To learn more: Watch A Motion Picture History of the Korean War Film :1148

The Colonel

The scale of this invasion is staggering and the goal of Hitler's surprise attack was just as gargantuan -- the complete annihilation of Soviet Russia.

The initial phases of the operation lasted several months as German and Axis forces smashed every Russian defense and counterattack. In spite of their early victories, the Germans soon realized that they had underestimated the Russians as the Soviet forces refused to quit no matter how high their casualties.

As the summer turned to fall the rains came and then the snow, but the Germans continued to push towards Moscow. Then, in early December, with the spires of the Kremlin nearly in sight, the Russian counteroffensive forced the German and Axis forces back to new defensive line miles to the west.

Barbarossa, the largest combined arms invasion in history, failed but the fighting in Russia continued and the death toll on both sides was horrific with German and Axis losses somewhere over 5 million and the Russians losing more than 20 million. Four years later it was Russian tanks that entered Berlin in 1945 and ended the war against Nazi Germany.

For a look at 1941, the year Operation Barbarossa began, check out Film :1333 THE WAR 1941 -- 1944

The Colonel

This is a silent film but it is really worth watching if you love sleek, fast jet aircraft. The SR-71 Blackbird is one of the most inspiring aircraft ever designed. The Blackbird's structure consisted of 85% titanium and 15% composite materials. It looks like a dart with engines and holds the world speed record for the fastest aircraft ever -- and it started flying in 1964! This film is even more incredible as it shows the SR-71 refueling in mid-air. Aviation buffs will not want to miss this film.

The Lockheed SR-71 is an advanced, long-range, strategic reconnaissance aircraft that flies at Mach 3. The SR-71 was unofficially named the Blackbird, and called the Habu by its crews. A habu (pronounced "hah-BOO") is a poisonous snake found in Southeast Asia (Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, southeast China). When the SR-71s (then designated the A-12) were first flown to their new remote base at Kadena AFB in Okinawa, the local people thought that this strange and somewhat wicked-looking airplane was shaped like the habu snake. They started calling it the habu airplane, and later just habu. Crews who flew the airplane were also called Habu, and the name came to be recognized with the blackbird program and even incorporated into the insignia worn by the crews on their uniforms.

Officially, SR-71 Blackbird is the world's fastest jet-powered aircraft Although the official record is about Mach 3.3 (or 3.3 times the speed of sound), many believe the aircraft could actually fly much faster.

The high speed and high operating altitude of the SR-71 made it nearly impossible to shoot down with Surface to Air Rockets (SAMs) and no SR-71s were ever lost to enemy action. The SR-71 line was in service from 1964 to 1998.

Although the SR-71 was retried from active service in 1998, an SR-71 Flight Simulator was moved to the Frontiers of Flight Museum on Love Field Airport in Dallas, Texas (flightmuseum.com) in July, 2006 and, with support from the Museum and Link (now, L-3 Communications Simulation and Training Division), it is available for viewing by Museum visitors. If you are an aircraft enthusiast, and are ever in the Dallas area, it is worth the visit.

For more information on the SR-71 there is an excellent web page dedicated to the aircraft at: http://www.habu.org/

The Colonel

The plan for Operation Overlord entailed landing nine divisions of sea and airborne troops, over 150,000 men, along a 50-mile stretch of coast in just 24 hours.

Sixty-four years ago, brave men were asked to take on a deadly mission. They did not flinch. When called upon, they served. When asked to go, they went. When they were told to attack, they did, and in the end, they won not only our freedom but our undying respect.

Sixty-four years ago today was the Day of Days. D-Day.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote that "Shallow men believe in luck; wise and strong men believe in cause and effect!"

The cause and effect of D-Day was the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany and the establishment of a world where Democracy had a chance.

Now, in their own words, go back sixty-four years and remember D-Day

The Colonel

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"All southern England was one vast military camp, crowded with soldiers awaiting final word to go.... The mighty host was tense as a coiled spring...coiled for the moment when its energy should be released and it would vault the English Channel in the greatest amphibious assault ever attempted." -- General Dwight D. Eisenhower

"After enduring all the ordeals and training in England, we felt like we were completely ready for anything, and we were very ready to fight the Germans, and we looked forward to the day that we could actually get into the real fight." --Sgt. Bob Slaughter, 116th Infantry Regiment, US 29th Division.

