Utter rubbish as usual. An excerpt of the speech French President Sarkozy made when he addressed the U.K. Parliament.
"Our two countries' destinies have been closely intertwined for nearly 1,000 years.
"Since William the Conqueror set off from Normandy to seize hold of the throne of Edward the Confessor, to the reverse journey made by hundreds of thousands of young Britons to participate in the liberation of Europe, our destinies have constantly intersected.
"Our nations fought one another for a long time, until the day they understood that what brought them together was more important than what divided them, that they had interests to defend and, even more important still, common values to defend together."
He added: "France hasn't forgotten, she will never forget that when she was almost annihilated Britain was at her side.
"She will never forget the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish blood mixed with the French blood in the mud of the trenches.
"She will never forget the welcome the British people gave General de Gaulle and Free France. She will never forget the heroic resistance of the British people without which all would have been lost.
"She will never forget the fine young people who came from all over the British Empire and laid down their lives on the Normandy beaches.
Erm.
No offense but that speech is fro. A WW1 Memorial.
Wrong War Mate.
Poland fell within days, attempting to fight the German tanks with cavelry and ancient troops. Britain and France had both promised to help Poland but all 3 countries didn't anticipate the Blitzkrieg. France fell back behind the Maginot line. Britain also couldn't help in time to be of any use.
Yes, Britain retreated and it's almost folk-law in British history. The British forces were pinned in Dunkirk, and were being killed when almost every small boat in the country was commissioned and sent to rescue the troops from the French/Belgium border. It was essentially a defeat but what's remarkable is that so many men were rescued by fishermen, ferrymen, oarsmen and so many other civilians who faced the German u-boats, navy and overwhelming odds to prevent the British army at the time from being completely wiped out (as the Polish and French had already been).
So what you're saying is that with the exception of the Germans (who lost so of course had far higher casualties), the British lost more than troops than another other member of the EU as it stands today. Very few of them on British soil either and most of them in France, Italy and North Africa.. which is not really consistent with your view of "Bunkering down". Undoubtedly Britain acted in it's own interests, but it also did the best it could for it's allies on a time scale that it could actually manage, given how outgunned we were..
Well, as we've discussed before, there was my Grandfather and my great Grandfather. Both of whom died far from home attempting to help in a situation which was not their or their countries making.
This is the website of the British war graves commision, who as such organisation have gone far further to find out what happened to every single soldier who died than any other country in the world.. Including my grandfather who lies in France. It was they that documented my families whereabouts so that my Grandmother was finally able to visit their graves in the late 90s as an old woman.
http://www.cwgc.org/
I have never made such a claim and I don't hold with this nonsense about people owning Britain any money. I'm not keen at all on Brexit and I believe that the UK should come to a good compromise on it's modern debts. However, Britain did it's best to honor it's alliances during the war. We did protect ourselves and no doubt it was my grandmother and my mother who were foremost in my Grandfather's mind as he died in France. Nevertheless we did the best we could for our allies and I don't believe we deserve your ungrateful scorn.
You'll understand why it doesn't seem small to me. I find your tone frankly appalling and i think you should apologise to the other members of this forum. There's nothing wrong with criticizing Britain's role the WW2 but your tone is intensely disrespectful for those who died which is deeply unpleasant to read. Show some respect.
It's a terrible shame that this occurred, but I frankly don't see how Britain could have done more, given the odds of success, the tactical distance from the UK and the resources available.
Sigh.
Just going to correct some facts and not go in to deep...
1.
The Invasion of Poland took more than one Month.
And Germany barely had Tanks in that time.
In fact it hardly was Motorized.
Most of the German Army was running on Cavalry as well.
2.
France and Germany lurked at each other on the Maginout line.
Partially even helping out each other as no real War was happening.
Not surprising cause the German Army was barely 10% of the Frensh Army and was almost entirely in Poland.
If France and UK had called the bluff and Attacked. They would have been able to just March in.
But they waited and actual fighting only began after Poland fell and Germany had bought its troops to the West.
3.
Yes.
The escape from France is a well known Tale.
Germany itself was surprised because the Enemy retreated with nearly no resistance and stopped advancing because they got scared its a trap to lure them in.
Does not change that rather than Fighting to Protect France.
The UK retreated.
France fought on but with little chance against the now empowered German Army
It was not annihilated tough. In fact most of its troops were unharmed. Only the Northern Border Divisions fell.
These would later be Vichy France and thus Enemy to the UK.
4.
Uff thats wrong as well.
You had the most losses for any Country in the EU IF you include the Troops from your Colonies especially India which fell against Japan as well the expedition forces from other Colonies. Excluding those you actually lost way less.
But even then it only holds for the numbers.
If you go by the size of Population. The losses of the UK were marginal compared to the others.
Germany by the way had really small losses for being the loser.
but well different story.
5.
Does not answer nor contest my Statement.
6.
The guy I quoted did.
Dont complain that your dragged onto his side if your backing him.
Even less when you backed him without distancing yourself from his claims.
7.
It sounds out of the forest as you yell into it.
Dont expect respect from others when your not offering them respect yourself.
8.
Giving the UK the benefit of doubt I will assume they got faked out.
In terms of Military they could have Crushed Germany easily at this point if they had just attacked.
The more unfortunate truth is that in the UK the odea of sending Soldiers to die for Poland was not exactly well received.
Hence the delay.
This was also reason why Czechs etc got sold out to Germany.
But what else you could have done is not importand.
Because I am not blaming the UK for not saving Poland.
I would blame them for Guaranteeing them when they could not do anything anyways.
But thats a different story.
The Point is.
The UK did not save or protect Europe.
So it should not claim it did.
Much less should it claim that other EU members owe them Money for saving them.
Said this before.
But I am not contesting the UK having lost something or having fought.
I am contesting that the EU owes the UK for saving them from Germany.
Because well. It did not.
