[CHEAPPoem]

To all the men who dove ashore that day, or who died in the water with continental Europe a never to be reached sight a few hundred meters ahead, thank you.

[nushentelve]

Thank you.

[anxpuna]

No, it was 65 years ago. (6 1/2 decades)

[Bugamerka]

To all the men who dove ashore that day, or who died in the water with continental Europe a never to be reached sight a few hundred meters ahead, thank you. This.

Dad was born near Dover in 1940, Mum was in London during the Blitz and had the roof of her house blown off by a near miss.

Thank you.

[limpoporanique]

... And remember how much more difficult the invasion would have been without Soviet Russia in the war. Could we have won?

Could we have won without the Russians? Not bloody likely.

Nor could we have won if the Norwegians hadn't taken out the Nazi's heavy water production. Nor could we have won without the Poles stealing Ultra. Nor could we have won without the French underground paving the way for the return of the allied armies.

World War II was a very closely run thing. We could not have won without the contributions of everyone.

But today is for the heroes of Normandy.

[fgjhfgjh]

Obama called D-day "an improbable victory", but really the Germans had little hope of repelling the invasion. By June 1944 the Luftwaffe in France had virtually ceased to exist. Most of the units in the area were essentially third line units manned by a high percentage of invalids. They were lacking in equipment. Some of the "divisions" were really construction units with a high percentage of non-Germans who very much did not want to die for the Third Reich. While the allies were lackig in heavy armor they made up for it with air power. P-51s and P-47s devastated the linse of communication between Germany and Normandy. Only 1/3 of the equipment destined for Normandy made it to the front. The few panzer divisions in the area were particularily strangled by allied air power. Most of these units fought with less than 1/4th of their alloted tanks, so it didn't matter how terrific the Tiger and Panther tanks were, they often fought out numbered 5 or 10 to 1 against an enemy which was also able to call in precision artillery and air strikes.

[AffipgyncDync]

It was good it was 5:1 or 10:1, that is what our armor doctrine called for!

JM

If Im reading this correctly JM, we had a numerical advantage?

Yes, for all I have studied on our Armor doctrine, although we were inferior in tank for tank performance, our superiorty in numbers is what sustained and eventually vaulted us to the position of superiority.

So many theories and no, i dont know every fact about WW II, but many accounts that Hitler put such fear into the hearts of his commanders, many would not take action on their own, which, with local intel, could have momentarilly sustained the German War machine.

I am just glad we as Allies, found the right chemistry and all things considered, were able to thwart the Nazi domination of the world.

Gramps

[SallythePearl]

Thanks, guys. But could we have won without the D-Day?

[itepearce]

Thanks, guys. But could we have won without the D-Day?

No.

[alex_loudermilk]

I had an old neighbor who landed at DDay. This was 2 decades ago.

JM

Most of them are dead now. In a few years all of them will be. But my gratitude will live on.

There are no better examples in history of a great, moral war than that of the western Allies' war against Hitler's Reich. Never was the contrast between two sides greater, nor the cause more just. This bears repeating, if only to remind people today how far we've come. 65 years ago Europe was in the grasp of a man who hated Jews so much that he'd killed 6 million of them, who believed that Germans and their cousins were racially superior and destined to rule the whole world and who longed to clear the globe of all others. This ethos was wiped from power in Europe by naked force, and the peace and basic justice with which the West has been governed since then is owed in large part to the men to whom I devoted this thread. This is their gift to us. I treasure it the more because I understand what it cost.

[freeringtonesioo]

Yeah, his wife had medical issues while we were his neighbor, and I think as we were moving (in late 90) he had medical issues.

I am sure he has been dead a while. He left us some of his old stuff, but I was just a kid and didn't take care of some of the old things properly (and I am ashamed to admit that my parents didn't either).

I think that when he was our neighbor is when I first started loving history though.

JM

[xtrupoke]

But you readily jerk me back to reality.

[Prarnenoexpog]

No, I was serious. I think it's very cool that you feel this way. I'm sorry that you can't accept a compliment. They probably have therapists for it. They seem to have therapists for everything these days. Google it.

[VastDrura]

Obama called D-day "an improbable victory", but really the Germans had little hope of repelling the invasion.

Not true. They had a good number of panzers sitting at Calais waiting for the "ghost army" to arrive. The Allies tricking the German high command into thinking the Normandy invasion was just a diversion while the real one was going to come at Calais was actually a pretty key bit of skulduggery. If the Germans had moved fast with all their forces they could have pushed the allies off (even so the allies had a hell of a time on several beaches) but the Germans held their forces waiting for a mythical secondary invasion until it was to late and to many forces were ashore.

[Atmotteenrift]

Dieppe was a Canadian operation.

[idertedype]

Also, don't attack a port directly.

[AntonioMQ]

Dieppe was a Canadian operation.

Nice catch, Drake! Thou knowest that of which thou speaketh.

Also, don't attack a port directly. Two for two.

[jakitula]

Aren't you only slightly older than me? How old was your dad when he had you?

[xyupi]

Aren't you only slightly older than me? How old was your dad when he had you?

He said before that his dad was quote a lot older than the average parent when he was born.