Posted on 06/05/2019 6:24:22 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
I will say, there is one thing they do in Russia today that is really cool.
The Immortal Regiment March, held every Victory Day, where the relatives of those who fought in WWII march holding the pictures of their relatives.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/05/09/russias-immortal-regiment-marches-on-victory-day-a65537
Be nice if we could do more things like that here.
The local drink in Normandy is “Calvados” — a sort of apple brandy. It was big during WW1, and particularly during WW2 with the troops operating in that region. Every farmhouse cellar was loaded with the stuff from the locally grown apples.
In France the champagne grape crop failed a couple of consecutive years and Calvados was a sort of substitute for the Grape. It’s also the semi-official drink of the French Foreign Legion. Great to cook with.
” No one anticipated the hedgerow country.”
Funny thing about overlooked intel. Dig down far enough and you’ll find a major or LCol who was jumping up & down to be heard — and nobody would listen. I’m confident that somebody knew. There’s always a soldier or officer who traveled a particular area before the war.
This is one of the areas in which the Brits excel. All that colonial fighting in the far reaches of the world? They’re always on the lookout for unconventional people in their ranks who “have been there”. TE Lawrence just to name 1.
Closest thing the US had were the old China hands from the State Department, missionaries, Marines and Regular Army who served from Shanghai to Chungking. That’s how you get guys like Claire Chennault & Vinegar Joe Stillwell. 2 guys who probably wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for their specific connections to that part of the world.
I know.
They went through He!! only to be terrorized by their own leader, who was Satan personified.
Makes me sad to think of it. “It’s not the people, it’s the Leaders.”
The Germans committed 146 divisions, over 3.5 million soldiers, to their Eastern Front when they turned on the USSR in September 1941. These were some of their best troops. Their Eastern Front troop strength grew as high as 191 divisions by 1943
In June 1944 they still had 150 divisions on the east. By contrast there were 66 divisions on the western front at the time of the Normandy invasion.
The Russian Spokesmodel isn’t wrong here, but she isn’t completely correct either.
Patton’s save at Bastogne won the European war. Had he not pulled the 3rd Army, pivoted, and attacked to relieve the 101st, the war would have gone on a whole lot longer to be sure.
The Russians did get hammered in WWII, and it did make the invasion feasible. That is all true.
Kremlin Says D-Day Wasn’t Decisive in Ending World War II.
The kremlin is full of shit.
The worst was in The Hürtgen forest. 5 months in the worst terrain, with the worst weather, and the worst casualties. I was there a few years ago, I wouldn’t want to fight there. It just so happen it was raining and damp when I walked around the area so I can imagine what the guys had to go through on both sides. We visited a medical bunker that had a home built over it. We were also in Malmedy, the lot where I guys were gunned down has a memorial there. There was also a KIA? dealer across the street from it and a Honda? dealer behind it. Facing the street there was a burger place. Hurtgen Forest was all grown back, probably looking as it did before the first bombs and shells fell.
Very few. There were only a few collaborators, mostly in the Ukraine. If you are thinking of the Holodomor or the Gulag, those deaths were on top of these. Not good times to live in the USSR.
Allied aerial reconnaissance showed what appeared to be some kind of hedges bordering fields. Neither the British or the Americans paid any attention to it. They were looking for German armor and gun positions. When the troops got into the hedgerows they were up against a kind of warfare they were unprepared for. Bradley turned to the USSAF and the RAF to try and blast their way through out of it.
Yes I know about ‘’Calvados’’. From what I understand it’s a kind of heavy drink with a good kick.
Ping in case you’d also like to join this discussion :)
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