The Celebration Of Peaceful International Athletic Competition

The american and allied troops got to normandy beach at 2 o’clock in the morning. At 3 o’clock in the morning the fighting started. The allies had aerial bombardment as backup. It was so bad that their was 209 thousand allies and 216 thousand germans that died on D-Day when the invasion was over.

“The battle [is also] known by different names. The Germans [called it] ‘Operation Watch on the Rhine’, while the French [called] it ‘Battle of the Ardennes’. [American and Britain] called it the Ardennes Counteroffensive.” The main goal for the Germans for this offensive was to split the British and American forces in half and capture the port city of Antwerp. This would “cause an encirclement of four allied armies and [force] a peace negotiation” (Cirillo). The Germans almost had complete surprise when the offensive was launched on “December 16th, 1944, at 05:30” and the offensive start with “an artillery barrage of over 1,600 artillery pieces.” The assault took place across an “80 mile front [that] the 6th Panzer Army had to cover” (Quarrie 1). “The attack was led by one of the best equipped German divisions on the western front, the 1st SS Panzer Division.” This was the lead unit for the 6th Panzer Army and was the lead division for the assault. The 26th Infantry was covering the part of the front where the push started. They were caught completely by surprise. “Equipped with only 32 M4 tanks, 57 anti-tank guns and thousands of battle-weary men” (MacDonald 1). The initial assault went well for the Germans and they break through the thinly defended American lines. Just “20 hours in [from the start of the assault] German forces are just 55 miles out from their objective”. By this time the casualty rate is below from what the

June 6, 1944. The world has been at war for almost 5 years. The Axis Powers have occupied France and a lot of Europe. The USSR is pushing the Germans out of Russia and back towards Germany. The Allies are preparing to invade and take back Europe and defeat the Axis. The invasion starts with a mix of British and American paratroopers being dropped behind enemy lines to take important and over 100,00 soldiers are preparing to launch one of the largest sea invasions of all time. The soldiers are a mix of British, Canadian, and United States origin. The 5 beaches being attacked are codenamed Utah, Gold, Sword, Juno, and Omaha. In the end, the invasion as a whole turned out to be a success on every beach. There were many reasons for this success,

In our society sports are a very important social construction. As sports continue to grow, they are becoming more integrated into the major spheres of social life. Sports have become an entity, due to the fact that they not only create entertainment and jobs; sports have become a huge platform for various causes. Sports are extremely important to our society and have very powerful influences. Though experiences vary from person to person, most people have some sort of experience with sports. I personally have experienced sports more from the spectator and participant stance, and have been impacted from each perspective a great deal. Compared to sophomore safety, Jamal Adams my sports experience has been very different from impact and perspective.

With a strong backup, the Allied troops were able to advance through the enemy-occupied countries with lightening speed. Therefore, the attack not only led to the French people’s freedom, but also to the quick downfall of Nazi Germany. (Naval History and Heritage- D-Day, the Normandy Invasion, 6 - 25 June 1944)

The units that were supposed to come ashore before the first wave were special tanks called DD, or Duplex Drive, tanks. These tanks, especially in the case of Omaha Beach, either sank before or were destroyed as they came ashore. The loss of these tanks meant that the troops landing on Omaha Beach would not have any close support from heavy weapons. ONce the troops began to land, this became a serious problem which the destroyers of the Allied armada solved for the troops on the beach. Destroyers would take turns cruising in as close as they could and then would proceed to provide fire support for the besieged troops by blasting machine gun and 88 mm gun emplacements with their five-inch guns. This fire support was crucial to the formation of a beachhead on Omaha Beach, in doing so, preventing the Allied invasion on Omaha Beach from being thrown back and possibly ending the invasion of France in defeat.

The shores were heavily “fortified” according to historians.Over 425,000 German and Allied troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the invasion. That includes over 209,000 killed from the Allied troops, with almost 37,000 deaths in the ground forces and about 16,714 people in the Air Force were killed.

