one day after the other.
588
00:37:57,110 --> 00:37:58,987
This is gonna decide the whole war.
589
00:38:05,744 --> 00:38:07,788
[reporter 16]
Day after day, month after month,
590
00:38:08,288 --> 00:38:13,460
Mustang, Thunderbolt against
the Me 109s and the Fw 190s.
591
00:38:13,544 --> 00:38:16,630
Our fighters attack, attack, attack.
592
00:38:17,339 --> 00:38:20,592
Our victory column soared
at the rate of 4-to-1.
593
00:38:21,885 --> 00:38:25,222
[Crane] The casualty rate for
German pilots on the western front
594
00:38:25,305 --> 00:38:29,726
between January and May 1944 was 99%.
595
00:38:29,810 --> 00:38:31,812
I mean, they just get butchered.
596
00:38:33,981 --> 00:38:36,650
[Spielberg] It wasn't until
the Mustang really got involved in the war
597
00:38:36,733 --> 00:38:39,903
that America and England
gained air superiority over Germany.
598
00:38:41,238 --> 00:38:42,865
[Biddle] If you want to go
to the heart of the enemy
599
00:38:42,948 --> 00:38:47,202
{\an8}and be sure the Luftwaffe will be
pulled into the sky, you go to Berlin.
600
00:38:48,245 --> 00:38:50,789
{\an8}[Crosby] When they had the briefing,
and they pulled the curtain back,
601
00:38:50,873 --> 00:38:53,458
{\an8}and the tape went all the way to Berlin,
602
00:38:54,168 --> 00:38:57,754
first it was just stunned silence
and then just a shout.
603
00:39:01,425 --> 00:39:03,427
[reporter 17]
You can't hear what's going on down there
604
00:39:03,510 --> 00:39:05,095
five miles below you,
605
00:39:05,637 --> 00:39:09,683
but marshaling yards
and chemical tanks, ships and warehouses,
606
00:39:09,766 --> 00:39:14,313
spare engines, and ball bearing factories
are disintegrating in molten chaos.
607
00:39:15,522 --> 00:39:20,110
[Hanks] This would be the American's
first foray into bombing Berlin.
608
00:39:20,194 --> 00:39:23,197
It would be the toughest target
the Eighth ever attacked,
609
00:39:23,780 --> 00:39:25,115
but it had to be done.
610
00:39:27,242 --> 00:39:29,453
[Bankston]
I can say that if I had been in Germany
611
00:39:29,536 --> 00:39:35,083
and witnessed, everyday, hordes of bombers
coming over and dropping bombs,
612
00:39:35,167 --> 00:39:37,753
it would have had
a very adverse effect on my morale.
613
00:39:37,836 --> 00:39:41,798
It must have had an adverse effect morale
on the civilians and military alike.
614
00:39:47,763 --> 00:39:50,974
[Murphy] One of the worst things
about being a prisoner of war
615
00:39:51,475 --> 00:39:54,728
is that you don't know how long
you're gonna be held captive.
616
00:39:54,811 --> 00:39:57,731
It's not as if you've been given
a fixed sentence.
617
00:39:57,814 --> 00:40:01,401
You're going to be there
until you either escape or it's all over.
618
00:40:02,194 --> 00:40:03,904
[Wolff] I did start a tunnel.
619
00:40:04,404 --> 00:40:07,449
They had an old toilet
that had a tile floor
620
00:40:07,533 --> 00:40:10,327
and I figured, well,
let's see if we can do something here.
621
00:40:10,410 --> 00:40:14,665
And my object was
to have these removable tiles
622
00:40:14,748 --> 00:40:16,166
and we could start digging.
623
00:40:16,250 --> 00:40:18,627
The guards caught that almost immediately.
624
00:40:20,170 --> 00:40:25,133
{\an8}[Murphy] Some 76 British prisoners
tunneled out of the compound
625
00:40:25,217 --> 00:40:28,846
immediately adjacent to us
through a tunnel that they dug.
626
00:40:28,929 --> 00:40:31,139
It was known as the Great Escape.
627
00:40:31,223 --> 00:40:37,312
All but two were recaptured,
and 50 were executed by the Germans.
628
00:40:38,397 --> 00:40:41,358
What little decent relations
we had with the Germans
629
00:40:41,441 --> 00:40:43,318
evaporated completely after that.
630
00:40:46,655 --> 00:40:49,950
[Jeffrey] One day I received
a telephone call and they said,
631
00:40:50,033 --> 00:40:52,202
"General LeMay would like
to speak to you."
