If the Omaha Beach push had failed.....

[OH58D]

Politics notwithstanding....America has never had a problem sending its children to die for other people.

We would have kept tossing bodies and tossing bodies until we won.
Then, as usual, sent more people to rebuild.

We have urban blight at home we do nothing about.

I'm not a bleeding heart and I'm not a hawk....and while it makes for good TV to see a boogie woogie boy from Company B run up and punch a Nazi or a Viet Cong or Haji....

He was still someone's child that family wont get back for someone elses victory. I feel like sometimes....sometimes....America is the world's Foreign Legion.

Nobody cares.

The world is a complicated place. It would be great if we could just stay home and not have to deal with people who would exterminate our society just because of our successes and standard of living. We could live in a world like one big Mother Goose Story, with happy endings for everyone. I would prefer a world like that.

Unfortunately, its survival of the fittest, the biggest and the baddest. That involves power projection and the use of lethal force on their turf so we don't have to face it here. This sort of activity has not been a perfect way of doing things, and I've seen it first hand in some of these dung heap nations. Trial and error, people live, people die. You can argue the Vietnam War until your voice gives out - the same with Nicaragua, Panama, Desert Storm, Somalia.............. I don't have all the answers and I can see faults in all of it. But in the big bad world we operate in, being proactive in killing your enemies over there, is better than facing them here. If my Country ever called me up for duty again, I'd go in a heartbeat.

[ABNAK]

I have also wondered how much the miracle on Omaha was aided by Navy destroyers which came in just close enough to the beach to not run aground to "snipe" at German positions up on the cliff with 5" guns.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval...stroyers-d-day

From another article: "The second landing wave came in and likewise found itself in a meat grinder. The result was sickening. Around 9 am Captain Outerbridge felt he could stand no more. He wasn’t going to let his ship be an impotent spectator of the terrible drama that was being played out before his eyes. Without orders, Outerbridge headed closer ashore until the O’Brien was only 500 yards from the bloodstained beaches.
The skipper ordered a hard right until O’Brien paralleled the shoreline and its deadly cliffs. All 5-inch/38-caliber batteries commenced firing at the German pillboxes and machine-gun nests that were perched high above the beaches. After the first salvo, the ship received radio calls from Army units that were huddled at the bottom of the cliffs, unable to advance but unwilling to retreat.
Outerbridge asked if anyone had been hit by the ship’s salvo. No, came the reply—but please raise your fire, because we are here just below! O’Brien continued down the coast about a mile or so until reaching Pointe du Hoc. At one point, observers from the destroyer spotted German soldiers fleeing from the cliffs to a lone building just to the rear. It was quickly demolished—the soldiers still inside—by O’Brien’s well-aimed 5-inch shells."

[ABNAK]

The world is a complicated place. It would be great if we could just stay home and not have to deal with people who would exterminate our society just because of our successes and standard of living. We could live in a world like one big Mother Goose Story, with happy endings for everyone. I would prefer a world like that.

Unfortunately, its survival of the fittest, the biggest and the baddest. That involves power projection and the use of lethal force on their turf so we don't have to face it here. This sort of activity has not been a perfect way of doing things, and I've seen it first hand in some of these dung heap nations. Trial and error, people live, people die. You can argue the Vietnam War until your voice gives out - the same with Nicaragua, Panama, Desert Storm, Somalia.............. I don't have all the answers and I can see faults in all of it. But in the big bad world we operate in, being proactive in killing your enemies over there, is better than facing them here. If my Country ever called me up for duty again, I'd go in a heartbeat.

Well put!

[Firefly]

I'm not saying NOT to put folks on their ass; I'm just saying it gets frustrating at times.

But more to the point, a D Day defeat would not have defined the war for us like it did for Germany. We just would have kept at it. As was stated, by '44 Germany was dying.

Yeah they had all kinds of cool toys but were just spread out too thin and running out of friends fast.

Plus we just would have A-bombed them.

I remember once reading this autobiography of this German spy who was in the US by like 1944. German born and taught to speak good English; him and an Army Air Force defector went to NYC to try to get intel on power plants or some such.

He said that once he got to NYC proper; it didn't even seem like there was a war going on whereas in Germany it was this big deal.

It was titled Agent 18 or something. But it wasn't our war to win; it was Germany and Japan's to lose.

[Firefly]

The world is a complicated place. It would be great if we could just stay home and not have to deal with people who would exterminate our society just because of our successes and standard of living. We could live in a world like one big Mother Goose Story, with happy endings for everyone. I would prefer a world like that.

