214: D-Day, Part I: From the First Quebec Conference to June 5, 1944

“Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade.” This is the story of the preparations for D-Day. In November, 1943 the “Big Three”–that is, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin–meet in person for the first time to discuss launching an Operation “Overlord,” a cross-channel invasion of Nazi-held France. With the leaders’ go-ahead, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower doubles down. As fighting continues in the Mediterranean theater, Ike works to gather sufficient men, supplies, and landing equipment, but it’s no easy feat. As 1943 turns into 1944, more than 1.4 million American troops arrive in Great Britain for training. The men face extreme weather conditions, equipment malfunction, and maybe even friendly fire during training? Yeah, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows on the southern coast of Merry England, especially as the weather forecast for the planned attack of France looks atrocious. Will Ike and his men be able to pull off what’s gearing up to be the largest amphibious invasion in history? ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com http://HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibliographies https://www.htdspodcast.com/bibliography and book recommendations https://www.htdspodcast.com/book-recommendationsjoin discussions in our Facebook community https://www.facebook.com/groups/257926761619618/come see a live show https://www.htdspodcast.com/live-showsget HTDS merch https://htds-team-shop.fourthwall.com/or become an HTDS premium https://htds.supercast.com/ member for bonus episodes and other perks. HTDS is part ofAudacy media network. https://www.audacy.com/ Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contacthttps://audacyinc.com/contactAudacyinc.com http://Audacyinc.com

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Hello friends, Professor Jackson here. Just a quick reminder about our new show, Government That Doesn't Suck. It explores how our American system functions and where it fails by blending historical storytelling with expert insights. Search for and follow Government That Doesn't Suck on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen, or visit htdspodcast.com. History That Doesn't Suck is supported by VistaPrint. This podcast is a small business passion project, and seeing our vision come to life offline is cool too, thanks to our expert partner, VistaPrint. On my recent book tour, we were able to order custom, high-quality banners for book readings. It also added a nice professional polish. It also made the events more memorable because readers and I could pose together in front of the banner for selfies to post online.

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• 1:36Speaker 00

  It's a little after 3:00 in the afternoon, November 28th, 1943, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his entourage are just getting settled in at the gorgeous Yellow Mansion, currently serving as the Soviet Embassy in Tehran, Iran. Now, FDR had planned to stay elsewhere, but after a vague warning from Soviet Foreign Commissar, Vjčislav Molotov, about Nazi agents, possibly even an assassination plot, plans changed. So, here the Americans are, unpacking all over again. But as they do, there's a knock at the door. A few figures step into the room: a young American officer, serving as escort, an interpreter,

• 2:21Speaker 00

  and finally, a short, stout, salt-and-peppered man with a fantastic walrus mustache, dressed in a khaki tunic adorned with the gold star of the hero of socialist labor. While the uniform speaks to his role as Marshal of the Soviet Union, this rank is the least of his titles. This is the General Secretary of the Communist Party, the Premier of the USSR. This is Joseph Stalin. Clad in a blue suit and smart tie, FDR grins from his wheelchair. This is their first meeting, and affable as ever, the American President says, "I am glad to see you. I have tried for a long time to bring this about."

• 3:05Speaker 00

  Stalin gives a hearty laugh, as the two men quickly jump to talking shop. Everything from the struggles on the Russian front, to Generalissimo, Chiang Kai-shek, and General Charles de Gaulle. Yeah, if anything beyond defeating the Axis can bond these strange bedfellows, in many ways, the living embodiments of liberal democracy and communism, it might be their shared distaste for the French general and his thin mustache. But we won't pin any hopes on a deep bond between these two. The real bromance will remain only between FDR and Winston Churchill. It's now 4:00.

• 3:47Speaker 00

  FDR, Stalin, and British PM Winston Churchill take their seats. This is the big three's first gathering ever. Entourage is in tow. Well, most of them. Thanks to a miscommunication, both US Chief of Staff George C. Marshall and Commanding General of the Army Air Forces, Henry H. Hap Arnold, are missing. They're out sightseeing. Ah, awkward. Nonetheless, FDR kicks off the meeting. Winking at his relative youth compared to his British and Soviet counterparts, he welcomes them to this auspicious conference at which they sit as a family with the one object of winning the war.

• 4:30Speaker 00

  Winston, too, notes their shared goal and the burden it carries.

• 4:35Speaker 01

  We represent here a concentration of great worldly power. In our hands, we have perhaps the responsibility for the shortening of this war. In our hands, we have too, the future of mankind. I pray that we may be worthy of this God-given opportunity.

• 4:58Speaker 00

  Franklin turns to Stalin. Perhaps our host would like to say a few words. I take pleasure in welcoming those present. I think that history will show that this opportunity has been of tremendous import. Now, let us get down to business. Down to business indeed, and paramount among this business is one particular invasion, the very same invasion that George Marshall has fought tooth and nail for at conferences over the past two years, and would adamantly do so now if he had known to be here. This is the cross-channel invasion of Normandy, known as Operation Overlord.

• 5:40Speaker 00

  Quebec named it the top priority just months ago. But the challenges keep stacking up. FDR comments, "The channel is such a disagreeable body of water. No matter how unpleasant that body of water might be, however, we still want to get across it."

• 5:59Speaker 01

  We were very glad it was an unpleasant body of water at one time.

• 6:03Speaker 00

  Ah, there's Winston's wry wit. As the room settles, FDR names the real problem. "We cannot do everything we would like to do in the Mediterranean and also from the United Kingdom, as there is a definite bottleneck in the materiel of war called landing craft." And once again, the question rises: what is the greater risk? Cautiously waiting too long to cross the channel and hit France? Or recklessly pushing ahead? The Americans have long feared the former, the Brits the latter. So now, Franklin wants to know, what does Stalin think?

• 6:43Speaker 00

  In the USSR, it is believed that the most suitable sector for a blow at Germany would be from someplace in France, northwestern France or southern France. This Soviet push, or nudge, rather, is exactly what this stalled-out, re-litigated-at-every-conference question needed. Deadly and logistical challenges be damned, the Allies will cross that unpleasant body of water.

