June 6, 1944

[Pawpaw]

[ELB]

In November of 1960 The Atlantic magazine published an article by S.L.A. Marshall detailing the fate of the first wave to assault Omaha Beach, in particular Able and Baker companies of the 115th Infantry, 29th Division. It is both fascinating and grim reading, and explains very well the need for the US military cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach:

First Wave at Omaha Beach

Do take a few minutes and read it.

[bblhd672]

In November of 1960 The Atlantic magazine published an article by S.L.A. Marshall detailing the fate of the first wave to assault Omaha Beach, in particular Able and Baker companies of the 115th Infantry, 29th Division. It is both fascinating and grim reading, and explains very well the need for the US military cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach:

First Wave at Omaha Beach

Do take a few minutes and read it.

Chilling. The beginning of "Saving Private Ryan" comes to mind.

Not many of the men who jumped or came ashore in boats and fought their way into France are still with us. Heartfelt thanks to all who died and to those who lived through the hell of it.

[The Annoyed Man]

In November of 1960 The Atlantic magazine published an article by S.L.A. Marshall detailing the fate of the first wave to assault Omaha Beach, in particular Able and Baker companies of the 115th Infantry, 29th Division. It is both fascinating and grim reading, and explains very well the need for the US military cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach:

First Wave at Omaha Beach

Do take a few minutes and read it.

Heck of an article. There’s "war", and then there’s "hyper-war" - a term I picked up from a website about the Pacific theater of operations - but that term describes WW2 probably better than anything. There are plenty of accurate stories of war in all of its brutality in the decades following WW2 ... Chosin Reservoir, Ia Drang Valley, Fallujah, and so on... but there is nothing that compares for epic scale to WW2. And out all the horrors of WW2, there are few things that match either the D-Day landings in Normandy, or the assault on Iwo Jima for just how bad things can get.

Imagine what the American public's reaction would be today to a military action that cost 4,414 Allied lives in the first 24 hours, as happened at Normandy.

https://www.historyonthenet.com/d-day-casualties

The First U.S. Army, accounting for the first twenty-four hours in Normandy, tabulated 1,465 killed, 1,928 missing, and 6,603 wounded. The after-action report of U.S. VII Corps (ending 1 July) showed 22,119 casualties including 2,811 killed, 5,665 missing, 79 prisoners, and 13,564 wounded, including paratroopers.

.........

The losses of the German forces during the Battle of Normandy can only be guested. Roughly 200,000 German troops were killed or wounded. The Allies also captured 200,000 prisoners of war (not included in the 425,000 total, above). During the fighting around the Falaise Pocket (August 1944) alone, the Germans suffered 90,000 losses, including prisoners.

During the 5 weeks it took to secure Iwo Jima, we suffered 26,040 total casualties—6,821 killed, and 19,217 wounded. In just 36 days.

...and WW2 pales in comparison to our own Civil War casualties. I seriously doubt that the American people have the stomach for another global war against nation states.

[MaduroBU]

I would hesitate to make tiers of heroism based upon scale or outcome. First, because the grunts in Vietnam or Afghanistan suffered no less than those in WW2. But more than that, we also need to remember that Iraq lost more tanks/IFVs during Medina Ridge, 73 Easting, Al Busayah and Norfolk than Germany did during Overlord (which cost them twice as many tanks/assault guns as Zitadel and Kursk).

Kursk lasted a month. Overlord until the surrender of the Falaise Pocket took 2 months. The battles between 1st, 2nd and 3rd Armored, 1st Cavalry, 1 ID and British 1st Armored took 3 days.

[flechero]

I would hesitate to make tiers of heroism based upon scale or outcome.

Full stop.

The soldiers in different wars/ places had different orders and in some cases they were handcuffed by politicians. I'm for allowing anyone being shot at, assaulted or targeted to respond as brutally as possible.

[WTR]

I would hesitate to make tiers of heroism based upon scale or outcome.

Full stop.

The soldiers in different wars/ places had different orders and in some cases they were handcuffed by politicians. I'm for allowing anyone being shot at, assaulted or targeted to respond as brutally as possible.

My Uncle was dropped into Korea during the first days of that war. My Uncle was dead before he hit the ground. All soldiers are heros’.

[Keith B]

My uncle was a pilot on an LST that made over 110 trips to deliver or retrieve troops at Omaha Beach during the invasion.

[crazy2medic]

I would hesitate to make tiers of heroism based upon scale or outcome.

Full stop.

The soldiers in different wars/ places had different orders and in some cases they were handcuffed by politicians. I'm for allowing anyone being shot at, assaulted or targeted to respond as brutally as possible.

War should be total or not at all, kill the enemy and break his stuff until he can no longer carry the war forward!

[crazy2medic]

My grandfather taught hand to hand combat to the troops, do not know what he did but he became an alcoholic when he returned from Europe, My Great Uncle Robert (Grandfather's brother) went down on the Arizona, my great Uncle Dial was tank driver under Patton, my Great Uncle Raul was a 40mm AntiAircraft gunner on the USS Enterprise!

[anygunanywhere]

I would hesitate to make tiers of heroism based upon scale or outcome. First, because the grunts in Vietnam or Afghanistan suffered no less than those in WW2. But more than that, we also need to remember that Iraq lost more tanks/IFVs during Medina Ridge, 73 Easting, Al Busayah and Norfolk than Germany did during Overlord (which cost them twice as many tanks/assault guns as Zitadel and Kursk).

Kursk lasted a month. Overlord until the surrender of the Falaise Pocket took 2 months. The battles between 1st, 2nd and 3rd Armored, 1st Cavalry, 1 ID and British 1st Armored took 3 days.

I worked with one of the tank commanders of the battle of 73 Easting when I worked in Ohio in 2017. Listening to him describe what they did was beyond my comprehension.

[LTUME1978]

One of my uncles was a navy fighter pilot in VF-14 on the Wasp that was commissioned in 1943. He was an ace but would never talk about his arial combat (nothing like being on the beaches on D Day). There was a book published about his squadron titled "Flying With Iron Angles". The Alvin Library found a copy of that book in a small college library in Missouri and talked them into loaning it to me to read. He went down twice (bad catapult launch and had to ditch because the tail hook would not extend so that he could land). Survived both. That book filled in a lot of details about the war for him.

Victor Davis Hanson has some good lectures on You Tube on WW II and has a good book out on it as well. His Dad flew in a B-29 in the Pacific. They gave them drugs to keep them up for extended hours for the flight then drugs to make them sleep. They were not given parachutes as they were told it was better to die in a crash than to let the Japanese get them. He asked his Dad how he did that and his Dad indicated that that it was not all that bad (had food, etc). Hansen thinks the years of the depression toughened up our soldiers in preparation for the war. We don't have that going for us now. It sure will be bad if we have another world war. Have talked with a current Command Sergeant Major and was told that discipline in the regular army is really bad because they are not allow to do anything to motivate the troops (read that as they can't kick their butts to make them do anything).

[jason812]

My great granny's brothers were in WW2. I believe 2 stayed state side and only one was sent to Europe. He never said much about what he did except he was a glider mechanic. He received the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with seven campaign stars. He served in all seven European Campaigns, including Rome-Arno, Southern France, Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge), Rhineland and Central Europe. I one time asked him where he was during D-Day and his response was only, I was already there.

The only other thing he would talk about was he had a M98 with SS lightning bolts. He was so happy to leave Germany, he forgot it at the train station when he boarded the train to come home. He did bring home a Nazi flag big enough to cover an entire wall.

The one thing I will always remember about him is that he never had air conditioning in the house but if you got in the tractor with him in the middle of summer, your teeth would rattle.