D-Day OD: Why World War II nostalgia has gone too far (Centtople barf alert!)

MSNBC ^ | 6/4/04 | David Greenberg

[qam1]

This year's onslaught of D-Day hype—a continuous barrage of World War II nostalgia stretching from Memorial Day weekend through George Bush's trip to Europe these next few days—has already exhausted all but the most diehard buffs. Newsmagazines splash gritty old photos of GIs from the Good War and marked-up invasion maps across their glossy pages. Historians from Martin Gilbertto Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have published books exalting soldierly valor. In various speeches George Bush links the siege of Normandy to the siege of Baghdad in what he portrays as one seamless American mission. Building on the mythmaking efforts of past presidents, and with the ready help of the media, Bush has spun a simple tale of American bravery in defense of democracy—of a golden moment when ordinary Yankee sons began the liberation of foreign peoples solely because they believed in freedom.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Elsewhere, we see a vaunting of military over civilian values, from the copious references to the president as the "commander in chief" to the demand heard during the Bush-Gore recount that bad ballots cast by soldiers, but not by other Floridians, should count in the final tally.

The "disenfranchisement" of Florida voters was disproved in court having found no one who could really prove that they were. It was just a "feeling", but they wasted taxpayers dollars finding out what we already knew.

Since libs had their heads up each other's rectums at that time, the shameful Democrat elimination of military absentee votes is one of the best illustrations of why we need major legal reforms in this country.

The loopholes the Dems used, but failed in the end, against our servicemen to throw out their votes apply to almost no other voters.

[VOA]

D-Day OD: Why World War II nostalgia has gone too far (Centtople barf alert!)
MSNBC ^ | 6/4/04 | David Greenberg

Dear Mr. Greenberg,
on behalf of some old men of The 45th Infantry Division that I knew when I was a child...
let me apologize for their littering Europe while taking the "grand walking tour"
and busting open the gates of some concentration camps.

Oh heck, who am I kidding?
We Americans are hopeless suckers and we'd do the same thing bleeding and liberating
thing again.
I guess it's in the DNA.

[dinok]

"most American Jews vote democratic. Why?"

Stupid is as stupid does.

[struwwelpeter]

our celebrations shortchanges the Soviet Union's contribution

She does look offended, doesn't she?

[dougherty]

I didn't click the link, the excerpt was sickening enough. These leftists really hate the military, no matter which war or enemy they fight. To whine over the D-Day and WWII anniversaries says a lot about this POS leftist. *spit*

[qam1]

I hate to admit but I like their monument to the victory at Stalingrad better than our WWII one.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Place your bets!

As to who will be the fist lib cartoonist to make fun of D-Day this weekend. Will it be Rall? Trudeau? A lefty to be named later?

[Cultural Jihad]

[struwwelpeter]

Kyiv does pretty good with their Rodina Mat'.

[dvwjr]

Originally posted by driftless:

"To be honest yes, the Soviet Union did bear the greater cost of defeating Hitler taking into account numbers killed and battles fought. Hitler never had less than two thirds of his forces fighting the Soviets."

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the Germans did have less than two-thirds of their forces facing the Soviet by June 1944. While I would agree that most Americans do not have any concept as to the battles and losses suffered by the Germans and Soviets on the Eastern Front in WWII. The US did not win WWII in the European theatre by ourselves (but did in the Pacific theatre) as many believe. Battles like Kursk overshadow the "Battle of the Bulge" in sheer size and scope. However, the myth that in 1944 most of the German Army (to include the Waffen-SS) were on the Eastern Front is due to the German practice of "re-structuring" the size of their field divisions to reflect available manpower due to combat losses. In short, the number of divisions stayed the same, but the size of each division shrank. The percentage of the total available 347 German combat divisions that were deployed to the Eastern Front in June 1944 was a still high 57%, but this represented only 40% of the German Army manpower available. This was a substantial decrease from the 72% of German Army manpower previously deployed to the Eastern Front in June of 1943. The Allied fronts in Italy and France did remove substantial forces from the Eastern front by June of 1944. Hitler's 'Enron accounting' with division strengths allowed him to continue to believe that he fielded the same Army as in mid-1942/1943.

