France

SOE Agents Paved the Way For D-Day, Remembering Violette Szabo

The preparation for D-Day on the Allied side took a couple of years of meticulous planning, training, the massing of troops and then intense coordination with air, sea and land forces as well as coordinating the French resistance.

The British Special Operations Executive (SOE) was the driving force behind infiltrating agents into occupied France, setting up intelligence networks, coordinating with the French resistance, arming guerilla bands, and performing acts of sabotage and subversion.

One of the best known of these British agents was a woman, Violette Szabo who was as brave as she was beautiful. Code-named Corrinne, Szabo conducted two missions into France. On her second one, shortly after D-Day, she was captured by elements of the 2nd SS Panzer Division who were moving into Normandy after the Allied invasion. She got into a sharp fire-fight with the Germans, allowing her teammates to escape. But she was captured, beaten, tortured by the Gestapo and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp where she was executed in January 1945. She was just 23 years old at the time of her death.

Early Life, Following a Tomboy Lifestyle:

Szabo was born Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell in Levallois Paris on June 26, 1921. Her father was English and her mother French. They met during World War I and together they had four boys and just one girl, Violette.

Because she was surrounded by four brothers as well as several other male cousins, Violette was a tomboy and she competed with them, excelling in athletics, gymnastics, cycling, and shooting, something her father taught her well. It was said, that despite being just five foot three, she was as strong as a man.

The family moved to South London and Violette was popular because she was athletically gifted, beautiful, and could speak French as well as English. She left school at just 14, working in the retail industry.

When the war broke out, she was a perfume saleswoman in a department store. In the dark days of 1940 with Free Frenchmen pouring into England, her mother sent her to find a lonesome French soldier to celebrate Bastille Day with.

Violette met Etienne Szabo, French Foreign Legion officer. And although he was 31 and she just 19, they began a torrid love affair and the two were married just five weeks later. Soon after their marriage, Etienne was sent back to Africa where he served in Senegal, South Africa and then Syria. Violette was working as a telephone operator. Etienne returned briefly to England, where Violette got pregnant with their first child. He was then sent to North Africa where he was killed at El Alamein in October 1942. His daughter Tania was born on June 8, 1942, he never got to see his daughter. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre, the Medaille Militaire, and the Legion d’honneur.

Szabo Joins SOE:

Violette was devastated by her husband’s death and then volunteered to join SOE as a courier. Because of her ability to speak fluent French and English, she was accepted. She was given a cover assignment as a Section Leader of The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, as was typical for SOE operatives.

Szabo had to successfully complete paramilitary training in Scotland where she was instructed in Field Craft, Weapons, Demolition and Night and Day Navigation. She then attended training in Hampshire where she learned communications, cryptography, weaponry, uniform recognition and escape and evasion tactics. Although she wasn’t excelling in her courses, she passed. Where she did excel was in the physical aspects of the course and was rumored to be the best shot in the SOE.

After completing the Group B’s “finishing school” at Beaulieu in Hampshire, which taught students how to operate as undercover agents, she learned how to parachute out of an airplane and passed the second time around as her first attempt resulted in a badly sprained ankle.

Szabo was offered her first mission as a courier to Philippe Liewer, the head of the SALESMAN circuit in Normandy. This was a busy time for SOE. In the buildup for the Normandy invasion, during the fourth quarter of 1943, SOE flew 105 sorties to France. By the second quarter of 1944, that number skyrocketed to 1665.

Szabo’s mission was a dangerous one. London had received a message that Liewer’s deputy, Claude Malraux was arrested in Rouen. Liewer couldn’t risk going himself, so he remained in Paris and sent Szabo to assess the situation, far more difficult than a traditional courier role.

They arrived on April 6 and Szabo traveled to Rouen under the false identity of a secretary named “Corinne Leroy”. She spent three weeks doing a careful investigation of what happened to the SALESMAN circuit. Malraux and SOE radio operator Isadore Newman had been arrested. Also, more than 100 members of the resistance group had been rounded up and were in the hands of the Gestapo. She delivered the news to Liewer back in Paris that his cell was shattered. His wanted poster was plastered all over the town. They left France and were flown back to England on April 30.

During the period of February-May 1944, SOE airdropped to French resistance forces in France 76,290 Sten guns, 27,961 pistols, 16,945 rifles, 3441 Bren guns, 572 bazookas, 304 PIATs, and 160 mortars.

In addition to the SOE agents, 100 Jedburgh teams were dropped into France in uniform to coordinate with French resistance units operations. Each Jedburgh team had two officers and one sergeant radio operator. The “Jeds” had British, American and French team members.

Szabo had proved herself very capable and was promoted to Ensign in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, her cover organization. She volunteered for a second mission with Liewer to attempt to rebuild the SALESMAN cell in Limoges in west‐central France. They parachuted in on the night of June 7-8 just after the Allied invasion.

On the morning of June 10, Liewer sent Szabo by car with another agent Jacques Dufour to meet with Jacques Poirer. The Maquis in the area weren’t as ready for action as previously believed and poorly led. Szabo was to act as his liaison officer. The local Maquis also didn’t know that, due to the invasion, the 2nd SS Panzer Division was moving up to the coast and passing thru their area.

Szabo wanted to move by bicycle but Dufour insisted that they travel by car, something the Germans had forbidden the French to drive in the aftermath of the invasion. If even seen driving, it would immediately arouse suspicion with the Germans. It would prove to be fateful. Szabo was armed with a Sten gun and two magazines. On the way, they picked up another resistance member Jean Bariaud.

The Germans had set up roadblocks in the town of Salon-la-Tour to find Sturmbannführer Helmut Kämpfe, a battalion commander of the 2nd SS that had been kidnapped by the resistance. As Dufour slowed the car, Bariaud leaped from it, escaping into the woods and warning the rest of the resistance about what transpired.

