This is why the British are so irritated by the American view they swept in and won the war. They didn't. They sat on their hands while all this was going on, only joining when Pearl Harbour forced them to. The British withstood nightly 9/11s for months, not only in London but all over the country. And we did it while pretty much starving to death because our food routes from Europe were cut off and America, the land of plenty, didn't help at all. It was a bitter pill to swallow and the memory is still fresh.
I totally agree but I also get a bit irritated when nowadays some British people say ' we won the war' when it really was a concerted effort - not only the British , the people on the continent- resistance- many commonwealth countries were also called on to help and are often forgotten in some people's minds.... I'm glad Britain wasn't invaded, but feeling superior to countries that were is something I will never understand..
I would like to add, that although the USA wasn't much help at that moment in time there were a LOT of brave young American men who (via Canada etc) volunteered to fight for Britain.
@ yup that is true and those men who volunteered are brave hero’s, but that doesn’t mean Britain did none of it. The British people were slaughtered and yet they still held out refusing to surrender
@cindz4618 I couldn't agree more. Our attitude to the French (amongst others), is shocking. They fought couragously and under occupation. It makes me so sad.
the Keep Calm and Carry On poster was never published in wartime. It was made during that period but the government felt it was too potentious considering what people were going through
@@SoSimonSays yeah the other one mentioned (the blue one) was a wartime poster but there were many they came up with and the keep calm and carry on one was never published due to the potentiousness of it. It's worth looking them up :)
US made a lot of money out of the war. UK only finished off paying its war dept to US in 2006. UK like other European countries had to rebuild before it could move on meanwhile US was developing and profiteering. That is why many in Europe are offended that certain US politician think that Europeans are not paying their way. We paid in so many ways to maintain democracy.
Lend lease and rationing is why Americans have the idea that British food is terrible, because when GIs came over here there was very little for them to eat or even buy, because everything from spirits to farm produce went to the war effort.
US politicians do not think, they just do what the big corporations tell them to do. The USA is probably the only country in the world that professes freedom, but where actually its politicians are slaves to the big corporations. The people that vote for them are meaningless to them.
And they took certain nazi scientists/doctors that had been experimenting various things for Hitler and had them work in America in exchange for their freedom...
The Blitz lasted a lot longer than 56 days. it lasted 8 months. there just was that gruelling 56 day period where we got bombed multiple times during the day and night. but the bombings lasted a whole year near enough. actually crazy
I am from Malta. The Blitz was terrible. Malta sustained the equivalent of the Blitz for three whole years in defense of freedom, fighting alongside the British. You should check it out.
Anthony Americans have no idea or knowledge of what the Maltese people went through in ww2. I have been to Malta a few times on holiday so I know what the Maltese people went through. First time Christmas 1978
Malta was awarded the George Cross because of the islands efforts and bravery in World War Two, when I was a kid it was driven into us that it was not called Malta but Malta GC!
From a British and European perspective - America stood by and watched it's allies getting bombed as they begged for it's support. America did not join until securing many trade deals, which then elevated America in it's position as a global super power - This whilst Europe's economy struggled after repairing all the damage post war. This is why you are not taught it, and why it irks people when we hear 'America came to save the day', or when we hear boasting of Americas position in power.
Not much different as to what is happening now in Europe. My fear is that the drip feeding of resources to Ukraine is a repeat of history. Which we in Europe will pay for in the future if Ukraine is forced to capitulate land to an aggressor.
Yes those who made it to the British lines did join in....those who were not fit were housed throughout the UK and looked after. There are many who stayed on after the war and many memorials were erected to the Polish soldiers still to this day. Lest we forget. @@AntMorris
I'm from the UK and grew up there, and I think it says a lot about the impact of the Blitz that the sound of the air raid sirens from this period probably remain one of the most recognisable sounds to most Brits. You learn about the Blitz in schools from a young age, often repeatedly with different levels of detail, but you play that sound and you have entire generations who will immediately feel an echo of the dread and terror people from that period must have felt
It's already a haunting sound, however once you know the story behind that sirens sound, it becomes overwhelming at times- I couldn't imagine the life back in WW2 and I hope we never see anything like it again! I salute anyone who fights in wars mordern or old, and as humans as a society we all should strive to not go to war and it should be a last resort, however unfortunately we rather fund wars and create them- I hope one day we learn from our mistakes, but yet again, humanity doesn't change- Nor does war- God bless and God speed- ❤ (not even religious but belive it's fitting to say)
yh i remember hearing the siren in school in history class and all the children felt cold its something in british minds i think that sound even those who didnt live through it we know what it means
Every year in Guernsey, on remembrance Day, the air raid sirens go off once to mark the start of the 2 minute silence, then another time to mark the end. The British were lucky to not be occupied as Alderney took the most with 4 concentration camps, Guernsey got bombed the most, the island was thought to be a military camp, planes skyrocketed down shooting civilians, including children, tomato trucks were bombed but there were no safe places to go, people were forced to stay in their homes and hope to not be bombed, then came the occupation. Germans marched through Town beating anyone who disagreed and capturing any Jews. There were curfus put on the island, people couldn't go out after a certain time. People were starved so much that they were forced to eat their own pets. No animal was safe as the Germans stationed on the island were starved as well. Anyone who didn't learn German was beaten and police officers were forced to join the Germans and people were forced out of their homes so the Germans could move in. You had 24 hours to pack everything up and leave if the Germans wanted to live in your house. If you didn't you were killed. People's farms were attacked and robbed by the Germans leading to everyone starving. The Germans stopped anything reaching any island meaning that there were no supplies coming in. Rations got so bad that you were lucky to get a slice of bread, albeit a non moldy slice as the Germans took the rest. This is just a little bit of the story, I could carry on but you could just search it all up.
I knew a man who lost his whole family during the bombing of Coventry, The shelter they were in, took a direct hit. He avoided death because he hurried across the street to his home, to check on his dog. He was only a young teenager at the time. He spent his entire 88 years being a nervous wreck. He always wept when he spoke of his family.
Horrific. Poor man. My partner's father was in Plymouth during the Blitz. There was a teacher at his school that insisted all the children stay at one end of the shelter. That shelter took a hit and the end of the shelter the children were in was decimated. They were all killed. The other end of the shelter was fine. My partner's father wasn't at school that day.
The reason Americans don't discuss it is because not one bomb fell on the USA. And no - Pearl Harbour was NOT part of the USA until after the war although Hawaii was illegally annexed before the war. And remember we never saw any US forces until late 1942 so 3 years after our war started. This period was known as 'The Battle of Britain'. It was the last stand for freedom in Europe. We had a 9/11 every week of WWII. After Buckingham Palace was bombed and the King slightly injured (the Royal Family never left London) the Queen said 'Now I can look East Enders in the eye' The debt the UK (and arguably the free world) owes the RAF is huge because not only did they keep us free by turning back the Nazi tide they gave the british people and its forces abroad something to cheer about and create some belief the Nazis could be beaten. As Churchill said in tribute to the RAF: "'Never in the field of human conflict was so much been owed by so many to so few" The price the UK paid for standing alone and giving a platform for later victory was colossal and just the loan to repay Lend / lease was not paid off until 2006 while the USA benefitted hugely giving it a huge head start after the war.
A lot of Americans joined the British long before the US officially joined the war, with many dying. I did a lot of research on this subject a few years ago.
@@lookingforthewhy6447 doesn't change the fact the US didn't suffer bombing like this on their home soil...thye didn't suffer immense losses like we did...and they didn't have an air force that relied on tactics not numbers...the problem with the USA is thye think numbers matters...do you know how many times i hear Americans say "we got more guns or more soldiers than you" to the british...it isn't about numbers...it's how you use them...that was what our air force was about.
We may have paid our War Debt to the US but the USSR has never fully repaid theirs to us. We supplied US and UK weapons to them as the US would not supply directly. Putin denies any responsibility for the debt as the USSR no longer exists. We lost many ships and men during the winter Arctic convoys, winter as the daylight hours were minimal to try and minimise Luftwaffe bombing attacks and attacks by U Boats. Murmansk was the only port in Russia that could be used in winter but very close to German airfields in Norway. The convoys were routed North around Iceland to keep as far away from Norway as possible.
You need to watch the 13 hours that saved Britain, it will give you a full view on what happened, when they talk about bombing, raids consisted of 450 planes not 20 or 30, but 450
I can't believe that the American public are so uneducated about there own history never mind European history, and recent history, my goodness Russia are targeting civilians in the Ukraine,and Israel the inosint people in Gaza.
The Blitz levelled several cities here and abroad. We were fighting the Nazi’s forever and to be told by Americans that ‘you’d be speaking German if it wasn’t for us buddy’ is beyond insulting. You do realise our Prime Minister begged your President for years to help us as we had run out of metal, food and all of our resources a long time before the US got involved. My husband still grew up in rationing time. We were limited to the amount of meat, eggs and butter we could eat.
Which is why it is annoying when people go on about our food being so bad - people had to make do on such bare scraps for so long due to food shortages that it takes time to recover from that.
If they taught you about what actually happened during the war, maybe you'd all quit self-righteously proclaiming you 'saved our asses' and 'won the war'.
We DID save your asses. When WWII broke out the US had a standing army of 174,000. We started with the lend-lease act, and supplied you with weapons. During that time we stood up an entire military. Yes, Pearl Harbor was what officially caused the US to enter the war, but did you ever notice that despite that we laid waste to Germany first? After Germany the US turned around and almost single handedly defeated the Japanese. Russia was our frenemy at best. US aircraft could not land in Russia without the crew basically being held as POW's and the aircraft siezed. Despite all that we chose to fight a war that was not really our war..... yet again.... I'm reminded of the frenchman who talked down to a former american soldier who stormed the beaches at Normandy for not knowing french.... His response was simple. "Well last time I was here I had to stop you from being forced to speak German so....." America is either too eager to get into a war or shamed for not entering earlier. How much help did we ask for in Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Saipan, Etc.... You guys had to take back part of Europe, America had to take back the Pacific Ocean after we helped in europe.
@@jonanderson7355the hell you did! You made a fortune out of us! You tried your racist shit with your black soldiers in an English village pub and got your asses handed to you. While you were getting drunk our boys were fighting and dying!
@@jonanderson7355 The main reason we went to war in the European part was due to the treat of communism to spread after a soviet win and to pay back the damages caused by the Pearl Harbor raid. Everything else was America trying to capitalize on the war
@@jonanderson7355 Everyone learns there own BS of wars from the country they live in. Sorry to say but it was the Russians who helped both the US and UK the most. Without the Russians holding the north of Europe like they did, the Nazis would of had strategic position. Also there would be nothing stopping them with there plan to enter America from Alaska. Hitler had enough of Britain and turned his resources to Russia to break through. The Russians lost more lives by the war which shows you just how much of fight they put up. They deserve much more recognition than any other country that took part. If you live in America or the UK then you would not of got told about the Russians, because we are programmed to hate Russians at an early age.
@@jonanderson7355 LOL you are ignorant of facts. We were fighting the Japs before you for 2 years as for lend lease we payed you for the equipment and it wasnt payed off untill 2006? You profited from our pain. We laid waste to German citys for 3 years before you came in, We turned the tide of the war in 1940 the Battle of Britain and more so in 1942 when we beat the Africa Korps in North Africa which showed the world they could be DEFEATED.
A very famous American journalist, Ed Morrow, who stayed in Britain throughout the blitz, said that he had never witnessed courage like that displayed by the ordinary British people during the bombing of London.
