Nationalism - I Can't Stand it

[superbowlbound]

I try not to generalize against other nations, but I do hate a lot of things about popular American patriotism.

WW2 for example, living in Canada, we tend to think of WW2 as this global tragedy in which countries from all over the world banded together like never before to deal with a situation.

Americans seem to believe it was all just about how Hitler was bad and how America saved the day, and how the whole event is just proof of how awesome America is. Even going as far as to rewrite history(Pearl Harbour), disregard the fact that they arrived two years late when everybody else jumped in right away, and of course pretend certain armies hardly existed.(Russia anyone?)

(Pearl Harbor lrn2spell)

SORRY, sorry. Anyways. I don't know any Americans who think we single-handedly won WWII (Although I will take credit for WWI, but another tangent).
/rant

Did you just claim that the US won WW1 single-handedly? Or am i reading that wrong?

I meant that more as a joke. As in everyone thinks Americans believe that they won WWII. In reality we were much more a one sided factor in WWI (Not the only, just mean one front, ended the trench warfare, non-tired soldiers etc.) but in no way did I truthfully mean the US won WWI

 

[superbowlbound]

I try not to generalize against other nations, but I do hate a lot of things about popular American patriotism.

WW2 for example, living in Canada, we tend to think of WW2 as this global tragedy in which countries from all over the world banded together like never before to deal with a situation.

Americans seem to believe it was all just about how Hitler was bad and how America saved the day, and how the whole event is just proof of how awesome America is. Even going as far as to rewrite history(Pearl Harbour), disregard the fact that they arrived two years late when everybody else jumped in right away, and of course pretend certain armies hardly existed.(Russia anyone?)

(Pearl Harbor lrn2spell)

SORRY, sorry. Anyways. I don't know any Americans who think we single-handedly won WWII (Although I will take credit for WWI, but another tangent). I am curious what this revision of Pearl HARBOR is though. And don't forget, we get a lot of credit for a lot of reasons. We supplied ALL of the allies with tanks, planes, and guns. The American generals were the only ones who ever had successful battle plans (remember market garden?).

The war didn't really get on track until D-Day, I mean Africa was cool and all, but NO ONE cared. D-Day happened after America joined and was planned by Americans. Also what about the Pacific theater? Don't recall Europe, specifically Russia, helping out.

I'm not crazy/stupid enough to think we were the single reason for Allied victory, but don't dare act like we were just a small puzzle piece, we did a larger share than any other allied country (inb4 Russia losing 20 million people, it was incompetent generals, poor supply, and outgunned soldiers). Finally the US did not enter WWII because of Hitler and the jews, we, along with most of the world, were very racist against Jewish people and didn't really care until Pearl HARBOR was bomber.

/rant

Harbour is the Brittish spelling, just like armour etc, so getting so up in arms about it is pretty needless.

Next, thanks for saying England had terrible generals and tactics, in-spite the fact that it was us and the french resistance that did the spying, mainly the brittish engineers who designed all the unusual machines that were used in the assault, and that we had successfully tanked the blitz, and managed to get Hitler to actually stop what would have crippled us, bombing the factories.

Not to mention Russia had won the war long before, and were taking the brunt of Germany's main force. Yes, america were a tipping point, causing the squeeze on Germany as they were assaulted on all sides, but don't think it was America that did most of the work, even during and after D-day. Only thing your generals wanted was to push forward recklessly, and that was because of your mistrust of the Russians and communism, and we all know how that went down in the end.

America were valuable, but they were not a deciding factor. The biggest thing they did were the nukes in Japan, that ended the war there faster.

Two things: PROPER NOUNS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor
vs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbour,_New_Zealand

They are different places

Anyways is Japan not WWII? but more importantly what does designing war machines have to do with battle plans? Also that is hilarious to say Russia won the war. They only started to push back because Hitler had to withdraw troops from the Eastern front.

 

[superbowlbound]

I try not to generalize against other nations, but I do hate a lot of things about popular American patriotism.

WW2 for example, living in Canada, we tend to think of WW2 as this global tragedy in which countries from all over the world banded together like never before to deal with a situation.