"We had jumped extremely low... and I hit in a hedgerow apple orchard, coming up with very sore bruised ribs.... I landed on the Pierre Cotelle farm, which was about a mile and half from where I should have landed.... After I landed, cleared my parachute and all, I could not join up with my people because of German fire coming from the farm house.... the firing was quite overwhelming.... I was alone. I had no idea where the hell I was other than being in France." Sergeant Zane Schlemmer of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, US 82nd Airborne Division

"It was a weird feeling, to hear those heavy shells go overhead. Some of the guys were seasick. Others, like myself, just stood there, thinking and shivering. There was a fine rain and a spray, and the boat was beginning to ship water. Still, there was no return fire from the beach, which gave us hope that the navy and the air force had done a good job. This hope died 400 yards from shore. The Germans began firing mortars and artillery." --Sgt. Harry Bare, 116th Infantry Regiment, US 29th Division

"The waiting for history to be made was the most difficult. I spent much time in prayer. Being cooped up made it worse. Like everyone else, I was seasick and the stench of vomit permeated our craft." -- Pvt. Clair Galdonik, 359th Infantry Regiment, US 90th Division

"...I crawled in over wounded and dead but I couldn't tell who was who and we had orders not to stop for anyone on the edge of the beach, to keep going or we would be hit ourselves....I ran into a bunch of my buddies from the company. Most of them didn't even have a rifle. Some bummed cigarettes off of me.... The Germans could have swept us away with brooms if they knew how few we were and what condition we were in." --Pvt. Charles Thomas, 16th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 1st Division

"There were... men there, some dead, some wounded. There was wreckage. There was complete confusion. I didn't know what to do. I picked up a rifle from a dead man. As luck would have it, it had a grenade launcher on it. So I fired my six grenades over the cliff. I don't know where they went but I do know that they went up on enemy territory." --Pvt. Kenneth Romanski, 16th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 1st Division

The officers and NCOs and natural leaders among the privates on the beach spared Bradley a final decision. Perhaps without a combat-experienced division, the 1st, as the core of its landing force, Omaha Beach could not have been taken. In late morning, by example and by exhortation, the bravest of the leaders began to gather growing clusters of followers around them, and to urge the men forward into the hills bordering the exits. Colonel George A. Taylor of the 16th Infantry enjoined the men around him: "Two kinds of people are staying on this beach, the dead and those who are going to die---now let's get the hell out of here."…. p. 30. Weigley, Russell Frank, Eisenhower's Lieutenants: The Campaign of France and Germany 1944-1945 (Indiana University Press, 1981).

"When you talk about combat leadership under fire on the beach at Normandy, I don't see how the credit can go to anyone other than the company-grade officers and senior NCOs who led the way. It is good to be reminded that there are such men, that there always have been, and always will be. We sometimes forget, I think, that you can manufacture weapons, and you can purchase ammunition, but you can't buy valor and you can't pull heroes off an assembly line." --Sgt. John Ellery, 16th Infantry Regiment, U.S. 1st Division

But we should not forget that this day is also a solemn celebration of freedom.

Memorial day is a day for us to remember.

This is the day we memorialize those veterans -- the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen -- who paid the ultimate sacrifice and died in combat protecting us and what we hold sacred.

The fact of this world is that Freedom -- the freedom that we have today -- is only one generation away from extinction. Freedom survives only if each generation is willing to defend it.

Think about it….. think about the great gift we share…. The freedoms and individual liberties we have.

In the history of the world this degree of freedom is unique.

Most people in history lived without the rule of law…. Without the freedom to worship as they choose … without the individual liberties we are accustomed to…. Without the idea that it is merit that counts, not what class you were born to or what tribe you belong to.

Think about it. Would any of you wish to trade places with any other people in any other generation and choose to live under dictatorship, oligarchy or State sponsored theocracy?