• 7:31Speaker 00

  Welcome to History That Doesn't Suck. I'm your professor, Greg Jackson, and I'd like to tell you a story.

• 7:52Speaker 00

  That plenary session opens a four-day conference at Tehran that runs through December 1st, 1943. The takeaway? It's time to hit France, and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is pushing hard for it. In fact, on day two, Stalin insists that a commander be named and bluntly asks Winston Churchill, "Do the British really believe in Overlord? Or are they only saying so to reassure the Russians?" And we'll get to the British bulldog's answer shortly, because today, our story is the Allied preparations for the most ominous of D-days: June 6th, 1944, the invasion of Normandy, France, aka Operation Overlord.

• 8:35Speaker 00

  It's going to require the British and the Americans to trust each other more than they ever have, even as they misread and misconstrue each other more than they ever have. We'll start by surveying the preparations that predate Tehran. A reminder that, strong as Joseph Stalin's influence at Tehran was, his energy served as an additive to momentum. We'll then see the fight and politics over who will command Overlord. It wasn't obvious that it would be Dwight D. Eisenhower. In fact, everyone first expected a Brit. From there, we'll see just how heavy a command Overlord is for Ike: the scramble for troops

• 9:16Speaker 00

  and the landing craft to carry them, the stealthy on-site assessments of the beaches, the fake armies serving as decoys to say nothing of all the death, the hundreds of Americans who will die in a practice run gone wrong, the thousands of innocent French, whose deaths by Allied bombings will make Winston Churchill's stomach turn. Meanwhile, the Nazis are preparing too, under one of Germany's finest field marshals. Welcome back to the story, Erwin Rommel. And let's not forget an unwitting Japanese ambassador, Oshima Hiroshi, whose messages the Allies are quietly reading. So, can Ike and the Allies pull together all the cunning, coordination, training, production,

• 10:01Speaker 00

  sheer luck, and get the weather that this invasion needs? Do they dare launch this operation? Let's find out, and we begin by backing up several months to the real initial planning. Rewind.

• 10:20Speaker 00

  While many among the American brass have been eager to undertake a cross-English-channel attack since at least 1942, we might say that idea really starts to take shape in early 1943. That spring, Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Edgeworth Morgan—or Freddie, as his friends know him—was named Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander—or Cossack for short. Never mind that there is no such commander for this potential channel-crossing as of yet. All that feels certain, in fact, is that this commander will be British, just as Freddie is British—specifically, English. Well, following the Trident Conference in DC that May, which moves the operation forward

• 11:03Speaker 00

  and names it Overlord, Freddie’s report in July is largely pessimistic. He says Overlord will be fraught with hazards, and unless these are squarely faced and adequately overcome, the operation cannot succeed. Yikes. Nonetheless, Freddie offers a glimmer of hope, expecting that these will be overcome, provided the energies of all concern are bent to the problem. And that’s just what the Allied leaders aim for as they gather for their first Quebec Conference, code-named Quadrant that August—to bend themselves to the problem. Particularly, the Americans—who, after feeling like the British have taken them on

• 11:47Speaker 00

  a few too many Mediterranean side quests—are hell-bent on making Overlord happen. There’s brass-on-brass tension, but the conference concludes—as we learned in Episode 212—with Overlord being named “the primary US-British ground-and-air effort against the Axis in Europe,” and holding to the Trident-named date of May 1, 1944. Phew. An exhausted George C. Marshall is undoubtedly thrilled, even if many details remain to get worked out. In quasi-command as of September, Cossack Freddie Morgan carries on examining those details.

• 12:28Speaker 00

  Even for just three divisions, the still-bossless Chief of Staff sees Overlord will need more landing craft, particularly the Landing Craft Tank, or LCT. With no time to build them all, they’ll have to steal some from the Mediterranean. That autumn, the British Chiefs of Staff accept Freddie’s proposals for Overlord as their own point of view and ask the Americans to comment. Meanwhile, a UK-based memo cautions against treating Overlord as the “pivot” of Allied strategy. And on October 23rd, a worried Winston Churchill writes Franklin Roosevelt:

• 13:03Speaker 01

  “I am deeply concerned with the buildup and with the situation which may arise between the 30th and 60th days. My dear friend, this is much the greatest thing we have ever attempted.”

• 13:18Speaker 00

  Now, to be clear, Winston may deeply doubt the wisdom of invading France. Back in July, he admitted to Secretary of War Henry Stimson that he’d back out if it were his call. But the British bulldogged is committed. To quote Henry’s account of this same conversation, having made his pledge, he—Winston Churchill—would go through with it loyally. Still, the Americans wonder: Are the Brits trying to get out of this? One US Chiefs of Staff memo is quite blunt, saying that “it is apparent that the British, who have consistently resisted a cross-channel operation, now feel Overlord is no longer necessary.” The report further claims that the British preferred to let Mediterranean operations

• 14:03Speaker 00

  and “the crushing Russian offensive” finish Germany off rather than risk an “almost certain” bloodbath. Amid these American doubts about British doubts, the Big Three meet in Tehran. Stalin’s push helps, especially his insistence that a commander be named. He doesn’t care who—he just wants someone in charge. He knows that will help this get done. Ah. And how the ground has shifted on who will command. With more Yankee boots than British set to storm the beaches at this point, a British commander no longer makes sense. And American doubts about British commitment seal it.

• 14:44Speaker 00

  To quote Secretary of War Henry Stimson, writing to FDR on the matter back in August: “We cannot now rationally hope to be able to cross the Channel and come to grips with our German enemy under a British commander. His Prime Minister and his Chief of the Imperial Staff are, frankly, at variance with such a proposal.” Well, given this, the right commander is obvious: George C. Marshall. No, that isn’t an error—you heard me correctly. FDR wants George to command. But then reality sinks in. This would actually demote the brilliant US Army Chief of Staff. And then what? Is a current subordinate really going to replace George in DC and give him orders?

