Fourth Turnings arrive every 80 years like clockwork. The pictures below will give you an idea of what awaits us over the next ten to fifteen years. There is no way to avoid facing the trials and tribulations of a Fourth Turning.
“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have
striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The
hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on
other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war
machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of
Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well
equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of
1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats,
in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their
strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home
Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions
of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.
The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to
Victory!
I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in
battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!
Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great
and noble undertaking.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower
On June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory,” according to the U.S. Army website about D-Day. More than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion. The cost was high — more than 9,000 allied soldiers were killed or wounded — but more than 100,000 soldiers began the march across Europe that led to the liberation of France and marked the turning point in the Western theater of World War II. Friday marks the 70th anniversary of D-Day, still one of the world’s most gut-wrenching and consequential battles. At left, a Catholic chaplain conducts services on a pier for the first D-Day assault troops in Weymouth, England.
This photograph, credited to Chief Photographer’s Mate Robert F. Sargent, is titled “Into the Jaws of Death — U.S. Troops wading through water and Nazi gunfire.” It has been captioned: Landing craft from the U.S. Coast Guard-manned USS Samuel Chase disembark troops of Company E, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division (the Big Red One) wading onto the Fox Green section of Omaha Beach on the morning of June 6, 1944. American soldiers encountered the newly formed German 352nd Division when landing. During the initial landing, two-thirds of Company E became casualties.
Soldiers in cargo vehicles move onto a beach in Normandy during the invasion. After fierce fighting, the Allies established a foothold in northern France.
American soldiers help others whose landing craft was sunk off Utah Beach on D-Day. The survivors reached the beach of Cherbourg by using a life raft.
Supreme Allied Commander U.S. Army Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower speaks with the 101st Airborne Division paratroopers before they board airplanes and gliders to take part in a parachute assault into Normandy as part of the Allied Invasion of Europe.
An American soldier, who has just landed his glider, crosses a field during the parachute assault on Normandy.
Canadian soldiers from the 6th Brigade bring bicycles ashore at Juno Beach in the second wave of troops in the D-Day invasion.
U.S. soldiers land on Utah Beach from the landing craft. According to the U.S. Army, Utah Beach was added to the initial invasion plan almost as an afterthought. The allies needed a major port as soon as possible, and Utah Beach would U.S. troops within 60 kilometers of Cherbourg at the outset. The major obstacles in this sector weren’t so much the beach defenses, but the flooded and rough terrain that blocked the way north.
U.S. assault troops of the 16th Infantry Regiment, wounded on Omaha Beach on D-Day, wait for evacuation for further medical treatment in Collville-sur-Mer, Normandy.
British soldiers read a tourist guide about France aboard a landing craft on D-Day. Some 75,215 British and Canadian troops and 57,500 U.S. troops landed by sea that day. By June 11, the Allies had secured the Cotentin Peninsula beyond Cherbourg but progress continued slowly as the Germans put up fierce resistance. The end of the Normandy campaign came with the destruction of the German 7th Army in the Falaise pocket in August.
The U.S. Army website about D-Day says of this photograph: “The spirit of the American soldier: this beachhead is secure.” Fellow soldiers erected this monument to an American soldier killed somewhere on the shell-blasted coast of Normandy.
Via Marketwatch
