Britain were the only major power still fighting because Russia and Germany were not at war at that stage. They had a non aggression treaty until Hitler broke it and invaded Russia in 1941.
Insular thinking, Hitler was running riot before we Brits got involved. We had people like Neville Chamberlain trying everything to remain out of the war, the problem is our ties with Poland go back to the 10th century, and a line had to be drawn. No-one wanted war but Hitler invading Poland crossing a stated red line, the British empire couldn't just let it go. It was a direct challenge.
@@daveofyorkshire301 Hitler assumed we'd be on his side, our monarchy was German and there's still footage of them marching with the Nazi's pre WW2! This garbage of a movie is just pure propaganda, made to get the yanks motivated and ready to sign up...
From the fall of France (25 June 1940) until the German invasion of the Soviet Union (22 June 1941), Britain (and the Empire and Commonwealth) stood alone against the Axis powers. That was almost exactly a year as stated in this film. From 22 June 1941 until the entry of the USA into the War on 7 December 1941 nearly 6 months later, Britain and the Soviet Union had stood alone.
They said "the only major power" because at this stage the USSR was not fighting, in fact they had invaded Poland from the East in 1939, and divided Poland up between them and Germany. Until Hitler invaded Russia in June 1941 they had had a pact, and Germany had hidden their pre-war arms build up and training by doing it in Russia.
@@edwardbateman3094 You don't need a source... It's bloody common fact that any country will hide their arms stocks until its required. You know the phrase "Don't show your cards"?
13.50 - Your question about "acknowledging the Soviets" - The The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression pact on August 23, 1939. It wasn't until June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union under the codename Operation Barbarossa. The German government declared war on the Soviet Union, citing the threat posed by the Red Army's build-up. So yes, Britain was alone for that time.
The film emphasises the role of Britain because that's where troops were being sent to prepare for D-day .... we British will never forget the role played by Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, South Africans and Indian troops, as well as Poles, Czech's and the Free French. A special mention for the 70,000 or so Irish men and women who came over to fight against Nazis, despite their Government remaining neutral. To their eternal shame, the Irish Government were the first Country to convey their condolences to Germany on the death of Hitler. When nearly 5,000 Irish Soldiers who'd deserted to join the fight returned home, they were " blacklisted " from Government jobs, and lost their pensions. They were not pardoned until 2013, when most of them had already passed away ...
Well there is certainly more to the history there worth acknowledging like what happened there in WW1 with Britain and how it colored everything afterwards.
My cousin was in the Womens WRENS the womens Royal Navy. and her husband t be was in the Royal Navy but was secoded to the Royal Marines for D-Day. My cousi was one to the "plotters" directing the boas and ships for D-Day the "people directing the sihps where basedunder the White Cliffs of Dover (known to us as the Whie Cliffs of Dover, and directing where the ships where needed in order to evacuate the British and Commonwealth Troops, back home.
An American government employee in 2019 hit and killed a young man Harry Dunn as she came out of a USAF base in England. The inquest heard that when asked what she believed had caused the collision, she told Northamptonshire Police officers: "I drove like an American and drove on the American side of the road." So maybe those signs weren't so crazy. She claimed diplomatic immunity and left the country, but was later sentenced via video to 8months in prison, suspended sentence.
@@Trippingthroughadventures It's not the person who claims or waives diplomatic immunity - they can't - it's the country that the diplomat (or family member) is representing that claims immunity and only the country that can waive immunity. So in this case it's the US government that has made that decision. This is international law via the Vienna Convention. Just recently in New Zealand a partner of an Australian diplomat was drunk and disorderly in public, assaulted members of the public, resisted arrest and called the police homophobic slurs. At the time he claimed diplomatic immunity. A few days later the Australian government waived immunity and the man was charged.
I'm British and loved this film. It did bring a tear to my eye hearing just how little Britts had to live on. I knew they all pulled together, that's standard British, but on such empty bellies. Kind of reminded me why I am who I am xXx
During wartime my late mother-in-law was in the army and told me that, with regard to stockings, her and her friends would use gravy browning on their legs and then they would help each other to draw a seam down the back with an eyeliner pencil thus giving the impression that they were wearing stockings, so as you said people learnt to adapt. Wonderful reaction from you both.
@declanreid2938 Actually instant Coffee or Freeze dried was an American innovation for its Troops in Europe in the 1st World War. Blame Yanks not British. Don't know how French drank Coffee in the 1st World War. They are a Bigger Coffee drinker than British, I can confirm it was better in France than Britain in the late 80s .
I was watching a Battle of Britain war film in a cinema in London ( on holiday with my mum) many years ago ,when an American man ( with his family of course) behind us ,said to them it took place in the 42/ 45 war. My Mum ,whipped round and said ‘ the 39/ 45 war’. She was livid. Bear in mind three brothers were in the airforce on Lancaster Bombers during the war ,and her youngest brother in the merchant navy on Convoy duty. With ships being sunk daily by Uboats. During the war we had near our village a large American camp and one day one of them came into our small grocery shop has she was serving a customer , the soldier looked at the ration shopping and asked if it was DAYS shopping, and was told NO, it’s a weeks rations. He said ,they’d no idea things were that bad ‘ back home’. Full rationing didn’t end till 1953. America DID NOT win the war, they were part of a landing force and army made up of thousands of Commonwealth troops, and European soldiers who’d escaped to this country to keep fighting. . 😏 If Japan hadn’t bombed Pearl Harbour it’s doubtful America would have entered the war. Our troops fought with the Americans in the war against Japan, which is barely ever mentioned.
@Diamondmine212 The average Yank has zero knowledge of WWII other than their insanely fanatical belief that they won it for us. As for the Pacific theatre, Hollywood (American's history school) didn't produce The Bridge On The River Kwai movie - it was a British -American production. and NO YANK seems to know that His late Majesty Prince Philip served on the British Navy ship that was anchored in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese officially surrendered. The man who operated the lift in the old building I first worked in had a badly twisted arm and was generally crumpled up - I found out that he caught Beriberi when he was in a Jap prisoner of war camp surviving on less than two handfuls of rotten rice a day for 3 years.
What ironically is always missed is that America has Democracy because the English brought in to the land they named America! We weren't the United Kingdom or Great Britain in 1620 and it was from England that the forefathers of America sailed. Even after Independence the American Constitution and Bill of Rights was based on the Magna Carta written and signed in England in the 13th century!
"the British will fight to the last Canadian etc" They're saying the same things about Ukraine. Given a real choice, we'd be there in a heartbeat. Anybody who says that about us, doesn't understand us in the slightest. Every single Brit that i personally know that is either in or used to be in the military would give anything to be sent there to fight. We _really_ don't like bullies.
@@entirely-English Thankyou! It's part of our social DNA we abhor the strong abusing the weak. Not that Ukraine is weak per se, weak in the sense they only had ammunition for a few weeks fighting. Maybe vulnerable is a better word.
I have watched the original of this film and various reactions to it many times. The one thing that ALWAYS irks me (although I think that it may have been cut out now) is when the line "How did they ("John Britain") get onto our team?" comes up. OUR team? Are you having a laugh?!!! We were at war from 3rd September 1939, two years and three months before the USA officially joined on 7th December 1941 and for the 13 months from May 1940 (Dunkirk Evacuation) to June 1941 (Nazi Invasion of the USSR) the UK, its Commonwealth and Empire was the ONLY force fighting against Nazi tyranny. So, no, "Yank" we were NOT joining YOUR team, YOU were joining OURS!!! 😉🤣
I wouldn’t blame the people, I believe the reason our channel is becoming successful, is because we are learning, people see we are sitting down blank minded and taking in what we learned, taking things from both sides and turning it into a true picture. Most people take in the propaganda and maintain it.
My family lived in London during WW2. My father was a Sargeant in the Army in Aden. My Grandmother was what was called a 'firewatcher' and my Aunt manned an anti-aircraft gun in Whitby
@@ElunedLaine my mum manned the rangefinding device that directed anti aircraft guns in Whitby (amongst other east coast towns) during ww2.. she was from East London ⚒️
My family are from the north east of the UK. My grandmother's husband was killed in the war, and she had 3 small children to bring up. Back then we didn't have social care so she had to work. She got a job as a welder iron ironstone mine 45 minutes walk each way from home. Some nights she would sleep in the mine with the my mum, uncle and aunt. They when home one morning and the street had been bombed in an air raid. Her house was rubble and the neighbours dead. So yes we had it tough but you had to just get on with it.
58 mins. My mum was 11 when war broke out. She contracted scarlet fever - then highly contagious, often fatal, and normally treated in an isolation hospital but hospitals were busy (her sister, who was 8 years older, signed up to be a nurse, more on that later). Mum had to be treated and isolated at home, locked in her bedroom. Nanna told me she would often answer the door to random strangers saying, 'is this where the little girl is ill?' and handing her an orange. People looked out for each other. My auntie, the nurse, dealt with mangled men daily, but said it was the boys who had come back from the Japanese PoW camps that really upset her. My Dad was in the RAF during the war working on Sunderlands in Southampton. My uncle was a gunner in the English channel. Mum's family were bombed out twice, and she was evacuated to Wales for a short while. Thankfully, all my family came through it, not many can say that. Lest we Forget.
For those who think us Brits aren't tough, I suggest you watch the video "the greatest raid of all time" It will give an idea of the desperate things we were having to do.
Try the 'Bamber Bridge' incident video, if you want to know how the American soilders behaved when they arrived here. It links your civil rights movement.
We were getting supplies coming in to the UK from overseas - (Australia, Canada, etc, Empire or former Empire countries) - however, they had to reach the country to be used . . . which was not an easy thing to do in convoys against U-boats - who were often in packs on the usual routes . . . So our merchants fleets was being decimated by them . . . US forces serving abroad typically received their own supplies from the US - so while they eating steaks and such without little worry - those in the UK were still stuck with meagre rations of the odd slice of bacon, cheese, etc, and whatever else they could get, sometimes from their own vegetable patches . . . And yes, we sold a lot of things we could have used in the UK to other countries as money was constantly needed to fund any imports arriving. Be it for the war effort or food wise . . . And yes, the UK was not only still repaying debts taken out in the 1800's regarding the fight against slavery, but also debts from WW1 still - the debts from WW2 just made it much harder on top of those earlier debts to repay everything back - which took until the start of the 2000's to finally clear the slate . . .
One difference between the US & the UK is that you guys still consider a 20 year old a kid, we are considered adults at 16. Having said that, things are different now. The school leaving age has gone from 16 to 18 and then they spend the next 4 years in university. My Dad left school at 14, I left school at 16 and we both went out to work straight away. We grew up quick back then. We were considered a men as soon as we left school & going to college or Uni was considered lazy.
