Captain Klaus Mueller (Tino Struckmann, GROUPIE) is injured on the Russian Front and sent to Normandy to recover. Field Marshall Rommel (Buck Brown) decides that Mueller's tactical experience will be of use in shoring up the Western Front, but Mueller immediately clashes with Gestapo officer Brahms (Damian Chapa, STREETFIGHTER). Mueller is overjoyed to discover that his fiancee Klaudia (Claudia Crawford, CHAINED: CODE 207) is stationed at a local hospital, but her father Schiller (John Courtney) - who has been drafted and is selling supplies on the black market to the French - still disapproves of their union. When Brahms arrests Schiller and presses Klaudia to become his mistress, Mueller decides he must get Klaudia transferred out of Normandy and - with the covert assistance of General Franks (Jack Dimich, DON'T LOOK UP) - infiltrate Gestapo headquarters to break out her father. Mueller gets Schiller to French allies but he and Klaudia are captured by Brahams. The D-Day invasion finds the lovers caught between the Allies and the Gestapo (particularly the ruthless Brahms).

Although it never entirely convinces as a period piece or a sprawling action epic (despite the large cast), NORMANDY - originally titled RED ROSE OF NORMANDY - is impressively mounted for the budget. A lot of effort seems to have gone into the selection of locations (filming took place largely in Alabama and Tennessee), costumes, and props (although one background van looks more Woodstock than camouflage). Performances are all over the place (as are the accents) but everyone seems to be taking it seriously (Struckmann is better here than in his self-financed quickie follow-up action flick CHAINED: CODE 207, but co-star Dimich is less entertaining here than as the over-the-top villain of that film). The battle scenes are pretty well done for the budget, but the CGI explosions and gunfire are atrocious as usual. The HD cinematography is well-composed but still possesses a cheap DTV sheen despite the application of filmlook-type grain to the image (the whites and background skies usually look simply blown-out rather than bleached). Struckmann is also credited as playing Captain Klaus Mueller in a 2009 WWII film called BROTHER'S WAR, but this is not another retitling as it has a different cast - Dimich also appears here but in a different role - and is directed by Jerry Buteyn.