Ike: Countdown to D-Day is a 2004 American television film originally aired on the American television channel A&E, directed by Robert Harmon and written by Lionel Chetwynd. Countdown to D-Day was filmed entirely in New Zealand with the roles of British characters played by New Zealanders; the American roles were played by Americans.
Tom Selleck portrays General Dwight D. Eisenhower, US Army, popularly known by his nickname of "Ike". The film deals with the difficult decisions he made leading to up to D-Day, including dealing with the varied personalities of his command: Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley, US Army (James Remar), Lieutenant General George S. Patton, US Army (Gerald McRaney), General Bernard Montgomery, British Army (Bruce Phillips) and General Charles de Gaulle, Free French (George Shevtsov).
The film does not have action sequences, focusing instead on the inner workings of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force that led to the successful D-Day invasion of World War II. Concentrating on decisions actually made by Eisenhower and the pressures brought to bear on him personally, it includes his personal relationship with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Ian Mune) and his own Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith, US Army (Timothy Bottoms).
The film is also notable for being the only major production in which General Montgomery's portrayal concentrates on his role as a competent military professional, instead of focusing on his alleged personality disorders, while still showing his eccentricities. General Patton's complex personality is also outlined in a very brief set of scenes played by Gerald McRaney.
The film omits Ike's relationship with Kay Summersby, his driver, though she appears briefly in a scene where the general officers are viewing movie reels. She is also portrayed as his driver when Ike visits US paratroopers on the eve of D-Day.
Churchill incorrectly refers to the Combined Bomber Offensive as "saturation bombing," an anachronistic term that can only be accurately applied to RAF Bomber Command. The period term was "area bombing."
The opening scene suggests that Great Britain and the United States had not seriously considered the possibility of a supreme allied commander prior to planning the D-Day invasion. In fact, appointing supreme commanders for the various theaters was seen as a given as it had proved beneficial in the last days of World War I with the appointment of Ferdinand Foch in 1918 over the Allied forces in Western Europe. The reason Eisenhower's appointment took some negotiation was the fact that the original supreme commander for the European Theater of Operations, Frank Maxwell Andrews, was killed in an airplane crash.
The scene at the end of the film showing the visit to the 101st airborne troops is presented to the viewer as being on June 6, 1944. This particular gathering took place on the eve of D-Day on June 5, 1944, prior to the take-off to France. The airborne phase of Overlord began late in the evening of June 5 and into the early hours of June 6. Thus by daylight on June 6 Allied airborne troops were already on the ground in France.
The film incorrectly talks about "DD" -- "duplex drive landing craft." No landing craft had DD drive. The "DD's" actually were Sherman tanks modified with a waterproof underbody and skirt, allowing the tank to float in calm water, and a propeller to propel the tank from LCT launching craft to shore. On Omaha, most of them sank in rough seas, meaning the troops on the beach had no armored support. The raid by German torpedo boats on a large practice landing did happen, but did not involve DD (duplex drive craft) and was extensively "hushed up." See Exercise Tiger Tanks were deployed in Exercise Tiger, at least one being sunk during the German attack. It's now a War memorial at Slapton Ley, Devon, England, where the Exercise was conducted.
Contrary to the film, LST's (landing ship tank) were not used on the initial hours of D-Day; they came in after the beaches were secured.
General Montgomery's "dagger like thrust" into Berlin wasn't presented to Eisenhower before D-Day, it was part of his plan for operations following the breakout of Normandy and was presented during the first week of September. In fact the landings were enlarged from three beaches to five by Montgomery.
In the film, Churchill said "no-one in Britain lives more than 150 miles from the sea". In fact, it's 65 miles.
Historical accuracy
The movie accurately depicts the incident which nearly torpedoed Overlord. In a drunken scene at a restaurant, Major General Henry Jervis Friese Miller — a West Point classmate of Eisenhower and his chief of the Materiel Command, USAFE — blurted out the general time and place of Overlord. A lieutenant of the 101st Airborne overheard this and reported it up the chain of command. Miller was sent home in his permanent establishment rank of Colonel. Lt. Gen. Bedell Smith spoke to the lieutenant and reported that the officer felt bad about doing what he did, but that he was worried enough about the lives of his men on the day they went to war without letting the Germans know when and where. Eisenhower on hearing this said the officer was better than Miller. He told Miller that it was their longstanding friendship that prevented him from court-martialing him.
The film also makes reference to a message composed by Eisenhower to be given to the press corps in the event the invasion failed. This message was found, years later, in a pocket of General Eisenhower's old uniform. In this speech, Eisenhower accepted full responsibility for any failure of the assault.
In the US Armed Forces at the time, general officer ranks were not always permanent and many were temporarily granted to senior officers through the use of Army of the United States ranks. This was comparable to the National Army in World War I, and the Volunteer Army in wars of the 19th Century; it was not the same as brevetting which could occur in the Regular Army, the Volunteer Army, or the National Army, but had become less common after Senate confirmation for brevet ranks became required. This situation was necessary because of the massive expansion of the Army for the war. The Regular Army numbered a few hundred thousand, but the combination of the Regular Army, the National Guard, and the Army of the United States peaked at over 8 million in the summer of 1944, creating a need for a significant number of senior officers, much more than required by the Regular Army itself. When relieved of an assignment requiring the higher rank (either for cause or simply a transfer), the officer would return to his rank in the Regular Army. As Bedell Smith put it: "You'd lose your theater rank. They'll take three of those stars." Miller was sent home in his regular rank of Colonel. (In the movie, however, it is Omar Bradley that tells Ike he would lose three of those stars, right before they begin discussing the composition of the sand on the Normandy beaches).
There was indeed a shortage of Higgins boats (LCVP).
Unlike many movies and written accounts of the Normandy invasion, the movie accurately references the role of the Canadian First Army (Juno Beach) instead of simply rolling it into a generic reference to the "British". The accuracy extends to appropriate use of the Canadian Red Ensign (the flag in use at the time) rather than the current maple leaf flag.