My dad was born in 1913. He turned 13 on a Friday and was given his school leaving certificate. He started working "down the pit" ie as a coal miner the following Monday. He retired at 65 years old. He was never conscripted because we needed coal to keep ammo production going. He ran a small team of "Bevan Boys", lads aged from 13-17, to increase coal production for the munitions. During his time working underground he was trapped in "pit falls" a number of times but was dug out, covered in coal dust which was embedded all over his back, shoulders, chest and legs. His body was covered by blue stripes. He just laughed it off. It was just the same for anyone working in the coal industry in those days.
Germany and the USSR had signed a non-aggression pact which meant that Germany invaded Poland from the West and USSR invaded Poland from the east. This only changed after Germany broke the agreement and invaded USSR.
Speaking as a Brit, we do live in a sardine can and we sometimes want to avoid our neighbours - not for unfriendly reasons but just for a break. However, even though that is true, I feel like Americans, Canadians. Australians and New Zealanders are our family. I think we are.
Yea to most Americans people visiting from the uk or Australia is not a big deal lol. We don’t really look at Brit’s as Foreigners lol as we do someone from Italy or France etc… lol
women did find an alternative for stockings, they could not get or afford They used gravey on there legs and drew a black line down the back for the seem, to look like stockings
something else, with my grandparents, who fought and went through the full war, as you know about rations, even after the war, the generation still had the mentality of rations, storing stuff, the things that was short, sugar, milk, tea, and some other things, till the day she died in the late 90's, she never had less than 10 bags of sugar, 10 tins carnation milk(milk in a can) 10 boxes of tea, all this stuff has really an endless shelf life every saturday, cake or in a the bakers, for cakes, every saturday afternoon, all the familes met, for afternoon tea and grandmothers place, that was the center of the family.
My grandad played football for West Ham United Football club which was in East London, he worked at the Woolwich arsenal (where they made weapons). The germans bombed the Woolwich Arsenal and my grandad was blown over a 12 foot wall, and busted his legs up really badly when he landed, and that ended his football career 😢. Even though he was disabled he carried on working in the Arsenal for the rest of the war. When he was really old, and my nan had passed away, grandad George lived with us, my mum used to jokingly call him "The Grumpy Old Git" Lol ❤🇬🇧
The part about not being invited for a drink was very true and not just due to shortages, but very poor pay. This is from a debate in Parliament in 1942 about the pay for UK soldiers - "The British private often finds himself in a humiliating position when he meets soldiers from other countries. I have spoken to several and they have been rather reluctant at having to meet privates from other countries. In the part of the world where I live the ordinary British private will not go into a pub if privates from other countries are there. It is not that they do not like them, but if they go in they are not able to hold their own when it comes to a round of drinks. The blokes from other countries, who have more money to spend, can go to cinemas, to which the British soldier is not able to go. The British private, too, often finds it more than difficult to get even those things that are essential to him. He cannot even afford to buy a sufficiency of stamps, cleaning material, tooth paste and the like."
Those men were putting their lives on the line for their country and they weren't even afforded a little money for occasional socialising? No wonder they voted for Labour in such massive numbers at the July 1945 general election. The plight of the working class improved greatly thanks to that government.
You might enjoy this YT vid about black US troops in the UK during WW2 - Heroes Among Us: Incident at Bamber Bridge'. WW2 UK rations per person, per week - 4 ounces bacon or ham, 8 ounces of other meat, 2 ounces of butter, 2 ounces of cheese, 4 ounces of margarine, 4 ounces of cooking fat, 3 pints of milk, 8 ounces of sugar, 2 ounces of tea and 1 egg. Clothes and petrol was rationed, as was mentioned. My Mother used to use beetroot juice to stain her lips
Hi guys, im not if it has been said in previous videos, but rations went on till 1954, 9 years after the war, things then got back to normal, due to the heavy losses in the war, work was pentyful, pay was good, hence the baby boomers, had children, worked hard and played hard, (drinking,)
The reference to how crowded the UK is, wasn’t a London centric remark. As we are not just London and country hamlets. Everything from villages to the largest of cities can be quite densely populated for their size. With many (if not most) villages and small towns being made up of old terraced cottages and houses along with more modern flats. I grew up in a small town in Scotland with the countryside and villages to one side and a large shipbuilding town to the other. So although the constant use of sardine can maybe wasn’t great, I personally just took at as the US government’s way of trying to put across how detached homes aren’t particularly common over here and that more often than not there is little to no space in between homes and that the businesses of that area will also be close by. Oh and if you look into anything about the Dunkirk Evacuation, what is rarely mentioned in anything is the fact that there were sections of the army (including Royal Scots Fusiliers that my Granda was in) who were sent to places along the the Northern French coast with the instructions to ‘dig in and wait for the Germans’. Fortunately they were only left there for a short while and when the Germans didn’t appear they were brought back to Blighty (as my Granda worded it).
I was going to post the same comment. I don't think they understand that even in the country villages, smaller towns, etc.. people still live very close to each other, especially in comparison to America. Also, bear in mind that even in a city next to each other, the people have completely different ways, culture, accent, slang, etc.. Imagine if travelling 40 miles up the road in America everyone was as drastically different as say the people from Alabama are compared to those in New York (just two examples). That's Britain
its also not wrong from another perspective. Compared to a lot of places Even the most Rural countryside of britain is only at most a few hours drive from a Densely populated City. Where as in america, especially during 1945, there were small rural towns that were a good 5 to 10 hours drive From literally anywhere. its feasible in the UK that if you got lost in the wilderness, you could just walk, and eventually youd find something with people in it within a few hours at most.
@@Sgt.chickens I didn’t claim that the sardine can remarks were wrong, I was trying to point out that it was correct for most if not all populated areas, where their presumption had been that it was just in reference to London.
We were the only country whose financial debt wasn't forgiven by America- we only finished paying it back in 2006 - no other country had to pay back lease lend like we did-allies?? ( The soviets had signed a pact with hitler so werent invoved until hitler turned on them) 🏴
@CarolWoosey-ck2rg The USA made a fortune off their "kindness" to the UK. What most people do not know is that the Yanks wouldn't enter the war until Britain agreed to sell them UK stock market stocks etcetera. I'm 83 and not an investor so don't know the financial terms, but I do know university history professors (I was in acadaemia) and they rolled their eyes when they told me the full background to the lend-lease happy happy help our poor cousins scam. YANKS - DO YOU KNOW WHO GAVE YOU A TWO-YEAR LEAD ON ATOMIC POWER - AND THE URANIUM YOU NEEDED TO MAKE IT WORK? NO? THE UK GAVE YOU THE KNOW HOW AND OUR COMMONWEALTH GEM, CANADA, GAVE YOU THE URANIUM. THEN AFTER WWII ENDED THE GREAT YANKS REFUSED TO SHARE THE NUCLEAR BOMB DESPITE AGREEING THAT THEY WOULD. ALSO BRITISH PHYSICISTS MADE A GREAT CONTRIBUTION TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BOMB. YOU THINK OPPENHEIMER (OH, AN AMERICAN FOR SURE) BUILT THE BOMB ALL BY HIMSELF AT THE CAMP? YES - RIGHT. THE BRITS ALSO GAVE YOU - HEAR THOSE WORDS - GAVE YOU - BRITISH TANKS BECAUSE THE YANK TANKS WERE DEATH TRAPS AS FAR AS HAVING ARMOUR THAT A PANZER COULD PUNCH THROUGH LIKE PAPER. THERE IS SO MUCH YOU MOST YANKS DON'T KNOW ABOUT HOW YOUR GOVERNMENT - NOT YOUR TROOPS - LET US DOWN. THEY GOT A KICK OUT OF DISMANTLING THE BRITISH EMPIRE. AS ANOTHER PERSON SAID, THE UK WAS THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT THE US DID NOT FORGIVE ONE DOLLAR OF THEIR DEBT. TELL ME, WHY WAS THAT. THE UK PAID FOR COLONISING THE USA IN BLOOD AND BILLIONS UNTIL YOU WANTED IT ALL FOR YOURSELVES. WE SPENT MILLIONS MORE LATER ON BUILDING AND SENDING NAVY SHIPS FOR YEARS TO END THE SLAVE TRADE WHICH NORTH AMERICA WAS THE LAST TO GIVE UP. DID YOU PAY ANY MONIES BACK TO BRITAIN FOR ALL THAT? NOT A DIME. SICKENING, AND THEN YANKS ARE TOO DUMB TO REALISE THAT HAD BRITAIN FALLEN IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN THEN AMERICA WOULD SINK NEXT. WAY BEFORE THE USA HAD AN ATOMIC BOMB, GERMANY HAD THEIR V2 ROCKET WHICH COULD AND WOULD HAVE BLOWN THE USA AWAY - THEY WERE WAY AHEAD OF THE USA IN TECHNOLOGY. AND IF BRITAIN HAD FALLEN, WHERE DO YOU THINK THE YANKS COULD HAVE LANDED THEIR ARMY AND ALL THEIR EQUIPMENT, PLANES, MEN, SUPPLIES ETC TO FIGHT HITLER? YOU NEEDED A BASE - THAT WAS BRITAIN - BUT THE YANKEE GOVERNMENT WAS SO GREEDY FOR BENJAMINS BY THE BILLION THAT THEY WERE BETTING THAT THE EXCEPTIONAL YANKS WOULD FIGURE A WAY AROUND THAT LITTLE ISSUE AND WIN THE WAR ANYWAY, YOU KNOW, LIKE THE MIFDLE EAST, OR AFGHANISTAN, OR VIETNAM, OR KOREA . . . AND LET'S NOT MENTION THE BAY OF PIGS. YOU EVENTUALLY CAME INTO WWII BECAUSE SOME CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS FINALLY REALISED THAT IF THEY DIDN'T THEN THEY WOULD INDEED LOSE THE WAR. DO ANY YANKS KNOW THAT THE ROYAL NAVY HAD SHIPS IN THE PACIFIC FLEET AREA AND LOST 1,000'S OF MEN OR THAT THE LATE PRINCE PHILIP WAS AN OFFICER ON ONE OF THE BRITISH SHIPS IN TOKYO BAY WHEN JAPAN FORMALLY SURRENDERED.
If you have never seen it there is a wonderful series called The World at War.,which covers the history of WW2. It consists entirely of actual film of the era and covers all angles British,American,Japanese,German etc
No the population density still applies to the whole country, especially in England - obviously in towns and cities it’s more so (remember London isn’t the only one 😉) but in the countryside houses are still closer together than US suburbs generally. I think this is generally pretty spot on, especially given it was made in the 40s
Hey I just found your videos, just want to say I think it's so lovely you are both taking the time to learn about all these things, reading comments and asking genuine questions. Being from the UK, I think because we pretty much grow up with all this history as just part of our environment, it's easy to assume we know more than we actually do. I'm learning so much with you! It also takes a great deal of intelligence and empathy to take the time to step out of your own frame of reference with curiosity, it takes a lot of guts to approach a topic you don't know a lot about with such open-mindedness. We could do with much more of that approach in the UK too, so I find it inspiring. Thank you!
