D-Day - Overlord: Overlord

70 years ago: the military term "D-Day" was made famous due to the amphibious landings in Northern France.

This is one of the most studied and relived events of World War II. So much so that the term "D-Day" has become synonymous with Operation Overlord, specifically the invasions of Operation Neptune.  What about Operation Torch (North Africa), or Shingle (Italy), or Iceberg (Okinawa)?  The date those invasions started are all "D-Days."  Now, I'm not belittling the sacrifice of those who scaled the Atlantic Wall and liberated France.  No, I am trying to inform the masses in the official use of the term.  So consider yourself informed.  Will I yell at you if you say "D-Day" and mean Operation Overlord?  No, I can safely assume most who say "D-Day" mean Normandy.

Okay, I'm done ranting.  Enough of the side-show, let's get to the main event.  Based on the numbers and circumstances, it should not have succeeded.

The invasion of France, with the long-term goal to liberate western Europe, was titled Operation Overlord.

This operation had three parts: Operation Pointblank (bombing campaign aimed at halting the Luftwaffe's ability to react), Operation Neptune (the landing of troops on Normandy beaches), and Operation Bodyguard (deceptions and tricks used to convince the Germans the invasion would land elsewhere).

There were a number of operations within each of these operations.  Sometimes it seems like the military can't help but make things more complicated.  Adding to the complexity is that the targeted area, Normandy, was divided into American and British sectors.  And tasks within a sector was given a codename, like Tonga, Boston, and Epsom.  The use of the codenames was to keep opposition from discovering the truth.

One of the most impressive, is underreported, portions of the Normandy invasion was Operation Bodyguard.  The goal was simple: keep the Nazis in the dark.  The execution of this operation was anything but simple, but they pulled it off.  Fake military units were created, such as the First US Army Group (FUSAG).  Dummy equipment, such as inflatable Sherman tanks, were built.  (If you look up "Operation Bodyguard tank" you will find a picture of four men carrying what appears to be a 66,800 pound tank on their shoulders.)  Even double agents helped spread the lies.  George Patton was even put in charge of the FUSAG, in hopes of attracting attention with his record and attitude.  The Allies worked hard to make it appear that Calais was the target of the invasion.

The result of this massive shell-game?  The Germans spent a lot of time and effort to fortify the area around Calais, and the Fifteenth Army was delayed by several weeks, allowing the Allies to break out of Normandy.

One for three on the "Long Shot" list.

There was a major factor in the actual landings that the Allies could not control: the weather.  The planners wanted to be landing at night with a full moon when the tide was going in.  This allowed for the greatest chance to clear obstacles on the beach, and for aircraft and boat pilots to see.  Had Eisenhower postponed the landings, the next available time was two weeks later, without a full moon.  The weather available June 4-7 was bad, but it would have been worse.  On a plus side, the Germans believed that there would be two weeks of bad weather in early June, so many commanders, including Field Marshal Rommel, were not immediately available when the landings happened.  Sometimes it pays to play in the rain.

But the Germans had other reasons not to be worried.  The Atlantic Wall.

After raids in 1942, Hitler ordered the fortification of the Atlantic coast, from Spain to Norway.  Blockhouses, bunkers, pillboxes, trenches, and tank traps were build.  Thousands of tons of concrete were poured.  Hundreds of miles of barbed wire were strung.  Rommel, a brilliant leader the Allies dealt with in North Africa, realized Normandy was a key location for landing.  He tripled the mines in the area, had anti-tank and anti-boat obstacles placed at high-tide marks, and created Rommelspargel.  These "Rommel's asparagus" were 13+ foot tall wooden poles "planted" in fields.  The idea was they would damage gliders.  Some were placed on beaches, in hopes of ripping the bottoms off of boats.  A number even had mines attached to the tops.  By the time Rommel was finished, the Atlantic Wall appeared impenetrable.

