The Last Train

A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead is the troubling story of 230 women of the French Resistance who were eventually sent to Auschwitz and of whom only 49 returing -barely alive and to live out their lives in ill health and severe depression. Beginning as a lusty tale of the French Resistance, mainly perpetuated by the Communists who were already well organized and who were used to operating clandestinely, the men were eventually imprisoned, tortured and shot while the women were imprisoned by the French who took to German brutality with a vengeance, then transported east into the camps set up for the Jews. Those who survived did so by sheer will and by taking care of each other, hiding those who were too sick to work and figuring out quickly such survival techniques such as waiting for the last ration of soup, upon which the vegetables and meat sank to the bottom. Their misery is hardly ameliorated by watching the Jewish and Polish women perish by the thousands as they were often caught up in the same round ups. These women emerged not as heroes as the French often failed to recognize the women who "did little more" than spread newsletters about in spite of the great impact these newsletters had on the Resistance. They came home to a country which did not want to talk about a war which had ended a year earlier for them and thus the camaraderie they had built up and which kept them alive died with them.

Peace Through Superior Firepower & Absolute Retaliation

Did Reagan really say no country ever got into a war because it was too strong? He did according to Edwin Meese, discussing the dusting off of the good old "peace through stength" philosophy rumored to be coming back into vogue. Certainly nations may have underestimated their own capabilities or overestimated the weakness of their enemies but Germany built up a military colossus right out in the front yard at a busy intersection, announced they were going to war, applied all aspects of warfighting (from negotiating and treaties to outright invasion), and damn near toppled most of the important parts of the world. They were strong and knew it. We ignored those glaring facts twice, writing the mess off as unavoidable cultural deficiencies caused by (as pointed out years later by P.J. O'Rourke) sitting outside drinking tiny cups of coffee instead of sitting inside drinking large glasses of whiskey. I can't imagine Reagan saying someting that naive. Maybe I missed some greater point(s)? Can anyone enlighten me? Only Stalin, stating in 1941, that war with Germany was inevitable, felt strong enough -- in spite of his ill-advised officer purges -- to face the threat head on. He may have underestimated his readiness but he nonetheless mucked things up for a good long while in the Allies favor and rightfully emerged the second strongest nation on the planet. Of course, it's only fair to note that it's 'rightful' if you overlook political negotiations such as the one which forced Patton to watch the Russians "take" the Elbe River as he fumed in a lawn chair, probably drawing bigger, sillier mustaches on pictures of Joe.