"D-Day - ABC and AWM got their heads in a bucket?" Topic

D-Day was arguably the most important battle for the western world in WW2. Yet the 70th anniversay – "The Big Farewell" according to Time magazine – seems to have gone unnoticed in Australia. No myth = no coverage?
What do other TMP-ers think?

I think maybe VE day is slightly more important. But I don't see many Australians landing in Normandy. Besides, they did their invasion at Gallipoli way before hand.

There may have been very few actually landing on the beaches, serving in British Regiments. But there were a fair few flying overhead in RAF Machines and shelling the littoral from RN ships, I'll tell you that for nothing…

The number of Australians who supported the D-Day invasion included between 2,000 and 2,500 RAAF airmen in Australian squadrons and British Royal Air Force units and approximately 500 members of the Royal Australian Navy serving in Royal Navy vessels, as well as a small number of Australian Army officers and merchant seamen.

link

But Mel Gibson didn't make a film about it, and the British didn't stuff up too much, so radio silence….

To be fair to the ABC, their coverage of the ADF seems far more comprehensive, and a little more balanced than the BBC's of the British armed forces…

Besides, they did their invasion at Gallipoli way before hand.

As did the French, British, Canadians, Indians, West Africans…

Battle Casualties at Gallipoli:

United Kingdom 34,072 dead 78,520 wounded
France 9,798 dead 17,371 wounded
Australia 8,709 dead 19,441 wounded
New Zealand 2,721 dead 4,752 wounded
British India 1,358 dead 3,421 wounded
Canada 49 dead 93 wounded

Wompi doo

I'm watching the coverage on UK telly – it's first rate -live from Normandy. Interviews with soldiers, museum visits, descriptions of key actions filmed at the scenes etc.

Australia has other memorials for the 70th and 100th anniversaries, D Day mattered in the wider world sense, but they had a war on their doorstep that mattered more.

Sparker,

A minor correction … no Canadians – the 'Canadians' were in fact from Newfoundland, which at that stage was an independent Dominion.

Have a great day, Frank

No myth = no coverage

In one.

The media has also been a bit quiet over the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Rome.

A minor correction … no Canadians – the 'Canadians' were in fact from Newfoundland, which at that stage was an independent Dominion.

Thanks mate – I stand corrected!

Wompi doo

Well you may not appreciate their Service in liberating Europe from Nazi oppression, but I suspect you are in a minority. I doubt you yourself haven't liberated much more than a few pies from a chipshop.

Taken from a discussion on Yahoo:

"Eisenhower biographer Stephen Ambrose argues that if D-Day failed, Hitler could have held his positions, and Operation Overlord, the master plan for reconquering Europe, would have disintegrated. Ike would have lost his job, the Churchill government could have fallen, and President Franklin Roosevelt might have failed in his bid for a fourth term.

Even so, Hitler could not have triumphed, says Ambrose. With Britain and the U.S. in disarray, the Soviets might have overrun Germany, Italy and France. The European continent would have fallen to the communists, and the Red Army would have been poised at the English Channel. By this time, the Allies' only recourse would have been the atom bomb."

This isn't so far-fetched as there was significant communist sympathy in Europe at the time.

THe bomb dropped on who might be the question. Would the US have tolerated Western Europe in Russian hands?

Wompi doo again, Do chip shops sell pies? You obviously know more about it than me.I am surprised you know about Wompi doo

In response to the first premise of this far from thrilling thread the ABC actually ran a rather neat 5 minute explanation of what D-Day, or Operation Overlord ,was all about .It was on This morning on the ABC News Mornings show . Conscise , precise and well contextualised, with a map.

I don't know about AWM but the ABC did a fine job with it's D-Day telecast on 24 today, well in balance with Australian involvement and the significance of the event in general. The whole premise of the post sounds a bit head in bucket for mine.

Frankly I'm much more interested in how a few militia Battalions (and mates from the regulars) or an Independant Company were able to slow the Japanese long enough as to prevent me from having to learn the sorcery of fugu fish.

Both events are important but the one of greatest interest, generally, is that which happens on your own door step.

regards
dave

my take on the day
TMP link

Fair point Dave, of course, not withstanding the large number of DDay vets who were resettled in Aus…

However I think the fascination of D-Day were the sheer odds against success – the sheer challenge scale of the amphibious endeavour, never before or since attempted in similar conditions and such a scale, and launched in such marginal weather conditions.

The embarked forces had been rocked around in small craft, open to the elements, for over 48 hours before they landed – and that was the first wave.

Many of them had vomited so much they were seriously dehydrated, as well as cold. Whilst the Naval Forces did their absolute utmost, its a miracle any of the seabourne assault troops were in any fight state to fight, let alone against a tough well organised and battle hardened army in prepared positions.

Must be listening to/watching a different ABC to me. Live coverage of 2 of the largest commemorations on the news channel, lots of precis in the news bulletins, features on the radio current affairs programmes, features on the website…

I don't think it was ignored at all. Maybe it didn't get much coverage on the commerical channels?

OK maybe a bit late but have only just refund TMP. Awm covered DDay as feature article in their joiurnal Wartime. Personally rather no coverage than overhyped we won it all by ourselves coverage you get in some quarters.