A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

n the first years after the war , and a clubby veterans tradition hasn't flouris

hed in Germany the way it has in the United States . But Germany 's reluctance t

o note the passing of the D-day anniversary is more than just a reflection of ho

w few veterans groups there are or of how much greater emphasis Germans place on

 the Eastern Front than on France . It is also a reflection of Germany 's everla

sting struggle to come to terms with its past . Even 50 years of good relations 

with the Western democracies and a successful grafting of democratic tissue onto

 the German character have not been enough to erase the horror of the Third Reic

h . So reluctant are most Germans today to connect with their collective past th

at they are slow even to salute their dead . In Bonn , for instance , there were

 hurt feelings when the French left Chancellor Helmut Kohl off the official Norm

andy guest list . Yet Kohl merely responded that he hadn't wanted to go to Norma

ndy , anyway , and went on to forbid German diplomats to participate in most D-d

ay events . `` Let these people celebrate this day , '' Kohl said in a recent in

terview with the British Broadcasting Corp. . `` Let the survivors commemorate i

t in honor of their fallen comrades ... . This is no day for us Germans to join 

in the commemoration . '' ( Optional Add End ) Indeed , to the extent there has 

been discussion of D-day among German commentators in the past week , virtually 

all has `` looked forward , '' dealing with the years since World War II and not

 the war years themselves , or any other aspect of National Socialism . Much of 

the commentary has been upbeat , concentrating on the achievements of the past h

alf century and the fruitful association with the United States , and calling th

e fall of the Third Reich a `` liberation '' for Germans too . But a recent surv

ey highlights the difficulty Germans still have , half a century after the war ,

 in coming to grips with the rise of Hitler and agreeing upon what it may say ab

out German society . When asked who was to blame for the start of World War II ,

 56 percent of those surveyed named Germany , but a full quarter said they blame

d `` the confused international situation . '' More than 90 percent said they di

d not doubt that the Nazi Holocaust had happened , but when asked how they viewe

d the political concepts of the Nazis , nearly a quarter 24 percent said they we

re `` not so bad at all . '' The German weekly Die Woche , which published the s

urvey results , called this level of tolerance for Nazi ideology `` alarming '' 

and noted that the only good thing about such a figure was that it was smaller t

han it had been in previous surveys . In 1955 , according to Die Woche , almost 

half of West Germans said they would have considered Hitler a great statesman if

 he hadn't tried to wipe out the Jews , and in 1989 another survey turned up 46 

percent of Germans saying they could find some good things about National Social

ism .

 PORTSMOUTH , England Senior U.S. officials , worried that China will veto a U.N

. attempt to impose economic sanctions on North Korea , have begun to explore av

enues outside the United Nations to thwart the Pyongyang regime 's purported nuc

lear ambitions . Defense Secretary William J. Perry said Sunday that it was `` e

ntirely possible '' that China would block a U.N. . Security Council resolution 

against North Korea , which has incurred international wrath because of its susp

ected nuclear weapons program . Perry suggested publicly for the first time Sund

ay that Washington would be prepared to go outside the United Nations to rally A

sian and European allies to isolate North Korea economically . Perry and other s

enior officials here for ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of D-day 

