电影:《The longest day》背后的故事

1962年1000万美元的制作预算使其不但可以动用 23,000 士兵为群演,40多个影星跑龙套,也使之成为the most expensive black and white movie ever made, with this record only being broken in 1994 by 《Schindler’s List》。它是一部伟大的电影,极为真实地描述了塑造世界近80年来格局的一件伟大事件。
诺曼底战役是世界上最大的一次海上登陆作战,1944年6月6日早6时30分,盟军在195,700海军人员协助下,当天156,000名登陆士兵,从英国跨越英吉利海峡,抢滩登陆诺曼底,攻下了犹他、奥马哈、金滩、朱诺和剑滩五处海滩;到七月初,盟军已上陆25个师,其中13个美国师,11个英国师,1个加拿大师,共100万人,56.7万吨物资,17.2万部车辆。至8月21日,盟军2,052,299名士兵登陆了法国北部。
6月6日至8月底间,美军伤亡人数达124,394人,其中20,668人阵亡。英国共损失64601人,其中10974人阵亡,加拿大损失18,444人,5,021人阵亡。盟军飞机共出动480,317架次以支援登陆行动,损失4,101架飞机及16,714名飞行员(美国空军8,536人,英国空军8,178人)。诺曼底如此大规模的登陆,不单是同莫斯科保卫战一样是二战的转折点,实际上也通过向世界展示美国主导的西方世界同法西斯决斗的决心从而塑造了直至今日的世界格局。如同我们之所以能获得联合国的常任理事国地位是靠抗日战争中牺牲了的400万将士用生命换来的一样,美国的霸主地位也是美国在二战中打出来的,二战中美军共有40万军人战死,67万士兵受伤。

为实施这一大规模的战役,盟军共集结了多达288万人的部队。陆军共36个师,其中23个步兵师,10个装甲师,3个空降师,约153万人。海军投入作战的军舰约5300艘,其中战舰1200艘,登陆舰艇4126艘,还有5000余艘运输船。空军作战飞机13700架,其中轰炸机5800架,战斗机4900架,运输机滑翔机3000架。
真不明白面对海峡对面集结着的200多万虎视眈眈的12个国家的军队,隆美尔怎能有心情回柏林去给她的露西过生日。On D-Day, the Germans had only 319 operational aircraft left to face the Allied armada of over 万余架飞,坦克部队又无调配权。他显然太自信自己的大西洋壁垒了,太低估了世界反法西斯力量了。
1. 登陆地点的欺骗
盟军总的欺骗行动叫坚忍行动。包括两个组成部分:北部坚忍行动(Fortitude North)通过伪造无线电讯息使德军误认为盟军将进攻挪威,南部坚忍行动(Fortitude South)则规模较大,旨在使德军误认登陆地点将为加莱海峡。盟军建立美国陆军第1集团军群这一虚假军事单位,驻地为肯特郡及萨塞克斯郡,总指挥为乔治·巴顿中将,虚设了5个空降师以及同样不存在的美国第14军团和英国第4军团。并建造一系列假坦克、假卡车及假登陆艇,置于海岸附近。除假无线电情报外,英国陆军第21集团军群的真无线电情报则导往肯特郡然后对外播报,进一步营造多数盟军军力均驻于此的假象。巴顿在英格兰驻留至7月6日,使德军误认为盟军在D day 后还将于加莱发动第二次登陆。
双重间谍起作用。胡安·普约尔·加西亚即为其中一员。普约尔为西班牙裔,厌恶纳粹,其代号为嘉宝(Garbo),在D day日前两年时间内发展出一伪情报网。在D day日前数月,普约尔向马德里上级发出数百条讯息,这些讯息均由英国情报部门筹备,旨在使德军误认为盟军将于7月登陆加莱。
齐柏林行动:让德军误以为盟军将在克里特岛、希腊西岸或罗马尼亚黑海海岸登陆的计划。此行动同时也掩护了龙骑兵行动。
2. 登陆时间的选择
各军兵种根据自己的需要提出不同要求,陆军要求在高潮上陆且无月光,以减少部队暴露在海滩上的时间;海军要求在低潮时上陆,以便尽量减少登陆艇遭到障碍物的破坏;空军要求有月光,便于空降部队识别地面目标,最后方案是在高潮与低潮间登陆,由于五个滩头的潮汐不尽相同,所以规定五个不同的登陆时刻,D日则安排在满月的日子6月6日,空降时间为凌晨一时。
Eisenhower had tentatively selected 5 June as the date for the assault. However, on 4 June, conditions were unsuitable for a landing: high winds and heavy seas made it impossible to launch landing craft, and low clouds would prevent aircraft from finding their targets.
On June 4, Royal Air Force meteorological team predicted that the weather would improve enough for the invasion to proceed on 6 June. The next available dates with the required tidal conditions (but without the desirable full moon) would be two weeks later, from 18 to 20 June. Postponement of the invasion would have required recalling men and ships already in position to cross the English Channel and would have increased the chance that the invasion plans would be detected.
盟军的气象团队精准地找到了适合登陆的时间,而德军的气象情报却认为6月份是持续的坏天气,不利登陆,故此隆美尔才赶回柏林跟妻子过生日。
3. 抢滩登陆

