This is a beautiful song about the inevitability and the foolishness of war.
These two lines sum it up perfectly:
… And we have just one world
But we live in different ones
http://artillerieregiment182.weebly.com/googled59ec17c8698c239.html
One of the best songs about war. It was written by Mark Knopfler.
This is a beautiful song about the inevitability and the foolishness of war. These two lines sum it up perfectly: … And we have just one world But we live in different ones
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"Jesse: I heard this story once, about when the…the Germans were occupying Paris and they had to retreat back, they wired Notre Dame to blow. But they had to…they had to leave one guy in charge of hitting the switch and the guy, the soldier, he…he couldn’t do it. You know, he just sat there, knocked out by how beautiful the place was." Scene from the movie Before Sunset.
The German surrender is discussed on the Wikipedia page about the Liberation of Paris: Despite repeated orders from Hitler that the French capital "must not fall into the enemy's hand except lying in complete debris" to be accomplished by bombing it and blowing up its bridges,[17] German General Dietrich von Choltitz, the commander of the Paris garrison and military governor of Paris, surrendered on 25 August at the Hôtel Meurice, the newly established headquarters of General Leclerc. Von Choltitz was kept prisoner until April 1947. In his memoir ... Brennt Paris? ("Is Paris Burning?"), first published in 1950, von Choltitz describes himself as the saviour of Paris. There is a controversy about von Choltitz's actual role during the battle, since he is regarded in very different ways in France and Germany. In Germany, he is regarded as a humanist and a hero who saved Paris from urban warfare and destruction. In 1964, Dietrich von Choltitz explained in an interview taped from his Baden Baden home, why he had refused to obey Hitler: "If for the first time I had disobeyed, it was because I knew that Hitler was insane" ("Si pour la première fois j'ai désobéi, c'est parce que je savais qu'Hitler était fou")". According to a 2004 interview his son Timo gave to the French public channel France 2, von Choltitz disobeyed Hitler and personally allowed the Allies to take the city back safely and rapidly, preventing the French Resistance from engaging in urban warfare that would have destroyed parts of Paris. He knew the war was lost and decided alone to save the capital.[18] However, in France this version is seen as a "falsification of history" since von Choltitz is regarded as a Nazi officer faithful to Hitler involved in many controversial actions:
A third source, the protocols of telephonic conversations between von Choltitz and his superiors found later in the Fribourg archives and their analysis by German historians support Kriegel-Valrimont's theory.[11] Also, Pierre Taittinger and Raoul Nordling both claim it was they who convinced von Choltitz not to destroy Paris as ordered by Hitler[11]. The first published a book in 1984 describing this episode, ...et Paris ne fut pas détruit (... and Paris Was Not Destroyed), which earned him a prize from the Académie Française. German losses are estimated at about 3,200 killed and 12,800 prisoners of war. While in the Paris metro, I came across this plaque.
On August 16 1944, the Paris metro employees went on strike. It was the start of the Liberation of Paris. I spent a few days in Paris in February and on a quiet street near the Arc-de-Triomphe, I saw this sign:
Ici est tombée Pour la France Le 20 août 1944 Yolande Arlette Claude Victime de son dévouement Here fell For France On August 20, 1944 Yolande Arlette Claude A victim of her devotion The liberation of Paris was a long battle that started in August 1944, involving the F.F.I (Forces françaises de l'intérieur), the French 2nd Armored Division under General Leclerc, the 4th US Infantry division under General Hodges and the GermanParis garrison under General Dietrich von Choltitz. Nearly 5000 French people, citizens and Resistance fighters, died during the insurrection. It started with a general strike on August 15th - first by the employees of the metro, followed by the Police and the Gendarmerie, then followed by postal workers on August 16. They were joined by workers across the city. Wikepedia has a page on the Liberation of Paris. |
AuthorThis blog is the result of my research on the album and WW2. Archives
June 2016
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