大学英语综合教程 第四册 Unit 1B

[00:00.00]Would nature be on the side of the Allied forces as they prepared to invade mainland Europe
[00:06.87]or would it favour the Germans?No one was certain.
[00:11.42]THE NORMANDY LANDINGS                                           by Anthony Ward'
[00:15.88]The largest and most ambitious military expedition in history was the invasion of Normandy in northern France by British,
[00:25.39]American and Canadian forces that took place in the summer of 1944.Evern nature played a role.
[00:34.56]It took more than a year for military planners to orchestrate every movement of troops,artillery,ships and aircraft
[00:43.21]and to set everything in place for the move that was to open up a second front in Europe.
[00:50.16]This would liberate France and open the way for the final assault on Germany itself.
[00:56.92]Everything was controlled;right down to the placement of military decoys across the English Channel
[01:04.03]to fool the Germans into thinking the attack would come from Britain's closest point to France at Pas de Calais
[01:12.39]rather than in Normandy as planned.
[01:15.99]Everything was controlled,that is,except the weather.
[01:20.46]D-Day,the code name given to the day of invasion,was originally scheduled for5 June 1944.
[01:29.00]This date had been arrived at by considering two factors-moonlight and tide.
[01:35.58]The hour of the invasion would need to be near sunrise,when the seaborne tropps would have a rising tide.
[01:42.84]This would enable them to land close to the obstacles that had been placed to hinder their landing
[01:49.48]without coming ashore on top of them.The paratroopers needed a full moon for visibility.
[01:56.98]The days with the proper tide-moonlight formula closest to the target date were5,6and7June.
[02:05.68](1)The fifth was chosen for D-Day to allow a safety margin in case the attack needed to be postponed.
[02:14.40]In addition to moonlight and favourable tides,calm seas were needed for the crossing.
[02:20.80](2)But an unusually stormy transition from spring woward summer that year held out little hope
[02:28.24]that there would be a suitable break in the weather .It also meant the possiblity that Operation Overlord,
[02:36.79]as the invasion was called,might have to be postponed until later in the year or even the following year.
[02:45.07]With the arrival of 5June,the weather was so bad that General Eisenhower,supreme commander of the invasion forces,
[02:54.18]was forced to postpone the invasion by one day.When he met with his staff to review their options,
[03:02.20]they were faced with the grim reality that 6June did not look much better than the original D-Day.
[03:09.83]The meteorological report gave a thin ray of hope that a lull in the storm would allow enough time to launch the invasion.
[03:18.77]Consulations went on late into the night on whether to press ahead.Opinions were divided.Finally,Eisenhower made his decision
[03:29.61]"I am quite positive we must give the order,"he said."I don't like it,but there it is.
[03:36.50]I don't see how we can do anything else."Within hours,an armada of 3,000landing craft,2,500other ships,
[03:47.13]and500 naval vessels began to leave English ports.
[03:52.46]Meanwhile,critical errors by the German side allowed them to be taken completely by surprise.
[03:59.73]Due to the bad weather,the German navy cancelled its usual patrol of the English Channel.
[04:05.52]Also,a practice drill scheduled for June6 was called off.
[04:11.43]The German meteorological services were unaware of the break in the weather.
[04:17.23]On the eve of the attack,many of the top German leaders were absent from their commands.Rommel
[04:25.25]the general in charge of the coastal defences,was in Germany visiting his wife on her birthday,
[04:32.33]and several officers were some distance away in Rennes or on their way there for a war-game exercise.