America didn't do much in World War II (in Europe)

a reply to: AngryCymraeg

Nor have I.

I thought I'd pretty much read everything there is to be read that isn't still classified.

Lol. Gr8 b8 m8, I r8 it 8/8.

If it weren't the the D-day landings, Germany would've been free to focus on the Russians. We may not have lost as many men, but our actions, along with those of our many allies, helped put a vice grip on Germany, forcing then to divide their attention and resources to the point where they couldn't cope any longer and collapsed.

originally posted by: 8fl0z
Lol. Gr8 b8 m8, I r8 it 8/8.

If it weren't the the D-day landings,

D-Day landings that were 40% American effort, 40% British effort and 20% Canadian Effort.

Oh... FFS... and the equipment we sent to England... and Russia also played a part... a pretty big fracking part after both England and Russia had lost a huge chunk of their war waging capabilities... Dunkirk... and the German surprise hit on the Russians.

Did we do it by our lonesome no... did we play an important part supplying goods that were needed before we put boots on the ground yes... logistics... doesn't matter how well trained you are, doesn't matter how high tech you are... what matter is getting replacement equipment and new boots to the front line.

Also CrazyEwok you do a disservice to the canadians, their test landing where they got shot to pieces helped further divide the defenses before the main landings.

originally posted by: Irishhaf

Also CrazyEwok you do a disservice to the canadians, their test landing where they got shot to pieces helped further divide the defenses before the main landings.

I was only counting the D-day landings and the 20% was plucked out by me as they took 1 beach while the US and UK took 2.

Thats not doing a disservice just recognizing they did take a beach.

And I recognize that 20% doesn't take into account Juno was meant to be one of the hardest landings yet they pulled it off with relativity light loses that is tantamount to there skill.

a reply to: crazyewok

Hence the statement 'many allies'.

Such an operation wouldn't have been possible if not for the equipment supplied by US war efforts.

originally posted by: 8fl0z
a reply to: crazyewok

Hence the statement 'many allies'.

Such an operation wouldn't have been possible if not for the equipment supplied by US war efforts.

Or the massive Royal Navy and the RAF that that established air superiority years before over the channel.

USA was vital cog in a among many other vital cogs. I would not say the USA did more than the UK or Russia any more than I would say they did less. They to me all played there own vital roles.


By the way the Materials given to the UK were not charity. We still had to buy them from you and unlike France we have paid our debts back.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
Oh... FFS... and the equipment we sent to England... and Russia also played a part... a pretty big fracking part after both England and Russia had lost a huge chunk of their war waging capabilities... Dunkirk... and the German surprise hit on the Russians.

Did we do it by our lonesome no... did we play an important part supplying goods that were needed before we put boots on the ground yes... logistics... doesn't matter how well trained you are, doesn't matter how high tech you are... what matter is getting replacement equipment and new boots to the front line.

Also CrazyEwok you do a disservice to the canadians, their test landing where they got shot to pieces helped further divide the defenses before the main landings.

"Test landing"??? What test landing?? You mean Juno, the bloody hard and bloody dangerous beach that they assaulted at the same time as the British hit Gold and Sword?

a reply to: AngryCymraeg

I believe he is referring to a raid, actually the second one I think, on a French port by modified old destroyers. I can not, for the life of me, remember the names...

One was somewhat successful, the other was disastrous.

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: AngryCymraeg

I believe he is referring to a raid, actually the second one I think, on a French port by modified old destroyers. I can not, for the life of me, remember the names...

One was somewhat successful, the other was disastrous.

Dieppe Raid

Basically we landed a bunch of Canadians on one of the most heavily fortified bits of France to see what would happen.....

If Britain had fallen in 1940, there would have been no D-Day ....

But in any case, the liberation of Europe started in 1943 in Sicily. Which in turn was enabled by the British victory against the Germans in North Africa.

a reply to: crazyewok

That's the one.

For some reason I simply couldn't remember it.

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: crazyewok

That's the one.

For some reason I simply couldn't remember it.

I met a vet from that one. He was one of the "lucky" ones if you can call it that.

a reply to: crazyewok

There's lucky, then there's lucky...

He was, whether he thinks so or not. He got to go home when it was all over.

a reply to: crazyewok

Meanwhile us Aussies were fighting the Japanese on our back doorstep .

a reply to: hutch622

...and a fine job you did of it, too.

The whole ANZAC organization did.

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: crazyewok

There's lucky, then there's lucky...

He was, whether he thinks so or not. He got to go home when it was all over.

True but from the little he would say I think we would have preferred to die on that beach with his freinds

It really did mess the poor guy up.

Now the POW vet I knew who got captured by the Japanese in Singapore was different. Came out a half starved skeleton after years of brutal torture.the docs Said he wouldn't live when he was freed as he was to far gone. Not only did he live to 98 he also did it living life to the full without any regrets.

Intresting how diffrent people deal with trauma.

a reply to: crazyewok

Yes it is.

Your first friend has "Survivors Guilt", I'm sure it has some long complex official title... It's a condition I'm familiar with from my days in the commercial fishing fleets in Alaska. I suffer from it to a degree, and I know some who had their lives ruined by it. Not the same as watching your mates gunned down by machine gun fire, but very real all the same.

The other one, that's a gentleman with pure guts, and what my Dad called "want to".

My late father was evacuated out of London during WW2. He was just a child. He eventually was placed in a home in Guildford in Surrey, where he witnessed many of the "1000 bomber raids" going off towards the English Channel. The tough part, he told me, was seeing how few of the American planes came back in one piece, if at all. Those B-17s had ten men aboard, and so many went down. 55000 American air crew were lost. That was just the war in the air.
On the ground the US military was knee deep in it. The campaign in the Ardennes was brutal.

Another thing to contemplate is that the Germans (and less so the Italians) had lots of combat experience - going back to the Spanish civil war, tremendous technology, huge firepower. The US had none of these things. Just a lot of grit, determination, and cajones.

They certainly did their piece in the big one. Please also remember that this was an Allied force, you have to look at the whole picture. Even though the US came in later, they still did what they needed to do. Everyone did their bit. Did the US win it single handed? Of course not. [They just had a better film industry (I kid, I kid....)]. Nor did Britain, France, or any other European country.

Marginalizing the US contribution is more than a little insulting. The war in Europe wasn't really their fight, but they fought valiantly. I'd suggest more research. It's not about casualties. It's about results.

a reply to: misterbananas

No one said more Americans died than Soviets. More Soviets died for many reasons:

1. The Soviets had recently killed most of their upper officer staff in a "purge", so only inexperienced officers were available with poor strategy.
2. There were more Soviets fighting, with outdated equipment, which led to more casualties.
3. The Germans laid siege to many (unarmed) Soviet towns (because there were a lot of Jews there), wiping out whole town populations in the process.