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THE MAKING OF A NATION - D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Story of the Greatest Military Invasion¹ in HistoryBy David Jarmul

Broadcast: Thursday, November 23, 2006

VOICE ONE:


Invasion at Normandy

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America.

(MUSIC)

On June fifth, nineteen forty-four, a huge Allied² force waited for the order to invade³ German-occupied France. The invasion had been planned for the day before. But a storm forced a delay.

At three-thirty in the morning, the Allied commander, General Dwight Eisenhower, was meeting with his assistants. The storm still blew outside the building.

General Eisenhower and his generals were discussing whether they should attack the next day.

VOICE TWO:

A weatherman entered the room. He reported that the weather soon would improve. All eyes turned to Eisenhower. The decision was his. His face was serious. And for a long time he was silent. Finally he spoke⁴. OK, he said, we will go.

And so the greatest military invasion in the history of the world, D-Day, took place on June sixth, nineteen forty-four.

VOICE ONE:

The German leader, Adolph Hitler, had known the invasion was coming. But he did not know where the Allied force would strike.

Most Germans expected the Allies⁵ would attack at Calais, in France. But they were wrong. Eisenhower planned to strike at the French coast of Normandy, across the English Channel.

The Second World War was then almost five years old. The Germans had won the early battles and gained control of most of Europe. But in nineteen forty-two and forty-three, the Allies slowly began to gain back land from the Germans in northern Africa, Italy, and Russia. And now, finally, the British, American, Canadian, and other Allied forces felt strong enough to attack across the English Channel.

VOICE TWO:


General Dwight Eisenhower speaks to troops before D-Day invasion

Eisenhower had one hundred fifty thousand men, twelve thousand airplanes and many supplies for the attack. But most important, he had surprise on his side. Even after the invasion began, General Erwin Rommel and other top German military experts could not believe that the Allies had really attacked at Normandy.

But attack they did. On the night of June fifth, airplanes dropped thousands of Allied parachute soldiers behind German lines. Then Allied planes began dropping bombs on German defenses. And in the morning, thousands of ships approached the beaches, carrying men and supplies.

VOICE ONE:


Hitting the beach in German-occupied France

The battle quickly became fierce and bloody⁶. The Germans had strong defenses. They were better protected than the Allied troops on the beaches. But the Allied soldiers had greater numbers. Slowly they moved forward on one part of the beach, then another.

VOICE TWO:

The Allies continued to build up their forces in France. They brought nearly ninety thousand vehicles and six-hundred-thousand men into France within one week. And they pushed ahead.

Hitler was furious⁷. He screamed at his generals for not blocking the invasion. And he ordered his troops from nearby areas to join the fight and stop the Allied force. But the Allies would not be stopped.

VOICE ONE:

In late August, the Allied forces captured⁸ Paris. The French people cheered wildly as General Charles de Gaulle and free French forces marched into the center of the city.

The Allies then moved east into Belgium. They captured the great Belgian port of Antwerp. This made it easier for them to send supplies and fuel to their troops.

Only when Allied troops tried to move into the Netherlands did the Germans succeed in stopping them. American parachute soldiers won battles at Eindhoven and Njmegen. But German forces defeated British Red Devil⁹ troops in a terrible fight at Arnhem.

Germany's brief victory stopped the Allied invasion for the moment. But in less than four months, General Eisenhower and the Allied forces had regained¹¹ almost all of France.

VOICE TWO:

At the same time, in nineteen forty-four, the Soviets¹³ were attacking Germany from the east. Earlier, Soviet¹² forces had succeeded in breaking German attacks at Stalingrad [Volgograd], Moscow, and Leningrad [St. Petersburg]. Soviet forces recaptured Russian cities and farms one by one. They entered Finland, Poland, and Romania. By the end of July, Soviet soldiers were just fifteen kilometers from the Polish capital, Warsaw.

VOICE ONE:

What happened next was one of the most terrible events of the war. Moscow radio called on the people of Poland to rise up against the German occupation forces. Nearly forty thousand men in the Polish underground army listened to the call. And they attacked the Germans. The citizens of Warsaw probably could have defeated the German occupation forces if the Soviet army had helped them.

But Soviet leader Josef Stalin betrayed¹⁴ the Poles. He knew that many members of the Polish underground forces opposed communism as much as they opposed the Germans. He feared they would block his efforts to establish a new Polish government that was friendly to Moscow.

For this reason, Stalin held his forces outside Warsaw. He waited while the Germans and Poles killed each other in great numbers. The Germans finally forced the citizens of Warsaw to surrender¹⁵.

The real winner of the battle, however, was the Soviet Union. Both the Germans and the Poles suffered terrible losses during the fighting. The Soviet Army had little trouble taking over the city with the help of Polish Communists. And after the war, the free Polish forces were too weak to oppose a Communist government loyal¹⁶ to Moscow.

VOICE TWO:

Adolf Hitler was in serious trouble. Allied forces were attacking from the west. Soviet troops were passing through Poland and moving in from the east. And at home, several German military officials tried to assassinate¹⁷ him. The German leader narrowly escaped death when a bomb exploded in a meeting room.

But Hitler refused to surrender. Instead, he planned a surprise attack in December nineteen forty-four. He ordered his forces to move quietly through the Ardennes Forest and attack the center of the Allied line. He hoped to break through the line, separate the Allied forces, and regain¹⁰ control of the war.

