If D-Day was covered by today's media
Excellent post from another esteemed blogger.
http://www.commonfolkusingcommonsense.com/2006/06/06/june-6-1944-operation-overlord-the-liberation-of-europe/
OK, we seem to have survived the over-hyped Devil Day. Now let’s look at the real significance of today.
The Battle of Normandy was fought in 1944, starting on June 6 and lasting to August 25, between the German forces occupying Western Europe and the invading Allied forces as part of the larger conflict of World War II. Over sixty years later, the Normandy invasion, codenamed Operation Overlord, still remains the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving almost three million troops crossing the English Channel from England to Normandy in then German-occupied France.
The Normandy invasion began with overnight airborne paratrooper and glider landings, massive air attacks and naval bombardments, and an early morning amphibious assault on June 6, “D-Day”. The battle for Normandy continued for more than two months, with campaigns to establish, expand, and eventually break out of the Allied beachheads. It concluded with the liberation of Paris and the fall of the Falaise Pocket.
Although the Normandy landings were costly in terms of men, the defeat inflicted on the Germans was one of the largest of the war. Strategically, the campaign led to the loss of the German position in most of France and the secure establishment of a major new front. By September, Allied forces of seven field armies were approaching the German frontier.
Imagine how today’s media would have handled the operation. For all its success, there were errors, and casualties were horrendous.
Today’s New York Times would be denouncing the incompetence of General Eisenhower. “Pandemonium, shock and sheer terror predominate today’s events in Europe. In an as yet unfolding apparent fiasco, Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight David Eisenhower’s troops got a rude awakening this morning at Omaha Beach here in Normandy. Due to insufficient planning and lack of a workable entrance strategy soldiers of the 1st and 29th Infantry as well as Army Rangers are now bogged down and sustaining heavy casualties inflicted on them by dug-in insurgent positions located 170 feet above them on cliffs overlooking the beaches which now resemble blood soaked killing fields at the time of this mid-morning filing.”
Today’s LA Times would be calling on FDR to fire Eisenhower. “Things appear to be going so poorly that Lt. General Omar Bradley has been rumored to be considering breaking off the attack entirely. As we go to press embattled U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s spokesman has not made himself available for comment at all, fueling fires that something has gone disastrously awry. The government at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is in a distinct lock-down mode and the Vice President’s location is presently and officially undisclosed. Whether the second in command should have gone into hiding during such a crisis will have to be answered at some future time, but many agree it does not send a good signal.”
Wouldn’t the talking Heads at MSNBC be apologizing for the “misunderstood” SS officers simply wanting freedom for their oppressed people? “Underlining the less than effective Allied attack, German casualties - most of them innocent and hapless conscripts - seem not to be as severe as would be imagined. Errant US and British paratroopers have been hung up in trees, breaking arms and legs, rendering themselves easy targets for those defending this territory from Allied aggressors. A German minister who requested anonymity stated categorically that ‘the crusaders were being driven back into the sea amidst heavy casualties, the German people seek no wider war.’ ‘The news couldn’t be better,’ Adolph Hitler said of the occupying Allied force when he was first informed of the D-Day assault earlier this afternoon. ‘As long as they were in Britain we couldn’t get at them. Now we have them where we can destroy them.’ German minister Goebbels had been told of the Allied airborne landings at 0400 hours. ‘Thank God, at last,’ he said. ‘This is the final round.’ “
The Times and Guardian in the UK would provide headlines such as “Roosevelt, with only his poodle Churchill backing him up, escalates total war in Europe”, “Rather than finding work for them Roosevelt sends thousands of underprivileged Americans to their certain deaths”, “This is too heavy a price to pay; bring the troops home now!”
After all the liberation of Europe was simply a way for the US war machine to make millions, right? “Military spending has skyrocketed the national debt into uncharted regions, lending another cause for concern. When and if the current hostilities finally end it may take generations for the huge debt to be repaid. Today’s costly and chaotic landing compounds the President’s already large credibility problem. On the home front, questions and concern have been voiced. A telephone poll has shown dwindling support for the wheel-chair bound Commander In Chief, which might indicate a further erosion of support for his now three year-old global war based on lies.”
What about the liberal blogs? What would they be screeching today from their bully pulpits? “US Soldiers Desecrate French Church by Killing Sniper in Tower”, or “D-Day Protesters in New York: No Blood for Brie!”, or “Sanctions Would Have Worked, Says League of Nations”, or “Unified Europe faces threat from US-led Assault”.
Then comes media stalwarts, like Newsweek, that show their true colors through the words they choose to print. “Newsweek has learned from a reliable source that American troops tried to ‘rattle’ German POWs by abusing copies of Adolf Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf - the Bible of the Third Reich. Lawyers from the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Master Race Legal Foundation have filed emergency briefs with a federal judge in an effort to end the psychological torture of German prisoners. Our source described how a blond, blue-eyed, 19-year-old Waffen SS captive wept and curled his body into fetal position as sadistic GI guards tore pages from the Nazi holy book and flushed them down a toilet. Older German POWs were also reduced to tears. ‘This is a blatant abuse of the prisoners’ First Amendment constitutional rights,’ said attorney Heinz Gesundt, of the Aryan Justice League. Meanwhile, rioting against American abuse of Mein Kampf broke out in the European cities of Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig, and Bremen.”
