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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 79,321
Campfire Oracle
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Campfire Oracle
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 79,321 |
Soldiers are basically soldiers.
The main difference being what kind of bullshit their respective governments have filled their heads with.
Steven Ambrose, author of Citizen Soldiers, stated in his book that after everything had calmed down in the European theater of WW2, the Americans looked around at everybody involved, and concluded that they had more in common with the Germans than anybody else.
Basically, he said that the Germans and the Americans were the only two combatants involved in the war who wiped their asses with toilet paper.
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 2,464
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 2,464 |
Ass-wipes for sure.
Last edited by n007; 04/03/14.
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 42,589
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 42,589 |
WW2 was a continuation of WW1.
WW2 occurred because the French wouldn't leave well enough alone. THIS
A good principle to guide me through life: “This is all I have come to expect, standard lackluster performance. Trust nothing, believe no one and realize it will only get worse…”
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 42,589
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 42,589 |
Soldiers are basically soldiers.
The main difference being what kind of bullshit their respective governments have filled their heads with.
Steven Ambrose, author of Citizen Soldiers, stated in his book that after everything had calmed down in the European theater of WW2, the Americans looked around at everybody involved, and concluded that they had more in common with the Germans than anybody else.
Basically, he said that the Germans and the Americans were the only two combatants involved in the war who wiped their asses with toilet paper. Well the Brits were in there as well. These United States are made up of mostly Germans (about 17%) but more importantly, it was a perfect storm of a blend of the Brits and their attributes, but mostly, the nation was based on the Protestant Work Ethic. Combined with lots of other Europeans who came here TO WORK AT ANY cost and you have the miracle that is (or was) the United States...
Last edited by jorgeI; 04/03/14.
A good principle to guide me through life: “This is all I have come to expect, standard lackluster performance. Trust nothing, believe no one and realize it will only get worse…”
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,869
Campfire 'Bwana
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OP
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,869 |
The gist I get is that of their opponents the Germans most respected the Brits and certain of their Commonwealth allies as fighting men, and found the Americans reluctant to take casualties. But then, we had the USAF so we didn't HAVE to take casualties.
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,869
Campfire 'Bwana
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OP
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,869 |
Those french peasants helped that pilot get back to his own army so he could go on killing Allied soldiers. Perhaps hindsight was 20/20 back then too, this was the very opening days of the shooting war.
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,869
Campfire 'Bwana
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OP
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,869 |
Seems about time to recycle this classic too...... ![[Linked Image]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Sharpshin/tour1940_zpse5206ad8.png) 
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,869
Campfire 'Bwana
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OP
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,869 |
I don't know about all that, Mike. Well, you'll have to make allowances for the fact that until age 13, other than my dad virtually every adult age 35 or over that I knew, encountered, was related to, or was taught by was a working class Brit of the WWII generation. And my dad had been in the middle of things on Okinawa with the 6th Marines. In my own family we were at Gallipoli and Beersheba in the first go-round, and on Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Second, plus my Grandad, whom I saw almost every day growing up, had been a fireman during the Blitz. I dunno, best way I can explain it is we don't hold grudges I guess, Irish Catholics all and we don't even hate the Brits ...and to the best of my recollection, twenty to thirty years after the fact in England, The Desert Fox was still highly regarded by the British public as a worthy and principled opponent. YMMV, Birdwatcher
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 12,806
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 12,806 |
I note in the opening discussion where he mentions the help the French gave him and his wounded gunner after being shot down. All this while the Germans are invading france.
Never mind, I see he was in Belgium.
Last edited by BarryC; 04/03/14.
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