#normandy campaign

[une-sanz-pluis]

If 1416 had seen members of the dynasty achieving successes – it was notable how Sigismund had been met by all three of Henry’s brothers in their order of seniority as he progressed from Dover to London to meet the king himself when he arrived in May – the year 1417 provided the best example of how much Henry owed to his close male relatives, two of whom, Clarence and Gloucester, accompanied him on his second invasion of Normandy. His choice was interesting. Was it, as already suggested, because he wanted to act in close unison with him and to supervise his activities personally that Henry ordered Clarence to accompany him? And was it to give him further experience of war, in particular of siege warfare and of the use of the new artillery, that he chose Gloucester to take command of part of the army? In both cases, but for rather different reasons, Henry may have felt that he would prefer to have these two men under his orders. Two things are notable. The first is that both men remained in Normandy under Henry for at least two years, each loyally committing his life at this time to the fulfilment of Henry’s ambition, making it almost the ambition of the dynasty. The second is the extent to which these two men, in their contrasting military ‘styles’, assisted Henry in his conquest of Normandy. Clarence was the man of flamboyant action seen, for instance, in his scaling of the wall at Caen and his cry ‘A Clarans, A Clarans’ recorded by the chronicler, and in the manner in which he and a small force of men captured Pontoise in a daring dawn raid on 30 July 1419. Such notable actions achieved success, and were duly recorded by the chroniclers who still wrote in a chivalric vein whenever the opportunity occurred. Those very same chroniclers were also interested in the relatively new techniques of war which developments in artillery presented. They thus admired Gloucester’s contribution to the war, his rapid conquest of northwestern Normandy in the spring of 1418 when towns and castles surrendered in quick succession to his army. Most of all, they noted his successful completion of the six-month siege of Cherbourg, carried out by a man with relatively little practical experience of war behind him, but with an interest in siege warfare and in particular the advantages which the use of artillery was now giving the attacker. Nor should we think of Gloucester as a man who preferred to win success from the comparative safety of an artillery emplacement. Like all his brothers, he was no coward; the Brut records that, at the siege of Rouen to which he went after he had taken Cherbourg, Gloucester deliberately pitched his encampment closer to that city’s wall – and hence closer to danger — than did any other commander. The important point to underline is that Clarence and Gloucester presented Henry with useful contrasts in military style; one was ready for dramatic action when required, while the other preferred to use the new weaponry to achieve less dramatic but equally lasting results.

Christopher Allmand, Henry V (Yale Monarchs, 1992)

[walkingthroughthisworld]

The M4 Medium with an M4 105mm Howitzer was a solution for a problem they didn’t know they had until the Italy Campaign. The M7 Priest did not work well in the direct fire role it was sometimes called to fill. The mount was not very accurate for direct fire, and there was no fixing it. It was also poorly suited to direct fireworks with its light armor. The solution was mounting the 105mm gun in the M4 series. This required a rework of the gun and mount, but it was ready before the Normandy landings and, once in use, were well-liked, replacing the M7 in Tank Company and Battalion 105 support roles. All 105 Shermans were either M4s or M4A3s, and all were built by Chrysler.

(via 105 mm M4 Howitzer Information Page | The Sherman Tank Site)

[tomorrowusa]

June 6th is the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings which led to the liberation of France and the Benelux countries from Nazi tyranny.

The Biden-Harris campaign released a new ad (above) featuring US military veterans. President Biden is in Normandy honoring those who served.

A reminder that Donald "Bone Spur" Trump called Americans who died for their country "losers" and "suckers".

Trump did call fallen soldiers "losers," his former chief of staff says

The real suckers and losers are people who support a convicted felon and adjudicated sex offender for president.

[captain-price-unofficially]

A-20 Havoc bombers of US 416th Bomb Group attacking German road networks in Normandy, France, 6 Jun 1944

[swishyrebootedyt]

���� Welcome to our comprehensive Call of Duty: WWII walkthrough! 🎮 Immerse yourself in the epic battles of World War II as we guide you through every intense mission, strategic encounter, and heart-pounding moment of this iconic first-person shooter. Join us on this historical journey as we relive the bravery and sacrifices of soldiers during one of the most pivotal periods in human history.

