nice pictures, glad the good guys won.
I visited Juno Beach two years ago. Not really any sign of the war other than the interpretive center (as with much of Europe obviously), but it was still powerful to walk the beaches and reflect on that day. I toured a bunch of towns in Normandy and its interesting to see how the war shaped their cities and their culture. One stark reminder is the Canadian, British and American cemeteries where many of the casulties of the campaign were buried. The scale of the loss is something else to behold in person.
Thanks for the reminder.
We shouldn’t forget the sacrifices made to ensure our future.
It seems like the world was kind of a mess back then…
This is on my list of to-go places. I’ve always been fascinated with this time period.
Gotta feel for the Russians though, the Cold War ensured their contribution in WW2 was written out by the west. Anyone who hasn’t read up on the Eastern Front campaign should do so. The scale of that theatre is absolutely staggering.
^
Out of 30 million soldiers dead, 13 million + came from the soviet union alone. Out of the 85 million plus total deaths 30 odd came from the soviet union again. Staggering indeed.
The other stories which came to light later show the true scale , The French rationing their food supplies at the expense of the Vietnamese resulting in deaths that number in the millions due to famine, Churchill ordering scorched earth policies in various parts of the British empire to stop the advance of the Japanese, The African theatres, The rape of Nanking. You have to shake your head in disbelief at the state of affairs then, We’ve come a long way.
The knock on effects like the end of colonialsm, The Belgians refusing to leave Congo without a fight, The hastily drawn borders across continents creating some countries which had never co-existed before. Damn, Good to know in a time where we produced people like Hitler, Stalin and Benito we also managed to produce someone like Gandhi who went on to inspire people like Luther, Mandela and Aung San Suu
Every year around this time, AF gets into a discussion about sacrifices in the East vs the West in that war.
There’s no doubt that the Russians/Soviets got the raw end of the fighting dying in Europe (as did the Jews and the Gypsys, but that was a separate operation), and there’s no doubt that managing to beat the Nazi’s back was heroic. We in the West do need to stop and think about it.
However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that Operation Overlord was also heroic and key to the war effort, and worthy of commemoration. Plus the West, and particularly the US was occupied in the Pacific War. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to have to crawl onto the beaches in Normandy that day, particularly if you were in that first wave of landing craft and in the front. Of course, the Russians had Stalingrad, the Siege of Leningrad, and the battle at the gates of Moscow.
^ What I wonder is, could we (US) do it today?
One crazy act by 19 people on 9/11 has cost us trillions of dollars, an unrelated war (in Iraq), thousands of soldiers dead, and given us the f’ing TSA and the f’ing NSA. I am not suggesting at all that we shouldn’t have invaded Afghanistan or killed bin Laden; but to an impartial eye, he pretty much got what he wanted - inflict massive pain and losses on American people, thanks to their rudderless stupid leaders.
I don’t want to think about a well-calculated and well-camouflaged Chinese or Russian attack. Like paying Islamic terrorists to attack again (a nice revenge for Russians - to account for us helping the crazies against Russians in Afghanistan.) Or the Chinese hacking into the US power grid and shutting everything down - then blaming the rogue elements. Or Iran (revenge for Stuxnet.)
US prosecuted WWII on two fronts in 4 years. But since Viet Nam, the only exception to a drawn-out winless war has been the first Gulf War.
^ The US could do it again, but it would require a draft and hipsters to get off their lazy asses. At the end of the day, the minute the USA stops becoming the final deterrent, someone will try their hand, be it China, Russia or whoever. There is no other western country capable of doing what was done in 1944. And I think the Americans are only barely capable of doing so. I always wondered what today’s Germans think of D day ceremonies. Perhaps Bremen or other Germans here can contribute. I don’t hold anyone responsible for the sins of their fathers but I am curious if there is any guilt (there shouldn’t be… this doesn’t rest on the shoulders of today’s Germans). Are current Germans happy they lost the war? Hmm… It is interesting because today there is no doubt that Germany is one of the strongest allies of liberal democracy.