@@andrewbanks585 It been in History lessions since the 50s . my mom was told about at school in the 50s . i was told about in the 80/90 schooling. i asked moden kids and yes they still teaching it. Endless war movies. and so on and so on............. i think your full of it.
My uncle was a navigator in a Lancaster bomber. While on a raid over Germany, they were hit by flack that damaged one wing, the tail plane and killed the ter gunner. On the return leg, they were attacked by me109's, one engine caught on fire, the pilot was killed, and my uncle received shrapnel wounds to his leg and arm but took over, flying the aircraft over the chanel and on landing the undercarriage jammed and he had to crash land on grass alongside the tarmac runway. He was awarded 3 significant medals. Whilst flying, he prayed that if he got home, he promised he would never fly again. He was disabled from his injuries and died in 2004, having never been in an aircraft since that event. True hero❤
total respect for your uncle of course, and to live until 2004 is remarkable. my late Mother's Grandfather was a photographer in Wigan who did wedding albums etc. the King visited wigan in sometime before World War One. the relative i mention took great photo's that were circulated and noticed by authorities because we entered world war One in 1914. my Mother's Grandfather was approached by certain people to do something for the war effort of 1914-18. he ended up flying over German Trenches leaning out and taking photographs of the enemy positions. apparenly he survived the Great War and went back to Wigan doing wedding albums. what heroes these people were like your Uncle. best wishes
To be honest.... with what you said, top respect....but of course the tail gunner died, they alongside the ball gunner on the yankee flying fortress was basically a death sentence
My great uncle Philip was a Hurricane pilot. He was shot down and killed in 1942 at the age of 21. But his life, his service and his death became a sort of family legend passed down from my grieving grandparents' generation (he was my grandmother's youngest brother) to my parents and then to me. It's a different kind of "living memory", I think: the memory is kept alive to honour the fallen. As a boy many years ago, I sometimes dreamed about meeting him. I wanted to be like him, wanted to be courageous and defend the nation, but in the end I figured out that being like him somehow wasn't the point. The point was to earn what he died to give me: freedom from tyranny and a long, safe life. To me, it's that important and always will be. It's not mere history.
They do say that people don't really die until the last person to hear about them goes too. Clearly Philp is in living and loving memory. My late father was a WW2 fighter pilot as well. He survived the war and went on to create me, but that was a matter of Lady Luck. He always maintained that the real 'heroes', apart from those killed in conflict, were the poor barstewards who had to go into Belsen. It was an Army job but they where so overwhelmed, volunteers from other Services were requested. Dad didn't step forward on that occasion. "Babs, I simply didn't have the stomach for it." He was something of a projectile vomiter, much like myself.
Churchill was probably the UK's most powerful weapon against the Nazis. Not only did Britain stand alone, but at one point Churchill was a lone voice cajoling the British government into doing something to stand up to Hitler in the 1930s.
Sir Winston Churchill is the only politician I've ever had any time for as without him, Swastikas would be flying over Buckingham Palace. Before Churchill was made Prime Minister, a lot of the British government were in favour of negotiating a peace with Hitler, in an attempt to retain the British Empire. But Churchill knew that Hitler Could. Not. Be. Trusted.
Americans think they won WW2 single handed. I'm South African and I get pissed off when I hear that. Britain stood single handed until 1942 when the US entered the war; and even though the US sent supplies to Britain, they had to PAY the US for it, and the huge debt took over 40 years to repay and the war left Britain bankrupt. Troops from Britsh colonies like South Africa, Australia and New Zealand and Canada, fought for the Allies for Britain. Britain, while almost on starvation point itself, airlifted food to Russia throughout the war to enable the Russians to continue to fight the Nazis. Britain made enormous sacrifices and stood alone for over 2 years before America stepped in, and few acknowledge this. By the time the US joined in it may have been too late and the whole of Europe been lost if Britain had folded. It's about time credit is given where it is due. BTW my father fought "up North" in WW2 and my grandfather in France in WW1. I was born in 1949 and while we no longer belong to Britain here in SA I'm proud of my British heritage and my country has gone to the dogs since they cut ties. British people don't give up and fight best with their backs against the wall. I hope the younger generation in the UK start to remember their glorious past
America profited greatly from its exceedingly late arrival to WW2. Not only from years of lend lease repayments but also from all it took from Germany. Medical, aerospace, mechanical technology amongst others. It advanced technologically decades over night by taking all the German scientists back to america. America was truly backwards before WW2. It has and will always profit from wars.
@@bonkerslez91 well don't you think that's what you should be saying. Thanks to the Commonwealth nations and the freedom fighters from other European countries we saved Britain. When ever I hear that Britain was standing alone I get the impression that some dumb ass Yankee is taking
I was born in 1942, right in the middle, but luckily we lived in a small country town!. My father was walking home one day after work when the siren went. My father ran up the lane, into the house, and flung himself over my cot!
Yes, I cry every time I hear one of his great, stirring speeches. Thank God he got us through the war. And Lord Beaverbrook was an unlikely but utterly inspired appointment by Winston. We were lucky to have him. 🤩🇬🇧🏴🤩
My uncle was in the RAF - a rear gunner in a Lancaster Bomber. Average lifespan of a rear gunner was approx 13 missions. Sadly, he was killed - age 20 1944 and is buried in the War graves cemetery in SE London.
My first boss was a Lancaster rear gunner, mad as a box of frogs. My father worked on Lancaster radar during the war and explained just what those rear gunners went through.
The famous speech of "never in the field of human conflict..." references "the few". My Grandfather and great uncle were both navigators. one died, one got through it. My grandfather made it and went into an RAF home in Scotland. He was given a book "the many", which was about the massive, massive numbers of the bomber boys who were lost. People talk of the Somme, but being a bomber boy held worse odds. We shall remember them.
My Grandad and his nan were the only two survivors on their street during the Blitz. He died on Christmas morning and I recently spoke at his funeral two weeks ago. It is truly amazing that the country held firm during these dark days.
One of my substitute teachers at school was a hurricane fighter pilot. We never gave him any trouble like the other stand ins! We would listen to his memories with utter awe! I salute you Mr. Beck!
Most of my teachers were war vets from all services. I am ever grateful that they talked freely about the war, from torture in Japanese camps, to Burma to anti sub and African desert and at home. They wanted the post war children to know the conditions and why war was required. No cancelling, no trigger warnings or any other BS. We learned straight from them and I suspect they talked less to their families than to us. Thank them all, never forget.
It is interesting to remember that in June 1940, three French pilots, refusing defeat, swam to England from Carteret, a small town on the Normandy coast. and every year a race has been organized in memory of this feat and runners still have to swim across the channel today. From memory but it is to be verified that only one of the three perished during the blitz at the command of his Hurricane. The other two returned home after the war.
That's true, but the biggest advantage was radar and the excellent Fighter Command structure which was years ahead of its time. Without those things, the RAF would've had to maintain continuous (and exhausting) Combat Air Patrols. As it was, they were suffering from exhaustion, but imagine if they had to be flying all the time...
What would have happened if Britain had fallen McJibbin? Pretty much what was outlined in the book and TV Series "The Man In The High Castle". The USA was woefully unprepared for war in 1940 and wide open to attack. Your East Coast would all be speaking German and your West Coast would all be speaking Japanese. Good job we held out then! You're welcome. 🙂
@@poppletop8331 My parents and grandparents and great grandparents all alive through and some fought in both world wars. Sadly some of us were there or we were children of those people. I dont call them ancestors, I call them family. My great grandparents are my ancestors. My ex in laws were ww2 vets. Both in the air force, father in law was a pilot who flew out before the bombers n was part of the dresden bombing. He flew for the brits as an aussie. Mother in law only died a few years ago at the ripe young age of 93. She would tell us amazing stories of the war.
@@CQuinnLady I am talking about my Gt Grandparents in WW2, one of my Gt Grandads was awarded the D.C.M. Battle of Herouville, France He was at Sword beach during the D-Day landings, the other Gt Grandad was in Palestine Police, he also saw action in Africa. My Gt Grandmothers worked in Munitions factory also in the Wrens, respectively. I was referring to the OP stating that "We" held out, and "you're welcome", like they personally played a major part in it...which I find highly unlikely. I think it is insulting the memory of those members of the combined forces of the two wars, to make comments like these. It's thanks to those heroes alone that we don't live in tyranny today, not because of the descendants of said heroes. I am Patriotic to my Country but I would never say anything making myself appear on par with those who fought. My Grandparents were children in the WW2 and they would never make a claim like that either.
I was born to and brought up by a generation that worked hard and managed through all of that. Can still remember so much of them. They were brave, hardy and had a lot more spine that some seem to have today. They were a rare breed and something that should still be taught in schools instead of how to identify as a bloody plant!
It's not. Not really in the curriculum apart from dates and names in a really basic form. Kind of like kings and queens, middle ages etc. Nothing in depth. No life skills though like cooking, nutrition or practical skills. Now in the late primary and secondary schools the kids have apps and something to study called "citizenship". You can bet that won't touch 1939 to 45 but no doubt will have its loaded agenda!
The pride of Britain's people echoes down through the years and all we endured and sacrificed for freedom and hope should never be forgotten. Though gone from our green lands your spirit remains and will be remembered
I would strongly recommend a TV Movie from 2010 - "The 13 Hours That Saved Britain" It's an excellent film with great narration. I think you would really appreciate it Connor.
It is as true today as it ever was, armies do not win wars. Production wins wars, but you have to have somewhere to deply it from. Had the UK fallen, the USA would not have been able to launch it's offensive in Europe. Canada would not have had anyone to send supplies to, Australia would have struggled to fend off Japan as the USA would have been fighting alone in both the Pacific and Atlantic, the North Anerican continent could have defended itself at great cost, but no more. Take this message on board and apply everything Churchill said to the Ukrainian situation! 'Give us the tools and we will do the job'.
"Had the UK fallen, the USA would not have been able to launch it's offensive in Europe." I know exactly what you mean, but just like to point out there was no US offensive in Europe. It was a combined British Commonwealth-US offensive, with added input from other nations. Up until the second half of 1944, British Commonwealth forces were the majority in the ETO.
Australia would have been conducting guerilla warfare if the Japanese got to Australia which I don't think they would have. At no time was America fighting alone in the pacific. Australian troops at Milne Bay showed what the Japanese were going to have to deal with. ( the Japanese got slaughtered at Milne Bay) And just like the Japanese we were not going to fight fair. Over 1000 gas shells alongside 1000 tonnes of gas had already been stockpiled in Australia for use against the Japanese. ( mustard and phosgene gas)
Totally agree on the Ukraine front the parallels are frightening we should be helping them before our doorsteps are hit. If stories of elite forces from other countries operating there are true then there is hope that we do what is right
@@matthewcharles5867 If the japanese came in thru the top of Australia, there would be no fighting, we would just sit back with a tall neck on the other side of the river n watch the wildlife (crocs) pick them off before they got anywhere near us hahaha
I hope you can understand, a lot of us in England have not very distant family ( my grandparents) that went through this time and for us this still brings tears to ours eyes. I really enjoy how you are learning and respecting new things.
My mum was a child when the Luftwaffe bombed her street and killed the family living next door. My paternal grandfather was in the 8th Army in North Africa. He never spoke about it, but he did record a cassette of his experiences once for my cousin. I listened to it almost 45 years ago, but it's long lost now. My maternal grandfather lied about his age and served as a despatch rider for the RFC in the first world war.
I agree. Dresden was prettier, that's all!!! No comfort to the citizens of the East End or Coventry.....and practically every city in Britain for that matter. People working in the munitions factories in Birmingham had to sleep in shelters for months and months at a time, because the city's roads were all utterly destroyed. Bomber Command was vilified after the war, totally unfairly. 🤬🇬🇧🏴
I went with my wife after work one evening, to visit a relative in a nursing home. I was still in uniform, RAF Corporal. The relative was in the day room & on entering the room a man in a wheelchair began to sing my praises. I told him that I wasn’t born until the war had been over for six years & I was a mere aircraft engine fitter. He had been a fighter pilot during the war & said that without the ground crew, such as myself, it would have been impossible for them to keep going. I was so embarrassed at being praised for the efforts of others. 🙏
An Aircraft Engine Fitter is not 'mere.' It is an essential role. He was correct. Whether it's wartime or not. You have a valued career and be proud of it.
I used to work at the RAF museum in Hendon for a few years from 2000 it was a weekend job when I was at uni. I loved the Battle of Britain Hanger it’s changed there now though.
Polish and Czech pilots were amongst the highest scoring pilots during the battle of Britain. They helped save Britain and therefore the rest of Europe. Plus the enigma code breaking was boosted significantly by Polish or Czech (I forget which sorry). Of course commonwealth and free French pilots contributed along with a small number of Americans until America entered the war.
80% of the pilots and 100% of the planes were British, as was the radar and ground spotters. There were 2,353 British pilots. The Poles helped of course, but they made up only 145 of the 574 non British pilots in the Battle of Britain. The Poles don't tend to acknowledge the that vast majority of non British pilots in the battle were not Poles, so they can't have it both ways. They can't complain about not being recognised, when they don't tend to recognise the other non British pilots. Just saying. Peace and best wishes ✌️
Another factor to consider is that if Britain had fallen, the Germans would have likely produced the 1st atomic bomb. The success of the US atomic prouction also relied on UK supplied data and info from captured German scientists after VE
Except the Tizard Mission sent all that data to the US in September of 1940...there was no time that Britain was so hard pressed that they would have fallen before then.
