For the Memorial day weekend some history around WWII

War Stories.... Dr Mark Felton.


1653700742861.png
 
I’ve always been interested in history, and the invasion of Ukraine has had me doing some deep dives into pre war Europe, WW2 and post war Europe. It has been rather eye opening for me, learning about how alliance were made and alliances changed and all the countries who had borders changed and territory lost. I had hoped all that was behind us.
 
I’ve always been interested in history, and the invasion of Ukraine has had me doing some deep dives into pre war Europe, WW2 and post war Europe. It has been rather eye opening for me, learning about how alliance were made and alliances changed and all the countries who had borders changed and territory lost. I had hoped all that was behind us.

I to have found some of the history enlightening. Been watching a series on the last 18months before Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia and the excuses used to do it............a lot of parallels with Russian excuses on why they invaded Ukraine.
 
Just watched this, some of it is plain amazing. And the viewpoints, politics of Americans leading up to Pearl Harbor is fascinating, makes me want to dig deeper, you know?


Got some others?
Excellent vid. Enjoyed watching it. Some of the numbers were staggering. It would be interesting to know how many people were employed on the bomber production line per shift.
 
Just watched this, some of it is plain amazing. And the viewpoints, politics of Americans leading up to Pearl Harbor is fascinating, makes me want to dig deeper, you know?


Got some others?
Mind boggling and staggering ..the vastness of American war prodution...The video skips over the many fighter planes that preceeded the P51 mustang and the same is true for their illustraion of bomber production..From B24 to B29..without any mention of the B-17 which flew the bulk of WW2 bombing campaigns..with over 12000 B17s being produced in total... The P51 and the B29 represented the pinnacle of American aviation during the latter part of the war...
 
My Dad flew #8...
I was enthralled by the planes of that time period.
As a kid I had 7 of the 10 aircraft mentioned as models I assembled. Had multiples of some like the Mustang. Completely detailed is my recollection, though if I were able to see them now my opinion could change. They were all hung from my ceiling in various formations along with the zeros and messerschmitts they battled.
The greatest generation had so many seemingly impossible accomplishments in the war theater as well as here at home. They did what had to be done. They did it with great sacrifice. Far too many paid the ultimate sacrifice. They paid in blood. They paid with their lives. It is somewhat sad that so many now can't even begin to fathom the sacrifices they made. Monday will be a huge day of celebrations. and these heroes deserve being celebrated. For me it is more of a day of remembrance. I'll drink a toast to the fallen and pray for the future. I'll find myself back in that childhood bedroom looking up at that ceiling..
Those models created a desire in me to learn more about each of those planes. Then to the battles they fought. Then to how they were built at an amazing rate. How the citizens that couldn't serve, still served and made sacrifices of their own in a united effort to achieve victory.
I wish that generation could be cloned.
So many achievements even beyond the great war. They have my utmost respect.
 
Last edited:
One of my long-time favorites:

Incendiaries dropped on Tokyo killed over 100,000..... civilians. More killed than a single bomb over Hiroshima. I'm sure the distinction was lost on those affected.
Curtis LeMay is one of my hero's.... but he was also the architect of a campaign that killed upwards of half a million innocent civilians. By any civilized standard, he was a war criminal.... and yet he's still a hero... my hero.
Can you say deeply conflicted?
 
I've just been reading that Wiki article.
TBH I was too lazy to read everything, but I got the impression that it followed the usual establishment line.
So Dresden was bombed to help the Red Army was it ?
I think it was bombed to frighten the shit out of Stalin, and demonstrate exactly what western air power could do to a city in a very short period.
The cold war actually started before WW2 was over.
 
I would guess if it's strategically essential then it's justified at the level we're able to understand it. If the people responsible understand the enormity, then they're still worthy of being revered. I've read more about Dresden, and there's some question about whether it was essential, and the person held responsible was a bit ostracized later, an his crews didn't receive recognition they normally might have. He also said all the remaining cities in Germany weren't worth the death of one Englishman, and I think besides the question of strategy if you're going to require someone to fight to the death, you have a moral obligation to protect him at literally any cost. That might put a very senior commander in a bad position

I said justified at the level we're able to understand it. As far as I know nothing definitive has ever been written about the underpinnings, the banking, why certain countries are always neutral and unscathed and coincidentally the center of international banking...

I watched a documentary on the fairly frequent genocides on the continent of Africa and the interesting thesis was that there are leaders of countries who will commit any atrocity for wealth and power, if they know they can get away with it.

I believe in democracy and maybe it's best to have really bad people in charge of defending if needed to make sure the light doesn't go out. Very complicated problems with many, many variables!
 
Just watched this, some of it is plain amazing. And the viewpoints, politics of Americans leading up to Pearl Harbor is fascinating, makes me want to dig deeper, you know?

I didn't know about Henry Ford's hesitancy to get involved until there was no choice and even warning Knudsen he was getting involved with bad people. Maybe he was sympathetic to the Axis. Here's one of his products that isn't as well-known as the Model-T. The quote from The New International Encyclopedia at the beginning of the first chapter seems to prove that it wasn't an extreme view at the time.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_International_Jew
 
Back
Top