insisted that the administration will continue to work through the United Nation

s and privately with Beijing to try to reach a consensus on a U.N. sanctions res

olution . But officials noted China 's continued reticence about punishing and p

ossibly provoking its communist neighbor and important trading partner , and the

y are making plans to move unilaterally or create a coalition outside the United

 Nations to act against the Pyongyang regime . Perry , interviewed on NBC 's `` 

Meet the Press '' program , said that the specific form of sanctions the United 

States was seeking has not yet been decided . `` We have discussions under way w

ith our allies at this point on the particular sanctions , and we 'll be discuss

ing that with the other members of the Security Council , '' Perry said . `` The

re 'll be intensive and detailed discussions over the next week or so . I think 

it 's premature to try to specify at this point what kind of sanctions are going

 to come out . '' Other officials caution that the administration sees sanctions

 as a difficult and potentially dangerous step and would prefer to compel Pyongy

ang to accept international oversight of its nuclear facilities through less dra

stic means . But North Korea said Sunday that it would not bow to outside pressu

re to open up its nuclear program , which it insists is peaceful . `` We do not 

want confrontation , '' said the North Korean Workers Party daily Rodong Sinmun 

, according to the official Korean Central News Agency monitored in Tokyo . `` B

ut we do not have the intention to meet an unjustifiable demand under continued 

pressure and cannot tolerate our sovereignty encroached upon . '' President Clin

ton said Saturday that North Korea could avoid sanctions by complying with Inter

national Atomic Energy Agency inspections . IAEA inspectors say North Korea has 

made it impossible to verify whether or not it diverted weapons-grade plutonium 

from an experimental nuclear reactor . ( Optional Add End ) Perry also tried to 

downplay talk of possible military confrontation with North Korea over the nucle

ar issue . But he said that the United States is prepared to defend its ally Sou

th Korea and enforce adherence to international obligations . `` Certainly we 'r

e not seeking , we will not provoke , a war , '' Perry said . `` But at the same

 time , we will not invite a war by not being ready. .. . We have been building 

up our forces over the last six months . We will continue to develop them as nec

essary as the situation on the ground warrants . '' Perry said the United States

 and South Korea believe their military forces are adequate to deter an attack f

rom the North . But he said that if North Korea moves its forces closer to the b

order or makes other threatening moves , `` we will take whatever actions are ne

cessary . '' Adm. Jeremy Boorda , the chief of naval operations , said that the 

Navy was involved in a major military exercise in the Sea of Japan involving the

 aircraft carrier Independence and its battle group plus warships from several o

ther nations . He said that while the exercise had been planned for several year

s , the armada would send a message to Pyongyang . The admiral said `` It 's a v

ery serious situation and the United States is taking it seriously . ''

 MOSCOW Russian officials and veterans have expressed bitter resentment that the

y were not invited to the D-Day commemoration in Normandy where President Clinto

n , Queen Elizabeth II and other world leaders will preside on Monday . Many als

o have expressed irritation at Western news media accounts that treat the D-Day 

landing as the key turning point in the war . Soviet troops of course did not jo

in with the American , British and Canadian soldiers who conducted the daring am

phibious assault 50 years ago . But most Russians believe that it was their sacr

ifice on the eastern front and particularly their long and almost unbearably cos

tly victory at Stalingrad that broke the back of the Nazi army and allowed the D

-Day invasion to succeed . `` Only two of the most important participants in the

 war were not invited to the commemoration , '' the Rossiskaya Gazeta newspaper 

commented on Saturday . `` The first is clearly understood : After all , it is G

ermany that was defeated in the war . `` But probably it is also clear why Russi

a was not invited , '' the newspaper wrote . `` It would be uncomfortable to hig

hlight your own military successes in the presence of those who made the main co

ntribution to the victory over Hitler 's Germany . '' The Russian resentment at 

being excluded Monday is part of a wider sense among many here that the West doe

s not accord this nation the respect it deserves as a great power . Many politic

ians and others here are convinced that Washington and its traditional allies ar

e happy to see Russia poor and weakened and would do whatever is necessary to ke

ep this country on its knees . The unhappiness over D-Day follows a similar disp

ute with Germany , which has scheduled a host of triumphal ceremonies in Berlin 

to mark the departure of Allied troops from that city without including the Russ

ians in the celebrations . German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Russian President B

oris Yeltsin instead will lead a lower-key ceremony in Weimar to mark the depart

ure of the last Russian troops , whom most Germans viewed as occupiers rather th

an liberators . But the exclusion from the D-Day commemoration has touched an es

pecially sensitive nerve , rekindling longstanding resentments about the West 's

 role in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War . Soviet textbooks , while p

aying scant attention to the war in the Pacific , taught that the West waited to

o long to open a western front against Germany , allowing Russia to bear the bru

nt of Nazi might . More than 20 million Soviets were killed during the war compa

red with 405,000 Americans with 1.1 million dying during the Battle of Stalingra

d alone . Scarcely a Soviet family escaped without some loss . Last week , a spo

kesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry made clear that Russia 's view of that p

articular part of history has not changed , despite all the other reassessments 

since the Soviet Union 's collapse . `` History attests that Moscow wanted the A

llies to open a second front from the very beginning of the war against Germany 

, '' the official spokesman , Grigory Karasin , said Thursday . But the Allies d

elayed , he said , `` in keeping with their strategy of safeguarding the lives o

f their soldiers . '' Only when the Western powers concluded that further delay 

`` would be prejudicial to their postwar position in Europe '' did the Western A

llies begin the operation , Karasin said . `` While giving due to this successfu

l Allied operation carried out 50 years ago , we remember that its success had b

een ensured by all the preceding actions of the Soviet armed forces , '' he conc

luded . Even after the Allied assault on Nazi positions in France began , Russia

 continued to shoulder the heaviest burden , Krasnaya Zvezda , the Russian army 

's official newspaper , wrote . While 292,902 German soldiers died on the wester

n front , the paper said , 916,860 Germans died under Soviet attack in Byeloruss

ia during exactly the same period . `` The world has begun to forget to whom it 

owes the victory over fascism , ` ` agreed the Nezavisimaya Gazeta . Maj. Gen. V

alentin Larionov , a veteran of the Soviet capture of Berlin , told the Moscow T

imes that he found Russia 's exclusion from the ceremonies `` offensive . '' `` 

It is a great blow to the dignity of all those who participated in the war , '' 

he said .