632
00:40:52,286 --> 00:40:55,289
He said,
"Jeffrey, I need a group commander
633
00:40:55,372 --> 00:40:58,208
at the 95th Bomb Group
and the 100th Bomb Group.
634
00:40:58,292 --> 00:40:59,960
You can take your choice."
635
00:41:00,627 --> 00:41:03,172
The 95th could essentially do no wrong.
636
00:41:03,255 --> 00:41:05,174
They lost the minimum number of airplanes.
637
00:41:05,257 --> 00:41:09,469
Their bombing record was good,
and I figured that I could do more
638
00:41:09,553 --> 00:41:11,430
for the 100th than I could for the 95th.
639
00:41:11,513 --> 00:41:15,142
So, I called him back
and I told him with his-- his permission,
640
00:41:15,225 --> 00:41:17,269
uh, I would accept the 100th Bomb Group.
641
00:41:17,352 --> 00:41:19,396
And I asked him,
"When do you want me to report?"
642
00:41:19,479 --> 00:41:20,689
And he said, "This afternoon."
643
00:41:25,194 --> 00:41:30,324
My first action was to ask General LeMay
if he would take the 100th
644
00:41:30,407 --> 00:41:33,869
off of operations
for two days and he granted that.
645
00:41:33,952 --> 00:41:35,621
And so, over the next two days,
646
00:41:35,704 --> 00:41:37,706
four hours in the morning
and four hours in the afternoon,
647
00:41:37,789 --> 00:41:42,085
we flew every airplane
in the 100th Bomb Group in formation.
648
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:49,301
[Rosenthal] Tom Jeffrey, he was dynamic,
charismatic and knowledgeable,
649
00:41:49,384 --> 00:41:53,138
not only about the aircraft,
but about combat flying.
650
00:41:54,681 --> 00:41:56,725
[Jeffrey]
I had people in the lead airplane
651
00:41:56,808 --> 00:41:58,060
photographing the formation
652
00:41:58,143 --> 00:42:01,522
so that we could identify
who was flying good and who wasn't.
653
00:42:01,605 --> 00:42:05,359
And then I took an old airplane
and circled around the formation,
654
00:42:05,442 --> 00:42:08,403
back and forth,
and tried to herd 'em into position.
655
00:42:08,487 --> 00:42:10,989
{\an8}[Clark] The commanding officers
were just blue in the face
656
00:42:11,073 --> 00:42:13,992
{\an8}about us keeping our formations tight.
657
00:42:14,076 --> 00:42:16,787
You think you're tight
and they say tighten 'em up more.
658
00:42:17,788 --> 00:42:19,831
[Jeffrey] At the end of two days,
659
00:42:19,915 --> 00:42:23,961
the 100th was flying the best formation,
uh, that I have ever seen.
660
00:42:25,087 --> 00:42:30,300
[Rosenthal] It was not until Jeffrey came
did we become a superb group.
661
00:42:31,093 --> 00:42:33,679
I think the best group in the air force.
662
00:42:37,766 --> 00:42:42,271
[Paridon] An Eighth Air Force bomber crew
had a tour of duty of 25 missions.
663
00:42:42,354 --> 00:42:44,314
Once you completed your 25 missions,
664
00:42:44,398 --> 00:42:46,441
you were rotated back home
to the United States.
665
00:42:47,693 --> 00:42:52,322
[Luckadoo] Upon completion,
I was told that I could either remain
666
00:42:52,406 --> 00:42:58,120
and accept command of a squadron
or rotate back to the States.
667
00:42:58,203 --> 00:43:04,376
I concluded that
I had been extremely fortunate
668
00:43:04,459 --> 00:43:09,756
and lucky to have survived
and that I shouldn't push it any further.
669
00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:13,051
So, uh, I elected to return.
670
00:43:14,845 --> 00:43:17,222
[Paridon]
Rosie Rosenthal completes his 25 missions
671
00:43:17,306 --> 00:43:21,143
on March 8th, 1944, on a raid over Berlin.
672
00:43:21,852 --> 00:43:25,606
[Rosenthal] The crew urged me
to buzz the field when we returned.
673
00:43:25,689 --> 00:43:29,109
I was a very conservative pilot
and I said, "I don't think so."
674
00:43:29,860 --> 00:43:33,363
But on the way back,
I said, "What the heck."
675
00:43:33,447 --> 00:43:38,035
And headed right for the tower
and everybody hit the deck there
676
00:43:38,619 --> 00:43:42,414
and I buzzed the field
three or four times and then came in.