Americans seem to believe it was all just about how Hitler was bad and how America saved the day, and how the whole event is just proof of how awesome America is. Even going as far as to rewrite history(Pearl Harbour), disregard the fact that they arrived two years late when everybody else jumped in right away, and of course pretend certain armies hardly existed.(Russia anyone?)

(Pearl Harbor lrn2spell)

SORRY, sorry. Anyways. I don't know any Americans who think we single-handedly won WWII (Although I will take credit for WWI, but another tangent). I am curious what this revision of Pearl HARBOR is though. And don't forget, we get a lot of credit for a lot of reasons. We supplied ALL of the allies with tanks, planes, and guns. The American generals were the only ones who ever had successful battle plans (remember market garden?).

The war didn't really get on track until D-Day, I mean Africa was cool and all, but NO ONE cared. D-Day happened after America joined and was planned by Americans. Also what about the Pacific theater? Don't recall Europe, specifically Russia, helping out.

I'm not crazy/stupid enough to think we were the single reason for Allied victory, but don't dare act like we were just a small puzzle piece, we did a larger share than any other allied country (inb4 Russia losing 20 million people, it was incompetent generals, poor supply, and outgunned soldiers). Finally the US did not enter WWII because of Hitler and the jews, we, along with most of the world, were very racist against Jewish people and didn't really care until Pearl HARBOR was bomber.

/rant

Maybe you should retake that history class friend. You didn't supply anyone out of the goodness of your heart, you sold weapons kinda like how you "supplied" the Egyptian "leaders" until they were just recently overthrown. The Canadians actually penetrated their beachhead first and went in deeper at the end of D-day. They were also the ones to defeat (along with the Polish and the Brits) Hitler's personal gaurd/regiment of the ss, the 12SS Panzer Division, and the Panzer Lehr Division (one of the most elite armored divisions). There was another fight whose name I can't remember or find but the Canadians managed to capture a ridge where everyone else failed. Oh and lets not forget the polish. They were one of if not the strongest of the "Russian" Divisions (even though they were given nothing to work with). The Poles were also instrumental in the Battle of Britian getting the highest kill count of any of the other Flying Divisions. So get your ego in check. Ya you guys help, but don't go stating you were some gigantic turning point or you did a LARGER share than everyone else. America didn't spend years fighting like everyone else and just came in at the end, when the Germans were already losing.

*sigh* Who wrote the D-Day battleplan? The Canadian soldiers?
Anywho the Americans did face the worst on the beaches of D-day, so its not really an accurate argument, but I said nothing about the soldiers themselves. And doesn't matter if we supplied/sold (in reality leased) we still were the biggest industrial power and supplied the other allies through the war. Canada and Britain may have had soldiers, but without guns, bullets, airplanes, bombs, and ships they can't do much, can they?

 

[ShadowKatt]

Huh. I always just assumed that everyone bashed on the US because it was the trendy thing to do. Like anyone that's doing better than you, you tend to make snide comments and insults out of jealousy. And for all the bad things the US has done(like getting involved in things we should have stayed out of), we have a lot to be jealous over as well. SO I just always expected that.

It's trendy to bash on germany for World War II, but I always stop and consider that short of two, maybe three allies, Germany held off the entire world and struck fear into the farthest corners of it. I'm sure there are some out there that would be jealous of that, likely those in the DoD here in America.

 

[superbowlbound]

I try not to generalize against other nations, but I do hate a lot of things about popular American patriotism.

WW2 for example, living in Canada, we tend to think of WW2 as this global tragedy in which countries from all over the world banded together like never before to deal with a situation.

Americans seem to believe it was all just about how Hitler was bad and how America saved the day, and how the whole event is just proof of how awesome America is. Even going as far as to rewrite history(Pearl Harbour), disregard the fact that they arrived two years late when everybody else jumped in right away, and of course pretend certain armies hardly existed.(Russia anyone?)

(Pearl Harbor lrn2spell)

SORRY, sorry. Anyways. I don't know any Americans who think we single-handedly won WWII (Although I will take credit for WWI, but another tangent). I am curious what this revision of Pearl HARBOR is though. And don't forget, we get a lot of credit for a lot of reasons. We supplied ALL of the allies with tanks, planes, and guns. The American generals were the only ones who ever had successful battle plans (remember market garden?).

