Comments by "" (@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684) on "War Stories" channel.

  1. My father was not far away at the time. He was a stoker onboard HMS Dorsetshire returning to Newcastle with the Bismarck survivors. Thank god the ship that Ludovic Kennedy was aboard, HMS Tartar, was accompanying Mashona, and able to pick up the survivors including your grandfather. Respects to their memories..
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  2. I thought I'd create a simple "visual aid" in order to assist people learning about the history of the battle of Britain. There is much ongoing debate about the nationalities and proportions of RAF fighter pilots who took part in the battle, with occasionally a furtive aspect which attempts to portray the battle as a victory of "mostly Foreign pilots". Below is an accurate graphical representation of the proportion of pilot nationalities serving within RAF Fighter Command during the summer of 1940. Each flag is roughly equivalent to 30 pilots, The numbers after each nation are the actual number of pilots from that country, and the approximate percentage of RAF Fighter Command's establishment in the summer of 1940 that they represented. 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 UK (2342) (80%) 🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱 Poland (145) (5%) 🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿 New Zealand (127) (4%) 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 Canada (112) (4%) (1940 flag emoji not available) 🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿 Czechoslovakia (88) (3%) 🇦🇺 Australia (32) (1%) 🇧🇪 Belgium (28) (1%) 🇿🇦 S. Africa (25) (1%) (1940 flag emoji not available) 🇺🇳 Other nations (France (13), R o Ireland (10), USA (9), Rhodesia (3), Newfoundland (1), Jamaica (1), Barbados (1)) (1%) (And just to preempt any wandering idiot lefty "Identity warriors" from protesting about "The lack of credit given to the black pilots who fought in the battle of Britain"... the pilots from South Africa, Rhodesia & the Caribbean were all of white descent).
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  3.  @alanjm1234  Much the same as my own father did a year later in the (admittedly much warmer) Indian Ocean when Dorsetshire herself was sunk by Japanese dive bombers, he and 600 others clung to wreckage for 33 hours before their eventual rescue. All the best Alan.
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  4. What a weird voting pattern you have there. P.S every year prvides a plethora of new books whose authors claim to have uncovered previously unseen information.... the vast majority of which is marketing BS.
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  5. Not forgetting the 75% of Fighter Command pilots that were British born.
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  6. They represented 7% of fighter command. By typing rubbish such as "yet were erased from British history" just shows you've NEVER attended a UK Remembrance day parade in your life where the Poles especially are ALWAYS honoured with wreaths & tributes, as well as being given FULL UK residency and citizenship rights as enshrined in the 1947 Polish resettlement act. Take your divisive, biased, uninformed nonsense somewhere else.
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  7. While we're at it, lets also give thanks to the British who gave safe haven to the refugees of Europe, and paid for and supplied them with the tools that enabled their contribution to the allied war effort, and to the >80% British born Pilots of Fighter Command on whose shoulders they stood.
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  8.  @nynek13  The Poles were not some breed of "superior" pilot, they'd simply accrued more combat experience since Sept 1939, and as a result of their previous battles with the luftwaffe only the most succesful Polish pilots had made it to Great Britain, the less successful ones had already perished. As soon as the rest of the RAF pilots had gained more experience there was NO difference in skill levels, as is witnessed by the kill tallies at the end of WW2. Luckily for the Poles they were provided with world class fighter aircraft with world beating radar and defensive control systems courtesy of the RAF and the British taxpayer, rather than flying to their deaths in the likes of the PZL P.7. Though we Brits are nevertheless still appreciative of their contribution to our victory against the overconfident Luftwaffe, it must still be remembered that 75% of Fighter command pilots in the battle were of British birth.
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  9. I await the day that the stuka in the Flying Heritage Combat and Armor Museum in Everett, Washington takes to the air again. Imagine it at an airshow, diving with its siren screaming. That would be COLOSSAL !!!!
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  10. The Poles serving with the RAF during the battle of Britain had been filtered through months of combat so only the most successful made it to the UK, and those that did had more combat experience that any other fighter pilots in the RAF, so it would be a poor reflection in the Polish pilots if their experience plus some of the best fighter planes in the world didn't produce excellent results, for which we are grateful, as would be reasonably expected they were soon equalled in skill as the rest of the RAF pilots died or improved during the rest of the battle..
