April 1945 the 2nd world war in europe was drawing to an end in berlin. Germanys defeat was inevitable the fighting exceptionally fierce. The world was beginning to grasp the unprecedented scale of the conflict. More than 50000000 people lost their lives no warhead ever claimed so many casualties military and civilian. Soldiers of the victorious allied forces discovered the concentration camps. In germany american troops were so appalled by what they found they brought civilians from the surrounding area to see the horrors of the camps with their own eyes. Many germans claimed to have know nothing of what went on in the camps or the holocaust. At the post war nor back war crimes trials even some leading nazis proclaimed their ignorance when confronted with evidence of the atrocities. Would be to get a Bigger Company british prosecutor frederick l. When jones was among those who insisted this could not be the case he believed that there had been a virtual blueprint for the holocaust a g
Good evening. And th im oliver north, and this is an engine of war. The value h1 helicopter, better known by its nickname, the huey. Theyll tell you that the whoop, whoop, whoop of that rotor was one of the most welcome sounds youll ever hear. To americans the huey meant life. It brought us food, ammunition, supplies, reinforcements. When we were wounded it carried us out. I ought to know, i was medivaced in vietnam not all that different from this one here. To the enemy the huey meant 5 in death. Ets an the gunship was armored with 2. 75 inch rockets and a machine gun that would fire over 4,000 rounds a minute. A virtual shower of zeroing lead. Tonight on war stories, the men who pioneered air warfare, warriors who risked their lives in a strange and dangerous land called vietnam. Rous april 29th, 1975, the end of the vietnam war, and as they hao throughout the long and bloody conflict, helicopters provided some of the most memorable images. The frenzied evacuation of the u. S. Embasy
Casualties in getting to the same place. They maintain great hope lee would triumph. Certain that lee and his men would somehow inflict a fatal blow to the norths willingness to fight. In the union army that june, soldiers saw the spires of richmond just eight miles away. Union soldiers, too, gained hope from that. But recognized, too, how hard those last eight miles would be. A pennsylvania soldier wrote of the moment, in the prospects, theres a magic influence in the expression as it passes from lip to lip. Eight miles from richmond, boys. Only eight miles from richmond. What treasure, what a restored peaceful happy in the United Country and the a free government can pay for the precious blood that must be shed in the inexpressible sufferings that must be endured before this short distance can be accomplished. That pennsylvanian could not likely have imagined just how painful the answer to that question would be. We hope that you will join us, the staff here at fredericksburg and pos
The casualties were astounding, a stouinstounding to soldiers, generals and those left back home. Amidst the staggering losses at cole harbor, for every soldier killed, wounded or captured, there was a family. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters that also felt the loss. The loss of the men that fell at cole harbor in the spring of 1864 reverb rasreverberated thr kmunlts a communities across the north and south. The battlegrounds left indelible kbag impacts on the living left behind. So, too, were the believes of the men who fought that bloody spring. Indeed, in spite of so many lost lives, those believes and ideas about nation, government and home became even more deeply enslie enshrined in the hearts and minds of those left to fight on tonight to reflect upon and learn from today. Writing soon after the war with a perspective on hindsight. Sally putnam came to believe that in its own unique way, cole harbor had been a landmark event in the 1866 Campaign Across Central
Been going on for some three years. Massive casualties and losses. Tremendous disaffection in the north with the war. It looked like it would go on forever. Abraham lincoln, of course, is up for reelection. Its important to have battlefield victories for the north and its important to win battles in virginia. Virginia is still the preserve of robert e. Lee and the storied army of Northern Virginia. So lincoln brings east his best general, thats going to be ulysses s. Grant, the general who won all the battles in the west. And he gives grant a basically a twopart requirement. First, to bring organization, to bring continuity to the union war effort. And secondly, to defeat the army of Northern Virginia. And grant goes about making it possible to carry out that charge with a vengeance. First he puts together a program, unlike any that the war has yet seen. He realized that up to this point, battles would last a couple of days, and then the armies would pull apart for months. Grant would