The war didn't really get on track until D-Day, I mean Africa was cool and all, but NO ONE cared. D-Day happened after America joined and was planned by Americans. Also what about the Pacific theater? Don't recall Europe, specifically Russia, helping out.

I'm not crazy/stupid enough to think we were the single reason for Allied victory, but don't dare act like we were just a small puzzle piece, we did a larger share than any other allied country (inb4 Russia losing 20 million people, it was incompetent generals, poor supply, and outgunned soldiers). Finally the US did not enter WWII because of Hitler and the jews, we, along with most of the world, were very racist against Jewish people and didn't really care until Pearl HARBOR was bomber.

/rant

Supplied (read: sold) was somewhat of a misnomer there. If Pearl Harbour hadn't happened you would have just been out-and-out war profiteering. In fact, several european nations have only finished paying their debt back recently, or just had it called off because, well, common sense really.

I'm sure we can all appreciate the help of the Americans in certain points of the war, but frankly, you do seem to have missed a lot of the fighting and dieing millions of French, British, and Russian soldiers (as well as a lot of the smaller nations of Europe) did during the first few years of WW2, while you were making a fortune in sales of ammo- if it hadn't been for that war the USA would have still been in a recession.

You can't come in all guns blazing when all the other armies are so tired of 4 years of consecutively grinding each other down, then claim to do all the work. If some guys are having a fight in a car park, you don't sell one side some bats, then drive in at the end and run over the losing side with your car.

If it hadn't been for the USA then the allies wouldn't have had equipment to fight, doesn't matter if it was sold or supplies (or leased actually). And I do realize that the UK just paid of the debt less than 5 years ago. And I don't recall any grinding by the allies, unless you count Africa, you know, that continent that isn't Europe....

 

[Phlakes]

You're too kind, then. Hearing about all the things this country does makes me feel like the parent of that kid who's running around pissing on everyone else's kids and eating paste.

Two things: PROPER NOUNS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor
vs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbour,_New_Zealand

I'm a very serious grammar Nazi, I've made three threads about it on these forums, and even I don't care about this. There's a line, and complaining about a U in a pronoun is over that line.

 

[superbowlbound]

(Pearl Harbor lrn2spell)

WHY?! We had the word first. Harbour, neighbour and SPELT are all perfectly good the way they are. Yeah, that's what happens when you attempt to grammar Nazi the English English language.

Tehe.

Two things: PROPER NOUNS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor
vs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbour,_New_Zealand

They are different places

Also harbor is not pronounced with a u sound, which is why we removed the unnecessary 'u's from our language 250 years ago!

 

[superbowlbound]

You're too kind, then. Hearing about all the things this country does makes me feel like the parent of that kid who's running around pissing on everyone else's kids and eating paste.

Two things: PROPER NOUNS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor
vs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbour,_New_Zealand

I'm a very serious grammar Nazi, I've made three threads about it on these forums, and even I don't care about this. There's a line, and complaining about a U in a pronoun is over that line.

They are two different places... that's a pretty big difference.

 

[superbowlbound]

Also, I dislike egotistical nationalism, but I appreciate the shared culture that the concept of nationhood embraces. I like the idea of a French nation made up of French people doing French things, but I don't think that being French or not is a good reason to say that you're better than somebody or a group of people, nor should nations be able to leverage political power in quite the way they do.

(Pearl Harbor lrn2spell)

HARBOUR is the British spelling of HARBOR.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences#-our.2C_-or

Well, if you want to be technical, Perl Harbor is a proper noun, which is based off of the American English spelling "harbor." So referencing it as Pearl Harbour would be technically incorrect. "Pearl Harbor has a harbour" would be correct.

Also the fact Pearl Harbour is in New Zealand

 

[superbowlbound]

I try not to generalize against other nations, but I do hate a lot of things about popular American patriotism.

WW2 for example, living in Canada, we tend to think of WW2 as this global tragedy in which countries from all over the world banded together like never before to deal with a situation.