U.S. zones
Commander:General Omar Bradley
It totalled approximately 73,000 men, including 15,600 from the airborne divisions.
第1步兵师及第29步兵师在奥马哈海滩登陆。
第2及第5游骑兵负责进攻奥克角,摧毁射程远达犹他、奥马哈滩头的重炮阵地。
第4步兵师及第90步兵师在犹他海滩登陆。
第82空降师负责攻击小镇圣-梅尔-艾格里斯,切断德军从瑟堡出发的增援。Major General Matthew Ridgway
第101空降师在犹他海滩后方空降,支援登陆部队。
British and Canadian zones
指挥官是伯纳德·劳·蒙哥马利上将。Overall, the Second Army contingent consisted of 83,115 men, 61,715 of them British
第3步兵师及第27装甲旅进攻宝剑海滩。
第50步兵师第8装甲旅登陆黄金海滩。
加拿大第3步兵师及加拿大第2装甲旅登陆朱诺海滩。
第6空降师空投到登陆地区的左翼地区,夺取附近的桥梁,以防止德军的装甲部队前往海岸支援。
- 奥马哈海滩
奥马哈海滩是诺曼底登陆战役中战斗最为激烈的海滩。盟军在奥马哈滩头遭受了巨大的损失,仅阵亡者就达2,500人。第1步兵师及第29步兵师在奥马哈海滩登陆。
奥马哈海滩全长6.4千米,海岸多为30几米高的峭壁,地形易守难攻。盟军由于情报有误,认为这里的德军守备部队只有一个团的兵力,还多是后备役人员,没有装甲车辆,战力贫弱。而实际上隆美尔在3月将德军精锐的第9军团352步兵师全部调往诺曼底,而352师的一个主力团就驻守在奥马哈滩头,可惜直到登陆部队出发后盟军情报机关才找到352师的下落。
登陆当天天气状况极端恶劣,盟军在登陆前就因风浪过大损失了10艘登陆艇和300余名官兵。在登陆艇上的官兵多为晕船和湿冷所苦,还没到达作战地点就基本精疲力尽了。登陆作战开始后也非常不顺,海滩西段预备的32辆两栖坦克中有27辆刚一下海就因风浪过大而沉没,幸存的5辆坦克中还有两辆很快被德军炮火炸毁。由于潮汐影响和秩序混乱,登陆的美军士兵很多都搞不清方向和集合点,大批士兵挤在滩头任凭德军炮火攻击。整整两个小时的时间里美军士兵无一能在西段冲上海滩,在东段也仅仅占领了9米宽的一段海滩,登陆行动几乎完全失败。