Look around you. The freedom that we take for granted is not free. It was purchased with the blood of men and women who stood for the ideals of our Constitution.

Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Marines who answered the call of duty …. and did not waiver.

These are the people we honor today -- the people who wore the uniform of our country and who lived and died for something greater than self.

Selfless service. It is not meaningless to the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines serving today…. And it was not meaningless in times past.

From the Revolutionary war in 1775, to the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the long years of the Cold War, Desert Storm, today's fight in the Global War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan and on countless other battlefields, AMERICANs have stood for the Nation, fought and died, to secure the freedoms we enjoy today.

They met the test of character and lived and died for us. We can learn a lot from history about the character required to sustain a nation. Luckily for the United States of America, we seem to have that type of character in abundance … as if it were part of an unyielding American spirit.

But those who paid the ultimate sacrifice were also people -- a lot like you and me.

It is important, therefore that we remember them.

Let me tell you the story of two such Americans.

Corporal Jason L. Dunham was born on 10 November 1981 in Scio, New York. The date may seem insignificant to those who don't know its history. The ones who do know its significance celebrate this day - faithfully - each year. November 10th is the United States Marine Corps birthday... a birthday that Jason Dunham shares.

Scio is a small town with a population of 1900 people. It's the kind of town where everyone knows your name... where values and respect still mean something. It was here, along a winding country road filled with rolling-meadows, and a swift moving creek, that Jason L. Dunham was brought into this world.

As you turn into the Dunham's long driveway that leads to their house, the breeze catches a yellow ribbon tied to the mailbox and the story begins to unfold.

The further you drive; two flags adorn the front porch, an American flag and the United States Marine Corps flag. And both seem to play the same quiet song, and yet both stand tall for this fallen young man. There is a final reminder that Jason Dunham is no longer with us… a blue star in the front window has been replaced by a gold star, symbolizing the Dunham family loss.

On April 14, 2004, 3 days after Easter Sunday, Corporal Dunham was manning a checkpoint in Karabilah, Iraq, when an insurgent leapt from his car and began choking him. A scuffle ensued as two Marines approached to help. Reportedly, the last words from Corporal Dunham were, "No, No. Watch his hand." Suddenly, the insurgent dropped a grenade. Corporal Dunham took off his Kevlar helmet, dropped to the ground, and covered the explosive as best he could.

The blast seriously wounded all 3 Marines. Eight days later, Corporal Jason L. Dunham died at Bethesda Naval Hospital from wounds he received in the incident. He was 22.

Corporal Dunham made the ultimate sacrifice, and in doing so saved the lives of his fellow Marines. Due to his actions on that fateful day, Corporal Dunham has been awarded the Medal of Honor. Remember Corporal Dunham.

Like Corporal Dunham Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith, United States Army, was a volunteer.

Paul was born on September 24, 1969, in El Paso, Texas. At the age of nine, his family moved to South Tampa, Florida, where he attended public schools. He enjoyed sports, liked cats, skateboarding, riding bicycles, and playing pranks with friends and his younger sister Lisa. He particularly enjoyed football, which instilled the importance of being part of a team and motivated his natural leadership abilities.

Upon graduating from High School in 1988, Paul Smith joined the Army. On that day he began living his dream...he was assigned to Germany, met and married his wife, Birgit, had two children, and was "doing what he was born to do.... Lead American Soldiers...."

In March 2003, Sgt. 1st Class Smith Kuwait was assigned to the Bravo Company, 11th Engineer Battalion of the US Army's 3rd Infantry's Division that was ready to attack into Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Bravo Company crossed the border on March 19th and traveled more than 300 kilometers in the first 48 hours of the war as part of the lead company in support of Task Force 2-7 Infantry.

On 4 April 2003, Smith and his men were involved in a firefight with enemy forces near Baghdad International Airport.

On that day, Sergeant First Class Smith's unit was violently attacked by a company-sized enemy force.

Outnumbered and realizing the vulnerability to his fellow Soldiers, Sergeant First Class Smith quickly organized a hasty defense consisting of two platoons of soldiers, one Bradley Fighting Vehicle and three armored personnel carriers.