677
00:43:42,497 --> 00:43:44,416
And then somebody approached me and said,
678
00:43:44,499 --> 00:43:48,504
"Rosie, did you know
that General Huglin was there?
679
00:43:49,004 --> 00:43:52,424
And he hit the deck and he--
his clothes are all messed up."
680
00:43:52,508 --> 00:43:56,220
And there coming into the debriefing room
was General Huglin.
681
00:43:56,303 --> 00:43:58,597
He came over and grabbed my hand
682
00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:01,391
and he said,
"One hell of a buzz job, Rosie."
683
00:44:02,476 --> 00:44:05,437
[Miller] Everyone knew
that D-Day was on the horizon
684
00:44:05,521 --> 00:44:10,192
and finishing off the Reich
was a big objective for Rosie.
685
00:44:10,692 --> 00:44:14,613
To leave here is to
leave the center of the universe.
686
00:44:14,696 --> 00:44:17,991
[Rosenthal] And that's when
I decided to continue flying,
687
00:44:18,075 --> 00:44:22,621
and ultimately,
I was assigned to be a squadron commander.
688
00:44:23,539 --> 00:44:27,709
[reporter 18] On this day,
650 American flying fortresses
689
00:44:27,793 --> 00:44:31,463
inflicted severe damage
on German defenses along the coast.
690
00:44:35,843 --> 00:44:39,137
[Jeffrey] I had flown over to France
to drop some bombs on some target.
691
00:44:39,221 --> 00:44:42,516
And when I returned,
I was met at the airplane
692
00:44:42,599 --> 00:44:48,272
and told that I was t-- to report to
General LeMay's headquarters that evening.
693
00:44:49,523 --> 00:44:54,945
{\an8}General LeMay marched in
and announced to us that the Allied Forces
694
00:44:55,028 --> 00:44:58,740
{\an8}would land on the beaches of Normandy
the next morning.
695
00:44:58,824 --> 00:45:03,120
{\an8}But he said in order for you
to thoroughly understand
696
00:45:03,203 --> 00:45:06,415
{\an8}the, uh, importance of this occasion,
697
00:45:06,498 --> 00:45:11,420
that the Eighth Air Force will expend
every airplane that it has
698
00:45:11,503 --> 00:45:14,882
in its inventory to be sure
that these people got ashore.
699
00:45:16,133 --> 00:45:18,343
{\an8}[Rosenthal]
I remember coming to the briefing
700
00:45:18,427 --> 00:45:22,723
and when they moved the curtain
from the map and there were cheers.
701
00:45:22,806 --> 00:45:25,726
I had never heard
this kind of thing from the crews.
702
00:45:25,809 --> 00:45:27,644
Finally, D-Day had arrived.
703
00:45:31,732 --> 00:45:34,276
[Eisenhower] Soldiers, sailors and airmen
704
00:45:34,359 --> 00:45:36,361
of the Allied Expeditionary Force,
705
00:45:37,905 --> 00:45:40,991
{\an8}you are about to embark upon
the Great Crusade
706
00:45:41,074 --> 00:45:43,660
{\an8}toward which we have
striven these many months.
707
00:45:44,578 --> 00:45:46,538
The eyes of the world are upon you.
708
00:45:47,998 --> 00:45:50,125
Your task will not be an easy one.
709
00:45:51,001 --> 00:45:54,588
Your enemy is well trained,
well equipped and battle-hardened.
710
00:45:55,088 --> 00:45:56,757
He will fight savagely.
711
00:45:57,633 --> 00:46:02,721
I have full confidence in your courage,
devotion to duty and skill in battle.
712
00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:06,975
We will accept
nothing less than full victory.
713
00:46:10,437 --> 00:46:12,022
[Rosenthal] As we flew over the channel,
714
00:46:12,105 --> 00:46:16,860
we looked down and saw thousands of ships
in an armada down there.
715
00:46:18,570 --> 00:46:25,452
It was so thrilling one of the crew
started to pray, and we all joined in.
716
00:46:27,204 --> 00:46:28,872
[radio beeping]
717
00:46:30,541 --> 00:46:34,336
[St. John] This is Robert St. John
in the NBC newsroom in New York.
718
00:46:34,419 --> 00:46:37,339
This is a momentous hour in world history.
719
00:46:37,923 --> 00:46:42,177
The men of General Dwight Eisenhower
are leaving their landing barges,
720
00:46:42,261 --> 00:46:45,889
fighting their way up the beaches
into the fortress of Nazi Europe.
