- Flight Officer David Campbell: The thing that's always worried me about being one of the few is the way we keep on getting fewer.
- Maj. Werner Pluskat: [on the phone again] You know those five thousand ships you say the Allies haven't got? Well, they've got them!
- Flight Officer David Campbell: He's dead. I'm crippled. You're lost. Do you suppose it's always like that? I mean war.
- Lt. Col. Ocker: [Pluskat, inside a bunker, has just realized the Normandy invasion has begun and is warning Ocker, who is skeptical] And just where, my dear Pluskat, are those ships going?
- Maj. Werner Pluskat: Straight for me!
- [Blumentritt has just gotten off the phone with General Max Pemsel on Allied airborne landings behind Normandy]
- Major General Gunther Blumentritt: Pemsel is convinced this is the invasion.
- Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt: No no no, I do not agree with him. This is my conclusion.
- [Von Rundstedt points to the main map]
- Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt: Normandy is the site of a diversion. A diversion, Blumentritt! That is not where the main landings will take place, that will come at Pas-de-Calais, where it was always expected!
- [Von Rundstedt then realizes what he has just said]
- Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt: [to himself] Where we always expected it.
- Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt: [to Blumentritt] We can't take any chances. I want the reserve panzers moved forward.
- Major General Gunther Blumentritt: But we need permission from the Fuhrer's headquarters.
- Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt: They won't dare refuse me! Call the Fuhrer's headquarters and insist. Insist, Blumentritt! Insist the panzers be released to me.
- [as Blumentritt leaves the office to call Berlin, Von Rundstedt returns to the main map]
- Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt: A landing at Normandy would be against military logic. It would be against ALL logic.
- [a coded message to the Resistance, spoken in French]
- Radio Announcer: Wounds my heart with a monotonous languor.
- Capt. Colin Maud: [walking up to a stalled vehicle] My old grandmother used to say anything mechanical, give it a good bash.
- [Hits hood with his swagger stick]
- Capt. Colin Maud: Try it now.
- [vehicle cranks]
- Private Flanagan: [to Clough] Sure, now; that did it.
- [notices Maud looks at him]
- Private Flanagan: Ah, now that's what I call a hell of a man!
- Pvt. Clough: Aye, I like his dog too.
- Capt. Colin Maud: Move inland. The war's that way.
- Mayor of Colleville: [meeting the British on the beach] Welcome; welcome, friends. I brought champagne, but I do not now think it will be enough for all of you.
- Lord Lovat: Quite all right. We have a previous engagement - the war. Move inland.
- [to his bagpiper]
- Lord Lovat: Millen, "Blue Bonnet"!
- [as British troops march inland to the bagpipe playing of Millen, the mayor of Colleville raises his champagne bottle in salute, which earns the bemused observation of Clough and Flanagan]
- Pvt. Clough: [to Flanagan] If you ask me, Flanagan, there are a lot of pretty peculiar blokes on this beach.
- Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin: And remember this... When you get to Normandy, you'll only have one friend - God
- [picks up a rifle]
- Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin: and this.
- Major General Gunther Blumentritt: [in German] This is history. We are living an historical moment. We are going to lose the war because our glorious Führer has taken a sleeping pill and is not to be awakened. Sometimes I wonder which side God is on.
- [Millen plays the bagpipes as British troops march toward the Germans]
- Pvt. Clough: There it is, he's at it again! Have you ever heard such a racket in all your life?
- Private Flanagan: Yeah, it takes an Irishman to play the pipes.
- [On whether to commence the Normandy invasion in marginal weather conditions]
- General Dwight D. Eisenhower: I'm quite positive we must give the order. I don't like it, but there it is. Gentlemen, I don't see how we can possibly do anything... but go.
- [a coded message to the Resistance, spoken in French]
- Radio Announcer: John has a long mustache.
- Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.: As best I can figure it, we're on the wrong beach. The control boat must have been confused by the smoke from the naval bombardment. They landed us about a mile and a quarter south of where we were supposed to land. We should be up there.
- Col. Caffey: I agree with you, but what are we gonna do now? Our reinforcements and heavy equipment will be approaching in a very few minutes. What happens if they land at the right beach?
- Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.: The reinforcements will have to follow us wherever we are. We're starting the war from right here. Head inland. We're going inland.
- Col. Josef 'Pips' Priller: [speaking in German] Thank you, my dear Hans! You have just killed both of us!
- [slams down phone]
- Luftwaffe major: It is getting very difficult to get any sleep around here.
- Col. Josef 'Pips' Priller: Your prospects for a long sleep have just improved. The invasion has begun at Normandy. We are to fly there and attack with our two planes.
- RAF pilot at flight base: [talking about the invasion] Tonight. I KNOW it's tonight.
- Flight Officer David Campbell: So it's tonight. Suits me fine. Tonight. This afternoon. NOW!
- [pause]
- Flight Officer David Campbell: Or, at least, as soon as I finish this beer.
- [to his generals, observing the English Channel]
- Field Marshal Erwin Rommel: Just look at it, gentlemen. How calm... how peaceful it is. A strip of water between England and the continent... between the Allies and us. But beyond that peaceful horizon... a monster waits. A coiled spring of men, ships, and planes... straining to be released against us. But, gentlemen, not a single Allied soldier shall reach the shore. Whenever and wherever this invasion may come, gentlemen... I shall destroy the enemy there, at the water's edge. Believe me, gentlemen, the first 24 hours of the invasion will be decisive. For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day... The longest day.
- Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt: This is madness... madness... sheer madness!
- Major General Gunther Blumentritt: I just talked to General Jodl... the Fuhrer is awake.
- Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt: I don't care if he's awake or not! What about the reserve panzers?
- Major General Gunther Blumentritt: The Fuhrer went into one of his tantrums... and no one dared bring up the subject.
- Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt: They're still held in reserve!
- Major General Gunther Blumentritt: Sir, if you would call the Fuhrer yourself I am convinced he would respect your views.
- Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt: Call that Bohemian corporal? Crawl on my knees to him? No! It is out of the question!
- Cmdr. Philippe Kieffer - Commando Leader: You have been fighting everywhere for four years, in: Abyssinia, Libya, Egypt, Crete. But this time you are going to fight on French soil, in our fields, in our villages, under the eyes of our own people.
- Lord Lovat: Most of you have had your feet wet before: Dunkirk, Dieppe, Norway. And we know what it means to be driven into the sea. In a few hours we're going back from the sea. And this time we're going to stay. There's no time for any sob stuff about England, home and beauty. Remember, our people have had a rough time for four and a half years. They've earned the final victory. Let's give it to them.
- Brigadier General Norman Cota: I don't have to tell you the story. You all know it. Only two kinds of people are gonna stay on this beach: those that are already dead and those that are gonna die. Now get off your butts. You guys are the Fighting 29th.
- Destroyer Commander: You remember it. Remember every bit of it, 'cause we are on the eve of a day that people are going to talk about long after we are dead and gone.
- [chuckles]
- Destroyer Commander: You want to know something? It gives me goose pimples just to be part of it.
- Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort: Your assignment tonight is strategic. You can't give the enemy a break. Send him to hell.
- Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort: I don't think I have to remind you that this war has been going on for almost 5 years. Over half of Europe has been overrun and occupied. We're comparative newcomers. England's gone through a blitz with a knife at her throat since 1940. I'm quite sure that they, too, are impatient and itching to go. Do I make myself clear?
- Capt. Harding: Yes, sir. Quite clear.
- Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort: 3 million men penned up on this island all over England in staging areas like this. We're on the threshold of the most crucial day of our times. 3 million men out there, keyed up, just waiting for that big step-off. We aren't exactly alone. Notify the men, full packs and equipment 1400 hours.
