But again it was american men that died saving England and their efforts and painful service during the dark days of WW2 should never be discounted..That does offend me to do so..Bravo to all the VETS..God Bless them all.. Yes, even those who are not american, our allies deserve our honor and praise..
Hi Guys,
hi Househobbit, I'm affriad I do find your comments some what offensive.
Its this beleif that the US saved the world that drives me nuts.. yes you all played a big part, but for the size of your country its not that big a part. If you look at it statiscally the:
USA lost 0.32% of its population during WWII (approx 416,800 combat deaths)
England lost 0.94% of its population during WWII (approx 382,700 combat deaths)
Australia (My Country) lost 0.57% of its population during WWII (approx 40,000 combat deaths)
The soviet union lost around 14% of its population (approx 10,000,000 combat deaths)
Yugoslavia lost around 6.6% of its population (approx 446,000 combat deaths)
France lost around 1.4% of its population (approx 217,000 combat deaths)
the list goes on,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
many men from many nations died to save the world..
Further more those grim dark days you speak of were 1939 through 1942, were England (and her dominions) with the shattered remnants of conquored countries stood pretty much alone against the might of Nazi Germany, we won the Battle of Britian, we kicked Rommels ass up and down Africa, the defense of Malta is legendary. in fact the US's first foray into Africa went pretty badly.
From 1943 onwards the final result was pretty much a given, but prior to that it was cut throat fighting for the life of the civilised world, in which the USA put up money and supplies but little else..
So again yes your country did contribute, but in the grand scheme of things it contributed no more and no less than the other countries involved when looking at total numbers of people available for each country.
To say it was America who saved the world is
Delusional.
In fact if you look at popular history the USA I believe gets a very biased account of what actions took place, at the expense of other groups involved in those same actions.
which means if anything, there should be more monuments and memorials dotted around the place which list the brave actions of those involved who were not US soldiers.
some say,
England provided the time, the USA provided the money and the USSR provided the blood...
It was a combined effort of many nations and not one of those nations could have succeeded by themselves.
If England had not held out through the grim dark days which particular Island aircraft carrier would the USA have attacked fortress Europe from...
If the Russians had not bleed the 6th army dry, if the RAF had not carried out its night bombings throughout 1941-42 diverting upwards of a million men away from the front lines, if the Afrika Korps had been able to secure the port of Tobruk, how much worse it would have been in 1944 when we all launched into France on that 6th day in June..
I salute all the brave men and women of that period.
As for English leaders, (WWII in particular)
Trafford L. Leigh-Mallory.
Viscount B. Montgomery. (a much maligned leader)
Keith Park.
Charlse Windgate.
W. Churchill.
Dowding
Lord Lovat.
sorry for going on a bit, but this is a topic that pretty much gets the blood boiling..
regards Rob.
, I thought I would start a poser.
It has been said at the end of WW2 one way to punish the Germans would have been to let them Keep England and France.. Bravo.. for the Greatest Generation,, Those Americans who suffered and died for Englands' and Europes' freedom..When I served in Europe durng the 70's i discovered that we americans still were nor given the credit due for those who saved the world fron Hitler..
Don't forget about America's part in the Pacific Theatre as well, but there Australia and New Zealand played parts in that, thwarting a Japanese invasion and saving their countries.