Unfortunately, its survival of the fittest, the biggest and the baddest. That involves power projection and the use of lethal force on their turf so we don't have to face it here. This sort of activity has not been a perfect way of doing things, and I've seen it first hand in some of these dung heap nations. Trial and error, people live, people die. You can argue the Vietnam War until your voice gives out - the same with Nicaragua, Panama, Desert Storm, Somalia.............. I don't have all the answers and I can see faults in all of it. But in the big bad world we operate in, being proactive in killing your enemies over there, is better than facing them here. If my Country ever called me up for duty again, I'd go in a heartbeat.

There is nothing here I disagree with and without sounding cliche, admire your commitment and duty.

When you put it that way, I can see it.
Still....bitching about it a little never hurt as long as you get the job done.

[OH58D]

There is nothing here I disagree with and without sounding cliche, admire your commitment and duty.

When you put it that way, I can see it.
Still....bitching about it a little never hurt as long as you get the job done.

Your point of view wasn't wrong, I just gave some insight in how I look at things. Endless involvement in overseas actions are a drain on America's finest and our national treasure. I was low person on the Totem Pole for a lot of these adventures so I didn't have a say in anything. I did the job and that's it. After Gothic Serpent, I had a real nasty taste in my mouth and I couldn't understand why we were doing things on the cheap when we should have gone in balls to the wall with everything we had available, then gotten out. Although I am not a real fan of Colin Powell's politics, I liked his "doctrine" of using overwhelming force in foreign operations.

Politically, I am an old fashioned Conservative, with a few Libertarian leanings - Not a RINO and a believer in going into every possible foreign intervention. For the most part now days, I just want the government out of my life and let me maintain a reasonable, rational and responsible existence. I do just fine without them. The only ties I maintain are reunions with my Army buddies from my aviation days, and I give presentations to college ROTC units, about various operations during my career. This is all volunteer.

[SteyrAUG]

Didn't want to start a new thread, but this is awesome.

https://time.com/5601223/d-day-veter...utes-normandy/

That is pretty awesome.

[SteyrAUG]

Interesting that this just popped up,,,,,,,http://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot....d-how.html?m=1

It is a glimpse of how close the Germans were to an Atomic Bomb !!!

I'd have to look it up, but I think they lacked a suitable source for heavy water.

[SteyrAUG]

I have also wondered how much the miracle on Omaha was aided by Navy destroyers which came in just close enough to the beach to not run aground to "snipe" at German positions up on the cliff with 5" guns.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval...stroyers-d-day

From another article: "The second landing wave came in and likewise found itself in a meat grinder. The result was sickening. Around 9 am Captain Outerbridge felt he could stand no more. He wasn’t going to let his ship be an impotent spectator of the terrible drama that was being played out before his eyes. Without orders, Outerbridge headed closer ashore until the O’Brien was only 500 yards from the bloodstained beaches.
The skipper ordered a hard right until O’Brien paralleled the shoreline and its deadly cliffs. All 5-inch/38-caliber batteries commenced firing at the German pillboxes and machine-gun nests that were perched high above the beaches. After the first salvo, the ship received radio calls from Army units that were huddled at the bottom of the cliffs, unable to advance but unwilling to retreat.
Outerbridge asked if anyone had been hit by the ship’s salvo. No, came the reply—but please raise your fire, because we are here just below! O’Brien continued down the coast about a mile or so until reaching Pointe du Hoc. At one point, observers from the destroyer spotted German soldiers fleeing from the cliffs to a lone building just to the rear. It was quickly demolished—the soldiers still inside—by O’Brien’s well-aimed 5-inch shells."

Every little bit helped. Lots of people went above and beyond that day. Lots of people improvised solutions that were never part of the plan. And probably more than a few people lost their lives in great feats of heroism that greatly contributed to our success and nobody even saw it happen.

June 6 is probably one of those rare days where everyone gave a lot.

[MountainRaven]

Plus we just would have A-bombed them.

It just occurred to me.

In 1940, the US began developing a bomber with a 3000 mile flight range.

In 1941, the US took up "defending" Iceland's neutrality.

In 1942, the US began developing the atomic bomb.

In 1943, the US began adopting that 3000 mile bomber to carry an atomic bomb.

The first target intended for the atomic bomb was Berlin.

The distance - by air - from Reykjavik to Berlin - is just under 1500 miles.

So even if Germany somehow managed to successfully defend against the invasion of Normandy all the way to Belfast, the US would have still been able to vaporize Berlin just over a year later with a bomber virtually immune to even the most powerful ground-based defense and able to fly at altitudes where few Axis aircraft could intercept them.