Edward R. Murrow said something during the Cuban Missile Crisis which has always haunted me: that it's difficult to deal with an enemy who says that what's mine is mine, and what's yours is negotiable. Beginning with the rise of the "Contract with America" Republicans, I have to wonder how the Republicans went from being the Loyal Opposition to Murrow's Soviets. The Darkside is always there, waiting for us to enter, waiting to enter us...
@@GoPterosaurnow look at the country 😂😂 doesn’t have the courage to stop letting criminals into the country, to a point where areas around the uk are no whites allowed. And where many “citizens” would fight for other country’s instead of the uk if the war started. (People have gone around places like London, Birmingham, Coventry and more with a camera asking immigrants who they would fight for if a war started) From hero’s to zeros oh how the might have fallen.
My grandmother on my dad's side used to drive an ambulance during this time to help people who were injured. She was a brave lady and one of the many un sung heroes of the time who were never really recognised or honoured. They were not even allowed a flag on their coffins when they died like soldiers were even though they did just as much for their country and were just as brave. But because they were wouman, they were not considered as such. This is a fact that still infuriates me to this day.
After the vikings, they got their attitude RIGHT TF in order, "nazi`s? pAh! We`ve had worse" But seriously though, those people persevered with a huge P, stubborn as hell and tough as nails 💪
As an older American I am so embarrassed by our educational system that no longer teaches history. It isn't just World History not being taught but also majority of our American History is no longer taught. When I was in school in the 50's and 60's we were definitely taught about the Blitz and the bravery and suffering of the British people. We also were taught about the fact our American politicians were mostly isolationists. We were also taught Roosevelt did manage to get approval to send weapons and was working to get Congress to approve the U.S. getting involved. Pearl Harbor did change everything in the attitude in America. I have visited London and seen the scars that still exist today and toured the war offices in Whitehall. I don't know when all of this stopped being taught in our schools but very sad it isn't.
You have nothing to feel uncomfortable about Nancy. Education appears to be lacking across many of the western democracies. Listening/watching many of the TV quiz programmes, I'm staggered at the ignorance of history shown by the average participant.
Nancy its a sign of the times. Most of the people commenting have no idea! All this history of the world should be taught at the High School level. Lest we Forget any war.
Were you told it was your own government who militarised Japan. Simple America puts the dollar before anything else you actually brought pearl harbour on yourself.
I wonder how much of the Blitz is still taught in British schools. I am a WWII re-enactor, so we try to teach the younger generations who are probably unaware of what their own families did in the 1940s and how remarkable they all were.
The US didn't even declare war on Germany after Pearl Harbour. Lets not forget that.There were a lot of politicians in the USA that were of German descent.
as a Brit who had relatives both in the RAF and a civilian it’s really encouraging that you’re going out of your way to educate yourself about this! like you said this side of the Second World War isn’t taught about much in the US, so it’s really great to see people still willing to learn more about what happened close to the fight.
In the early 80s I worked with an English woman who had been a child during the blitz. One day the window cleaners' gantry wire collapsed as it was descending and the gantry came crashing through our office window, sprinkling the English woman with pounds of glass shards over her and her desk. We all rushed over asking if she was okay. She'd had her back to the window so didn't see it coming. She calmly inserted another cigarette in her cigarette holder, lit it, and replied "Well I don't know what that was but I slept through the blitz and it can't be worse than that."
Your shocked, compassionate, intelligent and humble reaction to this horrifying dark chapter of our history is much appreciated, Tyler. It's a pity indeed that there's so little awareness these days of this in some parts of the world.
@@ianwalker5842 If it helps, Swedes have been learning about it in school since back then, so not everyone is unaware of you part in the war ❤️ most Europeans certainly sees you as the saviors and not the States ❤️ it's not much, but it's something ❤️ thank you ❤️
@L.K.Rydens Thank you so much. Th a is the first time I have heard that. Most of the time we are told how we British are hated by every country. What you said has warmed my heart. I normally get upset by comments because I can't understand why we are so hated. Thank you.✌
@@emmafrench7219 You are not hated, I can promise you that ❤️ I think we take in more of the negative than the positive, and at the same time we also share more of our annoyance than the positive ❤️ I think most think of you like one of Europa's treasures, but since you are one of the big players on the field, and have been a role model many times in the past, you guys take a lot of crap as well because you are so in the centre of things ❤️ For example, when people reacted to Brexit it wasn't because they hated you, it was because the people in EU countries felt rejected, so it seems like hate but it's just a feeling of abandonment when you look beneath the layers, a "How can you leave us, I thought we were friends?!" kind of thing, which is because people care a lot ❤️ you are not alone, even if it might feel that way sometimes, I promise ❤️
The fact that you were not taught about this blows my mind as a Canadian. This is something I remember learning in high school during the 90s. In our History classes, we had a 2-month period of teaching about this.
Not surprised and modestly Canada doesn't make a big deal about how much aid and support they gave to free Europe. Just like they don't about their support for Ukraine today. Team effort lots of other non European nations gave so much too
American's are taught about the Blitz and WWII. Please know that most of us care much more that it appears listening to Tyler in this video. It was certainly a major part of the curriculum when I was in school, and teachers I know have told me it is still covered.
because Canada had troops in Britain at the time. I'm pretty sure most countries who were part of the empire/commonwealth are taught about this. Just like aussies & kiwis are taught about Gallipoli and Also I'm sure Australians and new Zealanders are taught about the battle of Tobruk when they were cut of from the rest of the commonwealth army and held the city for 240 days. If the Aussies don't hold Tobruk, the chances are the germans would have been able to take Egypt. I'm sure Canadians are also taught about the dieppe raid one of the biggest disasters of ww2. Fir most Americans WW2 didn't start until 1942 because they definitely want to look into what they were doing when the war started. How the American Nazi party held a big party at the garden in new York. Fact is FDR is the only American in politics when ww2 stared who saw the dangers and risked his presidency on helping the British, it also helped that it made America rich and helped them overtake Britain to become the biggest economy in the world.
This is why Europeans are a bit less eager for war than Americans... I am Danish. We still had siren training every Wednesday at 12 when I was a child in the 1980's... the blitz was something my grandparents never spoke about, but Denmark was right in the middle of it all too!
The curriculum in American schools carries an American narrative only. They learn nothing about anything outside of America. This starts by having to swear allegiance to the flag each day at school get indoctrinated to cult America. By the time they leave school they are fully indoctrinated they only know America .This why Americans are generally willfully ignorant about anything outside of America and have zero social awareness as they never leave their bubble. In America they talk about freedom. In America they look at freedom as free to where in Europe we look at freedom as free from .
I swear they are purposely dumbing people down. They have conveniently whitewashed history in the US, hid the KKK, Civil War truth, etc. I have to wonder what Canadians are learning anymore.
In the same vein, on hloiday in Florida in the late 80's Americans around the pool thought my children (6 and 8) were telling stories when they talked about staying out of London because of the bombs. We had to explain to them that for a couple of years London was under attack by the IRA (The Irish Republican Army). The Americans had not heard any of this in their news.
Well said. @Tyler Rumple needs to have a look at this other prolonged period of guerilla warfare in Britain and then investigate how many terrorist attacks in the mid 2020s were foiled, before and after the London bombings 07/07/2005. An event I was caught up in, along with 1000s. WW1 was told to be the war to end all wars, at the time. We have never NOT been involved in a war or conflict ever since, and before. The hopes for humanity are dependant on those with power, money, political might, and reason. We stand at the brinks, yet again.
Maybe you aren't taught it because the U.S. didn't enter the war until a year later. Seeing what the U.K. endured, and the rationing of food that resulted, maybe you'll now understand how something like beans on toast became a common British dish. Commonwealth countries were also fighting along side Britain from early in the war.
It wasn't just one year later...it was 1942 (after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, Dec. 7, 1941) That's 3 years after the 1939 beginning of WW2 that the Americans joined the war effort.
My mum was a teenager during that war. In her 70s, I asked her 'Mum. We know it ended but did you ever doubt. like did you imagine 'what if?'" Her answer said it all. "No. Never. We could NOT lose. "
Don’t forget that the USA Ambassador to Britain in 1939 was Joseph P Kennedy. He argued with the State Dept and FDR against coming to the aid of Britain. He ruffled feathers in Washington, met secretly with German diplomats and made anti-Semitic remarks. His opposition to America’s anti- Nazi policies led to his resignation in disgrace and ended his political career.
So kennedy joseph* met with Nazi diplomats secretly while we were being bombed,murdered and starved and the USA made a fortune, I am a 80 year old grandma,born in 1944,in WALES my eldest brother in 1939 when the war had started. The USA was begged for help do you know how small BRITAIN is,others came Canada soldiers + pilots and polish pilots.black soldiers came and were surprised at their treatment as equal humans. When Pearl Harbour happened it scared the hell out of the USA they joined in to help we were on rations till 1954, we finished PAYING the USA in 2006 WOW it had taken so long repair some of the vast damage after all the bombings, karma is real now millions of your own poor people are homeless and live in tent cities it’s horrific.While your uber rich build mansions what for those aren’t homes and buy houses for over 130 million their fellow Americans pay a fortune for health care and operations here it’s free.We are our own enemies letting people come here for serious operations going back without paying a cent,SHADY HEY,USA are quick fighting illegal wars and leave innocent civilians behind and leaving millions of war machines for the enemy to kill the poor people who helped you as interpreters + aids in other ways,how could you,I have NEVER wanted to visit the USA only see the VEITNAM wall I still remember how they were treated on return also not. Allowed in cafes and spat on being black was still the same .And you have all these churches + CULTS with false (we have some of them here too) pastors thrown in,pat mason ,Great Britain,,
"Joseph P Kennedy" PLEASE don't use foul language here! Kennedy was an embittered gangster, who would have been perfectly content to see Britain fall to the Nazis (and I'm not sure his kinsman de Valera was much better). Hatred is the enemy of Clear Thinking and Humanity.
@@patmason7370it should be remembered that pre 1941 there was a substantial Germanic/American population in America and guess who they were hoping the American Government would side with. A clue, it wasn't Britain. Politicians, particularly in Congress, did what politicians do which is to put politics above morals, and played both sides until the attack on Pearl forced their hand. Understand I am not justifying what they did, but to truly understand history it is important to see the big picture from all sides.
@@patmason7370 There was also a VERY substantial USA population of Irish ancestry that also wanted to see Britain destroyed and pushed hard until Pearl Harbor to stay out of the war hoping that Northern Ireland would become part of the Republic.
I met a gentleman many years ago 1991, I was a young nurse in theatre He had local anaesthetic and as the anaesthetic nurse I found a kindred soul, history He grew up on a farm in Pretoria, he had a pilot’s license by 16 He ran away and joined the South African airforce. Landed in London before his 17th birthday RAF overlooked a year or two if the buggar could fly and had a sense of humour His Mum tried to get him back, sadly she was told ‘afraid he’s in the English military now, M’am. No getting out. He flew through the war, the 13 hours that saved Britain And the blitz He came home, apologised to his Mum His farther thanked him. He inherited the farm when his father died and now his son and grandson were taking over Several of his squadron came to visit and stayed He kissed my hand and thanked me for knowing what he’d been through. He told his story occasionally , seems I was the only one that could do maths. It’s 2024 now, I know he died when he was in his nineties Never forgot him He still had the swagger you needed to stay sane During his time in WW2 He popped into the hospital on very specific dates with flowers or chocolates I didn’t see him one year, the next a old chap came looking for me, his son to tell me he had died and asked his son to bring me a poppy
What throws me in a real rage, is when you British Throw billions at the 'off-spring' of this NAZIs in Ukraine! I wonder what this Old Chap would say about the ideological background of most of their military and many in their Government! If he died before this Ukraine nonsense started he would have at least been spared the agony of helplessly watching 'the New Generation' thread on his sacrifice with their filthy feet!
