Posted on 06/05/2004 11:27:36 AM PDT by 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.
|
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.
How long before we start doing the same?
ping
Let's just hope there are no white flags anywhere close by the French.
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...!
"A ring of steel comprising 10,000 army, navy and air force personnel "
Regrettably, it is a ring of FRENCH STEEL.
"Your father was a hamster, and your mother smelled of elderberries! I fart in your general direction!"
Latin is Latin, and so is Pig Latin.
"French Steel"? You can't spell "aluminum"?
>:P
Well, understand that "code red" alerts in France involve putting undergarments on flagpoles, and not on prisoners' heads.
I'll be glad when our President is home again. I HATE these overseas trips.
"Zoot alours, mon capitan! Ah have zem een my zights!"
Maybe the famed DeGaul aircraft launcher (too short for landings) will celebrate by droping a prop
LOL! We shall taunt them a second time!
"Run away! Run away!" (French motto)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.