Americans seem to believe it was all just about how Hitler was bad and how America saved the day, and how the whole event is just proof of how awesome America is. Even going as far as to rewrite history(Pearl Harbour), disregard the fact that they arrived two years late when everybody else jumped in right away, and of course pretend certain armies hardly existed.(Russia anyone?)

(Pearl Harbor lrn2spell)

SORRY, sorry. Anyways. I don't know any Americans who think we single-handedly won WWII (Although I will take credit for WWI, but another tangent). I am curious what this revision of Pearl HARBOR is though. And don't forget, we get a lot of credit for a lot of reasons. We supplied ALL of the allies with tanks, planes, and guns. The American generals were the only ones who ever had successful battle plans (remember market garden?).

The war didn't really get on track until D-Day, I mean Africa was cool and all, but NO ONE cared. D-Day happened after America joined and was planned by Americans. Also what about the Pacific theater? Don't recall Europe, specifically Russia, helping out.

I'm not crazy/stupid enough to think we were the single reason for Allied victory, but don't dare act like we were just a small puzzle piece, we did a larger share than any other allied country (inb4 Russia losing 20 million people, it was incompetent generals, poor supply, and outgunned soldiers). Finally the US did not enter WWII because of Hitler and the jews, we, along with most of the world, were very racist against Jewish people and didn't really care until Pearl HARBOR was bomber.

/rant

You are kidding right? almost 10 000 allied troops died and that's successful ? D Day was a horrible day and your disrespect towards it shows how messed up Americans can be. America also didn't "supply" everyone yes their munitions were used but we paid for.. also ww1? you ... you can't take credit for anything. You aren't the entire military....


how about we dig to the most recent wars to show how far you have fallen from glory, Vietnam ?
how about the bay of pigs invasion? how about Iraq.... hmmm I think the brief moments of heroism is severely outweighed by the team america warfare going on in developing nations to steal what little wealth they have for itself.

I actually laughed out loud. As Stalin said "one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic"

But I lol'd more because Eisenhower expected the loses to be well over 10x that... I'd say that's successful.

and in terms of Vietnam and Iraq, lrn2ignore the media. They are the reason we pulled out of Vietnam (look up the Tet Offensive and the way the media spun it). And if you want to talk about $ then yes, Iraq failed. But with minimal casualties and a new government, then it was successful. (and if you want to discuss ethics, yet again nothing to do with the war after it started)

 

[superbowlbound]

Pearl Harbor lrn2spell

+ snip

Wow, and here i thought that several internet denizens could come together and share ideas without a nationalistic outburst...you proved me wrong within 5 posts.

Spoiler

OT: i agree with SiskoBlue, this world is decided by political forces that average joe has no part in. Why bother bashing others over past policies that they have no control over?

Two things: PROPER NOUNS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor
vs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbour,_New_Zealand

They are different places, so suck on that....

 

[Phlakes]

You're too kind, then. Hearing about all the things this country does makes me feel like the parent of that kid who's running around pissing on everyone else's kids and eating paste.

Two things: PROPER NOUNS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor
vs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbour,_New_Zealand

I'm a very serious grammar Nazi, I've made three threads about it on these forums, and even I don't care about this. There's a line, and complaining about a U in a pronoun is over that line.

They are two different places... that's a pretty big difference.

Do you think a single person in this thread thought he was talking about Pearl Harbour, New Zealand?

Because they didn't.

And even then, Spain is Espana (with a ~, don't feel like getting the character from somewhere) in Spanish, why can't Pearl Harbor be Pearl Harbour in British English?

 

[superbowlbound]

(Pearl Harbor lrn2spell)

Harbour is the ENGLISH spelling, y'know that language you speak. Don't be so quick to correct people, you may end up looking slightly foolish... Yes you may argue Pearl Harbour is an American landmark but harbour is not a proper noun in this case therefore it would be appropriate to spell it Harbour if you were English.

Two things: PROPER NOUNS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor
vs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbour,_New_Zealand

They are different places, so don't be foolish yourself.

And no I don't call Dover Harbour Dover harbor

 

[superbowlbound]

You're too kind, then. Hearing about all the things this country does makes me feel like the parent of that kid who's running around pissing on everyone else's kids and eating paste.