The lead-in bombing campaign, Operation Pointblank, began a year earlier.  The goal, again, was simple: destroy the Luftwaffe, the German air industry, and any other industry that could be used against the landings.  The Combined Bombing Offensive, which Operation Pointblank was a part of, was a massive, if controversial, success.  But this isn't about that.  Operation Pointblank itself was tasked with destroying fighter bases, to establish air superiority and air supremacy over the beaches, and over Europe in general.  They succeeded in both.  Air superiority means you have total control of the air over your territory and substantial control over enemy territory.  From 1944 onward, few if any Luftwaffe fighters were seen over Allied territory.  And the USAF and RAF had near complete control of European airspace during the last two years of the war.  Sure, German fighters could still attack and harass bombers, but the Luftwaffe was a faint shadow of its former glory.  Air supremacy means you have total control over all airspace, both your's and your enemy's.  Nothing flies unless it has your insignia on the wings.  At the end of the war the Allies achieved that, but only at the end.  Regardless, the air superiority over Europe, especially over Normandy, allowed the landings to occur with less casualties.

Two for three on the "Long Shot" list.

Operation Neptune started at 0015 (local), 6 June, 1944, with the landings of pathfinders, whose task was to guide in 13,000 paratroopers from the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.  Unfortunately, due to clouds, only 1 in 5 paratroopers reached their landing zone.  Some of these American airborne did not reach drop zones until afternoon.

The British got the first shots of D-Day, with Operation Deadstick.  Gliders landed near the bridges over the Caen canal and the Orne river.  This first operation of the landings was a success.

The amphibious landings started at 0630.  From the start, things did not go according to plan.

The first "boots on the ground" were at Utah beach.  Only they were not.  Gen. Teddy Roosevelt's 4th Inf. Division didn't land at the designated Utah beach, but 2,000 yards west.  The son of the famed president and Rough Rider said they would "start the war from right here."  The advantage was that there was less resistance at this Utah.  By the end of the day there were less than 200 casualties.  A stark contrast to the other American beachhead.

Omaha.

It was the heaviest defended beach.  It was the target of one of the most experienced Allied unit: the 1st Inf. Division.  Bombers were concerned with hitting landing craft, so many of the beach obstacles were not destroyed prior to landings.  Currents caused boats to drift east. Many boats hit sandbars 50-100 yards out, forcing the men to wade the remainder of the distance.  In full combat gear and packs.  Under fire.  The call at 0830 was to hold off on further landings, until some destroyers provided cover fire.  All told around 2,000 died on Omaha beach.

The British at Gold beach weren't having an easier time either.  High winds forced the boats off course.  A number of casemates caused trouble until cruisers or tanks were able to knock them out.  The British lost around 1,000.

At Juno beach, troops landed before tanks, and didn't have the support to defeat the un-bombarded batteries.  The three nearby towns became the sites of fierce fighting, and the airfield remained contested for a month.  But, on the day of the landings, less than 1,000 men died.

Because of wind, obstacles and mines, and a fast rising tide, Sword beach became congested quickly.  It was at Sword beach Free French forces landed, helping to capture at least one stronghold.  Here British troops moved towards Caen, coming within a kilometer of it.  German tanks also attempted to counterattack, and nearly reached the English Channel.  At the end of the day, around 1,000 died at Sword.

Five landing forces embarked.  Five beachheads taken.

Three for three on the "Long Shot" list.

The largest amphibious invasion in human history was a success.  Operation Overlord, which ended August 25, 1944, was a success as well.  The Allies had the first stepping stone toward the liberation of Europe in place.  In a way, the hard part was over.  They had breached the Atlantic Wall and proven that "Fortress Europe" had weaknesses that would be exploited.

Next came the long road to Berlin.

On the way would be bitter cold, armored fortifications, massive airborne attacks, and some of the most disciplined, determined, and desperate soldiers in history.  The "Battle for Europe" had begun.

The goal: Liberation.  No exceptions.