@josephturner7569 Yes, two years was a long time, but the Yanks never gave anyone anything unless there was a big profit in it for them. I'm 82 and lived just 1.5 miles from Northern RAF HQ although it did kind of move a bit. The Luftwaffe tried a big raid on our area in 1940 (BOB) and killed a cow in a field. They were run off and never again tried a big raid on the NE day OR night. Not the best place to be born but I did end up with a great shrapnel collection. I remember it all like it was yesterday yet there are chunks of my life I cannot recall.
The late Queen is a perfect example of service during WW2 - as soon as she turned 18 she joined the Women's Royal Army Corps as a vehicle driver/maintainer. Women also (as the film said) worked in the fire brigade, or as nurses (including in field hospitals, where they took casualties occasionally), or as drivers or cooks or clerks or intelligence officers etc etc etc - basically any job which wasn't close combat (anti-aircraft work wasn't close combat) or serving on board ship. The Land Army was great too - hundreds of thousands of women joined up to produce food since the farm hands who used to do it got drafted.
Meaning that if you paid any tax before that date in Britain then you bought a Sherman tank,a P51 Mustang, ammunition, guns, ships, fuel etc. to fund opposition in WW2....The weird thing was that in the UK it was never mentioned because it was accepted it would be paid and many people here still don't know that they did pay for it...There was a small article in newspapers at the time when the final payment was sent...in fact it was my father (an economist lecturer) who told me about it...I didn't know for a few years after...Thx for comment Andrew
There is another film that goes with the Know Your Ally with Burgess Meredith which is a lot more about the people, non segregation, the humour etc. It's a bit hammy but worth the watch.
@@DawnSuttonfabfour Thanks, if I remember correctly, the Penguin had a strange laugh - which sounded more like a duck that had smoked too many cigarettes 😀 Great memories of Saturday morning TV. I used to hide behind the sofa when the Riddler came on screen. I found him a bit creepy .....
@@gibson617ajg Never liked the penguin. We didn't have huge amounts of Batman as we are in England. We did have Dr Who and watched it from behind the sofa,
Can I suggest that you react to Jeremy Clarkson's The Victoria Cross for Valour. The Victoria Cross is the UK & Commonwealth highest military award (medal). It tells you how tough some of our service men really were/are and what they did to receive this medal truly its mind blowing! I hope you do get to watch it soon
alot of the planes when you mentioned was it actual footage, many plans had cameras, not so much for the bombing raids, but to be looked at, and use for planning, funture strikes, factory locations, railroads, infrastructure
10:05 to 10:20- the small snippet of the British Grenadiers music. THAT, is a genius move by the producers, as pretty much anytime you hear that music, you know the British are on the way to sort things out. It's almost like a theme tune to the British Army. If you ever hear it from a distance getting nearer, or the wail of bagpipes getting closer, or you're out fishing and hear the tell tale tune of Rule Britannia or even more so, the distinctive Heart of Oak.... and you're not Allied with Britain, you might want to Run/Swim away as fast as possible. Cos the Royal Navy and British Army are coming.
Clark Gable was stationed very close to where I live and I only just found out from my mum that he asked my Grandmother out and she turned him down. She was already married to my Grandad though.
To put the 'only major power' line into context, this is the size of the various armies at the start of the war in 1939: Britain: 0.40 million India: 0.20 million Australia: 0.08 million Canada: 0.06 million South Africa: 0.02 million New Zealand: 0.01 million (France 0.90 million, but they'd been forced out of the the war by June 1940) Germany: 2.73 million Italy: 1.63 million By the end of the war Britain had almost 3 million in its army plus another one and a half million in the navy and air force. 12% of the entire population served in the armed forces: one person in eight.
Thanks for taking a look at this - quite eye opening, isn't it? There were actually some shorter films for the troops with Burgess Meredith, giving tips on getting along with Johnny Britain, but before you end up going down a whole World War rabbit hole, how about looking up top UK children's attractions, or something similar, seeing as you were talking about bringing the boys? Bit of a lighter offering for you. 🤗
The post war debt is as a result of the UK (not just England) having to borrow to rebuild the country. It wasn’t just London that was bombed. Growing up on the banks of the Clyde, I know that there was a boon going across the river to prevent u-boats from gaining access, my small town was victim to air raids, with Glasgow having it even worse. My Mum told me about how she used to play in the bomb site rubble next to her school, my Mum was born in 1946 and started school in 1950. I used to work with a man from Plymouth who was a child at the end of the war and recounted how you could walk across Plymouth city centre in a straight line in any direction and not encounter an in tact building. The country was on its knees and still needed to ensure that its citizens who were either returning from war or had lived through war coming to them, were taken care of. Homes needed to be built, the NHS and Welfare State were created to ensure that everyone would get the medical and social care that was needed. The postwar rebuilding is what we were paying off until the 31st of December 2006. Oh and for a bit of context, Rock’n’Roll hit the UK before rationing completely ended.
My mothers first husband is buried in Berlin, shot down when they had been maried less than a year, She and her mother spent the war putting fuses in hand grenades, My Aunt went into the land army, My Uncle who had only rowed a ferry boat in Cornwall was sent down a mine.
22:45 in your video: My Mom lived through the Blitz in London, the Americans came to UK and found the food and coffee poor....but there was rationing and make do and mend, so it wasn't easy for the folk to get by, that the Americans couldn't understand...although to be fair, the American soldiers always gave their chewing gum and rations to the British kids, and we bless you for that
Because rationing was extreme during the war, and took nearly a decade to disappear after the war, visitors mistakenly thought we didn't know how to cook tasty meals. We have some of the finest ingredients in the world here, and flavours from around the world too, but delicious local delicacies too.
I am really impressed that you took such an interest in second world war times in the UK as to gain a deeper understanding of what it is to be British!! I am sure that the legacy of the war does still shape to some degree British culture - but sadly memories are fading and it will all eventually be forgotten. Humans seem incapable of not wanting to beat each other up at regular intervals and learn little about the folly of wars from previous ones.
Come to Guernsey in the Channel Islands. You will feel so safe but the weather hasn’t been particularly good this year we seem to go from hot sun to rain or fog in a very short amount of time. Love your reaction😁
My late mum worked in a munitions factory ( which a few years ago still existed). She told me that her skin was dyed orange due to the chemicals and powder used. They had to evacuate outside when the German planes were flying over to bomb the docks in Manchester, Salford and Liverpool. They sat outside on a wall, smoking, watching them fly over. Crazy but true.
Is that the Ukraine that has an 'Azov' battalion? You know, the guys who wear the insignia of the 2nd SS - the most murderous unit of the Wehrmacht in the Second World War? The ones who ACTUALLY invited one of the SS veterans and gave him the 'Red Carpet' treatment? Who are actually the 'new fascists then'? If you called a Russian a 'fascist' to his face you'd better have medical insurance.
@@gibson617ajgrussia and putin are the racist of today not ukraine example they are massacreing civilians taking territory which isn't theirs committing genocide by kidnapping thousands of kids and brainwashing them into being russians
food is relative to taste, that why hersheys got popular after the troops had it in their rations for years as a long lasting chocolate and got a taste fot it when they came home.
Living in a sardine can makes you want to bust out and go discover the world and create the world's largest empire and much bigger space from the sardine can you've been used to living in for so long.
My maternal grandfather was one of the people who wasn't allowed to sign up to fight because of his job, he was a coal miner. He tried to sign up multiple times, but the men at the recruiting stations all knew him and kept turning him away.
My grand father was in Burma fighting the Japanese he never talked mutch about the war until his. Death bed but he did escape from the camp where he said the most un humanly things were going on there was another fellow in the camp from the village next to his in Scotland so they killed two guards and escaped after sometime in the jungle themselves thank god they ran into the Gurkha so they fought the war in the jungle with the Gurkha if it wasn't for the Gurkhas I wouldn't be here today and IAM the big 50 thanks to him
At first we got caught with our pants down and just wanted the opportunity and supplies to fight back the Battle of Britain was important to prove to the world we're still in the fight and to join us... God bless 🇬🇧✝️🇺🇸
My mum told me that women drew lines up the back of their legs to make it look as though they wore seamed stockings. If they could get their hands on a used parachute they would make clothes from it. When they got married, whole families and friends would put their clothing coupons together to help the bride to 'look nice' on her special day. If you look closely at the films of that time though people here still had polished shiny shoes and they continued to try to look as smart as they could even though the bombs came each night. When it was announced that Princess Elizabeth (soon to be our Queen) was to marry in 1947 many people sent her their clothing coupons so she could have a beautiful wedding dress for herself and her bridesmaids. She would not take them of course. I think we finished paying America back in 2010 for the Land Lease Agreement. When the War ended we were faced with a land of much rubble and a People needing new homes and more after the bombing. It took time. America helped rebuild Germany again after the War so they could not help us too. More, America needed us to pay our Loans back. They loaned us their older ships under Loan Lease. The 'Battle of the Atlantic' against the German Airforce, their Navy and, worse, their Submarines was the longest (and a very desperate) battle of the War. As an Island we could not let the Germans defeat us at Sea. We sent America our top weaponry specifications and blueprints and they helped us by manufacturing some of our armaments. SUGGESTION: 'London, England's MEGACITY: Capital of the UK'. It gives, in broad brush strokes, the history of London'. I think you will like it as you have both been there. Despite the 'Sardine Tin' and learning how 'old fashioned' we are (which makes me laugh) I enjoyed this video very much and I loved your reaction to it - so thank you very much. Take care, love from the UK
My Dad's mum was a dressmaker. She was able to get extra clothes: My Mum's dad was a farmer. She was once told to go down the lane and delay the inspector whilst the rest of the family hid the unregistered pig they had. My mum started training as a nurse in 1944 when she was 16. My Dad was at school during the war.
2:30 i used to use those when i played rugby!!! The one we had a school was great, but my local rugby club (where i also played) had one, but it was kept outside and all the padding was so wrecked, it was like pushing a steel bar or plank of wood with your shoulder without padding.
It was terrible on the knees too, you had to hit them so low and if you got out of rhythm with the team you would miss and scrape up ur hands and knees, if I had a dollar for every time I was about ready to pass out pushing one of those 🤣😂
Hi guys, love your content. 1st of all look up Harry Dunn, before making cracks about driving in the UK, it's a VERY sore point. 2nd look up Foyles War a great tv detective serious based during WW2, it gives amazing insight. 3rd my mum & her twin brother were born in 1943, needed extra iron. The GP (local doctor) had to make out a NHS prescription to get them extra food, seemingly they ate raw liver in their pram & bananas so much so their sister never ate liver cooked or otherwise😂 . My granny & her daughter's & possible her granddaughters have a cupboard (me included), it has 6 tins each of peas/beans/soup/veg/custard/fruit/rice pudding. Tinned meat, tuna/Salmon/ham/corner beef. Condensed milk, pasta, rice, soup mix (lentils etc), tea, coffee, powdered milk, jelly, flour, stock cubes. Just in case, my mum said we're never poor if I can feed you😍
One thing to bear in mind is that lend lease primarily applied to the british empire. Payments made by the US to other countries in the war effort were either simple aid or were ultimately repaid at much lower interest rates that the US charged the British. Ultimately the US made money from the war while the British empire financially broke itself.
