Dunkirk Movie

@CWO:

@Wolfshanze:

Amazing research, btw… Armschwimmfahigkeitgeratsamt…

One of my favourite non-invented German words is the term that Germany used in WWI to designate tanks: Schutzengrabenvernichtungspanzerkampfwagen, or, roughly, “trench-destroying armoured fighting car.”  German tanks of WWI were physically as cumbersome as that term, so in preparation for WWII Germany devised more practical tanks and a more practical designation (“Panzer”).  Unfortunately for Germany, the American, British and Russian words for this type of weapon – “tank” – consists of only one syllable, whereas “Panzer” has two syllables, so the US, UK and USSR armoured forces in principle had a 50% advantage over the German armoured forces in speed of pronunciation.  On the other hand, the French word “char” only consists of one syllable too, so in principle the French and German armoured forces should have fought each other to a draw in May-June 1940…so clearly this theory doesn’t hold up in reality as well as it ought to on paper.

ROFLOL :lol: :lol: :lol:

@Zooey72:

Something I never really understood is why the Germans didn’t do small attacks on radar stations across the channel.  Prime target that could be easily gotten to.  Hell, they landed a dozen or so guys in America, why not cross the English Channel and knock out England’s eyes when it really counted.

I think that Germany actually did attack some of the Chain Home radar stations, but didn’t persist in doing so.  Partly it was because Goering kept flip-flopping on the focus of his air campaign against Britain (another example being his switch to London as a target, at the moment when his strategy of attacking Fighter Command’s airfields was bringing the RAF to the breaking point).  And partly it was because Germany didn’t seem to grasp how much the efficiency of Britain’s air defenses depended on the centralized control of air operations based on the information provided by the radar stations.

@Gargantua:

I would take chesty 1 on 1.

So long as I get a bayonet on my flamethrower!

Garg,

––While I’m usually on your side,…I don’t think you’d stand a chance against “Chesty” Puller even if you had a
16" naval gun strapped to you back!  :-o

“Tall Paul”

@aequitas:

@Octospire:

@Dylan:

@aequitas:

Dunkirk was the stolen Victory…Dieppe just a disaster and D-Day just the weirdest Landing ever…

weirdest landing that was a do or die situation for the Allies.

I think do or die is a bit of a overstatement. They could of failed and still won the war, in my opinion D-Day mainly served the purpose of liberating Western Europe before the Soviets got to the English Channel. The Allies still had their beach head in Italy and even if the entire invasion force was annihalated it was only 150,000 men, thats less than what the British brought back from Dunkirk in operation dynamo. I know it seems a bit cold to say its only 150,000 casualties but in the grand scheme of a World War the allies would of recovered to try again else where, they still had all of the ships and equipment for another landing.

-as I mentioned it in this Forum somewhere allready, the total numbers of casulties for the 13 Phase long Normandy campaigne was arround 250.000 men and officers on the Allies side…this was the number the United Staff of U.S Army figured as casulties for the whole “liberating Operation” from D-day to Berlin would be…crazy isn’t ?..

Allied casualty projections have always been woefully low, especially those projections made by the U.S High command for campaigns like Iwo Jima or Okinawa. The United States brass continually underestimated both the Nazi’s and the Japanese especially their resolve to win at such a high cost in men and equipment. If the U.S high command took the Germans seriously there wouldnt of been only 1 understrength division defending the entire Ardennes in late 1944, if the Germans had greater resources they may very well of split the allied forces in half and repeated their successes they had during the battle of France, thankfully though allied strategic bombing destroyed much of the Nazi’s industrial capacity and most of the German troops were occupied on the Eastern front.

D-Day wasnt just a triumph of the military might of the allied forces it was more a triumph of the vast deceptions that made the Normady landings possible, like the false intelligence provided to the Germans that said the landings would be at Calais or the false invasion fleet that tricked the Germans into thinking that there would be an invasion in Norway. These operations made sure allied forces got ashore safely and that they werent at the mercy of a counter attack from greater numbers of infantry and possibly 3 or 4 Panzer divisions.

It is old, but I love this scene.  The “Americanization of Emily”.  For those of you who haven’t seen it - enjoy.  The ones who have… this kicks so much ass!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyMRz1hbb4M

@Sergente:

In october 1942, the italo-german army in North Africa were defeated by the british 8th army in the Second Battle of El-Alamein. Here’s an italian movie (with english subtitles) dated 2002 about the men who fought that battle by the wrong side.

Part 1/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzyPMTAfQ1A&feature=related
Part 2/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOhzMZc567U&feature=related
Part 3/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJmvYSVse5I&feature=related
Part 4/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrsq_8Brplw&feature=related
Part 5/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMGqnEQIm1c&feature=related
Part 6/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IesGvfVE9dE&feature=related
Part 7/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMt9XPnRChA&feature=related
Part 8/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMDaadoj–E&feature=related
Part 9/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYe9WPD2Guc&feature=related
Part 10/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRPdEQMzUpo&feature=related
Part 11/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjnQUaSjMAo&feature=related

Good flick.

@Fishmoto37:

My favorite–They Were Expendable with Robert Montgomery and John Wayne. Has been since I was a kid and when I was a kid the Dead Sea was only sick.

Great Movie!