• 15:29Speaker 00

  That doesn’t make sense to a number of top brass, nor to Republican politicians, who upon even catching wind of this idea, read it as a democratic ploy to push aside the famously non-partisan general so Harry Hopkins can get his hands on lucrative military contracts. Thus, even though many consider George C. Marshall to be the Ulysses S. Grant of his generation, they have to find someone else. But that someone else is hardly second-tier. FDR will turn to the general who so diligently and exceptionally served as an Assistant Chief of Staff, running the Operations Division under George Marshall early in the war. Back before he all but told George off for trying to keep him in DC, an act of grit

• 16:14Speaker 00

  that only made George smile. You might remember that story from Episode 199. I am, of course, talking about the commander we’ve followed through the Mediterranean: Dwight D. Eisenhower. Franklin heads back to North Africa for a few days post-Tehran, in part to meet with Ike. Sitting side by side in the back of a staff car on December 7, 1943, at the Cairo or Tunis Airport—sources conflict—FDR tells the leader of Operations Torch and Husky: “Well, Ike, you are going to command Overlord.” The decision is made official a few weeks later. As US Army historian Gordon Harrison puts it, “The appointment of General Eisenhower

• 16:56Speaker 00

  ended almost a year of uncertainty, which kept many of the preparations for invasion in long suspense.” It’s not just the Allies who are focusing energy on this roughly 350-mile stretch of French coastline. In November 1943, around the same time as the Big Three’s Tehran Conference, Adolf Hitler turns his attention west. He orders the reinforcement of the Atlantic coast and sends one of his most famous field marshals, Erwin Rommel. Yes, Germany’s famed Desert Fox, whom we saw in action in North Africa back in Episode 200.

• 17:35Speaker 00

  A little background: Back in August 1942, Adolf Hitler ordered the expansion of concrete coastal walls in France with a “fanatic” energy. The goal was to create a series of “strong points,” filled with roughly 30 to 70 men and machine guns, that would join together to form a defense belt of interlocking fire. But the strategy had holes, and not just those between the strong points. The Nazis were facing a severe lack of troops. Not to be deterred, the German dictator doubled down. That September, the Führer called for 15,000 concrete strong points, held by 300,000 soldiers—a

• 18:18Speaker 00

  new “Atlantic Wall,” built on landing places in the open coast, specifically on beaches that would be likely targets for an Allied invasion, and completed by May 1, 1943. Talk about a pipe dream. The Reichsens Construction Arm, Organisation Tot, figured they’d hit 40% by then, at best. And Adolf ranked what would get built up first: U-boat bases, then harbors, followed by the Channel Islands. As for these welcoming beaches on the open coast, dead last. By the following summer, 1943, the German High Command zeroed in on positions along

• 18:59Speaker 00

  the English Channel, focusing heavily on reinforcing the Padekalé area, just down the coast from Dunkirk. It’s the closest point in France to England, close enough that, on a clear day, you can see it from England’s cliffs of Dover. After this Atlantic Wall announcement, though, Adolf didn’t really follow up. He was absorbed with the Russian campaign. But that changed in November 1943, as the Führer became convinced the decisive battle of this war would be fought not in the East but in the West. Ah. Thus, his sending the legendary Desert Fox to see what’s actually standing on that coast.

• 19:39Speaker 00

  So now, as we enter 1944, what does this Atlantic Wall look like? Well, let’s find out, shall we?

• 19:53Speaker 00

  It's just weeks into the new year, the night of January 18th to 19th, 1944. The mustachioed, 23-year-old Logan Scott Bowden is somewhere in the waters of the English Channel, near the Cotontin, or Shearborough Peninsula. He's inside the British midget submarine HMS X-20, currently sharing the odorous cramped space of this 51-foot sub with four other men tightly packed amid tons of equipment. They're out in the cold Channel, on a mission, preparing the way for Operation Overlord. This is Operation Postage Able. What does that mean?

• 20:33Speaker 00

  Well, as members of the combined operations pilotage parties, or COP for short, these men conduct covert reconnaissance of enemy-held beaches before amphibious assaults. They chart defense structures and test the sand, because no one wants hundreds of tons of armor sinking into a beach in the middle of Overlord. They have a successful New Year's Eve mission under their belts, and right now, Logan and the rest of the X-20's crew, the skipper, engineer, mission commander Nigel Clogston Wilnoff, and the one other who will go ashore with Logan, Bruce Ogden-Smith, are approaching the western half of these anticipated beaches, codenamed Omaha, in the American sector,

• 21:17Speaker 00

  though the men don't know those details at present. Bottoming the submarine on the Channel floor, the COP team takes turns looking up through the periscope to scout the beach, to see things that aerial photos simply can't catch. And they find the Germans at work on their Atlantic Wall. Amid well-fortified concrete works, they see horse-drawn carts furiously moving excavated debris out of sight. The Brits spy in placements and deduce just which guns their foe will have. Surveying one spot after the next, the men in the sub are left with one thought: Recently arrived Erwin Rommel has certainly stirred things up. Then, at about 4:00 in the afternoon, they hear the whip crack of Mauser rounds hitting

• 22:02Speaker 00

  the water. Some are far off, some are not. Have they been spotted? No one can risk the periscope to find out. The X-20 slithers away and settles on the Channel's bottom. Where the five men have a debate: Should they call off tonight's swim? Ultimately, they decide they can't. Waiting until it gets dark, the midget submarine surfaces, and for the first time in 12 hours, its crew sucks in fresh air. Logan and Bruce contort themselves to change into loose-fitting waterproof suits in the tiny, two-foot-by-10-inch area above the battery compartment. Now about 7:20 PM, and with the submarine just 300 or 400 yards from the shore, the

• 22:45Speaker 00

  two men plunge into the chilly Channel waters, and they swim. They do so laden down with tools: a trowel, a Colt 45, a waterproof flashlight, a bandolier of 12 sample tubes, and a flask of brandy, natural. At 7:35, they touch down in about 3 and 1/2 feet of smooth water near the coastal area of Les Mains. The two sit very still as a German sentry shines a flashlight directly toward them. The tension only mounts as the first Nazi is joined by a second, and as Logan and Bruce quietly and carefully edge back into the water, they successfully slip away and swim

• 23:30Speaker 00

  350 yards down the coast to try and end. Here, they push manual metal augers, large corkscrew-looking tools, into the ground. The sand is packed so hard, they can't drive it more than nine inches. That's a good sign. This beach will hold tanks. And as they fill their tubes, more good news. There, in the sand, a single line of footprints, which tells them something worth the whole trip: This beach is not mine. At 9:20 PM, roughly two hours after beginning their journey ashore, Logan and Bruce swim out to the 16-foot mark and give the recovery signal.

