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English 
Русский Even from a moral standpoint, the resilience of the German army was at its limit, and the entire General Staff was aware that nothing could any longer change the course of the war. The conflict was lost. Goebbels therefore sent editors a long and complex directive in order to control and shape every account of the situation. The first aspect to contain concerned the stability of the fronts, and for this reason the ministry presented a completely fabricated reading of the war scenario, even though the imminent collapse was apparent. First and foremost, D-Day was drowned in a barrage of considerations about other sectors of the conflict, beginning with blatant lies about the situation in Italy:
The Fronts — The long attempts by the Anglo-Americans to isolate and encircle German troops in southern Italy have yet to succeed; there our enemies have paid an enormous blood price without achieving any strategically significant gain, and now they must supply Rome, a city of two million people, after failing to provide adequate food to Naples and Palermo. Rome will be a particularly unpleasant political burden for them. The cauldron found in Naples will heat up even more in Rome, which they hoped to capture a year ago. Their entry into the city, which we voluntarily evacuated to protect its invaluable cultural treasures, offers no further strategic advantages. Since our opponent's offensive in Italy has not led to a decisive success, on orders from Moscow they have now begun an Atlantic offensive: the Anglo-American attack along the Channel had been expected for months. The Bolsheviks maintain their positions in the east, waiting to see what happens. They face a well-prepared German-Romanian defensive position, reinforced at certain points.
Nothing in the outlined scenario corresponded to reality, especially from a strategic standpoint. Goebbels then downplayed the situation in the Channel, concealing the German collapse, minimizing the effects and scope of the Allied landing in France, and declaring the army ready for an imminent western escalation:
Normandy — The world's attention is focused on the Atlantic coast after the enemy used all its propaganda capabilities to attempt an invasion long expected for months. Its beginning is relatively modest. So far, it does not suggest a truly large-scale invasion, although there may still be further attacks and landing attempts. The undertaking has gained only a small amount of ground at an extraordinarily high cost. The enemy's large-scale parachute landings have all failed, and the divisions that landed have been destroyed. According to the first reports from English troops, the German defense was strong. English war correspondents report that the Anglo-American troops are facing a veritable hell. Even if after the first days we can remain calm and confident, as we look to the future this is not the time to be overly optimistic, because our opponent knows that much more is at stake than this particular landing. He will make every effort to succeed, and the battle can only grow harsher. We expect a general storm and we know how to face it. The slogan to be conveyed is: «Be serious, ready for anything, confident in our readiness for battle». This must be the general tone of German magazines in the coming days.
The ministry insisted on the duty of journalists to instill in German readers «confidence in victory at the decisive hour». This line would remain until the very end of the Reich. The invasion was reduced to a mere demonstration of the ongoing conspiracy, and the population, strengthened and awakened by Hitler, was expected to react, because the landing in Normandy could indeed be the turning point of the war—but in favor of Nazism.
