[NSC] D-Day Anniversary- Keeping Calm And Carrying On- June 6th 1944

[Easy 10]

I've always found the film footage from D-Day astonishing too. As brave as those troops were, the guys over there filming it were risking life and limb as well to bring us those pictures. Vital documenting of our history for future generations to learn from.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Have just this very day ordered the Antony Beevor book 'D-Day: The Battle For Normandy' off Amazon. Ashamed at my lack of knowledge of our country's breathtaking contribution to saving the world from fascism. Far more ashamed that it was never even touched upon in my four years of doing history (til I dropped the subject as being utterly irrelevent) at grammar school. Know all about the invention of Hargreaves Spinning Jenny and the causes of the Crimean War, but have been playing catch-up on WW1 and WW2 ever since. What gives?

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcasts, episodes Blueprint for Armageddon I to VI are fantastic for an understanding of WW1.

He then did Supernova in the East parts I and II that goes into Asia-Pacific war 1937-45.

I find him brilliant to listen to, he's not afraid to go into real depth and detail but always keeps it interesting.

 

[Gwylan]

Have just this very day ordered the Antony Beevor book 'D-Day: The Battle For Normandy' off Amazon.

Excellent book - as are all of Beevor's books.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Excellent book - as are all of Beevor's books.

Have learnt infinitely more from Beevor's books thus far than I ever learnt in school.

 

[nicko31]

Guess what makes this anniversary so significant is its the last time we'll see survivors from D-Day in significant numbers.

That said, some of these guys (and girls) in their 90's are just incredible

 

[portlock seagull]

Saw my Uncle on Monday and we usually have a chat about ww2 at some point. He missed the war by a few months but was a fully trained Cromwell Tank commander by the end and yesterday he showed me in a parade ground photo of him with other commanders and sat in the front row was the regimental general Percy Hobart of ‘funnies’ fame! Also showed me another of him with Monty because Monty’s son passed out in the same class as he did. Later on he met and drove Euan Montague of Operation Mincemeat fame from London to Portsmouth! I was pretty impressed, all three have passed into legend since. Their contributions to winning the war were above and beyond.

 

[Gwylan]

Have learnt infinitely more from Beevor's books thus far than I ever learnt in school.

To be fair, history at school doesn't really cover warfare. As you said, you learn about the causes of the Crimean War or the origins of the First World War but there are little or no details of the individual battles.

Beevor's books are nearly the opposite - the D Day book doesn't go into much detail of the politics and planning that led to the invasion but goes into a fantastic amount of detail about the fighting,

 

[jakarta]

Late Father-in-Law was in Signals and went over D-Day plus 2, then served with Guards Armoured Division all the way to Germany, spent his time listening into German front line (i.e. non-Enigma) Morse signals, was never too far from the front (was sniped at) but wasn't part of the PBI carnage.

As ever with veterans he needed his time from June 1944 to April 1945 to be prised out of him as he really didn't want to talk about it.

Was in Army of Occupation in West Berlin 1945-47 and he didn't mind talking about that so much, e.g. he visited both Goring's and Hitler's bunker's.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

To be fair, history at school doesn't really cover warfare.,

I think you'd be surprised nowadays. There isn't room for detailed battle by battle analysis but I think you'd find in most schools there's a lot of coverage of various tactics and the experience of fighters (and civilians) in many wars, including quite recent ones.

 

[AmexRuislip]

Saw my Uncle on Monday and we usually have a chat about ww2 at some point. He missed the war by a few months but was a fully trained Cromwell Tank commander by the end and yesterday he showed me in a parade ground photo of him with other commanders and sat in the front row was the regimental general Percy Hobart of ‘funnies’ fame! Also showed me another of him with Monty because Monty’s son passed out in the same class as he did. Later on he met and drove Euan Montague of Operation Mincemeat fame from London to Portsmouth! I was pretty impressed, all three have passed into legend since. Their contributions to winning the war were above and beyond.