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  11. As opposed to the 2100 who died on Bismarck... only a cnut would celebrate the waste of those lives. Grow up !!!
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  12. Andrew Choong is ALWAYS worth listening to. I do like listening to experts who know their field, and can discuss and expand on a subject fluently using their innate knowledge of the subject, and not the current style of resorting to vacuous, token "talking heads" reciting a prepared script.
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  13. Remember, there are OTHER fantasy movies available on netflix.
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  14. Ordinary signalman Albert Edward Pryke Briggs 1923-2008 (Signalman serving on Hood's compass platform) Midshipman William James Dundas 1923-1965 (I was unable to locate William's post onboard) Able seaman Robert Edward "Lofty" Tilburn 1921-1995 (Gun crewman serving Hood's port 4in secondary guns)
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  15.  @sextoncardew903  If you don't want to be carpet bombed, then you shouldn't attempt to do it to others first, as at Guernica (1937) Weilun & Warsaw (1939) Rotterdam, London and 50 other British cities (1940-41). The first British air raid intentionally aimed at civilians was "operation Abigail" an attack on the German city of Mannheim on the night of 16-17th December 1940. This was as a direct reply to the German attack on the British city of Coventry on the night of 14th November 1940 (Operation moonlight sonata) where the Germans first attempted to create a "firestorm" on a civilian target by dropping first oil bombs, followed by incendiaries and then finishing off with 750 tons of high explosives.
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  16. Another ignoramus. At the time of these events the USSR was supplying the nazis with MILLIONS of tons of raw materials, food and fuel, and there were NO Indian Army units defending Britain. Glad to have been of help educating you.
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  17. Or indeed any death camps in the Cotswolds, Pennines or Scottish Highlands. P.S You are aware that Churchill held NO government office in the run up to WW2 aren't you? Yes.... of COURSE you are.
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  18.  @manuel.camelo  Apart from the resources of South America, which the Spanish empire had completely pilfered while totally wiping out multple civilisations on that continent.
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  19. Who has ever said the battle of Britain was fought entirely by British pilots? It was fought MOSTLY by British pilots with minority support from the commonwealth and some refugee European & other foreign pilots. I thought I'd create a simple "visual aid" in order to assist people learning about the history of the battle of Britain. There is much ongoing debate about the nationalities and proportions of RAF fighter pilots who took part in the battle, with occasionally a furtive aspect which attempts to portray the battle as a victory of "mostly Foreign pilots". Below is an accurate graphical representation of the proportion of pilot nationalities serving within RAF Fighter Command during the summer of 1940. Each flag is roughly equivalent to 30 pilots, The numbers after each nation are the actual number of fighter pilots/aircrew from that country, and the approximate percentage of RAF Fighter Command's establishment in the summer of 1940 that they represented. 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 UK (2342) (80%) 🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱 Poland (145) (5%) 🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿 New Zealand (127) (4%) 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 Canada (112) (4%) (1940 flag emoji not available) 🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿 Czechoslovakia (88) (3%) 🇦🇺 Australia (32) (1%) 🇧🇪 Belgium (28) (1%) 🇿🇦 S. Africa (25) (1%) (1940 flag emoji not available) 🇺🇳 Other nations (France (13), R o Ireland (10), USA (9), Rhodesia (3), Newfoundland (1), Jamaica (1), Barbados (1)) (1%) (And just to preempt any wandering idiot lefty "Identity warriors" from protesting about "The lack of credit given to the black pilots who fought in the battle of Britain"... the pilots from South Africa, Rhodesia & the Caribbean were all of white descent). It is however COMPLETELY true to say that Britain as a country DID stand alone against German aggression from July 1940 to April 1941, unless that is you can provide us with the details of the luftwaffe air assaults on Canberra, Ottawa, Delhi and Wellington? Or how the Wehrmacht stood poised to launch its invasion of the Indian sub continent or Canada? Or how the Kriegsmarine attempted to strangle "the British Empire" out of the war by enforcing a u-boat blockade of Australia and New Zealand? Oh news just coming in...... NONE OF THOSE THINGS HAPPENED because the ONLY nation facing ALL of those threats between July 1940 and April 1941 was GREAT BRITAIN ALONE.