They still have to tell Americans to drive on the left. There is a recent case here in the Northeast a young man was run over and killed by an officers wife, and she fled back to the USA. Great reaction, watching from across the pond. ✌️ ❤️ 🇬🇧 Go to the BBC and check out the documentaries on women in the war effort. I think you'll find them interesting 😊
UK, as a major power, was alone until Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. The Commonwealth was invalubal - Canada, Australia. New Zealand, South Africa has small popluations and very little heavy industry - UK largely supplied them. They were all a long way a way it would be years before their contributions became overwhelming. The US only joined after Pearl Harbour in Dec 41. It took a while for the US to gear up to full production. The first combat for US against Germany was Torch in Nov 42 - but Germany was already suffering massive defeats, El Alemein in Oct 42 and Stalingrad July 42. Germany was well past its peak of power.
@HankD13 ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. But how many times have you heard a stupid Yank boast of how they won WWII for us? I am 83, and sadly have a very low opinion of ill-educated, overly-opinionated & mouthy Yanks.
Remember the Soviets were on the German side and invaded Poland as a joint force in 1939. the Soviets didn't switch sides until Germany invaded them in June 1941 2 years into the war they then signed a Alliance with the British Empire.
54:14 most of the lend-lease goods the UK provided went over to Russia (once they entered the war in 1941). In terms of what went to America, it was mainly food and fuel (petrol/gasoline) since the US used different weapon systems which the British ammunition wouldn't fit, plus the US was manufacturing more than enough weapons and ammunition for itself and didn't need British help in that regard.
I’ve no issue with calling the UK a “sardine can”. We are an incredibly densely packed population and yes, the UK isn’t just London but it isn’t wrong to state that most people, even in the 1940s, live comparatively closer to each other than the US. Take Canada - a huge country with 2/3 the population of the UK, population density of 4 per square kilometre compared the UK’s 279 per square kilometre.
Honestly the sardine can analogy isn't wrong even outside the major cities Land is very expensive so all houses are tiny and crammed together. Having a garden too small for a lawn or a shed isn't unusual anywhere even small villages have apartment blocks often with cheap thin walls. Being inconsiderate of your neighbours is still less socially acceptable than alcoholism or drug dealing although they are often linked.
SEGREGATION. The Brits refused and in preference to the USA white soldiers (who wanted all black soldiers barred) they allowed black only in the pubs etc, they danced and socialised with white British people. USA hated this. Many black soldiers returned here after the war.
When they made this film they repeatedly called Britain a sardine can, to say we were jam-packed with people. Populations have increased, but even now the USA has about 5 times the UK population, soread over about 17 times the landmass. That's why you build porches, except in your big cities, but we put up hedges. We value our privacy, as we have so little of it
My mum and aunt used to use gravy browning on their legs and use an eye liner to draw a stipe up the back of their legs to look like stockings. They used to smoke tea leaves and loved when my dad was on leave from the RAF he would bring them real cigarettes which were given as part of soldiers rations. He used to trade with others in the forces who didn't smoke so he had some to bring home.
Soviets were not in the game at that stage. It wasn’t until Hitler double crossed them later on that they became involved. At this stage it was just Britain and the commonwealth countries, Britain being the only major power.
@@finncullen I'm 83, a Geordie Englishman, and you just made my day!! Actually you've made my week, month and many years of silent head-shaking for every time I've heard a Yank spout off on that. So many ill-educated Yanks are legends in their own minds. THANK YOU.
You might like to checkout the Mini-series (The 1940`s House) where a modern-day family in 2001, chose to enter an historical simulation of life. This included simulated air-raids, all the mod-cons (Radio etc) of 1940 & shopping/rationing.
7:22 I can only speak for myself as John Britain, but whenever I’m feeling a touch overwhelmed…I hop onto my ship and head for the North Atlantic for a little space.
Yes, some of us can trace our family to the Civil War. Born and raised in Ireland, following my family tree back, I found relatives who took part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and even managed to trace a male relative who fled to America during the Civil War. I know he docked in NY and soon enlisted in the 69th Regiment, which was primarily made up of immigrant and NY firefighters. They would be known as the Fighting 69th. I've still got three letters he sent home; they have been passed down to other family members, and I got them from my grandmother. Unfortunately, he died at the Battle of Bull Run, along with many other Irish volunteers. He didn't marry or have kids. I guess that's my family's claim to fame: that one of my relatives fought for the North.
58:19 - yes, there were alternatives for makeup. Women's fashion magazines came up with such ideas as covering your legs with gravy browning to make it look like you were wearing stockings, and drawing a "seam" down the back of your leg with a pencil. For lipstick they recommended pricking your lips with a needle to bring some blood up which you would then smear over your lips. Not nice but it did give them a "rouge" effect.
The American at the start of the video is called a yank probably because he is not showing a peace sign ✌🏻. He is being nude by showing “up yours” sign which is the reverse of the peace sign. 😂🏴🇬🇧
As a british person i love this video, ive seen it a handful of times probably its just really funny, like an actually funny and enjoyable propoaganda piece that is in a lot of ways factually accurate too
My late Nana was in the 'land army', which existed untill rationing ended a few years after WWII. I have her medal. She lived and worked on a farm, milking cows etc. My late Grandfather remembered watching the Battle of Britain above the skies as a kid, and collected shrapnel which his Dad mounted on little wooden plaques (weird I know). He saw his first dead body as a kid when a German fighter was shot down in a field near his home. He told me that story in waaaaay more detail than he probably should have for a kids school project 😅 Crazy how much of this History, which I teach in school, was really experienced by my Grandparents. I am in my 30s. My Great Grandad fought in WW1. I even own his Bayonet. I visit the places he fought in on our schools yearly Trip to Ypres, Belgium. Both world wars left deep scars on British national identity and culture that exist to this day.
Officially Ireland stayed neutral because we had only got independence a few years earlier and didn't want to risk it openly but we did help with the war effort in secret. My Grandmother was from Cork her husband was from Liverpool he signed up in 1935 when his wife became pregnant when the baby was born. He sent them to Cork, to be safe while he fought in Dunkirk and D Day . He survived and joined the UN peace keepers in the middle east after the war.✌️😊
My great uncle was actually a tank operator in Africa during the 2nd world war & my grandad was a Sargent major. My other grandad was in the home gaurd because of a work accident he wasn't fit to join the army yet he tried to join 4 times.
The soldiers that got posted to the English countryside and places like the Cotswolds must’ve had one hell of a shock when they saw all those glorious green rolling hills.
guys, watching your videos again, russia did not enter the war til 1941, they remained neutral, im not a history buff, but after the battle of briton, and hitler took to many loses, he switched to go east into russia, thats really lost him the war, because we then had the allies come, we re grouped, for the want of a better word, we held the line till help arrived
One of the things Britain gave to the USA was engines for the P52 Mustang aeroplane. The P52 was fitted with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, as they worked better than its original engines. Eventually these engines were manufactured in the USA under licence from Rolls-Royce. The Merlin engine was the engine that powered the Spitfire, the Lancaster and other planes, it was an incredible engine.
The coffee in WW2 in the UK was made from chicory and was produced by the 'Camp' company and it was a black liquid which had a flavour of coffee. It is still available and tends to be used as a flavour for cakes or ice cream.
Britain were the only major power still fighting because Russia and Germany were not at war at that stage. They had a non aggression treaty until Hitler broke it and invaded Russia in 1941.
Insular thinking, Hitler was running riot before we Brits got involved. We had people like Neville Chamberlain trying everything to remain out of the war, the problem is our ties with Poland go back to the 10th century, and a line had to be drawn.
No-one wanted war but Hitler invading Poland crossing a stated red line, the British empire couldn't just let it go. It was a direct challenge.
@@daveofyorkshire301 Hitler assumed we'd be on his side, our monarchy was German and there's still footage of them marching with the Nazi's pre WW2! This garbage of a movie is just pure propaganda, made to get the yanks motivated and ready to sign up...
@@daveofyorkshire301British ties with Poland go to the 10th century?
From the fall of France (25 June 1940) until the German invasion of the Soviet Union (22 June 1941), Britain (and the Empire and Commonwealth) stood alone against the Axis powers. That was almost exactly a year as stated in this film.
From 22 June 1941 until the entry of the USA into the War on 7 December 1941 nearly 6 months later, Britain and the Soviet Union had stood alone.
@@daveofyorkshire301 wrong
They said "the only major power" because at this stage the USSR was not fighting, in fact they had invaded Poland from the East in 1939, and divided Poland up between them and Germany. Until Hitler invaded Russia in June 1941 they had had a pact, and Germany had hidden their pre-war arms build up and training by doing it in Russia.
The USSR was supplying raw materials to Germany right up to the day the Germans invaded them!
Total Civilian and Military Deaths
United States 420,000
United Kingdom 460,000
Soviet Union 24,000,000
Yes. Stalin had decimated the USSR army by killing most of the army commanders
@@nicksykes4575 I’m gonna need a source on that last claim
@@edwardbateman3094 You don't need a source... It's bloody common fact that any country will hide their arms stocks until its required. You know the phrase "Don't show your cards"?
13.50 - Your question about "acknowledging the Soviets" -
The The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression pact on August 23, 1939.
It wasn't until June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union under the codename Operation Barbarossa. The German government declared war on the Soviet Union, citing the threat posed by the Red Army's build-up.
So yes, Britain was alone for that time.
@@johnukey The greatest irony is that the German forces moving East passed Russian supply trains going West.
Well you have saved me a job well done.
The film emphasises the role of Britain because that's where troops were being sent to prepare for D-day .... we British will never forget the role played by Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, South Africans and Indian troops, as well as Poles, Czech's and the Free French. A special mention for the 70,000 or so Irish men and women who came over to fight against Nazis, despite their Government remaining neutral. To their eternal shame, the Irish Government were the first Country to convey their condolences to Germany on the death of Hitler. When nearly 5,000 Irish Soldiers who'd deserted to join the fight returned home, they were " blacklisted " from Government jobs, and lost their pensions. They were not pardoned until 2013, when most of them had already passed away ...
Well there is certainly more to the history there worth acknowledging like what happened there in WW1 with Britain and how it colored everything afterwards.