Two things: PROPER NOUNS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbor
vs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbour,_New_Zealand

I'm a very serious grammar Nazi, I've made three threads about it on these forums, and even I don't care about this. There's a line, and complaining about a U in a pronoun is over that line.

They are two different places... that's a pretty big difference.

Do you think a single person in this thread thought he was talking about Pearl Harbour, New Zealand?

Because they didn't.

And even then, Spain is Espana (with a ~, don't feel like getting the character from somewhere) in Spanish, why can't Pearl Harbor be Pearl Harbour in British English?

Because the English language does not work that way
GOODNIGHT!

 

[Vitagen]

I try not to generalize against other nations, but I do hate a lot of things about popular American patriotism.

WW2 for example, living in Canada, we tend to think of WW2 as this global tragedy in which countries from all over the world banded together like never before to deal with a situation.

Americans seem to believe it was all just about how Hitler was bad and how America saved the day, and how the whole event is just proof of how awesome America is. Even going as far as to rewrite history(Pearl Harbour), disregard the fact that they arrived two years late when everybody else jumped in right away, and of course pretend certain armies hardly existed.(Russia anyone?)

I was going to disagree with your last paragraph there, but then I saw THIS guy:

Spoiler: *snip*

(Pearl Harbor lrn2spell)

SORRY, sorry. Anyways. I don't know any Americans who think we single-handedly won WWII (Although I will take credit for WWI, but another tangent). I am curious what this revision of Pearl HARBOR is though. And don't forget, we get a lot of credit for a lot of reasons. We supplied ALL of the allies with tanks, planes, and guns. The American generals were the only ones who ever had successful battle plans (remember market garden?).

The war didn't really get on track until D-Day, I mean Africa was cool and all, but NO ONE cared. D-Day happened after America joined and was planned by Americans. Also what about the Pacific theater? Don't recall Europe, specifically Russia, helping out.

I'm not crazy/stupid enough to think we were the single reason for Allied victory, but don't dare act like we were just a small puzzle piece, we did a larger share than any other allied country (inb4 Russia losing 20 million people, it was incompetent generals, poor supply, and outgunned soldiers). Finally the US did not enter WWII because of Hitler and the jews, we, along with most of the world, were very racist against Jewish people and didn't really care until Pearl HARBOR was bomber.

/rant

Regnes, I know superbowlbound doesn't think America single-handedly won WWII, but reading his post, I can see how you would get that impression of us Americans. I apologize on behalf of all of us.

OT: Not everyone can understand everything, but we are expected to have an opinion about everything. Thus, we must sometimes comment on things we do not understand. Sometimes, stupid people will be very obnoxious about this. This is true everywhere, including America. America, as someone else said, is the "loudest" in global culture. Not best or most respected, but definitely loudest. Thus, our stupid, ignorant, obnoxious people tend to attract more attention than everyone else's stupid, ignorant, obnoxious people.

Also, stereotypes.

 

[superbowlbound]

I try not to generalize against other nations, but I do hate a lot of things about popular American patriotism.

WW2 for example, living in Canada, we tend to think of WW2 as this global tragedy in which countries from all over the world banded together like never before to deal with a situation.

Americans seem to believe it was all just about how Hitler was bad and how America saved the day, and how the whole event is just proof of how awesome America is. Even going as far as to rewrite history(Pearl Harbour), disregard the fact that they arrived two years late when everybody else jumped in right away, and of course pretend certain armies hardly existed.(Russia anyone?)

I was going to disagree with your last paragraph there, but then I saw THIS guy:

Spoiler: *snip*

(Pearl Harbor lrn2spell)

SORRY, sorry. Anyways. I don't know any Americans who think we single-handedly won WWII (Although I will take credit for WWI, but another tangent). I am curious what this revision of Pearl HARBOR is though. And don't forget, we get a lot of credit for a lot of reasons. We supplied ALL of the allies with tanks, planes, and guns. The American generals were the only ones who ever had successful battle plans (remember market garden?).