Szabo and Dufour leaped from the car and Dufour opened fire. The gun battle resulted in a French woman being killed as she emerged from a nearby barn. Once armored cars arrived on the scene the two fled across a stream and up to a hill where Szabo twisted the same ankle that she had hurt during her parachute training.

She leaned against an apple tree and provided covering fire against the Germans long enough for Dufour to escape. He made it to a friend’s barn and hid out. Szabo was captured. A German SS officer put a cigarette in her mouth, she spat it out and demanded one of her own.

Szabo was transferred to the Sicherheitsdienst (SD, the SS Security Service) in Limoges, where she was brutally interrogated for four days by SS-Sturmbannführer Kowatch. She was then transferred to Gestapo HQ in Paris where she was tortured. Her cover story and the name she used “Vicky Taylor” was blown and by then the Germans knew of her real name and her activities.

Szabo was shackled to SOE radio operator Denise Bloch and they began a long, circuitous journey to Ravensbrück concentration camp which took ten days. There she kept up the morale of other prisoners and refused to work as slave labor in the Heinkel munitions factory. They were placed in the vegetable garden where the women dug potatoes.

In early October, they were moved back to Ravensbrück and later to a punishment camp at Königsburg where they were forced into hard, physical labor cutting down trees and clearing the field by hand to construct an airfield. But despite this, Szabo kept the morale of the others high and was always trying to find a way to escape.

With the Allies pushing the Germans back on all fronts, they weren’t going to allow the SOE agents to survive. On the morning of February 5, 1945, Szabo was executed, shot in the back of the head while forced to kneel, by SS-Rottenführer Schult in the presence of camp commandant Fritz Suhren. Along with her the other two SOE women, Denise Bloch, and Lilian Rolfe were also executed. The other two women were too weak to stand and were carried by stretcher to the execution. Their bodies were then sent to the crematorium.

Awarded the George Cross:

Szabo was posthumously awarded the George Cross on December 17, 1946, only the second woman to be awarded that honor. Her citation reads:

St. James’s Palace, S.W.1. 17 December 1946

The KING has been graciously pleased to award the GEORGE CROSS to: —

Violette, Madame SZABO (deceased), Women’s Transport Service (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry).

Madame Szabo volunteered to undertake a particularly dangerous mission in France. She was parachuted into France in April, 1944, and undertook the task with enthusiasm. In her execution of the delicate researches entailed she showed great presence of mind and astuteness. She was twice arrested by the German security authorities but each time managed to get away. Eventually, however, with other members of her group, she was surrounded by the Gestapo in a house in the south-west of France. Resistance appeared hopeless but Madame Szabo, seizing a Sten-gun and as much ammunition as she could carry, barricaded herself in part of the house and, exchanging shot for shot with the enemy, killed or wounded several of them. By constant movement, she avoided being cornered and fought until she dropped exhausted. She was arrested and had to undergo solitary confinement. She was then continuously and atrociously tortured but never by word or deed gave away any of her acquaintances or told the enemy anything of any value. She was ultimately executed. Madame Szabo gave a magnificent example of courage and steadfastness.

She was also later awarded the French Croix de Guerre and the Médaille de la Résistance. She and her husband Etienne were the most decorated couple in World War II.

Her daughter Tania wrote a book about her mother’s missions in France, called “Young, Brave and Beautiful”, that author Jack Higgins (The Eagle has Landed) wrote the forward for. A film was made about her exploits, “Carve Her Name with Pride” that starred Virginia McKenna as Szabo. A 2009 video game, “Velvet Assassin” is based on Szabo.

In 2009 she was also chosen as the “face” of the SOE memorial, unveiled on London’s Albert Embankment. There is a Violette Szabo museum at Wormelow, Herefordshire.

Photos: Wikipedia

Looking For a Binge-Watching Series on Memorial Day? Look No Further

Memorial Day preparations and programs are all going non-stop this weekend. In our small bucolic town in Central Massachusetts, our schools have all put together very nice programs to honor those members of our country who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. Our high school put together a nice program where the students researched town members who had been killed in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Global War on Terror. They then read a brief bio on each to hit home the high cost of our freedoms.

Our vets from the local Veterans Council, VFW, American Legion, the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Cub Scouts, as well as local citizens, went into our local cemeteries, placed flags on all of the military graves recently. Then we placed wreaths on all of the monuments around town.

Our local Memorial Day ceremonies will kick off at 8:20 today. Once that is over, we’ll partake in the traditional Memorial Day activities by grilling some food outside while giving thanks to those who made this all possible.

One of the other traditional fares on Memorial Day is the War Film marathons that are always on television. We’ve compiled a list of our favorites in the past, however, this year, we’re going to recommend a mini-series to binge watch and if you can last thru the entire thing, it will take some time.

Ken Burns produced some outstanding mini-series on PBS, his one of the Civil War back in 1990 was a classic. He later did one on Baseball in 1994 that was another must watch. But the one we’re recommending everyone dust off on Netflix is his marathon documentary on World War II, simply called ‘The War’.

Burns made this one in 2007 and it took six years of research to put together. Critics panned it because they said he tried to make it sound like the United States won the war alone. That is hogwash, Burns just eschewed the big picture and focused on the regular small town people of four communities and how the war was seen and felt down in Waterbury, Connecticut, Mobile, Alabama, Luverne, Minnesota, and Sacramento, California.

I was out of the country when it first aired and I missed it. It was put on my list of things to see but I never got around to watching it. Recently we saw it on Netflix and binge-watched the entire 15 or so hours over one weekend. And we were glad we did.

