The other day, while reading the Wikipedia entry for the Eiffel Tower, I noticed the rather striking photo to the right, which is captioned "25 August 1944: American soldiers watch as the Tricolor flies from the Eiffel Tower again". On June 13, 1940 the French tricolor flag was struck from the top of the tower when German occupation forces took over Paris. When Hitler toured Paris on June 28, 1940, three days after the official surrender of France, he was told (I can't determine if this was actually true or not) that the elevator cables in the tower had been cut by the French and that he would have to ascend on foot, which he declined to do (being acrophobic). Some time later, Wehrmacht soldiers climbed to the top in order to fly a swastika flag, which was too large and blew away a few hours later, to be replaced by a smaller flag. In August 1944, with Allied troops closing in on the city, General der Infanterie Dietrich von Choltitz disobeyed several direct orders from Hitler to destroy Paris, including the Eiffel Tower. Liberation day came to Paris on August 25, 1944 when von Choltitz surrendered to American and French forces. One sidenote - General Charles de Gaulle insisted that French troops lead the liberation, which Allied command agreed to, but with the stipulation that the leading division consist of only white soldiers, which was very difficult due to the fact that about 60% of Free French divisions were West African conscripts.[1] On liberation day, de Gaulle demanded that the French flag be flown from the tower, so a French colonel rounded up six American soldiers who, despite the fact that the elevators were repaired hours after liberation, took 3 hours to get to the top of the tower. Once there, they were tasked with attaching a 300-pound flag to a radio antenna (not a flagpole) in a 40mph wind. Another three hours later, La Tricolore was back to its rightful place above the streets of Paris, and photos of the event were on the front pages of newspapers around the world.[2]Friday, December 23, 2011
La Tour Eiffel
The other day, while reading the Wikipedia entry for the Eiffel Tower, I noticed the rather striking photo to the right, which is captioned "25 August 1944: American soldiers watch as the Tricolor flies from the Eiffel Tower again". On June 13, 1940 the French tricolor flag was struck from the top of the tower when German occupation forces took over Paris. When Hitler toured Paris on June 28, 1940, three days after the official surrender of France, he was told (I can't determine if this was actually true or not) that the elevator cables in the tower had been cut by the French and that he would have to ascend on foot, which he declined to do (being acrophobic). Some time later, Wehrmacht soldiers climbed to the top in order to fly a swastika flag, which was too large and blew away a few hours later, to be replaced by a smaller flag. In August 1944, with Allied troops closing in on the city, General der Infanterie Dietrich von Choltitz disobeyed several direct orders from Hitler to destroy Paris, including the Eiffel Tower. Liberation day came to Paris on August 25, 1944 when von Choltitz surrendered to American and French forces. One sidenote - General Charles de Gaulle insisted that French troops lead the liberation, which Allied command agreed to, but with the stipulation that the leading division consist of only white soldiers, which was very difficult due to the fact that about 60% of Free French divisions were West African conscripts.[1] On liberation day, de Gaulle demanded that the French flag be flown from the tower, so a French colonel rounded up six American soldiers who, despite the fact that the elevators were repaired hours after liberation, took 3 hours to get to the top of the tower. Once there, they were tasked with attaching a 300-pound flag to a radio antenna (not a flagpole) in a 40mph wind. Another three hours later, La Tricolore was back to its rightful place above the streets of Paris, and photos of the event were on the front pages of newspapers around the world.[2]
Monday, December 5, 2011
Tobruk (1967)
Starring Rock Hudson, George Peppard, Nigel Green
Directed by Arthur Hiller
NR, 107 minutes. Trailer
Tagline: What they did that day will be remembered for all time!
If you're in the mood for a good late '60s WWII North Africa campaign commando film (it can happen!), you're in the right place. I watched Tobruk on Netflix streaming; about 15 minutes in I remembered having seen it before, but long enough ago that I only remembered parts of it. Hudson does a great job as the heroic anti-hero Major Donald Craig, an arrogant, anti-authoritarian Canadian officer who conceived a desperate plan to lead a group of British soldiers through the Sahara desert in order to destroy Rommel's huge fuel depot at Tobruk, Libya and save Egypt (and likely the entire Middle East) from Rommel's nigh-unstoppable Afrika Korps. Along for the ride are a band of SIG (Special Intelligence Group) men, led by Captain Kurt Bergman (Peppard, displaying a dubious but serviceable German accent). The SIG were a real unit of German-speaking Jews mostly recruited from Palestine (administrated by Britain until just after the war - an amazing story in itself, fictionalized by Leon Uris as Exodus). Peppard delivers one of my favorite lines from the movie:
Major Craig: They say there's a little of the Jew in everyone.
Captain Bergman: Jah, a little of the Nazi, too.
Sad but true.
A nice undercurrent of the movie is the tension and distrust between the British and Jewish soldiers, a tenuous alliance against the common enemy. Italian Army (Esercito Italiano) troops also make an appearance in this film; the only other movie I can recall seeing them in is Sahara (1943). One of the themes throughout the movie is the "wolf in sheep's clothing" - Allied soldiers masquerading as Germans, a German spy in their midst, lots of subterfuge, camouflage and guessing at true identities. There are a few scenes where director Hiller makes excellent use of silence to heighten tension, which I think was very well done. In fact, there is relatively little action for a WWII movie until the end, which is both explosive (quite literally) and bittersweet, with displays of personal courage and self-sacrifice. There's a lot at stake and very little room for error, and after all that masquerading everyone finally takes off their masks and we get to see who all the characters really are.
Points of interest:
- American M3 halftracks were altered to look like their Wehrmacht Sd.Kfz. 7 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug or "special purpose vehicle" 7) counterparts.
- Parts of Tobruk were used in Raid on Rommel (1971)
- Rock Hudson replaced Laurence Harvey (The Manchurian Candidate)
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