I'm a WW buff and read and watch all kinds of stuff on what I think is the most interesting and important period of world history. I watched a documentary last night on the hunt for Holocaust engineer of death Adolph Eichmann. I also just finished the movie Battle of the Bulge for something like the third or fourth time.
The invasion is one of the most important events in world history. It's an awesome story of courage by tens of thousands of brave soldiers who sacrificed (in many cases) their lives for our way of live against a horrible, evil enemy. I think everyone should stop today and say a prayer (if you're so inclined) or give a moment of thanks for these brave soldiers. Without their sacrifice, we might be speaking German or Japanese today and living under tyranny.
Thanks to those men and women who fought for us! I, for one, will never, ever forget.
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I would add that it was a plan that on the surface could be considered zany and doomed to fail, but poor leadership by Hitler, the Nazi intelligence organization and the brilliance of bodyguard, made sure that the German's couldn't bring their heavy formations to bear on the beaches.
On top of that the allied air bombings could be classified as a disaster as was the allied to shore bombardment.
By all logic Ike should have been releasing his failure letter at the end of the day, instead one critical mistake by the German's and a healthy fear of Hitler by his staff officers doomed the Reich to lasting a mere decade and a half instead of a 1000 years.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
This is one of the most dramatic songs of any genre I've ever heard. There's videos on youtube of the song synched up with the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan (look 'em up), but listen without visual first (watch the movie your brain projects).
No one but Iron Maiden could make this work so well:
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"If Javex is your muse…then dive in buddy"
I'm a WW buff and read and watch all kinds of stuff on what I think is the most interesting and important period of world history. I watched a documentary last night on the hunt for Holocaust engineer of death Adolph Eichmann
What's that doc called, would like to see it.
I watched Hitler's Children about a month back
Quote:
Adolf Hitler did not have children, but what about the families of Goering, Himmler and Frank, to name a few? What is it like for the descendants of these top Nazi officials to deal with the terrifying legacy of their notorious families? Hitler's Children introduces us to sons, daughters, grandchildren, nieces and nephews of these infamous men
I would add that it was a plan that on the surface could be considered zany and doomed to fail, but poor leadership by Hitler, the Nazi intelligence organization and the brilliance of bodyguard, made sure that the German's couldn't bring their heavy formations to bear on the beaches.
On top of that the allied air bombings could be classified as a disaster as was the allied to shore bombardment.
By all logic Ike should have been releasing his failure letter at the end of the day, instead one critical mistake by the German's and a healthy fear of Hitler by his staff officers doomed the Reich to lasting a mere decade and a half instead of a 1000 years.
Yeah, thankfully the Germans were so focused on Calais. So much so that they delayed reacting thinking it was a trick. I wonder how the invasion would have went if they had to face the armour right away.
I thought there would be more on this today but I guess next years is the big one.
If you are interested I would advise following the infantry regiments history (Winnipegs, Reginas etc) as they fought on in Normandy straight after dday - an often overlooked period that was far costlier and harder
Yeah, thankfully the Germans were so focused on Calais. So much so that they delayed reacting thinking it was a trick. I wonder how the invasion would have went if they had to face the armour right away.
Here was a big issue and I'm going off of memory.
On the morning of June 6th Rommel called the German high command asking them for permission to move a reserve force of tanks to the beaches, he knew what was coming. The command staff refused to wake Hitler up since Hitler was convinced that the attack was coming elsewhere, and arguing with Hitler usually got you a bullet or a one way trip to the Eastern front.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
On the morning of June 6th Rommel called the German high command asking them for permission to move a reserve force of tanks to the beaches, he knew what was coming. The command staff refused to wake Hitler up since Hitler was convinced that the attack was coming elsewhere, and arguing with Hitler usually got you a bullet or a one way trip to the Eastern front.
If it wasn't for Rommel the majority of those defenses wouldn't even have been there. Those beaches were virtually undefended until he got there in 1943 and began constructing bunkers, tank traps etc.
I walked the whole length of Juno Beach a few summers ago and it was an amazing experience. It was especially interesting physically seeing something I had studied and written countless university papers on in person. I couldn't imagine having to attack over that kind of ground against fixed positions.
From what I remember reading the German command structure in Normandy was chaotic at best; certainly Schweppenburg (sp?) and Rommel wanted to meet any attack on the beaches but it wasn't just Hitler who was against attacking the beaches immediately.
Von Runstedt (Rommels superior in the West) and other far more respected generals favoured a slower approach to see if Calais was about to happen.
Albeit being half German, born there and spent my first four years there I'm grateful for all those brave men and women that were willing to stand up to the Nazi's.
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Thank you for everything CP. Good memories and thankful for everything that has been done to help me out. I will no longer take part on these boards. Take care, Go Flames Go.
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Thank you for everything CP. Good memories and thankful for everything that has been done to help me out. I will no longer take part on these boards. Take care, Go Flames Go.
An unpretentious little, grey haired man used to work as our mail guy in our downtown office, in the background most of the time. He had an odd wobble in his walk. Nice guy.
He went ashore on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944.
Ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
Cowperson
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Thanks for the heads up about Hitler's Children, somehow I missed that. I know I'm way behind the times, but last month I finally got around to starting the 10 part WWII in HD mini-series I've had collecting dust on my PVR for 2 years, I can't believe I waited that long. If you haven't seen it, it is un-freaking-believable. Unreal footage, and extremely moving. Just finished the finale yesterday, I was saving it for the D-Day anniversary. Highly recommend.
I've always been proud of how on D-Day, the Canadians at Juno beach made it further inland than any other beach, to the point where they actually had to turn around because they had gone too far. Awesome
On the morning of June 6th Rommel called the German high command asking them for permission to move a reserve force of tanks to the beaches, he knew what was coming. The command staff refused to wake Hitler up since Hitler was convinced that the attack was coming elsewhere, and arguing with Hitler usually got you a bullet or a one way trip to the Eastern front.
Hitler loved movies and was known for watching them late into the night, then sleeping in and you'd better not wake him up before noon. He also loved to have coffee with his secretaries. These diversions contributed to some of his absences and probably to his questionable decision making during key points in the war. Thank God he was an idiot who had idiot habits.
69th anniversary of dday