At the end of World War II, Eric Sevareid had reported to the people of the United States what he saw during the war years but after the war was over, he felt like he …and others like him failed to bring the true cost of it home. He wrote:

“Only the soldier really lives the war. The journalist does not — war happens inside a man — and that is why, in a certain sense, you and your sons from the war will be forever strangers. If, by the miracles of art and genius, in later years two or three among them can open their hearts and the right words come, then perhaps we shall all know a little of what it was like — and we shall know then that all the present speakers and writers hardly touched the story.”

What Burns showed in this masterpiece of filmmaking was while we all get to know several small-town Americans during the seven episodes, there is nothing ordinary about any of them. This isn’t a glossed over, sanitized version of World War II but a true first-hand look at the ugliness and cost of sending an entire generation off to war.

Burns often shows the brutality and the gruesome nature of how the war was conducted. With some never seen before footage. Troops being starved and beaten on the Bataan Death March, Japanese troops being burned alive by flamethrowers, the awful scope, and brutality of the Nazi death camps.

The remembrances of Quinten Aanonsen, a farmer’s son from Luverne are particularly poignant. He wanted to learn to fly to escape the family farm. He became a pilot of a P-47 Thunderbolt and as a close ground support squadron member, he saw up close what the awesome firepower of “the Jug” could bring on the enemy. He also watched many of his friends die. The girl he met while in flight school and their letters back and forth kept his sanity.

Two of the people who appear in the film have written books and they give a great look at the war in Europe and the Pacific. Paul Fussell was in the infantry fighting the Germans in France and Germany and his book “Doing Battle” was a definite page-turner. E.B Sledge from Mobile wrote the fantastic book, “With the Old Breed.”

“Something in me died at Peleliu,” Sledge wrote. “Possibly I lost faith that politicians in high places who do not have to endure war’s savagery will ever stop blundering and sending others to endure it.”

The film also shares the plight of Japanese-Americans who were uprooted from their homes and ordered to internment camps. Then asked to serve the very country that treated them and their families as the enemy.

The treatment of the blacks both in the war factories and in the military gets spared nothing either. One of the more telling moments was that of a black Marine who was wounded and transported to a hospital ship, the only black man on board. And the ship’s barber refused to cut his hair.

“The War” is marvelously filmed with some outstanding action shots, the personal stories are both riveting and at times both funny and sad. And the narration by Keith David, who did the older Navy recruiting films, is first rate.

Take the time to watch “The War” which Burns brilliantly put together and when you see one of those bent-over WWII vets today, shake his hand and wish him well. After all, “The War” is their story.

Photo of US Pilot Quinten Aanonsen: PBS

10th Special Forces Group Troops Parachute into Normandy

Seventy-five years ago, thousands of American and British paratroops were waiting on the go-ahead to begin the airborne assault on Normandy during World War II. The airborne assault on Hitler’s Fortress Europe was expected to be a very bloody affair for the airborne troops which were expected to suffer grievous casualties in the opening days of the invasion.

The airborne troops would fare much better than expected but the Normandy hedgerows proved to be a terrible obstacle and the troops ended up in the line much longer than anticipated as the days after the invasion proved to be bloodier than was originally expected.

On Saturday, as part of the on-going 75th-anniversary celebration for the invasion to free the French people from Nazi rule, some 135 American Special Forces troops jumped into Normandy. Soldiers from the 10th Special Forces Group jumped into the area surrounding Mont Saint-Michel from aircraft flown by the 352nd Special Operations Wing and the 86th Airlift Wing.

The town nearby Avaranches was one of the keys to the allied breakout from Normandy during Operation Cobra in late July 1944. The town turned out to greet the Special Forces troops who then laid a wreath at the monument dedicated to General George S. Patton Jr. and then had a ceremonial toast with the mayor.

The Special Forces troops were celebrating the and recalling the Jedburgh teams of OSS (Office of Strategic Services) which are the direct forefathers of both the Army Special Forces Groups and CIA. Jedburgh teams or “Jeds” as they were known back then, consisted of three-man teams dropped behind enemy lines to train, equip and advise local resistance groups.

It is fitting that the Special Operations community used the backdrop of Mont Saint-Michel to jump into Normandy. Back in 1944, one Special Operations trooper captured the abbey and town by himself.

In the summer of 1940, the Germans overran France and they took the abbey the day before the French government capitulated. They put up observers in the spire of the abbey which dominated the surrounding area. German troops were billeted in the town and they trained nearby for what was supposed to be “Operation Sea Lion”, the invasion of Britain.

But after the Battle of Britain, Operation Sea Lion was canceled and the Germans then changed their focus on holding onto their territory. They began to place fortifications all along the coast. In the area nearby they put up “Rommel asparagus” long poles with mines attached to the top to disable landing craft if they tried to pull up on the beach. Because of this, they banned fishing anywhere close to the coastline, putting more bad tidings upon the French citizens.

After D-Day, the Germans were fighting all along the Normandy coastline. And as the Allies finally began to push the Germans back after 6-7 weeks of intense fighting, they were streaming into the town as they retreated.

As Operation Cobra, was getting underway, troops streaming into the continent were part of Patton’s 3rd Army. They were the fresh troops who would become operational and do the open field running for the American Army once they punched a hole in the German lines.

On July 30, the newly arrived 4th Armored Division struck a critical blow, capturing the town of Avranches, effectively cutting off any retreat for German troops to the east and south of there. The American 6th Armored Division pushed westward toward Pontorson which was pinning the Germans along the coast.

Patton knew Pontorson well, having gone there with his wife before the first world war. He mentioned the town in his diary. On August 1, Third Army became operational and the breakout commenced with tremendous speed. Patton’s troops broke into the enemy rear and began to rout the Germans as they overran Brittany and pushed westward.

But a lonely private would make a big contribution to the effort. Private Freeman Brougher of the 72nd Psychological Operations Bn. was in a jeep with two war correspondents, one American and one British.