Hughendens new WW2 exhibition opens in July.
They're moving it upstairs from the cellar, for easier visitor access.
Should be good.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hughenden/features/hughendens-second-world-war-story

 

[Surrey Seagull]

Visited by D-Day beaches a few years back, its a very moving experience and everyone try and visit if they can.

Incredible men...

Absolutely, I visited the beaches nearly 10 years ago and was at Omaha beach at low tide. Standing on the water's edge, I had that thought of how did any of those men reach the embankment in one piece.
As you said, incredible men!

 

[Gwylan]

I think you'd be surprised nowadays. There isn't room for detailed battle by battle analysis but I think you'd find in most schools there's a lot of coverage of various tactics and the experience of fighters (and civilians) in many wars, including quite recent ones.

I stand corrected. When I did my history GCE there was nothing about any battles, let alone anything about tactics. For example, we studied the aftermath of Waterloo (Vienna and all that) and nothing about the battle itself

This was 46 years ago, so things may have changed

 

[Bry Nylon]

The Greatest Generation.

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

Ive read all the "Forgotten Voices "Books
They cover every service and civilians and D Day and I can't recommend them highly enough
They go right up to The Falklands War

Sent from my EML-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[Dave the OAP]

I stand corrected. When I did my history GCE there was nothing about any battles, let alone anything about tactics. For example, we studied the aftermath of Waterloo (Vienna and all that) and nothing about the battle itself

This was 46 years ago, so things may have changed

One of the things that I always found interesting when I was young and my parents were taking me and my brother around the war graves in France and Belgium, was when we went to Waterloo. I was expecting to see the same sea of graves all tendered for when there was none.

All those huge napoleonic battles on mainland Europe, and all the thousands upon thousands who died. Current thinking is that between 1804 and 1815 almost 7 million casualties , that is military and civilian alone ( david ebsworth http://www.davidebsworth.com/the-battle-of-waterloo-ten-things-you-didnt-know). So why did the military and government think it was the time to create these huge overwhelming graveyards in the 20th century? What drove the desire to have somewhere to see the sacrifice these men and women( and animals- millions of horses were killed ) had made?

Back in the ancient world of course, they had funeral pyres for their military dead, but very little remains of monuments to men and women who died.

 

[Gwylan]

All those huge napoleonic battles on mainland Europe, and all the thousands upon thousands who died. Current thinking is that between 1804 and 1815 almost 7 million casualties , that is military and civilian alone ( david ebsworth http://www.davidebsworth.com/the-battle-of-waterloo-ten-things-you-didnt-know). So why did the military and government think it was the time to create these huge overwhelming graveyards in the 20th century? What drove the desire to have somewhere to see the sacrifice these men and women( and animals- millions of horses were killed ) had made?

It's a good question. I suspect there are several reasons: firstly, travel was not so common - families of the Napoleonic dead would have been unlikely to travel to see the graves. Second, I suspect that it was harder to identify bodies then, there wouldn't have been the detailed records. Finally, there would have been less money around - the Napoleonic wars nearly bankrupted Britain.

It's an interesting point though. A few years ago, I went to Agincourt, apart from a small visitors centre, you'd never have known there was a major battle on the site, with thousands dead.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Sitting in the cinema last night waiting for Saving Private Ryan to start....and realised it is now 21 years since its first release! I wasn't even married or had any kids first time around.
When time flies this fast, its easy to see how the events of 06/06/44 are still so upsetting & fresh in the mind of those veterans who were there.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Sitting in the cinema last night waiting for Saving Private Ryan to start....and realised it is now 21 years since its first release! I wasn't even married or had any kids first time around.
When time flies this fast, its easy to see how the events of 06/06/44 are still so upsetting & fresh in the mind of those veterans who were there.

It's a bit like Band of Brothers, 18 years ago now. When that first came out I was fascinated by the stories of the real characters. They have all passed now with Don Malarkey being the last I think.