🔥 In this Call of Duty: WWII gameplay series, we provide you with step-by-step guidance, tactical insights, and expert tips to conquer each mission. From storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day to battling through war-torn European cities, we've got you covered. Get ready to experience the realism, action, and emotion of World War II like never before.

🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell to stay up-to-date with each new mission in our Call of Duty: WWII walkthrough. Whether you're a seasoned veteran looking to relive the nostalgia or a new recruit diving into the series, our detailed commentary and strategic gameplay will help you navigate the challenges ahead.

📢 Join the conversation! Share your thoughts, strategies, and favorite moments in the comments below. Let's embark on this unforgettable journey together!

#CallOfDutyWWII #Walkthrough #GamingGuide #WorldWar2 #CODWW2 #Gameplay #TacticalGaming #GamingCommunity #WWIIGame #GamingWalkthrough #FirstPersonShooter #HistoricalGaming #SubscribeNow

[fadgasdgdsd]

Wikipedia article of the day is American logistics in the Normandy campaign. Check it out: https://ift.tt/5Co9S3b

[deadpresidents]

On the cliffs of Normandy, in a small holding area, the President of the United States was looking out at the English Channel. It was only six weeks ago, on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, and President Biden had just finished his remarks at the American cemetery atop Omaha Beach. Guests had been congratulating him on the speech, but he didn't want to talk about himself. The moment was not about him; it was about the men who had fought and died there. "Today feels so large," he told me. "This may sound strange -- and I don't mean it to -- but when I was out there, I felt the honor of it, the sanctity of it. To speak for the American people, to speak over those graves, it's a profound thing." He turned from the view over the beaches and gestured back toward the war dead. "You want to do right by them, by the country."

Mr. Biden has spent a lifetime trying to do right by the nation, and he did so in the most epic of ways when he chose to end his campaign for re-election. His decision is one of the most remarkable acts of leadership in our history, an act of self-sacrifice that places him in the company of George Washington who also stepped away from the presidency. To put something ahead of one's immediate desires -- to give, rather than to try to take -- is perhaps the most difficult thing for any human being to do. And Mr. Biden has done just that.

To be clear: Mr. Biden is my friend, and it has been a privilege to help him when I can. Not because I am a Democrat -- I belong to neither party and have voted for both Democrats and Republicans -- but because I believe him to be a defender of the Constitution and a public servant of honor and of grace at a time when extreme forces threaten the nation. I do not agree with everything he has done or wanted to do in terms of policy. But I know him to be a good man, a patriot and a president who has met challenges all too similar to those Abraham Lincoln faced. Here is the story I believe history will tell of Joe Biden. With American democracy in an hour of maximum danger in Donald Trump's presidency, Mr. Biden stepped in the breach. He staved off an authoritarian threat at home, rallied the world against autocrats abroad, laid the foundations for decades of prosperity, managed the end of a once-in-a-century pandemic, successfully legislated on vital issues of climate and infrastructure and has conducted a presidency worthy of the greatest of his predecessors. History and fate brought him to the pinnacle in a late season in his life, and in the end, he respected fate -- and he respected the American people.

It is, of course, an incredibly difficult moment. Highs and lows, victories and defeats, joy and pain: It has been ever thus for Mr. Biden. In the distant autumn of 1972, he experienced the most exhilarating of hours -- election to the United States Senate at the age of 29. He was no scion; he earned it. The darkness fell: His wife and daughter were killed in an automobile accident that seriously injured his two sons, Beau and Hunter. But he endured, found purpose in the pain, became deeper, wiser, more empathetic. Through the decades, two presidential campaigns imploded, and in 2015 his son Beau, a lawyer and wonderfully promising young political figure, died of brain cancer after serving in Iraq.

