Posted on 08/29/2007 9:17:38 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
'The First and the Last'? Excellent book.
Yes that was the title, I had forgotten it. Galland was an interesting character bearing more than a passing resemblance to Clark Gable. Also love the insignia on his fighter,
“Mickey Mouse”.
There was a documentary, Shot from the Sky, maybe on the History Channel, about American airmen that were being smuggled out of France by the Resistance but were betrayed and ended up in an SS death camp.
One day, the airmen spotted a visiting Luftwaffe officer at the SS camp. One of the airmen that spoke German went up to that officer and told him there were five American airmen being held at the camp. The officer went about with his business and left the camp.
However, Luftwaffe officer was soon back with orders for the release of the five airmen to the Luftwaffe and the American airmen were then taken to the relative luxury and safety of a LuftStalag.
The professional military, even in those horrible times, often looked after each other.
In my career, I’ve worked for several failing companies, and one thing from Galland’s book that has always stuck with me was his mention of how, at the very end, they suddenly had enough equipment. I’ve seen that situation repeated several times - you go from scrounging for supplies to piles of turned in items. It’s always a good sign that the end is in sight.
I’m kind of partial to Sherman’s “War is He—!”, even though I am a Southerner.
That's a remarkable statistic. Consider that Canada's population was and is one-tenth that of the USA. Ten thousand air force personnel killed is a lot of planes shot down.
Not me.
One of the most effective war tactics is to bring the war home. Let the soldiers families and homes get bombed and see what morale does. Britain was burning and getting bombed every day. The whole reason Dolittle did his raid was to bring the war to the Japs. When Germany rose out of it's pile of rubble, It hasn't had the stomach to start any more wars. Watch out when the last of the war generation dies out.
My dad dropped bombs on German cities and he told me he lost no sleep hitting hospitals, schools, homes, etc. They were all Germans to him and the only way home was for them to die. He also knew if they could have done it, they would be bombing our cities and killing women and children. If he were shot down, the school children stab airmen with pitchforks.
Civilized war is an oxymoron.
Germany didn't start targeting cities until after the British.
The whole reason Dolittle did his raid was to bring the war to the Japs.
Doolittle's group aimed for military targets, not civilians.
Targeting a hospital is a war crime.
The image the rest of the world got before WWII of the average German citizen was films of tens of millions of them goose-stepping and "zeig heiling" to this psychotic ideology, with hardly a drop of opposition heard from their. The only option we had was to bring every facet of Germany to its knees. When you start to lose a war, and are near the end, you either face unconditional surrender, or total annihilation. We would have faced the same situation had we lost the war, but to the victor go the spoils.
Propaganda, pure and simple.
The germans starting the bombing of civilian areas in 1940 on London.It was called the blitz. The brits returned in kind but with one hell of a larger force.The brits hit’em at night and we hit’em during the day.Thats what it took to crush the german war machine and we make no apoligies for whipping the sh*t out of them.
‘Germany didn’t start targeting cities until after the British.’
Yes they did - they bombed my Grandads greenhouse in 1940, right slap bang in the middle of Brimingham and didn’t stop for three years. . . . .
When dozens of B-24's release their bombs, they hit where they hit. He didn't "target" hospitals and schools, but they all saw them explode. Gassing Jews was a "war crime". Murdering POW's was a "war crime" also, but ask a WWII flyer about the Hitler youth and German widows what they did to downed pilots. I wonder if any civilians died in Viet Nam? You and your reasoning are obviously the reason we lost. I guess since Hiroshima had civilians in it, you feel the use of atomic weapons was wrong? If you look back, WWII was the last war we won. We did it by killing the enemy. Korea, Viet Nam, and I fear The Iraq war are wars where we seem to recoil at doing what must be done. I'm not interested in making a deal with the Taliban. I want them dead. That means ALL of them. If you kill the she bitch along with her "freedom fighter" you go a long way towards defeating the war machine they have thrown against you. I hope you don't expect the enemies of the US to protect your family while going after military targets. They will be the next "Nick Berg's" on DVD if that's the case. If you look for the World court to protect you from them, America is doomed.
The British started urban bombing August 25, 1940, with an attack on Berlin. The Germans replied with the blitz on London. So yes, the British started the exchange.
If the greenhouse was hit prior to that, it was probably a stray from the attacks on industrial targets in Birmingham.
Here’s a link to a map showing the bomb strikes in downtown Birmingham. http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=58323&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=5249
Since you are a proponent of total war, and of making the civilians suffer, I suppose you have no problem with the attacks on the World Trade Center.
I just don't think you guys get it when the enemy is sawing your families heads off and you expect some "rules" to be followed by the US. I wouldn't plan on bombing a school, but if they are hiding weapons and men there, I would bomb it, a mosque, a hospital, you name it, to kill the enemy. There is no "King's X" in my wars.
Now that Sadr has said his men shouldn't attack us for 6 months, should we ignore his militia for 6 months? We wouldn't want him angry at us. If we kill that SOB, then when his militia carry his body down the street screaming "Death to America" you open up with a Spectre gun ship on the crowd, the war would be over sooner and our boys could come home victorious. Otherwise, we end up like Lebanon and Israel with Hezbolah and Nazrallah. Hezbolah will really be running Iraq from Iran with Sadr as their puppet. But that might mean killing a "Imam" of a mosque.
All I'm saying is when I'm fighting for my life, I will kick you in your crotch, gouge your eyes out, and hit you with your glasses on. Don't expect some kind of playground rules to save your ass. The military taught me to kill, not sue people in court. Looking at how we fight wars and lose, with the best military in the world, it must mean we are using the wrong tactics. If we use the right rules, Iraq would be "pacified" and our people could be victorious.
As to your question about the towers, if I were an enemy of the US with a smaller force than the US, then my tactic would be "terror" of the masses. They can't hope to defeat us militarily, but they are counting on folks like you that don't have the stomach for war to wimp out. If I were them, I would be bombing oil refineries, shopping malls at Christmas, football stadiums at Thanksgiving, and blowing up planes with stinger missiles. In about a year, the economy would collapse an the people would just want to go back to listening to their IPODS and watching Youtube. People like you would be petitioning their congressman to bring the troops home because we are making the enemy angry. All you have to do is pray 5 times a day and face east and all will get better.
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