Japanese Minister: "Hurry up and die..."
Moderator: Peak Moderation
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My father was in an artillary pit a howitzer shot back from the Grand Trenchee at Rupt-En-Woevre France on 11-11-18 and the silence that took over at 11:00 A. M made him and his fellow Yanks as happy as any men that ever lived. They were not on the battle field long so were spared the appalling losses you British endured but even a few hours on that carnage strewn wasteland was more then enough to chill your heart. The French troops beside them were down to old men and boys with an entire generation having been bled out of them. The Canadians on their left would have a piper play at dawn just to give the Germans the willeys thinking some more Scot Ladies from hell might be coming over the top with their bayonets.
JavaScriptDonkey wrote:When you've finished laughing I'd recommend 'The War the Infantry Knew' as compiled by Cptn Dunn.RenewableCandy wrote:I recommend "Blackadder Goes Forth", if you can get it in the States.
It is a compilation of memories of the officers and men of the Royal Welch Fusiliers for 1914-1919.
None of your heroes of the trenches lions led by donkeys jingoistic nonsense here nor any of the gung-ho of many WW2 texts. Just very well written Battalion recollections with all the loves and prejudices of the day.
It's also a bit simplistic to argue that WW2 happened because of the outcome of WW1. In WW1 the Germans thought they were the ones fighting imperialistic aggression. You could argue that the failure of the British to help the French in the Franco-Prussian war allowed a victorious Germany to unify and sow the seeds of a Germanic empire.
An interesting irony is that it was the German generals who refused to bombard the civilian population during the siege of Paris despite the guerilla tactics of the mostly defeated French.
Only 65 years later their grandchildren were bombing Guernica.
Very pertinent points.
Anecdotally, when I first lived in France in the mid 1990s, they televised the 11th November armisitce parades. Once, a few very ancient 'Poilus' were interviewed following a short but harrowing documentary about the battle of Verdun.
Interviewer: "Do you still have vivid recollections of those terrible times?"
Poilu: "Alas yes.. above all the comradeship and capacity for self sacrifice. You never see that these days do you?"