Comments by "" (@tomk3732) on "The Armchair Historian" channel.

  1.  @pigalleycatemanresu7321  "Truman told his visitor that it was time that the French got rid of the Communist influence from its government, to which de Gaulle replied that this was France's own business." "Eventually, the new cabinet was finalised on 21 November, with the Communists receiving five out of the twenty-two ministries" "De Gaulle always viewed Communism as a passing phenomenon, and never used the term 'Soviet Union', always calling it Russia. In his view, Russian national interests rather than Communist ideology determined the decision-making in the Kremlin." I.e. he was certainly not red but certainly not McCarthy either. Certainly not fiercely anti-communism - when then west pushed on him, he had not opposition to using communism or Soviets to fight back. He was fluid. Great leader. Far better then current one.
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  2. Please do not add Poles to French and Italians. Poles don't need to defend their record.
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  3. France lost just 800k out of 40 million or so (EU part) so much better then in WWI. In WWI France was not alone in her huge losses - Poland (partitioned) lost about 10% as well - yet they certainly did not loose their spirit as they lost about 1/3 in WWII, half of that (1/6) dead - others unknown.
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  4. This is all meaningless and proves opposite of your point. French performance was pathetic. German comments of prize are for propaganda purposes. Same as constant accolades Italians got. Facts on the ground count. French despite numerical parity folded like deck of cards.
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  5. Petain seen what was done to Poland and did not want that to happen to France. It certainly worked well. If he fought to the bitter end, which was very near, France would experience occupation far sooner - by 2 years. Also Italy and Japan may get French colonial possessions in 1940.
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  6. What about Russian nation and people, they have right to be free as well. Freedom to Donbass!
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  7.  @aaropajari7058  Sure like they did not allow Poles to even march as part of allies after the war. Actions not words speak. I don't care British "recognized" Polish heroism I care about actual total betrayal of Poland before the war, during the war and after the war. Words are cheap.
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  8. Things that are missing : 1. Jagiello went after the order when Holy Roman Empire could not help them out due to transition involved - this is why it had to be 1410 not 1409. 2. Malborg castle was the largest castle in the world and still is by far the largest castle in the world (brick castle). 3. Polish troops moved much faster then Order thought they could as they build a bridge over Wisla to go over the river 4. Lithuanian troops most likely fainted retreat in Mongol style - with which they and their commander were very familiar with.
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  9. Same occurred in other places, like Poland. It was not just France where Germans were execution tool for political enemies.
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  10.  @bartoszN01  This sort of depends on what you mean by "help" form the Germans. Polish faction snitching on "enemy" faction - is that collaboration? Polish faction signing "peace treaty" with Germans to escape to the west - is that collaboration? Generally there are no known episodes of Polish organizations actively siding with Germans to fight Poles - i.e. Poles did not join SS as a group, Polish units, part of organization with that organization blessing did not fight on German side etc. But war is "gray" - we cannot ignore the fact that 1000s of Poles collaborated. Heck many Jews collaborated (!) Heck, many Jews joined NKVD and killed many Poles. All sort of "strange" things occurred. We certainly cannot account for all sort of strange individual actions of people. This is why I say no "known" or at least no "known to me" episodes - I don't want to be in situation where some 10 Poles did something bad as a group, suddenly some historian digs it out and suddenly I was untruthful and Polish Resistance is tainted. This is so called "Jedwabne" effect where isolated incident (or incidents) that were very rare suddenly taint the whole vast majority.
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  11. Same propaganda that was used to prop up the French.
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  12.  @Shyhalu  Nah, its more of a desperation - regular ammo is gone so send cluster ammo. Who cares about 1000s of troops in Europe - there were 1000s of troops in Europe in the year 2010 and year 2000. So what? And what will few F-16s change? Who cares - if they even make it before the end of the war.
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  13. Actually Iraqi air defenses were effective for what they were designed to do - stop limited incursions from Iran. During the war they did exactly that despite marginal training and French sharing the plans with US. This is why US and allies did loose planes to air defenses.
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  14.  @bartoszN01  Poland had multiple political fractions that fought each other even before the war - during the war it went full on brutal. This was not (and is not) "advertised" part of Polish history. My dad started reading more of it and your hair stand right up. How could they? And this was not just communists vs. others. Mostly it was old guard loyal to ideas of Pilsudski vs. new guys.