Number of divisions available for these countries over the course of the war:

Country	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	End of War
France	86	105	0	0	5	7	14	14
Germany*	78	189	235	261	327	347	319	375
Great Britain	9	34	35	38	39	37	31	31
Italy	6	73	64	89	86	2	9	10
Poland	43	2	2	2	2	5	5	5
Romania	11	28	33	31	33	32	24	24
USSR	194	200	220	250	350	400	488	491
USA**	8	24	39	76	95	94	94	94

*towards the end of the war, many of these divisions were either incomplete or poorly equipped
**including both Army and Marine divisions and accounting for the Pacific theater

Location Of German Divisions In June Of Each Year

Country	1941	1942	1943	1944
USSR	34	171	179	157
France, Belgium & Holland	38	27	42	56
Norway & Finland	13	16	16	16
Balkans	7	8	17	20
Italy	0	0	0	22
Denmark	1	1	2	3
North Africa	2	3	0	0

Percentage Of German Forces On The Eastern Front Each Year

Unit	1941	1942	1943	1944
Divisions	67%	75%	60%	57%
Troops	84%	74%	72%	40%
Aircraft	64%	65%	42%	45%

Source: WWII in Europe: WWII Statistics

dvwjr

[dvwjr]

I just visited the WWII Memorial last Wednesday night around about 9:30pm to 11pm from Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. Parked on Constitution Avenue and walked to the main ceremonial entrance of the WWII Memorial which faces 17th Street.

First impression: Strikingly stark and beautiful at night, softened by the fountaining waters of the Rainbow Pool, the two waterfalls of the memorial pavilions and those flanking the gold-star filled Freedom Wall.

It feels,... very American. Not for us the grandiose, boastful commemorative architecture of the Europeans, but a very dignified, yet powerful expression of American Victory. The two pavilions engraved with 'ATLANTIC' and 'PACIFIC' are flanked and surrounded by the 'roll-call' of the States, District and Territories of the Union during those war years.

The design is in keeping with the classical architecture inherited from the Greeks and Romans which is how the Federal edifices of Washington, D.C. were envisioned. Surprisingly this memorial situated in a sight-line between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial focuses and projects the raw power of the United States better than either of the other two older structures do by themselves. This observation is due to the fact that the two older memorials honor famous individuals in past formative periods of American history, while this newest memorial renders honors to the massed ranks of the Republic present on the ramparts of the memorial in the form of 56 free-standing yet interconnected granite pillars and the four thousand gold stars on the Freedom Wall.

Those 56 granite pillars were both a uniting and clever way to represent today the Union as it was composed during WWII - the 48 sovereign States, the Territories of Alaska, Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. Since WWII, some of these Territories have been elevated to Statehood, some have become Commonwealths, one has become an independent Nation but all will feel honored that their name is forever inscribed in stone as being part of the greatest Republic during her war of world-wide liberation and Victory.

Far future generations will observe the series of 24 bronze bas relief panels along the ceremonial entrance walls depicting life during WWII on the home-front and overseas to gain some understanding of the activities and styles of the WWII generation. What is represented may be considered 'quaint' in the future, but no more so than the powdered wigs of our forbearer's age.

My favorite granite engraved quote may be found below the Atlantic pavilion, may it be as true today as it was in those days...

"We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other."

General George C. Marshall

dvwjr

[Texasforever]

God I hate liberals. Don't they know that in 10 years there will be no more formal D-Day remembrances? In 10 years the "greatest generation" will be gone. I could easily strangle this type of scum without a moments regret.

[struwwelpeter]

Beautiful.

[MEG33]

I expectorate in the precise direction of this leftist professor and his ilk. God bless our WW2 vets, all our vets, and our armed forces who serve today...You serve the flag of freedom.

..AMERICA...HOME OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE.

[MEG33]

I cannot believe this was written...

[driftless]

My "bubble" isn't burst, but thanks for the info. I will revise my impression of the Russian front. Even so the Germans still then applied most of their forces against the Red Army over the course of the war even if they were severely depleted by wars end. I hate Stalin and communism, but they must be given their due to be historically honest.

[Calpernia]

I chaperoned my son's preschool trip a few days ago to the Rutgers Unversity Zimmerli Art Museum. The exhibit was on Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union.

The displays and museum guide labeled Lenin and Stalin as great leaders and hereos.

The art was of suffering peasants were equally misrepresented.

I was angry and the children were uncomfortable. We left early.

Lenin and Stalin may be dead; but their propaganda lives on.

[Calpernia]

ping http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1147792/posts?page=37#37

[MEG33]

We need some Ukrainian peasants who survived the famine and Stalin to rearrange the exibit!

[Calpernia]

OMG Meg!

Can we do something like that? I raise money for a region there. I do know a lot of the background and corrupt (which has even entered the Churches!)

Peter is from there.

I have the info. Do you have something in mind? Can this be done? Problem is...most people don't even know Ukraine is a country. And the ones that do....they only know the weapon laundering news.

Input?