The Official True Story of World War II

[Ivan]

No one mentioned 'Band of Brothers' yet??

Enemy at the gates, while not exactly being a good movie, still shows the way the russians hammered the german troops there building to building.

Das Boot had a re-release a while ago, digitally enhanced... only bad thing is that they cut it to 2 1/2 hours for the DVD release

[ATI_7500]

No one mentioned 'Band of Brothers' yet??

Same league as "Saving Pvt. Ryan".

Enemy at the gates, while not exactly being a good movie, still shows the way the russians hammered the german troops there building to building.

Enemy At The Gates had some very nice ideas but could have been better.

Countries around Asia are honouring their dead and calling for peace...

Interesting. If we did that, some elements of our country's society would call us Nazis.

[Scorpiоn]

Interesting. If we did that, some elements of our country's society would call us Nazis.

I've always been bothered by this.  Germans have been shamed into everything 1933-1945, and it's continually rubbed in their face that they're monsters.  I remember among all the VE Day hooh-hah, there was one story of a Dresden rememberance, and there was much talk of far right wingers attending.  Everything they said I agree with.  The Jews were victims of Nazis, and that day the Germans were vitims of the USAAF/RAF.

Granted, I've never been to Germany, and I've only suspected it of being this way.

[Ivan]

Dresden is being rebuild to its old face... faster than you can imagine.

[Scorpiоn]

Dresden is being rebuild to its old face... faster than you can imagine.

Okay...

[H]

I've always been bothered by this. Germans have been shamed into everything 1933-1945, and it's continually rubbed in their face that they're monsters....The Jews were victims of Nazis and that day the Germans were vitims of the USAAF/RAF...

I try to differentiate between Nazi and German when I can; the same for Fascist and Italian. The leaders may "speak for the people" but not necessarily what the people would want them to actually speak. I'm not the only one who's said that not every German was a Nazi and not every Nazi was (or is) German. The truth is that not every American is democratic.

[Hagar]

not every German was a Nazi and not every Nazi was (or is) German. The truth is that not every American is democratic.

Indeed. Most people know the name Winston Churchill but I wonder how many ever heard of Sir Oswald Mosley. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRmosley.htm

Much as you or I might disagree with these people they must have the right to state their case providing there's no violence involved. That's the whole point (& probem) of living in a democracy. (In fact there were riots when Mosley visited my home town of Worthing before WWII. I have no doubt that he had his share of supporters here.) In October 1936, Oswald Mosley secretly married wealthy heiress Diana Mitford in Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels' drawing room in Berlin. Adolf Hitler was one of only six guests at the ceremony. The Duke & Duchess of Windsor were among their close friends. (The Duke was the recently abdicated King Edward VIII.) Some of the more prominent members of Mosley's British Union of Fascists might surprise you. According to this it included Sir Malcolm Campbell, aviation pioneer Alliott Verdon Roe & T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). http://www.oswaldmosley.com/people.html

When you realise all this perhaps my scenario of 'what might have been' doesn't look quite so fantastic after all.

[H]

Indeed. Most people know the name Winston Churchill but I wonder how many ever heard of Sir Oswald Mosley.
Much as you or I might disagree with these people they must have the right to state their case providing there's no violence involved. That's the whole point (& problem) of living in a democracy.When you realise all this perhaps my scenario of 'what might have been' doesn't look quite so fantastic after all.

As you only infer by the entry, the U.S. still has its communist, nazi and fascist elements, amongst others; certainly the same for the U.K.

Please don't forget the contribution of the British Empire. Thousands of Australians, New Zealanders & Canadians (not to mention volunteers from all over the Empire) came to serve Britain in her hour of need. I'm ashamed to say that in many cases their help was abused & they were sent on impossible missions. Without them it would have been a very different story. Just an example.

To bolster the example, although I intend the (past) leadership no shame, when the controversy about A.Roy Brown's WW1 'victory' of M.vonRichthofen began, another ace pilot stated that, had "he [Brown] not been a Canadian, there would have been no questioning of it [the victory]."
Additionally, VE-Day did not end the war for the British (nor for the USSR nor even the French). Australia, New Zealand, etc.(......), were part of the United Kingdom -- in such respect, the U.K. was still fighting for its homelands. I almost posted this without the intended emphasis that, obviously, the United States was not the only major, effective force against Imperial Japan right to the end of the war.