The Magnificent Eleven: D-Day's Famous Photos

One of the eleven frames from D-Day. Photo sourced from WikiCommons.

Today is the 72nd anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. Those who think of D-Day often picture the opening scene of Steven Spielberg's iconic film "Saving Private Ryan" (or, "The Longest Day", for those of the older generations). Aside from first-hand accounts, the knowledge to film those scenes successfully had to come from somewhere, and we are fortunate to have any photos of D-Day at all.

Omaha Beach is where "Saving Private Ryan"'s scenes take place, and it is where the heaviest fighting occurred on D-Day. It is also where Robert Capa, combat photographer for Life magazine, found himself riding along in the landing craft with the second wave of troops.

Wading through the water, ducking behind steel obstacles, and eventually a disabled tank, Capa was snapping pictures left and right, totaling four rolls of film, 106 frames.

Capa made it back on one of the returning landing craft, holding his film bags over his head to prevent the film from getting wet. Upon the film reaching London, it was rushed to be developed. In the film technician's haste, 95 of the 106 frames were destroyed when the drying locker was set too high and the emulsion was melted away (this account of how the film was destroyed is still the subject of debate).

Of the 11 remaining frames, all are slightly out of focus. This is usually attributed to Capa's hands shaking in the intensity of the battle, intensity which the photos have immortalized and embody the horror of war that we must never forget. Until next time, thank you for reading.

(Information sourced from Wikipedia and The Daily Mail.)

70 Years Ago: Hermann Goering Takes the Stand

Goering (first row, far left) during the Nuremberg Trials

While 2015 was a year of important milestones from World War II, there were still significant events that took place in the aftermath of V-E Day. One such notable event was the Nuremberg Trials, and seventy years ago this month Hermann Goering, considered the most important surviving Nazi official after the war, would stand to atone for his country's crimes.

A little context is important before the trial: in April of 1945, Berlin was surrounded by the Soviet Red Army. What few German fighting forces were left were battling Soviet forces to the death while many more were almost eager to surrender to American, British, and French forces to escape Soviet occupation.

With Berlin under siege and Hitler more or less sealed in his bunker underneath the Reich Chancellory, Germany's defeat was inevitable, and while no one in the German High Command spoke it aloud, there were concerns about who would assume command of the Nazi government once Berlin fell, since Hitler had repeatedly stated his unwillingness to leave the capital city.

Goering had held the rank of Reichsmarshall since 1940, with Hitler the year before declaring Goering to be his successor. However, as the war turned against Germany, Goering made many promises about 'his' Luftwaffe's abilities that it could not keep, such as failing to break the back of the Royal Air Force and failing to keep the surrounded 6th Army at Stalingrad supplied via airlift indefinitely. These and other failures led to Hitler losing all faith in his old friend as his mental state deteriorated along with Germany.

This led to Goering spending more time outside of Berlin around the time it was encircled. When the communications lines between Berlin and the rest of Germany began to break down, Goering rightly assumed that the capital was going to fall. With this in mind, Goering attempted to enact earlier plans which would transfer command of Germany's armed forces to himself.

However, Hitler got wind of this and assumed that Goering was trying to take power away from him. Outraged, he rewrote his will to place Admiral Karl Doenitz, head of the Kriegsmarine (navy) to be the next President of Germany, with Joseph Goebbels, head of the Propaganda Ministry, becoming the next Chancellor. After Hitler and Goebbels committed suicide on April 30, along with many high ranking Nazi officials, Germany officially surrendered on May 8th, along with Hermann Goering.

When the Nuremberg Trials began in November of 1945, even though Doenitz was officially the highest surviving German head of state, Goering was the highest ranking Nazi that the Allies managed to capture alive. Becuase of this, much emphasis was placed on his testimony, which took place through much of March 1946. He was tried for not only indiscriminate bombing done by the Luftwaffe but also for all of the Nazi atrocities such as the Holocaust.