然而美国海军为奥马哈海滩带来了转机。由于海滩登陆部队长时间没有任何联络讯息传来,海军指挥官意识到奥马哈海滩上的形势可能已极为严峻,于是17艘驱逐舰不顾触雷、搁浅和被155毫米海岸炮击沉的危险前进至距海滩仅730米处,在近距离为登陆美军提供火力支援。而美军的游骑兵此时也爬上了奥克角,结果发现所谓155毫米海岸炮是以电线杆伪装的。已无后顾之忧的海军肆无忌惮地向德军据点倾泻炮弹,先前被堵在海滩上的美军也在精锐部队第1师的带领下开始冲锋。中午时分,登陆部队第2梯队提前登陆。而在空军的指引下,美国海军的战斗舰和巡洋舰也开始对岸射击,德军的防御至此基本崩溃。天黑时美军正式登陆成功。
- 犹他海滩
第4步兵师及第90步兵师在犹他海滩登陆。由于得到了非常有效的火力支援,水陆坦克也在上岸时也没有受到大量损失,所以登陆作战异常顺利。值得一提是由于受东南方潮汐的影响,美军登陆艇向南偏离了1,800米,没有在预定地点上岸。这个错误反而给美军带来了意想不到的好运。在原登陆点德军驻守有一个团的守备部队和两个炮兵连,而在这个“错误”的登陆点德军只有一个连的兵力。第4师副师长小罗斯福将军立刻断定此地可以登陆并设立了登陆标识。美军06:30登陆开始,至10:00已基本压制德军守军。美军在犹他海滩阵亡197人,不到预计的10%,是所有5个海滩中损失最少的。
- 朱诺海滩
加拿大第1军第3步兵师负责攻占朱诺海滩。而海滩德军兵力为一个团。该团主要由俄罗斯人和波斯人组成,士气相当低落,战斗力也较差。不过加军的作战并非一帆风顺,恶劣的天气和错误的导航使登陆不得不推迟20分钟进行,也就是说必须在涨潮时登陆。比较怪异的是加军在登陆时损失并不大,可是登陆艇在卸下人员返航时却有很多因触雷被炸沉,某营的损失率甚至高达80%。由于正处涨潮,很多士兵下水后因装备过重而溺死、登陆后又遭德军火力压制。幸亏海军的火力支援相当及时到位才没有酿成奥马哈海滩的惨剧。在朱诺海滩损失最为惨重并非加军,而是负责打通和宝剑海滩联络的英军部队。英军乘坐的木壳登陆艇相当脆弱,很多士兵在登陆艇受损后不得不跳海逃生,以致溺死者甚多。盟军在朱诺海滩共损失2,000余人,比奥马哈海滩稍少。参与朱诺海滩登陆战的官兵共21,400名。
- 宝剑海滩
宝剑海滩紧邻奥恩河(Orne)口的兀斯特罕港(Ouistreham),是“霸王作战”5个抢滩地中,最东边的一个海滩,而法国北部的航运中心卡昂,便位于海滩南边9英里处。从宝剑滩东边登陆的英军部队在抢滩后,很快地便击溃德军轻装步兵的火力当天登陆的29,000名英军中,伤亡人数有630人。

- 黄金海滩
负责攻占黄金海滩的是英军第30军第50师、第2梯队是英军第7装甲师。这也是在5个海滩登陆的唯一一个装甲师。该师曾远征非洲打败了隆美尔,作战经验丰富。由于登陆时间较晚,英军的火力准备非常充足,德军的几个主要火力点在登陆前就被舰炮摧毁。英军的水陆坦克被登陆舰直接送上海滩。在舰炮和坦克的掩护下,步兵推进非常顺利。盟军在黄金海滩损失了约1,500名士兵。
4. 永远挂在教堂上的伞兵
为了控制西北方向的瑟堡港口,美82空降师在6日早上占领了圣-梅尔-艾格里斯,这个小镇也就成了战役开始后整个法国第一个恢复自由的城镇。但是首批降落在圣-梅尔-艾格里斯镇上的两飞机伞兵大多被德军射杀。
凌晨1点, the town square was well lit and filled with German soldiers and villagers,他们在合力熄灭盟军轰炸而引起的火灾。 这时 two planeloads of paratroopers from the 1st and 2nd battalions, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, were dropped in error directly over the village.
John Steele‘s’parachute caught in one of the pinnacles of the church tower,, and could only observe the fighting going on below. He hung there limply for two hours, pretending to be dead, before the Germans took him prisoner. Steele was one of the few not killed. He was wounded in the foot by a burst of flak. leaving him hanging on the side of the church. Steele hung there limply for two hours, pretending to be dead, before the Germans took him prisoner. He escaped four hours later from the Germans and rejoined his division when US troops of the 505th's 3rd Battalion attacked the village,
Steele later escaped from the Germans and rejoined his division when US troops of the 3rd Battalion, 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment attacked the village,