 SAINTE-MERE-EGLISE , France Forty-one aging paratroop veterans , who leaped int

o history 50 years ago , reclaimed their chutes and jumped again Sunday , this t

ime into the hearts of France . On a day when the hedgerowed checkerboard of Nor

mandy glowed rich and green under a warm spring sun , the members of the Return 

to Normandy Association floated down out of a cloud-flecked sky , laden with fla

gs and memories of World War II dead they had vowed to honor with their jump Sun

day . Gazing up at them from below were politicians and dignitaries , Pentagon b

rass and brass bands , hundreds of French and American troops and more than 30,0

00 flag-waving spectators , picnicking with baguettes and red wine in pastures d

usted with buttercups . The day was filled with D-Day commemorative pageantry , 

but they were all anyone really cared about . `` Quand sont les anciens ? '' ask

ed little boys pedaling bicycles and old women peddling sausage sandwiches . `` 

When do we see the old guys ? '' Guests in the VIP area ignored Ambassador to Fr

ance Pamela Harriman and Postsmaster General Marvin Runyon unveiling a special c

ommemorative stamp in order to shake the veterans ' hands and get their autograp

hs . Even a massive re-enactment drop of hundreds of younger airborne troops fai

led to claim the crowd 's full attention . How about those old guys ? `` I was c

oming down between this cow and the river , '' said a mud-covered Richard Tedesk

y , 73 , of the Bronx , explaining his late post-jump arrival at the ceremony ar

ea . `` I avoided the cow . '' Tedesky , a 5-foot-4 ( `` and 135 pounds of pulsa

ting fury '' ) scaffolding man in the New York construction trades , had landed 

north of here 50 years ago and had to fight his way into town . It was easier th

is time , he said . `` Even with my arthritis and everyone wanting autographs . 

'' The old guys provided both drama and suspense . Earl Draper , 70 , of Florida

 found himself with a tangled main parachute and a malfunctioning emergency rip 

cord . When he reached 1,000 feet , a safety device automatically triggered , de

ploying the reserve chute he rode to a bumpy landing in a ditch conveniently nea

r the first aid tent . A French doctor pronounced him healthy but he was taken t

o a local hospital as a precaution . Rene Dussaq , the 83-year-old former revolu

tionary , soldier of fortune and Hollywood stunt man who parachuted into Normand

y before D-Day to coordinate the French underground , failed to turn up in a pos

t-jump muster at the drop zone in nearby Amfreville . He was eventually discover

ed several hours later peacefully signing autographs here in town where he had b

een carried by local farmers after riding wind gusts for several miles . Other j

umpers rode back from their landing in an ambulance , but only because that was 

the quickest way through the narrow traffic-clogged country roads . `` It was a 

hell of a lot of work and I feel really good about the day , '' said Richard Man

dich , the 69-year-old San Diego engineer and 101st Airborne veteran who founded

 the Return to Normandy Association and organized the memorial jump . `` But rem

ember , we 're not the real story . The story is why we 're here . '' Mandich an

d a handful of other veterans had been working since last fall to make their jum

p the centerpiece of D-Day activities here . With a fierce sense of personal mis

sion , they believe they owed it to the thousands of airborne veterans killed du

ring the war eight out 10 in many units to make certain their deaths are not for

gotten . Guy Whidden , 70 , a soft-voiced retired school teacher from Frederick 

, Md. , carried the names of 3,000 airborne dead , and , in response to TV repor

ters asking about any fears during his jump , read instead a prayer for war-slau

ghtered comrades that he had written and recited on landing . Rolland Duff , 79 

, of Fort Myers , Fla. , displayed on his jump an American flag that had covered

 the casket at his brother 's military funeral . He had landed close to where he

 had landed 50 years ago , as part of a group of `` pathfinders '' advancing the

 D-Day airborne drop with radar locator beacons . Of the 20 men who jumped with 

him , only six survived the battle they found on landing . The seriousness of pu

rpose of `` les anciens , '' far from sobering their visit for the French , has 

endeared them a hundred times more . When the Pentagon spurned the association '