721
00:46:46,723 --> 00:46:48,517
They are moving in from the sea
722
00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:52,271
to attack the enemy
under a mammoth cloud of fighter planes.
723
00:46:53,522 --> 00:46:56,149
[reporter 18]
The fury from the air went on and on.
724
00:46:56,233 --> 00:47:01,113
Our airmen in tactical support of
the ground forces took no rest that day.
725
00:47:01,196 --> 00:47:05,534
Back from one sortie, they gassed up,
loaded their bombs and ammunition belts
726
00:47:05,617 --> 00:47:08,829
and grimly went out again and again.
727
00:47:12,207 --> 00:47:16,587
[Biddle] There was hardly any
air intervention by the Luftwaffe
728
00:47:16,670 --> 00:47:17,880
when we invaded Normandy.
729
00:47:19,089 --> 00:47:21,466
[Spielberg]
The Air Force really paved the way
730
00:47:21,550 --> 00:47:24,761
for the invasion
across the English Channel.
731
00:47:28,473 --> 00:47:31,018
[Hanks]
Germany now had to fight on two fronts,
732
00:47:31,101 --> 00:47:35,314
{\an8}against the Anglo-American allies
in the west and the Russians in the east.
733
00:47:35,397 --> 00:47:39,318
In August 1944,
the Red Army discovered Majdanek,
734
00:47:39,401 --> 00:47:44,531
an abandoned Nazi concentration and
extermination camp near Lublin, Poland,
735
00:47:44,615 --> 00:47:50,204
indisputable evidence of Hitler's program
to exterminate the Jews of Europe.
736
00:47:56,084 --> 00:47:58,837
[reporter 19]
Our invasion forces are on the offensive
737
00:47:58,921 --> 00:48:03,884
against Nazi troops who have been
ordered to die rather than retreat.
738
00:48:03,967 --> 00:48:08,096
However, die or retreat they must,
for this attack is being made
739
00:48:08,180 --> 00:48:12,684
with all the strength
the Allied Command can throw into battle.
740
00:48:12,768 --> 00:48:15,270
{\an8}[Couch] The army camp had
these clandestine radios
741
00:48:15,354 --> 00:48:19,358
{\an8}and we knew just about
everything the BBC knew.
742
00:48:19,441 --> 00:48:23,362
[Wolff]
When the invasion started in June of '44,
743
00:48:23,445 --> 00:48:25,697
we knew that we weren't
gonna be there forever.
744
00:48:26,990 --> 00:48:30,577
[Hanks] Downed airmen
were still streaming into Stalag Luft III.
745
00:48:30,661 --> 00:48:32,412
Among them, a number of Black pilots
746
00:48:32,496 --> 00:48:36,875
{\an8}including Second Lieutenants,
Alexander Jefferson and Richard Macon,
747
00:48:36,959 --> 00:48:41,672
{\an8}who were with the renowned
332nd fighter group, the Red Tails.
748
00:48:41,755 --> 00:48:45,008
[Delmont] The Tuskegee pilots painted
a deep red on the tails of their planes.
749
00:48:45,092 --> 00:48:48,178
{\an8}Even when people didn't know that these
were Black pilots flying the planes
750
00:48:48,262 --> 00:48:50,556
{\an8}they recognized that they were Red Tails.
751
00:48:51,056 --> 00:48:54,768
[Macon] We didn't have any concern
about running into the enemy
752
00:48:54,852 --> 00:48:57,813
because we knew that
we were better flyers than they were,
753
00:48:57,896 --> 00:49:00,440
{\an8}and I would "Ready, aim, fire."
754
00:49:02,276 --> 00:49:04,653
[Spielberg] These courageous
Black flyers had been waiting
755
00:49:04,736 --> 00:49:09,575
to contribute to the war effort, and
they distinguished themselves brilliantly.
756
00:49:11,785 --> 00:49:15,622
[Moye] Within the Air Force,
and especially among the bomber crews
757
00:49:15,706 --> 00:49:20,294
that are making those long dangerous runs,
say that they appreciated the Red Tails
758
00:49:20,377 --> 00:49:23,922
{\an8}more than any of the other squadrons
that they flew with in the war.
759
00:49:24,715 --> 00:49:27,134
[Hanks] Macon and Jefferson
had been racially segregated
760
00:49:27,217 --> 00:49:29,803
on Air Force bases in America and Italy,
761
00:49:29,887 --> 00:49:31,388
and were shocked to discover
762
00:49:31,471 --> 00:49:34,850
that the barracks
at Stalag Luft III were integrated.
