https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-6-2024
"President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had good news for the American people when
he gave his twenty-ninth Fireside Chat on June 5, 1944. The day before, on June
4, Rome had fallen to Allied troops. “The first of the Axis capitals is now in
our hands,” Roosevelt said.
The president pointed out that “it is…significant that Rome has been liberated
by the armed forces of many nations. The American and British armies—who bore
the chief burdens of battle—found at their sides our own North American
neighbors, the gallant Canadians. The fighting New Zealanders from the far
South Pacific, the courageous French and the French Moroccans, the South
Africans, the Poles and the East Indians—all of them fought with us on the
bloody approaches to the city of Rome. The Italians, too, forswearing a
partnership in the Axis which they never desired, have sent their troops to
join us in our battles against the German trespassers on their soil.”
This group of ordinary men from many different countries had worked together to
defeat the forces of fascism.
But FDR warned Americans that the fall of Rome was only the beginning. “We
shall have to push through a long period of greater effort and fiercer fighting
before we get into Germany itself,” he said. [T]he victory still lies some
distance ahead. That distance will be covered in due time—have no fear of that.
But it will be tough and it will be costly.”
FDR knew something his audience did not. On the other side of the Atlantic,
paratroopers, their faces darkened with cocoa, were already dropping into
France, and the soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allies were on their way
across the English channel."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
