The Germans Thought They Won—Nobody Expected What Happened Next

These stories can now be heard on Spotify 🎧 Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/show/5gnIPKc... Just after midnight on 7 August 1944, Hitler's last big armored counterattack in Normandy rolled into Mortain without a single shell of warning. He had written that the decision in the Battle of France depended on it: a drive of about 20 miles to the sea at Avranches to cut the American armies in two. Above the town, about 700 men of the 2nd Battalion, 120th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division were cut off on Hill 317 for six days. When a German officer came up under a white flag to demand their surrender, the answer he got became legend. This World War II documentary follows the six days on the hill by the clock, through the German commanders who believed the attack had won and the two artillery lieutenants whose radio stopped it, to the shells packed with bandages, the relief at noon on 12 August, and how Hitler's attack became the trap at Falaise. Also in this video: Maj. Thomas Howie and the cut-off battalion at St. Lô, Lt. Col. Robert Cole's charge at the Carentan causeway, and the closing of the Falaise Gap at Chambois. If your father or grandfather fought in Normandy in the summer of 1944, tell us his name, his division and where he served in the comments. Chapters: 0:00 The Hill Above Mortain 2:19 The Order 27:19 Nobody Expected What Happened Next 29:49 The Major of St. Lô 31:16 The Ridge 43:08 Will Do 59:38 The Charge at Carentan 1:01:14 The Causeway 1:11:24 The Farmhouse 1:29:42 The Gap at Chambois 1:40:34 The Shooting Gallery 1:45:36 Five Ways Out Thumbnail: Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-296-1651-18 / Schwoon (colourised), CC BY-SA 3.0 DE Sources: Martin Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit (U.S. Army in World War II, 1961), ch. XXIV: https://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-... Martin Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit (U.S. Army in World War II, 1961), ch. XXV: https://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-... National Guard Bureau, Heritage Series: Battle of Mortain: https://www.nationalguard.mil/Resourc... 30th Infantry Division scrapbook, Stars and Stripes reprints (February 1945): https://www.indianamilitary.org/30TH/... U.S. War Department Historical Division, St-Lô (American Forces in Action, 1946), ch. 6: https://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-... Martin Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit (U.S. Army in World War II, 1961), ch. VIII: https://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-... Charles Cawthon, July, 1944: St. Lô, American Heritage (1974): https://www.americanheritage.com/july... Mitchell Yockelson, Forgotten Fights: The 101st Airborne at Carentan, The National WWII Museum: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war... John C. McManus, Battle to Control Carentan During World War II, HistoryNet (2006): https://www.historynet.com/battle-to-... Martin Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit (U.S. Army in World War II, 1961), ch. XXVII: https://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-... C. P. Stacey, The Victory Campaign (Official History of the Canadian Army, 1960), ch. X: https://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/Canad... Tough 'Ombres! The Story of the 90th Infantry Division (G.I. Stories booklet, 1944): https://lonesentry.com/gi_stories_boo... This documentary uses archival film, photographs and the original terminology of the period for historical and educational purposes. It is not intended to glorify war or to offend any person, nation or group. #WW2 #Mortain FOOTAGE AND IMAGE SOURCES U.S. National Archives: https://www.archives.gov Internet Archive: https://archive.org Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org