RETRO FILES /HISTORIC D-DAY FILM UNCOVERED IN EISENHOWER LIBRARY

First men ashore

GUEST BLOG / By U.S. National Archives--Four reels, discovered by researchers at the Eisenhower Library in 2014, were found to contain the first-ever documentary of the D-Day landings. Intended as an initial report and produced in only days, the film was screened for military leadership and is mentioned in OSS reports as having been viewed by Winston Churchill, with copies 'flown to President Roosevelt and Mr. Stalin.'

Apparently forgotten in the climactic weeks and months that followed, the film was cataloged as separate, non-sequential reels rather than a single production. The film, lost and forgotten for decades, was digitized by the US National Archives. 

All photo captures from the documentary.  To view the film in its entirety click here.

Honored soldier on the beach far left is pictured at the moment he was struck by a Nazi bullet.

Advanced units of U.S. Army moved inland from Normandy D-Day beaches

The hellish pre-invasion bombardment had a lot to do with hundreds of Nazi troops surrendering without a fight.

The image above was not part of the Eisenhower war film archives discovered in 2014, but it serves to show how extensive was the pre-invasion air and naval bombardment of the Normandy coastline.