@@Souledexof course there's more, but no one wants to read an entire book in the comments section. If people are interested, the books already exist.
My cousin was in the Womens WRENS the womens Royal Navy. and her husband t be was in the Royal Navy but was secoded to the Royal Marines for D-Day. My cousi was one to the "plotters" directing the boas and ships for D-Day the "people directing the sihps where basedunder the White Cliffs of Dover (known to us as the Whie Cliffs of Dover, and directing where the ships where needed in order to evacuate the British and Commonwealth Troops, back home.
From an Aussie, Thanks mate.
An American government employee in 2019 hit and killed a young man Harry Dunn as she came out of a USAF base in England. The inquest heard that when asked what she believed had caused the collision, she told Northamptonshire Police officers: "I drove like an American and drove on the American side of the road." So maybe those signs weren't so crazy. She claimed diplomatic immunity and left the country, but was later sentenced via video to 8months in prison, suspended sentence.
Idk how a person could try to claim immunity on something like that, you took a persons life.
@@Trippingthroughadventures It's not the person who claims or waives diplomatic immunity - they can't - it's the country that the diplomat (or family member) is representing that claims immunity and only the country that can waive immunity. So in this case it's the US government that has made that decision. This is international law via the Vienna Convention.
Just recently in New Zealand a partner of an Australian diplomat was drunk and disorderly in public, assaulted members of the public, resisted arrest and called the police homophobic slurs. At the time he claimed diplomatic immunity. A few days later the Australian government waived immunity and the man was charged.
I'm British and loved this film. It did bring a tear to my eye hearing just how little Britts had to live on. I knew they all pulled together, that's standard British, but on such empty bellies. Kind of reminded me why I am who I am xXx
During wartime my late mother-in-law was in the army and told me that, with regard to stockings, her and her friends would use gravy browning on their legs and then they would help each other to draw a seam down the back with an eyeliner pencil thus giving the impression that they were wearing stockings, so as you said people learnt to adapt. Wonderful reaction from you both.
The coffee was bad because we were at war… ships were used for war.. not for importing coffee 🤷🤣
or it was a Brand called Camp Coffee made from chicory my grandad loved it and is still sold. great made with hot milk
That’s funny because chicory became popular during the great depressions in the states, and it’s still pretty popular in New Orleans to this day.
@declanreid2938 Actually instant Coffee or Freeze dried was an American innovation for its Troops in Europe in the 1st World War. Blame Yanks not British. Don't know how French drank Coffee in the 1st World War. They are a Bigger Coffee drinker than British, I can confirm it was better in France than Britain in the late 80s .
We’d already purchased the worlds Tea crop in 1940.
I was watching a Battle of Britain war film in a cinema in London ( on holiday with my mum) many years ago ,when an American man ( with his family of course) behind us ,said to them it took place in the 42/ 45 war. My Mum ,whipped round and said ‘ the 39/ 45 war’. She was livid. Bear in mind three brothers were in the airforce on Lancaster Bombers during the war ,and her youngest brother in the merchant navy on Convoy duty. With ships being sunk daily by Uboats. During the war we had near our village a large American camp and one day one of them came into our small grocery shop has she was serving a customer , the soldier looked at the ration shopping and asked if it was DAYS shopping, and was told NO, it’s a weeks rations. He said ,they’d no idea things were that bad ‘ back home’. Full rationing didn’t end till 1953. America DID NOT win the war, they were part of a landing force and army made up of thousands of Commonwealth troops, and European soldiers who’d escaped to this country to keep fighting. . 😏 If Japan hadn’t bombed Pearl Harbour it’s doubtful America would have entered the war. Our troops fought with the Americans in the war against Japan, which is barely ever mentioned.
@Diamondmine212 The average Yank has zero knowledge of WWII other than their insanely fanatical belief that they won it for us. As for the Pacific theatre, Hollywood (American's history school) didn't produce The Bridge On The River Kwai movie - it was a British -American production. and NO YANK seems to know that His late Majesty Prince Philip served on the British Navy ship that was anchored in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese officially surrendered. The man who operated the lift in the old building I first worked in had a badly twisted arm and was generally crumpled up - I found out that he caught Beriberi when he was in a Jap prisoner of war camp surviving on less than two handfuls of rotten rice a day for 3 years.
@@Diamondmine212 Am pretty convinced USA entered the war in Europe because, the day after Pearl Harbour, Hitler declared war on them.
What ironically is always missed is that America has Democracy because the English brought in to the land they named America! We weren't the United Kingdom or Great Britain in 1620 and it was from England that the forefathers of America sailed. Even after Independence the American Constitution and Bill of Rights was based on the Magna Carta written and signed in England in the 13th century!
"the British will fight to the last Canadian etc"
They're saying the same things about Ukraine.
Given a real choice, we'd be there in a heartbeat.
Anybody who says that about us, doesn't understand us in the slightest.
Every single Brit that i personally know that is either in or used to be in the military would give anything to be sent there to fight.
We _really_ don't like bullies.
wrong
@@SgtSteel1
Wow. Such insight.
Think I'll have to stick with _my own personal experience_ there, champ
@@MostlyPennyCat Do what you like but you are still wrong.
I'm with you! I know Ukraine and the people are more like the British than the americans are; I would stand with them given the chance
@@entirely-English
Thankyou! It's part of our social DNA we abhor the strong abusing the weak.
Not that Ukraine is weak per se, weak in the sense they only had ammunition for a few weeks fighting.
Maybe vulnerable is a better word.
I have watched the original of this film and various reactions to it many times.
The one thing that ALWAYS irks me (although I think that it may have been cut out now) is when the line "How did they ("John Britain") get onto our team?" comes up.
OUR team? Are you having a laugh?!!! We were at war from 3rd September 1939, two years and three months before the USA officially joined on 7th December 1941 and for the 13 months from May 1940 (Dunkirk Evacuation) to June 1941 (Nazi Invasion of the USSR) the UK, its Commonwealth and Empire was the ONLY force fighting against Nazi tyranny.
So, no, "Yank" we were NOT joining YOUR team, YOU were joining OURS!!! 😉🤣
I wouldn’t blame the people, I believe the reason our channel is becoming successful, is because we are learning, people see we are sitting down blank minded and taking in what we learned, taking things from both sides and turning it into a true picture. Most people take in the propaganda and maintain it.
There were huge numbers of German descendants in the US, Roosevelt supported the British - hugely with supplies 1940 onwards.
My family lived in London during WW2. My father was a Sargeant in the Army in Aden. My Grandmother was what was called a 'firewatcher' and my Aunt manned an anti-aircraft gun in Whitby
@@ElunedLaine my mum manned the rangefinding device that directed anti aircraft guns in Whitby (amongst other east coast towns) during ww2.. she was from East London ⚒️
We are a small island but we take no sh*t
Like cheap toilet paper, ruff tuff and don’t take crap off nobody.
@@TrippingthroughadventuresThat’s so funny, I can’t tell you have British ancestry.😂
🤣😂🤣
My family are from the north east of the UK. My grandmother's husband was killed in the war, and she had 3 small children to bring up. Back then we didn't have social care so she had to work. She got a job as a welder iron ironstone mine 45 minutes walk each way from home. Some nights she would sleep in the mine with the my mum, uncle and aunt. They when home one morning and the street had been bombed in an air raid. Her house was rubble and the neighbours dead. So yes we had it tough but you had to just get on with it.
58 mins. My mum was 11 when war broke out. She contracted scarlet fever - then highly contagious, often fatal, and normally treated in an isolation hospital but hospitals were busy (her sister, who was 8 years older, signed up to be a nurse, more on that later). Mum had to be treated and isolated at home, locked in her bedroom. Nanna told me she would often answer the door to random strangers saying, 'is this where the little girl is ill?' and handing her an orange. People looked out for each other. My auntie, the nurse, dealt with mangled men daily, but said it was the boys who had come back from the Japanese PoW camps that really upset her. My Dad was in the RAF during the war working on Sunderlands in Southampton. My uncle was a gunner in the English channel. Mum's family were bombed out twice, and she was evacuated to Wales for a short while. Thankfully, all my family came through it, not many can say that.
Lest we Forget.
For those who think us Brits aren't tough, I suggest you watch the video "the greatest raid of all time" It will give an idea of the desperate things we were having to do.
That’s on our list.
Try the 'Bamber Bridge' incident video, if you want to know how the American soilders behaved when they arrived here. It links your civil rights movement.
We were getting supplies coming in to the UK from overseas - (Australia, Canada, etc, Empire or former Empire countries) - however, they had to reach the country to be used . . . which was not an easy thing to do in convoys against U-boats - who were often in packs on the usual routes . . . So our merchants fleets was being decimated by them . . . US forces serving abroad typically received their own supplies from the US - so while they eating steaks and such without little worry - those in the UK were still stuck with meagre rations of the odd slice of bacon, cheese, etc, and whatever else they could get, sometimes from their own vegetable patches . . . And yes, we sold a lot of things we could have used in the UK to other countries as money was constantly needed to fund any imports arriving. Be it for the war effort or food wise . . . And yes, the UK was not only still repaying debts taken out in the 1800's regarding the fight against slavery, but also debts from WW1 still - the debts from WW2 just made it much harder on top of those earlier debts to repay everything back - which took until the start of the 2000's to finally clear the slate . . .
@@KGardner01010 2006
Just got to say R.I.P to our fallen soldiers who gave there lives for our freedom. Shout outs From our Sardines Can here in Warrington CHESHIRE 🇬🇧 🇬🇧
One difference between the US & the UK is that you guys still consider a 20 year old a kid, we are considered adults at 16.
Having said that, things are different now. The school leaving age has gone from 16 to 18 and then they spend the next 4 years in university.
My Dad left school at 14, I left school at 16 and we both went out to work straight away. We grew up quick back then. We were considered a men as soon as we left school & going to college or Uni was considered lazy.
My dad was born in 1913. He turned 13 on a Friday and was given his school leaving certificate. He started working "down the pit" ie as a coal miner the following Monday. He retired at 65 years old. He was never conscripted because we needed coal to keep ammo production going. He ran a small team of "Bevan Boys", lads aged from 13-17, to increase coal production for the munitions. During his time working underground he was trapped in "pit falls" a number of times but was dug out, covered in coal dust which was embedded all over his back, shoulders, chest and legs. His body was covered by blue stripes. He just laughed it off. It was just the same for anyone working in the coal industry in those days.
Germany and the USSR had signed a non-aggression pact which meant that Germany invaded Poland from the West and USSR invaded Poland from the east. This only changed after Germany broke the agreement and invaded USSR.
Speaking as a Brit, we do live in a sardine can and we sometimes want to avoid our neighbours - not for unfriendly reasons but just for a break. However, even though that is true, I feel like Americans, Canadians. Australians and New Zealanders are our family. I think we are.
