News about a BBC documentary to be shown internationally tomorrow and on Sunday …
D-Day: Battles In The Shadows
I hope you’ll be able to watch this documentary, which contains specially filmed testimony from French resisters and civilians who were witnesses to various aspects of the post-D-Day journey north by the 2nd SS Panzer Division - notably the atrocities in Tulle and Oradour.
The Das Reich historian/writer Philip Vickers, Dr Peter Lieb of the Department of War Studies, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and SOE’s Bob Maloubier also appear in the film. The interviewees’ unique first-hand accounts give the documentary enormous impact, and its screenings across the world should make the march north by Das Reich - and its consequences - better known and to new audiences.
The BBC’s Robert Hall and his producer were only able to locate and film these men and women (and also get access to archive documents, photos and film) due to the generosity of all who voluntarily assisted him; and special thanks go to Annie Martin and Louise Butler of the Musées de la résistance in Limoges and Cahors respectively, plus David Harrison, Philip Vickers, Alain Latter and Mark Stillmanof STS31.
You'll see below that "D-Day: Battles In The Shadows” will be broadcast tomorrow and on Sunday - three times by the BBC News channel and three times by BBC World. This means it will also reach continental Europe and North America, and even Latin America and Africa, for a potential audience of many millions across scores of countries; and after this weekend it will be available in the UK via the BBC’s iPlayer, but I’m not yet sure for how long.
Martyn
D-Day: Battles In The Shadows
As the world remembers the largest seaborne landings ever seen, ceremonies have marked the loss of life on the D-Day beaches.
But little is said about another operation to prevent Das Reich, a powerful and brutal German division, reaching the landing zones. French resistance teams fought alongside British and American agents; two thousand people died, many of them civilians massacred by the Nazis. Yet they succeeded in their mission.
Robert Hall followed the road to Normandy to hear eye witness accounts from those who survived.
Robert Hall followed the road to Normandy to hear eye witness accounts from those who survived.
BBC News channel
BBC World channel (Africa, Latin America, North America only)
BBC World is available in France on CanalSat - Channel 58