• 24:15Speaker 00

  The X-20 picks them up half an hour later. The mission is complete. They go out again the following night, January 19th through 20th. This time, off Collesville-Sommer. Same drill, same results. Then, the next afternoon, Germans fire at their periscope, but do nothing more. They've mistaken the spying glass for a mere flotsam on the surface. It's a lucky break, and with the weather turning, the X-20 heads home, tying up at Portsmouth on the 21st. Within the next few days, Logan is summoned to Norfolk House in London, where he stands among senior officers, including the Yank who'll command the American ground assault,

• 25:00Speaker 00

  Lieutenant General Omar Bradley. They want to hear what he saw. And here, Logan gives them the rundown. As best he can tell, no civilians in the towns, no mines or wires on the beaches. And yes, that hard-packed sand will hold tanks. But he cautions: There's a ridge, rising in a long, concave slope, which means almost nowhere on that beach to take cover. There's also a bank of stones toward the back of the beach. These will prove natural barriers to armored vehicles. In other words, this amphibious invasion is viable. The beach will take the armor. But pushing past the sand?

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• 29:05Speaker 00

  In mid-January 1944, Dwight D. Eisenhower reaches London to take on his new role as Supreme Allied Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force. His arrival triggers more intense focus on the upcoming invasion, Operation Overlord. Within a week, Ike holds the first meeting with his staff and the commanders at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, aka SHAIF, in Norfolk House, London. His men are as follows: Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, Commander of Naval Forces; Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tetter, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander; General Sir Bernard Montgomery,

• 29:46Speaker 00

  Commander of Land Forces; Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Lay Mallory, Commander of Air Forces. And what of Cossack Freddie Morgan, the Brit who spent nearly a year planning this invasion? Yes, he's here too, now demoted to Deputy Chief of Staff. That's no slight to Freddie. It's just that Ike needs his right-hand man, Battle Smith, or just Beetle, whom he met back in Sicily, serving as Chief of Staff. Planning for Overlord intensifies. Ike, Beetle, and the other new arrivals are shocked at the limitations Freddie's worked under. Three divisions to storm the beaches? Ike had more when invading Sicily.

• 30:28Speaker 00

  They get it bumped up to five ground divisions, and three more will parachute in. Two divisions arrive per month, but more troops means more landing craft, a problem Freddie was already calling out at three divisions. So the May first target slips a month to build more, including the more than 300-foot-long Landing Ship Tank, or LST. And building up these landing craft numbers will mean sacrifices from not just the Mediterranean, but the Pacific, as Overlord swallows up these vital vessels. Meanwhile, newly arrived GIs are training for an operation that they don't know a thing about, not when, or where.

• 31:09Speaker 00

  Take for instance 22-year-old Felix Branham of K Company, 116th Infantry. He's stationed at a British barracks at Crown Hill, near Plymouth. Yes, the same Plymouth from which the Pilgrims set sail back in 1620. Mornings start with a four-mile run in 20 minutes. Yes, that's the pace he claims. Then comes breakfast, then another two to three miles through courses he'll later recall as some of the damnedest obstacles that anybody could think of. Sometimes, we thought the devil had thought up some of those obstacle courses. They'd hike through low, thick fog, a classic in England; climb cargo nets; swim in tanks

• 31:50Speaker 00

  of water with full equipment on; learn to identify and use enemy weapons; and communicate in Morse code. Phew. But even as Uncle Sam holds his cards close, he gives his hard-training GI nephews the occasional laugh. A short guide to Great Britain quips that, quote, "The British don't know how to make a good cup of coffee. You don't know how to make a good cup of tea. It's an even swap," close quote. By the end of January, Operation Overlord is taking firmer shape. The official date is now June 1st, and Sir Bertram Ramsay, Sir Bernard Montgomery, and

• 32:32Speaker 00

  Sir Trafford Lay Mallory, Overlord's commanders-in-chief of the sea, land, and air respectively, have produced the initial joint plan for the landings, codenamed Neptune. It calls for the first US Army to assault both sides of the Vierges Estuary: one regiment on a beach codenamed Utah, two on a shore codenamed Omaha. The Yanks will then push into the Cherbourg Peninsula to take its namesake port. To their east, the British will take the codenamed beaches of Gold and Sword, sandwiching the Canadian forces taking Juno. Meanwhile, the Allies debate a second landing on France's Mediterranean coast: Operation Anvil, though later renamed Dragoon.

• 33:16Speaker 00

  Stalin pushed for it at Teheran. In fact, he wanted the Allies to hit the south first before crossing the Channel. But Anvil would mean siphoning troops from Italy, where January's landing at Anzio has bogged down. And again, there's a limitation of landing craft. So, sorry Stalin, southern France will just have to wait. Anvil gets pushed back to August. At this same time, spring 1944, the Allies launch their transportation plan, a strategic bombing campaign that targets French and Belgian rail networks, bridges, and roads, with the ultimate goal of inhibiting Germany's ability to transport troops and supplies for defence.

• 33:58Speaker 00

  The night of March 6th, 263 British bombers dropped more than 1,000 tonnes of bombs on the railway centre at Trappes, just southwest of Paris, and tracks, engines, wagons, and sheds are so terribly damaged that the centre is out of commission for a month. Eight other rail centres are attacked in March with similar results. British intelligence works closely with the French Resistance, organising sabotage missions triggered by coded messages broadcast over the BBC. Amid all this, a sleight-of-hand operation, Operation Fortitude, builds a phantom army group in southeast England. There are some real units and real radio traffic, yes, but also inflatable fake tanks

• 34:43Speaker 00

  and artillery, fake aircraft, and even scarecrows in uniform. It might look ridiculous up close, but to the rare Luftwaffe aircraft that snaps a photo with a flat 2D lens, it's absolutely convincing. And that keeps the Germans thinking what they have since 1942: that any cross-channel invasion will most likely happen at Pas de Calais. Hence, they continue to concentrate forces there. And no, this is not the Americans' famous ghost army. Those thousand-odd men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops don't reach England until May, and their sound equipment, which will make these inflatables all the more convincing, is still in New York.