763
00:49:34,933 --> 00:49:36,602
[Jefferson]
There were approximately 150 men
764
00:49:36,685 --> 00:49:40,022
who had come in to this camp,
and we were lined up.
765
00:49:40,105 --> 00:49:45,444
{\an8}Finally, down the line
came a long, tall Kentucky hillbilly
766
00:49:46,195 --> 00:49:50,991
{\an8}and he walked back and says,
"By cracky, I think I'll take this boy."
767
00:49:51,074 --> 00:49:54,328
Colonel walked across and said,
"Lieutenant, you go with him."
768
00:49:55,162 --> 00:49:56,163
"Yes, sir."
769
00:49:57,164 --> 00:49:58,999
[Macon] The Germans took me into the room
770
00:49:59,082 --> 00:50:03,086
and showed me where I was going to be,
on the third bed up.
771
00:50:03,629 --> 00:50:06,340
I didn't realize
how badly I had been injured.
772
00:50:06,423 --> 00:50:09,009
I was paralyzed from my waist down.
773
00:50:09,092 --> 00:50:11,595
So, once they saw that I couldn't move,
774
00:50:11,678 --> 00:50:14,431
the Germans tried to tell them
775
00:50:14,515 --> 00:50:17,559
who will give up his bottom bunk
for this man.
776
00:50:17,643 --> 00:50:19,019
Nobody moved.
777
00:50:19,102 --> 00:50:23,232
And finally, the guy from Texas said,
"He can have my bunk, I'll go up there."
778
00:50:23,857 --> 00:50:26,443
He and I became the best of friends.
779
00:50:27,361 --> 00:50:30,155
[Delmont] These men had to come together
to survive the prisoner camp.
780
00:50:30,239 --> 00:50:34,701
They let whatever racial attitudes,
racial animosities go or at least lessen
781
00:50:34,785 --> 00:50:37,371
because they had to work together
to keep up each other's spirits
782
00:50:37,454 --> 00:50:38,580
to survive that experience.
783
00:50:40,582 --> 00:50:44,753
[Hanks] One of the last Air Force
operations was to starve the Reich of fuel
784
00:50:44,837 --> 00:50:47,881
by bombing German synthetic oil plants.
785
00:50:47,965 --> 00:50:52,094
The Allies also would need to hit
transportation and storage facilities
786
00:50:52,177 --> 00:50:55,389
for the coal
that powered jet production plants.
787
00:50:55,472 --> 00:50:58,892
This air blockade
would cripple the Reich's war machine
788
00:50:58,976 --> 00:51:01,603
and leave the German army
without adequate air cover
789
00:51:01,687 --> 00:51:04,314
in the culminating battles of the war.
790
00:51:04,398 --> 00:51:07,109
{\an8}[Clark] We were in the officers' club
until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m.
791
00:51:07,860 --> 00:51:10,112
{\an8}Suddenly we heard the announcement:
792
00:51:10,195 --> 00:51:12,114
"Be prepared
for a mission in the morning."
793
00:51:15,033 --> 00:51:18,370
We put up 2,000 heavy bombers.
794
00:51:18,453 --> 00:51:22,374
All you could see was
four-engined bombers to the horizon.
795
00:51:24,918 --> 00:51:27,004
[Miller]
To knock out one plant in World War II,
796
00:51:27,087 --> 00:51:29,214
a place called Leuna near Merseburg,
797
00:51:29,298 --> 00:51:35,262
it took 6,000 bombers flying
about 40 missions to knock that plant out.
798
00:51:36,597 --> 00:51:40,392
[Rosenthal] Our group
led one of the biggest raids on Berlin.
799
00:51:40,475 --> 00:51:42,186
It was a very beautiful day.
800
00:51:42,269 --> 00:51:44,938
The sun was shining, not a cloud in sight.
801
00:51:45,606 --> 00:51:49,776
As we approached the target,
the plane was hit,
802
00:51:49,860 --> 00:51:52,863
but we continued and bombed the target,
803
00:51:52,946 --> 00:51:56,200
knowing that we couldn't
return to our base.
804
00:51:56,783 --> 00:52:00,537
There was smoke and fire in the plane,
and I knew I had to get out.
805
00:52:00,621 --> 00:52:03,123
And when I got out,
I thought I was in heaven.
806
00:52:04,374 --> 00:52:07,836
And suddenly,
I hit the ground and I looked up,
807
00:52:08,629 --> 00:52:11,673
and I saw three soldiers
coming at me with guns.
