Pretty inspirational to see some of the old airborne troops from the US and UK doing tandem jumps to the locations they performed the same jump 70 years ago.

Good on them.

(June 5, 2014 at 3:10 pm)A Theist Wrote: The Americans overcame those hedgerows by modifying their Sherman Tanks with hedge cutters welded together from scrap metal. Afterward they were able to punch through them with relative ease.

Rhinos! I believe that a lot the metal came from the Czech hedgehogs the Germans deployed on the beaches.

(June 5, 2014 at 3:45 pm)Cato Wrote:

(June 5, 2014 at 3:10 pm)A Theist Wrote: The Americans overcame those hedgerows by modifying their Sherman Tanks with hedge cutters welded together from scrap metal. Afterward they were able to punch through them with relative ease.

Rhinos! I believe that a lot the metal came from the Czech hedgehogs the Germans deployed on the beaches.

I believe you are correct.

The bocage was a tactical nightmare, and one that the allies ought to have been prepared for - duh, it wasn't exactly a big fucking secret. Fortunately, the boots on the ground had the ingenuity and materials needed to come up with a solution.

(June 5, 2014 at 5:40 am)Fidel_Castronaut Wrote: If you've never been it's very emotional. IT's difficult to stand there and read those names without feeling something deeply sad within you.

I don't follow. How is it emotional Fidel?

I don't know any of these people, or anything about them really. Except for fact that the war mongering powers of this world sent them all to an early grave.

The same powers that hold memorials for them on an annual basis. Maybe the fact that they've glorified war and death is the reason I'm apathetic to it all?

(June 5, 2014 at 4:36 pm)Welsh cake Wrote:

(June 5, 2014 at 5:40 am)Fidel_Castronaut Wrote: If you've never been it's very emotional. IT's difficult to stand there and read those names without feeling something deeply sad within you.

I don't follow. How is it emotional Fidel?

I don't know any of these people, or anything about them really. Except for fact that the war mongering powers of this world sent them all to an early grave.

The same powers that hold memorials for them on an annual basis. Maybe the fact that they've glorified war and death is the reason I'm apathetic to it all?

Those fields of graves also represent mankind's profound inability to cooperate, and the enormous human cost of same.

I find it very easy to get emotional about that.

(June 5, 2014 at 5:02 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: Those fields of graves also represent mankind's profound inability to cooperate, and the enormous human cost of same.

I find it very easy to get emotional about that.

Oh, that.

That's just nature my friend. Nothing to get teary-eyed over.

I say good riddance to us, we're all rotten to the core anyway. So long as we don't turn this planet into a toxic wasteland as we destroy each other on the way out, then at least its not a total loss worth lamenting over.

(June 5, 2014 at 4:36 pm)Welsh cake Wrote:

(June 5, 2014 at 5:40 am)Fidel_Castronaut Wrote: If you've never been it's very emotional. IT's difficult to stand there and read those names without feeling something deeply sad within you.

I don't follow.

Fair enough. Some people don't I guess.

(June 5, 2014 at 5:21 pm)Fidel_Castronaut Wrote:

(June 5, 2014 at 4:36 pm)Welsh cake Wrote: I don't follow.

Fair enough. Some people don't I guess.

I strongly recommend you don't visit cemeteries then if this sort of thing upsets you.

(June 5, 2014 at 3:45 pm)Cato Wrote:

(June 5, 2014 at 3:10 pm)A Theist Wrote: The Americans overcame those hedgerows by modifying their Sherman Tanks with hedge cutters welded together from scrap metal. Afterward they were able to punch through them with relative ease.

Rhinos! I believe that a lot the metal came from the Czech hedgehogs the Germans deployed on the beaches.

Yes, but not invented until July and by the time of Operation Cobra the Germans on the American fronts had been whittled down by constant combat and troop detachments to the Caen area.

There were many innovations tried for the Sherman - particularly on D-day itself when different types of mine clearing tanks were developed. They all worked to one degree or another but also all suffered from the same drawback: They were mounted on the Sherman which was no match for the German 75 and 88 mm A/T guns.