The Blitz was so substantial that even in the present day, construction sites in London and many other cities targeted during the Blitz still occasionally uncover German bombs that never detonated.
The idea that Americans don’t know what the blitz is is actually blowing my mind. Makes me wonder what else I take for granted that the rest of the world knows nothing about.
You need to watch a film called "Goodnight Mister Tom" based on a book set during the war, and what happened to London specifically during the blitz, how children were "evacuees" and moved to safer homes in the countryside. It's still taught in British schools, with many schools doing "Evacuee Day" where children dress up as 40s kids and carry a box for the "gas mask" like children back then had to do. I live 500 meters from where an air raid shelter once stood for the local school near my house. We even have a dedicated section of the Royal Engineers who can be called to deal with unexploded WW2 ordnance that gets found during building works.
Ok as you are interested, my mother gave birth during a bombing raid. One of my uncles refused to get out of bed when the siren began wailing. Stating that he wouldn’t get up for that ruddy little corporal, Hitler! I have lots of other anecdotes from my family, but I won’t bore on. Thank you for showing this, it’s much appreciated.
Tyler I'm British so I'll say this, It ain't your fault you were never taught this. The majority of Americans never bother to look at the war from alternate countries perspectives and remain blissfully and stupidly ignorant. Its actually why the UK population has a kind of distate towards the US when discussing ww2 as they'll almosg always say. "We saved your butts, we won the war, you'd be speaking german if not for us ect" This is untrue. The war was won by a combined effort of the allied powers, no one country "won the war". The Blitz was brutal, like genuinely brutal and the British civilian population carried on working... including then princess Elizabeth hence why we loved mad lizzy. She built landrovers in the factories for the war, its actually why she would tinker with the range rovers on her estate even as the queen. Theres a documentary called the 13 hours that saved Britain... You will see how bad the RAF pilots had it. Also side note the spitfire gets all the credit but the real MVP was the hurricane.
@@gibson617ajg World War 2, World War II, WW2, WWII, The Second World War, The Great Patriotic War, and 50 other terms in as many languages. It affected so many people in Europe and across the world, nobody owns "a correct name" for it. Get over yourself.
It would also fair to say the England actually lost the war. Germany was rebuilt way before England, the financial costs for the United Kingdom decimated our economy for decades after the end of hostilities. We gained nothing with our so called special relationship with the United States, Our scientist were key in the development of the nuclear bomb with the promise of data sharing that never happened, the lend lease loan that we paid to keep the USSR in the war was paid in full to the United States to the last dime at a very unfavourable interest rate. I could go on.
I am from the uk and my primary school had an Anderson shelter in the playground. When we covered ww2 and the blitz they staged a air raid in the middle of class and we were made to hide under the tables as a teacher banged on top of them before being marched into the Anderson shelter, all of this was to help simulate to us just how terrifying it was to be a child during the blitz and so we could grab the reality of it.
Im 37 and my family hails from the Portsmouth area (major UK naval city). Last week, my grandmother passed away at 91, after years of campaigning (successfully) to have a memorial erected honoring Portsmouth servicemen and women who lost their lives in WW2. Her father was one ofvthe many who died at Dunkirk. I grew up at the knee of my other grandmother (who passed away some years ago at age 80) who would tell me of her life as a small child during the air raids. She used to play in their garden air raid shelter, and remembered the rationing and the black outs. For now, this is just about still "living memory". But those who remain who remember WW2 firsthand were very young at the time and are now in their twilight years. Its very important that we keep their memories alive and pass down their stories. Thank you for making this video x
@clairechecketts7034 wow, she must have had a very good memory (capacity wise) to remember things from such a young age! But then I suppose regardless of how young are, such traumatic things can imprint even then. Thank you for sharing that.
My Mum was 9 when the war started & also was brought up in Portsmouth. The 10th January 1941 was one particular bombing raid that stood out in her memory. The Guildhall was destroyed along with the main shopping areas of Commercial road & Southsea.
Your great grandfather was one of the men who died at Dunkirk My grandfather was one of the captains of the little ships, who sailed across the channel attempting to rescue the men trapped on Dunkirk beach. On his behalf, I’m sorry he was unable to rescue your great grandfather.
I don't have much if any respect for the royal family. When queen Elizabeth died I still didn't, (I felt and still feel like they could do so much more for us with there endless welth,) but I can 100% respect her for that. A queen, ok, up and coming queen, getting down and durty fixing cars? Now that's a queen I could have respected. I must admit to feeling a bit bad but on the other hand it isn't really my fault, I wasn't taught any of this stuff in school, it was a school for the disabled but that shouldn't have mattered, it's an important part of history and who we are as a people.
43000 killed 50000 injured, 70000 buildings destroyed and 2 million people made homless, in the bombing of Britain during vww2, some areas still have obvious changes in architecture and different house styles due to the bomb damage. Thank God we had tea.
@@Raven44453last time that happened the British empire took over the world and that was only defcon mildly miffed. The day we get really upset even god won't save you
Not only were we taught all about the Blitz all of the way through school but it’s also still visible in some ways, even outside of London (I’m from Bristol). For example, I live on a road of 1930s terrace houses and about 5 or 6 on the road are a much newer simpler build as they were replaced after the bombing of the area. I have an elderly lady on my road who remembers many of the houses going down. Thank you for taking the time to learn and educate about the subject.
Thank you Tyler for learning how British people suffered in the blitz and even after begging the Americans we were refused help.. We were on strict rations over here,I’m 80 years older than now and was 18 months old when the war ended,,Look into Japanese prison torture camps, I am WELSH born and when the prisoners returned to my mid wales small town mum said the people were on the town station to welcome the returning prisoners,a band was playing.Every one was singing THEN* they heard the train coming in the distance a long train,,IT came into the station 1x1 when the first carriage came in the doors opened and medics came out carrying stretchers with soldiers on then you could hear a pin drop. The band and choir stopped and some women started crying,they were human skeletons on those stretchers where there once fit men they were loaded onto army ambulances outside the gates. Then the next carriage pulled in and more men on drips and bandaged helped by medics and other soldiers who looked like they should have been on a stretcher,some woman called out a name through sobs there was silence then a whispered MAM! My mum said it was a scene of horror. I can’t understand how anyone could go to Japan on holiday to me they are wired wrong a cruel weird race, ITS 2024 now and they have bars with young women dressed as school girls these are middle aged businessmen the younger men don’t have girlfriends but mannequin dolls with all the body parts to me that’s more than strange, To the young British school 6th formers what is taught about the wars NOTHING I can’t forgive or forget I wish I could the same with WW1 +WW2,Look at the world now what a mess thousands dying globally a week if not more..GOD HELP US ALL Pat mason,Colchester,Essex,ENGLAND..
I'm staggered that In UK, we know about Pearl Harbour (basically an outpost of US) and yet Americans don't know that entire cities were bombed relentlessly ALL OVER the nation. Coventry, Liverpool, Hull...parts were absolutely decimated. As somebody born only 30 years after the war ended, I grew up where feelings were still very, very raw. It's no wonder we Brits get offended when some Americans imply they just swept in and rescued everyone. We all worked together, but we were left floundering for far too long. You haven't met brave people until you've met people that survived bombing like that. I highly recommend you watch Blitz Street with Tony Robinson. It's a 4 part documentary and tells the horrific experience of the blitz very well. It's here on You Tube.
Its more young people that don't realize what happened. The history classes aren't that thorough. I blame the public schools. Its one of the reasons why parents are taking children out of school and teaching them at home. Home schooling.....
Hollywood has helped to make sure that we know about Pearl harbour, with movies such as "Tora Tora Tora" and the rather unexceptional "Pearl Harbour". Just as we know about "The Alamo" and "Gunfight At The OK Corral"...! I think it's worth remembering that in the war against Hitler's Germany, the America air force lost more bomber crews than all of their (non naval) losses in the Pacific war put together. So Uncle Sam paid his dues...
As an Australian I didn't know Darwin was bombed by the Japanese until the day I started work in 1966 at the main trunk exchange in Adelaide and saw a memorial to the telephonists dedicated to the telephonists who died there. Later still I found out about HMAS Sydney being sunk by the Germans off the coast of Western Australia or two Japanese submarines discovered in Sydney.
Civilians around their country are being bombed daily. Towns and villages raised to the ground. 6.5 million people displaced predominantly through Europe.
Yeah - and yet it seems as well as President to be Trump, the American public has had enough of coming to their aid and rest of western military powers are just continuing to let it happen. Pretty despicable and complete 2 fingers to learning lessons of history!
My husband at 3yrs old slept in the underground station in London with his parents every night. They came up to find their house and everything gone execpt my husband had his teddy bear. He had to go and live with friends in the country side to be safer. Everyone had to do something to the work effort. His mother was with a team moving the barage balloons that were put up to stop the enemy planes. His father was a fire warden. Even Princess Elizabeth who was a young girl then had to go to learn to be a mechanic and drive. That is why the British had so much respect for her when she became Queen and the Royal family because they stayed in London during the Blitz with the people. I still have my husbands Teddy Bear which we bought with us to Australia. He passed away recently.
10:55 yeah, we do. I loved learning about WW1 & 2 and what I learned has always stayed with me. My grandma and great grandma nearly perished in a Blitz attack in their home town of Coventry (which wasn’t mentioned here). They had air raid sirens to warn people when planes were incoming. My great grandma was working in a cinema at the time and my grandma would walk from her school to the cinema after school and then they’d walk home together. Just as they were about to leave a siren started and all the patrons of the cinema flooded down to the ‘shelter’ which was in the basement below the cinema screen room. My great grandma decided to take her daughter and go home instead, because she knew her son would be home from school soon and she didn’t want him to be alone. The cinema was hit by a bomb after they left and everyone inside perished. I would exist, nor would my mother or any of my siblings, if not for that decision. There were countless moments like that, like bombs landing in back gardens and destroying parts of a house, which left people feeling either very lucky, or in the case of direct hits - very unlucky. Life went on because there wasn’t another choice. The British desire to keep on going cannot be understated. We survived, and we’re very grateful to our ancestors, especially the RAF, for their heroism. Thank you for making this video and shedding light on our history for your American followers! 🙌🏻
Thats a crazy story but truly shows how little decisions can affect so much. She had a desire for her son to not be alone during it so she chose her family over her own safety. I think thats amazing as much as its upsetting for the people in the cinema. I remember first learning about the Blitz in school and I was amazed that it was such a short time ago in comparison to other historical stories we were told like romans etc
My Dad was born in Leeds in 1938 in a house that his family had owned since thy came from Ireland around 1900. He remembers being about 4, standing in their large walled garden, watching the German planes bombing Leeds. His grandfather went mad with him, dragging him inside & down into the cellar just in time, as bomb hit where he had been standing about 3 or 4 minutes later. When they came upstairs after the bombing had died down, their entire garden was destroyed, along with the railway siding on the other side of the garden wall. Their chickens were all dead & their crops destroyed.
My grandparents ran a corner shop in Luton (Luton is just North of London), but during the blitz my grandad was part of a group who had the unenviable task of collecting the deceased after each bombing raid, day after day, many he would have known personally. This understandably affected him for the rest of his life 😢.
My eldest uncle was too old for the military so he was a fire watcher in Manchester. He stayed outside during the raids and would report/help fight fires in his area. During one bad bombing a portion of downtown Manchester caught fire. The flames were so hot water from the fire hoses evaporated before it hit the fire.
