Veteran British Perang DUNIA
ke-II Frederick Glover menimbulkan untuk gambar sebagai tentera payung terjun
ke bawah semasa acara memperingati D-Day pada 5 Jun, 2014 (British WWII veteran
Frederick Glover poses for a photograph as soldiers parachute down during a
D-Day commemoration event on June 5, 2014 (AFP Photo/Thomas Bregardis)
Srikandi - Berjalan
melalui lombong untuk sasaran mereka, meninggalkan yang terce-dera di belakang -
dengan harapan bahawa medik mendarat seterusnya akan bertahan untuk menyusuli mereka,
dan menandakan hospital spontan dengan kepingan darah tegang, adalah sebahagian
daripada kenangan veteran D-Day dikongsi dengan RT.
Berjalan di atas lombong di
Normandy
Jerman
begitu terkejut dengan skala pendaratan di Normandy bahawa mereka mesti telah
panik, Léon Gautier, seorang komando Perancis yang mendarat di pantai yang
diberi nama kod Pedang pada D-Day, mengimbas kembali bagaimana tenteranya telah
mengambil ‘blockhouses’ Jerman.
"Apabila
anda melihat begitu banyak kapal yang tiba di hadapan anda, jadi ramai lelaki
mendarat di pantai, dan jika anda mana-mana dekat kepadanya - sesuatu yang
mesti berlaku kepada anda," kata Gautier. "Lagipun, orang-orang
Jerman adalah manusia, sama seperti orang lain juga."
D-Day
Veteran: We pressed forward, ignoring those
who fell – nothing like ‘Saving
Private Ryan’ . . .
Running
through minefield to their target, leaving wounded behind – in hope that medics
landing next would survive to take care of them, and marking improvised
hospital with blood-strained sheets, are some of the memories D-Day veterans
shared with RT.
Walking
on mines in Normandy
The
Germans were so astounded with the scale of the landings in Normandy that they
must have panicked, Léon Gautier, a French commando who landed on a beach
codenamed Sword on D-Day, recalls how his troops were taking German
blockhouses.
“When
you see so many vessels arriving in front of you, so many men landing on the
beaches, and if you are anywhere close to it – something must happen to you,”
Gautier said. “After all, the Germans are human beings, just like anybody
else.”
Terdapat lombong di antara
pantai dan unit kubu pertahanan Gautier telah diarahkan untuk menangkapnya -
dengan hanya 7 kereta kebal dilengkapi dgn mencambuk pem-bersihan-lombong.
"7
kereta kebal semua diletupkan dan terbakar, jadi kami menyeberangi lapangan
periuk api ini sedar apa yang boleh berlaku, tetapi tidak saya meletup,"
Gautier ingat. "Komander kami Kieffer memberitahu kami: 'Mungkin hanya
sedozen anda akan kem-bali, tetapi saya mahu anda mengambil kubu pertahanan
itu.'"
Tiada
apa-apa seperti 'Saving Private Ryan'
"Kami
terpaksa mengabaikan orang-orang yang jatuh, tidak seperti dalam 'Saving
Private Ryan' di mana seorang lelaki menjaga rakan-rakan jatuh. Bagi kami
perkara-perkara adalah mustahil, "kata veteran itu. "Kita mesti
mengambil kubu pertahanan ini! Jika pal sebelah anda jatuh - ia bukan kerja
anda. Ada orang lain mendarat di bela-kang, unit perubatan, yang akan menjaga
mereka yang cedera. Kami mempunyai tugas untuk dilakukan."
"Kami
terpaksa bergerak ke hadapan . . . ia telah dibelasah di kepala kita,"
katanya.
There
was a minefield between the coastline and blockhouse Gautier’s unit was
instructed to capture – with only seven tanks equipped with mine-clearing
flails.
“These
seven tanks were all blown up and burst into flames, so we crossed this
minefield fully aware of what could happen, but no mine exploded,” Gautier
remembers. “Our commander Kieffer told us: ‘Maybe only a dozen of you will come
back, but I want you to take the blockhouse.’”
Nothing
like ‘Saving Private Ryan’
“We
had to ignore those that fell, not like in ‘Saving Private Ryan’ where a guy
took care of his fallen fellow. For us such things were impossible,” the
veteran said. “We must take this blockhouse! If a pal next to you falls – it’s
not your business. There are others landing behind, medical units, that will
take care of the wounded. We had a job to do.”
