"Uncommon courage was a common commodity".
That kinda sums up those who fought with the Allies in Europe *and* the Pacific.
The Greatest Generation.
And thank heaven Europe is now free of anti-semitism; Germany has unfettered free speech and no police to come knocking at your door if you say something the government doesn’t approve of...(sacr/)
I have the history of my Father’s Combat Engineer Battalion from Normandy to Berlin. Although they met the Russians fairly near to Berlin, for some reason they were in Belgium when the war ended.
The one thing which strikes me was just how efficient and fast they were. They put a bridge across the Rhine in two days despite being shelled and attacked by German Arado jet bombers.
Just at the end of the war, they built tow mess halls for the Potsdam conference in two days.
Those fine young men faced unreal danger and hardship. They had grown up in the ‘Depression Era’ making them hard. Believing in Christ with a country that supported and stood behind them took them over the line.
I just watched “Downfall” (in German with English subtitles) on the anniversary of Hitler’s suicide last week. Amazing movie! Shows the last 10 days in the bunker and what it was like for the inner Nazi circle living underneath Berlin.
Mostly it seems they just got and stayed drunk (which makes sense), with German soldiers in the streets above them losing the battle for Berlin as Russia closed in. And Hitler moving around armies/divisions that didn’t exist anymore on a map.
The Goebbels murder/suicide of their whole family was really chilling.