The Canadians were thought of as the fiercest fighters. I read recently about the tulip bulbs sent to Canada every year by the Netherlands, in the same way that Norway sends a Christmas Tree to the UK.
What (with a twist) makes it easy to remember for me is that my town of birth was liberated by "The Polar Bear Division", Canadian.👴🤷♂ (The twist being "Polar for Polish...".)👴😁
you gotta remember just over 20 years earlier London had also been under siege from the Germans using both bombers and zeppelins which sure didn't kill as many as in the blitz, but still devastated homes and livelihood. I still have a living relative that was in London during the blitz, my grandmother and her sister both survived the blitz. from what i can remember from what my great-aunt told me on one of the nights both her, her mother and sister watched as some German bombers were coming in (not sure if she could see them or if it was just hearing them she never told me) before they went to hunker down for the coming raid. after the all clear was given they looked out the window and she just described it as "the horizon was on fire, every direction we looked it was orange". mind you they were both 4-5 at this time why they hadn't been evacuated to the countryside I'm not sure, but it makes for a pretty interesting first hand account of the blitz. unfortunately i never got to hear my grandmothers side of it as she died back in 2014 when i was 10 and had very little idea of the world wars, but at least i got to hear my great-aunts side of things!
The King and Queen never left London during the war. They stayed in Buckingham Palace during the entire war, in solidarity with the local population. One of the reasons we love our Royal Family.
@jackie0604oxon The King and Queen left Buckingham Palace each evening to spend them with their Daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, who had been moved to Windsor Castle for safety.
And of course the king's brother was having cosy meetings with German leaders pre-war, and there's evidence he was advocating invasion even during the way while safe in Barbados.
With all due respect, it never ceases to amaze me just how little knowledge most Americans have of anything outside of the USA . In 2008 whilst travelling with a group of Americans I made mention of the bombing of Darwin and Broome during WWII and I was informed that "Australia was never bombed during the war!" ....another comment was "Oh I saw something about it in a movie but didn't think it was real"
Oh, and the Australians were there along with their Commonwealth brothers and died alongside them as well. Britain will always be family to Australians as so many of us came from there and in some ways regard it as our second homeland.
New Zealand 🇳🇿 too,for a small population of only about 1 million then,they sent about 100 000 men and women nurses, my mother lost her only brother in the Western Desert in 1943,we were Commonwealth of course.
Australian troops mainly fought in North Africa & later Papua New Guinea against the Japanese. A number of Australian pilots and Air crew flew for Bomber Command - most notably HCT Bennett who would later command the pathfinder force of the RAF. His wrecked Halifax Bomber is on display at the RAC museum in Hendon after being recovered from a Swedish lake in the late 1970's
Plymouth (a Small city in South west England) was also badly bombed as it had a Navy base, but also the civilian town was also badly bombed. The air raid siren in the Naval Dockyard there still goes off every Monday morning at 11:30am.
Its great that he cares enough to learn about these things and educate himself. If only other Americans were as open minded willing to think beyond their own borders.
@@321bytorWell soon there will be a new generation who have no idea what happened in Britain. Especially the war years. It shows from the younger generation who only know what the last 20 or 30 years has been like. They think things have always been like that! The older generation who used to tell of it from personal experiences have mostly gone now. They won't get to know.
Both of my parents lived through the Blitz. Their home town, Chelmsford, was heavily bombed because the main manufacturer of Radar, Marconi, was based there. My Father was 14, a bomb fell on the house next door but didn't detonate. One morning, he left for school, calling at his friend's house, but half of the street was gone, and his friend and all of his family were killed. Someone's head was laying in the middle of the road. My mother was 9, and had three much younger siblings. Her father was in the Army, and away from home, and her mother was in hospital. It was down to her to get the younger brothers and sisters into the Morrison shelter (the cage), and wait for the bombs. They used to count them as they fell, as they soon learned how many bombs were in a 'stick', and as they got closer, count them down. I can't begin to imagine how terrifying that must have been for a 9 year old. Every two nights of the Blitz as many people were killed as those who died as a result of 9/11. This went on for 8 months.
My dad lost his mum through illness at around 11 years old and was sent to live with his aunt and uncle who lived in Woolston in Southampton when my granddad joined the Royal Navy. He witnessed first hand the blitz of the city. At the end of the road in Woolston by the River Itchen was the Supermarine factory where Spitfires were built and that added to the it’s role as a large port within easy striking distance of northern France made the city a strategic target. A few years down the road he also bore witness to the preparations for D Day. The docks had been requisitioned by the US Army in 1943 and such was the volume of cargo coming through the port it was for a while one of the busiest in the world. Eisenhower had his HQ at South Western House in Southampton. The city’s shipyards constructed landing craft and the King George V dry dock was used to construct the top secret Mulberry Harbours. In all 3.5million troops embarked on the invasion of Europe through Southampton 2 million which were American. 60% of all US personnel and equipment went through the port. In the days before he recalled the streets packed with men and machinery waiting to be loaded. Southampton and Portsmouth are less than 20 miles apart and with the former the biggest port on the south coast and the latter the home of the Royal Navy both suffered greatly in the later months of 1940.
@@chrishayward9615I can see the remnants of the mulberry harbour that sank in the Thames from my house. You can get to it at very low tide or with a Jet ski.
I learned about the Blitz in Year 5 (I was nine and ten years-old), we learned about war in a way that did not glorify it. Obviously they didn’t tell us in depth about how horrible it was, but they certainly didn’t glorify it. We covered evacuees, the holocaust, the fighting itself and we went to a museum and had a day dedicated to the Blitz itself, covering what happened, air raids, sirens, firefighters, medics, evacuation, the destruction and such, it was dark and had every right to be. We covered WW1 and WW2 in much more depth throughout Secondary School and Sixth Form, including talking to a real holocaust survivor called Manfred Goldberg, covering the war in the West, the East, and Pearl Harbour and the US' involvement, the involvement of the soldiers from the British colonies at the time and much more, we didn't just learn about Britain or Europe because that is not the whole war. I cannot fathom not knowing about this information, this is essential knowledge to everyone, nobody should forget things or be ignorant to it or we'll be doomed to repeat it.
Are you from the UK? Because there are many important moments in history from other parts of the world that we don't get taught or know about. Everyone knows the Big world altering battles, but as for smaller (but still large scale events) they are brushed over or not talked about at all unless you're from the place where it happened.
I remember learning about it in primary school, we learned about the evacuees and had to dress up as some London children getting sent off to the countryside to escape the blitz. It was a big part of our history education (amongst other things) and it's important for everyone to learn about what really happened not just to the brave soldiers but the brave everyday people who had to carry on during the horrors of war. Massive respect to everyone from every country who kept fighting for our freedom.
My Grandad (he’s 90) was born and raised in London. He remembers the blitz, people rallying around and people sitting on rubble drinking tea. When the air raid sirens went off he had to go into the underground and after the war played in the air raid shelters. St Luke’s church in Liverpool was bombed, inside was ravaged by fire and at 3:36 the clock stopped working. The external walls and clock still stand today. Everyone in Liverpool knows it as “the bombed out church”. They have a website. My great grandad died in 1987, he fought in both wars and never spoke about it, other than when he was shot in the leg and taken as a prisoner of war. The blitz went on for a long time, with many losses and a lot of destruction. Both wars should never not be spoken about, it should be remembered and never repeated. We owe so much to our grandparents and their sacrifices. When you read on the history you can see where the British “stiff upper lip” comes from. No one means Britain won the war when they say “we won the war”, what they mean is all the allies won. To this day we still find undetonated bombs in the ground. Street and road signs were taken down so if there was an invader they wouldn’t know where they were
Ukraine is in a similar situation now, although their numbers are smaller than Russia they have the same spirit to defend their own land from foreign aggression.
Yes, because of your bumbling Boris Johnson, who has managed to destroy two countries in less than a decade! What business has NATO got in Ukraine? Is Ukraine a member of NATO? I did not hear such 'sympathies' when NATO was bombing former Yugoslavia, Syria, Libya or invading Iraq (after framing them with 'cooked-up' evidence)! The worst type of people are those who elevate themselves to this your kind of 'self-righteous' Level!
No it isn't. That's propaganda. Russia didn't invade Ukraine. They liberated Donetsk and Lugansk from ethnic cleansing. That war is far older than you think and you should stop believing everything you see on the BBC.
The difference is nobody came to aid Britain for 3 years. the US and UK (and quite a few other countries) have been aiding/aided) Ukraine so they're not in the same situation. They're getting the finances, the military support and even training programs. You can't even compare the 2 without being disrespectful tbh.
I saw this as a 13 year old on BBC tv it was quite an education - my parents lived through the war so we were not sheltered from the horrific history and adults knew it was important that we never forget. ruclips.net/p/PLYxy4la9w2tfotW1Xs-7oICGflf4dJtj5&si=EYZ7mqIZHBPqfKib
Brit here! I really don't comment on videos, but I really wanted to share my story! All of my older family members were children during the Blitz, mostly living near, and with parents/older siblings working in huge factories at the time. They used to tell me stories about them being so afraid that their house wouldn't be there in the morning, or that when the sirens would go off, they would worry all night that their parents or older siblings wouldn't make it home from work and die in the factories. And when I say they were children, I mean between the ages of 4 and 10 years old. Sadly, many of them aren't here anymore. My parents, who aren't that old, grew up playing in the rubble of bombed houses and infrastructure as late as the 1970s. My ex was American, and I understand that not all Americans are like my ex, someone who really just would not see the world through a non-American lense - which I understand because how can you know if you have never been taught about it... But they never understood why I would get so intense when they made out the war wasn't that bad. They very much made out that the Brits of the time were crybabies and that it must have been so embarrassing for us to admit that we needed help after 1775 hahaha etc etc. They always used to say, "You should be grateful for us Americans that you still speak English and not German. We saved your ass!" and I could only sit there and beg them to educate themselves despite how many times I would tell them about the Blitz. (The relationship didn't last long, mind) They didn't realise the extent we were decimated by the Blitz until they visited the UK, and noted that large swathes of the country's infrastructure is brutalist - built in the 50s, 60s and 70s, that was mostly due to the way we were bombed. It was the British people of the time that kept the country from collapsing entirely. I hold much admiration for my older family members. However! Something that may be really interesting to look at, if you admire us Brits for turning shit situations into good ones, you should take a look at the Beveridge Report. It introduced huge reforms in British society at the time. WW2 was horrible, but it did give us a blank state to pull our country out of the Victorian slums and absolute poverty. You might find it interesting if you wondered how we pulled ourselves back from it all!
My dad was born in the 30's. I remember him telling me about a night just before he was evacuated. He was walking home through London when he heard the air raid sirens go. As he started to run home, he heard planes overhead, then the road he was running parallel to exploded into flame as firebombs were dropped along its length. Saved by blind luck, could have just as easily been along the road he was on. He'd often talk about his life in Cheddar where he was evacuated to, but that was the only time he ever talked about being in London during the Blitz. I honestly can't imagine.
my grampy was in the merchant navy, he was on Atlantic convoys. bringing back aviation fuel from Galveston to the UK to keep the RAF in the skies. we NEVER hear of their bravery. #heroesall
@@scottneil1187We are all fully aware of the Polish pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain, thanks, partly because every RUclips video has at least one person like you who insists on reminding us when we don't need reminding!
