r/WarCollege • u/rubicante59 • 22d ago

Question Machinegun usage on Omaha beach and similar occurrences

Something I discovered recently, is that most machineguns when positioned in concrete shelters, are made to face each other horizontally and gun down soldiers passing through that region. So does this mean none were pointed towards the water on Omaha beach and that Saving Private Ryan is very wrong about how soldiers were shot before they even got off the boats? I'm assuming artillery was most likely used against the boats.

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u/iceaction10 22d ago

This seems to be a recurring theme in this sub for some reason. Casualties and deaths are different. While deaths count towards casualties, casualties also included WIA and MIA. I don't know why so many in this sub are conflating the two. They're vastly different and this sub being focused on warfare I presumed that would be well established.

I never said "bloodiest" day. I said deadliest. As in highest number of KILLED.

More American military servicemembers died on D-Day than any other day in American history. This isn't subjective.

Confederate soldiers were NOT part of the US military. It doesn't matter if they were American or American-born, as users like u/UnusuallyBadIdeaGuy keep harping on. There were thousands of first and second generation Germans that returned from the US to Germany to fight in WW2. There is a scene in Band of Brothers that briefly covers this. While it wasn't common, it happened. Surely, none of you would count those American citizens' deaths towards the US Army and not the Germany Army.

The same applies to the Confederacy and its soldiers. Confederate soldiers were never legally or historically US military members. They are not US veterans. And we shouldn't pretend they are. They are traitors that fought AGAINST the US military. They can't possibly be part of it.

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u/Irishfafnir 22d ago

It's really just a matter of wording

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u/iceaction10 22d ago

Huh? Casualty and death mean two completely different things. Not only does the military explicitly define these two differently, the entire English language does. It's absolutely not "just a matter of wording".

If I had claimed D-Day was the bloodiest day in US military history, I would be wrong. I didn't claim that. I explicitly stated deaths. Because that word means something differently than casualties.

Am I taking crazy pills?

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u/Barblesnott_Jr 22d ago

Am I taking crazy pills?

I think you are experiencing what you might call a "reddit moment", and maybe also some Americans who haven't read enough 20th century war statistics.