70 years ago this week the liberation of Europe began. As a proud grandson of an American Soldier who helped end the Nazi Terror I think this should be a national holiday.
I agree, this should be a worldwide holiday. Also, I know it's not popular to say but the reality is the Soviet Union defeated the Nazis in World War II. Great Britain also had more to do with the win than the US. That is not to take anything away from the many brave American soldiers who fought so bravely in WWII. However, history is what it is and the USSR never gets the credit it deserves for its efforts in defeating Hitler.
(06-03-2014 07:43 PM)AntiG Wrote: i was just watching "The World Wars" on History Channel the other day.
Yeah, I saw that too. Very well done. I have a few quibbles with it - especially the overly kind way in which Wilson was portrayed - but I really liked it.
If you are into WWII history, I would recommend Liddell-Hart's "History of the Second World War". It is written from a British perspective, but it is informative.
(06-03-2014 08:51 PM)Dr. Isaly von Yinzer Wrote: I agree, this should be a worldwide holiday. Also, I know it's not popular to say but the reality is the Soviet Union defeated the Nazis in World War II. Great Britain also had more to do with the win than the US. That is not to take anything away from the many brave American soldiers who fought so bravely in WWII. However, history is what it is and the USSR never gets the credit it deserves for its efforts in defeating Hitler.
That probably has to do with the USSR being in bed with the Nazis until Hitler and his cronies turned on Stalin. Up to that point, the USSR stood by and even received parcels of land from the break up of Poland. They even had signed a non-agression pact with Nazi Germany, but don't let facts get in the way of a good story.
As a combat veteran myself, i'd like to echo everyone else's sentiment, mad respect for that whole generation of allied soldiers who gave their lives to save us from fascism, including those Russian soldiers that had no part in communist politics.
(This post was last modified: 06-03-2014 09:04 PM by Knightsweat.)
Or we could wait until May 8, 2015 and celebrate the 70th anniversary of V -E day. Unless you are Russia, where they celebrate V -E day on May 9th, and they get May 9th off as a holiday. It's kinda like their memorial day.
It would be kind of like Armistice day used to be a Holiday on November 11th, celebrating the end of world war 1 on Nov 11, 1918. Then everybody from world war 1 started to die off, and they decided to rename it Veterans day. But then everybody was kinda like, isn't that what Memorial Day is for? Oh wait, that's for dead soldiers, but close enough. So now my company dropped veterans day as a company holiday and we no longer get veterans day off. Eventually everybody from WW2 will die off and the younger generation will be like, why do we have a holiday on June 6th (or May 8th), isn't that what Memorial Day is for? But hey, dead dudes, thanks for your sacrifice anyway. I am not trying to make fun of the younger generation, but the reality is they won't care.
I am a member of the Sons of the American Legion and the post I am belong to just lost three veterans who served during the WWII/Korea era. Most veterans do not like to talk about their war experiences, especially to non-veterans, but when they do open up, I will listen and learn.
I'm not a military man myself, but I'm probably one of the few that had 3 grandparents serve in WW2. One grandpa was an ace pilot, the other grandpa in the merchant marine, and my grandma was a WAC.
(06-03-2014 08:51 PM)Dr. Isaly von Yinzer Wrote: I agree, this should be a worldwide holiday. Also, I know it's not popular to say but the reality is the Soviet Union defeated the Nazis in World War II. Great Britain also had more to do with the win than the US. That is not to take anything away from the many brave American soldiers who fought so bravely in WWII. However, history is what it is and the USSR never gets the credit it deserves for its efforts in defeating Hitler.
No doubt the Russians played a huge part in the defeat of Nazism along with the other allies, without American lend lease it is considered highly problematic the Soviet Union or Great Britain would have been able to sustain a war effort early in the war without American lend lease and could have been defeated. People forget America fought a two front war, Nazi Germany and Tojo's Japan at the same time. The Soviet Union was fighting on one front.
(This post was last modified: 06-03-2014 09:52 PM by BIgCatonProwl.)
That's true. Also, the US ultimately came to control the Pacific, which was a major achievement given Japan's aspirations and head start (because of Wilson's blunder at the end of WWI - shunning the Japanese even though they aligned with the winning side). MacArthur was a lunatic but his efforts in the Philippines are rightly the stuff of legend.
I was just making the point that to most of the US, the war began in 1941. In much of Europe, particularly Russia/USSR, it basically began in 1914 and never really ended until the armistice was signed in 1945.
Really, WWI and WWII should be considered one war, not two. The two are directly related and the foolish way in which the Treaty of Versailles was constructed - as an over the top punishment of the Germans - essentially guaranteed that there would be a rematch of sorts.
You can argue about whether the Soviet Union was a good ally, and how important they were in winning the war, but there is no arguing which country had the most war related deaths. The Soviet Union had something like 20-24 million deaths, when you count both military and civilian deaths. More than anybody including Germany and Japan. The USA had an extremely small percentage of deaths in comparison.
The courage that took is beyond words. My uncle made that run onto Omaha Beach. He was shot to hell, and took the horrors of that day, without ever talking about it, to his grave.
(06-03-2014 10:19 PM)Dr. Isaly von Yinzer Wrote: That's true. Also, the US ultimately came to control the Pacific, which was a major achievement given Japan's aspirations and head start (because of Wilson's blunder at the end of WWI - shunning the Japanese even though they aligned with the winning side). MacArthur was a lunatic but his efforts in the Philippines are rightly the stuff of legend.
I was just making the point that to most of the US, the war began in 1941. In much of Europe, particularly Russia/USSR, it basically began in 1914 and never really ended until the armistice was signed in 1945.
Really, WWI and WWII should be considered one war, not two. The two are directly related and the foolish way in which the Treaty of Versailles was constructed - as an over the top punishment of the Germans - essentially guaranteed that there would be a rematch of sorts.
Yes it should be, after WW I, it was a utter failure to secure a true and lasting peace, the allies (except for America) wanted revenge, President Wilson advised the harsh terms dictated to Germany was guaranteeing another war. Also it was a result of the failure of Wilson's diplomacy to secure the U.S. Senate ratification of the treaty for the USA to be in the League of Nations the predecessor to the United Nations leaving it on the sidelines, the one indispensable world power out of world affairs the United States of America. As result the seeds of bitterness was sown in Germany giving rise to Hitler, who was going to right all the wrongs done to Germany
(This post was last modified: 06-04-2014 10:29 AM by BIgCatonProwl.)