• 35:28Speaker 00

  I mention them only because they get attached to D-Day so often. Their real deception work comes later, on the continent. In April, a 10-mile-deep band of British coastline becomes a restricted zone. Civilians living inside can't leave, and no one can go in. On April 7th, General Sir Bernard Montgomery, or Monty as we know him, Commander of the Allied Ground Forces, presents the big-picture strategy to Allied military leadership at St Paul's School in London. He does so with his usual rule in place: no smoking. Or at least, he does so until just before the tea break, when he announces, "When we reassemble, gentlemen, you may smoke if you wish."

• 36:13Speaker 00

  The room explodes in laughter because everyone knows why Monty's permitting it. Cigar-chomping Winston Churchill and chain-smoking Ike are about to join them. This senior gathering is now let in on the closely-held five-beach attack plan, as well as the forecast of where their Yank, Brit, and Knut troops will advance, and by what anticipated dates. But as for us, we'll save those forecasting details for later. Three days later, on April 10th, American bombers begin hitting the Normandy coast. Orders state that for every battery bombed in the actual landing area, two have to be bombed in different areas to keep up the ruse of an unknown target.

• 36:53Speaker 00

  Yes, the deception continues, and as a result, the Nazis remain convinced the real blow is coming at Pas de Calais. Many of these raids cause civilian casualties. For instance, on April 24th, a daylight raid on Boulogne hits the town's centre instead of the railway yards. Allied leaders begin to ask whether the transportation plan is worth it. And Ike is nervous. The Supreme Allied Commander writes to George Marshall on April 17th, saying, "Our problems are seemingly intricate and difficult beyond belief." All of us realise that tremendous stakes are heaped up on the outcome of the impending operation. And it's about to get a whole lot more complicated, especially when Allied fire lands not on

• 37:37Speaker 00

  French civilians, but on some of the 1.4 million American troops training in Britain.

• 37:46Speaker 00

  It's about 7:30 a.m., April 27, 1944. We're on the coast of southwestern England at Slapton Sands Beach, an odd name for three miles of pebble and shingle. But what matters is its position between the saltwater English Channel and freshwater Slapton Lake, a natural dynamic that makes it eerily similar to Normandy's Utah Beach. It's because of those natural dynamics that all local residents have been evacuated so that 30,000 American troops, still in the dark on what or when they're training for, can do a shore-storming dress rehearsal today. In the likely foggy hours of this early English morning, members of the U.S. 4th Infantry

• 38:30Speaker 00

  approach the beach in landing craft. They hear the sound of a bombardment. "To make the exercise more realistic," their leaders were told. The beach even has concrete pillboxes to mimic what the Nazis have set up. Wearing their ivy-leaf green patch on their sleeve, carrying barracks bags and weapons slung over their shoulders and carbon dioxide inflatable life belts around their waists, the Americans disembark from the landing craft, splashing into the chilly waters of the Channel and making their way up the beach. Then, all of a sudden,

• 39:04Speaker 00

  an artillery shell comes directly at a young soldier on shore. He's killed immediately. "Wait, what the hell? This is a training mission." The troops on the beach try to get word to those at sea. "Call off the bombardment!" But it's no use. That's the British heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins firing live shells at Slapton Sands. And she's supposed to be. Originally, she was supposed to do this an hour ago at 6:30, leaving 30 minutes for wardens to check the beach and make sure no unexploded ordnance would injure American troops when they landed at 7:30. When some of the landing craft fell behind schedule, Rear Admiral Don Moon of the U.S. Navy

• 39:47Speaker 00

  pushed the landing, or "H-hour," out to 8:30. This in turn moved the bombardment out to 7:30 with it. The admiral sent a message communicating this. HMS Hawkins received it and adjusted. But the Americans' lead landing craft never did. That mix-up now has a British warship firing right as those on-time-turned-early soldiers land.

• 40:15Speaker 00

  It's chaos, carnage. And yet, this deadly friendly fire bombardment isn't the end of Exercise Tiger's Horrors. Somewhere close to midnight and the early dark hours of the next morning, April 28, German e-boats hit one of the Allied convoys. How many Americans die across the two days, we still can't say. The military keeps it that quiet. But between Slapton Sands and the Battle of Lyme Bay, as the German attack is known, death tolls are often cited in excess of 700. Yet, despite those losses of life, Exercise Fabius, another training maneuver at Slapton Sands for troops heading to Omaha Beach, happens just four days later. By early May, leaders have determined

• 41:00Speaker 00

  that the men are as trained as they will ever be. Assault troops return to their marshaling areas to await instructions.

• 41:10Speaker 00

  Meanwhile, Winston Churchill is worrying about Allied bombings on French railways taking innocent lives. With the War Cabinet proposing a ceiling of no more than 150 civilians killed by any bombing, Winston raises the issue with Ike. On May 2, the Supreme Allied Commander writes in response, "I have throughout realized the political considerations arising from the inevitable casualties to French civilian personnel caused by the attack on the enemy's rail transportation system. I must point out that casualties to civilian personnel are inherent in any plan for the full use of air power to prepare for our assault. I fully appreciate the gravity of the issues raised.

• 41:54Speaker 00

  I have modified my plan as far as possible without vitiating its value." In other words, Ike hears the concern, but this is war, and he can't accept a ceiling. That night, the War Cabinet debates it. Winston states that he doesn't want to interfere with military preparations on political grounds, but he hastens to add,

• 42:17Speaker 01

  "I have not fully realized that the use of air power in Overlord would assume such a cruel and remorseless form."

• 42:26Speaker 00

  Truly, he is not comfortable with these civilian deaths. French civilian deaths.

• 42:34Speaker 00

  You know, he doesn't say it, but I can't help thinking back to episode 200 and wondering, is this giving the British Bulldog painful flashbacks of that day in 1940 when, on his orders, the Royal Navy sent 1,299 French sailors to their graves? Winston presses the matter with an appeal to FDR. On May 7, he writes that,

• 43:01Speaker 01

  "The War Cabinet have been much concerned during the last three weeks about the number of Frenchmen killed in the raids on the railway centers in France."