What would has-been politicos, like Al Gore, be saying about Operation Overlord? Would they respect the office of the President, or would they launch agenda diatribes high on emotions but low on facts? “The invasion also caused severe environmental damage. American troops, tanks, trucks, and machinery destroyed miles of pristine shoreline and thousands of acres of ecologically sensitive wetlands. It was believed that the habitat of the spineless French crab was completely wiped out, threatening the species with extinction. A representative of Greenpeace said his organization, which had tried to stall the invasion for over a year, was appalled at the destruction, but not surprised. ‘This is just another example of how the military destroys the environment without a second thought,’ said Christine Moan-more. ‘And it’s all about corporate greed.’ “
How about Perky Katie, now at her new desk at CBS News? “The highly controversial amphibious landings on the French coast today were preceded by aerial bombing runs and a massive naval bombardment that took the lives of an unknown number of French civilians. Estimates of civilian deaths run as high as 100,000, according to German authorities. ‘The world will want to know why Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill made no effort to warn these innocent people,’ said Germany’s Minister of Information, Herr Josef Geobbels. ‘We surely would have evacuated them, had we known this cowardly sneak attack was coming. Their blood is on the Allies’ hands.’ ]
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., peace organizations were mobilizing to protest the operation. ‘A truce must be obtained as soon as possible, to facilitate the immediate withdrawal of Allied troops back to Britain,’ said Cindy Sheehen, executive director of International Mothers for Peace (IMP). ‘Roosevelt is guilty of war crimes against the French and German people - but it is American mothers and wives who pay the price for his decisions.’ “
Would CNN be covering the facts from an unbiased position, or would they flavor everything with an anti-US and pro-Germany tilt? “Shortly after the invasion began, reports surfaced that German prisoners had been abused by Americans. There are reports of massacres of entire German-controlled villages, with the unwarranted deaths of innocent men, women, and children. This would not be the first time that uncontrolled Allied forces wantonly murdered those that had the simple misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. ‘We are dying for no reason,’ said a Frenchman speaking on condition of anonymity. ‘Americans can’t even shoot straight. I never thought I’d say this, but life was better under Adolf Hitler.’ Elsewhere, mistreatment of imperialistic Jews by Germans at so-called ‘concentration camps’ has been rumored, but so far, remains unproven.”
Fortunately, today’s news media weren’t around in 1944. Had they been the war might have turned out very differently.
http://www.commonfolkusingcommonsense.com/2006/06/06/june-6-1944-operation-overlord-the-liberation-of-europe/
OK, we seem to have survived the over-hyped Devil Day. Now let’s look at the real significance of today.
The Battle of Normandy was fought in 1944, starting on June 6 and lasting to August 25, between the German forces occupying Western Europe and the invading Allied forces as part of the larger conflict of World War II. Over sixty years later, the Normandy invasion, codenamed Operation Overlord, still remains the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving almost three million troops crossing the English Channel from England to Normandy in then German-occupied France.
The Normandy invasion began with overnight airborne paratrooper and glider landings, massive air attacks and naval bombardments, and an early morning amphibious assault on June 6, “D-Day”. The battle for Normandy continued for more than two months, with campaigns to establish, expand, and eventually break out of the Allied beachheads. It concluded with the liberation of Paris and the fall of the Falaise Pocket.
Although the Normandy landings were costly in terms of men, the defeat inflicted on the Germans was one of the largest of the war. Strategically, the campaign led to the loss of the German position in most of France and the secure establishment of a major new front. By September, Allied forces of seven field armies were approaching the German frontier.
Imagine how today’s media would have handled the operation. For all its success, there were errors, and casualties were horrendous.
Today’s New York Times would be denouncing the incompetence of General Eisenhower. “Pandemonium, shock and sheer terror predominate today’s events in Europe. In an as yet unfolding apparent fiasco, Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight David Eisenhower’s troops got a rude awakening this morning at Omaha Beach here in Normandy. Due to insufficient planning and lack of a workable entrance strategy soldiers of the 1st and 29th Infantry as well as Army Rangers are now bogged down and sustaining heavy casualties inflicted on them by dug-in insurgent positions located 170 feet above them on cliffs overlooking the beaches which now resemble blood soaked killing fields at the time of this mid-morning filing.”
Today’s LA Times would be calling on FDR to fire Eisenhower. “Things appear to be going so poorly that Lt. General Omar Bradley has been rumored to be considering breaking off the attack entirely. As we go to press embattled U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s spokesman has not made himself available for comment at all, fueling fires that something has gone disastrously awry. The government at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is in a distinct lock-down mode and the Vice President’s location is presently and officially undisclosed. Whether the second in command should have gone into hiding during such a crisis will have to be answered at some future time, but many agree it does not send a good signal.”
