If it had not gone the way it went, we would have had to show
papers to the guard on the street corner with his KAR98 rifle
Never forget those brave souls that fell in the east, and sadly very forgotten for the sake of freedom. Was not very happy about the way in
which the "western allies" were leading the rememberance 10 years ago and the exclusion of the brave "reds". Was talking to 2 men that had
fought in the 44 in the German heartland and they were
disgusted about the lack or rememberance for fellow brothers that
layed down their lives for the sake of freedom.
The greatest battle of 1943 was not fought in the air or the Mediterranean. It was fought in and around Kursk from 5 to 12 July and proved to be the decisive battle of the war.’
It was the greatest tank battle in history, with 1500 tanks engaged on each side. The Soviet forces won a crushing victory. It opened the way for smashing blows by the Red Army right along the centre of the German defensive line. German historians play it down, because it was a battle in which the armoured divisions, pride of the Wehrmacht, were outmatched, tank for tank, man for man. So they treat it as part of a general affair they describe as ‘The Collapse of Army Group Centre.’
It was indeed a collapse, which ended in the taking of Berlin, begun with the decisive Red Army victory at Kursk.
What became clear as the Red Army drove towards Berlin was that, while the Western powers had found one excuse after another for not opening a second front - it was promised by Churchill and then Roosevelt in 1942 and 1943, by now it was perfectly clear that the Soviet forces could defeat Germany on their own.
That is what finally spurred Britain and America to launch Operation Overlord in June, 1944. Even then, the bulk of German forces were still deployed on the Eastern Front, and there were never more than 70 German divisions in the West, many battered and war weary from their hammering in the East. Many, too, ready to surrender to the West, afraid of retribution after their barbarism in the East.
Even those today 60 years on don't get the proper recognition
NO to ID cards, we don't want a return to that point in history...