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  20.  @zenekpipka4594  You were welcomed to our shores as refugees from your own defeated country, and your service personnel's contribution to our final victory was (contrary to popular misinformed opinion) rewarded with full UK residential and citizenship rights (for their families as well) as enshrined in UK law as the 1947 Polish Resettlement act. You're also ignorant, but welcome nonetheless.
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  21. Barely a mention in comments regarding the ATROCIOUS leadership of the US 82nd Airborne. Who instead of carrying out its orders of seizing the Grave and Nijmegen bridges, instead, and without informing 1st Allied Airborne Army HQ decided to sit in the southern districts of Nijmegen watching out for imaginary Germans in the Groesbeek Heights, and flagrantly allowed German forces north of Nijmegen to seize the bridge and set up a defensive perimeter that allowed the Germans to hold up 30th Corp's advance for THREE WHOLE DAYS !!! Instead the braindead parrots cry "Monty.... Monty.... Monty!!!" SQUAWK SQUAWK !!!! Pieces of eight!!! Pieces of eight !!!!
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  22. Please provide us with the details of the luftwaffe air assaults on Canberra, Ottawa, Delhi and Wellington? Or how the Wehrmacht stood poised to launch its invasion of the Indian sub continent? Or how the Kriegsmarine attempted to strangle "the British Empire" out of the war by enforcing a u-boat blockade of Australia and New Zealand? Oh news just coming in...... NONE OF THOSE THINGS HAPPENED because the ONLY nation subjected to ALL of those threats by the nazis between July 1940 and April 1941 was GREAT BRITAIN ALONE. No need to thank me for unburdening you of your complete cluelessness.
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  23. Is there any mention of the British forces involved? Or is it all supposed to just be Canadian and US?
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  24. Why remember them especially? I prefer to remember ALL the squadrons.
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  25. Here's some of Bismarck's "uber" design choices.... 1. Her incremental armour scheme and low horizontal "turtleback". Incremental armour (several layers of thinner armour above a "main armour" layer) the thinner armour was thick enough to activate shell fuses, but not thick enough to prevent the penetratation of even medium calibre shells, and her low turtleback while making her difficult to sink, saw all of her weapons and communications systems disabled within 30 minutes of her final battle. Most other battleship construction of the 1930s used the concept of an "all or nothing" armour scheme, where only the vital ship systems were protected, the rest of the superstructure being standard marine plating, which allowed the passage of a shell without activating its fuse. Witness HMS Prince of Wales at Denmark Strait, hit by multiple large calibre shells, none of which detonated, and all but two of which passed through the ship with only minimal damage. 2.Twin gunned main turrets, an outdated design choice which meant more turrets and their accompanying magazines required a greater weight of armour to protect them all, when more modern, more weight efficient thinking decreed triple and quadruple gunned turrets, thereby producing a greater weight of fire, from a smaller number of turrets & magazines with a much reduced weight of armour to protect them all. 3. Duplicated Secondary / anti-aircraft weapon systems that wasted a lot of weight for no added benefit, as opposed to the dual purpose secondary armament then becoming more common and more weight efficient in contemporary naval construction. 4. Triple propeller propulsion design which intrinsically reduced the amount of "off centre" propulsive power that could be used for steering with the engines by 33%, should she suffer the slim possibility of damage to her rudders (Well who knows? It might happen!!!). Look at the propulsion systems of many other major units, the majority have either 2 or 4 shafts powering them, both of which enable 100% of engine power off centre to increase the turning potential of the engines.
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  26. And extermination camps would have operated in Europe FAR after 1945.