Wouldn’t the talking Heads at MSNBC be apologizing for the “misunderstood” SS officers simply wanting freedom for their oppressed people? “Underlining the less than effective Allied attack, German casualties - most of them innocent and hapless conscripts - seem not to be as severe as would be imagined. Errant US and British paratroopers have been hung up in trees, breaking arms and legs, rendering themselves easy targets for those defending this territory from Allied aggressors. A German minister who requested anonymity stated categorically that ‘the crusaders were being driven back into the sea amidst heavy casualties, the German people seek no wider war.’ ‘The news couldn’t be better,’ Adolph Hitler said of the occupying Allied force when he was first informed of the D-Day assault earlier this afternoon. ‘As long as they were in Britain we couldn’t get at them. Now we have them where we can destroy them.’ German minister Goebbels had been told of the Allied airborne landings at 0400 hours. ‘Thank God, at last,’ he said. ‘This is the final round.’ “
The Times and Guardian in the UK would provide headlines such as “Roosevelt, with only his poodle Churchill backing him up, escalates total war in Europe”, “Rather than finding work for them Roosevelt sends thousands of underprivileged Americans to their certain deaths”, “This is too heavy a price to pay; bring the troops home now!”
After all the liberation of Europe was simply a way for the US war machine to make millions, right? “Military spending has skyrocketed the national debt into uncharted regions, lending another cause for concern. When and if the current hostilities finally end it may take generations for the huge debt to be repaid. Today’s costly and chaotic landing compounds the President’s already large credibility problem. On the home front, questions and concern have been voiced. A telephone poll has shown dwindling support for the wheel-chair bound Commander In Chief, which might indicate a further erosion of support for his now three year-old global war based on lies.”
What about the liberal blogs? What would they be screeching today from their bully pulpits? “US Soldiers Desecrate French Church by Killing Sniper in Tower”, or “D-Day Protesters in New York: No Blood for Brie!”, or “Sanctions Would Have Worked, Says League of Nations”, or “Unified Europe faces threat from US-led Assault”.
Then comes media stalwarts, like Newsweek, that show their true colors through the words they choose to print. “Newsweek has learned from a reliable source that American troops tried to ‘rattle’ German POWs by abusing copies of Adolf Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf - the Bible of the Third Reich. Lawyers from the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Master Race Legal Foundation have filed emergency briefs with a federal judge in an effort to end the psychological torture of German prisoners. Our source described how a blond, blue-eyed, 19-year-old Waffen SS captive wept and curled his body into fetal position as sadistic GI guards tore pages from the Nazi holy book and flushed them down a toilet. Older German POWs were also reduced to tears. ‘This is a blatant abuse of the prisoners’ First Amendment constitutional rights,’ said attorney Heinz Gesundt, of the Aryan Justice League. Meanwhile, rioting against American abuse of Mein Kampf broke out in the European cities of Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig, and Bremen.”
What would has-been politicos, like Al Gore, be saying about Operation Overlord? Would they respect the office of the President, or would they launch agenda diatribes high on emotions but low on facts? “The invasion also caused severe environmental damage. American troops, tanks, trucks, and machinery destroyed miles of pristine shoreline and thousands of acres of ecologically sensitive wetlands. It was believed that the habitat of the spineless French crab was completely wiped out, threatening the species with extinction. A representative of Greenpeace said his organization, which had tried to stall the invasion for over a year, was appalled at the destruction, but not surprised. ‘This is just another example of how the military destroys the environment without a second thought,’ said Christine Moan-more. ‘And it’s all about corporate greed.’ “
How about Perky Katie, now at her new desk at CBS News? “The highly controversial amphibious landings on the French coast today were preceded by aerial bombing runs and a massive naval bombardment that took the lives of an unknown number of French civilians. Estimates of civilian deaths run as high as 100,000, according to German authorities. ‘The world will want to know why Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill made no effort to warn these innocent people,’ said Germany’s Minister of Information, Herr Josef Geobbels. ‘We surely would have evacuated them, had we known this cowardly sneak attack was coming. Their blood is on the Allies’ hands.’ ]
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., peace organizations were mobilizing to protest the operation. ‘A truce must be obtained as soon as possible, to facilitate the immediate withdrawal of Allied troops back to Britain,’ said Cindy Sheehen, executive director of International Mothers for Peace (IMP). ‘Roosevelt is guilty of war crimes against the French and German people - but it is American mothers and wives who pay the price for his decisions.’ “
Would CNN be covering the facts from an unbiased position, or would they flavor everything with an anti-US and pro-Germany tilt? “Shortly after the invasion began, reports surfaced that German prisoners had been abused by Americans. There are reports of massacres of entire German-controlled villages, with the unwarranted deaths of innocent men, women, and children. This would not be the first time that uncontrolled Allied forces wantonly murdered those that had the simple misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. ‘We are dying for no reason,’ said a Frenchman speaking on condition of anonymity. ‘Americans can’t even shoot straight. I never thought I’d say this, but life was better under Adolf Hitler.’ Elsewhere, mistreatment of imperialistic Jews by Germans at so-called ‘concentration camps’ has been rumored, but so far, remains unproven.”
Fortunately, today’s news media weren’t around in 1944. Had they been the war might have turned out very differently.
posted by NDwalters @ 12:45 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home