They raced down the open roads and were approaching the abbey when they stopped to ask directions from a French civilian. At first, the man was distrustful but once he realized that Brougher was not one of the hated Germans but an American soldier that all changed. The French people were delirious with joy. And the word quickly spread.

“They sprang from nowhere,” one of the war correspondents remembered. “No sooner did the magic words go around, ‘Les Americans,’ than folks came running from every direction.” By the time they reached the abbey, The small jeep had added two priests, three women, a fireman, and several other local citizens.

The Germans inside the abbey were exhausted and had nowhere to run, they surrendered to the lone private. The jubilant Frenchmen then took Brougher to the mayor’s house where he toasted with champagne, decked out in flowers and carried on the crowd’s shoulders where he was asked to sign the Town’s Golden Book, which records the list of the local nobility. Soon other Americans would arrive and Brougher would happily load up some prisoners on his jeep and get back into the war.

Brougher survived the war and would return to his life in Pennsylvania. He married and had two children and would return with them to Mont Saint-Michel in 1987 to show his family where his service took him and to revisit with the French people. His two children said he was called the “savior of Mont Saint-Michel.” Brougher passed away in 2003.

More can found on the freeing of Mont-Saint Michel here:

Photos: DVIDs, US Army

French Commandos Free Four Hostages From Terrorist, Two Soldiers Killed

An American citizen was among the four hostages that were freed from terrorists during a daring French Special Operations Forces (SOF) operation in Western Africa. French commandos took down the location in Burkina Faso which was considered a terrorist camp. Two decorated French commandos were killed in the operation which took place in the early morning hours of Friday morning.

At the time of the operation, it was believed that there were only two hostages, French nationals, Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas who had been kidnapped while on a safari in the Pendjari National Park in neighboring Benin. However, once the French SOF stormed the terrorist camp they found four hostages which included the American, one South Korean, and the aforementioned two French citizens.

“All our thoughts go to the families of the soldiers and to the soldiers who lost their lives to free us from this hell,” Laurent Lassimouillas said while meeting with President Roch Kabore.

The circumstances surrounding the other two hostages is unclear. The American citizen requested not to be identified for personal reasons. Both the American and South Korean hostages were women and had been held for 28 days. Neither the U.S. or South Korean government were apparently aware of their countrymen being held.

Four of the terrorists were killed, but two managed to escape in the fighting.

President Emmanuel Macron made a statement where he said the country, “bows with emotion and gravity at the sacrifice of our two soldiers, who gave their lives to save those of our fellow citizens”.

The French Ministry of the Armed Forces identified the two commandos killed in the operation were assigned to Commando Hubert, a naval SOF unit that is the French equivalent to U.S. Navy SEALs. The operators were identified as Petty Officers First Class (OR-6) Cedric de Pierrepont,32, and Alain Bertoncello, 27. The French Navy posted on their Facebook page that both men received numerous awards and recognition through their respective military careers, such as the Gold Level of the National Defense Medal.

Bertoncello’s parents, Jean-Luc and Daniéle Bertoncello, were interviewed by the media and said their son had wanted to join the navy since high school and that they were very proud of him.

“What he loved was the esprit de corps … he was doing what he wanted and he always told us not to worry,” they said during the interview. “They did what they had to do. For him it ended badly, for the others, it was a successful mission.”

Admiral Christophe Prazuck, the French navy’s Chief of Staff, issued a statement saying, “I admire their courage, I share the sorrow of their families and their loved ones.”

In a statement, the president of Burkina Faso, Roch Kabore, said that “the joint military intervention that allowed us to achieve these results shows our common engagement in fighting against the forces of evil.”

Intelligence reports state that the terrorists were enroute to Mali where they planned on turning over the hostages to the terror group Katiba Macina, an al-Qaeda affiliate.

“Once the hostages were in [Katiba Macina’s] hands it would have been impossible to rescue them,” Francois Lecointre, France’s army chief, said in a press briefing.

Islamic terrorism is on the rise in Burkina Faso, which has violence increase steadily since 2013. With militants spreading over neighboring Benin and Togo as well. Al-Qaeda offshoots are gaining ground in the area considering the porous border region of Mali and the abundance of weapons in Libya to the north.

The Sahel, the sub-Sahara region of Northern Africa has seen over 5000 people killed as it has grown increasingly unstable in recent years.

Florence Parly, the French defense minister, said, “Those who attack France and the French know that we will spare no effort to track them and take them out. We will never abandon our citizens.”

While no American troops were active on the ground during the operation, the United States did provide support in the form of overhead intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Parly thanked American allies for their “precious support” in the rescue. In a statement released on Friday, she thanked “the Beninese and Burkinabe for their cooperation,” adding, “I salute the precious support of our American allies in conducting this operation.”

The French military had been tracking the terrorists for several days since their two citizens were abducted in the national park in Benin on May 1.

French commandos launched a mission on May 7, inside Burkina Faso where they gathered vital intelligence on the hostage-takers who were thought to be heading for the Mali border and turn over the hostages to an al-Qaeda affiliate.

French and American intelligence officials tracked them via drones until the terrorists stopped in the desert. This gave the French commandos the opportunity they were waiting for.

“It was an extremely complex operation, with extremely demanding timings,” General Lecointre said.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who was in Romania for a meeting with fellow European leaders, approved the mission Thursday night. This prompted the 20 French commandos to deploy nearby by helicopter far enough away so that the sleeping terrorists wouldn’t hear them.

The commandos approached in silence under the cover of darkness, where they got past a guard and to within just a few meters of the four tents where the hostages were being held before finally being detected.

Out of concern for the hostages, the commandos ‘went inside without opening fire’, the French Chief of Staff said. “The commandos went inside the shelters without opening fire,” he said.

In the short ensuing firefight, two of the French commandos were killed at close range, four terrorists were also killed and two escaped.

