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This was the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. Many German adults have now only known Germany united, something that once was thought a pipedream.
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-commemorates-35-years-since-fall-of-berlin-wall/a-70743233
November 9 is known informally as Schicksalstag (Day of Fate) in Germany. Oddly, a number of highly significant events in German history have happened on this day.
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Turning 100 today, Jimmy Carter is the first American President to ever do so. He became the oldest ever former President in 2019. When he was born, Calvin Coolidge was President.
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On June 8th, 1924, George Mallory and Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine disappeared climbing Mount Everest. The question of whether they reached the summit has never been answered.
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Thank you for following the D-Day live posts. I did realise that (despite some confusion amongst publications) D-Day time is normally written as GMT+2. My mistake!
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23:00: Hitler holds the second situation conference today. In part thanks to deceptive intelligence planted by the agent "Garbo" (Juan Pujol), who himself is currently furiously trying to continue the deception, Hitler still believes this is a diversion and that the real landings will take place further north.
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20:00: Members of the Essex Yeomanry are tending to the wounded in a bunker above Gold beach. They have found a note to a German soldier - "Hans chéri" - from a French woman saying she'll meet him at 8pm. They wonder if she still will.
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18:00: The 192nd Panzergrenadier Regiment reach the beach at Lion-sur-Mer. Weak and without air support, they are unable to continue the pincer movement, and are forced to retreat.
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17:00: Sword beach has been an especial failure by the Germans, as many prisoners are now being marched off to captivity. However, the 21st Panzer Division is about to launch the only major counter-attack of D-Day.
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15:15: after heavy bombing, Caen is now on fire. Civilians were warned of incoming bombers by leaflets dropped, but many did not evacuate.
An anonymous man pens a note that will be found on his body the following month:
"I feel that I am dying. It is terrible to know that I’m going to die because I have been expecting the liberation for so long. But I know that, because of my death, other people will be liberated. Long live France, long live the Allies."
13:30: General Omar Bradley is waiting for news aboard the USS August, and hears that the battle for Omaha is finally going in the Americans' favour. Coastal bombardment has helped the battle, and now 18,772 troops have landed. It is clearly almost over on the beach.
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13:00: John Snagge is reading the lunchtime news to listeners across Europe, many of whom listen for news on the invasion. One listener is Anne Frank, who wonders if this means she will be able to go back to school.
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12:10: Churchill is giving a speech to a packed and nervous group of MPs about the progress of the Italian campaign. He looks tired and pale. He finally moves to the invasion. "I have also to announce to the House that during the night and the early hours of this morning, the first of the series of landings in force upon the European Continent has taken place."
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10:45: at Caen prison, a wave of executions of French resistance fighters has taken place, and the bodies are now being buried in flowerbeds.
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10:00: Eisenhower's pre-recorded speech announces D-Day on the BBC to people across Western Europe.
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The notable ones include -
-The execution of Robert Blum in 1848, marking the beginning of the end of the 1848-49 German Revolutions.
-Proclamation of the end of the monarchy, 1918.
-The attempted Beer Hall Putsch of the Nazis, 1923, the failure of which would lead Hitler to aim for a democratic victory.
-The antisemetic pogrom Kristallnacht, 1938, that many see as the start of the Holocaust.
-The fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/01/compare-jimmy-carter-100-presidents/
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https://www.cnn.com/travel/mallory-disappeared-everest-summit-mystery/index.html
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Midnight: D-Day has clearly been a success. The Germans, unprepared and confused, have failed to effectively prevent the beaches being taken. Despite this, most objectives have not been taken, and the failure to take places like Caen will haunt the Allies as German reinforcements begin to arrive.
But with the opening of a second front, it is the beginning of the end for the Reich.
20:30: The army camps, like the one pictured in Blandford, Dorset, have been eerily quiet since the troops left. However, casualties are now filtering back across southern England. In Basingstoke, Hampshire, a single soldier arrives still with wet sand on him.
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20:00: Rommel has finally arrived at his HQ in Chateau La Roche-Guyon. He has driven non-stop.
His aide, Captain Lang, runs inside and is shocked to hear a Wagner opera playing from General Speidel's office. "General Speidel," he asks, " the invasion has begun and you're able to listen to Wagner?"
"My dear Lang, do you honestly believe that my listening to Wagner will make any difference whatsoever to the course of the invasion?" replied Speidel.
As the three begin discussions, there is a feeling of depression.
17:21: Omaha beach is now able to receive wheeled and tracked traffic, meaning supply vehicles and tanks can land. The Allied position is still precarious, but the ability of the Germans to destroy the beachheads is rapidly dwindling, even as reinforcements arrive.
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16:30: British soldiers (alongside Dutch and Polish) are pushing from Gold beach along the road to Bayeux, capturing Reyes and approaching Arromanches.
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14:25: General von Oppeln-Bronikowski meets General Marcks after making it through Caen with his 22nd Panzer Regiment.
"Oppeln," Marcks informs him, "if you don’t succeed in throwing the British into the sea we shall have lost the war."
Oppeln complies, but is aware that he has just 98 tanks.
13:02: it is not lost on many that the morale of the defenders has collapsed. General von Oppeln-Bronikowski, making his way through Caen, notices a group of soldiers stumbling through the rubble, drunkenly singing Deutschland Über Alles.
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12:15: Canadian troops have captured the town of Reviers as they push outwards from Juno, which is rapidly reaching capacity as more troops land.
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11:05: the Hillman complex of fortifications is holding back the British advance towards Caen. The fortifications are very tough, although the defenders seem low on morale. Some surrenderers ask if this is just a raid.
Private Lionel Roebuc, frustrated at the battle, enters a pillbox and smashes a portrait of Hitler on the wall, angry "all the trouble that chap had caused us".
10:30: Rommel cancels a meeting with Hitler, where he would have asked for panzers to be sent to Normandy, and begins the drive to France immediately. His car reaches 90mph as he shouts "Tempo! Tempo! Tempo!" to his driver.
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09:32: John Snagge of the BBC announces that landings have taken place on the northern coast of France.
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