With today marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings by Allied troops and the start of the battle of Normandy, it’s time to reflect on the loss of young lives on all sides that were not to be fulfilled. These are just some personal thoughts about how we must remember them and return to offering a better future for young people today.
Today sees a series of commemorative events to mark the largest seaborne invasion in history. It led to 226,386 Allied and 158,930 German casualties in the Battle of Normandy as a secure western front was opened. Most of these were young men cut down before their time and they represent the loss of a huge potential.
Fading of the light.
The post-war consensus was driven by a desire to stop further wars and seek a better world. This involved leaders who had direct experience and knew the dangers.
The last Prime Ministers of the UK who experienced the war directly were Jim Callaghan (Royal Navy) and Edward Heath (Army). Harold Wilson volunteered for military service but was instead deployed as an economist in the civil service throughout the war. They represented the last UK leadership link to the war who had a profound understanding of the dangers of extremism. Their experiences must have influenced policy directly in a way that subsequent leaders might not have appreciated.
During the war, philosopher Karl Popper wrote possibly the most influential political text of the 20th Century with ‘The Open Society and its Enemies’. He laid out the warnings for others to heed. It’s just as relevant today.
“If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them”.
Yet now we must guard even more against the rise of intolerance and nationalism again on both sides of the Atlantic. Too many young people are embracing the path of intolerance and in doing so risk drawing everyone down a dangerous path. The role of education and rational thinking becomes critical in countering this and it’s not just about outcomes and earnings. Some deeper thinking and wiser leadership might prevail if we take off the blinkers of self-interest.
Turning points
The D-Day landings have been billed as a turning point in a brutal war against tyranny. Certainly, it was hugely significant. There were others at Midway and the counterattack in the second battle of El-Alamein but they were not on the same scale of casualties.
Highly significant was the counterattack on the Eastern Front almost a year earlier. A colossal, armoured battle took place over a wide front around Kursk in the Soviet Union. It was the largest land battle in history and led to a huge number of casualties. There is still debate about how many, but it was likely over one million on both sides (over 800,000 Soviet casualties and over 200,000 German casualties).
The irony today is that a battle between Russia and Ukraine is raging over the same ground and not far from the battle of Kursk monument in Bolgorod. Many more young lives are being lost in the same way in a conflict that should have been avoided. We all deserve better, but especially young people looking to the future.
Remember those in a ‘forgotten war’.
When the landings began in June 1944, two fierce battles had been underway since March and would last until July. The battles of Imphal and Kohima repelled the Japanese invasion of India and together were another major turning point. The Allies suffered 12,603 casualties but the Japanese casualties of 54,879 meant the largest defeat they had endured. We must also not forget this today.
Saving lives.
So many brave souls fought to end tyranny and save lives for a future generation that it’s impossible for us to comprehend the scale of the horrors and sacrifices they endured. Their normal lives were suspended for years as the struggle continued. The potential of so many young was lost with survivors on all sides vowing to make things better.
Some survivors went on to save many more lives in time. I knew one of them, Professor ‘Kenny’ Fraser. He was my boss in Microbiology at Queen’s University Belfast till his retirement in 1982. He was lucky to survive the battles in Burma and India. He was there as a young surgeon ‘Captain K B Fraser’ in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He had already been in the centre of many actions against the Japanese and was cited for a Military Cross (below) later that year. He saved the life of a badly wounded Indian soldier while under intense fire and both men were lucky to survive.
Fraser returned to Aberdeen University and carried out critical research while on a fellowship in Melbourne. He made crucial discoveries about the genetics of the influenza virus and how their strains varied. In an elegant series of genetic experiments, which analysed their genetic recombination, he discovered that it had a seven or eight-strand segmented genome that drove the variations. The realisation of this led to saving many lives as we understood how strains varied and how to tailor our vaccine programmes.
But how many more discoveries did we miss from those lost?
The dangers of nationalism: leave it on the field.
There is little doubt that the rise of nationalism fuelled the Second World War. It was led by stoking fear and hatred of others and a false belief of superiority. This in turn leads to racism, xenophobia and conflict. That these sentiments are spreading across Europe and elsewhere today is frightening. Reflection on what happened in the last century is therefore crucial in seeing the dangers. Yet those hell-bent on forcing their world views on others are attracted to anything associated with nationalism.
It is therefore ironic that the Euro football finals are soon to start. Surely, we can celebrate the fact that teams from across Europe can enjoy the sport of Association Football with a friendly rivalry. It is truly a world sport that brings us together. People in every country in the world understand the rules of Association Football and have a national Football Association. Yet extremists prey on this and use it as a platform for hate for young people to follow. We may have our differences, but we must ‘leave it on the field’.
The author, Mike Larkin, retired from Queen’s University Belfast after 37 years teaching Microbiology, Biochemistry and Genetics.
Addendum.
There was an understanding that the election campaign would be suspended for the commemorations today. But the Conservatives broke ranks this morning on the tax debate. It’s also odd that our Prime Minister Sunak returned to London and could not find the time to attend the main joint ceremony with other world leaders while Starmer and shadow Foreign Secretary Lammy did.