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The Fog of War and Humanity | Ep. 651: Mark Drexler: Preparing for D-Day (Part 2) | HMTC

Before Leon Drexler ever fired the cannon of a Sherman tank in combat, he crossed an Atlantic patrolled by German submarines and arrived in England as Allied forces prepared for the largest amphibious invasion in history.

In Part 2 of The Fog of War and Humanity, host Richard Acritelli continues his conversation with educator and military historian Mark Drexler about his father’s World War II service. Mark explains how Germany’s blitzkrieg victories created an image of an unbeatable military while the United States raced to transform its small, unprepared army into a global fighting force.

The conversation follows Leon from Fort Hood to England, where millions of personnel and enormous amounts of equipment were assembled for Operation Overlord. Mark and Richard discuss the dangerous live-fire exercises that killed hundreds of American servicemen, the leadership of George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower, and the monumental challenge of organizing the Normandy invasion.

Mark also shares the wartime experiences of Leon’s two brothers, including a devastating grenade-training accident that nearly cost his uncle an arm. Their mother displayed a service flag with three blue stars, one for each son serving during the war.

From a Brooklyn diamond cutter to a Sherman tank gunner, Leon represented the citizen-soldiers who left ordinary lives to confront Nazi Germany. A family photograph of a young Jewish soldier leading German prisoners captures the reversal of Nazi propaganda and the humanity behind the history.

The Fog of War and Humanity on hmTv | Host: Richard Acritelli | Guest: Mark Drexler

Executive Producer and Director: Bernie Furshpan

A production of the Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center of Nassau County

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─── CHAPTERS ───

0:00 Introduction
0:19 Welcome and Part 1 recap
1:03 America’s unprepared military and Germany’s blitzkrieg
4:36 Isolationism and the America First movement
5:25 Leon’s journey from Fort Hood to Europe
6:27 The 745th Tank Battalion and Alpha Company
7:29 Crossing the submarine-patrolled Atlantic
7:58 England becomes the staging ground for D-Day
8:35 Deadly training exercises before Normandy
10:55 Eisenhower, Marshall, and Allied leadership
14:14 Leon’s experiences in wartime England
16:28 Three Drexler brothers enter military service
17:33 A devastating grenade-training accident
18:58 Three blue stars in a Brooklyn window
20:10 Sixteen million Americans answer the call
20:47 The 745th Tank Battalion and the Big Red One
22:25 From diamond cutter to Sherman tank gunner
23:48 A Jewish soldier leads German prisoners
24:56 African American soldiers and segregated service
25:28 Closing and Part 3 preview
25:54 hmTv outro

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