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[rollon]

у американцев свои Бронзовые солдаты:

Japan has returned to using the prewar name for the island of Iwo Jima — site of one of World War II's most horrific battles — at the urging of its original inhabitants, who want to reclaim an identity they say has been hijacked by high-profile movies like Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima."
Yahoo news

обсуждение на форуме игры Hearts of Iron II

форум хоть и игровой, но очень интересный. там часто обсуждают историю Второй мировой, вот, например, ветка про воспоминания членов семьи о войне.
несколько цитат:

Two stories from my grandfather: (the same one that was mentioned in mypost "More Than a Man I Can Be"). He was a Sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division, 504th PIR. As he jumped into Sicily in '43, he met up with most of his platoon in his stick after his battalion came underfire from Allied ships who were supporting the airborne forces in Sicily with indirect fire support, mistaking them for Italian or German aircraft. With the pilots giving him the red light, his stick jumped way off their DZ, scattered all over the island. After the rough jump, he met up with his platoon and they ended up sneaking up and capturing several German prisoners, a squad of riflemen who had surrendered to them. Due to the drops being misplaced all over Sicily and since him and his men were in reality dozens of miles away from their objectives and rally points, they sat not knowing what to do with their newly found prisoners of war. His platoon lieutenant came along, and also indecisive, finally ordered my grandfather to hand him his Thompson. He swung it around and killed all the German prisoners, and then gave him his Thompson back to him and told him and the platoon to shut up about it. They then simply walked away. The memory horrified him for the rest of his days.

Another story I heard was during the Battle of the Bulge in the Netherlands, him and his squad were sent back to regroup behind their own lines because they had been suffering some pretty nasty casualties throughout the battle and were fatigued and out of important equipment. They were assigned a bunk, but the spot he had in it was right next to the door. During the night it was so God damn cold that he got up and got every spare blanket he could find and covered himself in them fromhead to toe, then fell back asleep. Due to the constant lines changing during the battle, the Germans had overrun his position, and when he awoke, he was the only one left in his bunk alive. The Germans had killed his entire platoon in the night with bayonets. This memory also terrified him for the rest of his days.
#27

I don't know anything about my maternal grandfather's war experience, though. He never spoke of it, not even to his children. I tell myself I don't want to know, because apart from being temporarily indispensible in a hydrogeneration plant, he served in a Waffen-SS cavalry unit. A smart man once put it this way: "Those who saw most, speak least."
#6