WWII renewed interest

Tried this game called Company of Heroes out of curiosity during one of the LAN parties as the guys wanted to try something new. And whenever we mean something new, it always has to be a game that all of us would be unfamiliar with, so that there would be no unfair advantage. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this RTS game which is so heavily based on military tactics. All of a sudden, terms like suppressive fire, flanking manoeuvres, artillery barrages and kill zones made more sense than it did in the army. Compared to the RTS of old where a popular strategy would be to amass large numbers of tanks to steam-roll over another player or large numbers of cheap early units to "rush" an opponent, COH limits this with different counters and limited resources. Totally satisfying to see a mediocre infantry man, armed with a Panzerschreck (big bad Nazi bazooka) and a good cover, giving hell to a bad-ass tank / tanks without infantry support. And have you ever wondered just how ridiculous it is in some RTS games for a vehicle to get blown apart only after numerous tank shots? Over here, all it takes is a well-placed anti-tank cannon to ruin your armoured forces. And best of all, it just takes a 3 man infantry crew to man it! Hurray infantry! (If you haven't guessed by now, my support for these mobile guys stems from me being in the infantry division previously) :p

Anw the game led to a renewed interest in the WWII genre as I read up further on the history and battles. (yep, I totally love history classes and particularly the WWII history back in secondary school. Always looked forward to one of those black and white war documentaries shown during lessons.) Re-watched Band of Brothers as I did not fully grasp alot of things back then when I first watched it. (For example, I did not know that episode 9 was, in a small way, a depiction of the Holocaust when the soldiers liberated a concentration camp. Always merely thought of it as an episode lacking in action, yet it was so full of emotion when I re-watched it. Must have been that visit to Auschwitz in Poland that made me appreciate it better now) My best memories of BoB when it first aired in Singapore was its coincidental showing on the weekends right before booking in to Tekong. Oh the noob recruit days 6 years ago! And so the show served as an adrenaline and morale boost before it was back to "chiong suah" in camp, well actually it was more of the action in the show. However, re-watching the series brought about greater curiosity in the battles and operations, and of course ideas of the balance between heroism in the common man with the violence and terror of a war, and eventually the Holocaust. What was refreshing was watching the view points of soldiers in the movie and eventually the actual veterans themselves in the aptly named documentary "We Stand Alone Together" that was never shown on TV.

Speaking of the Holocaust, also watched the Pianist and Schindler's List. Interestingly, these are movies I have heard that were great or won some award during the time they were made, but somehow never bothered or found the time to sit down and watch. Both tell a great and moving story, though I tend to empathise more with the lead in the Pianist as it is more of his personal story through those troubled times and thus more focused on the individual.

To end off, decided to put up some photos that I took in black and white during my summer trip to Auschwitz in Poland last year. Though I felt the impact would have been bigger if the camp was visited in the cold harsh winter, it was nevertheless a sobering and moving experience. To all the Holocaust deniers, I mean seriously...wtf?!? There's no way millions of Jews disappear without a trace of evidence and there's so much of it remaining despite efforts by the S.S to conceal their crimes. Whatever that goes on in their minds is beyond me. It is pure racism, simple as that.

Iron gate at the entrance of Auschwitz I with the motto Arbeit macht frei (Work brings freedom)...an ironic one for those imprisoned are doomed to a horrific fate


Beyond this lies the death wall where countless were lined up against the wall and shot






Electric perimeter fences

Fences lining the exterior of the much larger Auschwitz II (Birkenau) complex

Prisoners would arrive by rail through here and then either marked for extermination or forced labour


Remnants of a gas chamber. German forces in retreat tried to destroy and cover up any incriminating evidence