Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't package all Soviet nations of the time into "Russians". Especially at this time.
Absolutely true, it was all Soviet Nations.
Well, except for those that were preemptively deported for "disloyalty".
The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
61–70 of 172 posts
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#62> And they knew that the single greatest weapon of the war, the atomic bomb excepted, was the German 88-mm flat-trajectory gun, which brought down thousands of bombers and tens of thousands of soldiers. I beg to differ. It was radar-guided anti-aircraft guns, and proximity fuzes for artillery shells. This had the effect of doubling the firepower. Another was high-octane gasoline, which enabled much more powerful airc…
> proximity fuzes
interesting, it's rarely mentioned indeed. Also I wonder if that was the reason for developping those flares scattered by planes ? or maybe that was only after the invention of guided missiles.
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#63A side comment. Paul Fussell mentioned the origin of the GI slang “FUBAR.”
One thing I disliked early in my career were the many tutorials and demos that named the first object Foo and the next object Bar. I doubt any of these tutorial authors served in WW2 or in any war. It seemed to me similar to suburban raised children mimicking Gangster Rap. It feels fake and phony to me. War is horrific and evil. Writing a tutorial is the complete opposite. I guess I am the dude who yells at kids to get off my lawn.
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
He didn’t say anything about not revisiting those events personally or with other vets, he said by with “people who weren’t there”. Give a guy a break for choosing to not sit his kids down to hear all the gory details.
I'm not telling him to go scare his kids. I'm pointing out some possible self-deceit. "I did it for them!".. sure, why not? but my point is that first and foremost he's making those choices for himself; which is pefrectly fine. what's not fine (IMO) is to pretend such choices aren't selfish.
These things aren’t binary. They aren’t simply this or that. Both can be true or neither or some combination.
Your claim of selfishness seems to be unwarranted (and perhaps a little mean spirited), how can you possibly tell?
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#65It's a fine essay, but I am coming to this long dissertation on dismemberment many years after Saving Private Ryan, which covered it better than any words could.
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#66I can strongly recommend Fussel's (the author of this essay) book "The Boys' Crusade", which provides a very eye opening account to WWII. It is most likely a longer version of this essay (I haven't read this essay). I can also recommend his book Poetic Meter & Poetic Form, but for different reasons. Other books in the same vein: - The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle by J Glenn Gray (Gray was a philosophy PhD a…
here's fussell through internet archive https://archive.org/details/boyscrusadea00fuss
argh sorry, limited preview only.
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#67I didn't fight in WW2 obviously, but I did fight in a war. For me, the reticence to describe every detail to people who weren't there boils down to this: I don't want my wife, my children, or my neighbors to be burdened with thinking of something so horrible. I want them to be happy and safe, that's why I went. No need to bring it to their doorstep if I don't have to. I suspect many during and after WW2 felt this way…
Because war is so horrible, there's no reason why people who don't fight or unwillingly participate in them shouldn't be able to know just how horrible it can be. Implicitly rose-tinting awful realities by keeping silent about their nature is rarely a good thing for future generations. If anything, the world needs more people who have been in wars to make explicitly clear just how many grotesque reasons there are for avoiding them if at all possible.
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#68I can strongly recommend Fussel's (the author of this essay) book "The Boys' Crusade", which provides a very eye opening account to WWII. It is most likely a longer version of this essay (I haven't read this essay). I can also recommend his book Poetic Meter & Poetic Form, but for different reasons. Other books in the same vein: - The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle by J Glenn Gray (Gray was a philosophy PhD a…
I read the Chris Hedges book when it came out and it's left a lasting impression on me. I think it got rid of any academic notions of war I may have had. One part that I'll always remember was him saying the war criminals were the pundits on TV leading up to and during the Bulkan war, they held much guilt in leading the masses to the terrible outcomes. The other counter intuitive insight it gives is how wars have thi…
I've read an article long ago about war veteran that wanted to go back. They found life in society more dreadful than war. War brought them unrivaled intensity of bonds (life or death is unquestionable) and order. In society everything is muddy and mediocre.
Even without going to the extent of war, I find "primitive life" is probably still healthiest for us existentially. Maybe using proxies like sports as symbolic wars.
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#69I didn't fight in WW2 obviously, but I did fight in a war. For me, the reticence to describe every detail to people who weren't there boils down to this: I don't want my wife, my children, or my neighbors to be burdened with thinking of something so horrible. I want them to be happy and safe, that's why I went. No need to bring it to their doorstep if I don't have to. I suspect many during and after WW2 felt this way…
The difference being that there was a legitimate and urgent fear of a foreign power invading our shores, as there were actively doing to other democracies at the time. I'm straining to think of one American adversary of the last 70 years that we fought half a world away that had any conceivable possibility of showing up at our doorstep. I can think of many, many wars we have fought, just not a single one that has made us safer at home.
Re: The Real War 1939-1945 (1989)
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
talking about it does not quite bring it to their doorstep; but it surely takes you back there; it's understandable to not want to go back. your choice to shoulder this burden for all, is well your choice. but be advised that this choice may have unintended consequences in a longer term. consequences of your choice to witholding bad things "for them". I don't belive you're doing this (bearing the horrible things) onl…
He didn’t say anything about not revisiting those events personally or with other vets, he said by with “people who weren’t there”. Give a guy a break for choosing to not sit his kids down to hear all the gory details.
Perhaps if we were all a little more exposed to the horrors of war we wouldn't so eagerly vote for war-hungry leaders over and over and over.