808
00:52:12,674 --> 00:52:16,803
One of the soldiers raised his gun
and was about to strike me,
809
00:52:16,887 --> 00:52:21,767
and I noticed that he had,
on his hat, the Red Army symbol.
810
00:52:22,434 --> 00:52:25,479
And I yelled, Amerikanski, Roosevelt,
811
00:52:25,562 --> 00:52:28,023
Stalin, Churchill, Pepsi-Cola,
812
00:52:28,106 --> 00:52:31,485
Coca-Cola, uh, Lucky Strike.
813
00:52:32,653 --> 00:52:36,448
[Hanks] The Berlin raid
was Rosie's 52nd and final mission.
814
00:52:36,532 --> 00:52:39,826
The most raids
flown by a pilot in the 100th.
815
00:52:39,910 --> 00:52:42,496
After recuperating in a Russian hospital,
816
00:52:42,579 --> 00:52:44,831
Rosie made his way back to Thorpe Abbotts,
817
00:52:44,915 --> 00:52:49,294
where he had flown his first mission
a year and a half earlier.
818
00:52:52,589 --> 00:52:55,843
[Couch]
The Russians were knocking on the door.
819
00:52:55,926 --> 00:52:57,970
We could hear artillery
820
00:52:58,053 --> 00:53:01,431
and other sounds of combat
in the distance.
821
00:53:02,057 --> 00:53:03,559
[Walton] Hitler debated back and forth:
822
00:53:03,642 --> 00:53:07,187
{\an8}should we march the prisoners
out of the camp or kill them?
823
00:53:07,271 --> 00:53:09,273
{\an8}That was a real possibility.
824
00:53:09,982 --> 00:53:11,233
[Murphy] And suddenly, one night,
825
00:53:11,316 --> 00:53:14,903
our American senior officer
was told by the Germans
826
00:53:14,987 --> 00:53:17,364
that we were going to be
evacuated immediately,
827
00:53:17,447 --> 00:53:21,994
and we would be leaving the camp
within an hour to march out on foot.
828
00:53:22,911 --> 00:53:25,664
They just said,
we're moving you for your safety.
829
00:53:26,248 --> 00:53:28,625
That was what they said,
but we all knew better.
830
00:53:30,502 --> 00:53:32,504
[Miller] The airmen had no idea
where they're going.
831
00:53:32,588 --> 00:53:35,465
They feared Hitler
was going to take American airmen
832
00:53:35,549 --> 00:53:37,676
and use them as human shields.
833
00:53:37,759 --> 00:53:41,054
And it's the worst European winter
in 100 years.
834
00:53:42,431 --> 00:53:44,016
[Murphy] It was bitterly cold.
835
00:53:44,099 --> 00:53:46,560
The snow was about knee-deep,
836
00:53:46,643 --> 00:53:50,981
and they walked us all that night
until late the next afternoon
837
00:53:51,064 --> 00:53:52,065
with just brief stops.
838
00:53:57,029 --> 00:53:59,239
{\an8}[Jefferson]
At Spremberg, they put us on a train.
839
00:53:59,323 --> 00:54:01,742
{\an8}We were locked inside of these boxcars.
840
00:54:01,825 --> 00:54:04,328
{\an8}They jammed in 60 to 70 men.
841
00:54:04,411 --> 00:54:06,079
Didn't have room enough to sit down.
842
00:54:06,163 --> 00:54:07,456
It was hell.
843
00:54:08,165 --> 00:54:10,667
{\an8}[Wolff] That one,
we were packed in tighter than heck.
844
00:54:10,751 --> 00:54:13,670
{\an8}Anybody falling down would get stomped on.
845
00:54:13,754 --> 00:54:14,922
[Walton] When the train pulled in,
846
00:54:15,005 --> 00:54:17,549
men were banging on the door
to get out of the cars.
847
00:54:17,633 --> 00:54:19,760
The guards finally opened the doors.
848
00:54:20,385 --> 00:54:22,554
It's as bad as-as you can imagine.
849
00:54:28,185 --> 00:54:31,146
[Wolff] It was a camp
that apparently had been designed
850
00:54:31,230 --> 00:54:34,525
to hold 8,000 or 10,000 people max.
851
00:54:34,608 --> 00:54:36,944
There was over 100,000 there.
852
00:54:37,027 --> 00:54:38,820
Camp Hell would be a good word for it.
853
00:54:40,739 --> 00:54:43,033
[Miller] There were no barracks,
people camped outside.
854
00:54:43,116 --> 00:54:44,493
The conditions were horrible.