“We are grateful for the safe recovery of hostages, including an American, during a recovery operation in Burkina Faso,” said Tibor Nagy, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa. “I offer my deepest condolences to the families of the French soldiers killed during the operation,” he posted on Twitter.

A memorial service for the French soldiers killed in the raid will be held on Tuesday.

Photos: French Navy

“Saving Private Ryan” Re-released for the 75th Anniversary of D-Day

One of the biggest blockbuster war films is being re-released for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Normandy invasion of France. Steven Spielberg’s classic “Saving Private Ryan” is being brought back in 600 theaters nationwide for just two days, June 2 and June 5 at 3 and 7 p.m. on those days to commemorate the Normandy landings.

It is hard to believe that Spielberg’s masterpiece is turning 21 this year. Released in 1998, the film had an absolutely stellar cast including Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, Edward Burns, Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, and Adam Goldberg. The gritty and graphic filming, especially during the opening minutes showed the ugliness and realism of the awfulness of real combat.

The film begins with the Rangers of the 2nd Battalion coming ashore at Normandy. They were in the worst possible position in any of the beaches, code-named Omaha. The Germans held the high ground on the beaches and had plenty of prepared positions manned by a seasoned, well-trained and led division.

“Ryan’s” opening beach sequence which takes about 28 minutes was brilliantly filmed where the absolute chaos of combat meets up with coherence of the troops trying to complete their assigned missions. This was no sanitized Hollywood version of the invasion. Spielberg spared no details as bodies and body parts were flung in the air from mortar rounds, machine guns ripped bodies to shreds and entrails were strewn about from the German guns.

Spielberg takes the audience out of their seats as just bystanders and puts their asses right in the surf of the Channel. They are instantly transported to 1944 and put right in the action with the infantry. So intense was the filming of this sequence, that many World War II veterans who had been to Normandy for the actual invasion, got symptoms of PTSD from watching the film and triggering memories of their own experiences.

That opening sequence was filmed in Curracloe, Ireland over 15 days and cost over $12 million dollars to film.

Spielberg’s story begins after the Rangers led Hanks and Sizemore survive the opening day of the invasion and get tasked to venture far inland to find a paratrooper (Damon) of the 101st Airborne, who lost all of his brothers in combat and to be sent home. As Hanks’ men die one by one while attempting to find and then rescue Ryan, they’re left wondering if all of that sacrifice for the purpose of saving one man’s life is worth it.

Saving Private Ryan was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and ended up winning five, for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. It made $481 million dollars in 1998. In today’s dollars, it would equate to earning nearly $750 million. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

For more information about the re-release and to find out the times and locations for “Saving Private Ryan” is playing on the 2nd and 5th of June, visit the Fathom Events website.

Our only wish is that the re-release would be extended to cover Memorial Day as well.

Photo: Paramount Studio Still

Dunford Shoots Down WSJ Report of US Troops Remaining in Syria

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Joseph Dunford is denying an earlier Wall St. Journal report that the United States is planning on leaving 1000 U.S. troops in Syria, which is more than double what was initially reported. “A claim reported this evening by a major U.S. newspaper that the U.S. military is developing plans to keep nearly 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria is factually incorrect,” he said.

On Sunday, Dunford shot down the WSJ’s story, stating, “There has been no change to the plan announced in February and we continue to implement the President’s direction to draw down U.S. forces to a residual presence,” he said.

The White House said in February that about 200 troops would remain in Syria, on what was termed as a “peace-keeping mission”, something the Department of Defense has pushed back on as too definitive for stabilization operations. DOD’s plan would be for there to be a separate 200 troops at the Al-Tanf airbase. However, they know that President Trump has been adamant about wanting to pull all of the troops out of Syria.

The initial report of U.S. troops remaining quoted sources inside the American government as stating that American troops will continue working with Kurdish fighters in Syria who face threats from Turkey. The Turks regard the Kurdish SDF as terrorists. American troops, mainly Special Operations Forces would provide a buffer between the Kurds and Turks.

This story comes on the heels of thus far fruitless talks between the U.S.-led coalition, the Kurds and the Turks for a safe zone for the Kurdish people. Al-Tanf also runs along a supply route the Iranians use to supply their proxy forces in Syria. There are currently about 2000 U.S. troops inside Syria.

Despite Dunford’s denial, the WSJ stated that they were standing by their story and their reporting. The rest of Dunford’s statement below spells out the difficulty in trying to pigeon-hole an exact number of troops.

“Further, we continue to conduct detailed military planning with the Turkish General Staff to address Turkish security concerns along the Turkey-Syria border. Planning to date has been productive and we have an initial concept that will be refined in the coming days,” he added.

“We are also conducting planning with other members of the Coalition who have indicated an intent to support the transition phase of operations into Syria.”

As the US-led coalition is working with the Kurdish SDF on eliminating the last small ISIS bastion, the United States was planning on withdrawing several hundred troops. But even the 1500 troops that the Pentagon was citing in the interim is not a given. Those numbers were based on having enough troops to ensure a Kurdish safe zone in the north which will be part of a “multinational observer force” numbering between 800 and 1,500, mostly European NATO allies, including France and Britain. But with our European allies not committing any troop numbers, U.S. troop numbers will remain high…for now.

The Europeans have stated that they will not remain if the U.S. completely withdraws, fearing it will already strengthen Russia and Iran’s position there. German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized theTrump withdrawal plan. “Is it a good thing to immediately remove American troops from Syria, or will it not strengthen Russia and Iran’s hand?” she asked.

Meanwhile, in the fighting in the last Islamic state stronghold in Syria, the progress has been slowed by the presence of mines, tunnels and an increasing amount of women and children refugees streaming out of Baghouz. Most of them, families of ISIS fighters, and an increasing amount of fighters trying to sneak out with them.