My Aussie grandpa served in the RAAF in Darwin when it was bombed by the Japanese. He never once spoke about it, he was the most gentle and loving and playful grandpa and I know that it affected him. My son, who is now 34, was given grandpa’s medals, which he treasures.
My grandfather was an air raid warden. My grandma and her three daughters between 6 months and 7 years were saved by a neighbour when they hadn’t realised an incendiary bomb had landed in the roof of their house. They lost everything. They left the house surrounded by fire and collapsing buildings. My mum relived it often. She was 4.
@@Gantali9305 not just strategic cities i have personally found 2 in a wooded area and another 2 in a nearby field not far from a small mansion in the countryside, they removed the 2 in a field about 18 years ago, and the 2 in the forest i have no idea but i assume they were removed at the same time.
To get an idea as to how badly the RAF were outnumbered you should look up the Battle of Britain, it's a real eye opener and gives a fuller picture of just how things were over here during the war.
The reason we won was because of RADAR. Because we were able to detect incoming attacks, we didn't need to waste fuel and aircraft on patrolling borders. All aircraft would be available and scrambled at a moments notice, thanks to the RADAR and the ground spotters.
@@edmundprice5276Radar and the German underestimation of its importance. Had they realised the significance of our radar to our strategic air defence capability, they would and could have with more importance based on it, taken it out and leave us open to almost invisible attacks from the sky.
Plus: RAF fighters were operating close to their bases so could stay in the air battle longer than the Me Bf 109's that soon had to turn round and go back. British pilots who had to bail out and parachuted safely to the ground could soon return to their squadrons, but Luftwaffe aircrew who bailed out and survived became PoW's and out of the war.
@@edmundprice5276 In addition to radar (and the Observer Corp spotters) what made a real difference was the control system planned and put into place before the war. This meant that information coming in could be collated and presented to commanders in a clear form allowing them to deploy the available forces most efficiently. The division by area and squadron meant it was immediately clear which forces were deployed and which still free. On one fateful occasion, during a visit to the command centre by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the answer to his question, "What forces do we have in reserve?" was, "None. All available aircraft are deployed..." Radar allowed an early 'heads up' as it could detect enemy aircraft before they even reached the English Channel so fighters could be put in the air only as needed rather than patrolling randomly looking for aircraft. The RAF also enjoyed the advantage of fighting above friendly territory. If shot down, assuming they survived, pilots could be back in the cockpit just as soon as they could get back to base. Any German pilots suffering the same fate could only look forward to years in a POW camp. Remember that trained and experienced aircrew are far more difficult to replace than the aircraft they fly.
Jerry Springer was actually born in a London Tube Station during WWII while his Mum was taking precautionary shelter because of the risk of air raids. He has spoken about it (mostly in a lighthearted manner) a few times on UK TV programmes. Though his episode on Who Do You Think You Are? is absolutely heartbreaking as he discovers what happened to his family that stayed behind when his parents (and I think his sister too) fled to the UK. For the World Wars it is necessary to keep in mind that Europe was in total war, with great swathes of the mainland becoming battlegrounds. Though this was the case in many other parts of the world, I have the impression that it was more widespread in mainland Europe (though that might just be the bias of the perspective I’ve been taught). We here in the UK were part of that total war but were also on the periphery of it as we watched our young men go off to foreign climes we only really experienced bombs where on the European mainland they had armies digging trenches in their fields and having battles on their streets and with either the enemy living amongst you as an overlord or the imminent threat of that happening. Where the island of Great Britain (the UK mainland) wasn’t invaded, though the Channel Islands were (though they aren’t part of the UK they are crown dependencies and their residents are British Citizens). But as much as the UK was on the periphery, the US was light years away from that epicentre. So you have not grown up within families and towns/cities that are steeped in the scars of total war. I know that for someone of my generation whose Grandparents were the ones going through this total war, it was always kind of just there. Our parents were brought up with rationing and played in the bomb sites and our Grandfathers either served or were in reserved occupations deemed essential to the war effort (my Grandas were one of each, one served In the army from 19 year old in 1939 right up until the end in 1945 and the other was 14 at the start but went into the shipyards and as soon as the war ended was called up for National Service in the RAF). Even if (as in my family) wartime stories weren’t constantly offered, throwaway remarks and answers to questions always were.
My great grandmother tells me first hand about the blitz. She lived one street away from the docks, it’s something that still scars her to this day. War is costly, peace is priceless. Every night I hope we never have to endure anything like this again, only now, the weapons are 10+ times deadlier. I appreciate my American cousins looking into this, we were down, but not out, you helped us endlessly, food, planes and resources, but you didn’t win us a war, we would’ve won eventually. You reduced its length by 20+ years for sure though 😂
As a Canadian, I find it shocking that you never heard of The Blitz before this. Events of the World Wars were covered deeply in History class and on tv. The Blitz and many other events, including Pearl Harbour are remembered at Remembrance Day ceremonies on Nov 11.
There is a whole branch of my family that doesn't exist becuase of the London Blitz. My grandma's aunt and uncle and three cousins, plus another older cousin and her baby, were all killed when their house took a direct hit. My grandma never liked to talk about it but she agreed to talk to me about it just once for a school project (back in the early 90s) and I'm so glad she was brave enough to do that because I'll never forget the story. The impact of her sharing it on me was really profound.
As much as we appreciate the American war effort don't forget that the UK and the commonwealth stood alone for two years before America joined the war. There were however 3 Eagle squadrons made up of American volunteer piolets flying for the RAF.
@@cptncutlegalso when the Americans did actually join the war they were rather disgusted that we had black Americans not only flying alongside us too but, they were treated as equals regardless of their role which was in stark contrast to how their compatriots treated them, often when a fight broke out in an English pub it would be started by an American that wouldn’t drink if the black men were not told to leave which almost always ended up with the white American being told to leave instead.
Aone in 1939 , 1940 , 1941 , 1942 . In spring 1942 the lend lease act was signed off to help the UK. The Republican party voted against helping the UK , a bit worrying for Ukraine.
My mum was 11 years old when war broke out. My family lived in the east end near docklands. The Germans bombed it relentlessly, so much so her family then moved to Clapham South London. All her life after the war, if she heard the warning siren go on a programme or film she’d shudder. In the road where she lived, the school at the end of the road was flattened to the ground. Thank god it was a night raid & not during the day, although some schools were hit during the day. She did say that the Americans seemed to think that the bombing of pearl harbour seemed to be their terrible tragedy & it was, any loss of life it dreadful. But uk suffered for a very long time. Good for you to want to know more about it. Hats off to you. 👏🏻
Proud to be British so much history the good and the bad it makes us who we are strong proud and down to earth, thanks to all our heros in the armed forces from past and present that keep our beautiful isles and amazing people safe
My family are from the East End of London, where the Blitz was at its worse, and my grandfather was a fireman, who while the women and children were taking shelter in the underground, was fighting fires and pulling people (dead and alive) out of burning amd collapsed buildings; Myself and my cousins were born in the 60's and 70's, but were told all about this, so we're all really proud of him and his bravery to this day, and while he died in the 1970's, all of his great grandchildren and their children, know all about him, and we all have photo's of him on our walls.
that's why.. we were never taught at school because everyone knew. We were always told to look out for unexploded bombs, and there were mine cases painted red and used for charity collection on the seafront
My granny lived in London during WW2! she said the boys next door would get on the roof with shovels to flick the bits of bombshells off my other gran who lived in wigan was too young to really know what was going on during the war, but she discovered the morrison shelter was great for tap dancing on! 9:23
Not just British history There were Allied pilots from many countries involved Canada, Australia, Poland,etc. My father fought as Fighter Pilot in the Battle of Britain/The Blitz. He flew Spitfires Mosquitoes and Hurricanes in RCAF Squadron 1 against the German Luftwaffe bombers and single-engined single-seat Messerschmitt They were outnumbered 10:1. The Allies eventually won preventing Hitler from taking control of Europe. Churchill later thanked the surviving pilots “'Never in the field of human conflict was so much been owed by so many to so few.” My father flew 1939-1944. The military sent him home early after 5 years of dog fighting because he was still alive. In America’s entire history1931-1841 has been the only ten year time of peace when they haven’t been at war with another country or each other.
Respect to your dad on Remembrance Day.❤My dad was in an RCAF Mosquito Squadron. I lost 4 Canadian cousins. The new Bomber Command Memorial (2012) in Green Park is beautiful. One man who raised a lot of money and fought the government (such as refusing to pay taxes on the materials) was Robin Gibb of The Bee Gees.
You ought to read about the silent V1 and V2 bombers. I was born the year after the war and my mum and dad told me about them and it gave me nightmares.
My uncle went from Saskatchewan to to Britain to enlist in the RAF. If not for the British holding fast Germany would have moved on to North America with Japans help. Most Commonwealth countries sent troops to fight. If the Americans had helped earlier in the war a lot of lives would have been saved
That's why we hold our Remembrance day on 11 hour 11 day of the 11 month , every year to pay tribute to all the brave soldiers who sadly died fighing for our freedom. God bless them all, we who are living today owe them our gratitude. ❤❤ and pride.
My dad was in London at this time and said the sky would darken from the bombers. When the Luftwaffe was losing much of its capacity they sent over V1 and V2 rockets. He said you held your breath hoping the engine sound would continue because if it stopped you were dead. The lack of knowledge of this in the US is unpardonable. If the UK had capitulated, the western hemisphere ....including the US, would have been next. Civilians often slept in the tube to be safe. Almost 8000 children were killed in the Blitz. When I was in London in the 60's there were still vacant lots where bombs had destroyed homes and businesses. The woman I was with was from Coventry and leapt into an alley when a car backfired, still suffering from PTSD almost 20 years later. Another friend's father was going to send a soldier home because he was underage. He said, "My home is gone and my family are dead". Canada also lost many ships and sailors in convoys supplying the UK to keep it alive and able to fight. Canadian factories and farms supplied as much as possible to help. My dad was in the RCAF and volunteered at the start of the war. Australia, India, Scandinavian countries, free Poles, French resistance, Russia, NZ, S African and many British allies were in the fight years before the US. The US did NOT win WW2 single handed. "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON"!
My mum said that the V1s were easier to cope with because you could work out roughly where they would hit after the engine cut out. The V2 on the other hand gave no such warning. They were also quieter. I was born just after WWII and so had quite a few play areas courtesy of the Luftwaffe a.k.a. bomb sites. We were under strict instructions from mum NOT to play in them but.. well they were so inviting.
My nan was an evacuee during the war. She was from Liverpool and was evacuated to a farm in wales with her siblings. Sadly she came of age to work whilst she was there and they sent her back home alone. She told us stories us having to take shelter inside the anglican cathedral during raids. We took her to the cathedral one time and she described hearing the shrapnel striking the walls. The holes can still be seen today along the sides of the sandstone walls. We have a postcard that has a photograph of them on the farm, and she'd written on it that their time there was "the happiest in her life". I think it must have really upset her when she was split from her siblings and sent back to essentially a warzone
NOW, you can understand Brit's attitude to America's part in WW2. Brits see them as Johnny come lately. America only joined in WW1, for the last few months.
My maternal grandmother was in her twenties then and used to shelter in the London Underground stations with her family. My paternal step-grandfather was an older child and was evacuated to Surrey, he stayed good friends and had regular contact with the family that hosted him until the day he died a few years ago. Nearly 25 years ago, on New Years Eve turning into the year 2000, the fireworks from everybodys new years eve parties around our south london neighbourhood were particularly spectacular, loud and going on a lot longer than usual due to it being a new millennium. As we always did, we opened the front door to let the new year in and wish the neighbours, who would also all come outside, a happy new year. An elderly neighbour was out in her front garden with her dog and she looked at me with terrified eyes and said in dead seriousness "Thank you, but its too much like The Blitz for me, its bringing back memories" and as soon as her dog was finished she ran back inside. Ive never forgotten what she said to me that night.