Such tragedy would have broken many lesser men. Mr. Biden, however, never gave up, never gave in, never surrendered the hope that a fallen, frail and fallible world could be made better, stronger and more whole if people could summon just enough goodness and enough courage to build rather than tear down. Character, as the Greeks first taught us, is destiny, and Mr. Biden's character is both a mirror and a maker of his nation's. Like Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, he is optimistic, resilient and kind, a steward of American greatness, a love of the great game of politics and, at heart, a hopeless romantic about the country that has given him so much.

Nothing bears out this point as well as his decision to let history happen in the 2024 election. Not matter how much people say that this was inevitable after the debate in Atlanta last month, there was nothing foreordained about an American President ending his political career for the sake of his country and his party. By surrendering the possibility of enduring in the seat of ultimate power, Mr. Biden has taught us a landmark lesson in patriotism, humility and wisdom.

Now the question comes to the rest of us. What will we the people do? We face the most significant of choices. Mr. Roosevelt framed the war whose dead Mr. Biden commemorated at Normandy in June as a battle between democracy and dictatorship. It is not too much to say that we, too, have what Mr. Roosevelt called a "rendezvous with destiny" at home and abroad. Mr. Biden has put country above self, the Constitution above personal ambition, the future of democracy above temporal gain. It is up to us to follow his lead.

-- "Joe Biden, My Friend and an American Hero" by Jon Meacham, New York Times, July 22, 2024.

[whencyclopedia]

Battle of Hastings

The Battle of Hastings in south-east England on 14 October 1066 saw the defeat of the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II (r. Jan-Oct 1066) by the invading Norman army led by William, Duke of Normandy (reigned from 1035). After a day of heavy fighting, the Norman cavalry eventually proved more effective than the Anglo-Saxon infantry.

William claimed the throne of England had been promised to him by Harold's predecessor, Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-1066) and he had invaded England to take by force the kingdom he considered rightfully his. Harold was killed in the battle, according to tradition, hit by an arrow to the eye and then hacked to pieces as he fell. The victor would be crowned king of England on Christmas Day of the same year and, over the next five years, his conquest of England would earn him the title of William the Conqueror. Hastings brought an end to 500 years of Anglo-Saxon rule and innumerable political, religious, and cultural changes over the coming decades as the Norman elite installed themselves throughout their new kingdom, setting up castles and creating such innovations as the Domesday Book.

Harold Godwinson

In 1066, the momentous year which would change English history, Harold Godwinson had only just become king of England. Formally the earl of Wessex, Harold was crowned on 6 January following the death of Edward the Confessor who had no heir. Harold had acquired the throne in unclear circumstances although Edward, on his deathbed, had personally nominated Harold as his successor. Harold was the foremost military leader in the kingdom and had built his reputation on his successful campaigns in Wales in 1063-4.

Continue reading...

[felassan]

Coming in 2024: Mass Effect: Priority Hagalaz - The Board Game

Text:

"The year is 2186. On the remote world Hagalaz, a research cruiser from the terrorist organisation Cerberus has crashed directly in the path of a deadly storm. With little time before the storm hits, Shepard must lead their squad through the cruiser to uncover its sinister secrets and keep them out of the hands of the enemy. However, the ship holds more dangers than just its former crew… Mass EffectTM: Priority Hagalaz - The Board Game is a cooperative, story-driven game for 1-4 players designed by Eric M. Lang and Calvin Wong Tze Loon. The card-driven AI system and evolving stories respond to your actions, with your early choices even influencing later missions, while the branching narrative ensures unique experiences with each playthrough. So, prepare to gather Shepard’s squad from a selection of teammates from the Mass EffectTM Universe, customise their abilities, equipment, and powers, and get to the bottom of the mystery on Hagalaz!"

