VE Day celebrations.

[Shandon Par]

5 minutes ago, Melanius Mullarkey said:

Neeeiiiggghhhhh chance

 

[Herman Hessian]

38 minutes ago, Shandon Par said:

Even in her prime, VEra Lynn was never a wid IMO. 

she'd have done a turn during the black-out surely ?

[Shandon Par]

4 minutes ago, Herman Hessian said:

she'd have done a turn during the black-out surely ?

The Cardi B of the Blitz? 

[Carl Cort's Hamstring]

As much as we all hate flag waving gammons, there are some incredible hot takes on here about how Britain's contribution to the war was completely irrelevant.

[Carl Cort's Hamstring]

In the spirit of things, my hot take:

More than Russia, the USA or Britain, the Imperial Japanese Navy were most responsible for the Allies winning the war. First, they convinced the (hugely anti-communist) Japanese Government to attack the British and Dutch colonies in South-East Asia, rather than invading Russia, which was what the Japanese Army wanted. Then they attacked Pearl Harbour and brought America the war.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Carl Cort's Hamstring

[Melanius Mullarkey]

Disgusting.

[Clockwork]

A date to note? Yes, with a short reflection of conciliatory remembrance marking 75 years since the end of hostilities in WW2.

A date of flag waving celebrations, perhaps not?

 

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

18 minutes ago, Carl Cort's Hamstring said:

In the spirit of things, my hot take:

More than Russia, the USA or Britain, the Imperial Japanese Navy were most responsible for the Allies winning the war. First, they convinced the (hugely anti-communist) Japanese Government to attack the British and Dutch colonies in South-East Asia, rather than invading Russia, which was what the Japanese Army wanted. Then they attacked Pearl Harbour and brought America the war.

That's really interesting, I didn't know that about the army wanting to invade the USSR at that time. Am I not right in thinking that a lot of the Japanese high command knew the war was lost the moment that they realised the Pacific Fleet hadn't been destroyed?

[Shandon Par]

Really admire folk with a good knowledge of this stuff. I did it as my degree and have retained about 0.001% of the knowledge. 

[Detournement]

2 hours ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

 

So not only did Stalin ally with the Germans, and extend the war by obliterating his own army in the purges, his government was to a large extent responsible for the rise of the Nazis in the first place.  

The USSR signed the non aggression pact with Germany to try and prevent a war which would kill 27 million of their citizens and devastate the entire country. That seems reasonable.

The UK and France signed a similar pact with Germany in 1938 that simply reflected reality on the ground. The small part of Poland that the USSR occupied is now part of Ukraine and the 1920s borders had only been set by the results of that war.

The idea that Stalin who demanded anti fascist Popular Fronts in all countries in the 1930s, supplied Republican Spain and MOST IMPORTANTLY offered an alliance to the UK and France (which was rejected as the capitalist countries were hoping that the USSR would go the same way as Republican Spain ie crushed by fascists) was enabling the Nazis is crazy. 

If you want to look for something external to blame for Nazism look at the democracies that refused to support Spain and especially the American capitalists who were in business with Nazi Germany. This is an enlightening article about Grandpa Prescott Bush of the Bush crime running a bank which finananced Nazi industry. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by Detournement

[Granny Danger]

1 hour ago, Shandon Par said:

Really admire folk with a good knowledge of this stuff. I did it as my degree and have retained about 0.001% of the knowledge. 

So you know more about it than you do about anything else?

Edited May 7, 2020 by Granny Danger

[GordonS]

2 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

I did not say it was illegal in all countries. I said intolerance of homosexuality probably applied to all countries. Quite a few Islamic states, uninfluenced by the UK, have the death penalty for homosexuality e.g Iran.

I'm not so sure about our empire being the biggest. Spain would have run us close.

 

Homosexuality was common in Persia, the Greeks were big fans of it. Up to the Islamic Revolution it was part of public life and there were even non-official same-sex marriage ceremonies.

There's a perception that homosexuality was suppressed until us enlightened Westerners decided it was cool, and it's just not true. In the first half of the 20th century many gay men moved to Morocco where they could live openly as couples. 

[Detournement]

2 minutes ago, Tynierose said:

^^^^^^^^^

Went to St Andrews and had a threesome with Kate and Baldy.

 

Shandon is the Robin Askwith of P&B going by his stories. 

Edited May 7, 2020 by Detournement

[Shandon Par]

13 minutes ago, Tynierose said:

^^^^^^^^^

Went to St Andrews and had a threesome with Kate and Baldy.

Part of that statement may be erroneous.

It was rarely as few as three involved. 

[Shandon Par]

10 minutes ago, Tynierose said:

Ironically he is now 69.

I'm 41 40 39 42ish. 

[Aubrey Maturin]

2 minutes ago, Shandon Par said:

I'm 41 40 39 42ish. 

Not you, Robin.

[Fullerene]

3 hours ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

That's really interesting, I didn't know that about the army wanting to invade the USSR at that time. Am I not right in thinking that a lot of the Japanese high command knew the war was lost the moment that they realised the Pacific Fleet hadn't been destroyed?

The Japanese believed there would be one decisive battle that would win the war for them.  That is what happened in 1905 when they defeated Russia.

Even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki there were some who still felt they should carry on.  An invasion of the home islands would have resulted in too many deaths of allied soldiers and they still occupied large parts of Asia at the end.

Fortunately the emperor didn't want a third bomb landing on his house and so he told them to stop.

[Fullerene]

5 hours ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

So not only did Stalin ally with the Germans, and extend the war by obliterating his own army in the purges, his government was to a large extent responsible for the rise of the Nazis in the first place. This was around the same time he was repressing those who believes in genetics in agriculture and having his dead wife's family killed. Sorry I know you weren't talking about Stalin but f**k Stalin 

I have mentioned here before but I recall reading about a scientist who went to Moscow, met Stalin and gave a speech about the mating habits of butterflies.

Stalin felt the speech went against communist ideology and ordered that the scientist be shot.  Fortunately he escaped.

Stalin was paranoid and virtually everyone he knew was in danger.

He was also a big fan of the Molotov Ribbentrop Treaty.  Up until the moment of invasion the Soviet Union was happily supplying fuel and materials to Nazi Germany.

Strangely enough Soviet children were not taught about that in school.

 

[Hammer Jag]

Here’s a flavour of what we’ve got to look forward to tomorrow. 

[vikingTON]

4 hours ago, Carl Cort's Hamstring said:

In the spirit of things, my hot take:

More than Russia, the USA or Britain, the Imperial Japanese Navy were most responsible for the Allies winning the war. First, they convinced the (hugely anti-communist) Japanese Government to attack the British and Dutch colonies in South-East Asia, rather than invading Russia, which was what the Japanese Army wanted. Then they attacked Pearl Harbour and brought America the war.

Erm no, the Japanese Army only want to fight the Red Army until it got the opportunity and promptly had its arse handed to it by Zhukov.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Khalkhin_Gol

Afterwards there was approximately zero appetite for a further confrontation to the north, even after the Nazi invasion of June 1941.

The critical strategic concern that led the Japanese into war was the US-imposed oil blockade that would have crippled its military's ability to fight China by early 1942. War with the Soviet Union did not solve that problem either. The clash between the military branches was about whether it was better to focus solely on overunning the European colonies in SE Asia or to first have a go at removing the US' ability to prop up the colonial regimes with a naval assault. By achieving both simultaneously they got hold of the oil (as well as rubber and other raw materials) that allowed them to maintain a credible war economy .

Edited May 7, 2020 by vikingTON