- Capt. Harding: Yes, sir.
- Private John Steele: Old man sure has changed since yesterday. Or maybe it's just that we've changed since yesterday...
- Louis: Take a look at that! What a handsome sight. The pride of the Third Reich! The brave sergeant taking coffee to the beach gunners. So that's a sample of the master race! In a pig's eye!
- [Coded radio message to the French Resistance]
- Radio Announcer: There is fire at the travel agency.
- Pvt. Dutch Schultz: Getting on toward night. You know something? I haven't fired my gun all day. I keep hearing shootin', but every time I get there, everybody's gone!
- Flight Officer David Campbell: It's funny, isn't it? He's dead, I'm crippled, You're lost. I suppose it's always like that. I mean war.
- Pvt. Dutch Schultz: I wonder who won?
- Pvt. Morris: June. Every June my old man used to take me camping up in the Blue Mountains. We'd hunt and fish all day long. And at night, we'd sleep out under the stars. Didn't even need a blanket. *June*.
- Brigadier General Norman Cota: Well, Tom?
- Col. Thompson: We're ready. As ready as we'll ever be.
- Brigadier General Norman Cota: It'll work. It's *got* to work.
- Col. Thompson: We're getting murdered here! We might as well move inland and get murdered!
- RAdm. Janjard: Soon we shall be engaged in battle. To drive the enemy out, we must fire on our homeland. This is the price of liberty. Viva la France!
- Madame Barrault: I was on my way to the little house outside. Suddenly, I saw a man fall from the sky. He looked like a big white bird.
- Father Louis Roulland: The parachutist - was he a friend or an enemy?
- Madame Barrault: I don't know. He only said, "Shhh!" and vanished!
- Pvt. Dutch Schultz: Is it bad?
- Flight Officer David Campbell: Split wide open - from the crotch to the knee. A medic came along and gave me a shot of morphine. I hope he'll be back before it wears off. He said he would.
- Pvt. Dutch Schultz: Did he sew you up?
- Flight Officer David Campbell: Well, when he came ashore he lost most of his equipment. So he - so he pinned it together with - with safety pins.
- [repeated line]
- Radio Announcer: London calling...
- RAF pilot at flight base: Poor old Johnny. Bad luck, it happening just now.
- Flight Officer David Campbell: Now, then. What's the bloody difference?
- RAF pilot at flight base: Well, he went through the Battle of Britain and all that. Just like you! And now if the big show starts tonight - he won't be in it.
- Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort: We're 11 minutes from the green light. Now, once more, I repeat: If, for any reason, we fail to hit our drop zones move north by east. North by east. The Germans have flooded large swamp areas behind the coast. Avoid them if possible. We came here to *fight*, not to swim.
- Major in Ste. Mère-Eglise: Has there been a linkup between our forces and the troops from the sea?
- Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort: I don't know, Major. I don't even know if the landings took place. But one thing I'm sure of, we're gonna hold this town until the linkup does come. Whenever that is, today, tomorrow, till hell freezes over.
- Maj. Werner Pluskat: [on the phone] It's the invasion! There must be five thousand ships out there!
- Lt. Col. Ocker: Get ahold of yourself, Pluskat. The Americans and English don't have even half that many.
- Maj. Werner Pluskat: Well dammit! Come and see for yourself, you fool!
- Lt. Col. Ocker: My dear Pluskat, where are these ships heading?
- Maj. Werner Pluskat: Straight for me!
- Private John Steele: I can't hear you. It's them bells. I've had them in my ears for 10 hours. Ding-dong, ding-dong.
- Father Louis Roulland: In this darkest hour, in the gloom of night, we must not despair. For each of us, deliverance is coming!
- Pvt. Harris: Man, that stinks. Diesel oil, backed-up toilets, vomit. And there ain't no place left to get sick in. The puke bags is full. The fire buckets is full. All we got left is our helmets.
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