• 43:11Speaker 00

  But Franklin II sees this as the ugly necessity of war, and Winston realizes there's nothing more to be done. The American president has spoken, and as Winston will later write,

• 43:23Speaker 01

  "This was decisive."

• 43:26Speaker 00

  Settling for the hope of no more than 10,000 French dead, the British Bulldog asks Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tetter to keep him posted on the score. And so, preparations continue with the official D-Day set for either June 5 to 7 or the 18th to 20th, depending on tides and moonlight.

• 43:55Speaker 00

  History That Doesn't Suck is supported by Indeed. I'm not afraid to say this. As HTDS has grown, the business requires skills I know I don't naturally possess. If I need to hire, I think this is a job for sponsored jobs. When you sponsor your job on Indeed, you'll find the candidates with the skills you're looking for. Indeed is genuinely all you need to find quality talent. Instead of putting a post out there and praying the right people see it, Indeed Sponsored Jobs proactively connects you with candidates who match your precise criteria, whether that's location, software experience, or industry experience. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

• 44:39Speaker 00

  And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com/podcast. Just go to indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com/podcast. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. HTDS is sponsored by Quince. Getting dressed in the morning should be simple, and Quince makes it happen by crafting versatile, high-end wardrobe staples that last. Their ultimate commuter pants and the 100% European linen relaxed long sleeve shirt have been my go-to choice at the end of summer. And now that we're heading into fall, I'm going to pull out the cardigan sweater I got from Quince last year.

• 45:23Speaker 00

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• 46:07Speaker 00

  It's the best way to support the show. Support for HTDS comes from Square. Like most any college town, food trucks have become a big thing in my neck of the woods. Some use cash, but who carries cash these days? That's why many of them use Square for quick tap-to-pay with your credit card or phone. But Square isn't just payments anymore. They've added smart AI that breaks down sales trends without you digging through reports, plus automated features like Square Savings to set aside tax money effortlessly. You can even accept Bitcoin now with zero processing fees through 2026 or let eligible customers discover your store through AI platforms like ChatGPT. Everything seems directly with their payroll,

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• 47:31Speaker 00

  While the Allies are training, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel continues to shore up his shoreline defenses. The Desert Fox has decided that the Wehrmacht cannot maneuver on like terms with the combined Anglo-American forces, so they have to dig into natural points of defense. He adds to the Atlantic Wall, layering it with pillboxes, entrenchments, Belgian gates — that is, steel barriers, log ramps, mined stakes, hedgehogs — think steel anti-tank obstacles, barbed wire, machine gun pits, and yet more, both underwater and on the

• 48:11Speaker 00

  sand, all to combat the incoming invasion, whenever and wherever that may be. And much of these fortifications, like the Rommel's Asparagus, as his men call the logs protruding into the sky to wreck gliders and paratroopers, are his own decision. Adolf Hitler only wanted the concrete Atlantic Wall, while the Desert Fox's superior, Field Marshal and Commander in the West, Gerd von Hohenstets, didn't advocate for this many traps. He's anticipating a battle inland with Panzers instead. The Desert Fox wants all of this done by April 30th, 1944, but the magnitude of the task makes that deadline a pipe dream.

• 48:54Speaker 00

  By the first week of June, only five or six million mines of Erwin's estimated necessary 50 million to properly defend have been laid. To his credit, more than half a million obstacles lie in six-foot water for high tides and half tides. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Still in May, 1944, new German divisions are reaching their defensive positions along the Sheerbroeck Peninsula. Little did the Nazis know, Allied codebreakers catch much of this movement, and Allied reconnaissance has mapped the coastal fortifications too. No blind landings, a lesson learned the hard way in the Pacific. But the picture isn't flawless either, as we'll see next time.

• 49:38Speaker 00

  On May 5th, the German High Command manages to listen in on a conversation between FDR and Winston Churchill. They know an attack is in the works, but they can't figure out what, where, or when. FDR concludes the overheard phone call with, "Well, we will do our best. Now, I'll go fishing." Ah, Franklin, calm and sans quoi is ever, even in the final weeks before D-Day. Three days later, May 8th, the Allies decrypt a message from Erwin to German High Command that says the bombings have disrupted his supply and troop movements. The Allies find more reassurance the next week from their best unwitting source, the

• 50:22Speaker 00

  Japanese Baron and longtime ambassador in Berlin, Hiroshima. The Germans have had Hiroshima out to France. He's toward the Atlantic Wall. His intercepted messages back home are so valuable, George C. Marshall later describes the Japanese ambassador as, quote, "Our main basis of information regarding Hitler's intentions in Europe," close quote. And on May 13th, Hiroshima radios Tokyo with what Admiral Carl Dunnetz has told him, that the Allies cannot invade, quote unquote, for some time. Well, if that's what the Nazis think, how perfect is that? Meanwhile, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower sends a message to senior U.S.

• 51:07Speaker 00

  commanders the following day, May 14th. "It is necessary to make absolutely clear to our men the stark and elemental facts as to the character of our Nazi enemy, the absolute need for crushing him if we are to survive. What is required now is to impress on them that only hard and successful fighting will bring victory, and that the way home is via Berlin." Keep that do-or-die sentiment in mind. It will echo in the weeks to come. With only weeks to go, training only intensifies for Allied soldiers. As BBC One war correspondent, Robert Dunnet reports:

• 51:49Speaker 01

  When I lived with American troops in one of the barracks, they played interminable and terrific games of volleyball and football and baseball. Then suddenly, one morning, the square, instead of being full of racing figures, were dotted with heaps of equipment in long lines. The men stood by their individual piles with their helmets and rifles and their life belts around their waists.

• 52:10Speaker 00

  On May 15th, Allied leaders, still preparing for the hundreds of different ways in which everything could go wrong, once again return to St. Paul's School, London. Some 150 guests sit on crowded wooden benches behind a single row of chairs at the front reserved for King George VI, Winston Churchill, Field Marshal and Prime Minister of South Africa Jan Smuts, and Sir Alan Brooke, who serves as Winston's chief military advisor. They face the stage where a map of the Normandy beaches and surrounding area is tilted at an angle for all to see. As Ike will later note, "During the whole war, I attended no other conference so packed with rank as this one."