s request for assistance getting here , the French showered offers of help . Fam

ilies fought for the privilege of housing them . Mayors vied to hold dinners . F

riday night in the little village of Baron-sur-Odon , after a celebration at the

 local high school , families lined up like airport chauffeurs for an incoming f

light , proudly displaying on cards the name of the veteran who would be their g

uest . The following afternoon the whole village turned out in a pouring rain fo

r a jam-packed home-cooked luncheon for the veterans in the workshop-garage of M

ayor Pierre Collard , whose wrenches and screwdrivers adorned the walls above th

e pate being served . The luncheon was capped by the mock-formal installation of

 four Return to Normandy members in the proudest gastronomic society of Caen , T

he Golden Order of Tripe-Eaters . While few outside France might leap at the cha

nce to eat pieces of stewed cow stomach , the veterans brightened on discovering

 that the tripe had been stewed in Calvados , the famous apple brandy of Normand

y . `` The tripe worried me more than the jump , '' said Ed Manley , 72 , of Bri

ney Breezes , Fla. , on later reflection . The veterans ' adulation from the Fre

nch , however , has involved more than tripe and Calvados . They have been headl

iners in newspapers and magazines and the subject of nationwide television speci

als . They are recognized and applauded on the street . Sunday , when their bus 

halted at a crossroads between here and Amfreville , women in nearby houses race

d to shower them with all the flowers in the garden . `` What they do is very be

autiful , '' said Veronique Debouillet , 22 , who drove all the way from Caen to

 see the veterans . `` I think it is magnificent that they jump at their age for

 this memory . No one my age is so formidable . ''

 PORTSMOUTH , England President Clinton , Queen Elizabeth II and a shipload of A

llied leaders sailed in a massive flotilla late Sunday from this historic Englis

h Channel port for France to observe the 50th anniversary of D-day . En route , 

the fleet dropped wreaths in the Channel . Two million red poppies , symbolizing

 remembrance , fluttered down from a low-flying World War II-vintage Lancaster b

omber . The armada planned to anchor offshore before going on to the five D-day 

beaches two stormed by American troops , two by British and one by Canadian . In

 a commemorative message that had overtones of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower 's mess

age to the troops on D-day , Clinton declared , `` The heroic men who fought and

 died during those difficult days helped to give rise to a new era of hope and p

rogress , starting a trend toward democracy and human dignity that continues to 

this day . `` The peoples of nations around the world persist in throwing off th

e shackles of tyranny and in seeking the blessings of liberty . On this historic

 occasion , we , the benefactors of the freedom won by our courageous armed forc

es , rededicate ourselves to embracing these epic changes . `` In memory of all 

those who lost their lives on Normandy 's shore , we reaffirm our commitment to 

building a safer , more peaceful world for the generations to come . '' The flee

t of ships steamed Sunday afternoon from this main invasion supply port after da

ylong ceremonies . The seaside was lined with tens of thousands of Britons and A

mericans , young and old , who turned out to see off the armada heading for Norm

andy . They waved farewell to the ships , watching as they moved past concrete f

orts in the harbor , just as previous generations had done at this ancient navy 

town . Many with binoculars could spot the national flags of the warships and ca

ll out the identifications to their children . A vendor moved among the crowd ch

anting , `` Cockles , mussels , prawns . '' Many families picnicked on the green

 lawns of the seafront in a festive Sunday outing , listening to radios describi

ng the events . Clinton boarded the nuclear-powered carrier George Washington at

 97,000 tons , the world 's largest whose crew he addressed when he was brought 

aboard in the afternoon . Earlier , Queen Elizabeth II , with many visiting head

s of state , boarded the royal yacht Britannia to review naval warships of the A

llied nations that participated in the D-day landings June 6 , 1944 . Among thos

e present were British Prime Minister John Major , Canadian Prime Minister Jean 

Chretien , Polish President Lech Walesa , Czech President Vaclav Havel , Slovaki

an President Michal Kovac , Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating , New Zealand

 Prime Minister Jim Bolger , King Harald of Norway , King Albert II of Belgium a

nd Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands . They were joined by members of the Briti

sh royal family , including Princess Diana . The yacht arrived in France later t

o the cheers of thousands of well-wishers . In contrast to the drenching , cold 

weather that dampened the spirits of Saturday 's ceremonies , the weather in Por

tsmouth Sunday was crisp and clear , though changeable . The morning began here 

with a Drumhead Ceremony , which was once the traditional religious observance t

o bless the colors and uplift the hearts of the soldiers and sailors `` at the p

oint at which troops cannot be pulled back from the battle . '' ( Begin optional

 trim ) The archbishop of Canterbury , assisted by a dozen other clergymen , ble

ssed the fleet that was preparing to leave for Normandy and large-scale , daylon

g observances and events Monday . Senior U.S. military officers , including memb

ers of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , attended the ceremony which was also watched 

by thousands of visitors . As an estimated 4,000 small craft , from yachts to di

nghies to motor launches , bobbed around the bigger warships , 40 ships particip

ated in the naval review including the Canberra , a luxury liner that ferried Br

itish fighting battalions to the Falklands , and the Fearless , which carried Ro

yal Marine commandos in that action . ( End optional trim ) The fleet review was

 preceded with a flyover by World War II aircraft : an old biplane Swordfish tor