Yea to most Americans people visiting from the uk or Australia is not a big deal lol. We don’t really look at Brit’s as Foreigners lol as we do someone from Italy or France etc… lol
women did find an alternative for stockings, they could not get or afford
They used gravey on there legs and drew a black line down the back for the seem, to look like stockings
something else, with my grandparents, who fought and went through the full war, as you know about rations, even after the war, the generation still had the mentality of rations, storing stuff, the things that was short, sugar, milk, tea, and some other things, till the day she died in the late 90's, she never had less than 10 bags of sugar, 10 tins carnation milk(milk in a can) 10 boxes of tea, all this stuff has really an endless shelf life
every saturday, cake or in a the bakers, for cakes, every saturday afternoon, all the familes met, for afternoon tea and grandmothers place, that was the center of the family.
My grandad played football for West Ham United Football club which was in East London, he worked at the Woolwich arsenal (where they made weapons). The germans bombed the Woolwich Arsenal and my grandad was blown over a 12 foot wall, and busted his legs up really badly when he landed, and that ended his football career 😢. Even though he was disabled he carried on working in the Arsenal for the rest of the war. When he was really old, and my nan had passed away, grandad George lived with us, my mum used to jokingly call him "The Grumpy Old Git" Lol ❤🇬🇧
The part about not being invited for a drink was very true and not just due to shortages, but very poor pay. This is from a debate in Parliament in 1942 about the pay for UK soldiers -
"The British private often finds himself in a humiliating position when he meets soldiers from other countries. I have spoken to several and they have been rather reluctant at having to meet privates from other countries. In the part of the world where I live the ordinary British private will not go into a pub if privates from other countries are there. It is not that they do not like them, but if they go in they are not able to hold their own when it comes to a round of drinks. The blokes from other countries, who have more money to spend, can go to cinemas, to which the British soldier is not able to go. The British private, too, often finds it more than difficult to get even those things that are essential to him. He cannot even afford to buy a sufficiency of stamps, cleaning material, tooth paste and the like."
Those men were putting their lives on the line for their country and they weren't even afforded a little money for occasional socialising? No wonder they voted for Labour in such massive numbers at the July 1945 general election. The plight of the working class improved greatly thanks to that government.
You might enjoy this YT vid about black US troops in the UK during WW2 - Heroes Among Us: Incident at Bamber Bridge'. WW2 UK rations per person, per week - 4 ounces bacon or ham, 8 ounces of other meat, 2 ounces of butter, 2 ounces of cheese, 4 ounces of margarine, 4 ounces of cooking fat, 3 pints of milk, 8 ounces of sugar, 2 ounces of tea and 1 egg. Clothes and petrol was rationed, as was mentioned. My Mother used to use beetroot juice to stain her lips
Hi guys, im not if it has been said in previous videos, but rations went on till 1954, 9 years after the war, things then got back to normal, due to the heavy losses in the war, work was pentyful, pay was good, hence the baby boomers, had children, worked hard and played hard, (drinking,)
I think we were still paying the US back for the lend lease until the 1990s.
I think we were still paying the US back for the lend lease until the 1990s.
I think we were still paying the US back for the lend lease until the 1990s.
@@BusstterNutt agreed, we also did not finish paying back the cost to the end of slavery in our taxes till 2015
The reference to how crowded the UK is, wasn’t a London centric remark. As we are not just London and country hamlets. Everything from villages to the largest of cities can be quite densely populated for their size. With many (if not most) villages and small towns being made up of old terraced cottages and houses along with more modern flats.
I grew up in a small town in Scotland with the countryside and villages to one side and a large shipbuilding town to the other.
So although the constant use of sardine can maybe wasn’t great, I personally just took at as the US government’s way of trying to put across how detached homes aren’t particularly common over here and that more often than not there is little to no space in between homes and that the businesses of that area will also be close by.
Oh and if you look into anything about the Dunkirk Evacuation, what is rarely mentioned in anything is the fact that there were sections of the army (including Royal Scots Fusiliers that my Granda was in) who were sent to places along the the Northern French coast with the instructions to ‘dig in and wait for the Germans’. Fortunately they were only left there for a short while and when the Germans didn’t appear they were brought back to Blighty (as my Granda worded it).
I was going to post the same comment. I don't think they understand that even in the country villages, smaller towns, etc.. people still live very close to each other, especially in comparison to America.
Also, bear in mind that even in a city next to each other, the people have completely different ways, culture, accent, slang, etc.. Imagine if travelling 40 miles up the road in America everyone was as drastically different as say the people from Alabama are compared to those in New York (just two examples). That's Britain
its also not wrong from another perspective. Compared to a lot of places Even the most Rural countryside of britain is only at most a few hours drive from a Densely populated City. Where as in america, especially during 1945, there were small rural towns that were a good 5 to 10 hours drive From literally anywhere.
its feasible in the UK that if you got lost in the wilderness, you could just walk, and eventually youd find something with people in it within a few hours at most.
@@Sgt.chickens I didn’t claim that the sardine can remarks were wrong, I was trying to point out that it was correct for most if not all populated areas, where their presumption had been that it was just in reference to London.
Great job guys, hope you and the family are well, so pleased you did this one, ties the rest of the video's a bit more, the ones you have watched
We were the only country whose financial debt wasn't forgiven by America- we only finished paying it back in 2006 - no other country had to pay back lease lend like we did-allies?? ( The soviets had signed a pact with hitler so werent invoved until hitler turned on them) 🏴
@CarolWoosey-ck2rg The USA made a fortune off their "kindness" to the UK. What most people do not know is that the Yanks wouldn't enter the war until Britain agreed to sell them UK stock market stocks etcetera. I'm 83 and not an investor so don't know the financial terms, but I do know university history professors (I was in acadaemia) and they rolled their eyes when they told me the full background to the lend-lease happy happy help our poor cousins scam.
YANKS - DO YOU KNOW WHO GAVE YOU A TWO-YEAR LEAD ON ATOMIC POWER - AND THE URANIUM YOU NEEDED TO MAKE IT WORK? NO? THE UK GAVE YOU THE KNOW HOW AND OUR COMMONWEALTH GEM, CANADA, GAVE YOU THE URANIUM. THEN AFTER WWII ENDED THE GREAT YANKS REFUSED TO SHARE THE NUCLEAR BOMB DESPITE AGREEING THAT THEY WOULD. ALSO BRITISH PHYSICISTS MADE A GREAT CONTRIBUTION TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BOMB. YOU THINK OPPENHEIMER (OH, AN AMERICAN FOR SURE) BUILT THE BOMB ALL BY HIMSELF AT THE CAMP? YES - RIGHT.
THE BRITS ALSO GAVE YOU - HEAR THOSE WORDS - GAVE YOU - BRITISH TANKS BECAUSE THE YANK TANKS WERE DEATH TRAPS AS FAR AS HAVING ARMOUR THAT A PANZER COULD PUNCH THROUGH LIKE PAPER. THERE IS SO MUCH YOU MOST YANKS DON'T KNOW ABOUT HOW YOUR GOVERNMENT - NOT YOUR TROOPS - LET US DOWN. THEY GOT A KICK OUT OF DISMANTLING THE BRITISH EMPIRE. AS ANOTHER PERSON SAID, THE UK WAS THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT THE US DID NOT FORGIVE ONE DOLLAR OF THEIR DEBT. TELL ME, WHY WAS THAT. THE UK PAID FOR COLONISING THE USA IN BLOOD AND BILLIONS UNTIL YOU WANTED IT ALL FOR YOURSELVES. WE SPENT MILLIONS MORE LATER ON BUILDING AND SENDING NAVY SHIPS FOR YEARS TO END THE SLAVE TRADE WHICH NORTH AMERICA WAS THE LAST TO GIVE UP. DID YOU PAY ANY MONIES BACK TO BRITAIN FOR ALL THAT? NOT A DIME. SICKENING, AND THEN YANKS ARE TOO DUMB TO REALISE THAT HAD BRITAIN FALLEN IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN THEN AMERICA WOULD SINK NEXT.
WAY BEFORE THE USA HAD AN ATOMIC BOMB, GERMANY HAD THEIR V2 ROCKET WHICH COULD AND WOULD HAVE BLOWN THE USA AWAY - THEY WERE WAY AHEAD OF THE USA IN TECHNOLOGY. AND IF BRITAIN HAD FALLEN, WHERE DO YOU THINK THE YANKS COULD HAVE LANDED THEIR ARMY AND ALL THEIR EQUIPMENT, PLANES, MEN, SUPPLIES ETC TO FIGHT HITLER? YOU NEEDED A BASE - THAT WAS BRITAIN - BUT THE YANKEE GOVERNMENT WAS SO GREEDY FOR BENJAMINS BY THE BILLION THAT THEY WERE BETTING THAT THE EXCEPTIONAL YANKS WOULD FIGURE A WAY AROUND THAT LITTLE ISSUE AND WIN THE WAR ANYWAY, YOU KNOW, LIKE THE MIFDLE EAST, OR AFGHANISTAN, OR VIETNAM, OR KOREA . . . AND LET'S NOT MENTION THE BAY OF PIGS.
YOU EVENTUALLY CAME INTO WWII BECAUSE SOME CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS FINALLY REALISED THAT IF THEY DIDN'T THEN THEY WOULD INDEED LOSE THE WAR. DO ANY YANKS KNOW THAT THE ROYAL NAVY HAD SHIPS IN THE PACIFIC FLEET AREA AND LOST 1,000'S OF MEN OR THAT THE LATE PRINCE PHILIP WAS AN OFFICER ON ONE OF THE BRITISH SHIPS IN TOKYO BAY WHEN JAPAN FORMALLY SURRENDERED.
If you have never seen it there is a wonderful series called The World at War.,which covers the history of WW2. It consists entirely of actual film of the era and covers all angles British,American,Japanese,German etc
My Great Granda Jack Bulman (1907-83) was evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940, I cant remember much about him as I was only 6 years old when Jack died
No the population density still applies to the whole country, especially in England - obviously in towns and cities it’s more so (remember London isn’t the only one 😉) but in the countryside houses are still closer together than US suburbs generally.
I think this is generally pretty spot on, especially given it was made in the 40s
Hey I just found your videos, just want to say I think it's so lovely you are both taking the time to learn about all these things, reading comments and asking genuine questions. Being from the UK, I think because we pretty much grow up with all this history as just part of our environment, it's easy to assume we know more than we actually do. I'm learning so much with you!
It also takes a great deal of intelligence and empathy to take the time to step out of your own frame of reference with curiosity, it takes a lot of guts to approach a topic you don't know a lot about with such open-mindedness. We could do with much more of that approach in the UK too, so I find it inspiring. Thank you!
