NCICA: News Items

(NOTE:  This section will be devoted to informational “Guest” presentations.  Changes will take place at intervals of about three weeks.)

Journey Through Europe

Jim Nelon, a guest Speaker for the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ASSOCIATION OF NEW ENGLAND (MIANE) took the floor and introduced his topic of a Journey through Europe, WWII. Jim iterated the fact that his father was a veteran of the war and the tour throughout Europe was in honor of him and a 50th photo-commemorative of the horrors and victories of the war. His photo tour began with pictures of the Normandy beachheads (Gold, Juneau,Sword, Omaha, etc.) and the German gun emplacements, the wall and Barbed wire fortifications. Jim explained the landing beach positions and showed the remains of a “Pill box” that had been destroyed by allied forces during the Normandy invasion. The land area of Pont du Hoc above Omaha beach has been left as a reminder and tribute to the Rangers who scaled the cliff and destroyed the German gun emplacements there. The commemorative tablets of remembrance set up and maintained by the French at the site of the Normandy graves made a somber picture of Thanks from a grateful foreign peoples. It is history that notes only 90 Rangers survived the assault on Pont du Hoc. When the beach is driven (65 miles), it then becomes obvious of how enormous the invasion truly was. Jim then led us a journey that went from Normandy to Czechoslovakia, Holland to Germany. The most wrenching photos were of the Auschwitz death camps. Jim explained that Auschwitz was in reality a complex of three camps: Auschwitz, Birkenau and Dachau. The Crematoria at Auschwitz -1 were a limited emplacement and at Birkenau (Auschwitz 2) - a major crematorium. These camps were training grounds for the S.S. and where training -to- kill took place. Experimentation and refinement of killing techniques were honed there and then ‘exported’ to other camps. Birkenau occupied 425 acres; between the three camps, untold numbers of killings took place accounting for Jews, Poles, Czechs, Christian Clergy and those the Chancellor of Germany considered his ‘nemeses’. Train tracks, Gas Chambers, Gallows, and remnants of occupants have been retained to remind one of the horrors and the untold human destruction carried on there. At Birkenau Jim saw hundreds of chimneys that were used for heating the ‘wooden’ quarters of the prisoners and which housing had been burned by the Gestapo when the Russian advances were getting close. The Bridge at Remagen was visited and there, again, was a plaque commemorating the heroic 99th Infantry Division (5th Armored Division) . Mer Eglise even has an effigy in place of the paratrooper that had hung from the church in the town square. (This was made famous in “A Bridge Too Far”.) We recall that this was the initial entry point into Germany by allied forces in spite of the Chancellors orders “blow the bridge and to the last man.” The Remagen bridge collapsed into the Rhine about ten days after the initial crossing and a pontoon bridge, the Ludendorf Bridge, parallel and downstream to the Remagen bridge was then used. The remains of the bridge, towers and what had fallen into the Rhine, has been kept as a memorial by the townspeople. Another observation was that in Germany, the Pottsdamer Platz was totally gone, Gestapo HQ also gone- easily explained by new construction following the total destruction of the area by allied bombing. However, a destroyed Jewish Synagogue was kept in its condition as a memorial to the Jews killed by the Germans. Every town and hamlet visited by Jim had museums and memorials honoring the allied forces that liberated them and the soldiers that gave their lives for them. Bastogne has a very large five pointed star memorial honoring allied forces. Later, a visit to the Military Hamm Cemetery at Luxembourg, Jim paused at General Patton’s grave site. He described the military advantage of the small village of Vianden. High altitude overseeing the intersection of two valleys that merge and form a lake downstream. At Heiderscheid, further north and high altitude gave oversight of the terrain below that allowed observers /commanders to direct operations. These heights gave the ‘occupiers’ strategic advantage making it easy to “see how there could be winners and losers.” Bastogne was significant in the Battle of the Bulge and, as such, it’s memorial has uniforms and mannequins in uniform and in place as the soldiers were during the Battle of Bastogne. An interesting point is that the original walls of 1940’s Bastogne were retained and the buildings rebuilt so that the city has retained the look as it was in the ‘40’s. Jim’s photo journey consisted of 4,300 miles that allowed him to see much of what he wanted to see in Europe. As a final note: The Germans, in their teutonic nature remain the most efficient; France was more laid back and noted for their gastronomics; the poles were very friendly; the Czechs were helpful - appearing out of nowhere; Belgium -enjoy the views and countryside; Holland’s odors were a bit much; Europe in general is virtually border less which made travel relatively easy. --Our thanks for an interesting and informative presentation--Below is an aerial photo of the American War Cemetery at Omaha Beach, France We are approaching June 6, 2011. As a tribute to the men who initiated the survival of the free world we offer thanks and “May they rest in peace”.

Let us preserve that peace