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  27. To all those Brit haters, determined to undermine the achievements of the British empire during WW2, please provide us with the details of the luftwaffe air assaults on Canberra, Ottawa, Delhi and Wellington? Or how the Wehrmacht stood poised to launch its invasion of the Indian sub continent? Or how the Kriegsmarine attempted to strangle "the British Empire" out of the war by enforcing a u-boat blockade of Australia and New Zealand? Oh news just coming in...... NONE OF THOSE THINGS HAPPENED because the ONLY nation being subject to all of those threats by the nazis between July 1940 and April 1941 was GREAT BRITAIN ALONE. Also just to detail the commonwealth units in Britain in Sept 1940. By the time of the expected invasion in Sept 1940 the British army in the UK was fielding 2 British Armoured divisions 2 British Armoured brigades 15 British infantry divisions (full strength) 7 British infantry divisions (under strength). 7 British independent infantry Brigades 2 British independent motor machine gun Brigades 1 Canadian infantry division (full strength) 2 Australian infantry brigades (BOTH under strength) 1 NZ infantry "division" (actually a single understrength NZ infantry Brigade but with a British motor machine gun brigade attached to it) No need to thank me for unburdening you of your lack of knowledge on the subject.
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  28. Just to detail the commonwealth units in Britain in Sept 1940. The 1st Canadian infantry Division (the full strength division that you mention) stationed south of London around the Leatherhead area in Surrey, the 2nd Canadian division at the time was a skeletal force whose poorly equipped subordinate units only started to arrive in Britain in late august 1940 and was in no condition for combat. Then there was the "2nd Australian Imperial Force" (Australforce) which though nominally comprised of 2 brigades (the 18th & 25th) actually only had the combined strength of a single 8000 man Brigade stationed outside Basingstoke, and finally the "2nd New Zealand Expeditionary force" a grand sounding title that hide the fact that it was comprised of solely the NZ 2nd infantry "division" which was again comprised of 2 understrength infantry Brigades (5th & 7th NZ Inf Brigades). Its two understrength brigades were bolstered by the addition of the BRITISH 1st motor machine gun brigade and was stationed near to Maidstone in Kent. By the time of the expected invasion in Sept 1940 the British army was fielding 2 British Armoured divisions (1st & 2nd Armoured) 2 British Armoured tank brigades (1st & 21st Armoured) 15 British infantry divisions (full strength) 7 British infantry divisions (under strength). 7 British independent infantry Brigades 2 British motor machine gun Brigades 1 Canadian infantry division (full strength) 2 Australian infantry brigades (under strength & unequipped) 1 NZ infantry "division" (actually 2 understrength infantry Brigades but with an attached British motor machine gun brigade) Glad to have been of help in unburdening you of your misunderstanding on the subject.
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  29. Barely a mention in comments regarding the ATROCIOUS leadership of the US 82nd Airborne. Who instead of carrying out its orders of seizing the Grave and Nijmegen bridges, instead, and without informing 1st Allied Airborne Army HQ decided to sit in the southern districts of Nijmegen watching out for imaginary Germans in the Groesbeek Heights, and flagrantly allowed German forces north of Nijmegen to seize the bridge and set up a defensive perimeter that allowed the Germans to hold up 30th Corp's advance for THREE WHOLE DAYS !!! Instead the braindead parrots cry "Monty.... Monty.... Monty!!!" SQUAWK SQUAWK !!!! Pieces of eight!!! Pieces of eight !!!!
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  30. You know what I do when I feel that about something? I go find something new and leave others to make their own choices.
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  31. No it would have much preferred to have been left alone while it conquered the rest of Europe.
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  32.  @marcboschen5126  "They were able".... simple as that. No account taken of their infantry being wasted on crystal meth (pervitin), or the fact that the Germans were concerned that they had rest of France to conquer, or Goering's promise that he would stop it with his over hyped luftwaffe. There are multiple reasons why the Dunkirk evacuation couldn't be stopped.
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  33. What do you suggest? Let the Germans sweep across Europe and enslave everyone else? Bell end.
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  34. Think you'll find the founding father of the RAF was Hugh Trenchard. Smuts wrote a report that supported the idea of an independent air force. Trenchard made it happen.
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  35. Well said Jorge... don't forget the ground crews and Observer Corps.
