And now Germany, in its haste to remove itself as far as possible from its hideous crimes (while never completely answering the question of how an entire nation could allow such a monstrous machine to function so efficiently) is crying foul over a monument commemorating a group of young men who gave their lives trying to shield the free world from that hellish regime.
How do you say "Shut your knackwurst hole" in German?
Speaking as the son of a man who dug bodies out of the rubble of the Blitz, and later in the war flew fighter escort for a few of the thousand-bomber raids, I’d like to invite the Krauts to kiss my @$$.
You started it. You lost. End of story.
Part of the reason for the rise of Hitler, was due to the fact that Germany itself, was largely untouched by the First World War, this made it viable for the “stabbed in the back” theory to gain traction amongst the German People....the Allies were not going to make that same mistake again, they made sure the German people would feel pain this time around, to make sure another Hitler would never rise from their midst.
I had a grandfather (unfortunately no longer with us) who flew the Dresden bombing mission...he refused to talk about it afterward, even many years after the fact.
I lived with the results of that war with my father having been an Army combat veteran of WWII. Shell shocked all to h*ll all his life after the war; fought in N. Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Germany - they barreled up through Italy as fast as they could go, fighting ruthless Panzer divisions much of the way, into Germany, into Berlin about half an hour after Adolph committed suicide. - Germans are either at your throat or at your feet, neither of which are relationships I want. - So, they can kiss my you know what.
Very appropriate:
The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one’s gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747, call sign Speedbird 206.
Speedbird 206: ” Frankfurt , Speedbird 206 clear of active runway.”
Ground: “Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven.”
The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop.
Ground: “Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?”
Speedbird 206: “Stand by, Ground, I’m looking up our gate location now.”
Ground (with quite arrogant impatience): “Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?”
Speedbird 206 (coolly): “Yes, twice in 1944, but it was dark, — and I didn’t land.
As an immigrant from Germany, with US and German parents, I am embarassed that Dresden and its leaders are acting this way
Remember that this is the former East Germany, and, even w re-unification, the Allies were not as respected as much as in the West. First it was Nazis, then Commies, for the Ostis
Still no excuse to whine about this British Memorial...esp since there are memorials all over Europe commenmorating Allied victories over Germany
RAF Bomber crews were some of the bravest of the brave and their contribution was totally overlooked (at least in the UK). They lost over 50,000 men (over 40% of their crews were KIA).
The Germans could have stopped the bombings at any time by surrendering.
THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE-DOWN.
It sounds like the Germans need a refresher course in history. They started the war, they lost the war, they should live with it.
The krauts started WW2.
They initiated indiscriminate bombing of civilians.
They lost the war.
End of story.
Maybe these crybabies can erect a monument in the center of Berlin commemorating what they were really successful at: Killing 6 million helpless civilians in their German death camps.And YOU still lost the war.
Deal with it.
What a whining wuss! Helma needs to revisit the feelings of Jews, the civilians in bombed English cities, the Poles, the Roma, the Russians, the Belgians and the thousands of American families who lost young men fighting Helma’s grandpa in the war Helma’s people started and pressed without mercy!
What a whining wuss! Helma needs to revisit the feelings of Jews, the civilians in bombed English cities, the Poles, the Roma, the Russians, the Belgians and the thousands of American families who lost young men fighting Helma’s grandpa in the war Helma’s people started and pressed without mercy!
I have a distant cousin in England whose father was killed in a German bombing raid on London in 1940 ...
Their house had been hit and as they fled the building and crouched in the garden they were bombed again...
This time the Dad was killed as he protected his wife and his 3 week old son with all he had left...his own body...
I do hope his name is commemorated on a monument somewhere in Germany...
The younger brother eventually was recruited into the Schutz-Staffel, or Guard Unit, an elite military organization, while my teacher joined the US Army when the war broke out. They fought on opposite sides in France, where his brother was eventually taken prisoner by American forces and survived the war.
Their family was well off, and he showed us a picture of their house in beautiful downtown Dresden. However, Dresden wound up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, so they had to leave it behind and skedaddle to West Germany.
The traditional rules of war were that civilians were not to be targets. Obviously, those rules were not observed.
Both sides bombed civilian targets, the Allies more deliberately. The plan was to leave the German workforce with no housing, so as to interfere with war industry. That is not in accord with the rules of war. You can bomb the factories, but not whole residential districts: than is mass murder of civilians. Just because you do it from the sky, does not make it right.
If the outcome of the war had been different, Harris and the rest would have been hanged for war crimes.
But not only was this a war crime. It was also a very expensive war crime in terms of men and equipment. The casualties were enormous. It was not even a clever bit of evil. If you are going to commit a war crime, at least make it pay!
The bombings in Japan using the A-bomb were similarly war crimes. The only excuse is that they shortened the war (which was already essentially over, anyway). That is no excuse: it was still a war crime. It was also unnecessary, as Japan was in ruins, and on the verge of starvation. Japan was ready to surrender.
If you can find a copy of the The Death of Forrestal, you will learn that his suspicious “suicide” eliminated the man who was the last major obstacle to US use of the A-bomb against Japan, to the benefit of the Soviets. Read about it. It was not only a war crime, but it was done mainly to allow the Soviets to enter the war and seize Manchuria. They also took the northern half of Korea, which led to the Korean War, and a divided Korea to this day.
World War II was not a pretty picture, and there is very little heroic about it. We also came out with half of Europe under Soviet Rule. Our supposed allies! Big victory!
I would say Germany got off cheap....8,000,000 was the last count I recall of the Jews slaughtered by the Huns!!!
Sorry but I will never shed a tear for any German city bombed in WWII and I am of German descent. They simply were on the wrong side of history.