Dozens of militants surrendered on Monday night, some of whom the SDF identified as part of the suicide bombing that killed 4 US troops in January. And ISIS fighters are now confined to a 200 x 200-meter perimeter. They are trapped between the Euphrates River and the encampment just captured by the SDF.

Photo: DOD

British Special Forces To Have Bigger Counter-Terror Role in Afghanistan

With the United States set to pull out most of their 14,000 troops in Afghanistan in the next three years, a bigger part of the ongoing counter-terrorism mission will fall to the British Special Forces. The SAS and the SBS are expected to be tasked to take on a bigger part of these operations during the time of the U.S. withdrawal.

With on-going peace talks with the Taliban still going nowhere, the Trump administration wants the majority of U.S. troops pulled out within three years and are planning accordingly. However, during negotiations with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, the United States was pushing for an orderly, 5-year withdrawal plan. The Taliban rejected it, insisting that the United States totally withdraw all troops within a year.

The Taliban refuses to engage the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani, insisting that he is just a puppet of the American government. In an ominous-sounding message, Sayed Akbar Agha, a former Taliban leader, who lives in Kabul said in an interview that the Taliban will talk with Ghani, only after an agreement is reached with the U.S.

American officials know well what happens when a foreign power just abruptly leaves. After the Soviet withdrawal, the president was dragged thru the streets and hanged publicly in a gruesome display.

Meanwhile, another 9000 troops from other members of the coalition will be asked to downsize as well in the three-year time window. The U.S. will continue to provide air cover and conduct air strikes as needed against Taliban or Islamic State fighters wherever the need arises.

With the US-led coalition in Syria also planning to downsize in the near future, this will allow, according to the plans, for the British to deploy more SAS and SBS commandos to Afghanistan to oversee counter-terror missions. The British, at their peak, had about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, until the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) was ended by President Obama. British troop strength now numbers about 1000.

Afghans are ready for peace, but a power-sharing regime with the Taliban isn’t something that even the most confident of officials believe will work. The Taliban favor a very strict mode of Islam that is more akin to the 12th century than to modern times. And the women of the country will be the ones who suffer the most. Under the Taliban, women were forbidden to work, other than in the home or attending school. Many people were severely punished just for watching television.

Two groups “Time4RealPeace” and the “Afghan Women For Peace” don’t want to see a quick U.S. withdrawal or a return to the old ways of the Taliban rule. They are staffed by women who are afraid that under a return to Taliban rule, women will be denied basic human rights.

CIA Director Gina Haspel suggested to the Senate Intelligence Committee that a “robust, monitoring regime” would be necessary under any peace accord for it to work. “It’s very important that we maintain pressure on the terrorist groups” in Afghanistan and retain the ability to act against them, Haspel said. And the Taliban are upping the ante, by negotiating from a position of strength.

Last weekend, they used numerous suicide bombers and fighters with heavy weapons to attack a joint Afghan-American base where 22 Afghan government troops were killed. Since the ISAF pullout, the Taliban either controls or contests half of the country. No American casualties were reported.

Afghan government Special Forces units that have been trained, and advised by coalition nations SOF conducted an attack of their own that killed 27 Taliban and wounded nearly 20 more. The aim was to take back the government border outposts.

An Afghan army spokesman said, “Afghan Special Forces conducted an operation in Imam Sahib district of Kunduz to recapture Afghan Border Force checkpoints that had fallen to the Taliban days earlier. The Afghan Special Forces killed 27 Taliban fighters, wounded 16 and destroyed 2 IEDs.”

In addition to the British, the French also have had Special Operations units in Afghanistan, but due to their still having sizable SOF units on the ground in Syria as well as in the Sahel region of Sub-Sahara Africa, fighting Islamic extremists there, that they won’t have enough personnel to spare in the future.

As always with the British Ministry of Defence (MOD), they will not comment on any news concerning British Special Forces operations.

Photo: MOD

AFRICOM Commander, “We Are Not Winning” Counter-terror War

Opinion: The recent comments by the commander of United States troops in the Africa Command (AFRICOM), MG Marcus Hicks are very sobering yet not really surprising. “I would tell you at this time, we are not winning,” Hicks said last week during interviews with Voice of America.

The general’s comments came during the large military exercise known as “Flintlock” last week was ongoing. Flintlock is an annual regional exercise among African, allied and U.S. counterterrorism forces, and has taken place since 2005. The U.S. has the lead in this annual training which this year has about 2000 commandos from about 30 countries taking part.

Held this year in Burkina Faso, Flintlock, although an exercise, belies the issue which lies barely beneath the surface. Burkina Faso is combatting an active Islamic insurgency from several terror groups aligned with al-Qaeda. The U.N. released figures that stated that over 100,000 citizens have been uprooted and over 150,000 children can’t attend school in the country due to the Islamic threat. And that is just a small part of the problem in the region.

The threat is growing from terror organizations like al-Qaeda, the Islamic State (ISIS) and their offshoots, as they try to spread their tentacles across the Sahel, sub-Sahara Africa. And the local nations are growing increasingly uneasy over how they see the United States reacting to this increasing threat.

The Trump administration is advocating pulling out troops, first from Syria and Afghanistan. And then from Africa. With a renewed focus on threats from China and Russia, the U.S. is switching its focus from counterterrorism to the big conventional battlefield. And it has the locals afraid.

Back in February, Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Alpha Barry told a security conference in Germany, “the threat is gaining ground. It’s no longer just the Sahel, it’s coastal West Africa and the risk of spreading regionally.”

Locally, the commanders know that their troops don’t have the training, numbers, and equipment to stand on their own. Worse, they see a U.S. pullout (the administration wants to reduce troop strength by 25% by 2022) before the threats from terror groups have been eradicated as a potential disaster.

With the U.S. scaling back operations and troop numbers in West Africa, terror groups are striking previously untouched targets. Moving from Burkina Faso thru Niger, insurgents are now actively targeting in the Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, and Ghana.

