Printable View
Well, 60 years today was certain a pivotal day in history. Allied forces stormed Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, in an attempt to invade Europe and take it back from the Axis Forces. Obviously, they succeeded, and the world is free today. :monster:
So, does anyone have any relatives that participated in that battle?
Discuss.
Nope. My relatives fought on the Eastern Front against Germany.
D-Day is highly overrated. Yes, it opened a Western front, but the Germans had suffered their greatest defeat a year and a half before.
However, the Americans did their fair share in WW2, so yeah.
I have two grandpas who've served in ww2, and 1 great granpda in ww1. An relative to Aaron Banks.Quote:
Originally Posted by King Bahamut
Russia helped to ya know, over 20 million casualties. Im not sure if we would ever have won the war with out Russia.
Quote:
The climacteric turning points of WWII are the battles of Moscow and Stalingrad. I don't want to insult Western people , but in 1944 , when Allies commenced "Overlord", there was no doubt that Germany would be defeated by Russia
In 1942 Germany had more than 5 millions excellent soldires in Russia ( compare it with just several divisions in Africa at the same time ).
By the beggining of 1944 most of that troops were smashed by Soviet Army, and in Normandy US faced just a ghost of German army ( even there,best German units were engaged in massacre battles with British and Canadians ).
So, "Overlord" would be impossible without Russia.
But we all kicked ass, ya know? Usa, Russia, Great Britain, etc.
My mom's uncle was a medic - he was dropped in on a glider on the third day of the invasion. He showed us an album of all the German medals he collected off bodies. Pretty neat.
That we did, comrade.Quote:
Originally Posted by noname
D-Day, and the end of WWII demonstrated how problems, hatred and evil can be overcome if we all put aside our differences and act together toward a common goal. Yet, ever since that day, all the nations in the world have been slowly splintering apart. If only we can find some way to unite the world again, though hopefully under much different circumstances.
As for relatives, my grandfathers, both now deceased served in the US Military and Navy, one as a Medic and Surgeon, the other as a Combat Pilot. Though neither lived long enough for me to really get to know them, one died in 1982 and the other suffered from memory loss and Alzehiemers for a decade, the stories I've been told by others will stay with me forever.
Take care all.
Well, at that time my country was already having enough trouble with a short, idiotic, fat man that had somehow taken power and killed thousands. So no, I can't say much.
Free? No, the world has a long way to walk still.Quote:
Obviously, they succeeded, and the world is free today.
One of my relatives was a French dude, who watched the Americans arrive, and shouted "Queekly, hide ze tzcheeeese!". 'Cause, you know, Germans don't eat that much cheese.
"Zey weel use it in zer hampoorgers!"
No, no it isn't. It still is the largest-scaled assault in history, and from the sea no less.Quote:
D-Day is highly overrated.
And the reason so many Russians died, is simply because their lives weren't defended as fervently as Americans' or Brits' lives were. Soldiers were thrown into impossible situations, left to starve, not given enough armament\equipment, etc, all due to the communist rule's stance on such matters (the phrase 'everything for Mama Russia' comes to mind). But, yes, Russia's effort in the war was a great one, and Germany's assault on it in... 1942, was it, was a great step towards the defeat of Germany.
can i point out that the russian military didn't stop hitler it was the good old russian winter. The german tanks froze up and the russian started fighting on ski's for god sake.
Lesson learned: NEVER fight a land war in Asia. Unless you're Genghis Khan.
As it did with Napoleon, but that does not mean the Russian military did nothing, it was still quite an effort, yet of course, it seems like Stalin didn't really care much about their lifes. Of course, what can you expect for someone such as Stalin?Quote:
Originally Posted by gokufusionss1
I think he meant free in the sense that...Quote:
Free? No, the world has a long way to walk still.
...I can go and meet my mate Stu who is from a Jewish background and sit in a pub with him.
...I can learn from my Jewish lecturer.
...My mother can marry a black man.
...I can voice opinions on my government.
...I can vote.
etc. Obviously society has it's restrictions, but there is a sense of liberty that the western world, particularly western europe, owe to those that gave their lives on D-Day. I don't think it's overrated either, I am very thankful for what those people did back then. I think there will be a time when it becomes less significant however and that time is coming soon. Wars have been fought for centuries and have been forgotten. People with grandparents who fought in the war are on the cusp when it comes to how significant WWII was, but it will fade away.
My grandad built planes during WWII, he was orphaned very young coz his parents were killed in WWI.