When he was declared guilty, he requested that he be shot rather than hanged like many of the other condemned war criminals, but his request was denied. In the end, before his sentence was to be enacted on October 15, 1946, he committed suicide with a smuggled in cyanide capsule. None should forget the atrocities committed by the Nazis, and to this day there are still former Nazis who are being pursued for their roles in these tragedies. Nothing can change what happened, but just as in 1946, justice and peace of mind for the survivors, their descendants and the rest of humanity must be sought. Until next time, thank you for reading.

(Photo sourced from Wikipedia. Information sourced from "Illustrated History of the Third Reich" by Alex Cook and "World War II" edited by H.P Willmott, Robin Cross, and Charles Messenger)

The Elections of Roosevelt, Before and During Wartime

Franklin Roosevelt

It's turning out to be a turbulent year in the United States, mostly because of the presidential election. With vastly differing ideologies and stated visions for the country's future direction, voters are going to end up deciding what choices our country makes, both at home and abroad: whether to focus on rebuilding our country and not get involved in world affairs or to dive head-first into a world tearing itself apart with shifting alliances and blood being spilled. Finally, voters will have to decide whether to elect a candidate that might not take the country down the best path but it would be historic nonetheless.

If this sounds like 2016, then you are only partially right. The truth is, this situation is one our country has faced before. In 1940, the United States found itself staring at a world that was tearing itself apart, and we as a country were reluctant to get involved.

By this time, mainland Europe had been overrun by Germany and Great Britain was feeling very much alone in the face of a possible invasion as well as constant aerial attacks. Britain was in desperate need of war materiel and looked to the United States for aid. They would get it, but not without controversy.

Wendell Willkie

Franklin Roosevelt was nearing the end of his second term. The country was slowly pulling out of the Great Depression, but there was still much rebuilding to be done. At this point, there was no law that limited presidents to two terms, although it was a standing tradition since George Washington refused to run for a third term. On the Republican side, an unlikely Wall Street candidate named Wendell Willkie, a former Democrat who supported Roosevelt's 1932 election but now was a critic of his policies towards monopolies in the electric industry, was rising to fame and gained a surprising amount of support.

Roosevelt surprised many, including his own party, when he finally announced he would run for a third term. Roosevelt ran on a platform that sounded very similar to Woodrow Wilson's 1916 campaign promise America will not be drawn into another World War. While many were dubious about whether this promise would be kept, many more worried about Roosevelt's deal with Britain for their purchase of arms, and later the enactment of Lend-Lease. In fact, Churchill respected Roosevelt's pleas not to publicly say anything that implied America would be dran into the fighting until after the election.

In the end, Roosevelt capitalized on his Depression-era popularity and his campaign promises to pursue foreign policies that kept America out of the fighting to a 55%-45% victory over Willkie. However, since the war overlapped with the next election year, 1944, Roosevelt was again faced with re-election, this time for his fourth term.

Thomas Dewey

This time, though, there was no formal opposition on the Democratic side against Roosevelt, as by that time the war seemed to be drawing to a close. On the Republican side, Thomas Dewey was nominated on the anti-New Deal and smaller government platform, but the current system was working too well for that route to stand much of a chance. Roosevelt won re-election with a comfortable 54%-46% victory.

However, rumors during the campaign of Roosevelt's declining health, while never confirmed at the time, turned to reality on April 5, 1945 with his death just six months into his fourth term. Roosevelt's death dealt a heavy blow to American morale, since many alive at the time could not remember having another president. This directly led to the ratification of the 22nd Amendment in 1947, which limited the presidency to two terms.

What conclusions can be drawn from these two elections? Well, we know that history is made every day, but some things are more historic than others. Also, some things can only be seen as good in hindsight. Just imagine if we as a nation had isolated ourselves from the world's problems. Would we have been drawn into the war at Pearl Harbor again? Maybe not, but if we didn't take the steps we did, then what would the world we live in today look like? Until next time, thank you for reading.

(Photos sourced from Wikipedia. Information sourced from Wikipedia and Inferno: The World at War 1939-1945 by Max Hastings)