Olympic Fan
06-06-2014, 04:33 PM
I know we just had a long thread discussing the History Channel's absurd 3-part history of World War II and maybe we're all talked out about WWII history, but I couldn't let the 70th anniversary of D-Day pass without a comment.
It's the pivotal moment in WWII and the pivotal moment in 20th Century history -- the moment when the United States became the world's greatest power (for better or worse).
I don't mean to denigrate the British who contributed almost as many troops, air and naval forces to the invasion. But much of the British equipment was American-built and more importantly, the impedus for the invasion was American. Starting with the Washington conference in late December 1941, the Americans always argued for a direct invasion of France across the Channel, while Churchill and the British argued for a peripheral strategy. FDR overruled his top staff officers in the summer of 1942, delaying the cross-channel attack in favor of the invasion of North African (in hindsight, the right move at the time) and again in the spring on 1943, when he allowed the invasions of Sicily and Italy. But in the end, he backed Marshall and the rest of his chiefs and bullied Churchill and the British into agreeing to the invasion.
It's still, in hindsight, hard to understand what an incredible military achievement it was. Everything from the deception plan to the artificial harbors to the innovative swimming tanks.
But in the end, the victory still came down to the men, who triumphed when the plans broke down, the bombardments missed the German strongpoints when the airborne units where scattered over hell and back. Only 15 percent of the men of the 82nd and 101st landed where they were supposed to do -- and they still accomplished almost all their D-Day objectives. At Utah, the first wave landed at the wrong place, but the assistant division commander (Teddy Roosevelt Jr.) made one of the great command decisions of the war and engineered a nearly bloodless invasion.
The landing on Omaha was a bloody disaster, but it was saved by the courage and initiative of a number of low ranking soldiers, who got up the bluff under murderous fire and slowly extinguished the German fire.
That's the one thing I don't like about the movie The Longest Day. It does a good job of showing the scope of the invasion, but the resolution of the Omaha stalemate -- Robert Mitchum as General Norm Cota organizes an attack on a key obstacle and when that blows up, the men go marching inland. That's not what happened. Saving Private Ryan offers a more accurate segment. A small squad negotiates the bluff under fire and gets off the beach. Sam Fuller (who was on Omaha that day) offers a similar version in The Big Red One. There was no dramatic assault, no one place or one time when the GIs won ... it was the accumulation of individual GI accomplishment that won the day on Omaha and saved the invasion.
For anyone interested in the battle, I would suggest Stephen Ambrose's D-Day: June 6, 1944. Even though Atkinson covers it well, I think Ambrose has written the definitive account of this battle. I also like Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day, although it bugs me that he misses the climax of the assault on Point de Hoc. He recounts the heroic assault by the Rangers up the cliff there, but ends his story with the letdown that the Germans had moved the guns that were the target of the assault. That's the way it's shown in the movie ... but in truth, the guns had merely been pulled back into an orchard a few hundred yards away to protect from the bombing/shelling. Two Rangers surveying the area found them, attacked and destroyed the weapons that had so scared Allied planners.
PS We also passed the 72nd anniversary of Midway last Wednesday with little hoopla nationally. It made me think -- we celebrate Memorial Day in late May and Veterans Day of Nov. 11, but we ought to celebrate some kind of World War II memorial day around June 4-6. The fact that the pivotal battle in the Pacific occurred on June 4 (1942 .. it actually lasted until June 6, but the 4th was the key to the battle) and the pivotal battle in Europe occurred on June 6, 1944 is an interesting coincidence. Throw in the Liberation of Rome on June 4, 1944 and that's a pretty significant 3-day period to celebrate.
It's the pivotal moment in WWII and the pivotal moment in 20th Century history -- the moment when the United States became the world's greatest power (for better or worse).
I don't mean to denigrate the British who contributed almost as many troops, air and naval forces to the invasion. But much of the British equipment was American-built and more importantly, the impedus for the invasion was American. Starting with the Washington conference in late December 1941, the Americans always argued for a direct invasion of France across the Channel, while Churchill and the British argued for a peripheral strategy. FDR overruled his top staff officers in the summer of 1942, delaying the cross-channel attack in favor of the invasion of North African (in hindsight, the right move at the time) and again in the spring on 1943, when he allowed the invasions of Sicily and Italy. But in the end, he backed Marshall and the rest of his chiefs and bullied Churchill and the British into agreeing to the invasion.
It's still, in hindsight, hard to understand what an incredible military achievement it was. Everything from the deception plan to the artificial harbors to the innovative swimming tanks.
But in the end, the victory still came down to the men, who triumphed when the plans broke down, the bombardments missed the German strongpoints when the airborne units where scattered over hell and back. Only 15 percent of the men of the 82nd and 101st landed where they were supposed to do -- and they still accomplished almost all their D-Day objectives. At Utah, the first wave landed at the wrong place, but the assistant division commander (Teddy Roosevelt Jr.) made one of the great command decisions of the war and engineered a nearly bloodless invasion.
The landing on Omaha was a bloody disaster, but it was saved by the courage and initiative of a number of low ranking soldiers, who got up the bluff under murderous fire and slowly extinguished the German fire.
That's the one thing I don't like about the movie The Longest Day. It does a good job of showing the scope of the invasion, but the resolution of the Omaha stalemate -- Robert Mitchum as General Norm Cota organizes an attack on a key obstacle and when that blows up, the men go marching inland. That's not what happened. Saving Private Ryan offers a more accurate segment. A small squad negotiates the bluff under fire and gets off the beach. Sam Fuller (who was on Omaha that day) offers a similar version in The Big Red One. There was no dramatic assault, no one place or one time when the GIs won ... it was the accumulation of individual GI accomplishment that won the day on Omaha and saved the invasion.
For anyone interested in the battle, I would suggest Stephen Ambrose's D-Day: June 6, 1944. Even though Atkinson covers it well, I think Ambrose has written the definitive account of this battle. I also like Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day, although it bugs me that he misses the climax of the assault on Point de Hoc. He recounts the heroic assault by the Rangers up the cliff there, but ends his story with the letdown that the Germans had moved the guns that were the target of the assault. That's the way it's shown in the movie ... but in truth, the guns had merely been pulled back into an orchard a few hundred yards away to protect from the bombing/shelling. Two Rangers surveying the area found them, attacked and destroyed the weapons that had so scared Allied planners.
PS We also passed the 72nd anniversary of Midway last Wednesday with little hoopla nationally. It made me think -- we celebrate Memorial Day in late May and Veterans Day of Nov. 11, but we ought to celebrate some kind of World War II memorial day around June 4-6. The fact that the pivotal battle in the Pacific occurred on June 4 (1942 .. it actually lasted until June 6, but the 4th was the key to the battle) and the pivotal battle in Europe occurred on June 6, 1944 is an interesting coincidence. Throw in the Liberation of Rome on June 4, 1944 and that's a pretty significant 3-day period to celebrate.