The United States has a relatively small footprint in Africa, with about 6000 troops and 1000 contractors at any given time on the ground. Of those about 1300 are Special Operations troops who provide training and advisory roles for the host nation forces.

The French have been doing the majority of the heavy lifting for the counterterror operations in the region. They keep about 4500 troops in the area and have been active in the areas of Niger, Chad, and Mali. In 2013, the French helped forces from Mali rout the al-Qaeda fighters from the north portion of the country.

Unlike the U.S., the French are staying. They received assurances from the Americans, however, that the U.S. will continue to provide intelligence, logistical and aerial refueling support in the region.

The United States has also pledged money to increase security forces in the region. AFRICOM increased spending to $242 million for the G5 Sahel Joint Force which consists of Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Niger, and Mauritania. The G5 Sahel Joint Force was first authorized in 2017 and combined the forces of these countries to improve security along their shared borders, improve cooperation and deployment of joint patrols to interdict the flow of terror groups and traffickers that currently cross their shared national borders with ease.

Meanwhile Gen. Hicks “would not recommend more drones or more advisers” presently, but said he wouldn’t advise reducing U.S. troop numbers in the region, either. However, he said that idea that the U.S. is leaving the area completely isn’t true. He characterized it as “a natural transition.”

“We’re trying to avoid as much as possible the kinetic activity that could eventually disenfranchise the people from the legitimate government,” he added.

The problem is that poverty and economic development go hand-in-hand with military problems and the host nations are not equipped to deal with. For now, in the interior of Burkina Faso, Muslims and Christians live alongside one another in harmony. That will never happen with an Islamist terror group gaining a foothold.

And while current training such as “Flintlock” provides valuable training for the troops in the region, commanders had to frequently check on active counterterror operations nearby. One area that the U.S. has increased its presence is in the realm of airstrikes against terrorist targets.

In Somalia alone, thus far in 2019, there have been 23 airstrikes against al-Shabab targets in Somalia, compared with just 47 in all of 2018.

With the threat increasing in Africa, the U.S. won’t at least for the near future, cut any additional troop strength there. But Special Operations personnel advising local forces and at the staff level will be needed along with economic and civic action reforms.

“We aren’t winning” the battle currently as Gen. Hicks has stated, but it doesn’t mean that the war is lost.

Photo: US Army

Mission Accomplished 2 for US SOF? No Easy Answers in Syria

President Trump ruffled quite a few feathers both here in the United States and abroad when he tweeted out a few days ago that our troops were being pulled out of Syria. The President said, “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” which he said during the Presidential campaign of 2016 that he would pull us out of there once elected.

We currently have about 2000 troops, mostly Special Operations forces in Syria. They were initially sent there in 2015 by then-President Obama as the civil war in Syria reached a point where the Islamic State (ISIS) had taken advantage of the chaos and carved out a huge swath of Syrian territory as their own, calling it a “caliphate.”

Now the civil war is approaching its 8th year. ISIS is on the run definitely, now controlling just 1 percent of the territory they possessed a few years ago. They are locked into a small enclave around the town of Hanin where they have endured airstrikes from coalition partners.

Part of Trump’s reasoning is that he doesn’t want to help the Syrians (not a US friend in the region), stabilize their own country. While true, the situation remains much deeper than that. There are so many other players involved, it is an extremely fluid situation. Number 1 on the US agenda should be the Kurds.

The Kurds (Syrian Democratic Forces, SDF) were the Americans’ best allies inside the country. The U.S. Special Operations Forces inside Syria have provided training, advising and equipment to fight ISIS and they’ve (with massive US air support) made significant gains against the ISIS forces there. The SOF troops are the only buffer between the Kurds and the Turkish forces that have invaded from the north.

A rapid pullout of U.S. forces sends a bad message to any would-be ally in the region. The French, who worked with the Kurds in Iraq several years ago during the first Gulf War have said that they’ll step up and take the place of our SOF with the Kurdish people.

The Turks, while still technically a member of NATO are growing increasingly anti-West in their sentiments. They pushed into northern Syria because they feel that the Kurds are terrorists. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to launch a new offensive against the U.S.’s Kurdish allies unless the U.S. promises to cut off aid to them.

The Turks have supported non-Kurdish Syrian opposition groups, such as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) since the civil war began. Their biggest worry remains that gains made by Kurds in Syria would embolden the Kurdish population in Turkey to seek independence. Turkey has already launched two operations to help Syrian rebels capture territory from ISIS and the Kurds. And they are threatening more.

Russia has been a longtime Syrian and Assad ally. They provided the regime with air support, as well as troops on the ground. President Putin is trying to keep his biggest foothold in the region and at the same time spread their influence in the region.

The Russian air support which initially targeted ISIS has now spread to targeting other resistance groups including the FSA of Kurdish forces. This past winter a group of Russian mercenaries and Syrian troops attacked a joint US-Kurdish base in a “mistaken” operation and were decimated by airstrikes.

The Iranians, intent on spreading their influence in the region began by offering military advisory assistance to the Assad regime. But now they have several thousand troops in the area and are building bases close to the border with Israel, which they are also doing in Lebanon. The U.S. believes, and rightfully so, that the Iranians are preparing for a long-term presence in Syria. Tehran has spent $16 billion in the area to destabilize the countries of Syria, Yemen as well as Iraq.

So with the President calling for a United States withdrawal in the country, there is definite pushback even among his own administration and political party, calling it a big mistake. Back in June, the President floated around a plan for an all-Arab army to replace the U.S. in a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah.

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis warned against a premature withdrawal that bought some time for those in the administration that wanted to remain. However, with the news that the U.S. is indeed pulling out, Mattis announced he was retiring in February. Obviously, the reasoning behind the timing of Mattis’ retirement was in protest over this latest flap. In his letter of resignation, Mattis said that the President had a right to a Defense Secretary “whose views are better aligned with yours” on policy.

