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One of the biggest concerns of the Allied planners was the weather. The weather in northwest Europe is very changeable even in summer and the weeks leading up to the invasion date were unseasonable and stormy. Poor weather could have delayed or even disrupted the invasion, the Allies needed calm weather. The movie captures accurately the importance of the weather breaking on June 6th and how pivotal it proved to be. Another fact that the movie got right was the debate among Hitler and his commanders about the location of the invasion. This debate lends some drama to the otherwise slow opening of the film.
It movie also accurately shows how the Germans believed, that the landings would take place at Calais.<ref> Ryan, p. 11</ref>. They are shown as being utterly taken a-back by the landings at Normandy which was the case, except for . Only General Erwin Rommel who believed that a landing in that area was a possibility. The movie also brilliantly captures how the Germans were unable to counter-attack. Hitler is not shown in the movie but the audience is informed, in some dialogue that he is sleeping through the initial stages of the invasion. No one could act without Hitler’s consent and his officers were too afraid to wake him. This was to fatefully delay the counter-attack that had been planned by Rommel. The Desert Fox is shown very sympathetically in Zanuck’s movie. In the opening scene, he gives the line that the day of the invasion would be the longest day. The German general did in fact state that ‘for the Germans and the allies it will indeed be the longest day.’<ref> Ryan, p. 12</ref> However, the film is inaccurate when it shows Rommel already conspiring with others to remove Hitler from power, although by June 1944 he was certainly disillusioned with the Fuhrer.
==== Landings on the beaches====
