About the movie:

Did the Allied soldiers really deploy dummy paratroopers to divert the enemy? Did they really do it in real life?

And about that bagpiper....Was it really there in the real landings?

They sure did. The LOngest day is not a Hollywood movie in that all characters were real or representations of real events. Sort of an early docu-drama. Tora-Tora Tora is one about Pearl Harbor. Midway, however uses a few ficticious chaaracters to go through the story

One big thing about some of these movies is the books they were based on. The Longest Day was based on the book by Cornelius Ryan and the producer of TLD wanted to be as close to the book as possible. Same is true with Tora, tora, tora, based in part on Gordon Prange's At Dawn We Slept, another great book. When the producer of a film chooses a great book to base their movie on, and then sticks to the book, great movies come out. As opposed to the producers of Pearl Harbot. I don't know WHAT they were thinking.

Cornelius Ryan and Stephen Ambrose both based their books on eye-witness accounts, what we would describe nowadays as 'oral history'. The Longest Day, reflects the invasion of Normandy from a more personal point of view, more anecdotal than the large chunks of history we are accustomed to.

The Dummy paratroopers) Yes, they were used although they looked nothing like those in the film. One little known aspect of their use, was that a group of SAS troopers were parachuted in with them, to 'add' to the effect by firing weapons and letting off explosive charges an incredibly brave operation.

The piper on the beaches? That is also based on fact. Also on d-day, during the Pegasus Bridge operation,The Lovat Scouts brought their own piper into battle with them, the fact that the operation was a complete success says much for the bravery of the musician involved...

I know what the producers of Pearl Harbor were thinking....$$$$$ and more $$$$$$

Jim

If you're into learning more about these tactics, Jonathan Gawne has a book called Ghosts of the ETO - covering US tactics like this employed during the war. For a long time this information was classified, but I think he really does a good job with the reference books he pens. I seek out and purchase all the Histoire & Collections books with his name on it.

Guess I should do a book review, huh?

Gunnie