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  15.  @odsttrooper3724  LOL, no one exactly knows what happened with Wagner - as for the west, didn't US narrowly escape civil war with certain January 6th incident??? Such short memory - very, very, very short.
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  16.  @petesperandio  I am very, very good at geopolitics. No one has a clue as to what Wagner thing was about. It clearly was not a rebellion as Putin met with rebels for a tea few days after so called rebellion.
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  17.  @odsttrooper3724  LMAO - and do let me know - how close these PMCs got to Moscow parliament vs. these civilians? Also do let me know casualties - we have very little as far as casualties are concerned on Wagner side - we have like no video of any troops engaging - not even a single one. Ukraine is about to surrender - its 50-50 if the war even makes it to 2024.
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  18. They had no choice. Same as other foreign SS units - they were traitors to their own nations and faced execution. So either die fighting the reds or die by the firing squad. Note that if they were members of more official French army they would not be so badly treated - see Hungary for example or Italy. But Vichy France never (AFAIK) did so.
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  19. Just yesterday Ukrainian used dumb artillery to bombard center of Donetsk with aim of killing civilians. They managed to hit a bus and kill all 7 people on board. Ukrainians killed 1000s of civilians with clear intention of killing civilians. There is no evidence of such action by Russian side. As to the lady killed on bicycle, in the bloody middle of fire fight or a man killed walking in front of a tank engaging enemy position, i give them a Darwin award.
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  20. This was one of the greatest victories of airborne troops and lead the allies to create their own large paratrooper units. Despite being outnumbered 2 to 1, despite not having surprise and despite allies fortifications paratroopers prevailed! Also allies suffered almost 4x the casualty number (!!!) Compare it to Market Garden - Germans did very well and as usually did not do proper post op analysis.
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  21.  @jakekn7304  But they are free! They are part of Russia as wanted by majority. If they hated being part of Russia they would not have so many 1000s fighting against Kiev regime. Donbass is clearly against Kiev regime occupation.
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  22.  Moto Play  Not even culturally. Only religion is the same.
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  23. ​ @ElTigre12024  the agreement was in writing. Part of the treaty of reunification of Germany.
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  24.  @puma7171  From 20-20 hindsight France did very well. Imagine if they did what de Gaulle wanted and did indeed fight on. If they did it in "Polish style" they would end up like Poland - terrible proposition. Certainly French could do more - allow more of their fleet to join allies etc. but this was "touchy" subject - they needed some to defend colonies. Maybe if they had better "understanding" between each other it would have worked out better - like a secret agreement.
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  25. Ukraine cannot fight more than 4 years, unless they use a. Lot of women.
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  26. Well, there is nothing wrong calling Nazi a Nazi. Ukrainians admit they are Nazi. What should we call them?
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  27. Which totally explains how their armor got kicked by infantry in Greece.
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  28.  @TimeTraveller010  Against infantry led by Greeks their armour also had no chance. A Greek on his two feet >> Italian in a tank.
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  29. Russia has shown to be a lot of bite and little bark - in difference to EU. Despite epic level aid and huge sanctions Russia is on a clear path to victory in less than a year now.
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  30.  @dovetonsturdee7033  Of course they did. The send their ships even BEFORE UK joined in war against Germany. British sure were in arms against Germany in 1939 and 1940. They only fought when it was their turn to face them across the channel.
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  31. What, no mention of Goa? India invaded Goa just few years before it was to be returned. This was a big mistake by India which prompted Chinese action. Which was BTW, full success.