I haven't been called a rascal since my Mum died. I love that you called us that. Great reaction video.✌
Your team! Thanks for joining in. Eventually,
@josephturner7569 Yes, two years was a long time, but the Yanks never gave anyone anything unless there was a big profit in it for them. I'm 82 and lived just 1.5 miles from Northern RAF HQ although it did kind of move a bit. The Luftwaffe tried a big raid on our area in 1940 (BOB) and killed a cow in a field. They were run off and never again tried a big raid on the NE day OR night. Not the best place to be born but I did end up with a great shrapnel collection. I remember it all like it was yesterday yet there are chunks of my life I cannot recall.
The late Queen is a perfect example of service during WW2 - as soon as she turned 18 she joined the Women's Royal Army Corps as a vehicle driver/maintainer. Women also (as the film said) worked in the fire brigade, or as nurses (including in field hospitals, where they took casualties occasionally), or as drivers or cooks or clerks or intelligence officers etc etc etc - basically any job which wasn't close combat (anti-aircraft work wasn't close combat) or serving on board ship. The Land Army was great too - hundreds of thousands of women joined up to produce food since the farm hands who used to do it got drafted.
ATS
Lend lease to the USA was only paid off in 2006. Rationing only completely ended in 1954
Food rationing ended in 1954.
Coal rationing ended in July 1958.
Meaning that if you paid any tax before that date in Britain then you bought a Sherman tank,a P51 Mustang, ammunition, guns, ships, fuel etc. to fund opposition in WW2....The weird thing was that in the UK it was never mentioned because it was accepted it would be paid and many people here still don't know that they did pay for it...There was a small article in newspapers at the time when the final payment was sent...in fact it was my father (an economist lecturer) who told me about it...I didn't know for a few years after...Thx for comment Andrew
@@lewistaylor1965 willukraine have ot pay back usa, in the future,, for thir 'help'
@@paulhadfield7909 No. Their money will be in Zelensky's Swiss bank accounts.
@@gibson617ajg cynic
There is another film that goes with the Know Your Ally with Burgess Meredith which is a lot more about the people, non segregation, the humour etc. It's a bit hammy but worth the watch.
Who? The Penguin - one of Batman's enemies?
@@gibson617ajg Yes that's him.
@@DawnSuttonfabfour Thanks, if I remember correctly, the Penguin had a strange laugh - which sounded more like a duck that had smoked too many cigarettes 😀
Great memories of Saturday morning TV. I used to hide behind the sofa when the Riddler came on screen. I found him a bit creepy .....
@@gibson617ajg Never liked the penguin. We didn't have huge amounts of Batman as we are in England. We did have Dr Who and watched it from behind the sofa,
@@DawnSuttonfabfour I found the Cybermen quite worrying 😂
Can I suggest that you react to Jeremy Clarkson's The Victoria Cross for Valour. The Victoria Cross is the UK & Commonwealth highest military award (medal). It tells you how tough some of our service men really were/are and what they did to receive this medal truly its mind blowing! I hope you do get to watch it soon
alot of the planes when you mentioned was it actual footage, many plans had cameras, not so much for the bombing raids, but to be looked at, and use for planning, funture strikes, factory locations, railroads, infrastructure
10:05 to 10:20- the small snippet of the British Grenadiers music. THAT, is a genius move by the producers, as pretty much anytime you hear that music, you know the British are on the way to sort things out. It's almost like a theme tune to the British Army.
If you ever hear it from a distance getting nearer, or the wail of bagpipes getting closer, or you're out fishing and hear the tell tale tune of Rule Britannia or even more so, the distinctive Heart of Oak.... and you're not Allied with Britain, you might want to Run/Swim away as fast as possible. Cos the Royal Navy and British Army are coming.
I love the way 'a guy called Yank' is actually saying 'fuck off' to us! 😆
Clark Gable was stationed very close to where I live and I only just found out from my mum that he asked my Grandmother out and she turned him down. She was already married to my Grandad though.
To put the 'only major power' line into context, this is the size of the various armies at the start of the war in 1939:
Britain: 0.40 million
India: 0.20 million
Australia: 0.08 million
Canada: 0.06 million
South Africa: 0.02 million
New Zealand: 0.01 million
(France 0.90 million, but they'd been forced out of the the war by June 1940)
Germany: 2.73 million
Italy: 1.63 million
By the end of the war Britain had almost 3 million in its army plus another one and a half million in the navy and air force. 12% of the entire population served in the armed forces: one person in eight.
No one ever referred to Britain as a sardine can.We are happy here and proud of our parents and grandparents for standing up to evil.
It wasn't even that densely populated in most places lol I don't know why the commentator fixates on it so much 😂
Thanks for taking a look at this - quite eye opening, isn't it? There were actually some shorter films for the troops with Burgess Meredith, giving tips on getting along with Johnny Britain, but before you end up going down a whole World War rabbit hole, how about looking up top UK children's attractions, or something similar, seeing as you were talking about bringing the boys? Bit of a lighter offering for you. 🤗
the 'Yank' at the beginning making the V sign that's offensive in the UK.....lol
We missed that part lol
The post war debt is as a result of the UK (not just England) having to borrow to rebuild the country.
It wasn’t just London that was bombed. Growing up on the banks of the Clyde, I know that there was a boon going across the river to prevent u-boats from gaining access, my small town was victim to air raids, with Glasgow having it even worse. My Mum told me about how she used to play in the bomb site rubble next to her school, my Mum was born in 1946 and started school in 1950.
I used to work with a man from Plymouth who was a child at the end of the war and recounted how you could walk across Plymouth city centre in a straight line in any direction and not encounter an in tact building.
The country was on its knees and still needed to ensure that its citizens who were either returning from war or had lived through war coming to them, were taken care of. Homes needed to be built, the NHS and Welfare State were created to ensure that everyone would get the medical and social care that was needed.
The postwar rebuilding is what we were paying off until the 31st of December 2006.
Oh and for a bit of context, Rock’n’Roll hit the UK before rationing completely ended.
Lend Lease.
@@nmarks No the original commenter is correct. Look up the Anglo-American loan.
The greatest raid all with Jeremy Clarkson is a must, if you haven't already.
My mothers first husband is buried in Berlin, shot down when they had been maried less than a year, She and her mother spent the war putting fuses in hand grenades, My Aunt went into the land army, My Uncle who had only rowed a ferry boat in Cornwall was sent down a mine.
22:45 in your video: My Mom lived through the Blitz in London, the Americans came to UK and found the food and coffee poor....but there was rationing and make do and mend, so it wasn't easy for the folk to get by, that the Americans couldn't understand...although to be fair, the American soldiers always gave their chewing gum and rations to the British kids, and we bless you for that
Because rationing was extreme during the war, and took nearly a decade to disappear after the war, visitors mistakenly thought we didn't know how to cook tasty meals. We have some of the finest ingredients in the world here, and flavours from around the world too, but delicious local delicacies too.
I am really impressed that you took such an interest in second world war times in the UK as to gain a deeper understanding of what it is to be British!! I am sure that the legacy of the war does still shape to some degree British culture - but sadly memories are fading and it will all eventually be forgotten.
Humans seem incapable of not wanting to beat each other up at regular intervals and learn little about the folly of wars from previous ones.
Come to Guernsey in the Channel Islands. You will feel so safe but the weather hasn’t been particularly good this year we seem to go from hot sun to rain or fog in a very short amount of time. Love your reaction😁
During WW2 Liz was in the ATS and worked as a mechanic.
My late mum worked in a munitions factory ( which a few years ago still existed). She told me that her skin was dyed orange due to the chemicals and powder used. They had to evacuate outside when the German planes were flying over to bomb the docks in Manchester, Salford and Liverpool. They sat outside on a wall, smoking, watching them fly over. Crazy but true.
Unfortunately there's another country going through exactly what Britain went through during the war. Ukraine and its fight against the new fascists.
Is that the Ukraine that has an 'Azov' battalion? You know, the guys who wear the insignia of the 2nd SS - the most murderous unit of the Wehrmacht in the Second World War?
The ones who ACTUALLY invited one of the SS veterans and gave him the 'Red Carpet' treatment?
Who are actually the 'new fascists then'? If you called a Russian a 'fascist' to his face you'd better have medical insurance.
Eh? Ukraine have a Battalion who wear the insignia of the 2nd SS.
I think the 2nd SS may have been fascists in the Second World War.....
@@gibson617ajgrussia and putin are the racist of today not ukraine example they are massacreing civilians taking territory which isn't theirs committing genocide by kidnapping thousands of kids and brainwashing them into being russians
@@gibson617ajgthings change people die new ones get power so do t fking blame the rest for a few just shows what type of person u are !
have a look at "Heroes Among Us: the Bamber Bridge Incident " during the second Wold War
food is relative to taste, that why hersheys got popular after the troops had it in their rations for years as a long lasting chocolate and got a taste fot it when they came home.
You might like the Tower of London poppies. Very moving.
I agree, an absolute must ❤
13:55 No, it is because the Soviets didn't join the war until the Nazis invaded them. Up until that point the Soviets collaborated with the Nazis.
i feel that yawning at 45 min,not judging its late here🙃
Sounds like you would like to watch a similar style film on rationing (food and clothing)
"Rationing in Britain" by the "Imperial war museums"
Living in a sardine can makes you want to bust out and go discover the world and create the world's largest empire and much bigger space from the sardine can you've been used to living in for so long.
I love you both, quite enlightened and funny. Enjoy your videos ❤
My maternal grandfather was one of the people who wasn't allowed to sign up to fight because of his job, he was a coal miner. He tried to sign up multiple times, but the men at the recruiting stations all knew him and kept turning him away.
My grand father was in Burma fighting the Japanese he never talked mutch about the war until his. Death bed but he did escape from the camp where he said the most un humanly things were going on there was another fellow in the camp from the village next to his in Scotland so they killed two guards and escaped after sometime in the jungle themselves thank god they ran into the Gurkha so they fought the war in the jungle with the Gurkha if it wasn't for the Gurkhas I wouldn't be here today and IAM the big 50 thanks to him
Wow, my Grandad TED fought in Burma🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 he also never spoke about it except that they copied english accents to lure them out,
My dad fought in Burma too. He gad the utmost respect for the Gurkhas.
At first we got caught with our pants down and just wanted the opportunity and supplies to fight back the Battle of Britain was important to prove to the world we're still in the fight and to join us... God bless 🇬🇧✝️🇺🇸
My mum told me that women drew lines up the back of their legs to make it look as though they wore seamed stockings. If they could get their hands on a used parachute they would make clothes from it. When they got married, whole families and friends would put their clothing coupons together to help the bride to 'look nice' on her special day. If you look closely at the films of that time though people here still had polished shiny shoes and they continued to try to look as smart as they could even though the bombs came each night. When it was announced that Princess Elizabeth (soon to be our Queen) was to marry in 1947 many people sent her their clothing coupons so she could have a beautiful wedding dress for herself and her bridesmaids. She would not take them of course.
