Why do people say that the British didn't do a thing in WW2?

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

I usually summarize the whole American, British and free French forces as "western allies", so no one gets left out.

What about the Australians?

 

[Scaredpanther0101]

Britain and Canada: Gold, Juno, Sword

Juno was the Canadian Landing Gold and Sword the British,there was also going to be a third British called Band if I remember correctly.I've Been to all three of them

I would also Like to Mention Operation Mulberry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mulberry an amaazing idea that we Brits came up with helped get tonnes of suplies into Normandy at D-Day

 

[titanium turtle]

I've never heard anyone say that. Maybe your teacher is a little prejudice? Anyone who has read anything about WWII knows the Brits were a major factor in that war.

Yeah, they did quite a lot in World War II. They held off the German Advance/bombings in 41-42, but the bit about the soviets is true. They lost the most people in the war according to most sources, both military/civilian wise.

The Soviets bore the brunt of the Wermacht, if the western Allies had faced that many troops, we would have fallen, easily. We have to really thank the Soviet Union/Russia really for doing the most agaisnt the 3rd Reich, not to say us Western Allies were not important, the Germans could have eventually defeated the USSR if the west did'nt declare war on Germany, so it was a team effort, shame about the Cold War afterwards.

actually the USSR pretty much turned the whole war round with their counterattack on the 6th army
also some people seem to forget that the USSR and Germany were allies, if they would have remained that way then there would have been a very real possibility of them taking over the world, Hitler's invasion of Russia left him fighting a war on all sides

 

[Dumbfish1]

When you say the Russian's made the biggest sacrifices that's partially because their generals would just through [sic] men at a problem and also never really used tactics in the beginning, it worked for them but they did to the point were they would use tanks as battering rams to take out German tanks.

Which just goes to show, Zerg rushing wins wars.

 

[titanium turtle]

...and the vast majority of people involved in the D-Day landings were British, I'd say we did a fair fucking bit, thank you.

61,715 British soldiers took part in the D-Day landings. 2,700 casualties.
73,000 American soldiers took part in the D-Day landings. 6,603 casualties.

Both were practically even, with the American's edging out. British supplied more naval support. Check before you do EXACTLY what you're accusing the American's of doing.

yes, but take into account Americas population of about 2-3 times that of the British, -you probably had more troops to send, but saying the "vast majority were British" is a bit ignorant

 

[ClunkiestTurtle]

Your first post implied that all Americans think that way. Now you say most think that way. See the difference?

Ignorance is lack of knowledge. You have a lack of knowledge on the subject of Americans and their thoughts and feelings on this subject(obviously). You need to look up the definition.

I think you need to learn how to properly word your opinion, instead of passing it off as facts you gathered while speaking to a few Americans. You cant exactly claim an entire country of people is one way simply because a few of your friends are from there, and agree with you.

My post wasn't meant to be insulting. So as far as an amusing attempt, I don't know what you're talking about. Had I wanted to insult you, you'd know it.

Haha, seriously just stop....

What ever you interpreted my first post to mean is entirely a representation of you're clear need to have some sort of shit slinging match with someone to prove you're the bigger ape as sadly is the case with too many people.

But hey seems its rattled your little cage so much and at this point while I'm getting the feeling you're propensity towards conflict is the the driving force behind you're posts rather then finding out my actual opinion before you start flailing that poop around i will clarify.

When i said that its "Americans" who say the British didn't do anything its because Americans are generally the only people who say such a thing specifically about the British compared to most countries who rag on someone else, something a lot of other people have said in this very thread. So it is "Americans" that are the group of people most likely to conform to the viewpoint the OP talked about. I didn't say ALL Americans nor did i intend to imply that, clearly the case as when i elaborated i said most as i did not mean every American thinks this way but out of the rest of the nationalities in the world you are most likely to hear such a phrase coming out of an Americans mouth.

See the difference??

"Had I wanted to insult you, you'd know it."

Ahh makes me nostalgic for my school playground days.....

Anywho now that i've clarified as much as i can be bothered given its obvious pointlessness and don't really see anything constructive emerging from this I'll bid you adieu and hand the last word over to you.

 

[Versago]

thats not quite it - the saying is the Americans "Saved our arses in WW2", a phrase every english person denys because its just stupid.

America turned up at the very end of the war, up until then it was European War One, basically.

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

pfft. in every history book i read( apart from horrible historeis got me an A+ on my history test ) it says the ruskeis and americans did nothing while the brits were awsomeing the world up by kicking hitler in the bum, and american history books i read, say the japs ruskesi nazis, were all satans warriors.

brits and americans took all the glory.

didn't the ruskeis come like, 1 month erleir than the brits to the reichstag? oh wait i got a good joke

brit- ooooh i cant wait to get to the reichstag and kick the nazi's arses!

brit2- me too!
long live britannia

american- yeah lets kick their asses!

when the yarrive there they find the palce is a russain couzine self service restraunt.

russian- oh hai, we won the wor 4 u.

brit1 and 2- WOT???

american- well its off to nuke some innocent japenese civilians!

