Battle Of Britain Anniversary

[Amadeus]

From the Beep:

 

Prince Charles is due to unveil a memorial in London to the fighter pilots who won the crucial victory in the Battle of Britain 65 years ago.

 

So more or less exactly 65 years ago, the British won the fight for air supremacy over Britain, taking their Spitfires and Hurricanes into the Sky to fight the evil Messerschmitts, Junkers and Heinkels, in what turned out to be the most important event in Royal Air Force history.

 

I know that everyone over here is still obsessed with WWII, and it sometimes seems as if the whole world has moved on, only Britain is still marching on the spot, unable to move forward from it's memories of great military victories, achieved long ago..

 

There are still at least 5 documentaries/movies/reports about WWII on telly every week and I got used to the fact that you seem to be obsessed with this - you won, we lost, and I got the message by now..

 

The reason I started this thread is, that I simply think the memorial looks absolutely stunning (was on telly last night) and I still have a lot of respect for the guys (and girls) that took to the sky back then - you need Balls of Steel to take an aircraft without GPS, Radar or any kind of "Intelligent Weapon System" into the sky and fight an enemy by simply trying to shoot him down, eye to eye - no matter what side you're on..

 

So please feel free to commemorate this historic event, but please remember the pilots on both sides, all only carrying out their orders, for what they thought (or were made to believe) was the right thing...

 

Oh, and please also remember the French: You may not know it, but 13 Pilots were from France and fought for the RAF - see, the French actually had a military victory! Or at least they took part in one...

 

BoB on the web:

 

The Battle of Britain History Site

 

Battle of Britain Historical Society

 

Battle of Britain.com

[Lonan3]

There is a tendency to think of it as a purely British victory (they're almost as bad as the Americans for that!) and to ignore the efforts of others.

 

"Many of the pilots were from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and from central European countries overrun by the Germans, in particular Poland and Czechoslovakia. The experienced Polish and Czech squadrons achieved a better kill ratio against the Germans than the British squadrons." (From BBC History)

 

I suppose what made it special in people's minds was that it was virtually the last major battle where combatants went head to head, one on one, and it stirs some kind of memory of knights fighting on horseback.

 

It's also worth remembering that if the Germans had produced the Focke-Wulf 190 a couple of years earlier it might have made a real difference to the outcome.

[Mission]

Amazingly, no Reach for the Sky or The Battle of Britain on the telly today either.

 

That memorial is very impressive.

 

Those that are interested in the subject may also like to check this out link.

[VinnieK]

I know that everyone over here is still obsessed with WWII, and it sometimes seems as if the whole world has moved on, only Britain is still marching on the spot, unable to move forward from it's memories of great military victories, achieved long ago..

 

There are still at least 5 documentaries/movies/reports about WWII on telly every week and I got used to the fact that you seem to be obsessed with this - you won, we lost, and I got the message by now..

 

I don't think that this is entirely fair. The Second World War was more than some mere conflict of nations writ large, it was the defining event of the twentieth century, the repurcussions and consequences of which are still with us today. That there are so many documentaries is only to be expected, given the scale and multi-faceted nature of the Second World War. During the war the World saw amongst other things the relatively new experiment in liberal democracy come perilously close to collapse accross Europe, and the descent of a number of civilized nations into neo-barbarism. After the war the World was subject to a new form of organization, with new attitudes to politics and international law. Empires collapsed, new nations were created, old great powers were crippled and new ones took their place. The anniversary celebrations around this time are understandable, but far more important than they is the impetuous they give to understand the events of the past and their implications for the present and future, and in this such documentaries are justified. How else do you understand the doctrine of pacifism with the exception of self defence in Japanese politics, or the creation of the Iron Curtain in Europe without looking to the Second World War? Or the collapse of the British Empire and the rapid establishment of the state of Israel?

 

Also, it is of course the case that the Battle of Britain should be of a more national interest to Britain, since it rendered the then proposed invasion of the British Isles impossible. Hitler considered the invasion only possible if air superiority was gained by the Luftwaffe. If one is to criticise the British for celebrating this event one should also criticise, say, the USA for celebrating the fourth of July. But even this had far greater consequences in so much as when the Luftwaffe failed in their task the Nazi government prematurely turned its attentions to the USSR, in the hope of ensuring the capitulation of Britain by destroying its one potential ally on the continent. This premature advance combined with Hitler's underestimation of the USSR's military capabilities eventually resulted in the destruction of the third Reich.

 

In view of this I don't think there's anything wrong with documentaries on the second world war, or the occassional anniversary celebration, or that it is evidence of being 'stuck in the past' or obsessed with former glories. Of course there will always be the kind of dimwit who will view the events of the second world war in purely nationalistic terms and use it for an excuse to swagger and bray with unjustified and obnoxious arrogance, but that kind of person is present in every society and will use whatever excuse that comes their way to lord it over others, but they and their attitudes do not, in my opinion, render the act of telling the story of the Second World War, or analysing and re-analysing it any less justified or important to the World as a whole.