***

To all the veterans of the Normandy Invasion:

Thank you, and God bless.

I Might Be a Dope

I can't believe I didn't realize what I missed. Monday was the anniversary of a big event, and I forgot. I knew June 2nd was important for some reason. Hmm... an anniversary... seven years... happiest day of my life... what could it be?

Okay, so I didn't forget the day Meg and I got married. I just forgot to remind everyone here. I was too busy giving her some diamond earrings.

I don't really have anything else to post today. But tomorrow's a noteworthy anniversary as well, as was yesterday. Care to guess what it was? Nothing about me or my family, but it was the 72nd anniversary of the Battle of Midway. I'd say something more about it, but I don't have anything right now.

Anyway, happy Thursday.

Graduation

Today was 8th Grade graduation at Trinity Lutheran.  Its bittersweet, for the students and teachers.  Most of the nine graduates had spent close to eight years together.  It was emotional watching my first, and last, eight grade class graduate.  Well, I say "last," but that is not entirely official.  It is without a doubt my last eight grade graduation as a teacher at Trinity.

After reviewing my year here, and lots of reflection and prayer, I have come to the conclusion that I cannot stay.  I'm also marginally sure that I am not "the right stuff" for middle level, and I am wondering if I might not even be meant for "conventional classroom" teaching.

So, I've got a visit to the St. Louis Seminary in the pipeline.  For the first time in a number of years I am (nearly) entirely at peace with the idea of going to Sem.  There are still a lot of questions, but they are "housekeeping" and "details" compared to the big issues.  Hence the visit.  I am scared.  What if I get all my questions answered and I come to the conclusion that its a case of "not right now?"  What if I get all my questions answered and I come to the conclusion that its a case of "too late?"  But right now, none of that matters.

What matters is this: my time as a 7th and 8th Grade teacher in S. Illinois is over.  I will miss my students.  They have been a handful, even frustrating at times.  Many a day I felt like I was talking to a bunch of rocks.  But in spite of all the headaches (literal and metaphorical) great things happened.  They weren't always big things, but great none the less.  My students learned.  I got an opportunity to teach to eleven fantastic students.

I also had eleven fantastic teachers.  There is no doubt who learned more this year in "Mr. B's" classroom: me.  I learned about how to (and not to) teach.  I learned patience.  I learned diplomacy.  I learned forgiveness.  I learned loyalty.  I learned friendship.  I learned differentiation.  I learned English.  I learned foreign language.  I learned to laugh.  I learned to be open.  I learned to be welcoming.  I learned to care.

This has been a great experience, but now it is time to move on.  I don't know for sure what God has in store for me next, but I am at peace with that.  That's how I know it will work out in the end.  There is no panic, no fear, no impatience.  What happens, happens in God's time.  I'm just along for the ride.

Trinity Lutheran 7th and 8th Grade, 2013-2014: Thank You.

US Army

"This we'll defend."

US Navy

"Non sibi sed patriae."

US Marine Corps

"Semper Fidelis."

US Coast Guard

"Semper Paratus."

US Air Force

"Aim high... fly, fight, win."

To all our brave young men and women, past, present, and future, who are called to defend this nation, thank you.

God Bless America, and may you have a peaceful Memorial Day.


If you wish to revisit my poem "Rest Well," you may do so here: http://baumann-intheloop.blogspot.com/2012/05/rest-well.html

Yom HaShoah

I have learned more this year about the Shoah (Holocaust) then ever before.

As part of the 8th grade class trip, we went to the Holocaust museum in St. Louis.  Having a tour guide was an option, so I offered my "expertise" to lead my students.  I researched from 1935-1945, discovering and rediscovering things.  I though I was prepared.