VOICE ONE:

The Germans attacked American troops tired from recent fighting in another battle. It was winter. The weather was so bad that Allied planes could not drop bombs on the German forces. The Germans quickly broke through the American line.

But the German success did not last long. Allied forces from nearby areas raced to the battle-front to help. And good weather allowed Allied planes to begin attacking the Germans.

The battle ended by the middle of the following month in a great defeat for Hitler and the Germans. The German army lost more than one hundred thousand men and great amounts of supplies.

VOICE TWO:

The end of the war in Europe was now in sight. By late February, nineteen forty-five, the Germans were forced to retreat¹⁸ across the Rhine River. American forces led by General Patton drove deep into the German heartland.

To the east, Soviet forces also were marching into Germany. It did not take long for the American and Soviet forces to meet in victory. The war in Europe was ended.

VOICE ONE:


General Alfred Jodl signs surrender terms for Germany



Adolf Hitler waited until Russian troops were destroying Berlin. Bombs and shells were falling everywhere. Hitler took his own life by shooting himself in the head.

One week later, the German army surrendered¹⁹ officially to Eisenhower and the allies.

VOICE TWO:

The defeat of Germany was cause for great celebration in


Britain, the United States, and other Allied nations. But two facts made the celebrations less joyful²⁰ than they might have been.

One was the discovery by Allied troops of the terrible German death camps. Only at the end of the war did most of the world learn that the Nazis²¹ had murdered millions of innocent²² Jews and other people.

The second fact was that the Pacific war had not ended. Japanese and American forces were still fighting bitterly. That war in the Pacific will be our story next week.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION, a program in Special English by the Voice of America. Your narrators have been Harry²³ Monroe and Jack²⁴ Weitzel. Our program was written by David Jarmul.

1 invasion   

n.入侵，侵略，侵犯

参考例句：

• They are ready against the possible invasion.他们防备可能的入侵。
• It is our duty to shield our country from invasion.保卫祖国不受侵犯是我们的责任。

2 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

3 invade   

v.侵略，侵犯；闯入，侵扰

参考例句：

• I don't want to invade your private life unnecessarily.我不想过多地干涉你的私生活。
• He ordered the army to invade at dawn.他命令军队在拂晓入侵。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 allies   

联盟国，同盟者； 同盟国，同盟者( ally的名词复数 )； 支持者； 盟军

参考例句：

• The allies would fear that they were pawns in a superpower condominium. 这个联盟担心他们会成为超级大国共管的牺牲品。
• A number of the United States' allies had urged him not to take a hasty decision. 美国的一些盟友已力劝他不要急于作决定。

6 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

7 furious   

adj.狂怒的，暴怒的，强烈的，激烈的

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• His wife was furious with him.他妻子对他大发雷霆。

8 captured   

俘获( capture的过去式和过去分词 )； 夺取； 夺得； 引起（注意、想像、兴趣）

参考例句：

• Allied troops captured over 300 enemy soldiers. 盟军俘虏了300多名敌方士兵。
• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。

9 devil   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• It is easier to raise the devil than to lay him.召鬼容易驱鬼难。
• Susie,you're a determined little devil.苏茜，你真是个坚决的小家伙。

10 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

11 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

12 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

13 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

14 betrayed   

对…不忠( betray的过去式和过去分词 )； 背叛； 出卖； 泄露

参考例句：

• The shakes of the speaker's hands betrayed his nervousness. 发言者双手颤抖，可见他很紧张。
• He betrayed all his friends on his own account. 他为自己的利益出卖了所有的朋友。

15 surrender   

v.投降，自首；屈服；交出，放弃

参考例句：

• He preferred to die rather than surrender to the enemy.他宁死也不愿向敌人投降。
• Liu Hulan would rather die than surrender before the enemy.刘胡兰在敌人面前宁死不屈。

16 loyal   

adj.忠诚的，忠心的

参考例句：

• He is a loyal friend.他是一位忠诚的朋友。
• I judge him to be loyal.我认为他很忠诚。

17 assassinate   

vt.暗杀，行刺，中伤

参考例句：

• The police exposed a criminal plot to assassinate the president.警方侦破了一个行刺总统的阴谋。
• A plot to assassinate the banker has been uncovered by the police.暗杀银行家的密谋被警方侦破了。

18 retreat   

n.休息寓所，撤退，隐居；v.撤退，向后倾

参考例句：

• You cannot retreat from your responsibility in this affair.你不能回避在这一事件中的责任。
• They knew when to attack and when to retreat.他们知道什么时候进攻和什么时候撤退。

19 surrendered   

n.电子放单；Telex releasedv.投降( surrender的过去式和过去分词 )；放弃，抛弃

参考例句：

• The bandit chief surrendered himself to despair and took his own life. 匪首在绝望中自杀了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She gradually surrendered her dream of becoming an actress. 她渐渐放弃了当演员的梦想。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

21 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 innocent   

adj.无罪的，清白的；无害的；天真的，单纯的

参考例句：

• I'm not quite so innocent as to believe that.我还不至于简单到相信那种事的地步。
• I was very young,and very innocent.我那时非常年轻，幼稚无知。

23 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

24 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。