I think we finished paying America back in 2010 for the Land Lease Agreement. When the War ended we were faced with a land of much rubble and a People needing new homes and more after the bombing. It took time. America helped rebuild Germany again after the War so they could not help us too. More, America needed us to pay our Loans back. They loaned us their older ships under Loan Lease. The 'Battle of the Atlantic' against the German Airforce, their Navy and, worse, their Submarines was the longest (and a very desperate) battle of the War. As an Island we could not let the Germans defeat us at Sea. We sent America our top weaponry specifications and blueprints and they helped us by manufacturing some of our armaments.
SUGGESTION: 'London, England's MEGACITY: Capital of the UK'. It gives, in broad brush strokes, the history of London'. I think you will like it as you have both been there. Despite the 'Sardine Tin' and learning how 'old fashioned' we are (which makes me laugh) I enjoyed this video very much and I loved your reaction to it - so thank you very much. Take care, love from the UK
My Dad's mum was a dressmaker. She was able to get extra clothes:
My Mum's dad was a farmer. She was once told to go down the lane and delay the inspector whilst the rest of the family hid the unregistered pig they had.
My mum started training as a nurse in 1944 when she was 16. My Dad was at school during the war.
2:30 i used to use those when i played rugby!!! The one we had a school was great, but my local rugby club (where i also played) had one, but it was kept outside and all the padding was so wrecked, it was like pushing a steel bar or plank of wood with your shoulder without padding.
It was terrible on the knees too, you had to hit them so low and if you got out of rhythm with the team you would miss and scrape up ur hands and knees, if I had a dollar for every time I was about ready to pass out pushing one of those 🤣😂
Hi guys, love your content. 1st of all look up Harry Dunn, before making cracks about driving in the UK, it's a VERY sore point. 2nd look up Foyles War a great tv detective serious based during WW2, it gives amazing insight. 3rd my mum & her twin brother were born in 1943, needed extra iron. The GP (local doctor) had to make out a NHS prescription to get them extra food, seemingly they ate raw liver in their pram & bananas so much so their sister never ate liver cooked or otherwise😂 . My granny & her daughter's & possible her granddaughters have a cupboard (me included), it has 6 tins each of peas/beans/soup/veg/custard/fruit/rice pudding. Tinned meat, tuna/Salmon/ham/corner beef. Condensed milk, pasta, rice, soup mix (lentils etc), tea, coffee, powdered milk, jelly, flour, stock cubes. Just in case, my mum said we're never poor if I can feed you😍
The Soviets had signed a non aggression pact with Germany which broke down in June 1941 when the Germans invaded in operation Barbarossa.
One thing to bear in mind is that lend lease primarily applied to the british empire. Payments made by the US to other countries in the war effort were either simple aid or were ultimately repaid at much lower interest rates that the US charged the British. Ultimately the US made money from the war while the British empire financially broke itself.
They still have to tell Americans to drive on the left. There is a recent case here in the Northeast a young man was run over and killed by an officers wife, and she fled back to the USA. Great reaction, watching from across the pond. ✌️ ❤️ 🇬🇧
Go to the BBC and check out the documentaries on women in the war effort. I think you'll find them interesting 😊
UK, as a major power, was alone until Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. The Commonwealth was invalubal - Canada, Australia. New Zealand, South Africa has small popluations and very little heavy industry - UK largely supplied them. They were all a long way a way it would be years before their contributions became overwhelming. The US only joined after Pearl Harbour in Dec 41. It took a while for the US to gear up to full production. The first combat for US against Germany was Torch in Nov 42 - but Germany was already suffering massive defeats, El Alemein in Oct 42 and Stalingrad July 42. Germany was well past its peak of power.
@HankD13 ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. But how many times have you heard a stupid Yank boast of how they won WWII for us? I am 83, and sadly have a very low opinion of ill-educated, overly-opinionated & mouthy Yanks.
@@aidencox790 Brits ran from Belgium, ran from France, ran from Norway, ran from Greece, ran from Crete, then hid on their island until the US joined.
Remember the Soviets were on the German side and invaded Poland as a joint force in 1939. the Soviets didn't switch sides until Germany invaded them in June 1941 2 years into the war they then signed a Alliance with the British Empire.
54:14 most of the lend-lease goods the UK provided went over to Russia (once they entered the war in 1941). In terms of what went to America, it was mainly food and fuel (petrol/gasoline) since the US used different weapon systems which the British ammunition wouldn't fit, plus the US was manufacturing more than enough weapons and ammunition for itself and didn't need British help in that regard.
I’ve no issue with calling the UK a “sardine can”. We are an incredibly densely packed population and yes, the UK isn’t just London but it isn’t wrong to state that most people, even in the 1940s, live comparatively closer to each other than the US. Take Canada - a huge country with 2/3 the population of the UK, population density of 4 per square kilometre compared the UK’s 279 per square kilometre.
Honestly the sardine can analogy isn't wrong even outside the major cities Land is very expensive so all houses are tiny and crammed together. Having a garden too small for a lawn or a shed isn't unusual anywhere even small villages have apartment blocks often with cheap thin walls. Being inconsiderate of your neighbours is still less socially acceptable than alcoholism or drug dealing although they are often linked.
React to Every country England as ever invaded visualised
SEGREGATION. The Brits refused and in preference to the USA white soldiers (who wanted all black soldiers barred) they allowed black only in the pubs etc, they danced and socialised with white British people. USA hated this. Many black soldiers returned here after the war.
Something we can all be proud of.
ruclips.net/video/hxedbp7KCNk/видео.htmlsi=DiMfyumHWaHjiqIJ
@@bludgerabledThe Battle of bamber bridge which I've given the link above
When they made this film they repeatedly called Britain a sardine can, to say we were jam-packed with people. Populations have increased, but even now the USA has about 5 times the UK population, soread over about 17 times the landmass. That's why you build porches, except in your big cities, but we put up hedges. We value our privacy, as we have so little of it
My mum and aunt used to use gravy browning on their legs and use an eye liner to draw a stipe up the back of their legs to look like stockings. They used to smoke tea leaves and loved when my dad was on leave from the RAF he would bring them real cigarettes which were given as part of soldiers rations. He used to trade with others in the forces who didn't smoke so he had some to bring home.
Soviets were not in the game at that stage. It wasn’t until Hitler double crossed them later on that they became involved.
At this stage it was just Britain and the commonwealth countries, Britain being the only major power.
Crikey, you didn't know that Hitler and Stalin had a pack until Germany invaded Russia?
I was just thinking that! Don't they teach WW2 history in the States or do they just teach it post Pearl Harbour?
@@chrisdavies9821 "In 1941 a war broke out and the US saved everyone!"
@@finncullen I'm 83, a Geordie Englishman, and you just made my day!! Actually you've made my week, month and many years of silent head-shaking for every time I've heard a Yank spout off on that. So many ill-educated Yanks are legends in their own minds. THANK YOU.
And I am Mary Pickford!!😮
@@pathopewell1814 And I am Ronnie Pickering.
You might like to checkout the Mini-series (The 1940`s House) where a modern-day family in 2001, chose to enter an historical simulation of life. This included simulated air-raids, all the mod-cons (Radio etc) of 1940 & shopping/rationing.
7:22 I can only speak for myself as John Britain, but whenever I’m feeling a touch overwhelmed…I hop onto my ship and head for the North Atlantic for a little space.
Yes, some of us can trace our family to the Civil War. Born and raised in Ireland, following my family tree back, I found relatives who took part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and even managed to trace a male relative who fled to America during the Civil War. I know he docked in NY and soon enlisted in the 69th Regiment, which was primarily made up of immigrant and NY firefighters. They would be known as the Fighting 69th. I've still got three letters he sent home; they have been passed down to other family members, and I got them from my grandmother. Unfortunately, he died at the Battle of Bull Run, along with many other Irish volunteers. He didn't marry or have kids. I guess that's my family's claim to fame: that one of my relatives fought for the North.
58:19 - yes, there were alternatives for makeup. Women's fashion magazines came up with such ideas as covering your legs with gravy browning to make it look like you were wearing stockings, and drawing a "seam" down the back of your leg with a pencil. For lipstick they recommended pricking your lips with a needle to bring some blood up which you would then smear over your lips. Not nice but it did give them a "rouge" effect.
The American at the start of the video is called a yank probably because he is not showing a peace sign ✌🏻. He is being nude by showing “up yours” sign which is the reverse of the peace sign. 😂🏴🇬🇧
As a british person i love this video, ive seen it a handful of times probably its just really funny, like an actually funny and enjoyable propoaganda piece that is in a lot of ways factually accurate too
My late Nana was in the 'land army', which existed untill rationing ended a few years after WWII. I have her medal. She lived and worked on a farm, milking cows etc.
My late Grandfather remembered watching the Battle of Britain above the skies as a kid, and collected shrapnel which his Dad mounted on little wooden plaques (weird I know). He saw his first dead body as a kid when a German fighter was shot down in a field near his home. He told me that story in waaaaay more detail than he probably should have for a kids school project 😅
Crazy how much of this History, which I teach in school, was really experienced by my Grandparents. I am in my 30s. My Great Grandad fought in WW1. I even own his Bayonet. I visit the places he fought in on our schools yearly Trip to Ypres, Belgium. Both world wars left deep scars on British national identity and culture that exist to this day.
Officially Ireland stayed neutral because we had only got independence a few years earlier and didn't want to risk it openly but
we did help with the war effort in secret.
My Grandmother was from Cork her husband was from Liverpool he
signed up in 1935 when his wife became pregnant when the baby was born. He sent them to Cork, to be safe while he fought in Dunkirk and D Day .
He survived and joined the UN peace keepers in the middle east after the war.✌️😊
Many respects 🇮🇪 from half 🇮🇪/🇬🇧
My great uncle was actually a tank operator in Africa during the 2nd world war & my grandad was a Sargent major. My other grandad was in the home gaurd because of a work accident he wasn't fit to join the army yet he tried to join 4 times.
The soldiers that got posted to the English countryside and places like the Cotswolds must’ve had one hell of a shock when they saw all those glorious green rolling hills.
guys, watching your videos again, russia did not enter the war til 1941, they remained neutral, im not a history buff, but after the battle of briton, and hitler took to many loses, he switched to go east into russia, thats really lost him the war, because we then had the allies come, we re grouped, for the want of a better word, we held the line till help arrived
One of the things Britain gave to the USA was engines for the P52 Mustang aeroplane. The P52 was fitted with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, as they worked better than its original engines. Eventually these engines were manufactured in the USA under licence from Rolls-Royce. The Merlin engine was the engine that powered the Spitfire, the Lancaster and other planes, it was an incredible engine.
The coffee in WW2 in the UK was made from chicory and was produced by the 'Camp' company and it was a black liquid which had a flavour of coffee. It is still available and tends to be used as a flavour for cakes or ice cream.