Yes, Stalin was right to accuse the West of "being willing to fight Hitler down to the last drop of Russian blood," but I seriously doubt he was willing to pull a separate peace with Hitler even if D-Day failed or didn't happen.  The Red Army, once it got its shit together (well in advance of D-Day), was kicking German ass steadily.  

Several historians have analyzed the "what if?" scenario of D-Day 1944 failing and the Allies getting pushed back into the channel.  They all came to the same conclusion:  By end of 1946, the USSR would have pushed through Germany and into Western Europe, installing Communist puppet governments in Germany, France, Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Italy, etc. all across Europe.  The Iron Curtain would have stood at the English Channel.  I have read history books reporting that the chant on the lips of the lead Red Army units was "on to England!"  That should scare the SHIT out of us...

Yep. Going to continue my trend of watching all Nolan movies on the big screen.

Yep, thought the score was great for the entire trilogy.

I'm gonna see it.

Yes. 70mm.

Yeah cuz Nolan. He's not going to make a bad film although to be completely honest, I didn't think the Dunkirk trailers were that good.

I don't disagree. Stalin was also willing to fight the Germans down the last drop of Russian blood. 

Tru dat.

I hope they do the real story justice

Yes.

I'll be seeing it in the theater.

From watching the trailers: Meh.

Early reviews saying this is one of the best war movies ever made. I'm a little surprised but now I'm stoked. Looking forward to it this week!

I wonder if the Russians would have kicked Germany's ass if the Nazis had only one front to fight on. Probably the Russians would have won, but I'm not totally convinced

My brother and I are going opening day.

It was so much more than that. D-Day was supposed to happen in late '43, maybe even in late '42. The US Army wanted to invade right away, hold a section of France and force a war of attrition on Germany (which they knew they couldn't win in the long run). But Churchill opposed it, saying the US Army wasn't ready, and was able to convince FDR to shift forces originally tasked with the invasion of France to go to North Africa instead, as Churchill was obsessed with defeating Germany through the Mediterranean, considering it the "Soft Underbelly" of Europe. The only reason why we invaded Sicily and then Italy was because of this. When we invaded southern France for Dragoon, Churchill actually opposed that, instead wanting us to focus in attacking through the Alps into Germany, in winter of '44. Yeah, you read that right, that's what Churchill's warped mind cooked up. That man was the walking epitome of the Good Idea Fairy...

No.

No 4 mass production didn't begin until 1941. No 1 Mk III would have been the main type in use.

The Australians and NZ never used the No 4. My Aussie No 1 Mk III* was made in 1942.

The Mk IIIs were in use in Korea as well I believe. Aussies never used No 4.

The trailers make it look more like a melodrama.

Yeah, but where would Pearl Harbor be without the romance?

Dunkirk, brought to you by Michael Bay. You heard it here first.

Not many war flicks my daughter wants to see, but some teeny bopper boy band kid is in Dunkirk, so we are going to see it together.

I don't know; I didn't see it.  I suspect it would have been just fine, though.

Germany knew going into the war they couldn't win the long of war of attrition but new innovations with mobility and air power meant they might be able to win the decisive battle of maneuver and end the conflict before attrition truly set in and destroyed the force. It worked in Poland and France but didn't work in the Soviet Union, because the size of the country, the larger population, the greater industrial capabilities of the commies, and the more natural resources.

Hitler thought the war would be over quickly, that if he took Moscow the Soviet leadership would overthrow Stalin and make peace with Hitler, giving him all former Soviet republics, specifically Ukraine and other highly desired territories that Germany coveted for expansion. But Hitler greatly underestimated the Soviet and Stalin in particular, who had a much firmer hold on the Soviet leadership following the '37 purges which removed anyone even remotely in position or temperament to challenge Stalin's leadership.

After the blitzkrieg failed in the winter of '41-42, the next chance to win the war came in the grand offensive of '43 when Germany pushed southeast to the Caucuses to snatch up the oil rich territory of modern Azerbaijan. But that attack hinged on securing the eastern flank of the forces heading to Baku, which meant securing Stalingrad. We all know how that battle went, so when the German Army fighting there was destroyed it exposed the supply line of the Army fighting south, so they were forced to retreat and abandon the offensive for fear of being cut off and wiped out.

