Littoral
Viewing comments for Chapter 21 "Bloody Omaha"Poems about the coastline
21 total reviews
Comment from c_lucas
Death is available to everyone when their time has come. If I remember right, twenty thousand troops died that day. This is very well written with a smooth flow of words, making for a good read.
reply by the author on 30-May-2015
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Death is available to everyone when their time has come. If I remember right, twenty thousand troops died that day. This is very well written with a smooth flow of words, making for a good read.
Comment Written 30-May-2015
reply by the author on 30-May-2015
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Thank you for this review i am most grateful
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You're welcome, P. Charlie
Comment from danpald
How true the beach heads came with a price
Latter officers come to say words of pride
Yet the greatest pride lies in those who gone ahead
The first to land met with death
That is the truth so fair
So why is war to be held with honor
When it is hell that holds it more
Honor is too the person
The soldier who gives at all cost
The war is just the reality
That makes the cost his life
reply by the author on 30-May-2015
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How true the beach heads came with a price
Latter officers come to say words of pride
Yet the greatest pride lies in those who gone ahead
The first to land met with death
That is the truth so fair
So why is war to be held with honor
When it is hell that holds it more
Honor is too the person
The soldier who gives at all cost
The war is just the reality
That makes the cost his life
Comment Written 30-May-2015
reply by the author on 30-May-2015
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Thank you for your poetic style review.
Comment from amahra
Very nice fictional poem based on facts of the great war that really did save Western Civilization for Democracy. Wish war wasn't so necessary. Loved the art work that you chose for this also. Great writing, my friend.
reply by the author on 30-May-2015
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Very nice fictional poem based on facts of the great war that really did save Western Civilization for Democracy. Wish war wasn't so necessary. Loved the art work that you chose for this also. Great writing, my friend.
Comment Written 30-May-2015
reply by the author on 30-May-2015
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Thank you for reading this and for your kind review.
Comment from Walu Feral
G'day mate, what a top quality and brilliantly written history lesson this is, even if it is fiction. Call me a chicken if you want but I'd rather catch snakes than have an bunch of wild square heads with a solid determination to snuff me, shooting at me, anytime. The last line is like a finger in a glove cobber. Cheers Fez
reply by the author on 29-May-2015
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G'day mate, what a top quality and brilliantly written history lesson this is, even if it is fiction. Call me a chicken if you want but I'd rather catch snakes than have an bunch of wild square heads with a solid determination to snuff me, shooting at me, anytime. The last line is like a finger in a glove cobber. Cheers Fez
Comment Written 29-May-2015
reply by the author on 29-May-2015
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Thank you Fez for this great review. Much appreciated.
Comment from Treischel
An outstanding individual portrayal of the essence of that battke field where so many quickly died. Some of them drowning as the got off the boat in water too deep. I like your use of the narrative poem format sprinkled with enough alliteration to recognize it as poetry. Clever to bring the German in a full circle. The birthday and last statement makes it quite poignant. Very well done!
reply by the author on 29-May-2015
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An outstanding individual portrayal of the essence of that battke field where so many quickly died. Some of them drowning as the got off the boat in water too deep. I like your use of the narrative poem format sprinkled with enough alliteration to recognize it as poetry. Clever to bring the German in a full circle. The birthday and last statement makes it quite poignant. Very well done!
Comment Written 29-May-2015
reply by the author on 29-May-2015
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Thank you very much for this review. The USA having been the destination of so many emigres from Europe I felt that sort of situation must have been repeated many times. And it has to have been somebody's birthday! Actually that is a well known literary device. Was Shakespeare the first to use it in Julius Caesar? "This day was Cassius born!"
Comment from Dean Kuch
German 88's, which were used by German troops for a variety of things including artillery barrages, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, were pre-sighted on Omaha Beach that fateful day. As soldiers struggled, one leader told his men that two types of people would stay on the beach--the dead and those going to die--so they'd better get the hell out of there, and they did. It was a bloody battle which forever changed the tide of WWII and the European Theater. The entire wall was fortified by heavily armed Maschinengewehr 42 (or MG 42) machine gun crews, which cut the initial waves of men landing on the beach to shreds. The Stephen Spielbrg film, "Saving Private Ryan", is probably one of the best, most graphic depictions ever created chronicling the difficulties those brave men faced that day.
Slowly, as individuals and then in groups, soldiers began to cross the fire-swept beach. Supported by Allied naval gunfire from destroyers steaming dangerously close to shore, the American infantrymen gained the heights and beach exits and drove the enemy inland. By D-Day's end V Corps had a tenuous toehold on the Normandy coast, and the force consolidated to protect its gains and prepare for the next step on the road to Germany.
Great writing, Pantygynt. This young man is just one of 10,000 allied casualties on the first day, with 4,414 confirmed dead. The Germans lost just 1,000 men.
~Dean
reply by the author on 29-May-2015
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German 88's, which were used by German troops for a variety of things including artillery barrages, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, were pre-sighted on Omaha Beach that fateful day. As soldiers struggled, one leader told his men that two types of people would stay on the beach--the dead and those going to die--so they'd better get the hell out of there, and they did. It was a bloody battle which forever changed the tide of WWII and the European Theater. The entire wall was fortified by heavily armed Maschinengewehr 42 (or MG 42) machine gun crews, which cut the initial waves of men landing on the beach to shreds. The Stephen Spielbrg film, "Saving Private Ryan", is probably one of the best, most graphic depictions ever created chronicling the difficulties those brave men faced that day.
