BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: gillymor
Date: 17 Sep 20 - 03:07 PM

There's a lot of nazi-like behavior in the current U.S. administration. Let's hope we have the will to snuff it out legally on November 3rd though we'll have to overcome voter suppression and other open attempts to steal this election by trump and his creeps. We have the numbers.
But I'm straying from he subject. I've greatly admired the RAF and all the other brave souls who fought off the Nazis during the B of B since I was a very small child and that admiration has grown over the decades.

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 17 Sep 20 - 02:46 PM

"I'll add that I'm no nationalistic flagwaver but more of a universalistic peacenik.


..me too...

My personal perplexity at how good folks could succumb to colluding with appalling n@zism
was one of the key factors in my choice of studying a Humanities degree when I was an idealistic youth...


Contemporary political leaders show not much has changed since the 1930s...

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: gillymor
Date: 17 Sep 20 - 02:04 PM

The vast majority of the German military cooperated with and did the bidding of the most inhumane, corrupt and murderous regime in modern history, so though there may have been bravery and incidences of humanity within their ranks that's not something I feel compelled to celebrate. I reserve my admiration and appreciation for the the boys and men and women who put their lives on the line and may very well have saved Europe and the rest of the world from Nazism. I'll add that I'm no nationalistic flagwaver but more of a universalistic peacenik.

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 17 Sep 20 - 12:58 PM

I'm prepared to give some German military
the benefit of the doubt.

History also backs up that many were anti n@zi/h1tler;
but they were not serving in a war machine
that was particularly healthy for individual dissidents.

There are documented reports of luftwaffe pilots showing humanity
to our flyers,
who were struggling to fly crippled aircraft back to safety.

Also rare defectors who delivered German aircraft to allied airbases
for research and testing.

That's bravery...

War can be complex like that..

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: gillymor
Date: 17 Sep 20 - 11:00 AM

I'm aware of the beaten down state that Germany was in after WWI and the circumstances that made the Nazis so appealing with their promise of a resurrection of national pride but it seems like a person with a functioning moral compass would have asked himself why did we overrun Poland, Holland, France, et al and why were we now bombing Great Britain. These guys were pilots so they couldn't have been too stupid. I don't know the answer to all this but I don't feel inclined to join the Luftwaffe fan club and am certain I never will.

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 17 Sep 20 - 10:43 AM

It’s always seemed to me that the German forces were composed mainly of ordinary people - no different to their British or American opponents - who were persuaded by the Nazi regime’s powerful propaganda machine that they were ‘doing their duty to the Fatherland’.

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: gillymor
Date: 17 Sep 20 - 09:05 AM

In my case the answer is no when I consider all the barbarous acts of the the 3rd Reich. How did those flyers justify bombing civilians in English cities (and that pales in comparison to all the other atrocities the Germans visited on the world)? Did they think they were defending the Fatherland? I can't see them as anything but war criminals.

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Sep 20 - 08:52 AM

One can respect one's enemy and acknowledge their valor while despising their reasons for fighting, no?

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: gillymor
Date: 16 Sep 20 - 07:23 PM

I have all the respect in the world for those who flew for Britain in that conflict but none whatsoever for Nazis of any stripe, the German flyers may have had physical courage but the cause they were fighting for was about as bad as it gets.

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Sep 20 - 06:19 PM

My parents' war was WWII. Mom survived the Holocaust, Dad conscientiously objected so was a guinea pig for medical experiments. They met in Paris after the War.

Much courage is not in uniform. But without those in it in that war, some of us out of it now might not even be here.

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 16 Sep 20 - 05:59 PM

Aha Airfix, glue on your fingers and tiny parts lost to my Mum's vacuum cleaner!!

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 09:07 PM

Don't have to be a nationalist to recognise true bravery...

My dad was called up for his national service in the RAF in 1947..
Luckily just a few years too young to fight and probably die in the war..

So I grew up positively inspired by his dedication to that service,
and the old training manuals he let me read in my childhood..

I could identify just about every enemy aircraft by it's silhouette...

pfr - one of the Airfix Kit generation...

Subject: RE: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 06:40 PM

Bravery if you please!!!

Subject: BS: 80th anniverary of the Battle of Britain
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 03:39 PM

It's worth remembering the bravoury of those lufwaffe pilots being given a good biffing by our even braver pilots!!!