Post: #1

Today was the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

It's been covered a lot on the news already, but here's a little something:

If you've ever heard an MG42 firing in real life, you won't forget it. It's an absolutely terrifying sound:





That's what those guys had to walk into (in addition to mines and artillery, and all the rest).

Post: #2

My Grandfather was drafted in World War II he helped liberate the camps.

Post: #3

(06-06-2014 10:44 PM)RexImperator Wrote:  



That's what those guys had to walk into (in addition to mines and artillery, and all the rest).

The men who did so have more stones than I ever will. That was the reason why so many thousands of them dropped like flies before ever proceeding beyond the beaches. To have been one of the paratroopers that jumped or glided over on the night of the 5th, the Commandos of 6 CDO that secured Pegasus Bridge, the Dutch and Royal Marines who secured Sword Beach or the 75th Rangers that assaulted Pointe du Hoc was a terror-evoking experience that I could never begin to comprehend.

And each and very one who contributed towards this vital nail in the coffin of Nazi Germany deserve nothing but my complete and utter gratitude. From the line troops that bore the frontal brunt of the Axis defences (noting that not all the Axis defenders at Normandy were German) to the Artillerymen, Engineers and Signallers that ensured the presence of the landing force, to the Air Forces and Navies that provided aerial and marine support; to the men and women labouring in the factories and the headquarters staff pushing paper, I thank you for your efforts in liberating every square metre of European soil from Nazi oppression up to the Elbe River.

Because it is also important to note that that liberation meant one that was free not just from the grip of Nazism, but from another form of tyranny heading westward. For the peoples of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia, Romania and East Germany there was no to be no such reprieve from the prior 6 years of bloodshed. No democratic, infrastructural and economic reconstruction like the freed peoples of Western and Southern Europe. For the brave Free Czech, Polish and Yugoslav troops fighting under the aegis of their Western Allies, they were to return as political outcasts to unwelcoming homelands of a dark, new world order; or not at all, as refugees towards those nations that had given them a fighting chances those years prior.
Many thousands of their countrymen and women found safe refuge in the free nations of the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand among others. They were given the chance to live their lives, afresh, under the democratic prosperity to cruelly denied at the Yalta and Tehran Conferences. Many of their descendants still flourish here to this day.

I'm adding this light on the anniversary of D-Day because if not for the Western Allies opening a third front, if not for the massive land presence complementing that on the Italian Campaign, the forces of Marshal Stalin, having annihilated the cream of Hitler's Panzer Armies at Operations Zitadelle and Bagration, would've enjoyed virtually unimpeded access towards the Atlantic. Continental Europe would've faced a near-total union under Soviet tyranny, quashing any easy chances for those millions to find safe haven in the West.

While I have no ancestral ties to D-Day itself, it's important to note the moral and physical impetus, no matter how indirect, it gave the Allies to liberate the peoples of South East Asia from Japanese tyranny. The occupation is still fresh in the minds of my grandparents and I am grateful for the eventual chance they found for their country to be transitioned from a British colony to later independence.

Lest We Forget.

Post: #4

Great pics

Awesome footage:



And of course:

Post: #5

2nd and 5th Rangers attacked Point du Hoc. I highly recommend going there if you can... it's almost unbelievable that the Rangers scaled the cliffs and then destroyed the guns.

Post: #6

So thats why i was watching band of brothers yesterxay. Cpt. Winters is the shit.

Post: #7

(06-07-2014 02:09 AM)Belize King Wrote:  So thats why i was watching band of brothers yesterxay. Cpt. Winters is the shit.

If you haven't read his book, do so. It's excellent.

Post: #8

This article about D-Day really resonated with me.

Post: #9

D-Day prevented Soviet hegemony and Communist dictatorship. It was more important that the Allies stopped Stalin than Hitler. This is why it was one of the most pivotal moments of the 20th Century and its impact can still be felt today in the relative prosperity of Western Europe vis-a-vis Eastern Europe. Truly hats off for all those who fought for freedom and liberty.

Post: #10

In the movie "Too Big to Fail", about the 08 crash there's a scene in the movie that references D-Day that I've begun to use when I hear someone bitching about stress and unhappiness. I don't know if this quote was actually said, but nonetheless I respect it. Though I don't respect Lloyd Blankfein who says it.

Blankfein and his young assistant pull up to the New York Fed. Assistant says to Blankfein, "I don't know if I can take another day of this". Blankfein responds, "Oh please, you're getting out of a Mercedes to go to the New York Federal Reserve, it's not like you're 19 years old getting out of a Higgins Boat on Omaha Beach." I implanted the part about being 19 years old for my own liking.