Now Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy for the global coalition to defeat Islamic State (ISIS), has resigned as well. McGurk was an Obama administration appointee and was due to leave in February but his letter of resignation states that his last day will be Dec. 31.

McGurk in December 11 press conference called the idea of leaving Syria too soon reckless and added that the “enduring defeat of a group like (ISIS) this means you can’t just defeat their physical space and then leave.”

“Nobody is saying that they are going to disappear. Nobody is that naive,” he said. “So we want to stay on the ground and make sure that stability can be maintained in these areas.”

McGurk led the way for the secret talks with Iran where the Iranians released prisoners in return for boatloads of cash.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. called the Trump decision to leave Syria early an “Obama-like decision”. He added, “I don’t know what they’ve done, but this is chaos.”

There have been many positive results because of the albeit smaller but very effective U.S. Special Operations presence in Syria. ISIS has been largely destroyed and removed from nearly all of the areas that they controlled. The northeastern portion of Syria has been stabilized. The Iranian attempt at expansion has been blocked and the Russians have also have been checked as they are no longer the only power brokers in Syria.

What will probably happen now is that the country will again become destabilized as the Turks and their proxies will do their own bidding in the north? They’ve already been accused of massive human rights abuses in Syria and no one believes that will cease without the coalition there. The Kurds? They will bear the brunt of our leaving. The Kurds wanted their own autonomous mini-state within Syria. No one believed that would ever happen. But when the Turks bullied Trump and the U.S. into withdrawing, it is an ominous sign that worse times may yet lay ahead of our allies there.

Some of our troops will remain across the border in Iraq but any incursions into Syria now for our Special Operations Forces would be fraught with peril. Will any other members of the administration be able to talk the President out of an early withdrawal? That will bear watching.

Photo of US Special Operations Forces: DOD

World War I, “The War to End All Wars” Centennial

At the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the Armistice to end World War I was to take effect. It ended the bloodbath which consumed Europe from 1914 until November 11, 1918. Nearly 20,000,000 people were dead including 9-11,000,000 troops and a like number of civilians. Another 20,000,000 were wounded.

The United States got involved in the fighting late in the war, in 1917, but by war’s end, had put nearly 5,000,000 men and women under arms. Americans would suffer over 300,000 casualties. Called “doughboys” because the British and French troops considered them Ill-trained and ill-equipped, they had by war’s end did a large share of the fighting that caused the Germans to seek terms.

When the Germans signed the terms of surrender in a train car in France, the had to leave all their conquered territories in Western Europe within two weeks and surrender 5,000 guns, 25,000 machine guns, and 1,700 planes.

With the news of armistice, there were huge celebrations in London to celebrate the end of the war. However, once the initial stage of euphoria wore off, the news was met with a mainly melancholy expression. The huge cost in terms of the young generation was felt by all countries. It was a Pyrrhic victory that nearly destroyed an entire era of Europe’s young.

Unfortunately, the harsh lessons of the “Great War” as it was also called weren’t paid proper heed to and just 21 years later Europe and the entire world was thrust into an even bigger and bloodier conflict.

However, in 1918, the war in Germany had not gone well. They tried to take Paris in a series of offensives in 1918 to try to force the issue, but all of their attacks were rebuffed. In October, General Erich Ludendorff told the government that he couldn’t even guarantee that the front would hold another two hours. The German General Staff believed the situation was hopeless.

Germans Revolt Against the Kaiser:

On the night of October 29-30th, German sailors revolted in the port of Wilhelmshaven quickly spread across the entire country and in just a little more than a week’s time, had led to a proclamation of a republic (Weimar Republic) on November 9.

Kaiser Wilhelm II then abdicated and fled to Holland. Friedrich Ebert, a Social Democrat became the Chancellor. A German peace delegation arrived at the front line in five cars and was escorted thru the bombed-out, devastated areas of Northern France for 10 hours. They were taken to a secret destination where they boarded General Ferdinand Foch’s personal train in the forest of Compiègne. Foch did not, however, take part in any of the negotiations. He appeared when the Germans arrived and then did not appear again until the signing of the documents.

The German negotiators heard about the Kaiser’s abdication while in the train car and were instructed by their superiors in Berlin, with the new government to sign the Armistice. They did this at 5:30 a.m. on November 11. The Germans asked for an immediate cease-fire to prevent the useless and wasteful loss of life of the common soldiers. Foch denied this request, insisting on the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month as the official cease-fire and the end of hostilities.

As a result of Foch’s insistence, there were nearly 11,000 casualties, with 2738 killed on that day during those fateful hours waiting for the Armistice to take effect.

The date, November 11th is recognized by many countries and is known as Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Veterans Day and Independence Day. But rather than build grandiose memorials of glory and triumph, the 5000 or so memorials that were built in Britain, revealed the horrible sacrifice paid by the ordinary soldiers of the military. There were to remind future generations of the heavy price and burden paid by the troops.

Events Held in Europe on the Centennial:

In Britain, there are numerous events being planned. The biggest one is to be the National Service of Remembrance in Whitehall, central London, at the Cenotaph paying respect to the men and women of Britain and the Commonwealth who served in the World Wars I & II and in subsequent conflicts. The Royal Family will be in attendance.

After the ceremonies, there will be a poppy wreath-laying ceremony and the sounding of “The Last Post” by a Royal Marines bugler.

In France, both French President Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will preside over a ceremony in Compiègne, at the clearing where the signing of the Armistice too place, said to be “defined by the simplicity of a moment of silent reflection and of tribute”.

President Macron will then give a speech at the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris at exactly 11 a.m. which will be attended by more than 120 foreign dignitaries representing the countries involved in the First World War.

Photos: Wikipedia