"(I)nfo from captured German scientists" was not used in the Trinity bomb nor in Fat Man nor Little Boy. The rehearsal test took place before the German surrender, and incorporating original ideas from German research simply could not have been done in such a short time frame before the test in July and the bombs in August.
even if they have the atomic bomb without britain, theres no way to hit germany without a massive loss of life to the US. if britain falls then half, maybe even all, of the royal navy and air force assets fall to german hands making it hard to get aircraft carriers close enough to launch planes to bomb europe. then add britains advanced radar that would have fell to germany too, and lastly the UK and germany were the only ones with jet aircraft. so even if the US managed to get in range of germany their planes may get shot down before they can even reach land to drop a bomb.
My grandmother was born in 1895, and was fascinated by the fact we went from early cars and planes to moon landings and space shuttles in her lifetime.
My Nan said the very same thing. She said that her first memories were horse and carts, no aircraft and we're in space & seeing a horse is a rarity. It must've been a common feeling amongst their generation. Such change. But two world wars back to back was a massive incentive & driver for science & technology.
There was already a lot of fighting in Northern Africa. Look up the 'desert rats' and the 'desert fox' Italy started the conflict in Africa with their Ethiopian campaign. Italy also wanted Albania so eastern Europe and Africa was getting their fair share of action. There's so much of WW2 that didn't involve the USA and therefore is unknown to you.
In this battle it was not just the English fighting there was polish Aussie new Zealand south African fighter pilots in this battle of Britain in fact as an American you would be surprised and maybe shocked that the second oldest AIRFORCE in the world after the British RAF is a AIRFORCE from AFRICA which was the SOUTH AFRICAN AIRFORCE in fact the formation of the oldest AIRFORCE the RAF from Britain was the brainchild of a SOUTH AFRICAN he wrote the paper stating the importance of Britain building up of an AIRFORCE that SOUTH AFRICAN was JAN CHRISTIAN SMUTS.
@@xxunionjxx7698 It was my Great Grandfather who served in North Africa. He didn't ever talk about it as I was quite young when he was alive but I did find out he was a Bren gunner. The most amazing thing was how when I knew him, he was a very gentle person who you wouldn't have expected to have volunteered to fight but he did. That's what always stuck out to me the most.
My great grandad had tuberculosis at the time of WW2, so because he only had one lung he wasn’t able to fight, however his main role was giving maps and co - ordinates to our RAF pilots to defeat the axis. He died in 2022! He was a great man.
The fact of the European Empires made it one war. Japanese were attacking the possessions of France and the Netherlands, and of course Britain was fighting in Asia too. Burma became the front line, trying to keep Japan out of India.
The Japanese also attacked the Philippines, which were an American possession . if it wasn't for the bad treatment Japan got after WWI and in the various navel treaties after it, there is a real possibility that Japan would've stayed on very good terms with Britain
Churchill cracked up because our Australian Government ordered the withdrawal of Australian forces back to Australia after the declaration of war against japan, because he said 'Britain first!", and Australia can suffer. His actions in WW! with the Gallipoli fiasco proved to the Australian Govt in WW2 that we were again expendable..
The japanese got as close as New Guinea, and if they had captured Port Moresby it's Capital, which is about 3 hours flying time to mainland Australia, then the invasion would've happened. As it was Northern Australia was bombed over 240 times up to around 1943.
@@malahammer Yes they sold goods to the UK but lets remember Britian did not finish paying back the US until 31 December 2006. Plus American companies that had dealings with Nazi Germany included Ford Motor Company, Coca-Cola, and IBM. Ford Werke and Ford SAF (Ford's subsidiaries in Germany and France, respectively) produced military vehicles and other equipment for Nazi Germany's war effort. Some of Ford's operations in Germany at the time were run using forced labour. While saying this with parents and grandparents who lived through WW2, they all also stated that if The USA had not joined when they did we would have lost the war. Better late than never.
and SOME of their uninformed ancestors still think THEY saved Europe. Makes my blood boil. I was born n the mid 50s. My parents were 30 when they had me.. Both were involved in the war in different ways and in different places when young, aged 15 when it broke out and 21 when it ended. Ordinary people of all sorts, children, mothers, grandparents and other old people.. all were in the think of it back at home with shortages and lack of materials. God bless them all. Britain stood firm. That is a hell of a lot for us who came after to be proud of as well as all of those who fought or supported the service men and women of course.
I’ve always wondered if the holding back from involvement wasn’t because half the population didn’t want to get involved in a “ European problem” as so often said , but that perhaps was it because of a cynical plan to allow us to fight to exhaustion and bankruptcy before joining in , as what happened during the First World War . The only real winners of both wars were the Americans , Britain lost its empire due to its now bankruptcy and shrank to an island with the new Commonwealth of free independent nations , which in principle is far better than an empire but did reduce our economy to near zero . Our power to assert ourselves in the world was broken and the US moved into the place we had before . Now there is an American Empire . So , was it a cynical delay in aiding its supposed ally ? America sole or leased us equipment that allowed us to keep fighting while not helping in the fight itself , perhaps giving is just enough supplies to further deepen the hole we dug and still keeping us alive to fight ? Is couldnbe argued , I’m sure and the results seem to show it could be true , but I know there is far more to consider . Like you though it also makes my blood temp rise when I hear and see the total misrepresentation of events and presentation of the US as saving the day , which I admit they did, but not without some benefits to them . When I found out that America didn’t actually fight on the ground until late 43 early 44 in north west Africa I was surprised . I suppose the world powers were changing and America had a plan to dominate that new world . We could have a worse nation to do so and however bad some of their acts have been and however the future plans turn out , at least they have a founding ideal that we share . It’s just that politics are so cold and calculating and practised by people equally calculating , seeming to disregard people for policy and personal , national ambitions and aims . My own grandfather was polish , imprisoned by the Soviets after the Nazi / Soviet invasion of a Poland . Finally released from a. Gulag he joined the British , free Polish Army to continue the fight . He and so many other Poles and allies had lost their homes and it moves me still to know he and others fought to protect ours. @@mariahoulihan9483
There`s a documented account from one British pilot during this time, he hadn`t even seen combat yet but had just recently joined his squadron during the Battle of Britain. He talks about walking into the local pub in uniform during a afternoon off and how the locals inside applauded him once he was seen and the landlord refused to take any money for his drinks as a sign of respect for what he was doing
I live a couple of miles away from Biggin Hill Airport, one of the fighter stations in the South East of England. Although it is now an executive airport, pandering to the executive jets, helicopters etc, there is still an engineering shop restoring old WW2 planes, particularly the Spitfire. Even now, whilst I’m out shopping in the area, quite often I will see a spitfire overhead - I hear it first. It brings a lump to my throat every time.
Is there still a airshow each year there? As a teenager I used to go to biggin Hill quite often as part of my atc squadron to do crowd control for the airshow.
It’s sporadic. Some years yes, some no. When I was a kid living in the London Borough of Bromley it was still, just, an RAF base and I remember when Concorde used to appear at the air show with the Red Arrows. Nowadays it does have the RAF Chapel and the new Museum, as well as the Air Cadets. Interestingly it is where the Met Police have their dog training centre.
@suboa21able By the time of the 90s they were starting to seriously curtail the things they'd let either the public or cadets do at airshows and with planes in general. It used to be the RAF would take cadets up in the Hercules and do their rolling fast take off, with the cadets just strapped in in the back by a single line, that got binned after everyone got a bit worried when a Wessex crashed in Wales with a bunch of cadets in the back. The army cadets used to regularly get driven around in the army bedfords until one of those crashed with a load of cadets in the back, it wasn't a pretty sight apparantly so they got banned from riding in army vehicles unless proper safety cages and seatbelts were installed.
I remember one year getting a “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” face burn as a kid by accidentally walking too close behind a jet there as it put the burners on 😂
The biggest factor was that the British were defending and fighting over their own territory. The RAF pilots and ground crew stepped up and did not give ground. We owe them so much. Incredible.
The average age of an RAF fighter pilot in 1940 was just 20 years. Of those killed, the average age was 22. Now look at the youth of today, what a contrast.
There are many scots men of army age, would def go fight putins autocracy, especialy that they find, your cod skills are what they need, yes some real soldiers would be nice, but gamers with vr skills :) yes please, and where are all the european soldiers that just demobed, come Ukraine has a nice billet for you, just as advisors, yes?
The youth of today can't decide whether they're a male, female, or a saucepan, and get offended by any little thing. I'm 28 and most things don't bother me.
you can't compare and contrast the youth of today with the youth of 1940,its a nonsensical argument.How wars & conflicts are planned and fought today are completely different to how they were fought over 80 years ago and if you go back another 80 years you get to the Crimean War.The advancements in technology since 1945 has been astonishing and now we're seeing through the war in Ukraine the use and power of drones on the battlefield,next it'll be tanks and other weapon carrying vehicles.As one of my cousins a former RAF pilot who flew Tornadoes during the 1st Gulf war who recently said to me,the pilots of the future won't be men or women climbing into planes and taking off but people ie young people behind the front line who know how to use the controls on game consoles whilst looking at a screen and targeting the enemy on the battlefield at the same time,eye to hand coordination
@@thefiestaguy8831the self serving contempt people have for others is just sickenning. The tories honestly believe they can fight the next election on a anti woke thing, anti trans thing, that isn't even popular in the US, just bits of twitter. That is how desperate they are. Oh and we allow the LBGTQ in the British military, these people are prepared to fight and die..laying down their lives for you and me... How about showing some respect, ffs.
Totally agree! I love the fact that it shows so clearly both the military impact of this battle for skies of Britain, but how it also shows how it affected the civilians, the regular people living their lives while this was happening. Blew me away the first time I watched. Even recommend watching the film "Reach for the Skies" at some point. Talk about a war hero. Douglas Badder was incredible.
It was the skill of the RAF pilots in dogfights and the Spitfire was more maneuverable than the Messerschmitt. We had some fantastic Polish pilots as well. The Germans didn't have to fly very far.... we are only 22 miles from France. I'm ex RAF by the way, and proud 🙂
With the strong isolationist movement in the US at the time, if Britain had fallen and Japan didn't attack there is a possibility that the US would not enter the war against Germany. Maybe even a Non-Agression pact. If conflict with Japan started after that it is possible that Germany would break alliance with Japan to remain Neutral with the US. Eventually though I think A German controlled Europe would come into conflict with the US. The German/Soviet side would be interesting. Given that they've secured Britain the German forces could prepare more against the Soviets and plan Barberossa to take place at a time more suited to them, possibly avoiding the threat of Winter or be better prepared for Winter.
the USA didnt really care about the war in Europe , they had a lot of support for the Nazis and would have left Hitler to it .. but Japan did something really stupid
The USA could very well have not fought in the European theatre of war and just concentrated on Japan, it was Hitler who brought the USA into the European theatre by declaring war on the USA, amongst his many bad decisions.
Isolationism was a smoke screen basically as stated by the pearl harbour association “Even if the United States had wanted to enter the war, its military force was simply not ready. Facing off against millions of Germans, the American military was only about 100,000 strong without a draft. To enter the European crisis would likely mean a complete decimation of America’s forces. Beyond a lack of force, the United States military was generally behind on weaponry, with much of it dating back to the First World War. The current force wasn’t ready for war against the better-trained Germans. Even if the numbers were there, the preparedness was not.”
Calm down, pal. Are you Polish or something? The following is taken from Wikipedia. It seems to be important to you, were you there? in July 1940, the RAF announced that it would form two Polish fighter squadrons: No. 302 Squadron and No. 303 Squadron were composed of Polish pilots and ground crews, although their flight commanders and commanding officers were British. The two fighter squadrons went into action in August with 89 Polish pilots. Another 50 Poles took part in the battle, in RAF squadrons.
@@gio-oz8gf 303 Squadron became the most successful Fighter Command unit in the Battle, shooting down 126 German machines in only 42 days. With 17 confirmed victories, Sergeant Josef Frantisek, a Czech national serving with No. 303 Squadron, was one of Fighter Command's most successful pilots
@BullRoarer_ ...totally correct they were great pilots but only 145 ...Britain had 2,353 pilots and New Zealand were equivalent in pilots to Poland nearly...so great as these pilots were there were not loads as the other guy was saying....
My friend, you are getting better and better in your knowledge of Britain and our history. Also your comments concerning the same are becoming more thoughtful and refined. Love your channel, and like you loads.
The polish pilots in fighter command were a huge help and some of the best pilots the world had seen, im welsh and have huge respect for poland and its people
Some drunken welsh women fought the french to a surrender (the last landing and ground invasion of these isles) in fishgaurd. The landing French thought the traditional welsh dress of the drunken welsh women (which consisted of big hats) was the british army massing... and basically gave up. I mean as a military humiliation, that's hard to beat.
Less than half of the French force was actually French regular army; the majority were convicts or other irregulars, including Americans and Irish (it was a diversionary part of a - failed - French campaign to liberate Ireland from the British). Even their commander was American-Irish. It was largely the irregulars and convicts who were drunk or deserted. The surrender was not simply to a bunch of Welsh women, but their presence as onlookers in traditional red shawls certainly increased the perception that the British had a larger force than they actually had, red being the colour of British army uniforms at the time. It's actually a really good story and I'm both surprised and disappointed it gets so little attention.
Not surprising as the British army stovepipe headgear looks very much like the traditional hat worn by Welsh women in their National costume. ( Plus you should NEVER p*ss off a Welsh woman !!!). Hard to distinguish convicts with regular army as the British army filled it's ranks by emptying local prisons and training them to be soldiers. Many were given the choice - take the King's shilling or the Tyburn jig!
