U.S.A.
Everyone Else
Health
Science
Business
Technology
Sports
Video Games
Entertainment
Future
Humour
NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > GERMANS CELEBRATE 66TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY INVITATION
GERMANS CELEBRATE 66TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY INVITATION
June 6 2010
Berlin, Germany – There is little argument that the Second World War was the greatest conflict in human history. It wasn’t just the sheer number of people who died in the conflict, nor was it the fact that the war raged in almost corner of the planet, it
was the impact that the war had that really speaks to its power. No war previous had so fundamentally changed the entire world in one fell swoop. Other conflicts had regional influences, some of which slowly extended outwards, but WWII made the world a different place almost immediately.
In that conflict, there were many great battles. The battles of Stalingrad, Midway, Kursk, and Moscow were just a few of the deciding conflicts of the war but there is one that stands above all others. While the D-Day invasion of Normandy was perhaps not the make-or-break battle that many make it out to be it truly was the beginning of the end of the war. Finally penetrating German defences and putting a formidable fighting force on the mainland, the allies were able to start pushing back, leading the way to the eventual defeat of the Nazi regime. Now on the 66th anniversary of that battle people all over the world are celebrating the invasion of the French coast, none more than the people of Germany whose gracious invite allowed the allies to get a foothold on the continent.
“Today is a day of great celebration. Today is the one of the greatest days in German history. This is the day that the Allied troops were invited onto German territory and began to change the continent of Europe forever. There are many who still look at the battle of Normandy as shameful but that is not the majority view,” said Gerhard Workman, chief organizer of the D-Day celebrations. “When Herr Hitler pulled his troops from the western border he forever changed the destiny of the Europe and the world, something we now celebrate every June 6. It’s a shame he is not alive to see the results of his benevolence.”
Over 400,000 Allied and German soldiers were killed or injured in the invitation.
“There are many historians that would make the argument that Normandy is simply the most popular of the battles in the war, that it wasn’t the turning point that 
westerners make it out to be but the reality is there were many turning points in the war, there were many times when the conflict could have turned one way or the other and changed the course of history. D-Day though represented something else, it represented victory,” said Scrape TV Historical analyst Lars Luger. “The war would have been won by the time D-Day came around. The tide had already begun to turn on the Germans and they knew it which is, possibly, why they were so magnanimous in the conflict. By reallocating their troops to the north and sending officers, including Rommel, on vacation it was obvious they were leaving the door open. The allies in all their grace took the invitation with dignity.”
At least 175,000 Allied troops, primarily American, British, and Canadian took up the invitation on that day.
“While one wouldn’t really call it a party, the whole invasion was a big deal, one of the biggest deals of the war. Unlike other major battles like say Stalingrad, D-Day was the first and only time that the Germans actually invited foreigners in. Stalingrad was more of a party crashing and they were correctly thrown out,” continued Luger. “The Germans have a lot to be ashamed of in the war but this was not one of them. They showed the kind of grace and hospitality that few would have expected from a belligerent. I will say though that having been the Germany a few times myself they are a very hospitable people so it’s really no surprise that they celebrate this great example of that behaviour.”
Despite invitations to the ceremonies in Berlin, no representatives from any allied countries took part this year.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > GERMANS CELEBRATE 66TH ANNIVERSARY OF D-DAY INVITATION
LINK IT! http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Everyone%20Else/pages-6/Germans-celebrate-66th-anniversary-of-D-Day-invitation-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html |
TWEET IT! http://bit.ly/alwIu9 |
BOOKMARK IT!  
|
|---|
Scrape Store