When we got there, one of the staff informed us that there was a speaker, and if we wanted we could sit in on the remainder of his talk, as long as we were quiet.  So we walked into this small auditorium and sat in the back.  Up front was a Lithuanian named Mendel Rosenberg.  We got to hear the last five minutes before the group already there moved on.  As they did, I walked up.  I introduced myself, explain my class and why we were there, and asked if we could ask some questions.  He said he would check to see if he had enough time.  When he came back, he said he could give a shortened version of his story.

My class had never been quieter.

Rosenberg had survived Dachau.  He tells his story so that we do not forget.

The same reason why I teach history.

My 5th and 6th grade students got to learn about the Holocaust as well.  They were given an option between two books, and six chose "Number the Stars."  Since most had read it before, I gave them history research projects.  When they presented them, I taught a very condensed version of the Shoah.  Most of that lesson was on the policies and events leading to the Holocaust.  I explained the concentration camps.  Of the extermination camps, all I showed were the names, the number killed, and the gate at Auschwitz.  I told them I would not take them any farther.

A few of the pictures and stories still haunt me.

As a historian, I can give more information than you could want on the topic.  And much of it exceeds what would be considered acceptable for even the most gruesome rated "R" movie.  But I am afraid.  I am afraid that people are forgetting it.  The "final solution" was over seventy years ago.  Many would believe that it means nothing to us now.  It happened so long ago and on the other side of the world.  And most of the people involved are long gone.  Why does it matter?

One lie: Arbeit Macht Frei.  "Work makes you free."

The motto, officially or unofficially, of historians is from George Santayana: "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

There are things about one of the darkest parts of human history that I did not tell my students.  Some of those things they are not ready for, yet.  And some of those things I will never tell them.  But I will never hesitate to tell my students that this horror happened.

Survivors like Mendel Rosenberg tells their stories so that we would never forget.  I pray that never happens, and that we never allow anything like the Shoah to happen again, ever.

Shalom.

The Story of Salvation

In 2009, I was given an assignment to write the story of salvation from my perspective.  While most of my fellow student-teachers personalized the Passion Week account or spoke metaphorically about how Good Friday and Easter effect their lives, I took a broader approach.  I started my story of salvation when The Story of Salvation starts: Eden.  I strove to compose an account that not only tells my story, but the story of all humankind.

~

It started with sin; perfectly harmless and quite pleasing.  Listening to the lies that had been told, the child of God had eaten from a tree that had been forbidden.  It was not forbidden so as to punish the child, but rather to protect.  And yet, the child thought that the Father was being unfair.  Now, the Father, being fair, had to punish the child.  And the punishment: eternal separation from the Father. 

The child, horrified, tried to fix the problem with the means available.  Sacrifices, piety, fancy prayers, festivals, religious services, self-mutilation, fasting, solitude; no mater what the child did, the Father was not satisfied.  Then the day came for the Father to punish the child.  The Father led the child to a hill with a Tree.  The child knew that the Tree was where those who sinned were punished.

When the child and the Father reached the top of the hill, both were brought to tears when they found the child’s Brother already there, hanging in the place of the child.  He had accepted His sibling’s punishment, even though He had not sinned.  Remorseful, the child knelt at the base of the Tree, vowing to follow in his Brother’s footsteps.  Both the Father and child left the hill, their hearts broken.  When they reached the bottom, the child looked up at the Father and asked why his Brother sacrificed Himself.

“Because I love you.”  The child turned to see his Brother standing there, alive yet scarred.  Embracing Him, the child begged for forgiveness, apologizing for the sin he committed.  His Brother simply smiled and said: “All is forgiven, left at the foot of the Tree.  Now, let Me teach you of a new Life.”

That day the child’s name was changed to Christian, the bearer of Christ.  The rest of the child’s life was spent taking Christ, his Brother, to everyone he met, so that everyone might know of the wondrous act of love that occurred that day on the hill with the Tree.

~

Happy Easter!  Χριστός ἀνέστη!

The Time Splice

What do H. G. Wells, Dr. Emmett Brown, and your's truly (Adam) have in common?