In those days, those very brave young people died while flying REAL aircraft fighting for their countries and not video games. Think about it but unfortunately while some do allot don't. R.I.P 😢 YOU beautiful young courageous men. Thank you for you honest video, as an ex Australian Military Veteran thank you. 😊
If Britain had fallen in June of 1940 Europe and the entire world would be a much different place. British scientists were instrumental in the development and use of Radar. British scientists helped significantly in the Manhattan project to develop the Nuclear bomb. British scientists helped to refine sonar and they enhanced Polish breakthroughs to break the Enigma code which gave the Allies huge advantages during the war. Had Britain fallen, Hitler would have been able to focus his whole force on Russia and the outcome of that conflict may well have seen Russia lose. The US in 1940 would almost certainly have maintained its opposition to getting involved in "the European war" and would have to face Japan entirely on its own without many of the scientific advances that helped win that war. The Axis forces would likely have used Russia after its defeat as a stepping off point to invade the US, and until Perl Harbor, the US was not on a full war footing and may have found it extremely difficult to fight against Germany, and Japan and Italy would likely have combined forces, along with any other country who joined that campaign. The Battle of Britain was a KEY turning point of WWII as much as the battle of Stalingrad was and as much as D-Day was in my view.
If Germany had defeated Britain, presumably they'd have taken over the Royal navy and all of its ships, the French navy would also then be in their hands thus making a massive German navy capable of commanding the oceans unaposed. Theoretically the USA could have been there for the taking.
@@webbsfan1 You make a logical point, however, I personally suspect that Churchill being the tough bulldog and anti-nazi he was: if he suspected Britain was going to lose in those June months he would have ordered the Royal Navy to Canada, hoping that the U.S. would still come into the conflict. As a former First Lord or the Admiralty and a staunch supporter of Empire, I think he would have ordered the scuttling of all Royal Navy ships before he allowed them to fall into Hitlers hands. It is interesting - and in many ways concerning - to consider what the consequences of the UK losing the Battle of Britain, or Russia losing the Battle of Stalingrad, or the D-Day landings failing would have meant for global power and dominance and how different the World would be today. All political decisions have the innate possibility of monumental societal change in the long-run, with often unseen and unanticipated consequences.
@@kencraig8715 Thinking about it, you are probably right about scuttling the royal navy fleet but it would still have left Hitler without an enemy to fight in the west,he could presumably then use all of the resources from his occupied territories to build up vast amounts of weapons in comparative safety before turning to Russia,which he always claimed was his real enemy...its all ifs and buts but makes for an interesting discussion.
Thanks for this. It's interesting to see such an impassioned and thoughtful reaction from a young man (and yes, I think you'd step up just as your forebears did). Subscribed.
I am 85 born 1938 in Manchester and can still remember the war and have quite a few stories about my relatives who were in all sections of the forces I still remember the air raids and bomber runs AND DOG FIGHTS.
My grandad served in the RAF during WW2 as ground crew and as he always said, Hitler's greatesr misrake was to switch to bombing UK cities. The Luftwaffe was on the verge of succeeding in their mission of gaining control of UK airspace and the RAF was on it's knees but then the Luftwaffe turned towards bombing such as London which gave the RAF time to recover.
Supposedly this was because a German raid mistakenly bombed London rather than the raf bases or industrial targets and Churchill ordered the raf to attack Germany in retaliation. This retaliation incensed Hitler and he demanded the destruction of London and other cities, thus laying the foundations for the later bombing of German cities and its justification by Churchill and Harris.
Hitler only turned to bombing British cities in retaliation for Churchill bombing Germain cities. Churchill started targeting civilians first and German cities were absolutely devastated compared to British cities. Of course we in the UK only tend to hear one side of what happened.
I have to say that I commend you for not constantly interupting what is a video clip, (that my parents would have known in reality) and just letting it play. You are evidently listening to the commentary and I hope that you have learned what we as the British, in all aspects of military or civilian life endured. Thank You
Lesotho, formerly The Protectorate of Basotholand" is a small country completely land-locked by only South Africa. As Britain braced itself for the "Battle of Britain" it knew it had to win to thwart off a Nazi invasion of the British Isles. Basotholand, probably the poorest region in Africa then, nevertheless wanted to help. Beside sending troops who saw action in North Africa and elsewhere, it also held a national collection and with the money raised it covered the costs for the production of 24 Spitfires. A real-size model of a Spitfire was donated by the Spitfire Memorial Foundation under the Motto: We remember in gratitude." It can now be viewed in Maseru. The famous Basotho blankets sometimes depict this; indeed a matter of great national pride.
Some interesting questions and thoughts raised. One of the more celebrated and emotive periods of WW2 for those of us in the UK. The speeches and heroic figures are legendary. With the benefit of hindsight, there was no chance of invasion in reality. The idea behind the aerial attack was to try to get Britain to come to terms, and not even to surrender exactly, so focus could turn east and the USSR. Plans were drawn up for invasion but were laughable (compare them to D Day!). The Kriegsmarine weren't even involved in them and knew it was a non event. It had to look like invasion was a possibility of course, and it wasn't known there was no chance of it working in Britain at the time obviously. The war hadn't gone well, so it's no criticism of those at the time for thinking invasion was about to occur. Had it been attempted, it would have been the battle the RN had been waiting for for centuries. As it turned out it enabled the RAF to play the crucial role for the first time.
Dont forget the British Army had just been rescued from the beaches of France, so was extremely short of all weapons especially artillery and AA guns and Tanks, even rifles. if the Airforce had been subdued then Sealion would have been much easier and the Navy hard pressed to stop an invasion, take off the rose coloured glasses from your hind sight.
@@davedixon2068 It's the hindsight which helps remove the rose tinted spectacled view that this was the "crucial" battle which "saved" Britain. Would it have been easier to stage an invasion with a subdued RAF? Yes. Would it have been harder work with more losses for the Navy with a subdued RAF? Yes. Would it make any difference to the outcome? No.
There really was nothing left, there was no reserve, every plane was in the sky. That was it. Win or lose. It defined the course not just of WWII but of the next century. Churchill's speech was not hyperbolic.
Thank you Connor for bringing this to other countries because a lot of American people didn’t realise what the British went through . The German people complained that we bombed their cities! I wonder if they even realised what hitler did to ours. We fought long and hard for our freedom from a mad dictator. ❤
9:27 The plan was if the British Isles fell, to move the capital from London to Ottawa in Canada. They'd carry on from there. As you realise, the task would have been monumental, as by the end of 1940, Japan had already taken French Indo-China. This occurred a year before Pearl Harbour. Likely, there would have been no Normandy landings as that would have been logistically impossible, unless Spain or Portugal was used as a launch pad. Italy was invaded before Normandy, but as you correctly surmise, the terrain proved very difficult and the going was slow. In the end, the war would have dragged on and resulted in the complete victory of the USSR, probably rolling right across Western Europe and taking everything including Britain. I've read Russian calculations on this, and they think by the early 1950's they'd have taken everything (not counting Lendlease). As for whether one war or two separate wars, it was one World War. Everything was connected; supply lines ran to Russia through the North Sea, Persia and from the Far East; supply to China ran up through Burma and India etc. The conflict had to be looked at as a whole.
My father had wanted to join the RAF along with a friend but as an electrical engineer, which was a reserved occupation, was refused. Instead he went to the GEC in Coventry and worked on the development of Radar. His older brother was a fireman in the Auxiliary Fire Service in London during the Blitz.
Don't forget the Japanese, they took the Malay peninsula , My Dad fought there. Also the Russians were on our side at that time . The Canadian forces and Australians came over and fought , we never forget how grateful we are to them
Russia wasn’t at war with Germany during the Battle of Britain, it had decided to sign a pact with the Nazis to take parts of Eastern Europe for itself.
Dan Snow one of our greatest Historian like his father was 👏👍THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING A BRITISH NARRATOR FOR THIS VIDEO IN KEEPING WITH THE HISTORY IF THE BATTLE .My Dad an Engineer after being a Fireman in the Blitz went to Wiltshire to make the tools for the Spitfire and adapted some of them to purpose as required at the Vickers factory in Wiltshire and very proud of his contribution to the War effort ,my Mother inserted Rivets on the Spitfire and all the women worked hard and long hours to churn the planes out for the Battle and later to fight for their lives in this hideous war of Hitler MY GRATEFUL THANKS TO THOSE BRAVE PILOTS NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN good one Connor 🤷♀️
Never realised that Winston Churhchill's Chartwell house where he spent much of his time is literally only about 2 miles down the road from me! Also, Nigel Farage lives very close to me and apparently Tom Cruise has a house nearby within 5 miles or so.
The Battle of Britain ended on 31 October 1940, and Japan didn't attack Pearl Harbor until 7 December 1941, If England had lost the Battle of Britain, that would have been over a year for the Axis forces to have attempted to overcome Britain's forces. The Axis powers had not invaded Russia at that time, they didn't invade Russia until 22nd June 1941 and if Germany had been involved in a full-scale invasion of England, they may have never broken their treaties with Russia and concentrated their full might on crushing England, Wales & Scotland, probably making a pact with Ireland giving Northern Ireland back to the Irish so long as they did not enter the war, as Ireland was neutral during WW2. So by the time, Japan forced America to join the war, it may have all been over for Britain, with only small pockets of resistance remaining, Northern Africa would have fallen to Rommel without constant resupply from Britain, Canada and Australia were too far away to have helped much in the battle for Europe, so the Axis powers could have totally dominated all of Europe & Britain by the time America entered the war, this would have meant America would have probably turned to the Pacific as there would not have been much they could have done in Europe without a foothold to launch any form of counter-invasion, the Axis powers may have then turned their sights on Russia, without 2 fronts to fight on & British lend-lease, Russia would have had the full might of the Axis powers turn against them. Unless America made a pact with the Germans they could have supplied Russia with help but would America have declared war on Germany if there was no more European countries resisting?
There were huge numbers of people in the USA of German origin, and a great deal of support there for Germany.....until Pearl Harbour!!! Without that attack by Japan, it's doubtful that the USA would have entered the war at all.
You forget That Hitler declared War on the USA , so did Roosevelt a favour because he wanted to put the majority of the War effort in Europe and made the War against the Japanese secondary. Even though every American wanted to crush Japan first because of Pearl Harbour. Thankfully Roosevelt saw that Germany was far the bigger threat to mankind and democracy because of its greater strength military speaking.
But great points about Ireland's neutrality and the fact that wanted a united Ireland, rather than a British held Northern Ireland as it is still today.
Not seen this young chap before. One of the most thoughtful Americans I have seen doing this kind of thing; if that's not damning with faint praise. Very good balance of mainly intellectual and some emotional engagement. I was brought up surrounded by relics of the Battle of Britain, one of whom was my neighbour; fiercely brave lovely man but drank a bottle of whisky a day until it killed him.. From as soon as I could read, I have read countless books on the subject and the desire to immerse myself in it, at one time, took over my life. It is very healthy for me to see an intelligent young man who is not so passionately invested in the Battle of Britain give an honest and adult reaction. It is refreshing to hear him pose "what if" scenarios. It was highly appropriate for him to wonder if he could have stood up to the example of the young fighter pilots, probably his age. Most of us wonder the same. My guess is that he would make his country proud of him but I pray that he never has to.
You have to remember that around 1939 there was a large amount of support for Nazis and fascism in the USA. So that, if Britain had fallen early on, it is likely that there would have been considerable internal conflict within the USA encouraged by that.
Yes. Joe Kennedy (JFK's Father) was strongly for appeasement, as was Charles Lindbergh who supported Hitler, and Germany's antisemitism. Without Roosevelt, US would likely have been pro-fascist rather than side against Hitler, and fight alongside Stalin.
Don't forget that the USA was also building a lot of military vehicles for Germany and Henry Ford was even decorated by Hitler for his company's efforts in Germany.
Breaks my heart running to their deaths lots of them so young! No age they were so very brave my father was taken prisioner twice and escaped twice he only spoke about the war towards the end of his life .He went to France on D day he said he did not want to talk about the horrors he saw.His best friend was blown up right next to him how do you recover from that he worked hard but weekends he drank a lot many men came home so broken.Very very sad a lost generation in many ways.
Even if we had lost the Battle of Britain an invasion would have failed. The Royal Navy would have taken large losses from German air attacks but would have destroyed invasion barges travelling at 3 knots
Its possible they may have sent uboats to take them on, which may have allowed some to get through. They would have used airborne troops too of course, but getting their heavy equipment there would have been difficult, but Britain had little left after Dunkirk.
@@richardshillam7075 about 4 mins in the narrator says the only way it (the invasion) might succeed was with total air superiority. Firstly they would never have that as you could pull the airforce further back but secondly the conflict has been wargamed on several occasions and the Germans lose as any naval presence would destroy barges invading or acting as the supply lines. I'll agree wargaming isn't an exact science but in the evacuation from Dunkirk the Germans sank 9 destroyers, to defend invasion the navy had 57 on the south coast alone
We Brits were amazingly lucky, the Hurricanes and especially the Spitfires came into production at the right time. When the war started we had more hurricanes than spitfires, and to some degree the hurricanes were outclassed by german fighters. Production of spitfires had to be stepped up, but the germans were doing their best to destroy manufacturing centres for Spitfires, including bombing factories producing engines and wings for the Spits and hurricanes. Eventually the tide turned, and we began to produce Spits in sufficient numbers to equip the RAF and I think Royal Navy too, with Seafires.
The problem for America is the science. Britain had spent a lot of effort on developing technology that the U.S. did not have. Radar integrated defensive strategies, the Merlin engine, the jet engine, and the contribution to the atomic bomb. British scientists had been working on the weapon and purifying uranium well before the Manhattan Project. Britain agreed to share many of its technologies as part of the lend-lease program. The U.S. undertook to share the results of the Manhattan Project on completion. Eisenhower broke that agreement, however many of the developments after the British gave their over was worked by British scientists so it was very shortly after Britain had the bomb despite the U.S. being untrustworthy ally post war.
