D day

[Digital_photog ★]

https://www.goshennews.com/news/local_news/al-lane-survives-d-day-creates-lasting-community-commemoration/article_c5b20dd5-6579-5ba4-b892-313af972f2f1.html?fbclid=IwAR0wcIJDeEHWhuWeUU5FsgD9jQBMgJEDU4JVlCpcC3zhYYnELJBgVUDoMsU

 

Al Lane survives D-Day, creates lasting community commemoration

[ChrisL]

75 years today.

 As it should be the focus has been on the men who dropped in and stormed the beaches but the logistical hurdle of getting that many men & equipment on the beach is also staggering.  156,000 men and necessary equipment. 

Thats an incredible logistical feat.

[jsharr ★]

Stayed up last night watching a D Day documentary on PBS.  Watching men that were on that beach that day speak about the horrors they saw was very moving.  And the way they minimized their roles was humbling.  To paraphrase one of the soldiers interviewed "Heroes do not view themselves as heroes.  They were just doing their job."  And a British paratrooper saying "We did not want to let our mates down"

That day was the start of the end of the war.

 

[Razors Edge ★]

5 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

75 years today.

 As it should be the focus has been on the men who dropped in and stormed the beaches but the logistical hurdle of getting that many men & equipment on the beach is also staggering.  156,000 men and necessary equipment. 

Thats an incredible logistical feat.

There are not enough words to describe all the enormous things that occurred at that time.  Truly epic and horrific.  It should be and hopefully will be remembered forever. 

[MickinMD ★]

I think the best movie example of the horrors of Omaha Beach are shown in the Tom Hanks' movie, Saving Private Ryan.

It should also be noted that there were many other amphibious landings, from Okinawa to Sicily that involved high casualties and heroism.

My father led a platoon of Company C, 4th Ranger Battalion, through enemy fire on the beach of Gela, Sicily a year before D-Day in Normandy.  Darby's Rangers made FOUR such landings before D-Day: Arzew, Algeria followed by Sicily, followed by Maori/Salerno, Italy followed by Anzio, Italy.  In every landing, they led the way, often landing hours before the main landings.  At Omaha Beach, the 2nd and 5th Rangers, trained by former Darby's Rangers, captured and destroyed German artillery at Pointe du Huc by climbing a cliff with ropes against direct enemy fire and breaking the German defenses on Omaha Beach after a General said, "You're Rangers? Well, lead the way!"

[Guest]

My grandfather and his three brothers were all part of the invasion force. All survived that day and the war.

 

[Prophet Zacharia]

I watched something about how King George was involved in helping send false or confusing messages to the Germans as to where the British troops are gathering and where the attack would happen, and when. When D-Day happened, Hitler apparently thought it was a diversion from the real attack that was coming in Norway.

Interesting read here about a discovered German gun battery that the allies had covered in dirt after D-Day.

[jsharr ★]

Story of another D Day survivor

https://today.tamu.edu/2019/06/05/james-earl-rudders-legacy-was-born-75-years-ago-at-d-day/?fbclid=IwAR0CNaxCY0BmYun2T90gyGGhtfYgaciGOydzQUsnTPj7k0tLVqTOxnlfGtY

[Dottleshead ★]

I would be amazingly proud if this were my grandfather.

https://www.heraldnet.com/life/my-grandfather-helped-liberate-europe-from-tyranny-on-d-day/

[ChrisL]

1 hour ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

I watched something about how King George was involved in helping send false or confusing messages to the Germans as to where the British troops are gathering and where the attack would happen, and when. When D-Day happened, Hitler apparently thought it was a diversion from the real attack that was coming in Norway.

Interesting read here about a discovered German gun battery that the allies had covered in dirt after D-Day.

The Allies created an entire Division and put General Patton in charge of it to help the diversion.  They created inflatable tanks & planes, created fake radio chatter and troop movements to help the ruse. 

All indications are that it worked too as key German units where held in reserve after the landing thinking the Normandy landings were a diversion.

[ChrisL]

1 hour ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

I watched something about how King George was involved in helping send false or confusing messages to the Germans as to where the British troops are gathering and where the attack would happen, and when. When D-Day happened, Hitler apparently thought it was a diversion from the real attack that was coming in Norway.

Interesting read here about a discovered German gun battery that the allies had covered in dirt after D-Day.

IIRC they had a recently deceased military age male of natural causes and they dressed him as a a military courier and put fake documents in his briefcase of the planned landings at Calais and sent him afloat so he could wash ashore in Spain knowing they would pass this info on to the Germans.

They really I planned the diversion well.

[Kzoo]

6 hours ago, ChrisL said:

The Allies created an entire Division and put General Patton in charge of it to help the diversion.  They created inflatable tanks & planes, created fake radio chatter and troop movements to help the ruse. 

All indications are that it worked too as key German units where held in reserve after the landing thinking the Normandy landings were a diversion.