I'm so glad you're covering this it's such a huge part of our recent history,my mum lived in London and had to endure this and was evacuated after a month of bombings not knowing if her parents would still be alive,she was 5 years old!
You never heard of it cos in your schools you only learn about your own country’s history no one else’s, American school history classes only care about themselves and their guns. 0:24
It wasn't just during the blitz that London and other UK cities and towns were bombed. The blitz was only the main period of bombing which included the most concentrated number and largest German bombing raids on the UK. Luftwaffe bombers were dropping conventional bombs on London until the end of January 1944, and the V1 and V2 flying bombs were not stopped until March 1945. So, for all of WW2 (with the exception of the period from the start of September 1939 until August 1940), UK cities and large towns were being bombed until not long before the end of the war. London gets highlighted, but many other UK cities suffered really badly from German bombing raids, too. Coventry is a good example of a UK city that was heavily destroyed by German bombing. The cathedral was destroyed. The fact is just about every UK city and large town was bombed at some time or another during WW2.
Yeah up here in hartlepool and it's near towns like Seaton etc were hit.....even by German ships hence you can look up the Hughe Battery and get mini tour guides to show the places that were hit.....so many places in the whole of UK were hit. And yeah the buzz bombs them dreaded rockets.....the scary part wasn't hearing the buzz of the rocket but when it stopped that's the part where you were scared as you knew it was falling but where u didn't know
Chopwell was bombed and the next morning my Aunty was born, as my Grandma had had a fright. A German plane also crashed in the Chopwell Woods. Chopwell is near Newcastle
If you ever come to London, some bomb damage is still visible. Such as at the Natural History Museum and the opposite building the Albert and Victoria Museum. They have an engraved stone saying the damage was left unfixed as a memorial to what happened.
My home city of Norwich was blitzed during the war, over 300 people died in a short time & around 2/3 of the city's buildings were damaged. My 15 year old Mum helped man a water hose, her family (including my Granddad who was in a wheelchair) shared a shelter behind their house with 3 other families - a self built one called an Anderson shelter. My Nan kept a note of every bombing raid & how many times the sirens sounded - which fills 3 little notebooks. It was a terrible experience for everyone.
My Mum and Dad were children and lived in London during WW2. They spent nights in underground (tube/subway) stations, neighbours were killed in the bombings/rubble. My Mum was bombed out of several schools and didn't have a good education for the wartime years. V1 and V2 rockets used to fly over indiscriminately and drop/explode/destroy/kill. Just like Ukraine today. Yes, this was the Blitz. Not only London. Other UK and European cities. e.g Hull, Coventry, Liverpool, etc. That's why some of us Brits (and other nationalities) have such strong views on bully countries like Russia doing the same in Ukraine. I'm really pleased you're 'educating' yourself and have put this video out. Thankyou!! And cheers from the UK❤
To the Americans watching this that didn't know: this is what's happening in Ukraine, this is why we are reacting, this is why supporting Ukraine isn't us being nice, it's them fighting a war on everyone's behalf.
Sorry but that’s not the same, the current situation in Ukraine is a 100% proxy war for the Americans against Russia, now that Ukraine has a more pro west leader installed after the Americans facilitation of the pro east leader’s removal circa 2014
I think Americans are very ignorant of lots of things out side America. I was at Disney in Florida on 4 th July and the American dad was saying to his young son “ we are celebrating our independence, from who, I don’t know “. We turned to him and said “ the British “
As an American from the 80s I am shocked this guy never heard of the blitz. As a kid though and now history was and is interesting. I watched a documentary one time about firefighters during the blitz it was pretty interesting and they had to deal with collapsing brick building s unexploded bombs no water pressure they talked about trying to get people out of rubble before the fire came.
Hull was called a north east city the bomb damage was comparable to London but it was never mentioned as such. Coventry is mentioned because its badly damaged cathedral but the historical center of Hull is omitted 90,000 homes, churches and factories were either damaged, or, flattened together with the city's infrastructure also badly damaged. Everyone knows of London that's the main reason why the air raids/blitz is associated with it but the damage to the country is centered on it.
Due to its location Hull often was used as a secondary target when the bombers couldn't find their primary target further inland in the midlands. It was seldom named in news reports and was usually referred to as a town in Eastern England due to its importance.
My grandparents and my mum (who was 8 years old) were bombed in March 1941 in what is now known as The Clydebank Blitz. The Luftwaffe's targets were supposed to be the shipyards and munitions factory in the town but instead they hit the high density workers houses, completely destroying huge areas of the town. Out of 12000 homes, only 7 were completely undamaged. Civilians killed were officially reported as 600-odd, which is now accepted as a gross underestimate, true figure over 1000. There is a Mass Grave of the Blitz victims in the local cemetery for those unclaimed or unidentifiable, every year a Memorial Service is held there. All her life my mother was left terrified of thunderstorms and fireworks due to her childhood trauma. Look up the story of the Clydebank Blitz, 13 & 14 March 1941. It wasnt just the major cities which were bombed.
My mother talked about Coventry's bombing, twelve miles from where we lived...I was a baby...the sky was on fire she told me and the smell of burning was intense. My parents took us, my brother and me, down the Anderson shelter in the back garden whenever the air raid sirens sounded. They never knew if we'd have a home left when we came out. They and our neighbours, were brave, loving, caring people looking after each other and sharing what we had. I would like you to look at videos which show you the rations for the family for one week. You would get another surprise. Coventry was one of the worst bombings. A city obliterated. The term Coventrated was invented to describe it. Watch a film 'Goodnight Mr Tom' about the evacuees. AND WE WON!!! I am so interested in your reaction!
Birmingham was the third most bombed city during the war after London and Liverpool..... However , Coventry had the single most devastating attack by the Luftwaffe with 500tons of bombs dropped on the 14th November 1940 in an attack called "The Moonlight Sonata" by the Nazis.
As someone who went to school in England, I’m shocked that the Americans don’t learn about this Because in our history lesson we learn about everything from the German invasion of the Soviet Union, to the blitz, to D-day, to Pearl Harbor, to the Manhattan project, and a lot of stuff in between. We learn about all of the sides from how the uk bombed Germany as well as how Germany invaded everywhere else. I’m shocked that the Americans only have one point of view that only paints them as the heros.
Mate, it's American exceptionalism. Nothing matters except them in their education system and that's why they think they're the best in the world at anything.
Some of the young ones don't know what the blitz is, but older folks do. I'm Canadian. I had family fight in WWII and one was lost over the Bay of Biscay. I grew up listening to real stories of things that went on, but even apart from that, in my area of Canada, at least, we heard about the blitz pretty extensively and other aspects of WWI and WWII. I know people who grew up in England and as children, even though the war was over, they remember rubble and ruined buildings. It took a long time to rebuild. Rations continued for a while after the war too. There's another topic for you. You will likely look at some movies and books differently in light of this information. The Narnia series, for example... why were the children sent to live with the professor in his big house out in the country? They were evacuated there because of the blitz. There is a new movie out right now, though I don't know if the US theaters are showing it... it's simply called Blitz and it looks really good. I'm planning to go see it. There are lots of movies that alllude to the blitz. Lots of TV shows too. You might enjoy finding out how badass the queen who wasn't yet the queen was during that time. She insisted on serving and was a mechanic during the war. I've heard many fascinating stories of survival and service from that time, and I never get tired of it.
My Parents and Grandparents grew up in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire (around 70 miles from London) and they could see the glow from the fires of the Blitz burning. As everywhere was on blackout that was the brightest thing in the night sky for miles around.
I’m from Portsmouth in England. Portsmouth was also a major dockyard city and naval base and was also heavily targeted.Portsmouth withstood 67 air raids between July 1940-may 1944. The heaviest attack was between 10-11 January 1940. The Germans dropped over 140 tones of bombs and 40,000 incendiaries on the city. 930 civilians were killed and 1,216 was seriously injured or injured.also destroying 1 out of 2 of the main air raid shelters in southsea just miles away from the dockyard. Over 20% of houses was destroyed or damaged.
What you say is so right. The US is fairly isolated so have never had to deal with bombing campaigns etc. The US only joined the war because of pearl harbour which is nowhere near the mainland. Whereas in the UK , most people in certain areas either saw the blitz (few now) or heard of it from their parents or grandparents. I live in Wales and the luftwaffe would drop their excess bombs on our area to lose weight when the RAF chased them away.
My Mother was 8 years old during the Blitz. We live in the North east of England, a coastal town and had many bombs dropped on our City. My Mothers home was destroyed, by a bomb. The family were in a shelter in the garden. My Mother had to sleep in a school for weeks until emergency housing was found for the family. In the next house, my Mother was in bed when a bomb dropped and the cieling collapsed on her bed, she survived, but again the house was destroyed and they had to move again. She died 2 years ago, but while she was alive, whenever there was a programme about the War on TV and the sound of an air raid siren sounded, I could see the trauma in her face as she switched the channels on TV to avoid the sound. She also lost a Brother in the War. He was 20 years old. I believe all told, the number of british people killed in bombing raids in Britain was approximately 45,000. Hitler went from quite admiring the british, to wanting to wipe the British from the face of the earth. There was nothing to do but fight. Surrender was NEVER an option. Thank you for your compassion and for taking a look at our history, Tyler. We remember all Allies, including our American ones. x
I remember as a child playing on 'the bomb site' at the top of the street. 20 houses were blown to bits and my grandparents house had cracks in the walls. Germans either dumped their bombs having missed the shipyards or were after the colliery. We once found a shoe in some of the left over rubble. I took it home and was shocked by the reaction of my grandparents. I think I know why.
@@oldgreybeard2507 \yes, even then, kids did'nt understand the full horror of what they were playing in. Its a mercy you and they did'nt realise, really. Your poor grandparents trying to shield you from the worst. I hope you're doing well these days, oldgreybeard. :)
Tynesider too…missed the war but my mother would panic whenever the local fire station in North Shields siren went off ….. even in the sixties, must have been dreadful wondering if your house would be next.
I've only begun watching and am smiling at your reaction to the Blitz, we are very proud of our grandparents/ancestors character during these times.Whenever we need to pull together or face tough times we channel the 'Blitz spirit' here in the UK. It was a battle of wills and we tend not to lose those😆(In a good way) Sounds like you'll understand the british more and why we can't stand bossy windsocks who take themselves too seriously! We british laughed at him the way he carried on during his speeches and saw through him for the nasty jumped up little tit he was. In my irish family he was called 'an insufferable gobsheen" .Scarily the conditions etc meant the germans foolishly took him seriously.
I'm a 76 year-old man. I went to high school in the 1960s. And we absolutely learned about the blitz. In history class. Beyond that, I've always felt and thought I knew that most every American has known about the blitz due to its importance and the fact that it was during World War 2. There's so much film footage of that period of time during the blitz on London that I myself have seen different clips over my many years.
The Blitz was where the phrase "Keep calm & Carry on" came from. My Grandad lost his brother in a blitz raid, and my Nan was one of the children sent to the country along with her brother. At tge train station they tried to split up my nan & her brother, she was 6 and hevwas about 9 or 10, but she held him so tightly a family agreed to take them both; they were a lovely family from Sussex. (Or maybe Suffolk, I forgeg which?) To this day you can still see the scars of the blitz around the country, and how it shaped people of that generation. There are still bomb shelters dotted around the country, most closed & abandoned.