*sorry if this is a bit offensive and all that but im trying to make a point*

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

but c'mon we got ta thank the soveits(im russain btw)
for saving all our arses. heres another theory why hitler and stalin became freinds...

hitler could have invaded russai erleir becasue the red army was small at that time. stalin bought the army some time (1940-1941 if you dont have a history book handy)to build a massive army. the red army sacrefeiced millions to save our arses and if not, this topic would be called ' wasn't the second world war a fantastic idea?! heil furher!* again sorry if its offensive*

 

[Nikolaz72]

thats not quite it - the saying is the Americans "Saved our arses in WW2", a phrase every english person denys because its just stupid.

America turned up at the very end of the war, up until then it was European War One, basically.

Europen War one?... *Cough Cough* ehem, i think you forget the couple of thousands of years Europa fought itself.

 

[Hamster at Dawn]

They teach you that in Iceland? Weird. I can understand that each country has it's own patriotism and hence teaches that their own part most significantly. Living in the UK, I know quite a lot about what Britain did in the war but much less about the US. What I find funny is all these American war movies where they basically say that America single-handedly defeated everyone else. Trying to appeal to the average American patriot who really doesn't have a clue.

 

[Upturned Walrus]

I think that the brits are not mentioned that much because the americans are glory hogging pricks

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

Simple question in fact I was in history today learning about WW2 and my teacher said that the british didn't do a thing and that the americans oh the bloody americans held up everything defending the land.
For when I read the book then it was mostly in Russia and the russians did most of the killing and the biggest sacrifices.
So guys I'm thinking what did the british do?

P.s.I'm a british patriot (16) who lives in Iceland so the education here for history isn't exactly great.

Well if you really want to know, read a book called Churchill's Wizards. Its the stuff that isn't common knowledge (or featured in MoH/CoD). The fact is we set the Allies up for the big W, and America pushed it home. Hence they get the glory. Apart from that they did defeat the Japanese, and supply the Allies for a while, but the actual offensive operations were mostly genius and mostly of british design.

did you know...?

the US were supplying weopans and money while germany were leaded by the nazis (before WW2)
so tehnically the thought wrong and changed it. shame the cold war started. russai would be less piss ass poor, people who want wor will have 2nd thoughts about it, and i'd be a highly paid engineer. or in the army.

 

[Kippers]

Im pretty sure you must've misunderstood your teacher, because no history teacher in their right mind would suggest that Britain did'nt play a part in WWII

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

When you say the Russian's made the biggest sacrifices that's partially because their generals would just through men at a problem and also never really used tactics in the beginning, it worked for them but they did to the point were they would use tanks as battering rams to take out German tanks. Also in North Africa until the American's showed up it wasn't looking to good for the British there. Montgomery was a great general but when you are out number by one of the best generals of all time, Rommel who I consider the best or second best general of WWII until 1944 when he made some huge mistakes, Montgomery would have lost north africa by spring '43 if American hadn't sent a large influx of troops. Also The Americans also sent division after division into Europe after D-Day. The American's were, compared to the fairly battle warned Europe, and unlimited supply of men and material and without them the best England could have hoped for was the German's invasion to be thwarted at the beaches.

sorry? they red army did use tactics thank you very much. if you have a vetern in your family who survived, tell that to him.

 

[Versago]

thats not quite it - the saying is the Americans "Saved our arses in WW2", a phrase every english person denys because its just stupid.

America turned up at the very end of the war, up until then it was European War One, basically.

Europen War one?... *Cough Cough* ehem, i think you forget the couple of thousands of years Europa fought itself.

True - but pretty much every european country was involved in this one.

 

[craphunter]

I've heard a lot about how the Americans think that they were the only ones who actually fought the war too. but me being a history buff would say that the yanks didn't fight the war on the western front until 1942, and even then,they lost their first battle with the Germans because they didn't expect the Germans to fight back. to be totally honest the Americans did have a fair share of the conflict but not enough to claim to have won the war, being the fact that their city's weren't bombed, their people didn't give a damn about the war in Europe until pearl harbour, and finally they didn't have to go through the hardships that the Russians and the British and even the occupied countries went through.

 

[Syl4r]

Because people are misinformed or ignorant twats.
/thread

 

[Jed Petty]

the Brits were the last bastion of hope for Europe in that war. FDR's hands were tied by a lot of things that prevented america from fully helping like we "eventually" did. Isolationists, re-election stuff.. America did not want another war at that time. Back on topic though England did only what it could. And to people who give France so much shit about lying down and taking it all i have to say is you try and stop das blitzkrieg! lol.

 

[Doomsday11]

My question is, did South America do anything during the war! I mean, even our friendly neighbors to the north Canada contributed to WWII. But i have never heard of anything from South America Has anyone?

Of course they did they haboured nazi war criminals at the end of the war