The Longest Day Quotes

[Coded radio message to the French Resistance]

Radio announcer: There is fire at the travel agency.

[a coded message to the Resistance, spoken in French]

Radio Announcer: Wounds my heart with a monotonous languor.

[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.

[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.

[upon landing on beach]

Private Flanagan: Come on out, you dirty slobs! Flanagan's back!

[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.

Mayor of Colleville: [meeting the British on the beach] Welcome; welcome, friends. I brought champagne, but I do know think it will be enough for all of you.

Lord Lovat: Quite alright. We have a pressing engagement; the war. Move inland.

[to his bagpiper]

Lord Lovat: Millen, Blue Bonnett!

[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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

[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.

[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.

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.

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!

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.

[Last Lines]

Brigadier General Norman Cota: Okay, run me up the hill, son.

Pvt. Dutch Schultz: 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?