Holman Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Today is the 67th anniversary of Operation Overlord. While we all just got CMBN and are happily playing at war, this would be a good time to remember the real event and the sacrifices involved. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
para Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Here here i was at work this am and i mentioned it and nobody even knew. Depressing really. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGarner Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Good post. I was just coming here to post something as well. http://www.army.mil/d-day/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnsy Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Hear hear, we have much to be thankful for. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zukkov Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 a moment of silence for those poor bastards on omaha beach.... was it just a planning fubar that that the navy didn't put some craters on the beach? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agua Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 God bless and thanks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magpie_Oz Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 It was a lot of FUBAR's in conjunction. Point is they made it ashore and ....... well we know the rest. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaxial Puppet Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 67 years ago today my grandfather experienced combat for the first time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt Schultz Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 It was a bad day at the office for the Allies, but a worse one for the Reich. Raise a cup to our fallen troops. - 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taras Bulba Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Tonight would be a good night to re-watch "Saving Private Ryan". ... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jief Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Here here i was at work this am and i mentioned it and nobody even knew. Depressing really. Same way here... But somes remember at less 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredrock1957 Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 A toast to all allied forces that participated, may the fallen rest in peace. Here here i was at work this am and i mentioned it and nobody even knew. Depressing really. It really is a shame that many younger people have no clue about June 6th or for that matter even WWII. I asked my step-daughter (she will be a senor this upcoming year) about what she learned about WWII in her History Class. Her quote was; "It was in the 1940's and a lot of people died" I asked if she learned anything else about it... nahh.... Think I will make her watch 10 episodes of Band of Brothers today with the surround sound cranked up... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejetset Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 A toast to a truly amazing human endeavor. And another toast that something similar shall never have to be repeated .... but that might be asking too much I'm afraid. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scipio Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Let us don't forget the German soldiers that died that day and do there very best to make that day worth several great computer games, if nothing else... Seriously, they were great soldiers, too, with the unlucky fate to fight for the 'other' side. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Ah yes, this is the Swedish national day in commemoration of the birthday of Finnish Marshall Mannerheim, who was actually born on June 4th but it took two days to inform the Swedes. Skål! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjelus Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Let us don't forget the German soldiers that died that day and do there very best to make that day worth several great computer games, if nothing else... Seriously, they were great soldiers, too, with the unlucky fate to fight for the 'other' side. The German soldiers in my mind are worth as much remembrance as anyone else. Particularly on the Eastern Front their story drives home the dangers of what can happen when government runs amok. One of my biggest peeves in the world is when people refer to wehrmacht soldiers as "Nazis", as if Hans from Munich or had any say in the matter. I think that's one of the reasons I study the ostfront so much, apart from being the largest war in history it really is a case study of two evil governments fighting each other to the death. Anyway, no matter which perspective you see it from it's all one of history's great tragedies. D-Day is worth remembering, a lot of people from my country (U.S.) and other Allied nations were killed in Normandy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cull Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Just finished Balkoski's "Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Division in Normandy". What hell they went through on D-Day, crossing the Elle, capturing St. Lo, and otherwise. Feeling pretty reverent today... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatmasta Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Ah yes, this is the Swedish national day in commemoration of the birthday of Finnish Marshall Mannerheim, who was actually born on June 4th but it took two days to inform the Swedes. Skål! Wasn't it 1-6 days before they were informed? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnergoz Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Yep, a day to remember all right. I'll wager not 5% of my countrymen do though. Unfortunate, that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejetset Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 The German soldiers in my mind are worth as much remembrance as anyone else. Particularly on the Eastern Front their story drives home the dangers of what can happen when government runs amok. One of my biggest peeves in the world is when people refer to wehrmacht soldiers as "Nazis", as if Hans from Munich or had any say in the matter. I think that's one of the reasons I study the ostfront so much, apart from being the largest war in history it really is a case study of two evil governments fighting each other to the death. Here here ... And if we could only collectively learn from that maybe there is a chance that something similar won't have to be repeated. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theFightingSeabee Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Thank God for their sacrifices! If they had not been able to do what they did, the world would have been much worse off. Not one man fired in vain that day. Thank you allied troops! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wokelly Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 The German soldiers in my mind are worth as much remembrance as anyone else. Particularly on the Eastern Front their story drives home the dangers of what can happen when government runs amok. One of my biggest peeves in the world is when people refer to wehrmacht soldiers as "Nazis", as if Hans from Munich or had any say in the matter. I think that's one of the reasons I study the ostfront so much, apart from being the largest war in history it really is a case study of two evil governments fighting each other to the death. Anyway, no matter which perspective you see it from it's all one of history's great tragedies. D-Day is worth remembering, a lot of people from my country (U.S.) and other Allied nations were killed in Normandy. I respectfully disagree, at least in terms of remembering German soldiers in the same esteem as Allied ones. I do feel bad that German soldiers fought and lost comrades for a cause that in hindsight turned out to be without honor or morality. However given the tens of thousands of Germans who were rewarded with death or time in a concentration camp for refusing to go along with the Nazi's (ie Sophie Scholl, Konrad Adenauer), I find it hard to hold the men who fought for the Nazi's in the same esteem as those who fought against them, be them men of the allied nations or German resistors. I have no doubt where I would stand if put in a similar situation, after thinking about it quite hard I do not think I would have the moral courage to stand up against an evil government widely accepted by my country. That is what makes me respect those Germans who did resist so much, because I know I probably would be unable to do so if put in the same situation. Those who went along with the show don't score well (regardless if they were really nazi's or not), even if I probably would have been one of them in similar circumstances. I'd go on but this thread is not about Nazi ideology and its acceptance to the German people (even if I have a strong view on the subject), so I do not want to hijack the thread about D-day. This rationale is however for why I will pay my respect to Allied soldiers of D-day, and probably even more respect for German resistors, but I will not give similar respect to the German soldiers. I do pass on my sympathy for those Germans who suffered and lost comrades or loved ones on this day, quite an unfair situation many of them found themselves in. Still I personally feel it demeans the sacrifice of those Germans who had the courage (and who often paid the ultimate price) to resist Hitler by commending those Germans who went along with the Nazi's (maybe not their crimes but still "fought for their country"). That's my opinion anyways. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Just so y'all know, you can listen to the complete NBC broadcast day of June 6, 1944 here: http://www.archive.org/details/NBCCompleteBroadcastDDay And CBS's coverage here: http://www.archive.org/details/Complete_Broadcast_Day_D-Day It's like a time machine. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Still I personally feel it demeans the sacrifice of those Germans who had the courage (and who often paid the ultimate price) to resist Hitler by commending those Germans who went along with the Nazi's (maybe not their crimes but still "fought for their country"). That's my opinion anyways. It's pretty pointless to argue about who of the front soldiers was morally superior. Were they all comparable to Jesus at a personal level? Certainly not, on any side - Jesus was a horrend to all generals. Did some commit serious crimes? Certainly, on both sides, and some units and some leaders were in particular responsible for horrible deeds. But I find it wrong to simplify the WW2 and everything in it to a one-dimensional battle between good and evil. The US, British, Canadian, Polish, French and other Allied soldiers who died in Normandy on 6th June 1944 died for their countries, but they also died for Josif Stalin who was just as brutal as any of the Nazis, but who happened to be in war against Germany at the right time. Meanwhile, democratic Finland, which Stalin invaded without provocation in 1939, had taken her chances of taking back the lost territories in 1941, but the western Allies gave their pledge to this land grab, just like they let Stalin occupy Czechoslovakia later. All I'm saying is, it's not as simple as what you think. People fought in the war, some honourably, some disgraced themselves. But when we are judging them as men, it shouldn't matter if they were fighting for a 'good' cause. I refuse to accept that my ancestors were evil just because they were Finnish patriots, which seems to be your point. Meanwhile Red Army soldiers, even the commissars executing their own men, would get a free pass? Or the US and other Allied soldiers who wilfully ignored Stalin's crimes while they were assisting him? A recruit doesn't have a say on what their government is doing. They likely don't even understand all of its implications. And it can't be understood because historians argue about such matters even today. But what they can do is act humanely, be responsible of their own acts. War and humanity can be self-contradicting terms, so it's vague what that actually should mean. But surely, knowingly murdering people who are at your mercy is evil. If we take the acceptance of that to mean that someone is a good man, then we can say that a good man dying for a good cause is not an inch higher than a good man dying for a bad cause. On the other hand, at the political level the issue is different. I think we can all be grateful that the invasion on that day succeeded, as otherwise the fall of Nazism would have taken many more human lives. But mind me if I'm grateful that my country resisted a foreign occupation that same year... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchy Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Many years ago I was fortunate to visit the area. I walked the beach and imagined the Germans spraying the area while the troops rushed ashore. I just shook my head and tried to comprehend the horror they faced...I raise a glass to all of them that stepped off those landing craft and began the long, bloody march into Germany. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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