September 1st 1939 - Germans invade Poland

[mcr_driver]

Can't help but wonder if this was semi inspired by inglorious basterds a bit?? Still awesome facts though, i've had to ban myself from the history and discovery channel cus that would be all i watch lol

[Wh33lhop]

404 bestiality not found

;)

[Jean]

My grandpa for many years after WWII was on the oxygen tank before he passed away....he was fighting on the Russian side. WWII took too many lives, that's for certain.

[M42Technik]

Lest we forget another atrocity of war that was the Bataan death march was the largest single surrender of Americans to the Japanese, and the Japanese lead an assumed 21,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war to die. There is a book I found by chance in the library at my college about it, quite a read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_Death_March

[Iain]

Tens of thousands of Polish border patrols, policemen and civilians were assassinated

No, that was murder, not assassination.

yeah with a happy ending where America came to help out all the waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffles countries that could not do it themselves.

You guys didn't do it all alone, Rambo.

In 1942 the US was already winning the war in the Pacific and landed troops in North Africa.

Good thing you guys didn't need ANZAC help there and could do it on your own!

You are profoundly in need of a history lesson.

As are many on this forum.

[der affe]

you do have to cut them some slack. you don't get much more than a cursory education in WWII in HS anymore. by the time you get to collage where you COULD learn more, most have no interest in learning about a war that was sooo long ago to most students.

[Iain]

True - many under-30s in Australia have a basic grasp of WW2 history, and by basic I mean they know that "Hitler was a bad man". Stalin's crimes and all that other jazz is way over their heads. Guadacanalawhat?

I guess I was fortunate to be brought up in a family with a long history of military service.

[Farbin Kaiber]

The other interesting thang that gets a lil blood on the American hands is the fact that a lot of the Japanese Holocaust perpetrators (Dr.'s and PhD's) were allowed to be set free, and, not charged with war crimes in trade for handing over all their research (see: Dirty Work) to the US efforts. We learned a lot of downright atrocious things in trade for letting these guys free.

These are the same guys that wound up starting a huge Medico-Industrial machine as the CEO's, and heads of the Pharmacutical complex in Japan.

[Quadrajet]

As I remembr the Japanese sent a not so subtle invitation to the party. That was after trade embargoes failed to stop their aggression in China.

Iain- While I think the Anzacs in particular the Diggers were some of the finest warriors from the empire. As far as the Pacific was concerned it was an island hopping campaign. And until late '44 primarliy carried out by the US fleet. Many RAN ships were lost in 41 and 42 and if I recall correctly the RAN didn't have a carrier until after the war. And the RAAF and RNZAF relied primarily on either English or American aircraft, except for Australia producing indigenously the Bristol Beaufighter and the Boomerang.
In North African for the most part the Afrika Korps had been fighting a stalemate with the Commonwealth forces, until El Alamein. When US made M3 and M4 tanks had given them an advantage, being better than British designed "crusier" tanks used till then.
While it can be judged a so-so tank design the M4 Sherman was there in numbers when needed.

[snitzer]

My dad was 1st ID in wwII ..started in africa and ended in czechoslovakia.

Just started to get some stories the past few years...

[der affe]

the Germans also suffered from a severe lack of supplies. Rommel based most of his later campains with the DAK on capturing fuel depots as he went. Hitler was issuing unrealistic orders to stand to the last man in north Africa causing needless losses of troops and equipment. for those who have seen Valkery the begining gives you a SLIGHT idea into the ways things were going in the later part of the campain.

the DAK's defeat in northern Africa was a combination on many factors on both sides.

[Quadrajet]

^^ True. I just didn't want Iain to think all Americans think the war was won by us, by ourselves. But to say the Commonwealth could have beat the Germans and the Japanese, that would be a long stretch.

[Vedubin01]

My dad was 1st ID in wwII ..started in africa and ended in czechoslovakia.

Just started to get some stories the past few years...

That would make you like 60 today! :???:

[Iain]

^^ True. I just didn't want Iain to think all Americans think the war was won by us, by ourselves. But to say the Commonwealth could have beat the Germans and the Japanese, that would be a long stretch.

Oh I knew that, mate. I was trying to provide a slight reminder that the Commonwealth provided some much-needed man-power.

My whole point is that the name of the conflict should give away the fact that no one country single-handedly won WW2 (if it had been just Americans vs Germans i'm sure you guys would have been in a similar situation).

PS: Australia beat the US in the Battle Of Brisbane. :p

[snitzer]

That would make you like 60 today! :???:

lol...one would think that .... he got married to a 19 year old in 62' and had me in 66'....

it's funny.. he was with division HQ, G-2 (forward intel) and has admitted having friends that were OSS...after the hostilities ended..he had no discernable source of income and yet managed to buy a 140 acres in the middle of nowhere and didn't get a real job until he busted up his leg in 63'...and they were really decent mid-level type manager things... one of my officer friends in the air force thinks he was a spook till he got hurt. Dad won't say ... i had to ask.