[source, publisher's info page on the product and link to sign up for news about it, tweet source, tweet source two, tweet source three]

Some more info:

"A board game based on the video game series Mass Effect will have players becoming members of the SSV Normandy crew battling Cerberus. Mass Effect the Board Game - Priority Hagalaz is an upcoming board game that will take place during the events of Mass Effect 3. In the game, players will take the roles of either male or female Shepard, Asari biotic Liara, Turian soldier Garrus, Krogan leader Wrex or Quarian technician Tali, as they embark on a mission on the planet Hagalaz - which is the world the Shadow Broker’s ship orbits during the Lair of the Shadow Broker downloadable content released for Mass Effect 2. In the midst of the Reaper invasion, Shepard and their crew investigate reports of a Cerberus ship crashing during a storm on Hagalaz, in an entirely new mission not found in the video games. In hopes of acquiring more information, resources and assistance with which to fight off the terrifying Reapers - as well as shut down the immoral efforts of the Cerberus organisation - players will need to explore Hagalaz and face its many dangers: both Cerberus and non-Cerberus alike. During the co-op game for one to four players, the group can experience a narrative-driven campaign that will enable players to explore different storylines and outcomes depending on their choices. As their chosen characters, players can upgrade their unique abilities by spending the experience points they gain, as well as unlock new powers through optional loyalty missions. The group can also improve their various pieces of equipment and weapons as they advance through the campaign. According to the game’s publisher, Modiphius, the narrative choices made by players will have consequences further down the line, with there being potential for multiple playthroughs resulting in never-before-seen experiences. Mass Effect the Board Game - Priority: Hagalaz was co-created by Eric Lang, the creator behind board games such as Blood Rage and Rising Sun, and Calvin Wong Tze Loon, whose previous tabletop title was 2022’s Lands of Galzyr. Besides Mass Effect the Board Game - Priority: Hagalaz, Modiphius is also responsible for publishing various tabletop roleplaying games such as Dune - Adventures in the Imperium and miniature wargames like Fallout: Factions. The Mass Effect board game will be released via Asmodee. The release date for Mass Effect the Board Game - Priority: Hagalaz is set for sometime later this year."

[source]

[source, two, three, four, five]

An email from Modiphius reads:

Text version:

"We’re excited to announce that Mass Effect the Board Game - Priority: Hagalaz is coming to tabletops later this year! For more information, sign up to join the crew of the Normandy here. Set during the events of Mass Effect 3, the crew of Normandy has one more mission. It is the year 2186, and the Reapers have invaded the galaxy. Because the Council ignored Commander Shepard’s warnings, the Citadel Races are overwhelmed and on the verge of losing the war. Aboard the Normandy, Shepard carries out missions to prepare the Crucible, an ancient alien superweapon, for a last-chance attempt to defeat the Reapers. It’s a race against time, and Shepard must seize every possible advantage. On the remote world Hagalaz, a research cruiser from the terrorist organisation Cerberus has crashed directly in the path of a deadly storm. With little time before the storm hits, Shepard must lead their squad through the cruiser to uncover its sinister secrets and keep them out of the hands of the enemy. However, the ship holds more dangers than just its former crew. Deep within the shattered cruiser stir creatures and enemies far worse than the Cerberus forces that guard them. Mass Effect the Board Game - Priority: Hagalaz is a co-operative, story-driven game for 1-4 players designed by Eric M. Lang and Calvin Wong Tze Loon 黃子倫. A branching, narrative campaign allows for multiple playthroughs with a different experience every time. Card-driven AI and evolving stories respond to your actions – your early choices influence later missions. Gather Shepard’s squad from a selection of teammates from the Mass Effect trilogy: Liara, Tali, Wrex, and Garrus. Customise and upgrade your squad’s abilities, equipment, and powers as they gain experience. Enhance them further by unlocking unique powers with optional loyalty missions. The board game features six highly detailed 32mm scale pre-assembled plastic miniatures of male and female Shepherd, Liara, Tali, Wrex and Garrus. For more information, sign up to join the crew of the Normandy here."

