June 6th 1944 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Air&Road · #1 06-11-2012, 09:46 AM

Thanks for posting this Dynalow!

I think one of the best books about Audie is "No Name on the Bullet." It was thoroughly researched and written long after his death, the mid eighties I think. The story in your link was covered well in the book as well as many details of his life, before, during and after the military all the way to his death in 1970 or so.

BTW, it's kind of interesting that we are talking about Audie Murphey in a D-Day thread. He saw more fighting than most of the soldiers that hit the ground on D-Day, but he was not in Northern France on D-Day.

As tribute to soldiers who DID see the beaches on D-Day, many of them even non coms and officers had never been in combat. This is not in any way taking anything away from them. They fought hard through some really tough circumstances including the Battle of the Bulge for many of them. As opposed to the tough soldiers that fought their way through France and on into Germany, seeing about a year of combat, while Audie saw about three years.

I've always had a bit of curiosity in the back of my mind. The soldiers that were sent onto the beaches with no combat experience, I wonder if this was by design or necessity. I think it was by necessity, but I always wondered if maybe it was by design. Would a soldier that had never seen combat be more willing to charge the beach than those who had already suffered through the horrors of blood and guts? Just a thought of curiosity.

dynalow · #2 06-11-2012, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryBible

Thanks for posting this Dynalow!

I think one of the best books about Audie is "No Name on the Bullet." It was thoroughly researched and written long after his death, the mid eighties I think. The story in your link was covered well in the book as well as many details of his life, before, during and after the military all the way to his death in 1970 or so.

BTW, it's kind of interesting that we are talking about Audie Murphey in a D-Day thread. He saw more fighting than most of the soldiers that hit the ground on D-Day, but he was not in Northern France on D-Day.

As tribute to soldiers who DID see the beaches on D-Day, many of them even non coms and officers had never been in combat. This is not in any way taking anything away from them. They fought hard through some really tough circumstances including the Battle of the Bulge for many of them. As opposed to the tough soldiers that fought their way through France and on into Germany, seeing about a year of combat, while Audie saw about three years.

I've always had a bit of curiosity in the back of my mind. The soldiers that were sent onto the beaches with no combat experience, I wonder if this was by design or necessity. I think it was by necessity, but I always wondered if maybe it was by design. Would a soldier that had never seen combat be more willing to charge the beach than those who had already suffered through the horrors of blood and guts? Just a thought of curiosity.

Well, logistics probably had as much to do with it as anything. Would it make much sense to take troops out of Italy or So. France, send them to GB to train and then go in against Jerry at Normandy? Then put the replacements in the field in the departed troops positions? Nightmarish, imo. The troops sent in, green or veterans, trained long and hard for D-Day.

But small towns like Bedford VA, where the D-Day Memorial is located, suffered greatly when local National Guard units were activated before the war.
Interesting read: "The Bedford Boys." 19 from that town died on D-day, having been in the local VA Nat'l Guard unit that was called up and rolled in to the 29th Division.
The Bedford Boys - National D-Day Memorial

strelnik · #3 06-12-2012, 09:28 AM

My friend Joe and I are going to a 70th anniversary D-Day set of events in Normandie in 2014. Then we are going to Paris attend a six-day celebration of the 80th anniversary of the launch of the Traction Avant.

Joe has never set foot outside the US but we have a lot of friends through the French-language forums on cars that I post to. They help me get parts for the Citroens. Joe has seven, including the earliest Traction in the United States, I think it's like # 1200 from 1935.