Ike: Countdown to D-Day is a 2004 American made-for-televisionhistoricalwardrama film originally aired on the American television channel A&E, directed by Robert Harmon and written by Lionel Chetwynd. Countdown to D-Day was filmed entirely in New Zealand with the roles of British characters played by New Zealanders; the American roles were played by Americans.
Plot
In December 1943, Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower meets with Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss the forthcoming land invasion of western Europe. Eisenhower threatens to resign his newly appointed command as Supreme Commander of SHAEF unless he is given control of all airborne operations, citing the need to dictate where and how strategic bombing operations are carried out. Churchill relents, much to the chagrin of Bernard "Monty" Montgomery, who desires Eisenhower's position as Supreme Commander.
On 28 April, a German e-boat column attacks soldiers conducting training exercises in Lyme Bay, resulting in over 900 casualties, and damaging or destroying landing craft. During an emergency meeting with theater commanders, Bradley reports that the success of the Ghost Army has deceived the Germans into believing the landings will occur at Pas-de-Calais, with Patton leading the ground invasion. Believing that the deception will not last, and under pressure to commit to a very narrow window of time for the invasion, Ike formally asks Churchill for his blessing to commence with the operation on 5 June. Churchill agrees.
In May, Ike relieves Henry Miller of his command, demoting him following disclosure of sensitive information concerning the invasion. Soon after, Ike leads a briefing before King George VI and Queen Elizabeth concerning the ground invasion, and the larger mission: Operation Overlord. In a meeting on 29 May, Ike sanctions the operation to commence on 5 June, meeting with Churchill to explain his intent to draft a contingency letter in the event of failure of the operation, to absolve Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt of any responsibility. During final preparations, Bradley and Smith report Rommel's repositioning of the 116th Panzer and 81st Divisions near Vierville. Ike is forced to de-escalate a heated debate between Traff and Bradley over the potential casualties airborne units will suffer, with Bradley asserting the need for the paratroopers to drop closer to the beach to ensure the success of the invasion. Despite high casualty estimates, Ike approves the operation to proceed as planned.
On 4 June, Ike meets with Charles de Gaulle, discussing the concerns of AMGOT, of which Ike privately opposes. de Gaulle rebuffs Ike's attempt at communicating over public radio after Eisenhower's address. Meanwhile, a heavy rainstorm moves in which raises logistical concerns in the deployment of the paratroopers the night before the invasion. With some reluctance, Ike approves a 24-hour delay of the ground invasion to Tuesday, 6 June. In a final operational meeting with the theater commanders, Ike greenlights Operation Neptune, and preparations begin to deploy the combined naval, ground and air forces for the operation to retake France. Ike privately confides in Smith that with the order given, it's up to the men on the ground to make it happen. In the evening before the jump, Ike visits the paratroopers providing a morale boost. The film ends with Ike writing his "in case of failure" letter, which he hands to Bradley to provide to the press, while Traff sends a memo stating casualties were far lower than expected. Ike takes a final walk through the operations room as the film cuts to black.
Churchill incorrectly refers to the Combined Bomber Offensive as "saturation bombing", an anachronistic term that can only be accurately applied to RAF Bomber Command. The period term was "area bombing".
The opening scene suggests that Great Britain and the United States had not seriously considered the possibility of a supreme allied commander prior to planning the D-Day invasion. In fact, appointing supreme commanders for the various theaters was seen as a given as it had proved beneficial in the last days of World War I with the appointment of Ferdinand Foch in 1918 over the Allied forces in Western Europe.
The scene at the end of the film showing the visit to the 101st airborne troops is presented to the viewer as being on June 6, 1944. This particular gathering took place on the eve of D-Day on June 5, 1944, prior to the take-off to France. The airborne phase of Overlord began late in the evening of June 5 and into the early hours of June 6. Thus by daylight on June 6 Allied airborne troops were already on the ground in France.
The film incorrectly talks about "DD" – "duplex drive" - landing craft. No landing craft had DD drive. The "DD's" actually were Sherman tanks modified with a waterproof underbody and displacement skirt, allowing the tank to float in calm water, and a propeller to propel the tank from LCT launching craft to shore. On Omaha, most of them sank in rough seas, meaning the troops on the beach had no armored support. The raid by German torpedo boats on a large practice landing did happen, but did not involve DD (duplex drive craft) and was extensively "hushed up".
Contrary to the film, LST's (landing ship tank) were not used on the initial hours of D-Day; they came in after the beaches were secured.
General Montgomery's "dagger like thrust" into Berlin was not presented to Eisenhower before D-Day, it was part of his plan for operations following the breakout of Normandy and was presented during the first week of September. In fact the landings were enlarged from three beaches to five by Montgomery.
In the film, Churchill said "no-one in Britain lives more than 150 miles from the sea". In fact, it is 65 miles.
They are watching Olivier's Henry V which was released in London on 22 November 1944.
Historical accuracy
In the opening scene which Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Eisenhower are discussing potential commanders for the top overall Normandy invasion command, Ike incorrectly refers to United States Army Air Forces General Carl Spaatz, nicknamed "Tooey", as 'Jimmy Spaatz'.
The movie accurately depicts the incident in which Henry J. F. Miller, a temporary major general and West Point classmate of Eisenhower, who was serving as chief of the USAFE's Materiel Command, blurted out the general time and place of Overlord while drunk at a restaurant. A lieutenant of the 101st Airborne overheard this and reported it up the chain of command. Miller was sent back to the United States at his permanent rank of lieutenant colonel.[1]
The film accurately depicts the message Eisenhower composed for dissemination in the event of an unsuccessful invasion. In it, Eisenhower praised the troops who attempted the landings and took sole blame for the failure.
The movie accurately references the role of the Canadian First Army (Juno Beach) instead of simply rolling it into a generic reference to the "British".