As the fight developed, Sergeant First Class Smith braved hostile enemy fire to personally engage the enemy with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons, and organized the evacuation of three wounded soldiers from an armored personnel carrier that was struck by a rocket propelled grenade and a 60mm mortar round.

Fearing the enemy would overrun their defenses, Sergeant First Class Smith moved forward …. under withering enemy fire …. to man a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a damaged armored personnel carrier.

In total disregard for his own life, he maintained his exposed position in order to engage the attacking enemy force. During this action, he was mortally wounded by enemy fire.

His courageous actions helped defeat the enemy attack, and resulted in as many as 50 enemy soldiers killed, while allowing the safe withdrawal of numerous wounded soldiers.

For his extraordinary heroism and uncommon valor Sergeant First Class Smith was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

We owe people like this -- our men and women in uniform -- more than words can express.

In return, all they ask is that we remember them and cherish their sacrifice -- so thank you for remembering these brave Americans today and for coming here to pay tribute to their selfless sacrifice in this special celebration of freedom.

The next time you see a Soldier, sailor, airmen or Marine -- at the airport or anywhere -- go up and shake their hand and tell them that you are proud of them. Never forget that they are putting themselves in harms way on our behalf.

And today…. of all days…. remember the heroes who have fallen in battle on our behalf.

Remember them…………….Remember them.

And count yourself lucky that we have such selfless people in our ranks. Thank you.

God bless our troops and God Bless America.

"You may fly over a land forever; you may bomb it, atomize it, pulverize it and wipe it clean of life -- but if you desire to defend it, protect it, and keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground, the way the Roman legions did, by putting your young men into the mud." from T.R Ferenbach's This Kind of War

Airpower and precision fires are vital, but boots on the ground makes the difference if you want to defend and protect a place.

This was the situation in the hot summer of 1950. Good men and good Soldiers fought in the muddy hills of Korea in the summer of 1950. This film is the story of the American GI in the opening battles of the Korean War.

The Korean War, often called the Forgotten War, was the first major combat action of the Cold War and the first time American Soldiers fought North Korean and Chinese Communist armies as part of a United Nations team. The lessons we learned in Korea are still pertinent today.

The war started on June 25, 1950 and full-scale fighting until an armistice on July 27, 1953. Technically, the United States is still at war in Korea.

One of our films (Overview of the Combat Experiences in the Korean War 1104) shows rare footage of the troops in the initial and lop-sided engagements of the Korean War. The mud, the blood and the courage are depicted in graphic detail. This initial phase of the war was an anxious delaying action by US Army forces of the 24th Infantry Division and other units. Their mission was to delay the advancing North Korean armies until United Nations forces could assemble the force necessary to push back the North Korean invaders.

Images of Lieutenant General Walton Walker and Major General William F. Dean are seen in this film. General Dean was in charge of the delaying action against the North Korean advance at Tajeon, Republic of Korea. Dean led from the front, inspiring his men and personally destroyed a North Korean tank in the fighting in July 1950. He led his men with courage but the North Koreans overwhelmed the Americans and General Dean was captured. He was the highest ranking American officer captured during the Korean War and received the Medal of Honor for his actions on July 20 and 21, 1950. This film is worth watching for several reasons, but particularly to get a rare glimpse of General Dean, a true American hero.

Don't forget the veterans of the Korean War. If you see one at the airport or the mall, wearing a Korean War Veterans hat, go up and shake his or hand and thank the veteran for their service. They taught us that war takes boots on the ground, putting your young men in the mud, if you want to win.

... And if you have a chance, take the time to see this film.