[source: Modiphius]

[pfctipper]

thinking abt dick winters (as usual) but specifically the contemporary evidence of him in the context of damian lewis describing him as 'not without ego' and this post

aka i am absolutely fascinated that web’s main description of him is ‘big and hard and aggressive’

January 1945 letter from Johnny Martin to Bill Guarnere: 'Our CO is now Lieutenant Speirs from D Company. I think he’s the best one we've had yet'

Webster, Parachute Infantry (based on his wartime letters and notes he made in the late 1940s): 'A big, strong young man with sandy hair, he had won the Distinguished Service Cross in Normandy [...] Captain Winters jumped out of the ditch. “Let’s go! Let’s hear a little noise! Kill ’em! Kill ’em all!” [...] Our old Captain Winters, the medal-winner, who was big and hard and aggressive, seemed like the kind of man who would stay around forever. Now he was gone [as company commander]'

Speirs, THE OPERATIONS OF THE 2ND PLATOON D COMPANY, 506 PARACHUTE INFANTRY (101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION) IN THE VICINITY OF CARENTAN, FRANCE 11-13 JUNE 1944 (1948): 'The E Company commander, Lt Winters, was struck in the leg. He was not evacuated, however, and in spite of a stiff and painful leg, stayed until ·the end of the campaign'

speirs features a lot more than dick in parachute infantry, which is partly because of the parts of the war it spans, but probably not what you’d expect from watching the show and seeing how that puts him on a pedestal. also that webster and his particular brand of disdain for a lot of the military and its pettiness and regulations specifically really liked speirs but seems to have been fairly ambivalent about dick is interesting

plus there are dick's wartime letters to deetta in hang tough, where he comes across as. well. the top goodreads review appears to have mistaken it for a epistolary wwii romance novel and knocked off 1.5 stars for misogyny, and i think 'superiority complex' and 'temperamental' would just about cover the rest

so. clearly perceived as a good officer, but not exactly how he comes across in the show or the books. i think dick was absolutely not without ego ('I knew that I was a better man than most of the officers whom I had met, so I flirted with joining the commissioned ranks' in Beyond is a pretty good summation) and a very strong personality. as per ambrose, dick had the initial idea for band of brothers and presented him with folders of information he'd already prepared in anticipation that someone would want to write that book one day, led on collating most of the information from the other men, and along with lipton went through the book 'line-by-line' before it was published to 'correct' information provided by others

and i think that ego really informed both what is / isn't included in the show and how the audience was meant to understand what is included (the shaving scene in bastogne, the nco mutiny)

which in itself has very interesting implications for how nix gets portrayed in the show and in the books given that, by virtue of not engaging with ambrose and then passing in 1995, he's pretty much entirely invented based on information from dick. given that a lot of the show is serving dick’s ego, it’s interesting that nix’s characterisation doesn’t, really. he’s just kind of there

lots to think about. more exploration of egotistical dick please

[aimeedaisies]

Princess Anne reading the memoirs of her husbands uncle, Sub-Lieutenant Keith Symons, who at aged 20 was in command of three landing crafts at gold beach on the first wave of D-Day, at the Commonwealth War Graves Commissions ‘Great Vigil’ at Bayeux War Cemetery in France on 5th June 2024.

The full speech:

At 04.15 hours on 5th June 1944, General Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied Forces, took the momentous decision to launch Operation overlord - what we now call D-Day - the largest sea and airborne invasion the world has ever seen. After 5 years of war, all that time training and waiting, who knows what those Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen felt. 80 years ago today, charged with storming the Normandy coastline and beginning the campaign to free Western Europe from Nazi tyranny.

One of those sailors was my husband's uncle, Sub-Lieutenant Keith Symons who, at the age of 20 was in command of three landing craft at Gold Beach in the first wave on D-Day.

Recalling in his memoirs the evening of 5th June he wrote:

"At last it was time for our briefing. Our confidence was dented by predictions that casualties in the first wave were likely to be heavy. Everyone was quite subdued, but it was all very matter-of-fact. They were in those days. After supper we sat around making light conversation and listening to the chaplain playing his violin.

My cabin companion was a Captain in the Green Howards, a charming man who had been a solicitor before the war. We talked about what we would do when the war was over. Sadly he was killed in France only a few weeks later."

Bayeux was close to the landing beaches and it was the first city to be liberated by the British on 7th June. The City's hospitals were soon full of the wounded from the surrounding battlefield. For those who could not be saved, this was their final resting place.

It is the largest Commonwealth cemetery of the Second World War in France and contains four thousand one hundred and forty allied graves. It is my honour as President of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to continue to protect their legacy.