If Britain had fallen then it would have been a hugely different outcome to France etc. It was a widely held belief among the Nazi elite that taking Britain would be one thing but holding it something completely different. Hitler was quoted as saying that to defeat Britain they would need to kill or arrest every man, woman and child. The fear was that despite on the surface the British appearing very civil, polite and nice people, deep down we are unruly, fierce and unwavering. The Romans for example were constantly attacked, ambushed and killed whilst in Britain, just by local populations. The Germans feared that guerrilla warfare would breakout at unprecedented levels and I can very much see that being the case. I genuinely cannot see a German soldier or tank being able to travel through Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds etc without someone attacking them. There would be constant uprisings, riots and large groups of militia. Also you have remember Britain had her Empire. Mainland UK may have fallen but the size of the Empire meant colonial troops could have feasibly continued the fight to allow Britain to regain her island.
Yeah, I'd never considered that, but it would have been very difficult to keep control of Britain. It would undoubtedly have been a huge set back but more than likely not the end. The British are unique in that they have absorbed the best of those who invaded or settled here over the 1000+ years of its history to create a strange but beautiful nation of people. The nations who aly with Britain share a common basic human belief and that is fundamental to what I think would have happened. If Britain had not managed to resist the nazi war machine that day, I do believe those native to the British Isles would have continued the fight but also I think the USA would have entered earlier and Empire and Commonwealth nations would have continued the fight. I don't see a scenario where Nazi Germany ultimately win, it would just have taken longer and cost even more precious life to get there
As you mentioned North Africa, you should do a ‘reaction’ to David Sterling and the formation of SAS; without them Spec Ops would look very different today…
My father enlisted in 1939 aged 20 , he was a Desert Rat , fighting in the Battle of El Alamein and Italy Monte Cassino , then he returned and took up his old job in Rowntree’s Chocolate Factory and never spoke of it
Would of never gotten involved. The war with Japan would of still happened but the outcome would likely be a much more drawn out conflict without the British Empire absorbing Japans time and resources too.
@@QuantumShock1 and then a few years alter, pearl harbour 2 happens on the americn mainland as germany invades with all of europe's forces, including the royal navy and every military advancement made that the US didn't and would possibly never have in this timeline.
RAF Bomber Command crews suffered an extremely high casualty rate: 55,573 killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew (a 44.4 per cent death rate), a further 8,403 were wounded in action and 9,838 became prisoners of war.
Do many people from the USA realise that their nation wasn’t IN the Warzone like the UK and their homes and factories weren’t getting bombed plus we still have to pay back our debt to you which is a problem to our economy unlike Germany & Italy who doesn’t have to ?
We finished paying that war debt in 2006 actually, although I fail to see what we were paying for, especially as Ukraine is getting everything for free these days.
Was definitely a world war. Australia was bombed by the Japanese, we had Q ships off the coast of New Zealand sowing mines off our harbours. The Germans and Italians were in Northern Africa, most of Asia was being fought over
Connor...the only time Britain was threatened enough to possibly "fall" is in the Battle of Britain...and they were never losing the Battle of Britain. Germany could not even gain air superiority over the Channel, so Britain was never going to fall.
@@mixodorians12 That is based on propaganda numbers that said the RAF was down to 150 planes, but at that point they actually had 600. They had more of an issue with pilots, but they still had enough for all the active fighters.
oh mate, You seem to have no idea how close we came to losing. It was absolutely Hitler directing the attacks to cities Like London & Belfast that saved the RAF. Please don't embarrass us with these infantile opinions.
At this time, my dad was on a ship, HMS Golden Eagle, at the Thames estuary defending against Nazi bombers and my mum, recently widowed, was serving with the Surrey Fire Brigade, just south of Croydon at Banstead. I am proof that they both survived the war. 1940/41 was a tough time for Britain, without US aid. My mum's first husband was killed in an air accident as he was training as a sergeant pilot. I think that the fact that the USA has never experienced a major attack (apart from 9/11) numbs the population and the rest of Europe still feels the pain of wars on their lands.
My grandad made the fuel tanks for spitfires during the war as well as volunteering at night to put out bombing fires. My other grandad was in the raf, he was a mechanic stationed in Burma for the Dakota aeroplanes and also an air gunner in the catalina over the Channel helping to defeat uboats.
Happily and incredibly luckily both my grandads survived the war and lived long enough to meet me. And writing tales of their journeys through the war got me an A* in history bless them.
It was not just London, but many cities. In my hometown of Southampton, only one shop was left standing. My dad in the north in Newcastle saw the same.
You need to read 'The most dangerous enemy' by Stephen Bungay, To quote Wellington, “it was a damn close run thing". We also need to thank Air Marshall, Hugh Dowding.
New subscriber. First of all, thank you for not commenting much during the documentary and only offering reasoned comments. I watched this a couple of weeks ago, it was very good. Another thing to consider is how new planes got delivered to the airfields to replace damaged or destroyed ones. Perhaps another video could be about the young women who flew deliveries of fighters and bombers from the factories to the airfields. That’s quite a story too. All the best from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺
A special mention should go to the two British squadrons made up of Polish pilots. When Germany invaded Poland, the government and many members of their military came to the UK and fought in our armed forces. The Polish pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain are commended for their excellent airmanship!
All of 9Americans fought in the battle of Britain. Billy Fiske was the first American killed in combat in world war 2. He flew a hawker hurricane,with number 601 squadron en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Fiske
I remember my mum saying she was out shopping when she saw a Spitfire chasing a bomber over Edmonton, she then heard strange noises around her on the ground,it was spent cartridge cases landing on the pavement.
The attacking force contained a lot of bombers, and bombers are what you're after, because they are what causes damage to the means of production and economy. A fighter is more likely to take down a bomber than otherwise, hence the loss ratio. You don't want to fight fighters with your fighters, your target are the bombers. But the brits had a massive advantage in their radar early warning systems, and very advanced battle control. The germans had no idea how good it was.
McJibbin, don't for a nano-second doubt yourself, given the same circumstances, you would, without a seconds thought, rise to the occasion. Just remember this, 'Comes the hour, Comes the Man'.
Churchill, that old Edwardian imperialist, was clearly the man for the hour (and days and years ahead). I find his words inspiring even now so long after these critical events.
The young RAF pilot on the thumbnail was Flight Lieutenant Brian Lane, who in 1940, was TWICE temporarily placed in charge of 19 squadron as its previous commanding officer had been killed in action. He was just TWENTY THREE years old when he took that HEAVY front line responsibility on his young shoulders. His photo is often seen in books on the subject of the battle and you can CLEARLY see the utter EXHAUSTION on his young face. In December 1942 he was shot down off the Dutch coast.... his body was never found.
There were 2,353 British Pilots and 574 pilots from other countries during the Battle of Britain, mainly from Poland, New Zealand, Canada and Czechoslovakia ❤
During the Blitz the London docks were targeted constantly. My grandmother had to run to the air raid shelter while boiling sugar from the Tate and Lyle factory ran through the streets of the East End . Her shoes melted and thereafter her toes were fused together. She returned to work in a munitions factory the next day.
The first time the Germans met equally good planes and pilots as they had only previously come across substandard plane. You should not underestimate the foreign pilot's who finally got their hands on modern planes like the polish and commonwealth
3:55 that warship btw is the legend that was HMS Warspite. Everyone knows of Yamato for being big and being sunk, HMS Hood for being fast and blowing up and Bismarck for sinking Hood and then being sunk. HMS Warspite though did much more than all 3 and went out on her own terms. She was a veteran of the Battle of Jutland WW1 where she had so much fun shooting the Germans, she came about and went back in for a 2nd go at them even when the crew really didn't want to. In actuality she'd been hit several times and her rudder jammed. Her coming about out of control did result in a British Cruiser that had been disabled having a chance to get power back and escape while the Germans were distracted shooting up Warspite though. During WW2 she had fun scaring the bejesus out of German destroyers before blowing them out of the water. That incident was a group of RN destroyers getting into a scuffle with KM destroyers for the KM to run for cover and set up ambush in a Norwegian fjord. They were waiting the RN destroyers to come in after them except Warspite was in the area so instead of a few RN destroyers, it was Warspite with her 15" main battery pre aimed at them came barreling in. Warspite also still holds the world record jointly with Scharnhorst for the longest ranged main battery shell hit scored from moving warship on another ship. In the med the Italian Battleship Gulio Cesare came to play, spotted Warspite and decided "NOPE, sod that" and retreated so Warspite sent her a 15" message saying "and don't come back". Also in the med she took a direct hit from a 3000lb fritz x guided missile. That messed her up but she did manage to limp home for repair and get back out just in time for D-day. A far more modern Italian Veneto class Battleship which on paper was a far more powerful ship took a similar hit from a fritz x but didn't survive. During D-day she had fun shelling German positions with the 3 of 4 main battery turrets she had left working so much they ran out of shells and had to go home for more. Then she ran out again and wore her barrels out so had to go back home for more shells and new barrels. By the time she got back the Germans had had the audacity to retreat in land out of range...so the crew flooded torpedo blisters on one side to lean the ship over to get more elevation on the guns so she could have one last pop. USS Texas pulled the same trick btw. Must have been a shock for the poor sods thinking "ahh, finally out of range of those bloody 14" and 15" HE shells...wtf is that sound?!" as everything around them explodes. Her final act was when the British Gov desperate to save some cash ordered her decommissioned. The tragic part was the Gov refused to sell her to a private venture that was trying to have her preserved as a museum ship. UK Gov wanted a quick penny so sold her for scrap. Obviously offended at this betrayal HMS Warspite slipped her lines while under tow on her way to the breakers and ran herself aground. She became the most expensive maritime salvage operation ever in UK waters and iirc it's a record that still stands today 😂 HMS Warspite, one of the most badass warships to ever put to sea that not many ppl know about.
Hi Conner If you want a really good first hand account of the Battle. Find a book called "First Light" by Geoffrey Welum (aka Boy because he was fresh out of school and into a Spitfire). He was on 92 Squadron at Biggin Hill. One of the best books I've ever read, so good they made a TV movie out of part of it under the same name. Geoffrey survived the war and went on to jets after, a tough no nonsense commander and much loved by all who served with him.
Kids on the Kent coast (and elsewhere) often ducked school to watch the dog fights. People did run as well. Some who had enough money went to hotels in the country and played no role in the war effort, and avoided many of the shortages that way too-they were called "funk holes".
This is a battle that all British people are proud of.
The sad fact is if you ask most of our younger generation what the battle of Britain was they probably won't have a clue
It was a battle that showed the world the luftwaff were not masters of the sky and that the RAF out manned still were a force to recon with
You would think so wouldn't you
so why did some idiots threaten and intermindate veterans on remembrance Sunday
@@andrewbanks585 It been in History lessions since the 50s . my mom was told about at school in the 50s . i was told about in the 80/90 schooling. i asked moden kids and yes they still teaching it. Endless war movies. and so on and so on............. i think your full of it.
@super_happy_alien509 I think your full of sh*t, yeah you just so happened to have asked some modern day kids on the off chance, muppet
My uncle was a navigator in a Lancaster bomber. While on a raid over Germany, they were hit by flack that damaged one wing, the tail plane and killed the ter gunner. On the return leg, they were attacked by me109's, one engine caught on fire, the pilot was killed, and my uncle received shrapnel wounds to his leg and arm but took over, flying the aircraft over the chanel and on landing the undercarriage jammed and he had to crash land on grass alongside the tarmac runway. He was awarded 3 significant medals. Whilst flying, he prayed that if he got home, he promised he would never fly again. He was disabled from his injuries and died in 2004, having never been in an aircraft since that event. True hero❤
I heard pilots amongst others would dig people out of rubble
303 squadron was up there with the very best. Heroes to the man.
My uncle was a Dakota pilot and got shot down and killed flying over Arnhem, on 20th Sept 1944, he was trying to resupply the Paras
total respect for your uncle of course, and to live until 2004 is remarkable. my late Mother's Grandfather was a photographer in Wigan who did wedding albums etc. the King visited wigan in sometime before World War One. the relative i mention took great photo's that were circulated and noticed by authorities because we entered world war One in 1914. my Mother's Grandfather was approached by certain people to do something for the war effort of 1914-18. he ended up flying over German Trenches leaning out and taking photographs of the enemy positions. apparenly he survived the Great War and went back to Wigan doing wedding albums. what heroes these people were like your Uncle. best wishes
To be honest.... with what you said, top respect....but of course the tail gunner died, they alongside the ball gunner on the yankee flying fortress was basically a death sentence
My great uncle Philip was a Hurricane pilot. He was shot down and killed in 1942 at the age of 21. But his life, his service and his death became a sort of family legend passed down from my grieving grandparents' generation (he was my grandmother's youngest brother) to my parents and then to me. It's a different kind of "living memory", I think: the memory is kept alive to honour the fallen.
As a boy many years ago, I sometimes dreamed about meeting him. I wanted to be like him, wanted to be courageous and defend the nation, but in the end I figured out that being like him somehow wasn't the point. The point was to earn what he died to give me: freedom from tyranny and a long, safe life.
To me, it's that important and always will be. It's not mere history.
They do say that people don't really die until the last person to hear about them goes too. Clearly Philp is in living and loving memory. My late father was a WW2 fighter pilot as well. He survived the war and went on to create me, but that was a matter of Lady Luck. He always maintained that the real 'heroes', apart from those killed in conflict, were the poor barstewards who had to go into Belsen. It was an Army job but they where so overwhelmed, volunteers from other Services were requested. Dad didn't step forward on that occasion. "Babs, I simply didn't have the stomach for it." He was something of a projectile vomiter, much like myself.