Henry Johnson, 369th Infantry in 1918

The U.S. Army in WWI was segregated and the 369th Army Infantry was an all black infantry regiment nicknamed the "Harlem Hellfighters." Johnson earned the nickname "Black Death" for his actions in combat in France. In May 1918, a 24 man German patrol entered American lines and Sergeant Johnson and Private Needham Roberts battled them alone, though both men were severely wounded. When they ran out of ammunition for their Springfield rifles, Roberts clubbed the Germans with his rifle and Johnson sliced them with a bolo knife. Johnson was the first American to receive the Croix de Guerre (Legion of Honor). By the end of the war, 171 members of the 369th Infantry were awarded the French Legion of Honor. Johnson died in 1929, but was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart in 1996 and the Distinguished Service Cross in 2002. The medal was presented to his son, Herman Johnson (who one of the famous Tuskegee Airmen of WWII), on April 11, 2003. Sergeant Henry Lincoln Johnson is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He is also depicted in the pantheon mural at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Henry Johnson, Sergeant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action in France during the period 13 - 15 May 1918.

Private Johnson distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force.

While on a double sentry night duty, Private Johnson and a fellow soldier were attacked by a raiding party of Germans numbering almost twenty, wounding both. When the Germans were within fighting distance, he opened fire, shooting one of them and seriously wounding two more. The Germans continued to advance, and as they were about to be captured Private Johnson drew his bolo knife from his belt and attacked the Germans in a hand-to-hand encounter. Even though having sustained three grenade and shotgun wounds from the fight, Private Johnson went to the rescue of his fellow soldier who was being taken prisoner by the enemy. He kept on fighting until the Germans were chased away.

Private Johnson's personal courage and total disregard for his own life reflect great credit upon himself, the 369th United States Infantry Regiment, the United States Army, and the United States of America.

Ronald Reagan once said that "We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look." If you are looking for a hero, you need look no farther than the true story of Sergeant Henry Lincoln Johnson of the 369th Infantry, the Harlem Hellfighters.

The Colonel

Related Films:

WWI DOUGHBOYS go to the Front

WWI doughboys practice with bayonets, work with black soldiers, train with gas masks, communications, telephone, radio. Lay barbed wire, use haystack camouflage and march to the front.

The Negro Soldier

WWII film shows the thankless contributions made by African American soldiers to the US Military for years, especially in WWII.

This WWI poster depicts the 369th Harlem Hellfighters battling th Germans, with the approving figure of Abraham Lincoln watching from above.

Dead German Soldiers lie near a destroyed halftrack in Berlin on May 1, 1945.

Silent footage can be seen in: A CITY THAT DIED - Berlin Post V-E Day

The echoes of this battle are hardly discernable today, unless you look carefully and have an eye for history.

I was recently in Berlin and as a student of military history, could not pass up the opportunity to walk the battlefields that swirled around the city that was once the capital of Nazi Germany. With several eye-witness historical accounts in hand and a detailed map, I walked the battle lines.

I started my visit on the outskirts of Berlin at the Seelow Heights. The battle began here on April 16, 1945 with a massive Red Army artillery barrage against the German defensive line. Millions of shells rained in a continuous and horrendous barrage, but the Germans had captured the Red Army plan several days before the Russian's launched their attack. Skillfully, with this knowledge of the Russian plan, most of the Germans pulled back from the Soviet artillery strike sectors just before the artillery fell. When the cannons stopped shelling and the Russian tanks and infantry attacked, the Germans rushed back to reoccupy the defenses and the Russians ran into a meat grinder. Shocked by the ferocity of the defense, the Red Army reeled but then threw more men and armor into the assault. Tanks and infantry banged against the Nazi defenses as low flying Sturmovik close attack aircraft filled the skies and plastered the German lines. It was a desperate and bloody fight as the Red Army sacrificed 33,000 casualties to capture the Seelow Heights. On April 18, 1945, the battle was won and the path to Berlin was open.

The memorial to the Red Army at Seelow Heights.

There is a memorial to the Red Army at Seelow Heights. A massive bronze statue of a Russian soldier stands on the highest ground. The Russian soldier is brandishing a PPSH-41 Submachine Gun and leaning on a wrecked German Panzer turret. The memorial overlooks a well-maintained military cemetery that contains the heroes of the Red Army, including the graves of several men who were decorated as Heroes of the Soviet Union. The museum and monument are worth a visit and the chance to quietly ponder and remember what happened here so long ago.