We've all invented (or discovered) time machines.  Yes, that's right, I have a time machine.  Two of them, in fact.  And they both work differently.

Okay, so one of them is actually just a pen.  Specifically its a Zebra F-301 Compact.  That might not seem important, but you'll see (maybe) that it is.  Anyway, yes, my time machine is a pen.  Why a pen?  How can a lowly pen be a time machine?

Well, with my pen I can write stories.  Stories about any time and place.  So, metaphorically, my pen is a time machine.

"But Adam, you said you have two time machines?"

Yes.  Along with occasionally speaking to myself in the third person, I do have a second time machine.  Actually, that's not entirely accurate.  I have a second method of building a time machine.  It's actually really nifty.

Now, I am an amateur internet archeologist and part-time mad scientist, so it should come as no surprise when I say this: I found the long lost and supposedly fictional notebooks of the infamously famous Quattrocento alchemist Eliseo Uroboros.

No, really, I did.

Eliseo Uroboros is the guy who claimed to have discovered time travel.  His notebooks include numerous techniques for using esoteric elements such as janusite, chronosite, aionite, and horaeum.  For centuries, most scientists, and even a few alchemists, dismissed work with these elements as dangerous.  Especially chronosite, which is know to spontaneously spark and even occasionally explode, if in large enough amounts.

But Uroboros was determined to prove that chronosite could be a power source for something.  What he discovered was completely by accident.  According to his notes, on January 13, 1432, he was conducting an experiment with aionite.  He was heating a piece the size of his thumb over a charcoal flame when the piece exploded.  One of the shards shot out and struck a piece of chronosite that was sitting on the workbench nearby.  The collision resulted in a very strange explosion.  Everything within ten feet of where the chronosite rested disappeared.

When Uroboros picked himself off the floor, he went about cleaning up the mess made by the explosion.  Well, he would have, if there was anything left by the explosion.  You see everything within ten feet was gone.  Not destroyed, but, poof, gone.  His notes, experiments, tools, and workbench were all gone.  What was left of his workbench had a ten foot wide circular hole.  The stone floor even had a dent in it, as if a giant sphere had fallen.

Without an explanation, Uroboros returned to his other experiments.  Nearly two years passed before he figured out what had happened that day.  He was trying to see if chrysoberyl could be used as a lens for a heat ray when a flash of bright light stuck his workshop.  At first he thought it was lightning, or that the local Dominican friar was right and God was trying to strike him dead.  As soon as the blurry spots left his vision he was greeted with the most amazing sight: a perfectly circular cutout of his old workbench, complete with all the tools, experiments, and notes that were on it.

Perplexed and intrigued, Uroboros investigated.  Everything that he had placed on the bench two years prior was right where he left it.  Except the chronosite.

After a bit of thinking (and a fair amount of his neighbor's wine to settle his nerves), Uroboros determined that, somehow, the combination of chronosite and aionite was able to transfer things through time.  Over the next five years Uroboros experimented with a variety of quantities and collision methods, determining how this time travel worked and how to control it.  His work was crude, but he was able to figure out that the combination of chronosite and aionite has a "range" of between 100 to 2,000 years.  His first device was designed to work like a gun.  After setting the date all one had to do was press the button.  Uroboros crafted many Time Splices, each using a different method of colliding chronosite and aionite.  A few of these were successful, while others were spectacular failures.

In his lifetime, Uroboros never figured out how, exactly, the Time Splice worked.  All he knew was that the explosive combination of the two elements allowed a person to travel through time.  Very few have tried to study his device.  But I figured out how it works.  What Uroboros did not know was astrophysics and nuclear weaponry.

What happens when a nuclear bomb goes off?  (Besides saying "it explodes, duh.")  The explosion creates a runaway fission or fusion reaction, depending on the type of bomb.

What happens when a star dies?  Sometimes, the matter collapses into a super-dense area that has immense gravity - a black hole.  Other times the star explodes, creating a supernova.

What happens when the Time Splice is activated?