(Source B). The Allies had sent troops on the beach and they covered 50 miles of the land. This was the largest military assault in history (Source F). While the Americans were landing, strong tides swept them away and they did not have any cover to protect them. The number of Allies grew fast as incoming troops got involved. Two million men fought at Normandy. Germany could not send troops from France to assist since the tides were too strong for them to land, therefor they were not allowed to bring in more numbers from France. As Germany fought they began to lose the battle and the Americans pushed until they met with the USSR. This was the first time Germany was attacked. Most of the Nazis soldiers were just 16 years old and the Americans marched over them (Source C). The Germans fought a willing and difficult fight against the Allies. Airborne troops were shot down in Germany (Source

Although he helped American troops in North Africa, Eisenhower’s biggest feat was the invasion of Nazi-occupied Western Europe, better known as D-Day. As the Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces in World War II at the time, Eisenhower gave permission for a massive invasion called Operation Overlord. He only had a window of four days to launch the attack, but jumped at the opportunity (Koves). The 40 mile stretch of the beaches of Normandy, France was divided into five sections: Juno, Sword, Omaha, Gold, and Utah (Operation Overlord Animated Map). Late at night on June 6th, 1944, aerial troops secured both the eastern and western parts of the beach. In the morning, seaborne soldiers began to attack the coast (Operation Overlord Animated Map). By June 27th, the Germans had wrecked their ports, assuming this would slow down the Allies. Their attempt failed, and finally, on August 25th, the French army successfully liberated Paris (BBC News).

When you think of the Olympics, you most likely think of gymnastics, soccer, swimming, hockey and many more events. However, very few of the sports that are competed in now existed when the Olympics first began. They have evolved considerably over the last 3,000 years. First of all, there were very few events compared to how many there are now. Also, the Olympics went from only being known in Greece to being “the world’s preeminent sporting competition.” (History.com)

The first troops deployed into battle were paratroopers. Over thirteen thousand U.S. paratroopers were dropped by an armada of C-47s behind German lines before dawn. Their mission was to seize bridges, disrupt communications, and prevent German soldiers from reinforcing the Normandy beaches as the Allied assault hit the coastline (Alberecht). Heavy cloud coverage made for difficult navigation and forced many of the paratroopers to jump “blind”. This resulted in them being scattered over a 100-square mile radius. Thirty-five percent of these soldiers landed at their designated drop point, while many others died when they landed in fields flooded by the Germans. Despite all of this, the remaining troops were able to secure their intended positions (Dry).

The Olympics are a set of games that occur every 4 years in the winter and the summer. These games bring countries from all around the world together for friendly competition.

Sports have been and will continue to be an influential factor on cultures around the world. Soccer is influential in Europe, Football influences The United States and for Canada it would be hockey. It was created in Canada and continues today to be a dominating part of Canadian culture as “the sport and national identity are inextricably linked” (Brunt). You could ask almost anyone in Canada if they knew who Wayne Gretzky is or if they have ever played any form of hockey, and undoubtedly you would hear them say yes more often than no. Hockey influences all ages, from youth signing up for minor hockey, to adults taking their children to a game or even the older generations sitting in front of their television in hopes that the Toronto Maple Leafs will beat the Ottawa Senators. The examination of these cultural influences allows the argument to be made that hockey can in fact be deemed “Canada’s game” (Holman 153).Through investigation of the amount of youth that participate in minor hockey, the statistics involving the amount of professional Canadian hockey players and the success that Canada has achieved in the world of professional hockey, such as the Olympics, NHL and IIHF World Juniors, it will become evident that hockey is and will continue to be viewed as “Canada’s game”. (Holman 153)

The Olympic Games are able to unify the otherwise divided world through a shared love of sports and displays of great athleticism. Much like competitors being recognized with medals for their athletic achievements, major corporations seek higher brand recognition by using the Olympic games as a global marketing platform. In order to do so, companies must identify themselves as official sponsors, which has become an increasingly expensive investment. Leading up to the Rio 2016 Olympics, twelve sponsors invested multi-millions of dollars to gain exclusive worldwide marketing rights. Although, before the 2016 Games, the IOC, or the International Olympic Committee, implemented a change in Rule 40, allowing unofficial sponsors to use Olympic

12000 aircraft supported the land invasion force, the plan was to divide the German forces, to ease the landing on the beaches. The paratroops were suppose to be dropped off in a small aria between the city, which was occupied by Germans, and the swamp aria, which was purposely flooded by the Germans, and flank them. The movie did an amazing job in reproducing this event. Due to the bad weather the man got scattered all over the place, people fell into wells, landed in trees, fell through the roofs, and many had drowned in the swamp. One part of the movie shows an English solder landing in a courtyard full of German solders. He was immediately apprehended and taken to German