Code Red alert for D-Day party

Newcom.au ^ | June 6, 2004 | BEN ENGLISH, NEIL WILSON

[B4Ranch]

Code Red alert for D-Day party

BEN ENGLISH, NEIL WILSON and wire services
June 6, 2004

FRANCE is under virtual martial law this weekend in an unprecedented security operation to protect world leaders at the D-Day anniversary celebrations.

There are more troops and military hardware in Normandy than at any time since the days after the landings on June 6, 1944.

A ring of steel comprising 10,000 army, navy and air force personnel will protect heads of state, including John Howard, George Bush, the Queen, Tony Blair, Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schroeder at events today and tomorrow.

COUPLE INVADE NORMANDY IN JEEP

SIXTY years after the Americans and British did it, Queensland has invaded Normandy.
But John and Naomi Summers' incursion with their World War II vintage amphibious jeep brought all the way from Noosa almost foundered.
It took some "underground" French help to speed up the shipment. The original invasion in 1944 had to overcome a one-day delay due to poor weather.
But it was a 12-day delay back in the port of Brisbane in April which almost shattered John's long-time dream of driving among nearly 6000 vintage military vehicles for this weekend's D-Day anniversary.
"The shipping agent has it scheduled to arrive in France on June 8, a little pointless," the retired hay farmer said.
Naomi's dream European holiday turned into a tour of Internet cafes, a saga of dozens of calls and seeing Genoa then Marseilles from the offices of shipping firms.
An option of landing the container with the jeep in Tilbury, England, still may have failed the invasion deadline.
"Then this gentleman in Marseilles arranged for the container to be offloaded south of Genoa and driven by two drivers in a truck through Italy and then up through France," Peter said. "I reckon he could walk on water."
A French public holiday on Monday, with commercial cargo movement banned, delayed the truck at the border then finally the shipment was stuck in Customs at Le Harve port.
That's when Peter's French ally Henri De Wailly, a military vehicle enthusiast who met the Summers in Australia, went into overdrive to help them.
"This was the job of oiling the Customs machine in Le Harve, deep in a remote industrial area," he said. "The officials were charming in the end, delighted to have such unusual cargo come through."
For John, the delay has skyrocketed his estimated $5500 costs by another $1600 or so but both he and Naomi think it will be worth it to join the American, British and German vintage vehicles again packing the country lanes of Normandy.
John is hoping his Queensland number plate will be nearby to give old Diggers and the Prime Minister, Mr Howard, a supportive honk at the ceremonies.

Also on hand will be 6000 gendarmes and 2300 police officers.

All of France has been placed under a "code red" security alert – one level short of war footing.

The danger of an al-Qaida "spectacular" in Normandy is seen as so great that an 80km exclusion zone has been declared around the D-Day beaches and the town of Arromanches, where the main ceremonies take place.

Batteries of anti-aircraft missiles have been installed along the English Channel coastline, a surveillance plane will monitor the scene and commanders have warned that private aircraft straying into Normandy airspace will be shot down.

Jet fighters and helicopter gunships will be on alert and US and French warships will patrol a 65km stretch of coast that includes Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches.

A host of smaller commemorations, aside from the main international ceremony, will complicate matters. The Australians will gather inland at Noyers-Bocage.

Time has ordained that this year will be the last great hurrah for many heroes of D-Day, with most now aged over 80.

Thousands of veterans, including about 30 Diggers from the original 3000-strong Aussie contingent, are attending.

Australia had a relatively small force at D-Day, as most of the nation's efforts were concentrated in the Pacific against the Japanese. Fourteen Aussies died on D-Day, most of them from the RAAF.

"These men, through their courageous action, demonstrated that Australia, although also battling an enemy force close to home, was steadfast in its commitment to defeat the Nazis and liberate Europe," Prime Minister Howard will tell crowds at today's commemorative service.

"We recognised then, as we do now, the need to give our support to friends and allies – the importance of working together to overcome the forces of tyranny and totalitarianism.

"The Australian contribution to D-Day may seem comparatively small, but its importance has not been overlooked."

US President George Bush will use D-Day to rebuild bridges burned over Iraq last year. He has organised talks with French President Jacques Chirac before the ceremony.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the first leader from the war's vanquished nation to attend a D-Day commemoration, also will have a delicate diplomatic mission.

Britain expects up to 10,000 veterans to make the short cross-Channel trip, as they did 60 years ago.

In terms of scale and complexity, this weekend's event is looming larger than the gala 50th anniversary in 1994.

Among a wide number of measures to combat terrorist threats, identity checks are being carried out on train passengers, special patrols are aboard France's high-speed trains and checks are being made on the country's reserves of drinking water.

More than 200,000 troops landed in Normandy on what became known as "the longest day", in a make-or-break operation that decided the course of the war.

It was described by British PM Winston Churchill as "the most difficult and complicated operation ever to take place". By the end of the first day, Allied soldiers had established a beachhead that would form the platform for the push to Berlin and destruction of Hitler's Germany.

The 10 weeks of bitter fighting around Normandy cost more than 200,000 Allied casualties, but the Germans suffered 240,000 killed or wounded and more than 200,000 captured, their greatest defeat in the war.

The Sunday Mail (Qld)

This report appears on NEWS.com.au.

[B4Ranch]

"All of France has been placed under a "code red" security alert – one level short of war footing."

How long before we start doing the same?

[B4Ranch]

ping

[GrandmaPatriot]

Let's just hope there are no white flags anywhere close by the French.

[SquirrelKing]

"All of France has been placed under a "code red" security alert – one level short of war footing."

Look out, terroristes! We will unclog our noses at you! we will burst our pimples in your direction! We will call up your sisters and request a silly thing...!

[GSlob]

"A ring of steel comprising 10,000 army, navy and air force personnel "
Regrettably, it is a ring of FRENCH STEEL.

[Travis McGee]

"Your father was a hamster, and your mother smelled of elderberries! I fart in your general direction!"

[familyop]

Latin is Latin, and so is Pig Latin.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Regrettably, it is a ring of FRENCH STEEL.

"French Steel"?  You can't spell "aluminum"?

>:P

 

[Billthedrill]

Well, understand that "code red" alerts in France involve putting undergarments on flagpoles, and not on prisoners' heads.

[familyop]

Some even pronounce it, "aluminium." And yes, it's the armor of the day.

Considering the occasion (D-Day) and all of Europe's complicity (regardless of the nature of the Euro-wine industry competition), I'll change my tagline.

[mombonn]

I'll be glad when our President is home again. I HATE these overseas trips.

[struwwelpeter]

"Zoot alours, mon capitan! Ah have zem een my zights!"

[spokeshave]

Maybe the famed DeGaul aircraft launcher (too short for landings) will celebrate by droping a prop

[SquirrelKing]

LOL! We shall taunt them a second time!

[Travis McGee]

"Run away! Run away!" (French motto)