Given that the thread title specifies BRITISH war crimes, I would offer Blair's illegal invasion of Iraq. If ever a man needed prosecuting, it's Tony Blair.
Most heinous British war crime?
- Thread starter rascal
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How about employing nazi war criminals after ww2, or forcing anti-nazi parties out of any chance of power because it suits us, between us an the states the amount of atrocities committed is disgusting, honestly, best just not to think about it
Forcing the irish to export food to us DURING the potatoe famine, countless others, we have a disgusting history backed only by right wing brainless patriots, and i use the term patriot as an insult
Dropping mustard gas bombs on Kurdish villages in the early twenties, long before Saddam Hussein was born and was branded a war criminal for doing so.
This action was carried out under the auspices of Churchill and a young Arthur Harris got his first taste of visiting terror from the skies on defenceless civilians during this action in Mesopotamia.
This action was carried out under the auspices of Churchill and a young Arthur Harris got his first taste of visiting terror from the skies on defenceless civilians during this action in Mesopotamia.
bignev23
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Take a scroll down this for a quick refresh of some incidents ranging from Raping of children to dropping Chemical Weapons on civilians. No doubt Pete'll be along in a minute to quash all these incidents as nonsense.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_war_crimes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_war_crimes
peteblue
Welcome back Wayne
You are referring to 1920 and not 1972 then.......
peteblue
Welcome back Wayne
I'm amazed how few incidents there are. It's also noticeable that many were in direct retaliation to other events, especially attacks initiated by the IRA......
Exporting food while over a million died of starvation and associated illnesses diseases, one third of the population. If a similar failure of a crop had happened in England, there would have been a better response which may have included not exporting food. The word genocide springs to mind.
Completely agree it was horrific. Not genocide though. Neither was anything Cromwell did. Silly to even suggest it.
I think people find it easy to criticise the bombing of Dresden with the wonder of hindsight and hence the decision gets unfair, excessive criticism.
Do not get me wrong, the death of civilians is always regrettable, but to say the action is unjustifiable in the context of the time is simply naive.
Let's not forget, this was now costly, prolonged and total war, something which I think far too many people simply disregard when looking back.
It was a key component of the transportation network in Eastern Germany and as such had many troops passing through it from the East.
Additionally, it contained numerous factories that contributed to the war effort. Perhaps not as many as other cities but they were present.
Obviously there was an element of targeting the city to help to continue to demoralise the native population, yet it wasn't the overriding rational.
As others have earlier said, it's as regrettable as Hamburg, Berlin, Köln, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Bouchum et al. but they were all legitimate targets.
Looking back with an opaque mindset that selectively blocks out both the situation, mentality and recent history of the time (zeitgeist) isn't good.
And to WWI, the whole lions led by donkeys mentality with regards to WWI, and criticising the Somme, has been rigorously criticised before.
Do not get me wrong, the death of civilians is always regrettable, but to say the action is unjustifiable in the context of the time is simply naive.
Let's not forget, this was now costly, prolonged and total war, something which I think far too many people simply disregard when looking back.
It was a key component of the transportation network in Eastern Germany and as such had many troops passing through it from the East.
Additionally, it contained numerous factories that contributed to the war effort. Perhaps not as many as other cities but they were present.
Obviously there was an element of targeting the city to help to continue to demoralise the native population, yet it wasn't the overriding rational.
As others have earlier said, it's as regrettable as Hamburg, Berlin, Köln, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Bouchum et al. but they were all legitimate targets.
Looking back with an opaque mindset that selectively blocks out both the situation, mentality and recent history of the time (zeitgeist) isn't good.
And to WWI, the whole lions led by donkeys mentality with regards to WWI, and criticising the Somme, has been rigorously criticised before.
tsubaki
Player Valuation: £90m
There is more than a grain of truth in that "lions led by donkeys", though. As an example, my family have been doing some research into one of our ancestors who served in the 16th West Yorkshire Regiment (the "Bradford Pals") and who was wounded at a place called Rossignol Wood in 1917.
The attack he took part in was a complete disaster (226 killed, wounded or missing from two companies of the 16th), thanks largely to a failure to notice well-sited German gun positions that hadn't been evacuated, and because the familiar tactic of advancing over open, muddy ground towards machine guns was adopted. The General commanding the division ordered an inquiry to be held - not because of the waste of life, or the failure of intelligence, but because some men and an NCO who did not appear wounded had been seen surrendering. The Inquiry concluded with a note from the General reminding the men under his command that they would be shot at if they tried to surrender, and if they did manage to successfully surrender then they would be shot after the war ended.
The General visited the front line of his men once in 1917. He was mentioned in dispatches six times.
gorgeousgeorgeEFC
Player Valuation: £25m
Add Liverpool to your list, sir. Almost half of Liverpool's residential buildings were either damaged or completely destroyed by the Luftwaffe. And over 3,000 Scouse civilians were killed during WWII.
Elong
The fire rises
For anyone who doesn't think that WWI was commanded by numpties, you need only look at Chunuk Bair and the needless deaths of so many ANZACs.
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