The Time Splice is a nuclear fusion device.  Yes, a Renaissance era alchemist accomplished what numerous modern scientists cannot.  Don't start thinking that this can be used for the making of unlimited electricity.  Time Splices are both inherently unstable and self-destructive to a degree.  Let me explain how it works.

The combination of aionite and chronosite in the core acts as both the fusional material and the “portal” for time travel.  When engaged, the Time Splice will go through a near instantaneous four part process.

1. The Time Splice core is “spun up,” with the aionite colliding with the chronosite.  This creates a “point” of nuclear fusion in the form of a micro star less than 1 cm in diameter.
2. The micro star reaches critical mass and collapses, creating a micro black hole, roughly ten feet in diameter.  This black hole is what severs the traveler’s timeline.
3. The micro black hole self-detonates and expands outwardly, creating a white hole.
4. The white hole collapses, splicing the traveler’s timeline.

The black hole is what “destroys” or “collapses” the local space-time, thus severing the traveler’s timeline.  The white hole is a “reversed” black hole that “explodes” outward in the local space-time, thus “splicing” the traveler’s timeline sometime else.  Everything within the ten feet of the time splice is transported.  This makes using the Time Splice somewhat problematic.  For example, if you were to use a Time Splice while in the back seat of a car, the driver will be upset that his car looks like a shark tried to eat it.

There are three types of Time Splices: gun, torus, and globe.  These types are similar to nuclear weaponry.  Gun, or rod-type, is similar to the "Little Boy" bomb.  An aionite "bullet" is "shot" at a cylindrical chronosite crystal.  This is most similar to the accidental Time Splice created in Uroboros's lab.  Torus, or ring-type, is like the current experiments for nuclear fusion.  It uses a circular shaped chronosite crystal.  The aionite is collided in the same way as a particle accelerator.  Torus-type Time Splices tend to be the safest.  They have more range than the gun-type, which are often "one-way."  The collision of aionite and chronosite, like almost all things nuclear, results in the destruction of the material.  This means that either the time traveler needs to bring extra fuel along, or use a gun-type as a "back up" device.  Torus-type Splices can be used more than once before the chronosite is fully depleted.  The globe, or ball-type, is rare.  They have the longest range, due to being similar to implosion-method nuclear weapons.  Also, since they are large, they are less convenient to use.

Time Splices can be made to look like anything.  Except perhaps a DeLorean.  Most gun-type Splices look like a pen, such as a Zebra F-301 Compact.  Torus-types often are seen, ironically, as watches.

There is a catch to using Time Splices.  Unlike the fictional time machines, the Time Splice cannot change date or hour, only the year.  So, if you want to see the opening of "Macbeth" in the original Globe theater, you will need to travel to London and be there on the correct date.  Once there, select the destination year and go.

When Time Traveling, there are no sights or sounds.  It is instantaneous.  One second you're in 2014, the next your in 1492.  The most often side-effect is a sense of vertigo.

That's what I've discovered so far.  I'm not sure what all the limitations are yet, but I did find a note that suggests that time travel only works from a later time to a lesser time.  What I mean is I can travel back to the past but not forward to the future.  I am also cautions because of the possibility of changing the past.  Under no circumstances am I going to try to go back in time and stop (insert significant historic event here) from happening.  If "Back to the Future" has taught us anything it is to not keep your parents from meeting.  The consequences could include erasing that one random photograph of you and your siblings that you have, and even having your hand start to disappear.

If you want, I can write about my adventures across time.  Or even better, I can tell you the adventures of a friend of mine.  He was researching the Second World War.  Maybe I'll write a story about it some day.

(In case you were wondering, yes, this is fictional.  Except the metaphorical "pen as time machine."  I've said that before.  All of this is foundational stuff for a story about a time traveler researching the Holocaust.  I don't know, I felt like writing something, and this is what was open on the desktop at the moment.  See you all next week, maybe.)