855
00:54:44,576 --> 00:54:46,245
No one knew what was gonna happen to them.
856
00:54:49,748 --> 00:54:52,292
{\an8}[Macon] One day,
we were walking around in the camp.
857
00:54:52,376 --> 00:54:55,420
{\an8}Somebody says,
"There's a tank. There's a Sherman tank."
858
00:54:55,504 --> 00:54:57,172
And then we looked and, surely enough,
859
00:54:57,256 --> 00:54:59,633
there was a Sherman tank on the horizon.
860
00:55:00,634 --> 00:55:02,761
[Jefferson]
Patton's Third Army came through.
861
00:55:02,845 --> 00:55:07,599
I saw Patton on-- on a tank when he came
through the main gate of--of Stalag VII-A.
862
00:55:07,683 --> 00:55:08,684
We'd been liberated.
863
00:55:08,767 --> 00:55:10,185
[chuckles]
864
00:55:10,936 --> 00:55:15,941
The men went to the flagpole
and rung down the swastika
865
00:55:16,024 --> 00:55:21,154
while they opened up Old Glory
and raised it, and we came to attention.
866
00:55:21,238 --> 00:55:24,241
We weren't in uniforms.
Tattered clothes and all that stuff.
867
00:55:24,324 --> 00:55:28,954
And I guess that was the greatest salute
I ever gave. [chuckles]
868
00:55:29,830 --> 00:55:31,665
[Murphy] It was very emotional.
869
00:55:31,748 --> 00:55:33,750
We were finally going to be freed
870
00:55:33,834 --> 00:55:38,630
after all those months and years
of having been held as POWs.
871
00:55:38,714 --> 00:55:42,634
In many ways, it was hard to believe that
we were finally gonna be able to go home.
872
00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:45,929
[reporter 20] This is London Calling.
873
00:55:46,013 --> 00:55:47,973
Here is a news flash.
874
00:55:48,473 --> 00:55:53,270
The German radio has just announced
that Hitler is dead.
875
00:55:55,230 --> 00:56:00,110
[Hanks] On May 1st, 1945, the day
the world learned of Hitler's suicide,
876
00:56:00,194 --> 00:56:02,446
the 100th flew one final mission,
877
00:56:02,529 --> 00:56:05,490
part of what was called
Operation Chowhound.
878
00:56:05,574 --> 00:56:09,745
The crews would be dropping,
by parachute, food, not bombs.
879
00:56:09,828 --> 00:56:12,956
Relief for nearly five million
starving people in the Netherlands,
880
00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:15,709
still occupied by die-hard Nazis.
881
00:56:16,210 --> 00:56:19,588
As the bombers reached
the outskirts of Amsterdam,
882
00:56:19,671 --> 00:56:23,800
{\an8}they passed over fields
of brilliantly colored tulips.
883
00:56:23,884 --> 00:56:25,469
{\an8}In one of them, the heads of the flowers
884
00:56:25,552 --> 00:56:29,389
{\an8}had been clipped to say,
"Many thanks, Yanks."
885
00:56:31,892 --> 00:56:33,685
[cheering, whistling]
886
00:56:37,814 --> 00:56:39,650
{\an8}[Hanks] The war in Europe was over.
887
00:56:39,733 --> 00:56:43,028
The crews of the 100th
packed up their duffels,
888
00:56:43,111 --> 00:56:46,073
and the local folk
from the villages around Thorpe Abbotts,
889
00:56:46,156 --> 00:56:48,242
dressed in their Sunday finest,
890
00:56:48,325 --> 00:56:51,620
gathered to see them off
for their long journey home.
891
00:56:55,582 --> 00:56:57,751
[cheering]
892
00:57:00,087 --> 00:57:02,548
[Murphy] When I got to Atlanta,
I went to the public telephone
893
00:57:02,631 --> 00:57:05,676
and called my mother
and told 'em I was home.
894
00:57:06,218 --> 00:57:07,845
Course, she immediately broke down,
895
00:57:09,513 --> 00:57:11,181
and they-they ca-- they came out--
896
00:57:11,265 --> 00:57:15,769
They drove out to Fort McPherson,
and they picked me up and I got home.
897
00:57:16,645 --> 00:57:17,646
[sniffles]
898
00:57:18,438 --> 00:57:20,065
[Wolff] We got back to California.
899
00:57:20,148 --> 00:57:21,984
My dad and mother were there.
900
00:57:22,067 --> 00:57:25,696
There was a big reunion, of course,
and I was halfway to the moon.