That, speech of Sir Winston Churchill is one hell of a speech.
Churchill was probably the UK's most powerful weapon against the Nazis. Not only did Britain stand alone, but at one point Churchill was a lone voice cajoling the British government into doing something to stand up to Hitler in the 1930s.
He said that on the radio not in the commons
Just one of many he made and most of them were memorable.
Sir Winston Churchill is the only politician I've ever had any time for as without him, Swastikas would be flying over Buckingham Palace. Before Churchill was made Prime Minister, a lot of the British government were in favour of negotiating a peace with Hitler, in an attempt to retain the British Empire. But Churchill knew that Hitler Could. Not. Be. Trusted.
Americans think they won WW2 single handed. I'm South African and I get pissed off when I hear that. Britain stood single handed until 1942 when the US entered the war; and even though the US sent supplies to Britain, they had to PAY the US for it, and the huge debt took over 40 years to repay and the war left Britain bankrupt. Troops from Britsh colonies like South Africa, Australia and New Zealand and Canada, fought for the Allies for Britain. Britain, while almost on starvation point itself, airlifted food to Russia throughout the war to enable the Russians to continue to fight the Nazis. Britain made enormous sacrifices and stood alone for over 2 years before America stepped in, and few acknowledge this. By the time the US joined in it may have been too late and the whole of Europe been lost if Britain had folded. It's about time credit is given where it is due. BTW my father fought "up North" in WW2 and my grandfather in France in WW1. I was born in 1949 and while we no longer belong to Britain here in SA I'm proud of my British heritage and my country has gone to the dogs since they cut ties. British people don't give up and fight best with their backs against the wall. I hope the younger generation in the UK start to remember their glorious past
Thank you sir, I too hope our youth of today are capable of standing up when or if they are needed.
America profited greatly from its exceedingly late arrival to WW2. Not only from years of lend lease repayments but also from all it took from Germany. Medical, aerospace, mechanical technology amongst others. It advanced technologically decades over night by taking all the German scientists back to america. America was truly backwards before WW2. It has and will always profit from wars.
Britain was never fighting alone she always had the Commonwealth countries and expatriate from different European countries.
@@glen3679when we say we stood alone we mean we were the last free European nation to not fall
@@bonkerslez91 well don't you think that's what you should be saying. Thanks to the Commonwealth nations and the freedom fighters from other European countries we saved Britain. When ever I hear that Britain was standing alone I get the impression that some dumb ass Yankee is taking
Churchill's speech still moves me after all these years. I was one day old when war was declared.
Shame he was a racist bellend really
I was born in 1942, right in the middle, but luckily we lived in a small country town!. My father was walking home one day after work when the siren went. My father ran up the lane, into the house, and flung himself over my cot!
Yes, I cry every time I hear one of his great, stirring speeches. Thank God he got us through the war. And Lord Beaverbrook was an unlikely but utterly inspired appointment by Winston. We were lucky to have him. 🤩🇬🇧🏴🤩
My uncle was in the RAF - a rear gunner in a Lancaster Bomber. Average lifespan of a rear gunner was approx 13 missions. Sadly, he was killed - age 20 1944 and is buried in the War graves cemetery in SE London.
Lest we forget
My first boss was a Lancaster rear gunner, mad as a box of frogs. My father worked on Lancaster radar during the war and explained just what those rear gunners went through.
Connor, you should watch interviews with Tom Neil, he was a fighter pilot, an amazing man. He only died a few years ago .
The famous speech of "never in the field of human conflict..." references "the few". My Grandfather and great uncle were both navigators. one died, one got through it. My grandfather made it and went into an RAF home in Scotland. He was given a book "the many", which was about the massive, massive numbers of the bomber boys who were lost. People talk of the Somme, but being a bomber boy held worse odds. We shall remember them.
@@mike7002 55,500+ Lest We Forget
My Grandad and his nan were the only two survivors on their street during the Blitz. He died on Christmas morning and I recently spoke at his funeral two weeks ago. It is truly amazing that the country held firm during these dark days.
One of my substitute teachers at school was a hurricane fighter pilot. We never gave him any trouble like the other stand ins! We would listen to his memories with utter awe! I salute you Mr. Beck!
Most of my teachers were war vets from all services. I am ever grateful that they talked freely about the war, from torture in Japanese camps, to Burma to anti sub and African desert and at home. They wanted the post war children to know the conditions and why war was required. No cancelling, no trigger warnings or any other BS. We learned straight from them and I suspect they talked less to their families than to us. Thank them all, never forget.
@@gbentley8176 My husband, who is several years older than me, and went to a grammar school, says much the same.
It is interesting to remember that in June 1940, three French pilots, refusing defeat, swam to England from Carteret, a small town on the Normandy coast. and every year a race has been organized in memory of this feat and runners still have to swim across the channel today.
From memory but it is to be verified that only one of the three perished during the blitz at the command of his Hurricane.
The other two returned home after the war.
German fighters only had enough fuel for 15 minutes over England before having to return. This was a major plus for the RAF
That's true, but the biggest advantage was radar and the excellent Fighter Command structure which was years ahead of its time. Without those things, the RAF would've had to maintain continuous (and exhausting) Combat Air Patrols. As it was, they were suffering from exhaustion, but imagine if they had to be flying all the time...
What would have happened if Britain had fallen McJibbin?
Pretty much what was outlined in the book and TV Series "The Man In The High Castle".
The USA was woefully unprepared for war in 1940 and wide open to attack. Your East Coast would all be speaking German and your West Coast would all be speaking Japanese.
Good job we held out then!
You're welcome. 🙂
Not us, our ancestors. We weren't there.😧
I probably wouldn’t have been born at all.
You over-estimate the anglo-saxon ability to learn to learn a new language. Maybe a hybrid English German, but I can't see many mastering Japanese.
@@poppletop8331 My parents and grandparents and great grandparents all alive through and some fought in both world wars. Sadly some of us were there or we were children of those people. I dont call them ancestors, I call them family. My great grandparents are my ancestors. My ex in laws were ww2 vets. Both in the air force, father in law was a pilot who flew out before the bombers n was part of the dresden bombing. He flew for the brits as an aussie. Mother in law only died a few years ago at the ripe young age of 93. She would tell us amazing stories of the war.
@@CQuinnLady I am talking about my Gt Grandparents in WW2, one of my Gt Grandads was awarded the D.C.M. Battle of Herouville, France
He was at Sword beach during the D-Day landings, the other Gt Grandad was in Palestine Police, he also saw action in Africa.
My Gt Grandmothers worked in Munitions factory also in the Wrens, respectively.
I was referring to the OP stating that "We" held out, and "you're welcome", like they personally played a major part in it...which I find highly unlikely. I think it is insulting the memory of those members of the combined forces of the two wars, to make comments like these. It's thanks to those heroes alone that we don't live in tyranny today, not because of the descendants of said heroes.
I am Patriotic to my Country but I would never say anything making myself appear on par with those who fought. My Grandparents were children in the WW2 and they would never make a claim like that either.
I was born to and brought up by a generation that worked hard and managed through all of that. Can still remember so much of them. They were brave, hardy and had a lot more spine that some seem to have today. They were a rare breed and something that should still be taught in schools instead of how to identify as a bloody plant!
Well said.
What are you on about? It is taught in schools.
It's not. Not really in the curriculum apart from dates and names in a really basic form. Kind of like kings and queens, middle ages etc. Nothing in depth. No life skills though like cooking, nutrition or practical skills. Now in the late primary and secondary schools the kids have apps and something to study called "citizenship". You can bet that won't touch 1939 to 45 but no doubt will have its loaded agenda!
The pride of Britain's people echoes down through the years and all we endured and sacrificed for freedom and hope should never be forgotten. Though gone from our green lands your spirit remains and will be remembered
I would strongly recommend a TV Movie from 2010 - "The 13 Hours That Saved Britain" It's an excellent film with great narration. I think you would really appreciate it Connor.
It is as true today as it ever was, armies do not win wars. Production wins wars, but you have to have somewhere to deply it from. Had the UK fallen, the USA would not have been able to launch it's offensive in Europe. Canada would not have had anyone to send supplies to, Australia would have struggled to fend off Japan as the USA would have been fighting alone in both the Pacific and Atlantic, the North Anerican continent could have defended itself at great cost, but no more. Take this message on board and apply everything Churchill said to the Ukrainian situation! 'Give us the tools and we will do the job'.
Well I was looking for a Perun comment but this will satisfy the itch in his absence..
"Had the UK fallen, the USA would not have been able to launch it's offensive in Europe."
I know exactly what you mean, but just like to point out there was no US offensive in Europe. It was a combined British Commonwealth-US offensive, with added input from other nations.
Up until the second half of 1944, British Commonwealth forces were the majority in the ETO.
Australia would have been conducting guerilla warfare if the Japanese got to Australia which I don't think they would have. At no time was America fighting alone in the pacific. Australian troops at Milne Bay showed what the Japanese were going to have to deal with. ( the Japanese got slaughtered at Milne Bay)
And just like the Japanese we were not going to fight fair. Over 1000 gas shells alongside 1000 tonnes of gas had already been stockpiled in Australia for use against the Japanese. ( mustard and phosgene gas)
Totally agree on the Ukraine front the parallels are frightening we should be helping them before our doorsteps are hit. If stories of elite forces from other countries operating there are true then there is hope that we do what is right
@@matthewcharles5867 If the japanese came in thru the top of Australia, there would be no fighting, we would just sit back with a tall neck on the other side of the river n watch the wildlife (crocs) pick them off before they got anywhere near us hahaha
I hope you can understand, a lot of us in England have not very distant family ( my grandparents) that went through this time and for us this still brings tears to ours eyes. I really enjoy how you are learning and respecting new things.
My mum was a child when the Luftwaffe bombed her street and killed the family living next door.
My paternal grandfather was in the 8th Army in North Africa. He never spoke about it, but he did record a cassette of his experiences once for my cousin. I listened to it almost 45 years ago, but it's long lost now.
My maternal grandfather lied about his age and served as a despatch rider for the RFC in the first world war.
The bravery of these young men blows my mind. Cannot see that happening ever again.
I think it's happening right now in Ukraine.
they paid with their lives for the equality and wealth we have today, which the elites have been slowly taking back
When they talk about Dresden ,isay remember the blitz on London and our cities,they started it.
Yes ,it really annoys me when people keep harping on about Dresden, as you say, they started it.
I agree. Dresden was prettier, that's all!!! No comfort to the citizens of the East End or Coventry.....and practically every city in Britain for that matter. People working in the munitions factories in Birmingham had to sleep in shelters for months and months at a time, because the city's roads were all utterly destroyed.
Bomber Command was vilified after the war, totally unfairly. 🤬🇬🇧🏴
Coventry too.
I went with my wife after work one evening, to visit a relative in a nursing home. I was still in uniform, RAF Corporal. The relative was in the day room & on entering the room a man in a wheelchair began to sing my praises. I told him that I wasn’t born until the war had been over for six years & I was a mere aircraft engine fitter. He had been a fighter pilot during the war & said that without the ground crew, such as myself, it would have been impossible for them to keep going. I was so embarrassed at being praised for the efforts of others. 🙏
An Aircraft Engine Fitter is not 'mere.' It is an essential role. He was correct. Whether it's wartime or not. You have a valued career and be proud of it.
Everybody matters or nobody matters. You were an ESSENTIAL part of “the whole”. Thank you.
I used to work at the RAF museum in Hendon for a few years from 2000 it was a weekend job when I was at uni. I loved the Battle of Britain Hanger it’s changed there now though.
145 pilots. 19.400 polish was serving in the RAF by the end of the war. Give respect where respect is due.
Polish and Czech pilots were amongst the highest scoring pilots during the battle of Britain. They helped save Britain and therefore the rest of Europe. Plus the enigma code breaking was boosted significantly by Polish or Czech (I forget which sorry). Of course commonwealth and free French pilots contributed along with a small number of Americans until America entered the war.
Are you complaining or correcting me ? :)
That being said.. I never knew about Czech. Thank you for that info.
Were not here to start WW3.. But to learn. And remeber.
80% of the pilots and 100% of the planes were British, as was the radar and ground spotters. There were 2,353 British pilots.
The Poles helped of course, but they made up only 145 of the 574 non British pilots in the Battle of Britain. The Poles don't tend to acknowledge the that vast majority of non British pilots in the battle were not Poles, so they can't have it both ways. They can't complain about not being recognised, when they don't tend to recognise the other non British pilots.
Just saying. Peace and best wishes ✌️
Another factor to consider is that if Britain had fallen, the Germans would have likely produced the 1st atomic bomb. The success of the US atomic prouction also relied on UK supplied data and info from captured German scientists after VE
Except the Tizard Mission sent all that data to the US in September of 1940...there was no time that Britain was so hard pressed that they would have fallen before then.
"(I)nfo from captured German scientists" was not used in the Trinity bomb nor in Fat Man nor Little Boy. The rehearsal test took place before the German surrender, and incorporating original ideas from German research simply could not have been done in such a short time frame before the test in July and the bombs in August.
@@Gerhardium I stand corrected. Thank you
even if they have the atomic bomb without britain, theres no way to hit germany without a massive loss of life to the US.
if britain falls then half, maybe even all, of the royal navy and air force assets fall to german hands making it hard to get aircraft carriers close enough to launch planes to bomb europe.
then add britains advanced radar that would have fell to germany too, and lastly the UK and germany were the only ones with jet aircraft.
so even if the US managed to get in range of germany their planes may get shot down before they can even reach land to drop a bomb.