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  32. But was Vichy France axis power? They "collaborated" in same way neutral countries did - they supplied resources and materials. They did far more as far as Jews and others are concerned BUT was it really Nazi German "heavy influence" or simply anti Jewish views that exploded in Europe in late 1930s? Imagine that anti-Semitism even exploded in Poland, most friendly to Jews nation. BUT they did not send military force, same as Hungary and Italy for example. Sure they had volunteers - quite many, but not as much per capita as others, such as Baltic nations or territory that was claimed as "Ukraine". Their refusal to join "free French" only underscores their neutrality - which of course was "questionable" - but so was neutrality of say USA. Sure, they were dependent on Germany and a puppet - but nothing more. In historical retrospect the decision was 100% correct - fighting to bitter end and heavily resisting like the Poles did cost millions of lives and huge destruction for no benefit at all then maybe "bragging rights". The French with their luck of resistance and passive acceptance may not be seen today as warriors (at least by older generation) BUT they did save their capital and they suffered light civilian losses. Also today they can, through use of propaganda, rehabilitate themselves. As to the British, they did as US does today - only care for themselves. They used their allies not to these allies advantage but only to their own. So sinking of the French fleet was good idea only for the British. As history shows it was a bad move as no French ships did in fact join German navy - i.e. British worries were proven false. Did Americans wanted the Jews??? Well, gee, I remember that certain ships heading for NA before WWII started with Jews were not allowed... Once Germans walked into Vichy France it was government in name only.
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  33. This "offensive" is unjustly called that. It should be called French faint. Or something similar signaling total luck of any will, just pretending.
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  34. Ukraine is the only state that fights a war to be in NATO, which is supposed to stop wars. Strange, no? US puts pressure on everyone.
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  35.  @БогданБеркут  Russia never wanted to capture it - they wanted to stop NATO.
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  36.  @БогданБеркут  Sure, they did! Part of a threat against invasion of Ukraine and liberation of Donbass was for Fins and Sweden to join NATO. Since both were more or less NATO from 1992 and invading Russia from Finland is not feasible and nothing much would change Russia simply ignored the threat.
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  37.  @БогданБеркут  But nothing of what you listed is new - its been like this from 1992 or even before!
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  38. Yes, when you come down to single people some Italian men were very brave. However, overall quality was terrible on every level, Italians for the most part did not feel the need to fight, commanders were ... not deserving of command for the most part (I am sure again some were good) and a lot of equipment was lucking (through again, some things were excellent). Thus there are always exceptions to everything.
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  39. Usually that is said of Italians as well... I am sure you know why. It's not b/c they were lions.
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  40. Troops were not great either. Remember they did not want to die for Gdańsk and their "heroic" defense was very short lived. Some units that are examples of such great defence quickly folded. Like after 3 days.
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  41. They taken soledar and 95% of Bakhmut.
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  42.  @BaBaYaga1999-p7u  Russian propaganda never was very effective - its a total myth. It is known mostly for its luck of efficiency due to usually using primitive methods. Now wester propaganda is far more complex. And far and wide more effective. Sophisticated.
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  43. What is missing is total disaster Ukraine has been from 1992 as far as any reforms are concerned - including military. Ukraine still had in 2022 strongest army entirely in Europe. Most people miss that. And this is despite so much collapse from 1992 onwards.
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  44. It's a myth. Putin said it was a great tragedy but he is not going to repeat past mistakes. Western propaganda parroting does not make things true.
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  45. Regarding Regia Marina. They called air support. Their own bombers attacked them MORE then the British. Fortunately their attacks were crap. Total luck of any competence.
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  46.  @brandonlyon730  Did they? Look at them now being so pro Russian. Chechnya was ruled by war lords - it is unclear of how much it actually was pro independence.
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  47.  @jakekn7304  Really? And do let me know, which was the main force that ensured Chechnya is in Russia - I heard it was bunch of Muslims ;)
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  48.  @Manaphy0882  They are interfering in Ukrainian civil war. How was US invasion of Yugoslavia? Making Albanians victims ... does it feel pathetic?
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  49. Bulgaria was a minor Axis power - as it had national army that did participate on the side of the axis. Through not to the same extend as other minor powers, such as Hungary. Did they had a choice? Sure, they could have tried to stay neutral and be invaded or even join allies. Certainly their role in alliance was far more minor then say Japan or Italy, hence minor power. Notice that a small country of Greece did not join the Axis - they decided to be a minor allied power.
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  50.  @suityboi2126  No stationing of NATO troops in former territory of DDR and east of it - are there NATO troops in DDR or east of it? Yes there are. So who broken the agreement? Since it was not strongly worded and not exactly fool proof it was side lined. Even if it was a treaty, these can be broken.
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