Continuity mistake: Near the start, Oberst Helmuth Meyer enters, wearing a long leather coat, which is dry. A few seconds later he turns away in another shot and the back of his coat is covered with rain drops. Shortly after that, he's shown again facing the camera and his coat is lightly sprinkled with rain drops, which weren't there in the earlier front view. (00:06:20)
Character mistake: When Rommel leaves his French headquarters for Germany on June 5th for his wife's birthday on the next day, he erroneously states that date as 6th of July (pronounced yoo-lee), not June (pronounced yoo-nee). (00:29:30)
Audio problem: In the scene with Henry Fonda, as he leaves the ward room on one of the ships approaching the Normandy coast, you can hear the pilot in the background repeating an order for a course of 310 degrees, this would be heading north-west and not south towards Normandy. (01:33:15)
Factual error: The U.S. Paratrooper uses his "clicker", and the German answers with a "double" click-click - click-click. The Paratrooper stands up, and the German soldier shoots twice with his Mauser K98 without pulling back the bolt between shots, which is impossible.
Suggested correction: There could have been another German soldier present who fired as well.
Factual error: French commando Philippe Kieffer is wearing the ribbon of the Military Cross throughout the film. He was actually awarded the MC in July 1944, a month after D-Day.
Factual error: As the British prepare to march inland following the capture of Sword Beach, Lord Lovat tells piper Bill Millin to play "The Bluebells of Scotland," but Millin instead plays "The Black Bear." Additionally, he can be heard playing the same tune during the landing, but the real Bill Millin did not play that song on D-Day.
Factual error: The ribbon of Richard Burton's Distinguished Flying Cross is on upside down. The Air Force Cross following it is the right way up. The stripes on both should point the same way, as they do on the uniform of his colleague in the mess. Nobody would be allowed to get away with a mistake like this - another officer or senior NCO would soon point it out. In addition, as a long-service veteran (his colleague says he served in the Battle of Britain) he should be wearing the ribbon of the 1939-1944 Star (as it was then), which was issued to all qualified personnel from 1943.
Factual error: The caption says that Major Werner Pluskat is in the 352nd Coast Artillery Division. He was actually an artillery officer in the 352nd Infantry Division.
Other mistake: In the early part of the movie, Rommel is addressing his Officers on the Atlantic Wall. The "mid-shots" and "close-ups" are shot against a back projection. Rommel turns to view the sea/horizon and the view is exactly the same as their "mid-shots". The effect is a horrendous "jump-cut".
Factual error: When Ike and the other leaders are deciding to either invade the next day or postpone the invasion, a jet plane can be heard loudly passing by through the open window. The only jet aircraft in service in the UK was the Gloster Meteor, which was developed in top secrecy; its first flight over London was on 21 July 1944, some six weeks after D Day. The experimental Gloster E28 jet preceded the Meteor but was also kept a top secret and was never flown over London.
Factual error: The landing craft bringing the troops ashore have PA-44 on the side. USS Fremont was in fact in the Pacific at the time, participating in the Saipan landing 10 days after D-Day.
Factual error: Before Obertsleutnant Priller and Unteroffizier Wodarczyk attack the allies, the stock footage shown is incorrect. In reality, they flew FW-190's on that mission.
Factual error: The paratroopers in the film are wearing infantry boots, i.e., short ones with a buckle-on ankle-protector rather than a one-piece that protects the ankle from breaking on impact.
Factual error: In the scene that introduces MG James M. Gavin, the wings on his uniform appears to be the Senior Parachutist Badge (official term for the wings), which has a star just above the parachute. The problem is that the Senior and Master rating was not approved until 1949 by the Department of Army.
Continuity mistake: Shadow of the dolly against the smoke of battle during the invasion of Omaha beach. The direction of the shadow and the geography of the beach indicate that this scene, while set at dawn, was filmed in the afternoon.
Factual error: When John Wayne has a compound fracture diagnosis, the medic looks at John's foot with an uncovered light. Medics and soldiers were trained to use rain coats or anything available to block any light that they needed to use, to avoid drawing enemy fire. Furthermore, a compound fracture is supposed to mean that broken bone is protruding through the skin. John Wayne's skin is intact.
Factual error: When one of the Paratroopers gets hung up on a church roof, he reaches for what should be an M3 Trench Knife on his right boot. But if you look closely, it appears to be an M1 Carbine bayonet. This is not only the wrong knife, but M1 Carbines didn't have bayonet lugs until late 1945, if not until Korea.
Continuity mistake: Sgt. Fuller's stripes disappear (actually one stripe is hanging from his uniform) as he is running with the detonation wire. They reappear in perfect place when he is about to detonate the first charge.
Continuity mistake: The German General Pemsel says, "Wir haben starke RADAR-storungen," which means "we have strong radar interference." In 1944, the word "radar" was not used in Germany, and quite likely not even known. The Germans used a comparable system, called "FunkmeBgerate," which basically means "radio measuring equipment."
Suggested correction: IMDb ripoff.
This has been online since 2001 (hover over the info icon). More likely someone copied it from here and posted it to the IMDb!
Factual error: The film exaggerates the carnage at Ste Mere Eglise. In this battle sequence, the U.S. paratroopers of F company (from John Wayne's battalion) of the 82nd airborne are mown down like ninepins as they parachute into the square of the village which is swarming with German troops. In reality, only about thirty troopers landed in or around the square and less than a dozen were killed or wounded, not the whole company as the film suggests.