5. Pegasus Bridge,世界战争电影史的奇迹

盟军空降兵的两个攻击地点相距100公里,今后去诺曼底旅游的人应该可以一游。

Pegasus Bridge spans the Caen Canal and the adjacent River Orne. On 6 June 1944,Major Reginald John Howard led 181 men, taking six Horsa gliders to capture “Pegasus Bridge”and also "Horsa Bridge". The force was composed of D Company (reinforced with two platoons of B Company), 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry regiment; 20 sappers of the Royal Engineers of 249 Field Company (Airborne); and men of the Glider Pilot Regiment. The object of this action was to prevent German armour from crossing the bridges and attacking the eastern flank of the landings at Sword Beach.
It was a successful coup-de-main glider-borne assault that gained control of the bridges and then held them until relieved.
扮演Reginald John Howard少校的演员Richard Todd 18年后又在电影中攻占了这座桥,因为他18年前就是攻占此桥的士兵之一。他当时serving in the 7th Parachute Battalion, 是Howard's coup-de-main 2nd Battalion的后续增援部队。
In a strange twist of fate, in one scene of the battle for the bridge, a soldier runs up to Todd, playing Major Howard, and relays information about the battle to him. During the actual real battle, Todd actually did run up to Howard to relay information to him. Therefore, the film actually did show a soldier playing Todd running up to Todd playing Howard and relaying information the real Todd gave to the real Howard.
在战争电影史上应该没有由真实的战士做电影主角把战争过程如此在电影中再演一遍的!

Later the original name of the bridge: Bénouville Bridge was renamed Pegasus Bridge in honour of the operation. The name is derived from the shoulder emblem worn by British airborne forces of I Airborne Corps, which depicts Bellerophon riding the flying horse Pegasus. The bridge over the River Orne later became known as Horsa Bridge after the Horsa gliders that carried troops to the bridges.
6. 抢滩中表现杰出的两位准将副师长
奥马哈海滩是诺曼底登陆战役中战斗最为激烈的海滩。29th Infantry Division副师长Norman Cota在困境中没有放弃,他组织dbangalore torpedoes and wire cutters to punch through. They then destroyed a machine-gun nest, after which they made a breakthrough from Omaha Beach。在海军炮火支援下, 登陆成功。2个月后, Cota 升为28th Infantry Division师长。


如同电影中一样,第4步兵师副师长小西奥多·罗斯福准将(Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.)在犹他海滩登陆地点偏差的情况下,做出了正确的选择,就地登陆。

作为罗斯福总统的儿子,After two verbal requests to accompany the leading assault elements in the Normandy invasion had been denied, Brigadier General Roosevelt's written request for this mission was approved and he landed with the first wave of the forces assaulting the enemy-held beaches。
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. died of a heart attack in France just a few weeks after the Normandy invasion.
两次口头请求参加登陆被拒绝,想必不光是因为师长考虑他是总统的儿子,也是考虑到他的弟弟在一战已经为国捐躯了。Theodore Roosevelt's youngest brother Quentin Roosevelt, who was killed in an air mission in WWI, was moved to rest beside him at ABMC Normandy, the only WWI soldier buried in that WWII cemetery.
7. 登陆日切生日蛋糕的德军军长

6日凌晨1点盟军空降兵就开始了降落,早上6:30分队5个滩头的攻击就开始了,因此,他不可能有6日切蛋糕的机会,难道是提前一天庆生?
Erich Marcks果然足智多谋,电影中他在兵棋推演中代表盟军会在诺曼底登的一方陆获胜。史料中查不到这段佐证,但是他的确Unlike most general officers, believes in the possibility of landing in Normandy.

这位84军的军长,曾经最早编制过进攻苏联的巴巴罗萨计划,当时他是德国第18军的参谋长。在该计划中,他envisioned that the campaign, including the capture of Moscow and beyond, would require between 10 and 17 weeks to complete.

