[CaptainGyro]

I've been exploring the Amazon Prime Video deep library and have found a few gems. The one I'm currently loving is Crusade in Europe, a twenty-six part documentary based on Dwight D. Eisenhower's memoir of World War II.

Besides the excellent content, one of the things that makes this series so interesting to me is the fact that it is one of the very first made-for-TV documentaries, produced in 1949 while the war was still fresh in America's collective mind and television was a brand new technology. This was a pretty ambitious project for a medium that was in its infancy and probably not even present yet in most American homes.

Throughout the series you can see why Eisenhower had the meteoric rise that he did. He's the ultimate smooth talker and diplomat, always controlled and careful not to offend. Even when talking about the leaders of the Vichy French, of whom he's obviously not enamored, he pulls his punches and maintains a level tone. Early in the series, in 1939, you see Eisenhower as a bird colonel in the Philippines, serving as MacArthur's aide. It's stunning to realize that he was about to earn five stars in six years and command an entire theatre of the war.

It's also fascinating to see all of the events chronicled in the movie Patton through Eisenhower's eyes. The African campaign, the invasion of Sicily, the Italian campaign, D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, and the drive across the Rhine into Germany are all shown from Eisenhower's "big picture" perspective; Patton's exploits are little more than sideshows given the enormity of Ike's job.

All-in-all, if you've got Amazon Prime I think this is a worthwhile series to consider.

 

[SpecialEd]

CaptainGyro,

Our family, as we lived in a "wide place in the road" in Northeast TX, had NO TV until 1960 & even then we got only TWO channels. = KSLA in Shreveport, LA & a channel from Tyler, TX. - IF I remember correctly the 2 channels had programming from 0700-2400 only.

We listened to the AM radio a great deal & actually read books/newspapers. - IMAGINE THAT!!!

I read CRUSADE IN EUROPE when I was about 12YO.

yours, sw

 

[CaptainGyro]

Although I have much earlier memories my earliest distinct memory from TV was video of a ship sinking. She was capsizing and as she rolled over people were trying to stay on top of the hull. It's a pretty vivid memory...one of those things that stay with you for life. At the time I had no idea what the circumstances were; I just knew it was bad for those poor people.

I found out decades later that is was the newsreel of the sinking of the Andrea Doria in 1956.

 

[SpecialEd]

I just finished An Army At Dawn, about Operation Torch and the North Africa Campaign. The U.S. Military, green as it was, made countless mistakes, as did Ike. The British openly doubted, not only their ability to fight, but there willingness to fight. BUT, the Americans learned from their mistakes and learned quickly, no one more so than Eisenhower. A lot of his early troubles had to do with him having to spend so much time on politics, in stead of strategy, etc.

Can you imagine having to deal with "Monty, let alone the French, Vichy and otherwise?" :banghead:

 

[SpecialEd]

Although I have much earlier memories my earliest distinct memory from TV was video of a ship sinking. She was capsizing and as she rolled over people were trying to stay on top of the hull. It's a pretty vivid memory...one of those things that stay with you for life. At the time I had no idea what the circumstances were; I just knew it was bad for those poor people.

I found out decades later that is was the newsreel of the sinking of the Andrea Doria in 1956.

One of my earliest TV memories was the Kennedy funeral. My dad explaining to me the significance of the riderless horse and the boots.

 

[dfariswheel]

Ike was the indispensable man at the exactly correct moment in time.
It's doubtful any other American, and certainly no British general could have handled the prima dona ego maniacs in all the Allied armies.
Only Ike could have kept it all lashed together.

The British had a very low opinion of American generals and of the American soldier.
They were convinced they were the experts and would have been very happy if they could have gotten what they wanted in WWI..... American troops sent to them to train and lead into battle. (Read cannon fodder).
The low opinion and his ego was why Montgomery continued right up to the end of the war to try to get total command of all the armies.

The American generals, with some reason, thought that Ike was too close to the British to the determent of the American effort.
Ike did surround himself almost exclusively with British officers in all the key staff assignments.
However, the fighting generals were almost all Americans.

We tend to forget then and now, that the British were devastated both militarily and mentally by the horror of WWI.
They simply couldn't do what was needed to win.
This is one reason Churchill was always trying to force the efforts into side shows in Greece and the Balkans.
The idea of a direct confrontation into France was something they just couldn't contemplate.

On the other hand, America was insisting on landing in France as early as 1942.
The American army was in no way prepared for that either in equipment and supplies, nor in the experience level of our raw troops.

There were inexcusable mistakes made time and time again, but fortunately Ike didn't shy away from making very hard decisions.

While it's was and is popular to state that America only won the war because of our tidal wave of production and simply swamped the enemy under a mountain of gear, the fact is the "soft" American kids went toe to toe with the best the German and Japanese supermen had and beat them.

 

[csmkersh]

The British had a very low opinion of American generals and of the American soldier.

A common complaint they had was, '...over sexed, over paid and over 'er."

 

[SpecialEd]

A common complaint they had was, '...over sexed, over paid and over 'er."

On the docks where the Brits were shipping out and the Americans were arriving, one Tommie about to board ship quipped to the G.I.s,

"Tell my wife I love her."

 

[WaltGraham]

Good call, I was getting ready to watch Capt. Marvel until my MC officer in waiting told me how hard it sucked.

I'll watch Ike instead.

 

[dfariswheel]

A common complaint they had was, '...over sexed, over paid and over 'er."

The GI response was the British were....

"Under sexed, under paid, and under Eisenhower".

 

[GunGeek]

I have a signed first edition of the book...Good piece of history that has held up pretty well over the decades. That is to say, not much has been found to be untrue or "propaganda". I consider it a very important historical document.

 

[William R. Moore]

I don't recall where in my required reading I ran across it, but there would seem to have been a cultural rift regarding orders. In the American military, and order was an order. The Brits tended to regard an order as a basis for discussion. This isn't to say that the Americans blindly followed orders and didn't, on occasion, improvise, adapt and overcome, but some of the stuff the Brits-especially Monty-did was ridiculous.

Monty may have got the credit for the Egyptian Campaign, but Auchinlech (sp?) did the bulk of the heavy lifting.

I tried reading "Crusade" decades ago and couldn't hack it. OTOH, I've read Churchhill;s "The River War". It's sad to see how the ability to write-and the vocabulary-has declined overall through the decades.