D-Day: The Last Voices: 1. The Big Secret

D-Day: The Last Voices brings together a rich collection of historical audio testimonies recorded with those who fought in the invasion of Normandy, alongside extraordinary new interviews with the last surviving veterans, to tell their story of D-Day as it unfolded. Presented by Paddy O’Connell, each programme charts a distinct chapter of the complex, visceral and moving story of the invasion, from subterfuge and secret planning, to the approach of H-Hour, the landings by air and sea, and on into the battles beyond the beaches. Commissioned as a collaboration with D-Day: The Unheard Tapes for BBC Two, and drawing on the same longitudinal access and research, the series tells the story of D-Day through the last voices of those who lived it, leading us through their personal experiences of the invasion. Supported by the historical recordings of those who were there with them – this is their story, told in their own words. The series begins in June 1944, as more than two million troops from over a dozen countries assemble across Southern England for a mission so secret, they don’t yet know it will be D-Day, the start of Operation Overlord, to take France and attempt to push back the Nazi occupation of Europe. Allied soldiers train for top secret missions, by air and sea, and receive their mission objectives in sealed camps.

This episode charts the story of the reveal of D-Day to Allied troops, as they learn they will be part of what will become the largest seaborne invasion in history. An operation of such complexity and risk, nothing of this scale had ever been attempted before, the stakes are unimaginably high.

Paddy O’Connell, whose father took part in Operation Overlord as a Royal Marine Commando, interweaves the powerful and striking archive recordings of those who were there, with unique and extraordinary interviews with some of the last surviving veterans on the eve of the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Meeting two former WRENS - Christina Lamb who helped draw the D-Day maps in Whitehall, and Pat Owtram who spoke German and was based on the Dover Cliffs scanning for morse code from Occupied France, we are led through the enormous scale of the landings as 156,000 troops prepared for the impending invasion.

In archive recordings of the past, we hear from those who were there too, on landing craft and on ships, driving tanks or learning they would be part of the first waves onto the beaches.

As the hour of leaving for Normandy approached, commanders trusted in their training, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers set sail or took flight for the French coast under the cover of darkness.

Featuring: Geoffrey Weaving Christian Lamb Pat Owtram Gordon Prime Warwick Nield-Siddall Ivan Lambert Ray Nance James Kelly Stanley Scott John Capon James Sink Roy Crane John Clegg William Dunn James Stagg

Written and presented by Paddy O’Connell Produced by Paul Kobrak Technical production by Richard Courtice Sound design by Roy Noy, Tom Chilcot, Alex Short, Adam Palmer, Paul Donovan Music composed by Sam Hooper

Production Executive – Anne-Marie Byrne Archive Assistant Producer – Hannah Mirsky

Archive: BBC News, Fremantle, Paddy O’Connell, made in partnership with Imperial War Museums.

Executive Producers - Morgana Pugh and Rami Tzabar

A Wall to Wall Media production for BBC Radio 4