quarta-feira, 30 de junho de 2010

segunda-feira, 28 de junho de 2010

Frases

Algumas frases do Churchill, lembradas pelo Jô Soares

Próximas aquisições

Estão na minha lista de próximas leituras:
  • The Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge. John S. D. Eisenhower
  • The Guns of August. Barbara W. Tuchman
  • O Incêndio. Jörg Friedrich
As próximas aquisições que pretendo fazer estão na minha Wish List da Amazon. Aceito sugestões!

The longest day: algumas citações

The phone just as the shelling began again. The same voice he had heard earlier demanded to know "the exact location of the shelling". "For God's sake", Pluskat yelled, "they're falling all over. What do you want me to do - go out and measure the holes with a ruler?" Página 189.


The great square-faced ramps of the assault craft butted into every wave, and chilling, frothing green water sloshed over eveyone. There were no heroes in these boats - just cold, miserable, anxios men, so jam-packed together, so weighed down by equipment that often there was no place to be seasick except over one anothe. Newsweek's Kenneth Crawford, in the first Utah wave, saw a young 4th Division soldier, covered with his own vomit, slowly shaking head in abject misery and disgust. "That guy Higgins," he said, 'ain't got nothin' to be proud of about inventin' this goddammed boat." Página 191.


In his bomb crater at the top of the cliff, Segeant Petty and his four-man BAR team sat exhausted after the climb. A little haze driffted over the churned, pitted earth and the smell of cordite was heavy in the air. Petty stared almost dreamily around him. Then on the edge of the crater he saw two sparrows eating worms. "Look", said Petty to the others, "they're having breakfast." Página 213.


... They lost all of their equipment and had to swim in under machine-gun fire. As they struggled in the water, Gardner heard someone say, "Perhaps we're intruding, this seems to be a private beach." Página 217.


... Then he said to the soldier with him, "Look at the super blokes - just look at them. Here, take them of my sight." He walked away to make himself a cup of tea to soothe his anger. While he was heating a canteen of water over a Sterno can a officer "with the down still on his chin" walked over and said sternly, "Now look here, Sergeant, this is no thime to be making tea." De Lacy looked up and, as patiently as his twenty-one years of Army service would allow, replied, "Sir, we are not playing at soldiers now - this is real war, Why don't you come back in five minutes and have a nice cup of tea?" The officer did. Página 221.


All along the Normandy coastline the invasion stormed. For the French, caught up in the battle, these were hours of chaos, elation and terror. Around Ste.-Mère-Église, which was now being heavily shelled, 82nd paratroopers saw farmers calmly working in the fields as though nothing were happening.Every now and then one of them would fall, either wounded or killed. In the town itself paratroopers watched the local barber remove the sign "Friseur" from the front of his shop and put a new one that said "Barber." Página 249.


[Eisenhower], In case the attempt to land troops was defeated, he had written: "Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory footholdand I have withdrawn the troops. My deciosion of attack at the time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and Navy did all the that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If there is any blame or fault attached to athe attempt, it is mine alone." Página 255.

... Immediately she called Frau Sauer, who had also heard something about the attack, and canceld the movie date. "I must know what has happened to Werner," she said. "I may never see him again.". Frau Sauer was very abrupt and very Prussian. "You shouldn't act like this!" snapped Frau Sauer. "You should believe the Führer and act like a good officer's wife.". Frau Pluskat shot back, "I'll never talk to you again!" The she slammed down the phone. Página 259.

Segeant Thomas Bruff of the 101st watched a 4th Division scout come off the causeway near Poppeville, "carying his rifle like a squirrel gun." The scout looked at the weary Bruff. "Where is the war?" he inquired. Bruff, who had landed eight miles from his drop zone and had fought all night with a small group under the command of General Maxwell Taylor, growled at the soldier. "Anywhere from here on back. Keep going, buddy, you'll find it." Página 262.


Near the top of the Vierville bluff, Ranger Private First Class Carl Weast and his company commander, Captain George Whittington, spotted a machine-gun nest manned by three Germans. As Weast and the captain circled it cautiously, one of the Germans suddenly turned, saw the two Americans and yelled, "Bitte! Bitte! Bitte!" Whittington fired, killing all tree. Turning to Weast he said, "I wonder what bitte means." Página 266.


Lang was very angry and shocked. Forgetting for a moment he was talking to a general, he snapped, "How can you possible play opera at a time like this?" Speidel smiled and said, "My dear Lang, you don't think that my playing a little music is going to stop the invasion, now do you?" Página 276.

The longest day

Conforme disse na última postagem, não irei me prender mais aos 6 volumes do Churchill neste blog. Naturalmente, continuarei lendo este incrível livro, e postando comentários; mas também trabalharei com livros de outras fontes.

Acabo de ler o The Longest Day, do Cornelius Ryan. Sem dúvidas, um livro magnífico. Apresentando pontos de vista de todas as origens possíveis, dos americanos aos alemães, das altas esferas do SHAEF e o OKW até os GIs e Soldaten alemães. Logo irei postar algumas passagens interessantes. Fiquemos por enquanto com uma amostra do livro, e um trailer do filme homônimo originado deste livro (iMDb).



Few changes

Hi folks!

There will be some few but strong changes on this blog on the next days. First, I will change the primary language, from English to Portuguese. With this, I think I can write more and better, but I will maintain the quotes on their original languages. Second, I will cite more books and authors, but with the same theme, the Second World War.

Regards e até logo!