Posted on 06/06/2014 6:49:32 PM PDT by LibertyGirl14
A couple of years ago, I wrote a piece about the fading sentimental connection of today’s generations with World War II, the defining event of the 20th century. There is some oddity in living through the transition: in seeing the soldiers whom FDR called “our sons” become our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and then the ghosts of history commemorated on tombstones.
One of the most important transitions is the fading of the grand narrative by which we defined and guided our nation for so many decades. The hindsight of history has its rewards. But it has its drawbacks as well, as immediacy and personal connection disappear behind us...
At the end of the afternoon, the beach is under control, but regularly German snipers open fire on the landing troops or on the casualties awaiting their evacuation towards England.
At Omaha beach none of the German strongpoints had been taken out by the pre-invasion bombardment. The bombers had dropped their loads farther inland and the naval guns hadn’t found them either. For the first few hours Omaha beach was a shooting gallery. Everything that landed was piling up near the shore. The sea literally turned red at the shoreline.
Around 9 am our destroyers came up within a thousand yards of the shore, trained their guns on the bluffs and blasted them for half an hour.
On June 6 at midnight, The beachhead is extremely fragile and the Allies are in a weak position in Omaha:.... one massive counter-attack with tanks could abruptly stop the operation Overlord....... The next 24 hours are decisive in this sector for the global success of the Allied invasion in western Europe.
“The German Leadership did say that they had just one chance to win...and that was while we were in the water, “
What they definitely didn’t want is a two front war. Fortunately for us the Eastern Front had been going on since 1941 and the Germans had lost many of their best troops in that fighting. The troops we ran into at Normandy were 50% teenagers without a lot of training. If they had all been well trained and older Normandy would have been much bloodier.
....”For the first few hours Omaha beach was a shooting gallery. Everything that landed was piling up near the shore. The sea literally turned red at the shoreline”......
Really makes you pause to consider doesn’t it.....I remember before seeing Tom Hanks film on D-Day someone said don’t go because it’s too bloody. Well, from what I read the veterans had said after they went that those scenes were pretty much just how it was. I saw the movie...and have watched it many times since.
I also understand that because of the smoke, not just from the military but the fires set by the rockets, that visibility was horrible.... then you add that the boats just kept on bringing men in, and the Germans kept right on shooting them..even before they landed.. some never made it to shore.
Horrible how brutal it was...but then the Nazi’s are just that....bloodthirsty brutes...and then some even today.
.....”The troops we ran into at Normandy were 50% teenagers without a lot of training. If they had all been well trained and older Normandy would have been much bloodier”....
Heck the Nazi’s had been killing people at random, not to mention the Holocaust, before our guys had to deal with them, so they knew their brutality. Those kids might not have been experienced but I don’t imagine they were any less brutal if they had the chance, just not as accurate nor as capable of fighting strategically.
When you fill young peoples head full of hate as the Nazi’s did...there could be nothing more than bloodshed. The one will always lead to the other.
bkmk
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