From that point forward the war was essentially lost for Hitler, in that there was no way to win it. He knew this too. '43 onwards was a purely defensive war trying to bleed the attackers white hoping the Soviets, the UK, or the US would agree to a cease fire. But we made it clear that we would only accept an unconditional surrender, and since this meant war crime charges for Hitler and all his top people, and most of the Wehrmacht brass and industrial leaders, they decided to fight to the death instead. Hitler believed that the German people had betrayed them and basically wanted them all to die along with him as punishment for their treason against National Socialism.

Help me out, is Dunkirk the British version of the Alamo?

I just don't understand how you can have 400,000 of your troops pushed into the sea, yet you're proud of it?

Mine too

She's really looking forward to it

I told her we needed to watch A BRIDGE TOO FAR to get in the groove

Going this Friday.

The British weren't pushed really, they were outmaneuvered. The Germans had broken through the French and there was simply zero strategic reserves to stop them as they ramaged into the rear. They headed straight for the coast and divided the British from the French, and threatened to cut off the British too. There wasn't much the BEF could do at that point, the French had lost the battle for France already so the best situation was to salvage their army, fall back to England and prep for future operations. The evacuation of Dunkirk was a symbol of perseverance and survival at a time when the British desperately needed even the most basic semblance of a rise in morale. Had the BEF mass surrendering after being cut off in France there is a strong possibility that Churchill's govt would have collapsed and the British might have sought out a limited peace with Germany. Instead they lived to fight another day when the other possible scenario is devastating defeat.

I think they're proud that they came together as a people and brought 330,000+ men home so they could fight again in another place and time.  That's just me though, others may feel differently as is their right.

can't wait to see it.

Russia couldn't of defeated Germany without our help.

Without America & Britain you have German Troops & Italian troops freed from AfriKa, Gas coming from Iran and you open the possibility of Japan invading from the Pacific suddenly Russia becomes Germany fighting a 2 front war. Stalin showed up to the business meeting's with Churchill & FDR because he needed us, when you don't need people you skip meetings - Stalin was at all the meetings.

tom hardy and a spitfire, good recipe for a movie!

Is it weird if I bring my enfield?

It's Texas.  It's weird if you don't.

Without Lend Lease, the Russians would have been hurting, for sure. But, it's not a stretch to say that the Russians defeated the German Army. Just look at the casualty numbers.

Were there no POC soldiers who landed at D-Day cuz that #Dunkirk movie is looking white af. \uD83D\uDE12

A Dot Hath  (@AprilHathcock) July 15, 2017

https://twitter.com/AprilHathcock/status/886332752391524352

Read a book!
Read a book!
Read a muthafukkin' BOOK!

ETA nobody is THAT stupid.  Is that a troll tweet?

Hitler did not help with his FRAGOs changing his army groups' objectives several times, normwith losing several weeks of good weather due to bailing the Italians out after their misfortune in the Balkans.  Had Barbarossa started on time and the center Army Group sped toward Moscow, they probably would have captured it.

It's real.  And she's a lawyer 

Maybe, but then what? Stalin was only a day away from evacuating the city, most of it was already empty. If Moscow was taken Soviets would have just fallen back east out of reach of Germans whose supply line was stretched close to breaking, commies still would have regrouped for big winter counteroffensive that Germans couldn't stop. So they would have held Moscow for a month or so them lost it.

Yup!

The Japanese decided not to open a second front against the Soviets before the US entered the war, and their objectives were better served by a decisive victory over us than by dicking around with the Soviets to help Germany.

I don't speak Twit, so it me a while to realize: 1) POC didn't mean "point of contact", 2) April apparently doesn't understand the difference between an invasion and an evacuation.

I'm going.

Person Of Color

Some user reviews on IMDb. Going to see this one in Imax for sure.

Reviews

Yeah, that finally dawned on me.  About the same time  I realized "af" was "as fuck" not "Air Force".  

It's been a rough couple days.  Yesterday, I was apparently the last person in America to learn who Steven Tyler is.

Getting old isn't for a candyass.

and

You'd think they wouldn't be so attached to that history. Anyway they keep demanding I delete the tweet. So clearly they don't know me.

A Dot Hath  (@AprilHathcock) July 18, 2017

The yt supremacist trolls r really angry that I confused Dunkirk and dday. Which is weird cuz WWII was abt fighting racist nazis like them.

A Dot Hath  (@AprilHathcock) July 18, 2017

Good god.

Going to see it. Can't resist early mark Spitfires

Co-workers keep bugging me to see it in 70mm. And one of them even worked on it. I'll probably go

Her stupidity is so intense it actually causes physical pain.

Ow, ow ow, make it stop! The stupid, it hurts!

And yes, I'm definitely going to see Dunkirk in the theaters.