70th Anniversary of D-Day

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Fair enough. Some people don't I guess.

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

You've already said you don't follow. To offer advice on a subject you don't know anything about is illogical. But thanks for your concern all the same.

[Jackalope]

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.

Shermans were pretty much garbage compared to what Germany was fielding across the board (save the obsolete crap that was pretty much all destroyed by 1944).

Had we not been able to produce them in massive quantities, we'd have been screwed.

[Welsh cake]

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

You've already said you don't follow. To offer advice on a subject you don't know anything about is illogical. But thanks for your concern all the same.

That people can die pointless deaths?

That war is hell?

That this shit will keep on happening over and over again regardless of whether we choose to remember it or not?

Damn, the more I read these obvious no-brainers, the less and less I care.

You're right. This was all illogical posting in the first place.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

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You've already said you don't follow. To offer advice on a subject you don't know anything about is illogical. But thanks for your concern all the same.

That people can die pointless deaths?

That war is hell?

That this shit will keep on happening over and over again regardless of whether we choose to remember it or not?

Damn, the more I read these obvious no-brainers, the less and less I care.

You're right. This was all illogical posting in the first place.

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Ok cool. Thanks.

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Sadly, after listening to a news broadcast l suspect that these anniversaries serve merely to reinforce American misconceptions about our own importance. The news anchor commented several times how 200,000 "Americans" landed in Normandy. No. It was about 75,000 with an equivalent number of British and Canadians and some Free French.

And, a couple of weeks later the Russians unleashed Operation Bagration

Operation Bagration (Russian: Oперация Багратион, Operatsiya Bagration) was the codename for the Soviet 1944 Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation[15] during World War II, which cleared German forces from the Belorussian SSR and eastern Poland between 22 June and 19 August 1944.[16] The operation was named after 18th–19th century Georgian Prince Pyotr Bagration, general of the Imperial Russian Army who received a mortal wound at the Battle of Borodino.

The operation resulted in the almost complete destruction of an entire German army group, with the loss of Army Group Centre's Fourth Army, Third Panzer Army and Ninth Army. It is considered the most calamitous defeat experienced by the German armed forces during the Second World War.[17][18] By the end of the operation most of the western Soviet Union had been liberated and the Red Army had achieved footholds in Romania and Poland. German losses eventually numbered well over half a million men killed or wounded, even higher than the toll at Verdun in 1916.[19]

Bagration dwarfed Overlord.

Admit I'm fairly ignorant to the Russian front aside all the usual stories regarding Stalingrad etc. Given me some extra bedtime reading for the future.

[A Theist]

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. Rhinos. The history channel did something on the D-Day invasion a couple weeks ago. There was a segment about the difficulty breaching the hedgerows and the solution to modify Sherman tanks with make-shift hedgecutters welded from scrap metal....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhino_tank

[vodkafan]

It's also the 72nd anniversary of my Mum and Dad getting married! They were both NCOs in the RAF (WRAF for mum) and they married in uniform on June 6 1942. Their marriage was , of course, a much bigger battle than WW2 but I made it here

[Godscreated]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27700479

I've been to the Normandy beaches and seen the memorials over France from the 2 world wars.

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've never seen the horror of war except through archive footage or news reports, but you get a very small feel for what it's like just standing somewhere surrounded by the signs of death and destruction.

Those poor sods that crossed the channel, never to see home again. Many still teenagers. I've lived a decade longer already than some of them.

I would like to go to the Normandy beaches and memorials, I've heard it's emotional and beautiful keep. I've been to pearl Harbor and the memorials there. I had an uncle who was at Pearl Harbor when the attack came, he survived, only one killed on his ship. His ship was one of the most hunted ships in the Pacific by the Japanese. They pissed those boys off and they made the them pay.

GC

[Fidel_Castronaut]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27700479

I've been to the Normandy beaches and seen the memorials over France from the 2 world wars.

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've never seen the horror of war except through archive footage or news reports, but you get a very small feel for what it's like just standing somewhere surrounded by the signs of death and destruction.

Those poor sods that crossed the channel, never to see home again. Many still teenagers. I've lived a decade longer already than some of them.

I would like to go to the Normandy beaches and memorials, I've heard it's emotional and beautiful keep. I've been to pearl Harbor and the memorials there. I had an uncle who was at Pearl Harbor when the attack came, he survived, only one killed on his ship. His ship was one of the most hunted ships in the Pacific by the Japanese. They pissed those boys off and they made the them pay.

GC

It really is GC, and I'd certainly recommend it. It's a beautiful part of the world anyway so there's plenty to do aside from visiting the beaches and memorials.

I don't have anywhere near enough money to travel to Hawaii but if I ever do PH will be top of my list.

[A Theist]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27700479



I had an uncle who was at Pearl Harbor when the attack came, he survived, only one killed on his ship. His ship was one of the most hunted ships in the Pacific by the Japanese. They pissed those boys off and they made the them pay.

GC

They pissed those boys off and they made the them pay.

Midway...the Japanese never recovered from that defeat and afterward were forced into fighting a defensive battle in the South Pacific.

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[quote='Minimalist' pid='682071' dateline='1402003652']

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.

Shermans were pretty much garbage compared to what Germany was fielding across the board (save the obsolete crap that was pretty much all destroyed by 1944).

Had we not been able to produce them in massive quantities, we'd have been screwed.

The Tiger was pretty fearsome but it had it's issues. It was under-powered, consumed fuel like crazy, didn't do well in mud and icy conditions, and it was expensive to manufacture, so not a lot of them were made. The allies pretty much stopped them by bombing German fuel depots. Toward the end of the war the Americans put the Pershing tank into service to deal with the Tigers. The Pershings made little impact since they entered battlefield so late.

M-26 Pershing



Tiger II

[Minimalist]

The Panzer V was generally considered the best German tank...



specifically designed to overcome the Russian T-34



Their problem of course was that the Russians built over 10 times as many T-34s.