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‘Let us hope that they will remember the Red Army’
A look at the writing of war correspondent James Aldridge 40 years ago reminds us of the eastern perspective when a second front was finally opened on D-Day, 1944, says HELEN MERCER
LONG-AWAITED DAY: Royal Marine commandos moving off the Normandy beaches, 1944

IN JUNE 1984 the resurgent arms race and the fostering of a resumed cold war characterised the way the West marked the 40th anniversary of the D-Day landings. 

In response several Soviet newspapers and journals carried articles rehearsing the true background to June 6 1944. 

One of these was written by the author, James Aldridge, who, as a well-known Australian war correspondent, had been based in Moscow in 1944 and 1945. He had already reported from many of the fronts of the war, including Finland during the winter war, northern Iraq and Egypt. 

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