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This is why the British are so irritated by the American view they swept in and won the war. They didn't. They sat on their hands while all this was going on, only joining when Pearl Harbour forced them to. The British withstood nightly 9/11s for months, not only in London but all over the country. And we did it while pretty much starving to death because our food routes from Europe were cut off and America, the land of plenty, didn't help at all. It was a bitter pill to swallow and the memory is still fresh.
I totally agree but I also get a bit irritated when nowadays some British people say ' we won the war' when it really was a concerted effort - not only the British , the people on the continent- resistance- many commonwealth countries were also called on to help and are often forgotten in some people's minds.... I'm glad Britain wasn't invaded, but feeling superior to countries that were is something I will never understand..
Couldn’t have put it better myself
I would like to add, that although the USA wasn't much help at that moment in time there were a LOT of brave young American men who (via Canada etc) volunteered to fight for Britain.
@ yup that is true and those men who volunteered are brave hero’s, but that doesn’t mean Britain did none of it. The British people were slaughtered and yet they still held out refusing to surrender
@cindz4618 I couldn't agree more. Our attitude to the French (amongst others), is shocking. They fought couragously and under occupation. It makes me so sad.
This was the origin of the British "Keep Calm and Carry On!" mentality.
the Keep Calm and Carry On poster was never published in wartime. It was made during that period but the government felt it was too potentious considering what people were going through
@@HA1LILPALAZZO wow didnt know that, it was made in 1939 but rarely publicly displayed according to wiki
@@SoSimonSays yeah the other one mentioned (the blue one) was a wartime poster but there were many they came up with and the keep calm and carry on one was never published due to the potentiousness of it. It's worth looking them up :)
@@HA1LILPALAZZO gotta love it tho, it's truly a British mindset going right back long before Victoria, even if the slogan wasn't thought up until ww2
You were not taught about the Belitz? London was destroyed!
US made a lot of money out of the war. UK only finished off paying its war dept to US in 2006. UK like other European countries had to rebuild before it could move on meanwhile US was developing and profiteering. That is why many in Europe are offended that certain US politician think that Europeans are not paying their way. We paid in so many ways to maintain democracy.
Lend lease and rationing is why Americans have the idea that British food is terrible, because when GIs came over here there was very little for them to eat or even buy, because everything from spirits to farm produce went to the war effort.
US politicians do not think, they just do what the big corporations tell them to do. The USA is probably the only country in the world that professes freedom, but where actually its politicians are slaves to the big corporations. The people that vote for them are meaningless to them.
Hell yeah
Spot on.
And they took certain nazi scientists/doctors that had been experimenting various things for Hitler and had them work in America in exchange for their freedom...
The Blitz lasted a lot longer than 56 days. it lasted 8 months. there just was that gruelling 56 day period where we got bombed multiple times during the day and night. but the bombings lasted a whole year near enough. actually crazy
yes - went on for ages and all the major cities were boombed Poor old Coventry took a real hammering and was all but flattened.
@@booth2710 Even now cov doesn't have too many old buildings. A lot was rebuilt.
Southampton was pretty beaten too.
Somehow the V-1 flying bomb the early cruise missile (doodlebugs) seems to have been forgotten about?
@@booth2710
Am I right in thinking that was because it was an industrial giant back then?
I am from Malta. The Blitz was terrible. Malta sustained the equivalent of the Blitz for three whole years in defense of freedom, fighting alongside the British. You should check it out.
Anthony Americans have no idea or knowledge of what the Maltese people went through in ww2. I have been to Malta a few times on holiday so I know what the Maltese people went through. First time Christmas 1978
Not 1978 but 1959.
Didn’t Malta get the George Cross?. Think of it. The whole Nation.
Malta was awarded the George Cross because of the islands efforts and bravery in World War Two, when I was a kid it was driven into us that it was not called Malta but Malta GC!
And you are the only country with a medal to their name
From a British and European perspective - America stood by and watched it's allies getting bombed as they begged for it's support. America did not join until securing many trade deals, which then elevated America in it's position as a global super power - This whilst Europe's economy struggled after repairing all the damage post war.
This is why you are not taught it, and why it irks people when we hear 'America came to save the day', or when we hear boasting of Americas position in power.
America came out of the war very rich, it also got tons of new secret and advanced technology from both the Germans and British.
Actually they didn't joined until they were attacked by Japan at pearl harbour.
Not much different as to what is happening now in Europe. My fear is that the drip feeding of resources to Ukraine is a repeat of history. Which we in Europe will pay for in the future if Ukraine is forced to capitulate land to an aggressor.
Except we weren't America's allies at the time: they were neutral.
My grandad worked for a big car manufacturers and told us that he seen new plans being given to US military
Thank you Australia, new Zealand, south Africa and Canda, India and many other nations. We will not forget
The polish too
Actually, there were some "Free Americans" went against Roosevelt's specific orders not to get involved, and came anyway.
1500 did come from the Caribbean nations
Yes those who made it to the British lines did join in....those who were not fit were housed throughout the UK and looked after. There are many who stayed on after the war and many memorials were erected to the Polish soldiers still to this day. Lest we forget. @@AntMorris
@@stirlingmoss4621 There were many from all the Commonwealth, but others too from all over the world.
I'm from the UK and grew up there, and I think it says a lot about the impact of the Blitz that the sound of the air raid sirens from this period probably remain one of the most recognisable sounds to most Brits. You learn about the Blitz in schools from a young age, often repeatedly with different levels of detail, but you play that sound and you have entire generations who will immediately feel an echo of the dread and terror people from that period must have felt
It's already a haunting sound, however once you know the story behind that sirens sound, it becomes overwhelming at times-
I couldn't imagine the life back in WW2 and I hope we never see anything like it again!
I salute anyone who fights in wars mordern or old, and as humans as a society we all should strive to not go to war and it should be a last resort, however unfortunately we rather fund wars and create them-
I hope one day we learn from our mistakes, but yet again, humanity doesn't change-
Nor does war-
God bless and God speed- ❤ (not even religious but belive it's fitting to say)
Yeah I'm pretty sure I can recognise it and I'm 13!
I’m 36 and if I hear that noise it does do something to you. It’s ingrained in our minds I think strange
yh i remember hearing the siren in school in history class and all the children felt cold its something in british minds i think that sound even those who didnt live through it we know what it means
Every year in Guernsey, on remembrance Day, the air raid sirens go off once to mark the start of the 2 minute silence, then another time to mark the end. The British were lucky to not be occupied as Alderney took the most with 4 concentration camps, Guernsey got bombed the most, the island was thought to be a military camp, planes skyrocketed down shooting civilians, including children, tomato trucks were bombed but there were no safe places to go, people were forced to stay in their homes and hope to not be bombed, then came the occupation. Germans marched through Town beating anyone who disagreed and capturing any Jews. There were curfus put on the island, people couldn't go out after a certain time. People were starved so much that they were forced to eat their own pets. No animal was safe as the Germans stationed on the island were starved as well. Anyone who didn't learn German was beaten and police officers were forced to join the Germans and people were forced out of their homes so the Germans could move in. You had 24 hours to pack everything up and leave if the Germans wanted to live in your house. If you didn't you were killed. People's farms were attacked and robbed by the Germans leading to everyone starving. The Germans stopped anything reaching any island meaning that there were no supplies coming in. Rations got so bad that you were lucky to get a slice of bread, albeit a non moldy slice as the Germans took the rest. This is just a little bit of the story, I could carry on but you could just search it all up.
I knew a man who lost his whole family during the bombing of Coventry, The shelter they were in, took a direct hit. He avoided death because he hurried across the street to his home, to check on his dog. He was only a young teenager at the time. He spent his entire 88 years being a nervous wreck. He always wept when he spoke of his family.
Glasgow was blitzed night after night also.
I'm from cov it's a well documented story
Also from Coventry. After the Coventry Blitz the Germans coined the term 'Coventrate', to describe decimating a city with bond and incendiaries.
Horrific. Poor man. My partner's father was in Plymouth during the Blitz. There was a teacher at his school that insisted all the children stay at one end of the shelter. That shelter took a hit and the end of the shelter the children were in was decimated. They were all killed. The other end of the shelter was fine. My partner's father wasn't at school that day.
That’s so sad. Bless him.
The reason Americans don't discuss it is because not one bomb fell on the USA. And no - Pearl Harbour was NOT part of the USA until after the war although Hawaii was illegally annexed before the war. And remember we never saw any US forces until late 1942 so 3 years after our war started.
This period was known as 'The Battle of Britain'. It was the last stand for freedom in Europe. We had a 9/11 every week of WWII. After Buckingham Palace was bombed and the King slightly injured (the Royal Family never left London) the Queen said 'Now I can look East Enders in the eye'
The debt the UK (and arguably the free world) owes the RAF is huge because not only did they keep us free by turning back the Nazi tide they gave the british people and its forces abroad something to cheer about and create some belief the Nazis could be beaten.
As Churchill said in tribute to the RAF:
"'Never in the field of human conflict was so much been owed by so many to so few"
The price the UK paid for standing alone and giving a platform for later victory was colossal and just the loan to repay Lend / lease was not paid off until 2006 while the USA benefitted hugely giving it a huge head start after the war.
well said
A lot of Americans joined the British long before the US officially joined the war, with many dying. I did a lot of research on this subject a few years ago.
@@lookingforthewhy6447 doesn't change the fact the US didn't suffer bombing like this on their home soil...thye didn't suffer immense losses like we did...and they didn't have an air force that relied on tactics not numbers...the problem with the USA is thye think numbers matters...do you know how many times i hear Americans say "we got more guns or more soldiers than you" to the british...it isn't about numbers...it's how you use them...that was what our air force was about.
Interesting and facts❤❤
We may have paid our War Debt to the US but the USSR has never fully repaid theirs to us. We supplied US and UK weapons to them as the US would not supply directly. Putin denies any responsibility for the debt as the USSR no longer exists. We lost many ships and men during the winter Arctic convoys, winter as the daylight hours were minimal to try and minimise Luftwaffe bombing attacks and attacks by U Boats. Murmansk was the only port in Russia that could be used in winter but very close to German airfields in Norway. The convoys were routed North around Iceland to keep as far away from Norway as possible.
You need to watch the 13 hours that saved Britain, it will give you a full view on what happened, when they talk about bombing, raids consisted of 450 planes not 20 or 30, but 450
Yes this is a fab documentary to watch
Totally agree!
I can't believe that the American public are so uneducated about there own history never mind European history, and recent history, my goodness Russia are targeting civilians in the Ukraine,and Israel the inosint people in Gaza.
Brilliant documentary
That documentary is about The Battle of Britain and not The Blitz isn’t it?
The Blitz levelled several cities here and abroad.
We were fighting the Nazi’s forever and to be told by Americans that ‘you’d be speaking German if it wasn’t for us buddy’ is beyond insulting.
You do realise our Prime Minister begged your President for years to help us as we had run out of metal, food and all of our resources a long time before the US got involved.
My husband still grew up in rationing time. We were limited to the amount of meat, eggs and butter we could eat.
Which is why it is annoying when people go on about our food being so bad - people had to make do on such bare scraps for so long due to food shortages that it takes time to recover from that.
If they taught you about what actually happened during the war, maybe you'd all quit self-righteously proclaiming you 'saved our asses' and 'won the war'.
