|
03-19-2003, 11:08 AM
Right guys a few hostorical points here...firstly the U.S. definately helped to win World War 2..if it wasnt for their efforts in overlord and other important operations and the massive supply of lend lease equipment to Britain and her commonwealth we could have finally succeded..BUT it was definately a team effort..My grandad was already fighting the Nazis for two years in North Africa as part of the 1st Army,Scottish Infantry..where were the American Forces then? just like in World War one,after the sinking of the Luisitania, it took a major event like Pearl Harbour to 'persuade' the Americans to come into the fight..many British soldiers,Free French and Poles were already dead by the time the American Forces arrived....
I spoke to a Scottish Commando who landed alongside Canadian Commandos second wave Juno Beach..you ask him whether it was a picnic or not..they were still under heavy fire and although not on the same scale as Omaha or Utah casualties the beach was still strewn with the torn bodies of many young Canadian Commandoes who never made it off the beach..this man has nighmares about this event 60 years on....tell him they had it easy....I also met a Dunkirk Veteran (im a Museum Assistant here in Scotland) who told me about lines of Very Brave British,Polish and French soldiers patiently waiting to be picked up in tiny boats while being straffed and bombed by Stukas and how that beach was stren with sicarded equipment and many dead soldiers......he also said how he would correct anyone who said all the French were cowards as he personally witnessed a large group of French soldiers who werent going to be getting on the last boats to leave as the Germans stormed the Beach..their Officer saluted and calmly marched out of their freezing que in the water to form a rearguard to cover the boats leaving..that took guts and those men fought to the last..he watched them go down.....
As regards the Canadians what about the over 4,000 Canadian Commandoes sacrificied by the British Government during the travesty that was the Dieppe raid? there was no questioning their bravery..also how about the defence of Hong Kong when many Scottish,Canadian,Gurkha and Anzac soldiers lost their lives at the hands of the Japanese..also the Polish and Canadian excellent handling of the very tough fighting at the Falaise Gap against many battle hardened Waffen S.S. Divisions..this should not be forgotten.......This is not dissing Americas massive contribution to allied success in World War two but its just that hollywoods portrayal on these Events always shows American forces on top and seems to ignore all the other allied forces who also fought courageously...i love Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers but they only show one side of the conflict....
I personally feel Hitler was an excellent public speaker who raised a dispirited people with promises that they could be great again,but thats where my admiration stops..he was fuelled by a hatred and envy of International Jewry and cooly and meticulously orchestrated the murder of an entire race and many other 'racially unpure'and desirable members of Germany and the countries his army occupied...the signs are there if you bother to read Mein Kampf..its alarming....There is no doubt he built a great Army which especially in the Area of Tank Design and construction was unsurpassed but its how this army was conducted and led that bothers me..i feel that Hitler but 1943 had started to drag the German poulation into a stagnated War which had opened on too many fronts and that by then they had little chance of winning..his personal goals and wishes had caused him to become a Dictator to the very people who sipported him and i would class him as being insane or at the least mentally deluded from this point on...he should not be revered as a military Genius as he was certainly not that..those who were were his Generals like Rommel,Guederin and doenitz..the rest of the Nazi Hierachy were Criminals,sex addicts,drunkards and people seeking wealth and position through hitlers twisted vision of a 1000 years empire...the sheer scale of the attrocities carried out in Hitlers name condemn him forever and this should be apparant to any educated person with a sense of morality....
Regards.....
Rab
Fife,Scotland...
|
Linear Mode
