D-Day code to the FFI.
ArtKramr
underground that the invasion was about to take place. It went something like,
"my heart is filled with langour and a yearning sadness" or something like
that. Does anyone know the precise message and its origin in literature?
Arthur Kramer
Las Vegas NV
C.Chazot
"Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne
Blessent mon coeur d'une langueur monotone"
(Long wheeps of automn fiddles
hurt my heart with monotonuous spleen)
These are the two first verses of a poem by Paul Verlaine.
Please excuse my poor translation in English.
Yours,
"ArtKramr" <artk...@aol.com> a écrit dans le message news:
90r6ek$6m4$1...@beast.TCNJ.EDU...
Rich Rostrom
>Just before D-day a message ...to alert the French underground...
>"my heart is filled with langour and a yearning sadness"...
>...the precise message and its origin in literature?
I cannot locate the message, but it was a line from the
works of the French poet Paul Verlaine.
According to my Simon and Schuster Encyclopedia of WW II,
the first line of a Verlaine poem indicated that the
invasion was imminent, and the second line of the same
poem would mean "invasion in the next 48 hours".
However, though the Germans knew of this, few of them
believed it, as it seemed a foolish thing for the Allies
to do. About the only German who did was the intelligence
officer of 15th Army (in the Calais region). He convinced
his commander to alert his forces. No one in 7th Army in
Normandy noticed, nor did 15th Army seek to alert them...
Besides, with near gale force winds in the Channel, neither
von Rundstedt or Rommel thought invasion was even possible.
Rommel was going to Germany to visit his family.
Which leads to an interesting WI? Suppose that the first
week of June 1944 had been perfect, halcyon weather, ideal
for the invasion? The Germans would have been on the hair-
trigger, alert for any hint of Allied movement.
The Allies had the great good fortune of having weather just
bad enough to make the Germans think they couldn't come,
while knowing (thanks to the work of Group Captain Stagg)
that they _could_. How could it have been _planned_ better?
--
Never consume legumes before transacting whatsoever | Rich Rostrom
even in the outermost courtyard of a descendant of |
Timur the Terrible. | rrostrom@dummy
--- Avram Davidson, _Dr. Bhumbo Singh_ | 21stcentury.net
Robert Tota
transmission was a quote from a poem,the first lines of Verlaine: "The long
sobbings of Autumn violins..." this signaled that the invasion was on.
The second transmission was the second line of Verlaine: "Hurt my heart with
a monotonous weakness", this signaled the invasion was to be within 48
hours.
Hope that helps somewhat.
Bob Tota
Wantagh, NY
ArtKramr <artk...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:90r6ek$6m4$1...@beast.TCNJ.EDU...
Donald Phillipson
The best-known (of several) was from a (nonsense?) poem by Verlaine:
Les sanglots longs
des violons
de l'automne
blessent mon coeur
d'une langeure
monotone.
[The long sobs of the violins of autumn
wound my heart with a sombre languor.]
--
| Donald Phillipson, dphil...@trytel.com |
| Carlsbad Springs, Ottawa, Canada |
ArtKramr
>"Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne
>Blessent mon coeur d'une langueur monotone"
>(Long wheeps of automn fiddles
>hurt my heart with monotonuous spleen)
>These are the two first verses of a poem by Paul Verlaine.
Thank you. I appreciate it. The French langueur translates to a virtual English
cognate of languor rather than spleen.
Arthur Kramer
Las Vegas NV
--
Emmanuel Gustin
news:90r6ek$6m4$1...@beast.TCNJ.EDU...
> Just before D-day a message was sent over the BBC to alert the French
It was the second line from a poem by Paul Verlaine, "Chanson d'Automne."
Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne
Blessent mon coeur d'une langueur monotone.
Tout suffocant et blême, quand sonne l'heure,
Je me souviens des jours anciens et je pleure;
Et je m'en vais au vent mauvais qui m'emporte
Deçà, delà, pareil à la feuille morte.
If you will excuse a very bad translation:
The long sobs of the autumnal violins
wound my heart with a monotonous yearning.
All suffocating and pale, and when the bell rings
I remember the old days and cry;
And I depart with a bad wind that takes me
Here and there, like the dead leaf.
No logical connection with D-day as far as a I know; it was just
a famous poem and easy to remember.
--
Emmanuel Gustin
emmanue...@skynet.be
Homepage: http://users.skynet.be/Emmanuel.Gustin/
Fighter Guns Page: http://www.geocities.com/gustin_e/
Military Aircraft Database: http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/
--
Dave Gower
"Rich Rostrom" <rros...@21stcentury.net> wrote in message
news:90tbjm$qhd$1...@beast.TCNJ.EDU...
> The Allies had the great good fortune of having weather just
> bad enough to make the Germans think they couldn't come,
> while knowing (thanks to the work of Group Captain Stagg)
> that they _could_. How could it have been _planned_ better?
But that weather had its cost to the allies. At Omaha beach, for
example, it
was probably a factor in causing some of the bombing strikes on the
beach
defenses to miss, thus strengthening the defense. It also gave the
German SS
panzer divisions protection from tactical air strikes when they moved
up to
thwart the British and Canadian drives on Caen.
Furthermore, rough seas all up and down the coast made naval support
of the
landings more difficult, also a factor at Omaha.
And finally, the weather on D-day and even more so on subsequent days
severely hampered the allied landing of supplies and reinforcements.
John Decker
The two-part coded messages, that alerted French Resistance of the impending
D-Day
invasion, were taken from the poem “ Chanson d'Automne” or “Song of Autumn ” by
the 19th century French poet Paul Verlaine. On 1 June 1944 (9:00pm) the BBC
broadcast the first important verse from the poem to the French Resistance: “The
long
sobs of the violins of autumn” which alerted the French Resistance that the
D-Day
invasion was imminent.
On 5 June 1944 (10:15pm) the second half of the Verlaine poem is broadcast to
the
French Resistance. The significant verse: “Wound my heart with monotonous
languor ”
signaled that the invasion would be within 48 hours. The French Resistance then
began a wide range of railroad demolition and other destructive activities.
The Abwehr (German Military Intelligence) had discovered the significance of the
Verlaine poem from a French traitor and began to monitor all BBC broadcasts. On
1
June 1944 the Germans intercepted the first verse of the poem and alerted some
field
units on 2 June 1944.
The German 15th Army’s wireless intercept group (5 June 1944) recorded the
second
verse of the poem and alerted German command staffs within the hour. Due to a
misunderstanding between the Army Supreme Command (Jodl), Western General
Headquarters (Rundstedt) and the Army Group B headquarters (Rommel), the German
7th Army which was guarding the Normandy coast never received the warning. And
the rest is history!
John Decker
WalterM140
> The long sobs of the autumnal >violins
>wound my heart with a >monotonous yearning.
The way it was translated in the movie, "The Longest Day" was:
"The long sobs of the violins of autumn,
wound my heart with a monotonous langour."
Some of the German characters in the film said the lines in German. I wonder
what that translation might be?
Walt
--
David John Constable
correct.
Some words can be very difficult to directly translate, this may be
one.