Talk about putting things in perspective when times get tough. Hats off to the men of the greatest generation who had the balls of steel to go up against such odds.

Post: #11

We shall never forget.

Ultimate respect to those brave motherfuckers.

Post: #12

(06-07-2014 04:33 AM)Spectrumwalker Wrote:  In the movie "Too Big to Fail", about the 08 crash there's a scene in the movie that references D-Day that I've begun to use when I hear someone bitching about stress and unhappiness. I don't know if this quote was actually said, but nonetheless I respect it. Though I don't respect Lloyd Blankfein who says it.

Blankfein and his young assistant pull up to the New York Fed. Assistant says to Blankfein, "I don't know if I can take another day of this". Blankfein responds, "Oh please, you're getting out of a Mercedes to go to the New York Federal Reserve, it's not like you're 19 years old getting out of a Higgins Boat on Omaha Beach." I implanted the part about being 19 years old for my own liking.

Talk about putting things in perspective when times get tough. Hats off to the men of the greatest generation who had the balls of steel to go up against such odds.

The day I listen to a banker about war will be the day when I see one put on a uniform and pick up a rifle to fight rather than fighting for war profits by investing in the blood of other parents' sons.

Post: #13

(06-07-2014 02:27 AM)Que enspastic Wrote:  D-Day prevented Soviet hegemony and Communist dictatorship. It was more important that the Allies stopped Stalin than Hitler. This is why it was one of the most pivotal moments of the 20th Century and its impact can still be felt today in the relative prosperity of Western Europe vis-a-vis Eastern Europe. Truly hats off for all those who fought for freedom and liberty.

I have never understood this argument for several reasons:

*If it wasn't for the allies (especially the Americans), Hitler would have managed to push Stalin into Asia and cleared Eastern Europe and European Russia from Communism;

*Stalin who was bearing the brunt of WW2 (the European war for the western Allies was from its start to Dunkirk, then D-Day to VE-Day with a skirmish in North Africa in between) against most of the Axis powers wanted an Allied invasion of Europe to come earlier;

*Montgomery and Patton wanted to march on Berlin with utmost haste to get there before the Soviets but Eisenhower overruled this favouring a more methodical wide front to push the Germans back.

Post: #14

The day I listen to a banker about war will be the day when I see one put on a uniform and pick up a rifle to fight rather than fighting for war profits by investing in the blood of other parents' sons.
[/quote]

Couldn't agree with you more. I still like the quote.

Post: #15

(06-07-2014 04:58 AM)N°6 Wrote:  

(06-07-2014 02:27 AM)Que enspastic Wrote:  D-Day prevented Soviet hegemony and Communist dictatorship. It was more important that the Allies stopped Stalin than Hitler. This is why it was one of the most pivotal moments of the 20th Century and its impact can still be felt today in the relative prosperity of Western Europe vis-a-vis Eastern Europe. Truly hats off for all those who fought for freedom and liberty.

I have never understood this argument for several reasons:

*If it wasn't for the allies (especially the Americans), Hitler would have managed to push Stalin into Asia and cleared Eastern Europe and European Russia from Communism;

*Stalin who was bearing the brunt of WW2 (the European war for the western Allies was from its start to Dunkirk, then D-Day to VE-Day with a skirmish in North Africa in between) against most of the Axis powers wanted an Allied invasion of Europe to come earlier;

*Montgomery and Patton wanted to march on Berlin with utmost haste to get there before the Soviets but Eisenhower overruled this favouring a more methodical wide front to push the Germans back.

What is your reasoning?

Yes Hitler was bad.
Yes Stalin ripped the guts out of the Nazi war machine.
Yes Montgomery and Patton wanted to march on Berlin with haste.

But consider for the moment if the Allies hadn't succeeded in D-Day - what would have happened then?

At the very least Stalin defeats Hitler and then takes all of Germany installing Communist puppets. Without D-Day there is no Berlin Wall and no such thing as 'West Germany' post-1945. It is the German Democratic Republic instead.

Very within the realm of possibility Stalin goes on to 'liberate' next door France from the Fascist Vichy regime and France turns Communist too.

Western Europe would have been very different. Stalin would have won the Cold War straight away - arguably it began in 1943 at the Tehran Conference when Churchill and Stalin set to work carving up Europe into spheres of influence. Stalin respected power, and without the Allies opening up a second front prior to WWII's conclusion he would have felt under no obligation to honour their agreement for the new world order. The Soviets would have won regardless of whether D-Day went ahead, but would have suffered perhaps another one million dead to win the war practically on their own.

Post: #16

I can't resist thinking that there are those among us who're convinced the wrong side won.