D-Day plus 75

[C-Mag]

75 years ago today, troops were preparing again for the invasion of Europe, not really knowing if the weather would permit the invasion to go. H/T to those men and women that made it happen. Remember today as the biggest invasion in history. Some ancient Persian invasion may have had more people, but who remembers. No real argument about it, just taking a moment to remember, I'd welcome your comments.

[Speaker to Animals]

Imagine your life boiling down to the number painted on your landing craft. 1409. 1410. 1411.

[C-Mag]

It was a monumental effort. All coordinated, supplied and timed with paper, pencil and crude communication. I think there are still some troops that did very, very special work that has not been properly highlighted. The Pathfinders and Beach demolitions crews that went in ahead of the main forces, cleared beaches and set up locator beacons for aerial drops.

[C-Mag]

Omaha beach from 1000 ft


Juno Beach



Brit Mustang that took the photos

[Speaker to Animals]

Even CNN has to recognize how bad ass this guy is.


https://edition.cnn.com/videos/travel/2 ... ing-d-day/

[brewster]

Read something this week that called D-Day the most important date of the 20th century. Seemed a bit much to me. IMO at that point the outcome of the war was not in doubt, just the timeline and human cost. The Soviets were kicking their ass in the east. The Luftwaffe was gone. I don't see it as the "turning point". That would be Stalingrad, wouldn't it, the end of Nazi expansion?

What would you say was the most important date of the last century? I vote for Nov 6th 1917, the day the Bolsheviks took power. Set in motion events and the conflicts that shaped the rest of the century. That's not an endorsement BTW, just an observation.

Dec 7th 41? What if the US had stayed out of the war, or even took several more years? The Trinity Test? Hiroshima? The conferences at Bretton Woods or Yalta?

[Speaker to Animals]

Trinity. 16 Jul 1945


Close second was the date general relativity was published in 1915. Obviously linked to Trinity, though.

[brewster]

Trinity. 16 Jul 1945

Obviously I think it's up there, but without the Cold War, it would be of far less importance. There might not even have been the rise of Nazis without Bolsheviks (and their Jewish avatars) as their foil.

[Speaker to Animals]

Trinity. 16 Jul 1945

Obviously I think it's up there, but without the Cold War, it would be of far less importance. There might not even have been the rise of Nazis without Bolsheviks (and their Jewish avatars) as their foil.

Nope. That's one of the most important events for any species in this universe. Once you unlock nuclear power, you are simultaneously on your way to the stars and heading to extinction bottleneck numero uno.

[C-Mag]

Read something this week that called D-Day the most important date of the 20th century. Seemed a bit much to me. IMO at that point the outcome of the war was not in doubt, just the timeline and human cost. The Soviets were kicking their ass in the east. The Luftwaffe was gone. I don't see it as the "turning point". That would be Stalingrad, wouldn't it, the end of Nazi expansion?

What would you say was the most important date of the last century? I vote for Nov 6th 1917, the day the Bolsheviks took power. Set in motion events and the conflicts that shaped the rest of the century. That's not an endorsement BTW, just an observation.

Dec 7th 41? What if the US had stayed out of the war, or even took several more years? The Trinity Test? Hiroshima? The conferences at Bretton Woods or Yalta?

Good Post. D-Day was going to have a massive affect on the European Theater regardless of who won it. If it had failed, it would take the allies 2 years to rebuild their losses. Hard to say what might have happened in the east. The Soviet war of attrition was effective, the Krauts just couldn't kill enough men and destroy enough equipment with the US supplying Ivan.

There is a very good case that the rise of the Bolshies is the most important date of the 20th C. The US really started changing the war in the Spring of '40 when FDR started Lend Lease. The Soviets never wanted to admit they needed help, but both Zukhov and Stalin have been quoted in saying they could never have won without US help. Stalin said the Soviet Army moved on Spam. Zukhov said there would have been no tanks if it weren't for US Steel, he continued saying they had no explosives, no gunpowder. Soviets started getting US Supplies in the late summer early fall of '41.

https://www.rbth.com/defence/2016/03/14 ... our_575559