The epitaphs on the headstones here capture the grief of those who loved these men. One mother's words are:

"HE IS NOT DEAD WHOSE MEMORY LIVES IN HEARTS THAT KNOW AND LOVED HIM."

80 years on, let their memory still live on in our hearts.

[stopstopstopit]

“Supply officers made ridiculous demands on subordinate headquarters, which culminated in the height of absurdity when senior headquarters directed all officers who had received a silk escape map before the jump into Normandy to turn them in or be fined $75. I had kept my escape map sewn in the belt lining of my pants all through the war.

After four campaigns, that map had sentimental value. There are times that the army comes up with some rules and orders that defy common sense and are meant to be disobeyed. This time I took a firm stand and I borrowed a punch line from General McAuliffe at Bastogne. Writing a short note to Captain Sobel, still serving as regimental S-4, I wrote, "Nuts!" To add salt into Sobel's wound, I signed the message, "Richard D. Winters, Major, Commanding." That ended it.”

- Beyond Band of Brothers

Dick being absolutely savage.

[contemplatingoutlander]

As Biden rallies the free world, Trump serves a higher cause: Himself

In Phoenix, at his first post-conviction campaign rally, Trump portrayed a dark and desperate America.

Dana Milbank does a good job of contrasting Biden's and Trump's speeches on June 6th, the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Biden was in Normandy, France, and Trump was in Phoenix, Arizona. You can use this gift🎁link to read the entire article. Below are excerpts from Milbank's column, put into a table format to easily contrast Biden and Trump's speeches/positions.

_____________ All emphasis added; photo sources: Biden; Trump

[eretzyisrael]

by Canaan Lidor

Mervyn Kersh, a Jewish Londoner and D-Day veteran who turned 100 on Dec. 20, has lived through some of modern history’s most tumultuous chapters.

But the events of recent months have stirred fears in Kersh unlike anything that he has felt since he stormed the Normandy beaches 80 years ago, Kersh told JNS in several interviews in the last few months.

Fears for the destruction of Israel—a place this British patriot also calls home—and about antisemitism on display in his native England.

Kersh, who fought with the British Army during the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France, now fears both for the safety of the Jewish state and for that of Jews in the United Kingdom. (He celebrated his 100th birthday with family in London.)

Looking back on his role in helping liberate Western Europe, Kersh has mixed feelings, not about the bravery of his comrades or the necessity of the war but about whether the sacrifices he and others made still hold the value they intended.

“I thought what we did was worth it,” he told JNS. “I have my doubts now.”

The Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which Kersh calls his “first home” even though he has never lived there, and the resurgence of Jew-hatred in Europe and beyond have left him questioning whether his generation’s hard-fought victories have been eroded.

“Our politicians are repeating the same cowardly lack of military action as those politicians did in the mid-1930s,” Kersh said about the British position on Israel’s fight against its enemies. “All words but no action while the enemy was still relatively weak.”

The recent decision by French officials to honor Gaza Strip journalist Motaz Azaiza during the D-Day anniversary events, which Kersh attended in France in June, added to Kersh’s disappointment.

Azaiza, who has accused the Jewish state of “genocide” and justified Hamas’s actions, received Normandy’s Prize of Liberty. That included a $27,000 award, but it was mostly the symbolic weight of the recognition that angered Kersh.

‘We became occupiers, victors’

This frustration is just part of Kersh’s broader unease. Rising Jew-hatred, both in Europe and internationally, has cast a shadow over his belief in the progress made since World War II.

“I thought life in the U.K. and Europe was pretty good for a long time,” Kersh said. “But since October, it’s really changed. The way so many have jumped to attack Israel—verbally, physically or financially—has me deeply worried.”

Kersh’s connection to Israel and his Jewish identity runs deep, dating back to his youth. Born to “British, British, British Jews,” Kersh grew up in London during a time of rising antisemitism. 

Bullied for being Jewish, he learned to box to defend himself. By the time he joined the British Army, he was unflinchingly open about his faith, even wearing a dog tag identifying him as Jewish despite the risk if the Nazis had captured him.