@dscott1392 ...if Britain and the Commonwealth hadn't stood up to the Germans they would of had the Atomic bomb first...that is fact
My grandmother was born in 1895, and was fascinated by the fact we went from early cars and planes to moon landings and space shuttles in her lifetime.
My Nan said the very same thing. She said that her first memories were horse and carts, no aircraft and we're in space & seeing a horse is a rarity.
It must've been a common feeling amongst their generation. Such change.
But two world wars back to back was a massive incentive & driver for science & technology.
There was already a lot of fighting in Northern Africa. Look up the 'desert rats' and the 'desert fox'
Italy started the conflict in Africa with their Ethiopian campaign. Italy also wanted Albania so eastern Europe and Africa was getting their fair share of action.
There's so much of WW2 that didn't involve the USA and therefore is unknown to you.
But let's not forget, America won the war. Just look at all of their movies for the proof!
My grandfather was a desert rat, he never really talked much about his time in Africa.
In this battle it was not just the English fighting there was polish Aussie new Zealand south African fighter pilots in this battle of Britain in fact as an American you would be surprised and maybe shocked that the second oldest AIRFORCE in the world after the British RAF is a AIRFORCE from AFRICA which was the SOUTH AFRICAN AIRFORCE in fact the formation of the oldest AIRFORCE the RAF from Britain was the brainchild of a SOUTH AFRICAN he wrote the paper stating the importance of Britain building up of an AIRFORCE that SOUTH AFRICAN was JAN CHRISTIAN SMUTS.
Invasion of in North Africa started in 1941, long after the Battle of Britain.
@@xxunionjxx7698 It was my Great Grandfather who served in North Africa. He didn't ever talk about it as I was quite young when he was alive but I did find out he was a Bren gunner. The most amazing thing was how when I knew him, he was a very gentle person who you wouldn't have expected to have volunteered to fight but he did. That's what always stuck out to me the most.
My great grandad had tuberculosis at the time of WW2, so because he only had one lung he wasn’t able to fight, however his main role was giving maps and co - ordinates to our RAF pilots to defeat the axis. He died in 2022! He was a great man.
Thank you for your his contribution. He was clearly he was clever. valuable and loved.
The fact of the European Empires made it one war. Japanese were attacking the possessions of France and the Netherlands, and of course Britain was fighting in Asia too. Burma became the front line, trying to keep Japan out of India.
The Japanese also attacked the Philippines, which were an American possession . if it wasn't for the bad treatment Japan got after WWI and in the various navel treaties after it, there is a real possibility that Japan would've stayed on very good terms with Britain
Churchill cracked up because our Australian Government ordered the withdrawal of Australian forces back to Australia after the declaration of war against japan, because he said 'Britain first!", and Australia can suffer. His actions in WW! with the Gallipoli fiasco proved to the Australian Govt in WW2 that we were again expendable..
The japanese got as close as New Guinea, and if they had captured Port Moresby it's Capital, which is about 3 hours flying time to mainland Australia, then the invasion would've happened. As it was Northern Australia was bombed over 240 times up to around 1943.
Let's remember that the US sat on its hands for two years until the Japanese forced them into the war.
They still supplied the UK with tons of stuff. And remember that the allies would not have won without them.
@@malahammer Yes they sold goods to the UK but lets remember Britian did not finish paying back the US until 31 December 2006.
Plus American companies that had dealings with Nazi Germany included Ford Motor Company, Coca-Cola, and IBM. Ford Werke and Ford SAF (Ford's subsidiaries in Germany and France, respectively) produced military vehicles and other equipment for Nazi Germany's war effort. Some of Ford's operations in Germany at the time were run using forced labour.
While saying this with parents and grandparents who lived through WW2, they all also stated that if The USA had not joined when they did we would have lost the war. Better late than never.
@@malahammerhardly supplied, basically sold. Which doesn’t take anything away from the US but they were basically forced
and SOME of their uninformed ancestors still think THEY saved Europe. Makes my blood boil. I was born n the mid 50s. My parents were 30 when they had me.. Both were involved in the war in different ways and in different places when young, aged 15 when it broke out and 21 when it ended. Ordinary people of all sorts, children, mothers, grandparents and other old people.. all were in the think of it back at home with shortages and lack of materials. God bless them all. Britain stood firm. That is a hell of a lot for us who came after to be proud of as well as all of those who fought or supported the service men and women of course.
I’ve always wondered if the holding back from involvement wasn’t because half the population didn’t want to get involved in a “ European problem” as so often said , but that perhaps was it because of a cynical plan to allow us to fight to exhaustion and bankruptcy before joining in , as what happened during the First World War . The only real winners of both wars were the Americans , Britain lost its empire due to its now bankruptcy and shrank to an island with the new Commonwealth of free independent nations , which in principle is far better than an empire but did reduce our economy to near zero . Our power to assert ourselves in the world was broken and the US moved into the place we had before . Now there is an American Empire . So , was it a cynical delay in aiding its supposed ally ? America sole or leased us equipment that allowed us to keep fighting while not helping in the fight itself , perhaps giving is just enough supplies to further deepen the hole we dug and still keeping us alive to fight ? Is couldnbe argued , I’m sure and the results seem to show it could be true , but I know there is far more to consider . Like you though it also makes my blood temp rise when I hear and see the total misrepresentation of events and presentation of the US as saving the day , which I admit they did, but not without some benefits to them .
When I found out that America didn’t actually fight on the ground until late 43 early 44 in north west Africa I was surprised . I suppose the world powers were changing and America had a plan to dominate that new world . We could have a worse nation to do so and however bad some of their acts have been and however the future plans turn out , at least they have a founding ideal that we share . It’s just that politics are so cold and calculating and practised by people equally calculating , seeming to disregard people for policy and personal , national ambitions and aims .
My own grandfather was polish , imprisoned by the Soviets after the Nazi / Soviet invasion of a Poland . Finally released from a. Gulag he joined the British , free Polish Army to continue the fight . He and so many other Poles and allies had lost their homes and it moves me still to know he and others fought to protect ours. @@mariahoulihan9483
There`s a documented account from one British pilot during this time, he hadn`t even seen combat yet but had just recently joined his squadron during the Battle of Britain. He talks about walking into the local pub in uniform during a afternoon off and how the locals inside applauded him once he was seen and the landlord refused to take any money for his drinks as a sign of respect for what he was doing
I live a couple of miles away from Biggin Hill Airport, one of the fighter stations in the South East of England. Although it is now an executive airport, pandering to the executive jets, helicopters etc, there is still an engineering shop restoring old WW2 planes, particularly the Spitfire. Even now, whilst I’m out shopping in the area, quite often I will see a spitfire overhead - I hear it first. It brings a lump to my throat every time.
Is there still a airshow each year there? As a teenager I used to go to biggin Hill quite often as part of my atc squadron to do crowd control for the airshow.
It’s sporadic. Some years yes, some no. When I was a kid living in the London Borough of Bromley it was still, just, an RAF base and I remember when Concorde used to appear at the air show with the Red Arrows. Nowadays it does have the RAF Chapel and the new Museum, as well as the Air Cadets. Interestingly it is where the Met Police have their dog training centre.
@suboa21ableThats a real shame. A lot of happy memories of seeing the Vulcan and the Su-27 and Mig-29 displaying there back in the 90s.
@suboa21able By the time of the 90s they were starting to seriously curtail the things they'd let either the public or cadets do at airshows and with planes in general. It used to be the RAF would take cadets up in the Hercules and do their rolling fast take off, with the cadets just strapped in in the back by a single line, that got binned after everyone got a bit worried when a Wessex crashed in Wales with a bunch of cadets in the back. The army cadets used to regularly get driven around in the army bedfords until one of those crashed with a load of cadets in the back, it wasn't a pretty sight apparantly so they got banned from riding in army vehicles unless proper safety cages and seatbelts were installed.
I remember one year getting a “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” face burn as a kid by accidentally walking too close behind a jet there as it put the burners on 😂
The biggest factor was that the British were defending and fighting over their own territory. The RAF pilots and ground crew stepped up and did not give ground. We owe them so much. Incredible.
The average age of an RAF fighter pilot in 1940 was just 20 years. Of those killed, the average age was 22. Now look at the youth of today, what a contrast.
What, you think the youth of today cannot stand up? How many young British kids fought in Iraq and Afghanistan?
There are many scots men of army age, would def go fight putins autocracy, especialy that they find, your cod skills are what they need, yes some real soldiers would be nice, but gamers with vr skills :) yes please, and where are all the european soldiers that just demobed, come Ukraine has a nice billet for you, just as advisors, yes?
The youth of today can't decide whether they're a male, female, or a saucepan, and get offended by any little thing.
I'm 28 and most things don't bother me.
you can't compare and contrast the youth of today with the youth of 1940,its a nonsensical argument.How wars & conflicts are planned and fought today are completely different to how they were fought over 80 years ago and if you go back another 80 years you get to the Crimean War.The advancements in technology since 1945 has been astonishing and now we're seeing through the war in Ukraine the use and power of drones on the battlefield,next it'll be tanks and other weapon carrying vehicles.As one of my cousins a former RAF pilot who flew Tornadoes during the 1st Gulf war who recently said to me,the pilots of the future won't be men or women climbing into planes and taking off but people ie young people behind the front line who know how to use the controls on game consoles whilst looking at a screen and targeting the enemy on the battlefield at the same time,eye to hand coordination
@@thefiestaguy8831the self serving contempt people have for others is just sickenning. The tories honestly believe they can fight the next election on a anti woke thing, anti trans thing, that isn't even popular in the US, just bits of twitter. That is how desperate they are. Oh and we allow the LBGTQ in the British military, these people are prepared to fight and die..laying down their lives for you and me... How about showing some respect, ffs.
The pilots were called THE FEW and will be remembered forever, forever.
You should have a look at 13 Hours That Saved Britain (TV Movie 2010).
Totally agree! I love the fact that it shows so clearly both the military impact of this battle for skies of Britain, but how it also shows how it affected the civilians, the regular people living their lives while this was happening. Blew me away the first time I watched.
Even recommend watching the film "Reach for the Skies" at some point. Talk about a war hero. Douglas Badder was incredible.
My amternal grandfather dies in the battle of Britain - I salute you sir
It was the skill of the RAF pilots in dogfights and the Spitfire was more maneuverable than the Messerschmitt. We had some fantastic Polish pilots as well. The Germans didn't have to fly very far.... we are only 22 miles from France. I'm ex RAF by the way, and proud 🙂
The Polish War Memorial and Park at Northolt and Ruislip!
With the strong isolationist movement in the US at the time, if Britain had fallen and Japan didn't attack there is a possibility that the US would not enter the war against Germany. Maybe even a Non-Agression pact. If conflict with Japan started after that it is possible that Germany would break alliance with Japan to remain Neutral with the US.
Eventually though I think A German controlled Europe would come into conflict with the US.
The German/Soviet side would be interesting. Given that they've secured Britain the German forces could prepare more against the Soviets and plan Barberossa to take place at a time more suited to them, possibly avoiding the threat of Winter or be better prepared for Winter.
the USA didnt really care about the war in Europe , they had a lot of support for the Nazis and would have left Hitler to it .. but Japan did something really stupid
Well, the Germans did occupy a small part of Britain…
The USA could very well have not fought in the European theatre of war and just concentrated on Japan, it was Hitler who brought the USA into the European theatre by declaring war on the USA, amongst his many bad decisions.
Isolationism was a smoke screen basically as stated by the pearl harbour association
“Even if the United States had wanted to enter the war, its military force was simply not ready. Facing off against millions of Germans, the American military was only about 100,000 strong without a draft. To enter the European crisis would likely mean a complete decimation of America’s forces.
Beyond a lack of force, the United States military was generally behind on weaponry, with much of it dating back to the First World War. The current force wasn’t ready for war against the better-trained Germans. Even if the numbers were there, the preparedness was not.”
Poland had LOADS of pilots in Britain as well.. Not just a few.. A LOT!
Many of whom remained inBritain after the war and flew for commercial airlines..
Of the 3000 odd pilots that took part in the battle of Britain in the RAF only 145 were Poles, that’s only 4.83%, hardly loads.
Calm down, pal. Are you Polish or something? The following is taken from Wikipedia. It seems to be important to you, were you there?
in July 1940, the RAF announced that it would form two Polish fighter squadrons: No. 302 Squadron and No. 303 Squadron were composed of Polish pilots and ground crews, although their flight commanders and commanding officers were British. The two fighter squadrons went into action in August with 89 Polish pilots. Another 50 Poles took part in the battle, in RAF squadrons.
@@gio-oz8gf 303 Squadron became the most successful Fighter Command unit in the Battle, shooting down 126 German machines in only 42 days. With 17 confirmed victories, Sergeant Josef Frantisek, a Czech national serving with No. 303 Squadron, was one of Fighter Command's most successful pilots
@BullRoarer_ ...totally correct they were great pilots but only 145 ...Britain had 2,353 pilots and New Zealand were equivalent in pilots to Poland nearly...so great as these pilots were there were not loads as the other guy was saying....
My friend, you are getting better and better in your knowledge of Britain and our history. Also your comments concerning the same are becoming more thoughtful and refined. Love your channel, and like you loads.
The polish pilots in fighter command were a huge help and some of the best pilots the world had seen, im welsh and have huge respect for poland and its people
Some drunken welsh women fought the french to a surrender (the last landing and ground invasion of these isles) in fishgaurd. The landing French thought the traditional welsh dress of the drunken welsh women (which consisted of big hats) was the british army massing... and basically gave up.
I mean as a military humiliation, that's hard to beat.