901
00:57:26,822 --> 00:57:30,284
And then I saw my wife-to-be, Barbara.
902
00:57:30,367 --> 00:57:33,078
And three weeks later, we were married.
903
00:57:34,788 --> 00:57:37,958
[Hanks] The men of the Bloody Hundredth
were finally home,
904
00:57:38,834 --> 00:57:41,086
reunited with their families
905
00:57:41,753 --> 00:57:43,130
and their wives
906
00:57:44,006 --> 00:57:45,674
and their sweethearts.
907
00:57:46,175 --> 00:57:49,720
Some for the first time
since leaving for war.
908
00:57:50,762 --> 00:57:54,808
[Rosenthal] When I l-left the service,
I was exhausted.
909
00:57:54,892 --> 00:57:57,186
I'd been through these trying experiences,
910
00:57:57,269 --> 00:58:00,772
and I wanted to put that behind me
and I wanted to resume civilian life.
911
00:58:01,982 --> 00:58:05,652
I went back to work
at the same firm that I had been with,
912
00:58:05,736 --> 00:58:09,198
and I was not ready, really,
to go back to work.
913
00:58:09,281 --> 00:58:12,659
And finally,
after being there for six months,
914
00:58:12,743 --> 00:58:18,123
{\an8}I heard about an opportunity
to go to Nuremberg as a prosecutor.
915
00:58:20,584 --> 00:58:23,545
On the ship over there,
I met this beautiful woman
916
00:58:23,629 --> 00:58:27,549
who was also a lawyer
and was going over as a prosecutor.
917
00:58:27,633 --> 00:58:31,178
And within 10 days,
we were engaged to marry,
918
00:58:31,720 --> 00:58:33,722
and we were married over in Nuremberg.
919
00:58:35,557 --> 00:58:40,437
I saw these defendants there
who were powerless now,
920
00:58:40,521 --> 00:58:44,149
sitting abjectly
and being tried and being convicted.
921
00:58:44,691 --> 00:58:48,779
And when I saw that,
that, in fact, ended the war for me.
922
00:58:53,867 --> 00:58:57,454
[Hanks] World War II was the most
devastating event in human history.
923
00:58:58,664 --> 00:59:02,125
More costly in lives
than any war ever fought.
924
00:59:03,126 --> 00:59:08,131
In it, the Eighth Air Force
suffered the highest casualty rate
925
00:59:08,215 --> 00:59:11,176
of any of the American Armed Forces.
926
00:59:14,304 --> 00:59:16,765
[Luckadoo] Now that I've survived it
927
00:59:16,849 --> 00:59:22,354
and can look back on it
for all these intervening years,
928
00:59:23,313 --> 00:59:25,524
it was a life changer for me.
929
00:59:27,025 --> 00:59:28,318
[Crosby] If, in this time,
930
00:59:28,402 --> 00:59:32,489
there's a feeling of excitement
and romance and mythology, it's there.
931
00:59:32,573 --> 00:59:36,994
My friends that I made then
saved my life any number of times.
932
00:59:37,077 --> 00:59:40,080
They were the friends of all friends.
933
00:59:40,664 --> 00:59:43,584
[Rosenthal] The people we served with,
they were dedicated,
934
00:59:43,667 --> 00:59:46,587
they sacrificed, they had great courage.
935
00:59:47,129 --> 00:59:50,048
We shared heartbreak and hilarity.
936
00:59:50,132 --> 00:59:54,511
We saw our comrades go down
and being killed,
937
00:59:54,595 --> 00:59:57,848
being wounded, become prisoners of war.
938
00:59:57,931 --> 01:00:02,895
{\an8}And we developed a tremendous respect
for each other and we shared a victory.
939
01:00:03,395 --> 01:00:07,191
{\an8}And I think this was
the experience of all of our people.
940
01:00:07,274 --> 01:00:09,902
Miraculously, people came together.
941
01:00:12,696 --> 01:00:16,241
You have to give all the credit
to the men and the women
942
01:00:16,325 --> 01:00:21,246
that sacrificed their lives and basically
saved the world from fascism.
943
01:00:23,749 --> 01:00:28,378
[Murphy] The freedoms that we enjoy
did not come about by accident.
944
01:00:28,462 --> 01:00:32,049
They were bought and paid for
by my generation
945
01:00:32,132 --> 01:00:35,302
and the generations that preceded us.
946
01:00:35,385 --> 01:00:36,720
And for that reason,
947
01:00:36,803 --> 01:00:42,601
I think the World War II generation
deserves to be remembered.