Kersh told JNS that he knew “plenty” of Jewish young men who wrote “CofE,” for Church of England, on their dog tags.

“I kept mine as ‘Jew,’” he said.

During the Normandy campaign, Kersh took pride in his dual identity. “I was a British soldier but more importantly, I said I was a Jewish soldier,” he said. 

When his unit entered Germany, one of his first stops was Bergen-Belsen, the concentration camp where tens of thousands of Jews, including Anne Frank, perished.

He could not enter the camp due to a typhus outbreak, but Kersh met survivors who reinforced his connection to the Jewish homeland. “Every one of them, except one, wanted to get to Eretz Yisrael,” he said, using the Hebrew for the “Land of Israel.”

Kersh’s visits to pre-state Israel in 1946, while still in the British army, cemented this bond. His pride in his Jewish identity has been a constant throughout his life, even during moments of danger, he told JNS.

“I enjoyed telling German prisoners of war that I was Jewish,” he said, of his encounters during the war.

Reflecting on his wartime experience, Kersh spoke of a shift in perspective as the Allies advanced. In France, Belgium and the Netherlands, he felt solidarity with the people he helped liberate. But crossing into Germany brought a sense of justice.

“We became occupiers, victors. That made a big difference,” he said. “Liberating the French, Belgians and Dutch felt good. But defeating Germany—that had to be done.”

Nearly eight decades later, Kersh fears the world is losing sight of the lessons of history. As antisemitic rhetoric and violence surge, he sees parallels to the threats his generation fought to overcome.

“Israel is again facing a Nazi enemy, only this time by another name,” Kersh said, of jihadist terrorists.

Kersh’s perspective is informed by decades of covering Jewish community and general current affairs as a journalist. 

Before his retirement, Kersh had worked as news editor for the now-defunct South African Jewish Herald and as the writer of Kersh’s Corner, a column in a regional paper in Manchester and Liverpool. He also ran a small printing shop business and wrote a study of the events of the Torah and early Prophets, until  the death of King Saul.

Despite his current concerns about Jew-hatred, Kersh draws hope from the Jewish people’s resilience.

“We’ve been through so much, all the way back to Abraham, the fighting Jew,” he told JNS.

[historicminiaturesnorthernva]

Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Black Watch, part of the 51st Highland Division in Northwest Europe. This is how they would’ve looked sometime in 1944-45. The 51st was a well seasoned division whose veteran corps derived from all over Scotland. When war broke out in September, 1939, the 51st was positioned on the French Maginot Line, a series of defensive works along the French-German border. In the Spring of 1940, as the Germans pushed the British Expeditionary Force through Belgium and into Dunkirk, the 51st was in a fighting withdrawl with the French Army. After the majority of the BEF withdrew from Dunkirk, the 51st fought with the french to St Valery, in northern Normandy. Unfortunately there were practically no rescue efforts to get the highlanders out, and they would he surrounded and captured by the 7th Panzer Division then commanded by General Erwin Rommel.

Over 10,000 men were captured from the 51st, and they would spend the next 5 years in POW Camps.

Back home in Scotland in August, General “Tartan Tam” Douglas Wimberley set to work reforming the Division pulling men from all over Scotland and ensuring the scottish pride of the division would be reborn. The Division then fought in every major campaign until the war’s conclusion, including North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy, and the Rhine.

[safedistancefrombeingsmart]

BBC announces top names to star in its coverage of D-Day 80 commemorations on BBC One and iPlayer

Actor Douglas Booth will read the words of a Royal Navy veteran who reflects on the Battle of Normandy; French actor Antonia Desplat will read the words of a volunteer nurse in Bayeux during the Normandy campaign which will highlight the French civilian effort in the Battle of Normandy; and actor Martin Freeman will read the words of a veteran who’s returning to Gold Beach for the first time in 80 years.

Edit: Forgot to add the date. 🙈

"D-Day 80: We Will Remember Them will broadcast live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 8.30am until 10.45am on Thursday 6 June."