The war didn't really get on track until D-Day, I mean Africa was cool and all, but NO ONE cared. D-Day happened after America joined and was planned by Americans. Also what about the Pacific theater? Don't recall Europe, specifically Russia, helping out.

I'm not crazy/stupid enough to think we were the single reason for Allied victory, but don't dare act like we were just a small puzzle piece, we did a larger share than any other allied country (inb4 Russia losing 20 million people, it was incompetent generals, poor supply, and outgunned soldiers). Finally the US did not enter WWII because of Hitler and the jews, we, along with most of the world, were very racist against Jewish people and didn't really care until Pearl HARBOR was bomber.

/rant

Regnes, I know superbowlbound doesn't think America single-handedly won WWII, but reading his post, I can see how you would get that impression of us Americans. I apologize on behalf of all of us.

OT: Not everyone can understand everything, but we are expected to have an opinion about everything. Thus, we must sometimes comment on things we do not understand. Sometimes, stupid people will be very obnoxious about this. This is true everywhere, including America. America, as someone else said, is the "loudest" in global culture. Not best or most respected, but definitely loudest. Thus, our stupid, ignorant, obnoxious people tend to attract more attention than everyone else's stupid, ignorant, obnoxious people.

Also, stereotypes.

Also Also for the record I kind of went way the other way after the other guy claimed the US had a neglible part in WWII. There is some medium between what I inadvertently claimed and what he did, although I like to think mine is closer (because Europe is totally jelly of us)

 

[AstylahAthrys]

Why has a commentary about world views turned into a debate on the spelling of Pear Harbor?

I've never really been nationalistic. I am grateful I was born in a first-world country with all my luxuries, but I've never been "'MURICAH, FUCK YEA." In fact, I'd love to spend time overseas in the UK or Ireland or Italy. Live in one of those places for a year. I like living in America well enough, at least as of now. If we go all Deus Ex in the near future I will be highly compelled to immigrate.

As for the WWII? I've never heard American won it, but were part of winning it as one of the Allied Nations, and it was a combination of efforts from all parties. What we learned was more America-focused once we got into the war, but my classes have never taught we were some sort of superhero nation that saved the day.

 

[Sprinal]

We supplied ALL of the allies with tanks, planes, and guns.

The American generals were the only ones who ever had successful battle plans.

The war didn't really get on track until D-Day,

I'm not crazy/stupid enough to think we were the single reason for Allied victory,

Wow the Ameican eduction system never ceases to amaze me.

Really I am actually not sure whether you are just a troll or this is what you belive.

Anyway first the We supplied ALL of the allies with tanks, planes, and guns bit is completely wrong. You may have provided some equipment yet if you Supplied ALL then why were the English getting to the point where they were melting down metal fences to use the Steel?
Then we have to take into account the English protecting your merchant ships traveling accross the Atlantic that were being harassed by U-boats. Even then the supply lines were still unreliable. It would have been suicide for England to rely solely on you.
And this is just in the west. The English also had forces in North africa and across the world (the sun never sets on the Union Jack). These forces were supplied entirely with equipment that was NOT of US origin. Also considering that the 3rd Reich controlled the Medeteranian no supply ship could of entered and delivered cargo without being elimonated by "pirates".

Next:

The American generals were the only ones who ever had successful battle plans.
This is just a joke right?
Churchhill had successfully stalled the Germans in the west and the Soviets were pushing them back in the East. As well as the English were pushing them north out of Africa.
If the only successful battle plans were American then why were the Nazi's already on the retreat? The war could have been won without you at all.

next:

The war didn't really get on track until D-Day,

See above

Next:

I'm not crazy/stupid enough to think we were the single reason for Allied victory,

Really? the rest of the statment would imply otherwise.

You may have been the primary reason for Saving Australia (thanks for that btw) but:

Also what about the Pacific theater? Don't recall Europe, specifically Russia, helping out.

This is also wrong. The Russians were fighting the Japanise Empire As well. Here link for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet-Japanese_Border_Wars

Also Singapore held a major base for the English. There was a naval fleet stationed there as well as a farily sizable force consting of English, Quiwi and Australian Forces.
Edit:
Also forgot this link on the last part:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_invasion_of_Manchuria