I hate and love Saving Private Ryan

I hate and love Saving Private Ryan.

I love the movie, it’s one of the greatest movies ever created. I rewatch it often. It’s the closest depiction of combat ever created and hopefully, the closest most of those of us who watch the movie will ever have to come.

It inspired a generation of historians to pursue the Second World War, created the inspiration for dozens of my favorite video games and movies, and brought the ugly truths of war into the homes of thousands. But as much I as love Saving Private Ryan, I hate it.

It shaped how millions saw the war and focused their attention on just D-Day and the associated units. Other divisions, those who were not present on Omaha beach that day, were left in the lurch.

Any history enthusiast could tell you the ins and outs of the D-Day Invasion, but what about Mortain, Montelimar, Colmar, or any other such battles not to mention entirely different theaters of war such as the Eastern Front or Burma.

We must not overlook these battles, fronts, theaters, etc which in are no less significant than D-Day and the Western Front.

Most essentially, we can’t write off or overlook the “smaller” “less significant” divisions that may of not of been on Omaha Beach. Ever serviceman mattered, and it’s a crime anyone of them should be forgotten.

Comments

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war. In April 1945, 2nd Lt. Peter During was a South African fighter pilot (N.7 Squadron) running missions over Italy when his Spitfire was shot down by German AA fire. He managed to crash land his plane behind enemy lines where he was immediately captured. Whilst been escorted to a German Lufwaffe Prisoner of War (POW) camp (he was a pilot and thus his interrogation and imprisonment was the responsibility of the German airforce), he opened a conversation with his captors. He was quickly able to establish that they could already see the writing on the wall, that the war was at an end and Germany would lose it. ...

French woman accused of sleeping with Germans during the occupation has her head shaved by vindictive neighbors in village near Marseilles.

French woman accused of sleeping with Germans during the occupation has her head shaved by vindictive neighbors in village near Marseilles. Antony Beevor wrote: "... In Paris, there were cases of prostitutes kicked to death for having accepted German soldiers as clients. (...) A large number of the victims were prostitutes who had simply plied their trade with Germans as well as Frenchmen, although in some areas it was accepted that their conduct was professional rather than political, others were silly teenagers who had associated with German soldiers out of bravado or boredom. In a number of cases, female schoolteachers who, living alone, had German soldiers billeted on them, were falsely denounced for having been a "mattress for the boches. (...) Women accused of having had an abortion were also assumed to have consorted with Germans. Many victims were young mothers, whose husbands were in German prisoner-of-war camps. During the war, they often had no means of supp...

The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.

The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt. Engelbert Dollfuß (4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian Fatherland Front politician who served as Chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934. Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he ascended to Federal Chancellor in 1932 in the midst of a crisis for the conservative government. In early 1933, the so called "Selbstausschaltung des Parlaments" happened, which made the Austrian parliament unable to govern. Suppressing the Socialist movement in February 1934 during the Austrian Civil War and later banning the Austrian Nazi Party, he cemented the rule of authoritarian conservatism through the First of May Constitution. Dollfuss was assassinated on 25 July 1934 by a group of Austrian Nazis, who entered the Chancellery building and shot him in an attempted coup d'état. During mass trials which took place after the coup, Hudl was sentenced to li...

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