Ron makes an excellent point. If you want to read a first hand account of
the US tanks at D-Day, I recommend Andy Rooney's "My War."
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron May" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, August 01, 2004 10:58 AM
Subject: Re: history films


> Paul and others,
>
> This past week, the History Channel (public broadcasting channel) had a
> segment on the Normandy invasion with oral interviews of British veterans.
Since my
> father survived a subsequent wave in that invasion, it interested me
greatly
> to listen to those men explain how American generals refused to use
British
> machines designed to rip up barbed wire and detonate land mines because
the
> machines "looked silly." At least 2,000 men died on the shores invaded by
> Americans for that decision, according to the British soldiers. The
British simply
> followed their wire-ripping machines up the beach. A second point that
struck
> home was the demand by American generals not to allow the landing craft to
come
> close to shore, thus requiring the American tanks to offload and snorkle
in
> rough seas and most sank. Only a handful of American tanks made it ashore
for the
> invasion. The British ignored the orders and the landing craft hit the
sand,
> allowing their tanks to roll onto land. The third point that struck home
was
> the American generals belief that ship-fired rockets would create craters
for
> infantry to hide from German machine gun fire. For some reason, most of
the
> rockets landed in the water or over the German lines and infantry had no
where to
> hide because instead of sand they were digging into cobblestone shale.
With
> these facts as seen by the British veterans, Hollywood movies like The
Longest
> Day and Saving Private Ryan would have been substantially different. I
also
> recall finding a reenactor's website that heavily criticized the latter
movie
> for inaccurate uniforms for that particular battle. Of course, this was a
war
> that is within living memory and movies like Arthur are like smoke when it
comes
> to available facts.
>
> Ron May
> Legacy 106, Inc.