Heading back toward Berlin, retracing the German retreat, I discovered a German cemetery several kilometers west of the Red Army memorial. The Germans lost 12,000 casualties at Seelow and the survivors scrambled back to Berlin for the last, futile battle. This cemetery was tucked away in a less auspicious setting and contained the graves of German soldiers killed at Seelow. The markers revealed that most the German casualties buried in the cemetery were seventeen to nineteen years old.

Arriving back in Berlin, I toured the major engagement sites: The west of the city where German XX Infantry Division defended, the north where the IX Parachute Division fought, the north-east where the Panzer Division Müncheberg held off waves of Russian tanks, and the south-east and to the east of Tempelhof Airport were the XI SS Panzergrenadier Division Nordland was positioned. All of these German units were woefully under strength and had very few tanks, antitank guns and artillery. The fact that these units were able to fight at all is something that is difficult to comprehend.

One German officer, Siegfried Knappe, explained why the Germans fought for Berlin even though the average soldier knew that there was no chance of victory: "Many of the city's defenders were fighting for survival in the hope that they could delay the Soviets long enough for the Western armies to occupy more of Germany and, hopefully, Berlin. That was a hope that would never be realized…."

A Russian WWII military map depicting the final assault on the center of Berlin and Reichstag building.

In Berlin today, there are many reminders of the bitter fighting that took place in April and May 1945. The Berlin Stadium, the same structure that hosted the 1936 Olympic Games where Adolf Hitler watched in dismay as American athlete Jesse Owens won three gold medals, became a slaughterhouse in the closing days of April 1945. The Russians took the stadium and the Germans counterattacked with battalions of children from the Hitler Youth. At least half a dozen times the Hitler Youth battalions defended the stadium, lost it, counterattacked, retook the stadium and lost it again. It is a sad story of sacrificial lambs on the altar of desperation used as pawns in a madman's nightmare.

The Red Army was too powerful and too full with revenge to be stopped. Horrific battles occurred in the dark subway tunnels of Berlin and, in many areas, the fighting was house-to-house and room-to-room. The German Reichstag building was stormed and captured. In a supreme moment, with the smoke still rising from the Reichstag fight, Marshal Georgy Zhukov, the commander of the 1st Belorussian Front, sauntered into the Reichstag building as the Soviet flag was raised on the top of the smoldering structure.

A Red Army soldier raises the Soviet banner on the top of the German Reichstag on May 2, 1945

Red Army casualties were listed as 361,367 men. The Russians also lost nearly 2000 tanks and 2100 artillery pieces. The German Army was completely beaten and lost 458,000 killed and 479,000 captured. The size of this catastrophe is also difficult to comprehend.

On May 1, 1945 the guns went silent… sixty-three years ago today… and with the defeat of Nazism, a great evil had been scourged from the earth.

The Memorial to the Red Army just north of the Brandenburg Gate is particularly moving. Twin T-34 tanks guard the memorial in silent testimony to the ferocity to the fighting.

The Battle of Berlin was truly a cauldron of hell. As you walk the streets of Berlin in May, and if you close your eyes and listen closely, you can almost hear the distant echoes of war and a whisper… never again can we let this kind of evil happen…. Never again.

The Colonel

The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 -- 25 January 1945) was the last major German offensive of the war and resulted in a German defeat. For the first ten days, however, it was a near run thing. The courage and tenacity of the American soldier was tested in this difficult battle and the American GI was not found wanting.

Few battles in history contain the desperate drama, heroism, sacrifice and scale of the Battle of the Bulge. The Bulge was the largest land battle fought by the US Army in WWII. This film, THE ENEMY STRIKES, captures much of this drama in a short, powerful clip.

The footage of this film, which is largely from captured German film, is dramatic and riveting. The narration is aimed at the audiences of American theaters in 1945. The intent is to keep them motivated by showing the sacrifice of their soldiers at the front. The combination of graphic images and the steel in the narrator's voice as he talks about the men on the lines is worth experiencing. Remember the Ardennes's Forest!

The Colonel

This film is a must see for any AIRBORNE historian or enthusiast!

