Sunday, May 09, 2004
SUMMING UP
Writing in the Nation, Charles Bolte:
Appropriate, really, considering today's date, and that from May 7-9, 1945, World War II in Europe came to an end.
. . . And which war did you think I was referring to? ¶ by Robert, Sunday, May 09, 2004
Writing in the Nation, Charles Bolte:
. . . On the tactical, strategic, and psychological levels, therefore, we have committed the gravest sin [underestimating the enemy] in warfare. The only satisfactory or possible explanation for this state of affairs, it seems to me, is that we have made what might be called a historical error on a level more vital than any yet mentioned: we have, most of us, mistaken the essential nature of this war. Despite the protestations to the contrary of those of us who have seen this war as something more than a nationalist-imperialist war of conquest and counter-resistance, our thinking has been warped by the history of past wars, in which nations quit when they were defeated. Now we are engaged in a war in which nations do not quit when they are defeated, in which there is no such thing as surrender. . .And in Time magazine, an editor notes:
. . . Last week the eyes of the U.S. turned with fear and questioning to [him] as he faced the greatest setback of his career. The invasion was his first great responsibility; this his second. . .The first is indeed from the Nation -- in December 1944 (gee, some things never really do change), on the Allied response to the Germans' Ardennes counter-attack. The other is, yes, from Time -- on Eisenhower, Time's "Man of the Year" for 1944, from the "Man of the Year" issue of January 1, 1945. (The quotes are found in "The Bitter Woods", by John S.D. Eisenhower.)
Appropriate, really, considering today's date, and that from May 7-9, 1945, World War II in Europe came to an end.
. . . And which war did you think I was referring to? ¶ by Robert, Sunday, May 09, 2004
