Thread by @eigenrobot

took me ten minutes to figure out what any of this meant

trying to think about how i would explain it all to my 99 year old grandfather

coming up short

(deep breath)

a popular pastime today involves people recording themselves playing "video games" and broadcasting this to others who watch. sometimes, these broadcasters use computers to make it look like animated characters are playing the video game. i dont understand why any of this is happening.

recently one such broadcaster lost her job. the reason for this is that she accepted a sponsorship to play a game based on a childrens book about wizards. the author of the wizard book is unpopular with a subset of people who disagree with her outspoken views on "trans women." we'll get to what this means in a moment.

today, a common mode of expressing disagreement with a person is to complain loudly and publicly to that persons employer in hopes of getting them fired to stop the public complaints. this is called "cancelling."

trans women are people who broadly speaking were born with sex chromosomes that produce masculine anatomy and physiology who "identify" as women and often though not universally use hormones or surgery to better conform to conventional notions of femininity. the scope of things that one may "identify" as is complex and probably inconsistently defined. generally, gender is in, and race is out.

even in the case of gender, there is substantial and often violent debate around the extent to which identification ought to be accommodated in public spaces. for reasons that are not generally discussed, accommodation of trans women is more controversial than accommodation of trans men.

the author of the wizard book on which the video game was based openly opposes the notion of accommodating transgender identification and as a result has become a controversial figure. this has alienated many people, who consequently identify any product based on her books--including the video game in question--as representative of an anti-accommodation position.

consequently, a subset of trans women and their supporters criticized the animated broadcaster who took a sponsorship to play the wizard book video game, and they have apparently succeeded in cancelling her. because this animated broadcaster was generally seen as wholesome and well-loved, other trans women and their supporters are concerned that the reputations and standing of trans women will suffer as a consequence.

i know this is a lot to take in and imagine you are thinking back to your days fighting in the ardennes and wondering what sequence of events over three quarters of a century has transported you from that world to this one. ill pause now and take some questions.

@BryanCLee2 report from mom is "2nd Battalion 309th infantry regiment (lightning brigade). ardennes, rhineland, central europe"

digging a bit, looks like probably the 78th infantry division, "brigade" an error

pic related

"its important to spend your 20s having experiences"
lonesentry.com/gi_stories_boo…

you wake up in a cold sweat. its december 13th, 1944 and you are just across the border from belgium. "hormones? computers? what are you talking about anon. get your goddamn rifle its time to take kesternich"

ive lost interest in the vtuber. having tracked down my grandfather's unit (78th division, 309th infantry regiment, 2nd battalion--that's him by the tank above) I'm now tracing his course in the war

his battalion led the division's first assault of the war. it was bad

think i recall from a secondhand story another man in his company was killed right next to him almost immediately

it was enough to fuck up the blitz's northern axis though
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of…

after the initial battle for the town left the 78th in control of the western half, the division took up defensive positions while the battle of the bulge more substantially raged to the south

2d pic is kesternich pinpointed, 3d is rough location vs the main bulge offensive

After the Bulge, the division took the rest of Kesternich, then split. The 311th headed east to take Ruhrburg (yellow) before turning north, 310th went NE to reduce two strongholds of Strauch and Steckenborn (green), and my grandfather's 309th (red) went around to cut off retreat

their ultimate target, the strategic fortress city of Schmidt, had been attacked before, in the previous year's Hurtgen Forest offensive

it had gone very badly

honestly the original attack from the north, across the Kall river (blue emphasis), along a valley with high points controlled by the enemy was completely nuts

they actually managed to briefly hold the town but were driven back by an armored counteroffensive

78th's offensive involved three regiments rather than one which presumably helped, as did taking a different approach that allowed their armor to participate in the battle

309th took Kommerscheidt (red), the others focused on the core of Schmidt

by the end Schmidt was leveled

after Schmidt fell, the 78th moved quickly to take a dam on the Rur southeast of the town. if it were destroyed it would have the usual catastrophic effects from dam bursts in war (a minor release had already been used, to effect)

fortunately it was captured without issue

after the capture of the dam and Schmidt, the uneven and forested terrain west of the Rur gave way to open plains up to the Rhine, and the 78th dashed across the fields with great rapidity. the Wehrmacht practically melted before them

zoomed out for context

on the banks of that great river in the town of Remagen, the 9th Armored discovered to their delight that the Ludendorff Bridge, a military railway crossing, still stood because the Germans had used shit tier explosives during demolition

the 78th, nearby, was immediately sent in

they, and other divisions that followed, rapidly established a bridgehead and secured the east bank

the Ludendorff Bridge finally collapsed ten days after capture but by then, with the far bank secured, new bridges had been established

this was a fell stroke against the enemy

this bridging was accomplished by mid March. I'm a bit fuzzy about what came next. For the rest of the war in Europe, which ended 8 May, they were involved in the dissolution of the major pocket of german forces in the Ruhr

in November, they moved to Berlin

occupying Berlin was an important event in my grandfather's life, although he did not come to understand the extent of it until 65 years later

that is perhaps a story for another thread

He had a good life after the war. My grandmother gave him five children; he had a career as a chemical engineer, and he didnt seem as badly affected by the war as others in my family. His hearing was damaged by artillery, but this (much later) left him eligible for a pension.

I find myself thinking more of him lately. He's so old, now. But was barely half my own age when he was thrown into the largest conflagration in history, and played his own part in its bloody resolution.

I wonder if it all seems as strange to him as my years do to me.

another grandfather's journey across europe

@threadreaderapp unroll