"can i point out that the russian military didn't stop hitler it was the good old russian winter. The german tanks froze up and the russian started fighting on ski's for god sake."
What led to the end of WWII was a series of great miscalculations by the Nazis. Hitler had assumed that since they so swiftly defeated the French Army, which by all accounts was well trained and well prepared, that they would roll over the Russian Army, which was neither nearly as well trained or prepared, but had many more members.
Hitler also relied too much on his allies in Italy and Japan to win their respective battles, which by most accounts did not go according to plan. Due to this, the Nazis began spreading their forces all over the place, and if anyone's played Risk, you know you have to fortify your core before anything else..
Finally, the greatest miscalculation in my opinion belongs to Japan, who believed they could cripple the entire American Naval fleet with their attack on Pearl Harbor. Not only did they sink only one ship I believe, but they gave America a reason to entire this conflict that they'd for so long been reluctant to join. One thing I will say about America is this, give us a reason to enter a war, and we will enter it, every aspect of our country will enter it, from our troops to our economy to our politics.
Take care all.
Hitler was a genius on the political front, but a moron when it came to actaully fighting a war. He thought he could lead Germany to victory, and didn't trust the decisions of his generals (in particular, Rommel) enough.
I'm not saying D-Day is overrated or that the fight meant nothing. Of course it was important! I may not be happy with the world today, but the nazi alternative is not exactly very tempting!Quote:
Obviously society has it's restrictions, but there is a sense of liberty that the western world, particularly western europe, owe to those that gave their lives on D-Day. I don't think it's overrated either, I am very thankful for what those people did back then.
Of course, my country had fascism during 40 years. Then again, if Hitler had won, we would probably be in fascism.
Yet I still don't think this is a free world. Sure, we have our liberties, but I'd rather be more ambitious than what we have today. Alienation is still present, and that is an enemy of freedom.
"Alienation is still present, and that is an enemy of freedom."
That is a very good point, and worth reinforcement. For all we do have, we should always be striving to further break down barriers. There are places in this world where if you are a female, you are automatically condemned to be a servant, or in some cases, die. That can certainly be changed. It would also help if we could find a way to have true unity. The UN has had many successes but of late has really fallen off the radar. Either, we must make a concrete effort to rebuild our bridges, or else, we must find a new forum of appreciation for one another.
Take care all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Captain
In fact, I refer to alienation from the part of what happens to the members of industrialized, western, modern societies. In fact, I believe our freedom to be rather controlled in a way, because we fall into the alienation of glorifying what we produce. This concept is not new, it was already critizized in ancient Greece, but from a very different perspective. The we got Kant doing a brief manifesto (What is Enlightment?) where he discussed about this concept of not only freedom to vote, but freedom to be. Of course, the best ideas arround alienation come- in my opinion- from the time of philosophies of suspicion, this means Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche, both developing arround this, Marx from a social way and Nietzsche facing more on what he called "The superhuman". Still, Marx did have his analysis on the alienation of the individual, and it is sad this part of marxism is not studied, because I believe it was Marx's first problem was arround alienation, even in front of economical equality. Of course, both Marx and Nietzsche have been horribly manipulated, prostituted and misunderstood, to a point they were actually used to justify atrocities, such as the absolutisms of both Russia and Germany. Sad, very sad.
Well, and then we got the modern critics. Herbet Marcuse, Martin Heidegger, Erich Fromm, Norbert Bilbeny, Charles Taylor...yes, alienation is still a problem today. I haven't explained why...of course, it would be a very long post, and it would be going off topic. Wait, I have already gone off topic!!!
*shuts up*
PS: Sapere aude!
That was just one american company or so that was on omaha. other were on Utah and a couple other beachs onlong that line. Omaha was the worste though.Quote:
Originally Posted by King Bahamut
And no, no one in my family waws old enough or didn't serve.
Don't forget Canada, we were in the D-Day Invasion also. You couldn't do it without us :D
and the english. It wasn't jst us americans on the beaches we were on two canada was on one and and the brits on two.
I guess I'm uhh...."thankful" for what they did, though I have a hard time being thankful to people who participate in war...call me what you will, but thats how I am.
Anyway umm yeah good for them and their victory. The world is anything but free though, and I get pissed when people go around chanting that the US is a free place. :mad:
But yeah, it'd be pretty interesting to talk to some of them, though all the veterans I talk to are usually hateful categorizing senile idiots. *sigh*
And yeah I had a grandpa in that war...he was a Sailor (like I was going to be) and he died when I was about 7. He wasn't even born in the US...he was an immigrant from Mexico...how odd.