The WW2 Thread

neville · January 28, 2011

zed said:
the sad thing is that dictators and the politics of mass destruction/starvation live on to this day. Sven Hassel wrote a true account of him and his mates`war experience- LEGION OF THE DAMNED- long time since i read it but if you read one war book, make it this one. and i reckon the russians would give the nazis a run for their money in the evil stakes

I have Read it mate and quite a few of the others

The Russians were ****ing awfull

tsubaki · January 28, 2011

Bruce Wayne said:
The bravery of the soldiers back then was indeed heroic but the antics of the politicians that commanded them was pretty shameful. My gf is Czech and many of her grand parents generation hate the English for Chamberlain essentially giving the country to Hitler. Add in the cock ups post war that gave Russia most of eastern Europe, and the botched partitions of both Israel/Palestine and India/Pakistan during the break up of the Empire that caused most of the bloodshed of the remainder of the century and there are many lessons that could, but I fear have not been, learnt.

TBH India/Pakistan was always going to happen once the British walked away, dont forget before the EIC got involved the subcontinent used to see religious violence (or violence with religion as a pretext, or just violence) on a massive scale, it was only the hatred of the British (culminating in the Great Mutiny) and then the fear of them that held the populations together.

The Israeli dispute on the other hand could only have been solved by arming and organizing the muslim population to the point that they would have been able to prevent Zionist immigration, something that never would have been allowed to happen in the immediate aftermath of WW2 and which a global empire would never have let happen anyway.

Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian · January 28, 2011

Something closer to home that a lot of people are unaware of, is the role of Burtonwood Airbase in the war, when you are on the m62 near Ikea there are still hangers visible and you can make out where taxyways and runways existed. I remember going there as a kid and the place was vast, with all the old buildings still there, the main runway was a place that people would go to get used to driving and changing gear, remember goin' in a 3 wheel Reliant whilst my mum practiced. It's now a popular dogging location.

Over-paid, Over-sexed and Over Here !!

a poster on here has tagged that plane I reckon !!

davek · January 28, 2011

Italian prisoners of war guarded at their camp on Hillside estate in Huyton

There was another camp in Huyton on King George V playing fields holding German prisoners of war...one of them was City FA Cup winning GK Bert Trautmann.

zed · January 28, 2011

Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian said:
Burtonwood Airbase - It's now a popular dogging location.

weird co-incidence. chico just named there as his all time favourite place on the planet, he misses the people

chicoazul · January 28, 2011

The people of night time Burtonwood are my favourite on this planet.

tsubaki · January 28, 2011

Valley Works at Rhydymwyn (near Mold) made and stored most of the chemical weapons that we might have used in WW2 (and after - even by 1948 there were still 5000 tonnes of mustard gas stored there), some early work on the atomic bomb was also done at the site.

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/r/rhydymwyn/history.html

chrissyjack · January 28, 2011

Spike Milligan's memoirs from " Adolf Hitler-His Part in my Downfall " onwards are good reads about life as a normal soldier in N Africa , and then Italy.

Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian · January 28, 2011

chicoazul said:
The people of night time Burtonwood are my favourite on this planet.

got in a taxi at the airport in Vegas, and the driver had lived there as a kid when his dad was based there, was into rugby league as they started to play it so that they could join in with the local schools. He said he loved it over here as they used to get bussed out on trips all over the northwest as well, they used to get to invite all the local kids onto the base as well so that they could watch the latest films in the cinema.

There was another base at Croft, I put some pics on that Abandoned thread, it was a RAF base used for internal flights, the yanks would fly to prestwick then land at Croft and then on to the base at Burtonwood.

my mate lived in a bunker in the sand dunes in Holland, people took them over after the war and I searchedand reckon I found the very one

it was ace tbh and overlooked the racetrack at Zandvoort.

spikeman · January 28, 2011

Theres a lot of interesting videos on Youtube.

[video=youtube;lvZCDfhoNxA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvZCDfhoNxA[/video]

*Just a side note: The highest rated comment in this video says "Damn!! Do we have to save France's ass in every war??!?!?!" I just wanted to say, if it wasnt for France, this counrty(USA) wouldnt exist.

Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian · January 28, 2011

spikeman said:
Theres a lot of interesting videos on Youtube.

[video=youtube;lvZCDfhoNxA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvZCDfhoNxA[/video]

*Just a side note: The highest rated comment in this video says "Damn!! Do we have to save France's ass in every war??!?!?!" I just wanted to say, if it wasnt for France, this counrty(USA) wouldnt exist.

if it wasn't for france, we would get on holiday without delays every summer, and lots more.

spikeman · January 28, 2011

[video=youtube;bmyq2OJOVDw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmyq2OJOVDw[/video]

linglong · January 28, 2011

neville said:
We were tough taskmasters and maybe nothing to be proud of but we didnt practice mass murder

The winners of wars seldom write a themselves a bad history

If the germans had won on pens back in '45 and got the bomb first we'd be all singing about cuddly uncle adolf now

little curly alan ball · January 30, 2011

chicoazul said:
Always been fascinated by this since I was a wee lad. My Grandad used to point out the old tram lines where they ran into grass covered bunkers for munitions.

Studied it at school and beyond and read a lot of books. I really like Antony Beevor's stuff, read all of his books.

I think Dylan has got some boss photos in colour to link on, so he can add when he's ready.

One thing I did read a book on was Bletchley Park and the role of Enigma cracking in the war itself, mad. Seen this article today on a letter used in the deception from Garbo. The best bit of that deception was putting the body in the sea for the German's to find with supposed important classified info in a briefcase attached to the body. Ian Fleming was behind that deception, Bond fans.

Anyway, add as you will.

I am currently half finished on a Novel pertaining to our own Environs in relation to that specific period , Duce .

An Homage to My Grandparents , tbh ...

Small fukn world , eh ???

Don't even GET ME STARTED on Bletchley , though , lid ....

P.S. My Granddad Jack , My FIRST Hero , and Evertonian par Excellence , would've been 100 years old last Friday .

I SHOULD'VE POSTED A THREAD BUT AM BEING UBER-STALKED and am swerving the gaff by and large, and forgot .

Just thought I'd mention , like .

Carry on ,....

neville · January 30, 2011

linglong said:
The winners of wars seldom write a themselves a bad history

If the germans had won on pens back in '45 and got the bomb first we'd be all singing about cuddly uncle adolf now

The good guys won mate end of

All those brave people on the allied side died to protect our democracy and the basic freedoms that we take for granted now

My mates Grandad was one of those who liberated Belsen he once sat me and my mate down and tols us about it I will never forget it although it was many years ago