他也的确在6月6日过他53rd birthday。 He was wounded in an Allied air attack on 12 June 1944 and died the same day.同他在东线战场战死的两个儿子一样成为了第三帝国的炮灰。
He is buried in the Marigny War Cemetery, Block 2, Grave 1478. France. He shares a headstone with Gefreiter Gebhart Eberhard, his longtime batman, who was killed in an air raid on the very same day.
8. 《The longest day》是纪实性战争电影的丰碑
为了更像纪录片,此部电影采用了黑白胶片。而且在诸多以下细节上做到了极尽真实,是纪实性电影里程碑式的作品。
- There were discussions about having former-President Dwight D. Eisenhower play himself in the film, and he indicated his willingness to participate. However, it was decided that makeup artists couldn't make him appear young enough to play his World War II-era self, so the role went to Henry Grace, a set decorator who had been in the film industry since the mid-1930s. He had no acting experience, but Grace was a dead ringer for the younger Eisenhower (though his voice differed, so someone else dubbed his lines).
- As a 22-year-old private, Joseph Lowe landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day with the Second Ranger Battalion and scaled the cliffs at Point-Du-Hoc. He scaled those 100-foot cliffs all over again, for the cameras, 17 years later.
- There was also Donald Houston, who plays an RAF pilot – he actually was an RAF pilot during the war.
- On the German side, there was Hans Christian Blech, who played the part of Major Werner Pluskat. He fought with the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front, which was where he got the scars on his face.
- 演员Kenneth More 扮演的beachmaster Capt, Colin Maud carried the shillelagh Maud had used in the actual invasion。拿着这个棍子是爱尔兰人的传统,就像苏格兰人的bagpipe 一样。


- 电影中有记者使用信鸽传信的情节。路透社对登陆的报道的确是通过飞翔了5个小时的信鸽传递到英国的。The character who calls the homing pigeons on Juno beach "Traitors" when they appear to fly east towards Germany is Canadian journalist Charles Lynch, who landed with the Canadians and covered the landings for Reuters.
信鸽was released at 8:30 in the morning. Flying against a 50 miles an hour head wind, the pigeon landed in its loft on a south coast Coastal Command Station at 1:46 in the afternoon. The message was immediately telephoned to London for publication. It read: "We are just twenty miles or so off the beaches. First assault troops landed 0750. Signal says no interference from enemy gunfire on beach. Passage uneventful. Steaming steadily on. Formations Lightnings, Typhoons, Fortresses crossing since 0545. No enemy aircraft seen."
- 电影中的dummy paratrooper 以前德国人也用过. The Luftwaffe dropped dummies along with real troops all over Holland and parts of Belgium in the opening of the Battle for France. In the real operation, six Special Air Service soldiers jumped with the dummies and played recordings of loud battle noises to distract the Germans.
- The "Crickets" demonstrated by John Wayne, and those used during the actual invasion. were made by J. Hudson & Co., a whistle manufacturer of Birmingham, England. The company 有153年历史的家族企业, famous for its "The ACME" whistles,; it still produces an exact replica of the crickets using the original tooling. The order to produce 7000 clickers would have been Top Secret, so they wouldn’t have been allowed to keep a clicker even if we had wanted to. In 2019, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, they put out a search around the world from Europe to America to try and find an original clicker, 幸运的是,他们在Birmingham的一个军迷手中发现了一个当时的Cricket.

9. 电影最大的失误
电影中的一个主角,D day 时27岁的Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandevoort,是由 54岁的John Wayne 扮演的,这点是这部以极度尊重史实为特点的电影最大的败笔。
Benjamin Vandevoort中校带领着82空降师505th团2营 降落在Sainte-Mère-Église 附近,他的确如电影所述having broken his ankle on landing. 82师师长Ridgway described Vandervoort as "one of the bravest and toughest battle commanders I ever knew". At Goronne he was wounded by mortar fire, so was unable to take part in the 82nd Airborne Divisions' advance into Germany in 1945.

这些原创文章来自创新型的无佣金、无中介的二手房业主直售平台,微信公众号: 业主售房。近百篇原创文章包括五类:英文读后感、欧洲二战、摄影作品、中国近代史及房产投资。
典型文章如下:
-
业主售房 赞了这篇日记 2023-03-06 07:08:18