Slowly, as individuals and then in groups, soldiers began to cross the fire-swept beach. Supported by Allied naval gunfire from destroyers steaming dangerously close to shore, the American infantrymen gained the heights and beach exits and drove the enemy inland. By D-Day's end V Corps had a tenuous toehold on the Normandy coast, and the force consolidated to protect its gains and prepare for the next step on the road to Germany.
Great writing, Pantygynt. This young man is just one of 10,000 allied casualties on the first day, with 4,414 confirmed dead. The Germans lost just 1,000 men.
~Dean
Comment Written 29-May-2015
reply by the author on 29-May-2015
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Thanks Dean for this review and slice of military history. I agree with you about Private Ryan. I t was a great movie and those opening shots on the beach were probably as close as anyone can get to the real thing. I just hope I got the few technical terms right because I'm only familiar with the limey tongue and US English does vary slightly! Thanks too for the statistics. I'm not usually one for statistics but they sure bring you up with a round turn. Are those the figures just for Omaha?. Makes you wonder how on earth we managed to win!
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You're more than welcome, Pantygynt. I'm a huge WWII history buff, especially concerning the European Theater.
Yes, that's just the toll for Omaha, and just the first day, no less! Field Marshall Irwin Rommel and Hitler felt they had created an impenetrable fortress.
The Allies proved them wrong.
Great historical piece. I felt it was exceptionally well written. ~Dean
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Thank you again,
Comment from Gloria ....
Survived the U-boats and Atlantic gales; shuttled all round Britain for a twelvemonth by army truck and train to train upon the beaches, in the - that reads as a single line, so you might want to break it into two lines unless there is some kind of visual effect that I'm missing?
too long, two long, stormy days, sick as a dog - Oh that's slick, clever writing, PG.
Very nicely done my dear even though the meaning is horribly ironic and sad all mixed into one.
Friendly fire from a distant land. I wonder how many soldiers are killed by friendly fire? I'm sure that's a fact well covered up, although in your poem it's not quite friendly fire.
It's so sad so many nineteen year old boys were killed in these wars.
Anyway I don't want to get on about that anymore than I already have. You're right, no beach book is complete without Normandy.
Your poem is terrific, so there.
Gloria
reply by the author on 29-May-2015
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Survived the U-boats and Atlantic gales; shuttled all round Britain for a twelvemonth by army truck and train to train upon the beaches, in the - that reads as a single line, so you might want to break it into two lines unless there is some kind of visual effect that I'm missing?
too long, two long, stormy days, sick as a dog - Oh that's slick, clever writing, PG.
Very nicely done my dear even though the meaning is horribly ironic and sad all mixed into one.
Friendly fire from a distant land. I wonder how many soldiers are killed by friendly fire? I'm sure that's a fact well covered up, although in your poem it's not quite friendly fire.
It's so sad so many nineteen year old boys were killed in these wars.
Anyway I don't want to get on about that anymore than I already have. You're right, no beach book is complete without Normandy.
Your poem is terrific, so there.
Gloria
Comment Written 28-May-2015
reply by the author on 29-May-2015
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Thank you Gloria for these well chosen comments. You are the second person to comment on the density of the layout. Mayby I should break it down into smaller portions. I t is perhaps too dense.
Comment from inside echo
I saved a six, and now know why. What a powerful and emotionally sad poem. The irony is boldly presented. So many young lives wasted. So many unprepared for what they were about to face, from the boredom you described into full out battle, just to die. Great last line, it further adds to the depth of your poem. So very well written and presented. Well done..
echo
reply by the author on 28-May-2015
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I saved a six, and now know why. What a powerful and emotionally sad poem. The irony is boldly presented. So many young lives wasted. So many unprepared for what they were about to face, from the boredom you described into full out battle, just to die. Great last line, it further adds to the depth of your poem. So very well written and presented. Well done..
echo
Comment Written 28-May-2015
reply by the author on 28-May-2015
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Thank you so much for your wonderful review of this piece and surprise, surprise six starsa at the back end of the week!
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You are welcome.
Comment from Dorothy Farrell
A fine war poem full of irony. To be born of German origin - ending up in America. Then in war fighting and being killed by Germans. It is truly a sad world. Some awful events take place in war - an interesting and sad read. Thank you for posting. Warm regards Dorothy x
reply by the author on 28-May-2015
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A fine war poem full of irony. To be born of German origin - ending up in America. Then in war fighting and being killed by Germans. It is truly a sad world. Some awful events take place in war - an interesting and sad read. Thank you for posting. Warm regards Dorothy x
Comment Written 28-May-2015
reply by the author on 28-May-2015
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Thank you somuch for reading and reviewing this.
Comment from tfawcus
It takes one with a military background to describe so well the routine, the boredom, the endless waiting and the final flurry of confusion before battle begins. I was for a short while in the 1960s an orderly in Stoke Mandeville hospital for spinal injuries. I still remember a paraplegic there who was shot in the back by 'friendly' fire on his first attack from the trenches in the 1914-18 war - within hours of his arrival in France. A story not dissimilar to the one you describe.
reply by the author on 28-May-2015
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It takes one with a military background to describe so well the routine, the boredom, the endless waiting and the final flurry of confusion before battle begins. I was for a short while in the 1960s an orderly in Stoke Mandeville hospital for spinal injuries. I still remember a paraplegic there who was shot in the back by 'friendly' fire on his first attack from the trenches in the 1914-18 war - within hours of his arrival in France. A story not dissimilar to the one you describe.
Comment Written 28-May-2015
reply by the author on 28-May-2015
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Somebody said war was 95% boredom and 5% sheer terror. Thank you for reading and reviewing this. I thought I might as well put the experiences of a misspent youth to good account!