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  36. So many IDIOT US commenters who don't know even the BASICS of WW2 histroy, and then expect to be listened to as "learned commenters". US soldiers might have been lambs to the slaughter on OMAHA beach for 1 day, the British and Canadians were lambs to the slaughter as they fought off the fresh German reinforcements arriving daily from the east for 2 MONTHS, as they acted as the "shield" for the US forces in the western beach heads.
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  37. It's just a pity that virtually NONE of that enormous global empire had anything to do with the UK's survival during 1940. Unless you'd care to expand on your groundless diatribe and prove me wrong? I'll not wait for a response, windbags such as yourself almost always have no knowledge of the subject to back up their BS.
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  38. Apart from the Romans, Vikings, Angles & Saxons, Normans, Spanish, French, and nazis that is.
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  39.  @kazmierzglinny6728  Get your facts straight Kazmierz, At the Yalta conference in February 1945 Stalin signed an agreement to hold free elections in Poland at the conclusion of WW2. Elections which would have seen the post "liberation" puppet Communist government voted out of office, and democracy rightfully restored to Poland. It was at the Potsdam conference in August 1945 when the war in Europe had concluded that Stalin when challenged about when the elections would be taking place, reneged on his Yalta agreement and effectively said to the western allies, "There will be no elections, What are you going to do about it"? What do you suggest the western allies (and not Britain alone as Poles suggest) could do to remove the 12.4 million strong Red army from central Europe? The British had actually prepared an outline for just such an eventuality named "operation unthinkable" which the US as junior (but far more powerful) partner of the western alliance vetoed, and short of launching a potentially nuclear WW3 in central Europe and costing the lives of several more million already war traumatised European casualties, what could be done? What would you have suggested Kazmierz?
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  40. "we have never had such a plan" Meanwhile Hitler's "Fuhrer directive 16" issued on the 16th July 1940 to OKW stated: "Directive No. 16 -- On Preparations For A Landing Operation Against England Since England, in spite of her hopeless military situation, shows no signs of being ready to come to an understanding, I have decided to prepare a landing operation against England, and, if necessary, to carry it out. The aim of this operation will be to eliminate the English homeland as a base for the prosecution of the war against Germany and, if necessary, to occupy it completely."
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  41.  @ibrahimismail3107  "Nobody helped Germany?" Where do you imagine Germany got the raw materials food and fuel to power its all conquering "war machine"? You're not REALLY that dim that you believe Germany was self sufficient do you? Without it's own supply network (just as the British had theirs) the Wehrmacht would have stuggled to conquer even Poland alone just on bicycles without tyres.
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  42. 485 non British Pilots from a total of 1822 RAF fighter pilots during the Battle of Britain, or 26.53%
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  43.  @vstar7196  Considering the film makers credit the assistance of The MOD, RAF, IWM as well as Battle of Britain fighter association, I was happy to accept their figures. Figures obviously revised since 1969.
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  44. You mean you're upset that the yanks were mauled by a "stomach division"?
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  45. We ignore them... Our main effort should be to get that message across to the large proportion of younger people who now do their own history research online, seeing as state and private education now do their damndest to make sure it is all forgotten.
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  46.  @mazda1942  Poles were "shunned" were they? You'd best go and read about the 1947 Polish Resettlement act, which enshrined in UK law both citizenship AND residency rights for ALL Poles (and their families) who had served within the British armed forces during WW2. Stop parroting Brit hating lies.
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  47. Respects to his memory and service. The lack of recognition given to the personnel who kept the USSR supplied until almost all of them had passed on was disgraceful. The UK govt repeatedly blocked the Soviet then Russian offers of awards of the "Ushakov medal" to RN sailors who had taken part in the Arctic convoys, it was only afer 2014 when again most of the veterans had passed on that the Russian awards were generally permitted.
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  48. Nonsense as ever Mark.
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  49.  @georgeelmerdenbrough6906  Masks are fine if YOU CHOOSE to wear them. The ORDER to wear them is one little baby step down the road towards what our parents and grandparents were fighting against. Too many are too thick to see that.
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  50. Wow... that's some BS you got in your head there Eric !!!
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