• 52:54Speaker 00

  Winston's talk includes an oft-quoted phrase:

• 52:57Speaker 01

  Gentlemen, I am hardening on this operation.

• 53:00Speaker 00

  In his memoir, Ike takes it to mean that the British Bulldog has finally come around to the necessity of the cross-channel attack. But Winston takes issue with this in his later book. "He'd never been against the operation," he says. By "hardening," he meant he wished to strike. To quote him:

• 53:21Speaker 01

  If humanly possible, even if the limiting conditions we lay down are not exactly fulfilled.

• 53:27Speaker 00

  Huh. One phrase, two very different takes. That's history for you. By now, the Germans in Western Europe know they're spread thin, and so do the Allies. Erwin keeps asking for troops to help cover Normandy and Brittany. His requests aren't granted because, as he'll later write, "For fears of a possible enemy airborne landing in the neighborhood of Paris." Captain Eberhard Wagner, staff officer of the 21st Panzer Division, will later recall, "Wir sind bewusst, dass niemals unsere Männer oder unsere Panzer gut genug sind." As for the Allies, decrypted messages between the Desert Fox and the High Command reveal

• 54:12Speaker 00

  that divisions are short men, tanks, and other weapons. Entering late May, the preparatory bombings and French Resistance-led sabotage continue. On May 28th, American bombers raid German synthetic oil plants. That night, British bombers take out the concrete fortifications at Saint-Martin-de-Varvis, overlooking the invasion beaches. But the raids on the railway marshalling yards are another matter. In 48 hours, they kill 3,000 French civilians. Winston, as we know, is sick about it. He writes to his Foreign Secretary that:

• 54:50Speaker 01

  Terrible things are being done.

• 54:54Speaker 00

  And tells Air Chief Marshal Tetter plainly:

• 54:57Speaker 01

  You are piling up an awful lot of hatred.

• 55:00Speaker 00

  But hatred or not, it's working. That same day, bombers destroy the German naval wireless station at Chateau Talindin, near Bruges, and with it, German intelligence's best chance of hearing the surge in Allied radio traffic that could give the whole thing away. Subordinate commanders are informed, D-Day is June 5th. Personnel are sealed in their ships or at their camp or assembly points. Mail is impounded and private messages are forbidden except for emergencies. Interestingly, had Germany bombed the southern coast of England at this time, much of the Allied attack force would have been wiped out.

• 55:41Speaker 00

  Aside from their engagements in April's exercise Tiger and May's mini-air raid on an ordinance battalion, the Nazis mostly leave British land alone. On May 30th, Ike reminds his combined chiefs of staff that, "The Germans overestimate the strength of our seaborne assault. The enemy is also in ignorance of the dependence we place on mulberries, and therefore tends to garrison lightly terrain which is critical to us. I therefore request the utmost security on these matters." To preserve the utmost security for these forces and these "mulberries," or "prefab artificial harbors," the first troops are loaded onto ships and landing craft the very

• 56:24Speaker 00

  next day, May 31st. Aboard one sealed ship, Technical Sergeant Richard T. Wright, a U.S. Marine from Arlington, Virginia, writes in his diary that one of his shipmates, a Royal Marine named J.T. Wen, has assumed the role of General Manager of Bookies Incorporated with a, to quote him, grim sense of humor. J.T.'s passed out a second-front handicap form with odds on the ship's future in the upcoming invasion. It reads in part, "Five to two that this ship will be sunk by shore batteries, four to one that we will be sunk by dive bombers, eight to one that we will be hit by a mine,

• 57:07Speaker 00

  last but not least, two to one that we don't get back at all." I wish I could tell you the payout now, but that will just have to wait for the next episode, because the first five days of June are action-packed. Here's a rundown. June 1st, Ike writes to George C. Marshall that, quote, "Weather forecasts, while still indefinite, are generally favorable. Barring unsuitable meteorological conditions, we will do the trick as scheduled," close quote. That same day, the BBC broadcasts the first few lines of French poet Paul Verlaine's Chanson d'automne. This signals to the French Resistance to stand by to cut railways.

• 57:52Speaker 00

  June 2nd, Field Marshal Gerd von Hohenstets tells Berlin that the Allies would need four days of consecutive good weather to mount an attack. Therefore, it cannot happen the first week of June. Allied troops set sail for Normandy. June 3rd. Once again, Ike writes to George Marshall, “Whether prospects so far as sea conditions are concerned are rather favorable. From an air viewpoint, the forecasts are not yet firm, but we have almost an even chance of having pretty fair conditions. In any event, I should say that only marked deterioration beyond that now expected would disarrange our plans.”

• 58:35Speaker 00

  But as Ike writes, one Scottish meteorologist, group captain James Stagg predicts bad weather will fall on the 5th, weather so atrocious that this amphibious attack cannot proceed. Worse still, the Associated Press mistakenly broadcasts that the attack has begun. They rescind five minutes later. June 4th. At 0400 hours, Allied leaders review James’s weather forecast and decide to postpone the invasion. Ships already at sea are recalled. Two hours later, 0600, Erwin Rommel heads to Germany to be back in time for his wife’s birthday on the 6th. In the evening, American troops reach Rome.

• 59:20Speaker 00

  Winston telegraphs his dear friend and American counterpart Franklin Roosevelt.

• 59:24Speaker 01

  How magnificently your troops have fought!

• 59:28Speaker 00

  Meanwhile, Charles de Gaulle arrives from Algiers, a voyage at Winston’s invitation, but without explanation. The British PM later explains that-

• 59:37Speaker 01

  I told de Gaulle that I had asked him to come because of the forthcoming operation. I could not do this by telegraph, and I felt that the history of our two countries required the liberation of France must not be undertaken by the British and Americans without the French being informed.