“We
had to move forward . . . it was hammered in our heads,” he said.
Leon
Gautier dipunyai oleh kumpulan kecil Perancis yang menyertai kepada komando
British - satu "sangat berdisiplin" unit elit yang menjalani latihan
tegar sebelum oparasi.
"Itulah
sebabnya mereka mempunyai sedikit kerugian daripada orang Amerika," kata
Gautier. "The persenjataan dan peralatan Amerika adalah dari sokongan yang
besar, itu benar. Tiada apa yang bekerja telah kita tidak mempunyai
persenjataan Amerika -. Dan tentera Amerika selepas semua "
"Tetapi
sayang mereka tidak melatih orang-orang ini yang lebih baik, kerana kematian
mereka membuat ibu-ibu mereka dan keluarga mereka menangis. Semua orang-orang
muda yang hanya meninggal dunia seperti itu. Untuk membebaskan negara lain.
"
Palang
MERAH berlumuran DARAH
Seorang
ahli rintangan dalam Caen, Perancis, ingat bahawa ramai kawan-kawan, terutama
beberapa yang dimiliki oleh rintangan, telah di kalangan ribu dibunuh selepas
pengeboman pertama pada D-Day.
"Ia
adalah seperti bencana untuk melihat bukan sahaja sudah beribu-ribu orang
terbunuh pada hari pertama, tetapi juga hakikat bahawa tidak terdapat cukup
pemegang pengusung - kebanyakan ahli-ahli pertahanan awam juga telah
dibunuh," André Heintz ingat. "Jadi saya segera menawarkan diri di
awal petang D-Day dengan Palang Merah."
"Mereka
menghantar saya dengan ambulans untuk mengambil beberapa orang cedera . . . Dan
kami dengan serta-merta dibom."
Leon
Gautier belonged to the small group of French who joined to the British
commandos – an “extremely disciplined” elite unit which underwent hardcore
training before the operation.
“That’s
why they had fewer losses than Americans,” Gautier says. “The American armament
and equipment were of great support, that's true. Nothing could have worked had
we not had American armament – and American troops after all.”
“But
it's a pity they didn't train these men better, because their deaths made their
mothers and their families weep. All those young people who just died like
that. For the liberation of another country.”
Blood-stained
Red Cross
A
resistance member in Caen, France, remembers that many of his friends,
especially some belonging to the resistance, had been among thousand killed
after the first bombings on D-Day.
“It
was such a disaster to see not only already thousands of people killed on the
first day, but also the fact that there were not enough stretcher bearers –
most members of the civil defense had also been killed,” André Heintz
remembers. “So I immediately volunteered in the early afternoon of D-Day with
the Red Cross.”
“They
sent me with an ambulance to pick up some wounded people… And we were almost
immediately bombed.”
Seperti
bom-bom jatuh di tengah-tengah sebuah hospital spontan ketika mereka mengambil
yg cedera dari runtuhan, Heintz ingat kakaknya - yang merupakan seorang
jururawat".
Melakukan
sesuatu" mengemis dia ada apa-apa yang menunjukkan ia adalah sebuah
hospital dan mereka tidak dapat mencari mana-mana cat untuk menarik silang
merah, jadi mereka mengambil beroperasi lembaran teater, "sudah merah
dengan darah" dan mereka warnakan beberapa yang lagi.
"Seperti
yang kita telah regangan kepingan, kapal terbang datang melalui awan - yang
digantung sangat rendah pada pagi D-Day - ditonton kita membuat bahawa salib
merah spontan dan segera melambai sayapnya untuk mengatakan bahawa ia telah
mengiktiraf ia adalah sebuah hospital."
As
bombs were falling in the middle of an improvised hospital while they were
picking up wounded from the ruins, Heintz remembers his sister – who was a
nurse – begging him to “do something.” There was nothing that showed it was a
hospital and they couldn’t find any paint to draw a red cross, so they took
operating theatre sheets, “already red with blood” and stained them some more.
“As
we were stretching the sheets, a plane came through the clouds – which hung
very low on that morning of D-Day – watched us making that improvised red cross
and immediately waved its wings to say that it had recognized it was a
hospital.”
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MORE: http://on.rt.com/wgla05