The Welsh women weren’t drunk - it was the French who had found alcohol in the local farm houses and got smashed. It’s a great story though!
Less than half of the French force was actually French regular army; the majority were convicts or other irregulars, including Americans and Irish (it was a diversionary part of a - failed - French campaign to liberate Ireland from the British). Even their commander was American-Irish. It was largely the irregulars and convicts who were drunk or deserted. The surrender was not simply to a bunch of Welsh women, but their presence as onlookers in traditional red shawls certainly increased the perception that the British had a larger force than they actually had, red being the colour of British army uniforms at the time.
It's actually a really good story and I'm both surprised and disappointed it gets so little attention.
Not surprising as the British army stovepipe headgear looks very much like the traditional hat worn by Welsh women in their National costume. ( Plus you should NEVER p*ss off a Welsh woman !!!). Hard to distinguish convicts with regular army as the British army filled it's ranks by emptying local prisons and training them to be soldiers. Many were given the choice - take the King's shilling or the Tyburn jig!
In those days, those very brave young people died while flying REAL aircraft fighting for their countries and not video games. Think about it but unfortunately while some do allot don't. R.I.P 😢 YOU beautiful young courageous men. Thank you for you honest video, as an ex Australian Military Veteran thank you. 😊
If Britain had fallen in June of 1940 Europe and the entire world would be a much different place. British scientists were instrumental in the development and use of Radar. British scientists helped significantly in the Manhattan project to develop the Nuclear bomb. British scientists helped to refine sonar and they enhanced Polish breakthroughs to break the Enigma code which gave the Allies huge advantages during the war. Had Britain fallen, Hitler would have been able to focus his whole force on Russia and the outcome of that conflict may well have seen Russia lose. The US in 1940 would almost certainly have maintained its opposition to getting involved in "the European war" and would have to face Japan entirely on its own without many of the scientific advances that helped win that war. The Axis forces would likely have used Russia after its defeat as a stepping off point to invade the US, and until Perl Harbor, the US was not on a full war footing and may have found it extremely difficult to fight against Germany, and Japan and Italy would likely have combined forces, along with any other country who joined that campaign. The Battle of Britain was a KEY turning point of WWII as much as the battle of Stalingrad was and as much as D-Day was in my view.
If Germany had defeated Britain, presumably they'd have taken over the Royal navy and all of its ships, the French navy would also then be in their hands thus making a massive German navy capable of commanding the oceans unaposed. Theoretically the USA could have been there for the taking.
@@webbsfan1 You make a logical point, however, I personally suspect that Churchill being the tough bulldog and anti-nazi he was: if he suspected Britain was going to lose in those June months he would have ordered the Royal Navy to Canada, hoping that the U.S. would still come into the conflict. As a former First Lord or the Admiralty and a staunch supporter of Empire, I think he would have ordered the scuttling of all Royal Navy ships before he allowed them to fall into Hitlers hands. It is interesting - and in many ways concerning - to consider what the consequences of the UK losing the Battle of Britain, or Russia losing the Battle of Stalingrad, or the D-Day landings failing would have meant for global power and dominance and how different the World would be today. All political decisions have the innate possibility of monumental societal change in the long-run, with often unseen and unanticipated consequences.
@@kencraig8715 Thinking about it, you are probably right about scuttling the royal navy fleet but it would still have left Hitler without an enemy to fight in the west,he could presumably then use all of the resources from his occupied territories to build up vast amounts of weapons in comparative safety before turning to Russia,which he always claimed was his real enemy...its all ifs and buts but makes for an interesting discussion.
Thanks for this. It's interesting to see such an impassioned and thoughtful reaction from a young man (and yes, I think you'd step up just as your forebears did). Subscribed.
I would strongly recommend a "Bloody foreigners. Untold Battle of Britain. "
I am 85 born 1938 in Manchester and can still remember the war and have quite a few stories about my relatives who were in all sections of the forces I still remember the air raids and bomber runs AND DOG FIGHTS.
My grandad served in the RAF during WW2 as ground crew and as he always said, Hitler's greatesr misrake was to switch to bombing UK cities.
The Luftwaffe was on the verge of succeeding in their mission of gaining control of UK airspace and the RAF was on it's knees but then the Luftwaffe turned towards bombing such as London which gave the RAF time to recover.
Supposedly this was because a German raid mistakenly bombed London rather than the raf bases or industrial targets and Churchill ordered the raf to attack Germany in retaliation. This retaliation incensed Hitler and he demanded the destruction of London and other cities, thus laying the foundations for the later bombing of German cities and its justification by Churchill and Harris.
Hitler only turned to bombing British cities in retaliation for Churchill bombing Germain cities. Churchill started targeting civilians first and German cities were absolutely devastated compared to British cities. Of course we in the UK only tend to hear one side of what happened.
I have to say that I commend you for not constantly interupting what is a video clip, (that my parents would have known in reality) and just letting it play. You are evidently listening to the commentary and I hope that you have learned what we as the British, in all aspects of military or civilian life endured. Thank You
Lesotho, formerly The Protectorate of Basotholand" is a small country completely land-locked by only South Africa. As Britain braced itself for the "Battle of Britain" it knew it had to win to thwart off a Nazi invasion of the British Isles. Basotholand, probably the poorest region in Africa then, nevertheless wanted to help. Beside sending troops who saw action in North Africa and elsewhere, it also held a national collection and with the money raised it covered the costs for the production of 24 Spitfires. A real-size model of a Spitfire was donated by the Spitfire Memorial Foundation under the Motto: We remember in gratitude." It can now be viewed in Maseru. The famous Basotho blankets sometimes depict this; indeed a matter of great national pride.
A penny given by a poor man is worth more than a pound given by a, millionaire, thanks Lesotho
Some interesting questions and thoughts raised.
One of the more celebrated and emotive periods of WW2 for those of us in the UK. The speeches and heroic figures are legendary.
With the benefit of hindsight, there was no chance of invasion in reality. The idea behind the aerial attack was to try to get Britain to come to terms, and not even to surrender exactly, so focus could turn east and the USSR.
Plans were drawn up for invasion but were laughable (compare them to D Day!). The Kriegsmarine weren't even involved in them and knew it was a non event. It had to look like invasion was a possibility of course, and it wasn't known there was no chance of it working in Britain at the time obviously. The war hadn't gone well, so it's no criticism of those at the time for thinking invasion was about to occur.
Had it been attempted, it would have been the battle the RN had been waiting for for centuries. As it turned out it enabled the RAF to play the crucial role for the first time.
I think the Germans were planning to use Rhine river barges. Totally unsuitable to operate across the channel.
Dont forget the British Army had just been rescued from the beaches of France, so was extremely short of all weapons especially artillery and AA guns and Tanks, even rifles. if the Airforce had been subdued then Sealion would have been much easier and the Navy hard pressed to stop an invasion, take off the rose coloured glasses from your hind sight.
@@davedixon2068 It's the hindsight which helps remove the rose tinted spectacled view that this was the "crucial" battle which "saved" Britain.
Would it have been easier to stage an invasion with a subdued RAF? Yes.
Would it have been harder work with more losses for the Navy with a subdued RAF? Yes.
Would it make any difference to the outcome? No.
There really was nothing left, there was no reserve, every plane was in the sky. That was it. Win or lose. It defined the course not just of WWII but of the next century. Churchill's speech was not hyperbolic.
Thank you Connor for bringing this to other countries because a lot of American people didn’t realise what the British went through . The German people complained that we bombed their cities! I wonder if they even realised what hitler did to ours. We fought long and hard for our freedom from a mad dictator. ❤
9:27 The plan was if the British Isles fell, to move the capital from London to Ottawa in Canada. They'd carry on from there. As you realise, the task would have been monumental, as by the end of 1940, Japan had already taken French Indo-China. This occurred a year before Pearl Harbour. Likely, there would have been no Normandy landings as that would have been logistically impossible, unless Spain or Portugal was used as a launch pad. Italy was invaded before Normandy, but as you correctly surmise, the terrain proved very difficult and the going was slow. In the end, the war would have dragged on and resulted in the complete victory of the USSR, probably rolling right across Western Europe and taking everything including Britain. I've read Russian calculations on this, and they think by the early 1950's they'd have taken everything (not counting Lendlease). As for whether one war or two separate wars, it was one World War. Everything was connected; supply lines ran to Russia through the North Sea, Persia and from the Far East; supply to China ran up through Burma and India etc. The conflict had to be looked at as a whole.
My father had wanted to join the RAF along with a friend but as an electrical engineer, which was a reserved occupation, was refused. Instead he went to the GEC in Coventry and worked on the development of Radar. His older brother was a fireman in the Auxiliary Fire Service in London during the Blitz.
Don't forget the Japanese, they took the Malay peninsula , My Dad fought there. Also the Russians were on our side at that time . The Canadian forces and Australians came over and fought , we never forget how grateful we are to them
Would recommend the 1969 movie Battle of Britain, it depicts the infighting in the Higher RAF command very well. Well worth watching
it wasnt 2 fronts, it was more like 4 connor russia and africa fronts were major ones as well
Russia wasn’t at war with Germany during the Battle of Britain, it had decided to sign a pact with the Nazis to take parts of Eastern Europe for itself.
At that time Russia was still supplying the Wermacht. They were allies until 1941.
Dan Snow one of our greatest Historian like his father was 👏👍THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING A BRITISH NARRATOR FOR THIS VIDEO IN KEEPING WITH THE HISTORY IF THE BATTLE .My Dad an Engineer after being a Fireman in the Blitz went to Wiltshire to make the tools for the Spitfire and adapted some of them to purpose as required at the Vickers factory in Wiltshire and very proud of his contribution to the War effort ,my Mother inserted Rivets on the Spitfire and all the women worked hard and long hours to churn the planes out for the Battle and later to fight for their lives in this hideous war of Hitler MY GRATEFUL THANKS TO THOSE BRAVE PILOTS NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN good one Connor 🤷♀️
Never realised that Winston Churhchill's Chartwell house where he spent much of his time is literally only about 2 miles down the road from me!
Also, Nigel Farage lives very close to me and apparently Tom Cruise has a house nearby within 5 miles or so.
My aunt's friend's husband's dentist lives near Watford bus garage. And I once saw Mr Pastry in a circus.
Cool story! Got any more?@@araptorofnote5938
Christ! A far right arsehole and a Scientologist for neighbours.
We fought the whole war against people like that.
The Battle of Britain ended on 31 October 1940, and Japan didn't attack Pearl Harbor until 7 December 1941, If England had lost the Battle of Britain, that would have been over a year for the Axis forces to have attempted to overcome Britain's forces. The Axis powers had not invaded Russia at that time, they didn't invade Russia until 22nd June 1941 and if Germany had been involved in a full-scale invasion of England, they may have never broken their treaties with Russia and concentrated their full might on crushing England, Wales & Scotland, probably making a pact with Ireland giving Northern Ireland back to the Irish so long as they did not enter the war, as Ireland was neutral during WW2. So by the time, Japan forced America to join the war, it may have all been over for Britain, with only small pockets of resistance remaining, Northern Africa would have fallen to Rommel without constant resupply from Britain, Canada and Australia were too far away to have helped much in the battle for Europe, so the Axis powers could have totally dominated all of Europe & Britain by the time America entered the war, this would have meant America would have probably turned to the Pacific as there would not have been much they could have done in Europe without a foothold to launch any form of counter-invasion, the Axis powers may have then turned their sights on Russia, without 2 fronts to fight on & British lend-lease, Russia would have had the full might of the Axis powers turn against them. Unless America made a pact with the Germans they could have supplied Russia with help but would America have declared war on Germany if there was no more European countries resisting?
There were huge numbers of people in the USA of German origin, and a great deal of support there for Germany.....until Pearl Harbour!!! Without that attack by Japan, it's doubtful that the USA would have entered the war at all.
You forget That Hitler declared War on the USA , so did Roosevelt a favour because he wanted to put the majority of the War effort in Europe and made the War against the Japanese secondary. Even though every American wanted to crush Japan first because of Pearl Harbour. Thankfully Roosevelt saw that Germany was far the bigger threat to mankind and democracy because of its greater strength military speaking.
But great points about Ireland's neutrality and the fact that wanted a united Ireland, rather than a British held Northern Ireland as it is still today.
check out Jeremy clarksons " greatest raid ever " it will open your eyes to how brave these guys were,,
Not seen this young chap before. One of the most thoughtful Americans I have seen doing this kind of thing; if that's not damning with faint praise. Very good balance of mainly intellectual and some emotional engagement. I was brought up surrounded by relics of the Battle of Britain, one of whom was my neighbour; fiercely brave lovely man but drank a bottle of whisky a day until it killed him.. From as soon as I could read, I have read countless books on the subject and the desire to immerse myself in it, at one time, took over my life. It is very healthy for me to see an intelligent young man who is not so passionately invested in the Battle of Britain give an honest and adult reaction. It is refreshing to hear him pose "what if" scenarios. It was highly appropriate for him to wonder if he could have stood up to the example of the young fighter pilots, probably his age. Most of us wonder the same. My guess is that he would make his country proud of him but I pray that he never has to.
You have to remember that around 1939 there was a large amount of support for Nazis and fascism in the USA. So that, if Britain had fallen early on, it is likely that there would have been considerable internal conflict within the USA encouraged by that.
Yes. Joe Kennedy (JFK's Father) was strongly for appeasement, as was Charles Lindbergh who supported Hitler, and Germany's antisemitism. Without Roosevelt, US would likely have been pro-fascist rather than side against Hitler, and fight alongside Stalin.
Don't forget that the USA was also building a lot of military vehicles for Germany and Henry Ford was even decorated by Hitler for his company's efforts in Germany.