The famed 82d Airborne Division is one of the premier airborne fighting units of all time and always in the forefront of battle. Nicknamed the "All American" Division, the 82d has a long and valorous history. This film was developed during the Cold War to describe the history of the 82d from WWI to the Vietnam War. In particular, the segments depicting the training program of the WWII paratroopers, including parachute and glider training and operations, and the description of the 82d's WWII battles are worth watching. The film also shows some fantastic, seldom seen scenes color footage of the 82d's role in the April 1965 Dominican Republic intervention and color footage of the Vietnam War battles of the "All Americans." The 82d's versatile airborne "tank," the M551 Sheridan, is described as well in part II as well as up-front and close footage of the battle of Hue, during the Tet Offensive of 1968. Airborne all the way! COL Antal

More about the M551 Sheridan The M551 Sheridan was a light tank -- officially designated as an "armored reconnaissance/airborne assault vehicle" -- that was developed by the United States in the late 1960s. The M551 was named after Civil War General Philip Sheridan. It was designed to have both an air drop and swimming capability and was therefore ideally suited for the 82d Airborne Division. It was armed with the MGM-51 Shillelagh gun-launched missile system. Production began in 1966, entering the US Army inventory in 1967. Under the urging of General Creighton Abrams, the US Commander of Military Forces in Vietnam at the time, the M551 was rushed into combat service in Vietnam in January 1969. Now retired from service, it saw extensive combat in Vietnam, and limited service in Operation Just Cause (Panama), and Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm (Iraq).

Want to know what kind of obstacles opposed our invasion troops on D-Day?

I just viewed an extraordinary film that I recommend to anyone interested in D-Day or WWII amphibious operations, "Beach Obstacles -- Stay Away!"

http://www.realmilitaryflix.com/public/400.cfm

This unique, 22 minute film shows how to create anti-landing obstacles and depicts soldiers preparing explosive and non-explosive obstacles.

The Germans conducted similar anti-landing construction in the creation of the infamous "Atlantic Wall" that our troops pierced on D-Day, June 6, 1944 and our troops experienced similar obstacles on a hundred other beaches during WWII.

One look at this film and you can see why these obstacles caused so many casualties on D-Day. In particular, check out the nutcracker!

This post-WWII training film makes you appreciate the Navy's WWII UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams) and the Army engineers.

Check out: BEACH OBSTACLES - Stay Away!

http://www.realmilitaryflix.com/public/400.cfm

It's worth watching.

COL (Ret.) John Antal

For most of my adult life, the study of military history was a part of my profession. My success as a leader of combat units depended on my ability to know weapons, tactics and strategy in order to lead my Soldiers. Now, after 30 years in uniform, I am retired and military history is my passion.

I look to make RealMilitaryFLix.com your absolute best source for military history films. RealMilitaryFlix.com is not your ordinary history video site. Many of the films assembled are extremely rare historical battle films, military training films and hard-to-find battle studies that offer a unique window into military history that stretches from the dawn of motion pictures at the beginning of the 20th Century to today. As a graduate of the United States Military Academy, the Command and General Staff College, the Army War College, the Airborne and Ranger courses, and as a leader of tank and combined arms combat units at every level from platoon to regiment, I will give you my unique perspective on the extraordinary films that you will find on this web site.

As the author of ten books on military subjects, I hope to provide you with a professional view of the relevance and value of each film with regards to your personal study of military history.

My mission is to provide viewers with insights into the dramatic, real history behind the films you will watch on RealMlitaryFlix.com.

My role will be to highlight films that I find particularly interesting, offer insights and, hopefully, get you thinking about these films. My intent is to provide the story behind the film by explaining background and contextual information that will make the films more meaningful to you.

In short, I intend to provide you with a Soldier's view and a historian's perspective on the films in the RealMilitaryFlix.com library. I hope that those of you who are passionate about the study of military history, or those who just want to get a glimpse of a "how it was done back then," will appreciate these films and, I trust, my analysis.

Keep an eye on "The Colonel's Corner," and I'll look for your postings in the Forum and on the Film Pages as well!

Always Attack!

John Antal Colonel, Armor US Army (Retired)

…and remember…. "Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets." General George S. Patton, Jr. U.S.A.

http://www.realmilitaryflix.com/public/department32.cfm