• 59:55Speaker 00

  At 2130 hours, armed with the information that the weather might break on June 6th, the Allied High Command meets in the Library of Southwark House. After much back and forth, Ike announces his decision. “I’m quite positive we must give the order. I don’t like it, but there it is. I don’t see how we can possibly do anything else.” June 5th. Just after midnight, the commanders meet once more to confirm Ike’s decision. Hours pass. Then, as Winston later describes-

• 1:00:31Speaker 01

  At 4:00 AM on June 5th, that I was irrevocably cast, the invasion would be launched on June 6th.

• 1:00:40Speaker 00

  At 0600 hours, ships once again set out across the English Channel, or to rely one more time on Winston’s eloquence.

• 1:00:49Speaker 01

  The greatest armada that ever left our shores, and set out for the coast of France.

• 1:00:56Speaker 00

  At 1100 hours, CBS New York announces, “Up in Western Europe, we’ve been plastering the German defenses near the Channel coast for days. Still no hint as to when the great invasion will begin.” The Germans likely wonder the same thing. Bad weather has grounded their air reconnaissance teams. At 1830 hours, the BBC broadcasts seemingly nonsensical phrases, “Il fait chaud à Suède. Les déss sont sur le tapis.” Later still, more verses from Paul Verlaine’s poem. Picked up on radios across France, these and other phrases are delivering marching

• 1:01:39Speaker 00

  orders to the French Resistance, ready to risk everything to rid their nation of Nazism. British bombers strike at the 10 most important German gun batteries with 5,000 tons of bombs. Deception operations are launched, including dummy paratroopers at the jamming and spoofing of German radar. At 2030 hours, Ike decides to visit the US 101st Airborne Division before they leave for France. At 2200 hours, the 15th German Army hears the code word that means “an invasion” is imminent. But Field Marshal Gert von Wunschitz makes a deeply impactful decision. He chooses not to alert the whole front.

• 1:02:23Speaker 00

  But let’s leave the Germans with that decision for now, and head back to England to catch Ike’s visit with what will likely be the first American troops on French soil. It’s 2030 hours, June 5th, 1944. We’re at the US 101st Airborne’s base in Greenham Common, England, where Dwight D. Eisenhower is visiting these American paratroopers, who will likely be among the first to land in France on D-Day. Ike steps out of his car with his secretary, Kay Summersby, and some other military officers and photographers. The Supreme Allied Commander steps over packs, guns, and other equipment to greet the men

• 1:03:07Speaker 00

  of Company E, 500-second parachute infantry regiment, standing at attention in their full battle gear. Ike approaches a man in the line. “What’s your name, Lieutenant? And where are you from?” Wearing a helmet covered in netting, camouflage on his face, and the cardboard number 23 around his neck, the platoon leader of Company E replies- “Strobel, from Michigan, sir.” Ike answers. “Oh, yes, Michigan. Great fishing there. Been there several times and like it.” He then asks the young officer, 1st Lieutenant Wallace C. Strobel, if he’s ready for the mission. “Yes, sir.” The Michigander emphatically responds.

• 1:03:51Speaker 00

  The camera flashes, capturing the moment between the Supreme Allied Commander and the lieutenant, with other members of the company surrounding the two men. What a way for Wallace to celebrate his 22nd birthday. Ike remains at Greenham Common until midnight, when all the paratroopers have taken off. Undoubtedly, he feels the heavy burden of knowing many of the brave and young men he just met won’t be coming home. Knowing the stakes tomorrow brings, Ike drives back under the roar of planes as they light up southern England’s sky. He places a note in his wallet, something he’s written in the event that the worst-case

• 1:04:35Speaker 00

  scenario happens. Exhausted, he’s dated the note, July 5th. Truly, Ike is as human as the rest of us, but the responsibility he willingly shoulders in this note is divine. It reads, “Our landings in the Cherbourg-Avréa area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold, and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air, and the navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do.

• 1:05:15Speaker 00

  If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.” That’s right. If this fails, Ike is ready to take the blame. All of it. Fair or not, all of it. Because that’s what true leaders do. But more than that, as a true leader, these are thoughts Ike keeps to the inside of his wallet. These are not the thoughts he shares with his men. The thousands of soon-to-be invading Allied troops crossing the Channel, be that in landing craft or aircraft, go forth feeling the full faith and confidence of their commander as they read or hear General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s orders.

• 1:05:58Speaker 00

  And those inspiring, encouraging words read as follows: Soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force, you are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave allies and brothers in arms on the other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

• 1:06:42Speaker 00

  Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well-equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940 to 41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned.

• 1:07:25Speaker 00

  The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.” History that Doesn’t Suck is created and hosted by me, Greg Jackson. Episode researched and written by Greg Jackson and Riley Neubauer. Riley and I are incredibly grateful to Andrew Whitmarsh, curator of the D-Day Story Museum in Portsmouth, England.

• 1:08:08Speaker 00

  We thank his team, as well as those at the Portsmouth History Center, for welcoming us into their institutions and helping as we research this episode. We encourage listeners to visit the D-Day Story, should you ever find yourself on that side of the pond. Production by Airship. Audio editing by Mohammed Shazade. Sound design by Molly Bach. Theme music composed by Greg Jackson. Arrangement and additional composition by Lindsey Graham of Airship. For a bibliography of all primary and secondary sources consulted in writing this episode, visit htdspodcast.com.

• 1:08:49Speaker 00

  HTDS is supported by fans at htdspodcast.com/membership. My gratitude to you kind souls providing funding to help us keep going, thank you. And a special thanks to our patrons whose monthly gift puts them at producer status: Adam Goran, Ahmed Chapman, Amy and Ross Hensman, Andrew Nissen, Andrew Sherwin, Anna M. Hutter, Art Lang, Baby Nico, Bob Stinnett, Bonnie Brooks, Ryan Gavigan, Ryan Boils, Ryan Goodson, Bruce Hibbert, Kayden Howitz, Charles Plendenin, Charles Starkey, Charlie Majes, Christopher Merchant, Christopher Lyle, Christopher Pullman, Christopher Young, Cody Brown, Colleen Martin, Colin Ferris Pennington, Connor Hogan, Craig Burrhost, Dan G., Daniel Deecham, Daniel

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• 1:10:54Speaker 00

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