Breaks my heart running to their deaths lots of them so young! No age they were so very brave my father was taken prisioner twice and escaped twice he only spoke about the war towards the end of his life .He went to France on D day he said he did not want to talk about the horrors he saw.His best friend was blown up right next to him how do you recover from that he worked hard but weekends he drank a lot many men came home so broken.Very very sad a lost generation in many ways.
Even if we had lost the Battle of Britain an invasion would have failed. The Royal Navy would have taken large losses from German air attacks but would have destroyed invasion barges travelling at 3 knots
Its possible they may have sent uboats to take them on, which may have allowed some to get through. They would have used airborne troops too of course, but getting their heavy equipment there would have been difficult, but Britain had little left after Dunkirk.
If we had no planes left to protect our navy, there planes would destroy them.
@@richardshillam7075 about 4 mins in the narrator says the only way it (the invasion) might succeed was with total air superiority. Firstly they would never have that as you could pull the airforce further back but secondly the conflict has been wargamed on several occasions and the Germans lose as any naval presence would destroy barges invading or acting as the supply lines. I'll agree wargaming isn't an exact science but in the evacuation from Dunkirk the Germans sank 9 destroyers, to defend invasion the navy had 57 on the south coast alone
We Brits were amazingly lucky, the Hurricanes and especially the Spitfires came into production at the right time. When the war started we had more hurricanes than spitfires, and to some degree the hurricanes were outclassed by german fighters. Production of spitfires had to be stepped up, but the germans were doing their best to destroy manufacturing centres for Spitfires, including bombing factories producing engines and wings for the Spits and hurricanes. Eventually the tide turned, and we began to produce Spits in sufficient numbers to equip the RAF and I think Royal Navy too, with Seafires.
The problem for America is the science. Britain had spent a lot of effort on developing technology that the U.S. did not have. Radar integrated defensive strategies, the Merlin engine, the jet engine, and the contribution to the atomic bomb. British scientists had been working on the weapon and purifying uranium well before the Manhattan Project. Britain agreed to share many of its technologies as part of the lend-lease program. The U.S. undertook to share the results of the Manhattan Project on completion. Eisenhower broke that agreement, however many of the developments after the British gave their over was worked by British scientists so it was very shortly after Britain had the bomb despite the U.S. being untrustworthy ally post war.
Thank you for this video... So much nice info.. and thank for everyting I have learned from all others on this channel by comments.. love you all
Thre is hope for us all after all..
If Britain had fallen then it would have been a hugely different outcome to France etc. It was a widely held belief among the Nazi elite that taking Britain would be one thing but holding it something completely different. Hitler was quoted as saying that to defeat Britain they would need to kill or arrest every man, woman and child. The fear was that despite on the surface the British appearing very civil, polite and nice people, deep down we are unruly, fierce and unwavering. The Romans for example were constantly attacked, ambushed and killed whilst in Britain, just by local populations. The Germans feared that guerrilla warfare would breakout at unprecedented levels and I can very much see that being the case. I genuinely cannot see a German soldier or tank being able to travel through Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds etc without someone attacking them. There would be constant uprisings, riots and large groups of militia.
Also you have remember Britain had her Empire. Mainland UK may have fallen but the size of the Empire meant colonial troops could have feasibly continued the fight to allow Britain to regain her island.
Yeah, I'd never considered that, but it would have been very difficult to keep control of Britain. It would undoubtedly have been a huge set back but more than likely not the end. The British are unique in that they have absorbed the best of those who invaded or settled here over the 1000+ years of its history to create a strange but beautiful nation of people. The nations who aly with Britain share a common basic human belief and that is fundamental to what I think would have happened. If Britain had not managed to resist the nazi war machine that day, I do believe those native to the British Isles would have continued the fight but also I think the USA would have entered earlier and Empire and Commonwealth nations would have continued the fight. I don't see a scenario where Nazi Germany ultimately win, it would just have taken longer and cost even more precious life to get there
As you mentioned North Africa, you should do a ‘reaction’ to David Sterling and the formation of SAS; without them Spec Ops would look very different today…
Never tire of the history of the Battle of Britain. The bravery! But seeing the scenes of London burning reminded me of Ukraine today. Left me 😢
My father enlisted in 1939 aged 20 , he was a Desert Rat , fighting in the Battle of El Alamein and Italy Monte Cassino , then he returned and took up his old job in Rowntree’s Chocolate Factory and never spoke of it
If UK fell US would have sued for peace
More likely never have become involved.
Would of never gotten involved. The war with Japan would of still happened but the outcome would likely be a much more drawn out conflict without the British Empire absorbing Japans time and resources too.
@@QuantumShock1 and then a few years alter, pearl harbour 2 happens on the americn mainland as germany invades with all of europe's forces, including the royal navy and every military advancement made that the US didn't and would possibly never have in this timeline.
The USA would have probably made an alliance with Germany and invaded Canada, which it had planned on doing in 1936.
RAF Bomber Command crews suffered an extremely high casualty rate: 55,573 killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew (a 44.4 per cent death rate), a further 8,403 were wounded in action and 9,838 became prisoners of war.
Do many people from the USA realise that their nation wasn’t IN the Warzone like the UK and their homes and factories weren’t getting bombed plus we still have to pay back our debt to you which is a problem to our economy unlike Germany & Italy who doesn’t have to ?
We finished paying that war debt in 2006 actually, although I fail to see what we were paying for, especially as Ukraine is getting everything for free these days.
Was definitely a world war. Australia was bombed by the Japanese, we had Q ships off the coast of New Zealand sowing mines off our harbours. The Germans and Italians were in Northern Africa, most of Asia was being fought over
Connor...the only time Britain was threatened enough to possibly "fall" is in the Battle of Britain...and they were never losing the Battle of Britain. Germany could not even gain air superiority over the Channel, so Britain was never going to fall.
Utter pish. We were about five engagements away from being out of planes.
@@mixodorians12 That is based on propaganda numbers that said the RAF was down to 150 planes, but at that point they actually had 600. They had more of an issue with pilots, but they still had enough for all the active fighters.
Radar save us
oh mate, You seem to have no idea how close we came to losing. It was absolutely Hitler directing the attacks to cities Like London & Belfast that saved the RAF. Please don't embarrass us with these infantile opinions.
At this time, my dad was on a ship, HMS Golden Eagle, at the Thames estuary defending against Nazi bombers and my mum, recently widowed, was serving with the Surrey Fire Brigade, just south of Croydon at Banstead. I am proof that they both survived the war. 1940/41 was a tough time for Britain, without US aid.
My mum's first husband was killed in an air accident as he was training as a sergeant pilot.
I think that the fact that the USA has never experienced a major attack (apart from 9/11) numbs the population and the rest of Europe still feels the pain of wars on their lands.
My grandad made the fuel tanks for spitfires during the war as well as volunteering at night to put out bombing fires. My other grandad was in the raf, he was a mechanic stationed in Burma for the Dakota aeroplanes and also an air gunner in the catalina over the Channel helping to defeat uboats.
Happily and incredibly luckily both my grandads survived the war and lived long enough to meet me. And writing tales of their journeys through the war got me an A* in history bless them.
It was not just London, but many cities. In my hometown of Southampton, only one shop was left standing. My dad in the north in Newcastle saw the same.
You need to read 'The most dangerous enemy' by Stephen Bungay, To quote Wellington, “it was a damn close run thing". We also need to thank Air Marshall, Hugh Dowding.
New subscriber. First of all, thank you for not commenting much during the documentary and only offering reasoned comments. I watched this a couple of weeks ago, it was very good. Another thing to consider is how new planes got delivered to the airfields to replace damaged or destroyed ones. Perhaps another video could be about the young women who flew deliveries of fighters and bombers from the factories to the airfields. That’s quite a story too. All the best from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺
A special mention should go to the two British squadrons made up of Polish pilots. When Germany invaded Poland, the government and many members of their military came to the UK and fought in our armed forces. The Polish pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain are commended for their excellent airmanship!
Why a special mention? Why not just a mention?
All of 9Americans fought in the battle of Britain. Billy Fiske was the first American killed in combat in world war 2. He flew a hawker hurricane,with number 601 squadron
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Fiske
They only shot down 1 and a half German aircraft during the Battle of Britain. That's not each, that's between them!
I remember my mum saying she was out shopping when she saw a Spitfire chasing a bomber over Edmonton, she then heard strange noises around her on the ground,it was spent cartridge cases landing on the pavement.
My grandfather was a AA gunner in Dover.
The attacking force contained a lot of bombers, and bombers are what you're after, because they are what causes damage to the means of production and economy. A fighter is more likely to take down a bomber than otherwise, hence the loss ratio.
You don't want to fight fighters with your fighters, your target are the bombers.
But the brits had a massive advantage in their radar early warning systems, and very advanced battle control. The germans had no idea how good it was.
McJibbin, don't for a nano-second doubt yourself, given the same circumstances, you would, without a seconds thought, rise to the occasion. Just remember this, 'Comes the hour, Comes the Man'.
Churchill, that old Edwardian imperialist, was clearly the man for the hour (and days and years ahead). I find his words inspiring even now so long after these critical events.
The young RAF pilot on the thumbnail was Flight Lieutenant Brian Lane, who in 1940, was TWICE temporarily placed in charge of 19 squadron as its previous commanding officer had been killed in action. He was just TWENTY THREE years old when he took that HEAVY front line responsibility on his young shoulders. His photo is often seen in books on the subject of the battle and you can CLEARLY see the utter EXHAUSTION on his young face.
In December 1942 he was shot down off the Dutch coast.... his body was never found.
Fun fact: Many Spitfire pilots reduced that 250yds zero point to 50yds. They liked to get up close to ensure their kill.
There were 2,353 British Pilots and 574 pilots from other countries during the Battle of Britain, mainly from Poland, New Zealand, Canada and Czechoslovakia ❤
During the Blitz the London docks were targeted constantly. My grandmother had to run to the air raid shelter while boiling sugar from the Tate and Lyle factory ran through the streets of the East End . Her shoes melted and thereafter her toes were fused together. She returned to work in a munitions factory the next day.
The first time the Germans met equally good planes and pilots as they had only previously come across substandard plane. You should not underestimate the foreign pilot's who finally got their hands on modern planes like the polish and commonwealth
Or indeed the British pilots as well.
3:55 that warship btw is the legend that was HMS Warspite. Everyone knows of Yamato for being big and being sunk, HMS Hood for being fast and blowing up and Bismarck for sinking Hood and then being sunk. HMS Warspite though did much more than all 3 and went out on her own terms.
She was a veteran of the Battle of Jutland WW1 where she had so much fun shooting the Germans, she came about and went back in for a 2nd go at them even when the crew really didn't want to. In actuality she'd been hit several times and her rudder jammed. Her coming about out of control did result in a British Cruiser that had been disabled having a chance to get power back and escape while the Germans were distracted shooting up Warspite though.
During WW2 she had fun scaring the bejesus out of German destroyers before blowing them out of the water. That incident was a group of RN destroyers getting into a scuffle with KM destroyers for the KM to run for cover and set up ambush in a Norwegian fjord. They were waiting the RN destroyers to come in after them except Warspite was in the area so instead of a few RN destroyers, it was Warspite with her 15" main battery pre aimed at them came barreling in.
Warspite also still holds the world record jointly with Scharnhorst for the longest ranged main battery shell hit scored from moving warship on another ship. In the med the Italian Battleship Gulio Cesare came to play, spotted Warspite and decided "NOPE, sod that" and retreated so Warspite sent her a 15" message saying "and don't come back".
Also in the med she took a direct hit from a 3000lb fritz x guided missile. That messed her up but she did manage to limp home for repair and get back out just in time for D-day. A far more modern Italian Veneto class Battleship which on paper was a far more powerful ship took a similar hit from a fritz x but didn't survive.
During D-day she had fun shelling German positions with the 3 of 4 main battery turrets she had left working so much they ran out of shells and had to go home for more. Then she ran out again and wore her barrels out so had to go back home for more shells and new barrels. By the time she got back the Germans had had the audacity to retreat in land out of range...so the crew flooded torpedo blisters on one side to lean the ship over to get more elevation on the guns so she could have one last pop. USS Texas pulled the same trick btw. Must have been a shock for the poor sods thinking "ahh, finally out of range of those bloody 14" and 15" HE shells...wtf is that sound?!" as everything around them explodes.
Her final act was when the British Gov desperate to save some cash ordered her decommissioned. The tragic part was the Gov refused to sell her to a private venture that was trying to have her preserved as a museum ship. UK Gov wanted a quick penny so sold her for scrap. Obviously offended at this betrayal HMS Warspite slipped her lines while under tow on her way to the breakers and ran herself aground. She became the most expensive maritime salvage operation ever in UK waters and iirc it's a record that still stands today 😂
HMS Warspite, one of the most badass warships to ever put to sea that not many ppl know about.
There were 2 million commonwealth troops fought in the Pacific, and the Royal Navy was also at Okinawa.
Hi Conner
If you want a really good first hand account of the Battle. Find a book called "First Light" by Geoffrey Welum (aka Boy because he was fresh out of school and into a Spitfire). He was on 92 Squadron at Biggin Hill. One of the best books I've ever read, so good they made a TV movie out of part of it under the same name.
Geoffrey survived the war and went on to jets after, a tough no nonsense commander and much loved by all who served with him.
Agree - one of the best books I’ve read.
non of us know what we would do, but i think we'd all do our best to protect our country, and the people
Kids on the Kent coast (and elsewhere) often ducked school to watch the dog fights.
People did run as well. Some who had enough money went to hotels in the country and played no role in the war effort, and avoided many of the shortages that way too-they were called "funk holes".