And it really pissed Patton off.  He followed up with some incredibly stupid stuff in the field in an attempt to make up for his good friend Ike leaving him out of D Day.

[onbike1939]

 

The D-day celebrations here in the UK have been continually on the television for hours at a time.

I think it only right that the courage and the sacrifice of the troops at D-Day be celebrated, but as I watch the politicians and worthies utter their platitudes, I think it would be better if they could show their appreciation by ensuring that these veterans were given the pensions and benefits they deserve. This would also apply to the casualties of our more recent wars as well and is particularly striking when we compare this with how the US treats its veterans.

[Ralphie ★]

7 hours ago, Kzoo said:

And it really pissed Patton off.  He followed up with some incredibly stupid stuff in the field in an attempt to make up for his good friend Ike leaving him out of D Day.

Was this in the George c Scott movie?

[Kzoo]

2 hours ago, RalphWaldoMooseworth said:

Was this in the George c Scott movie?

I have no idea.  I never saw the movie.

[Ralphie ★]

9 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

I have no idea.  I never saw the movie.

I saw it ages ago but all I remember is his speech in front of the big flag. 

[maddmaxx ★]

Speaking of D-Day movies, The Longest Day is still the standard for me.

[Scrapr ★]

WoScrapr, Lil Scrapr & I toured Normandy & Omaha beach with a private guide. Mathias made sure to get us down on Omaha at low tide. Then he pointed out the gun placements that had been in place for years. And with plenty of time to get the guns zeroed in. And overlapping fields of fire. It was truly terrifying how far the men had to go up to the break under those conditions

[Randomguy]

On 6/6/2019 at 12:03 PM, jsharr said:

That day was the start of the end of the war.

That is an interesting statement.  I would say "WRONG!" but it isn't, there are many right answers.  I think fighter escorts on bombing runs was the start of the end.  What else works here?

[jsharr ★]

Just now, Randomguy said:

That is an interesting statement.  I would say "WRONG!" but it isn't, there are many right answers.  I think fighter escorts on bombing runs was the start of the end.  What else works here?

Fuel shortages, overly taxed supply lines, materials shortages

[Randomguy]

7 minutes ago, jsharr said:

Fuel shortages, overly taxed supply lines, materials shortages

In every war movie ever, we were forever bombing ball bearing plants, like it was the only thing worth bombing.

[jsharr ★]

4 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

In every war movie ever, we were forever bombing ball bearing plants, like it was the only thing worth bombing.

30 weight gauze and ball bearings

[groupw]

16 hours ago, Kzoo said:

I have no idea.  I never saw the movie.

I think it was. It’s been a while since I saw it. Apparently the bad blood went both ways. Apparently the 101st denied that Patton  saved them at Battle of the Bulge.  

[ChrisL]

1 minute ago, groupw said:

I think it was. It’s been a while since I saw it. Apparently the bad blood went both ways. Apparently the 101st denied that Patton  saved them at Battle of the Bulge.  

They didn’t need to be saved, they were doing just fine keeping the Germans out of Bastogne thank you very much!

[groupw]

4 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

They didn’t need to be saved, they were doing just fine keeping the Germans out of Bastogne thank you very much!

I should have worded better. Patton felt he saved them. They felt otherwise. If Band of Brothers is accurate, I would side with the 101st. 

[maddmaxx ★]

4 hours ago, Randomguy said:

That is an interesting statement.  I would say "WRONG!" but it isn't, there are many right answers.  I think fighter escorts on bombing runs was the start of the end.  What else works here?

The German loss at El Alamein. The failure to take Stallengrad before winter.  The Invasion of Sicily, the landings at Anzio, the effective use of radar against submarines in the Atlantic.

You are right.

[ChrisL]

18 hours ago, Randomguy said:

That is an interesting statement.  I would say "WRONG!" but it isn't, there are many right answers.  I think fighter escorts on bombing runs was the start of the end.  What else works here?

 

14 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

The German loss at El Alamein. The failure to take Stallengrad before winter.  The Invasion of Sicily, the landings at Anzio, the effective use of radar against submarines in the Atlantic.

You are right.

How about this:

Vs the US forces the Axis never really had a chance. Besides the technological, manufacturing and resource advantage, we had an unheralded advantage, command structure.

US forces have always given subordinate officers and NCOs the battle plan with the authority and flexibility to carry it out.  If a commander gets whacked, nobody is waiting for someone to tell them what to do. Unforeseen obstacle? A Platoon Leader can adjust and continue on without being told what to do. 

German & Soviet doctrine was a top down mentality where if the person in the know was dead or unavailable the battle plan had to be communicated by someone else 

For example, why did the German counter attack on D Day have to wait for Hitler to wake up and give it?  FDR gave broad global direction but the key Generals implemented the battle plan.  They didn’t have to wait for FDR on a time sensitive decision.