We DID save your asses. When WWII broke out the US had a standing army of 174,000. We started with the lend-lease act, and supplied you with weapons. During that time we stood up an entire military. Yes, Pearl Harbor was what officially caused the US to enter the war, but did you ever notice that despite that we laid waste to Germany first? After Germany the US turned around and almost single handedly defeated the Japanese. Russia was our frenemy at best. US aircraft could not land in Russia without the crew basically being held as POW's and the aircraft siezed. Despite all that we chose to fight a war that was not really our war..... yet again.... I'm reminded of the frenchman who talked down to a former american soldier who stormed the beaches at Normandy for not knowing french.... His response was simple. "Well last time I was here I had to stop you from being forced to speak German so....." America is either too eager to get into a war or shamed for not entering earlier. How much help did we ask for in Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Saipan, Etc.... You guys had to take back part of Europe, America had to take back the Pacific Ocean after we helped in europe.
@@jonanderson7355the hell you did! You made a fortune out of us! You tried your racist shit with your black soldiers in an English village pub and got your asses handed to you. While you were getting drunk our boys were fighting and dying!
@@jonanderson7355 The main reason we went to war in the European part was due to the treat of communism to spread after a soviet win and to pay back the damages caused by the Pearl Harbor raid. Everything else was America trying to capitalize on the war
@@jonanderson7355 Everyone learns there own BS of wars from the country they live in. Sorry to say but it was the Russians who helped both the US and UK the most. Without the Russians holding the north of Europe like they did, the Nazis would of had strategic position. Also there would be nothing stopping them with there plan to enter America from Alaska. Hitler had enough of Britain and turned his resources to Russia to break through. The Russians lost more lives by the war which shows you just how much of fight they put up. They deserve much more recognition than any other country that took part.
If you live in America or the UK then you would not of got told about the Russians, because we are programmed to hate Russians at an early age.
@@jonanderson7355 LOL you are ignorant of facts. We were fighting the Japs before you for 2 years as for lend lease we payed you for the equipment and it wasnt payed off untill 2006? You profited from our pain. We laid waste to German citys for 3 years before you came in, We turned the tide of the war in 1940 the Battle of Britain and more so in 1942 when we beat the Africa Korps in North Africa which showed the world they could be DEFEATED.
A very famous American journalist, Ed Morrow, who stayed in Britain throughout the blitz, said that he had never witnessed courage like that displayed by the ordinary British people during the bombing of London.
Edward R. Murrow said something during the Cuban Missile Crisis which has always haunted me: that it's difficult to deal with an enemy who says that what's mine is mine, and what's yours is negotiable.
Beginning with the rise of the "Contract with America" Republicans, I have to wonder how the Republicans went from being the Loyal Opposition to Murrow's Soviets.
The Darkside is always there, waiting for us to enter, waiting to enter us...
Indeed, feel proud to feel how brave my country was in the war.
@@GoPterosaurnow look at the country 😂😂 doesn’t have the courage to stop letting criminals into the country, to a point where areas around the uk are no whites allowed. And where many “citizens” would fight for other country’s instead of the uk if the war started. (People have gone around places like London, Birmingham, Coventry and more with a camera asking immigrants who they would fight for if a war started) From hero’s to zeros oh how the might have fallen.
My grandmother on my dad's side used to drive an ambulance during this time to help people who were injured. She was a brave lady and one of the many un sung heroes of the time who were never really recognised or honoured. They were not even allowed a flag on their coffins when they died like soldiers were even though they did just as much for their country and were just as brave. But because they were wouman, they were not considered as such. This is a fact that still infuriates me to this day.
After the vikings, they got their attitude RIGHT TF in order, "nazi`s? pAh! We`ve had worse"
But seriously though, those people persevered with a huge P, stubborn as hell and tough as nails 💪
As an older American I am so embarrassed by our educational system that no longer teaches history. It isn't just World History not being taught but also majority of our American History is no longer taught. When I was in school in the 50's and 60's we were definitely taught about the Blitz and the bravery and suffering of the British people. We also were taught about the fact our American politicians were mostly isolationists. We were also taught Roosevelt did manage to get approval to send weapons and was working to get Congress to approve the U.S. getting involved. Pearl Harbor did change everything in the attitude in America. I have visited London and seen the scars that still exist today and toured the war offices in Whitehall. I don't know when all of this stopped being taught in our schools but very sad it isn't.
You have nothing to feel uncomfortable about Nancy. Education appears to be lacking across many of the western democracies.
Listening/watching many of the TV quiz programmes, I'm staggered at the ignorance of history shown by the average participant.
Nancy its a sign of the times. Most of the people commenting have no idea! All this history of the world should be taught at the High School level. Lest we Forget any war.
Were you told it was your own government who militarised Japan.
Simple America puts the dollar before anything else you actually brought pearl harbour on yourself.
I wonder how much of the Blitz is still taught in British schools. I am a WWII re-enactor, so we try to teach the younger generations who are probably unaware of what their own families did in the 1940s and how remarkable they all were.
The US didn't even declare war on Germany after Pearl Harbour.
Lets not forget that.There were a lot of politicians in the USA that were of German descent.
as a Brit who had relatives both in the RAF and a civilian it’s really encouraging that you’re going out of your way to educate yourself about this! like you said this side of the Second World War isn’t taught about much in the US, so it’s really great to see people still willing to learn more about what happened close to the fight.
My great grandmas first husband went MIA during WW2 as part of 37th squadron and my other grandma had a bombing decoy built on their farm.
In the early 80s I worked with an English woman who had been a child during the blitz. One day the window cleaners' gantry wire collapsed as it was descending and the gantry came crashing through our office window, sprinkling the English woman with pounds of glass shards over her and her desk. We all rushed over asking if she was okay. She'd had her back to the window so didn't see it coming. She calmly inserted another cigarette in her cigarette holder, lit it, and replied "Well I don't know what that was but I slept through the blitz and it can't be worse than that."
The British attitude/sense of humour. As they say "Always look on the bright side, could be worse"!
@@emstirling-is4nu you never said a truer word, stiff upper lip and all that lol and talking about the weather of course 😉
I love that she sparked up a cig 😂 then shrugged it off. Proper Brit 🇬🇧
@@BillyDrewerthe most British thing I’ve ever heard of 😂
Your shocked, compassionate, intelligent and humble reaction to this horrifying dark chapter of our history is much appreciated, Tyler. It's a pity indeed that there's so little awareness these days of this in some parts of the world.
The only part that is unaware is America, too busy banging on about how they 'won the war'.
@@ianwalker5842 If it helps, Swedes have been learning about it in school since back then, so not everyone is unaware of you part in the war ❤️ most Europeans certainly sees you as the saviors and not the States ❤️ it's not much, but it's something ❤️ thank you ❤️
@L.K.Rydens Thank you so much. Th a is the first time I have heard that. Most of the time we are told how we British are hated by every country. What you said has warmed my heart. I normally get upset by comments because I can't understand why we are so hated. Thank you.✌
@@emmafrench7219 You are not hated, I can promise you that ❤️ I think we take in more of the negative than the positive, and at the same time we also share more of our annoyance than the positive ❤️ I think most think of you like one of Europa's treasures, but since you are one of the big players on the field, and have been a role model many times in the past, you guys take a lot of crap as well because you are so in the centre of things ❤️ For example, when people reacted to Brexit it wasn't because they hated you, it was because the people in EU countries felt rejected, so it seems like hate but it's just a feeling of abandonment when you look beneath the layers, a "How can you leave us, I thought we were friends?!" kind of thing, which is because people care a lot ❤️ you are not alone, even if it might feel that way sometimes, I promise ❤️
@@L.K.Rydens Aw thank you so much for them lovely words It makes a nice change. I agree about Brexit, I didn't want us to leave
The fact that you were not taught about this blows my mind as a Canadian. This is something I remember learning in high school during the 90s. In our History classes, we had a 2-month period of teaching about this.
Not surprised and modestly Canada doesn't make a big deal about how much aid and support they gave to free Europe. Just like they don't about their support for Ukraine today. Team effort lots of other non European nations gave so much too
American's are taught about the Blitz and WWII. Please know that most of us care much more that it appears listening to Tyler in this video. It was certainly a major part of the curriculum when I was in school, and teachers I know have told me it is still covered.
that is because Canada didnt see the new European war as an opportunity to bring down the British Empire and make vast profits from deals
because Canada had troops in Britain at the time. I'm pretty sure most countries who were part of the empire/commonwealth are taught about this. Just like aussies & kiwis are taught about Gallipoli and Also I'm sure Australians and new Zealanders are taught about the battle of Tobruk when they were cut of from the rest of the commonwealth army and held the city for 240 days. If the Aussies don't hold Tobruk, the chances are the germans would have been able to take Egypt. I'm sure Canadians are also taught about the dieppe raid one of the biggest disasters of ww2. Fir most Americans WW2 didn't start until 1942 because they definitely want to look into what they were doing when the war started. How the American Nazi party held a big party at the garden in new York. Fact is FDR is the only American in politics when ww2 stared who saw the dangers and risked his presidency on helping the British, it also helped that it made America rich and helped them overtake Britain to become the biggest economy in the world.
We were never taught about this in school either and I'm British!! 🤷🏼♀️
This is why Europeans are a bit less eager for war than Americans... I am Danish. We still had siren training every Wednesday at 12 when I was a child in the 1980's... the blitz was something my grandparents never spoke about, but Denmark was right in the middle of it all too!
Canadian here, WW2 was also before my time but I'm absolutely stunned that you are so clueless about this!!
Nothing surprises me about the ignorance of Yanks.
True and considering the USA borders, Canada 🇨🇦 and the Canadians were with us. How can they not have heard about the blitz?
The curriculum in American schools carries an American narrative only. They learn nothing about anything outside of America. This starts by having to swear allegiance to the flag each day at school get indoctrinated to cult America. By the time they leave school they are fully indoctrinated they only know America .This why Americans are generally willfully ignorant about anything outside of America and have zero social awareness as they never leave their bubble. In America they talk about freedom. In America they look at freedom as free to where in Europe we look at freedom as free from .
I swear they are purposely dumbing people down. They have conveniently whitewashed history in the US, hid the KKK, Civil War truth, etc. I have to wonder what Canadians are learning anymore.
@@margaret426 its called selective education
In the same vein, on hloiday in Florida in the late 80's Americans around the pool thought my children (6 and 8) were telling stories when they talked about staying out of London because of the bombs. We had to explain to them that for a couple of years London was under attack by the IRA (The Irish Republican Army). The Americans had not heard any of this in their news.
Because Americans paid for the semtex.
America funded the IRA..
American money was financing the IRA. And it was a lot longer than 2 years.
The IRA got over 90% of funds from Americans,
Well said. @Tyler Rumple needs to have a look at this other prolonged period of guerilla warfare in Britain and then investigate how many terrorist attacks in the mid 2020s were foiled, before and after the London bombings 07/07/2005. An event I was caught up in, along with 1000s. WW1 was told to be the war to end all wars, at the time. We have never NOT been involved in a war or conflict ever since, and before. The hopes for humanity are dependant on those with power, money, political might, and reason. We stand at the brinks, yet again.
Maybe you aren't taught it because the U.S. didn't enter the war until a year later. Seeing what the U.K. endured, and the rationing of food that resulted, maybe you'll now understand how something like beans on toast became a common British dish. Commonwealth countries were also fighting along side Britain from early in the war.
@-R.Gray- And many people don't realise the food rationing in the UK only completely ended in 1954 . Nine years after the war ended !
Plus the Polish, French, Norwegians & Dutch
Actually, from the second day of the war, mind you, it took a while to get there from Canada....
It wasn't just one year later...it was 1942 (after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, Dec. 7, 1941) That's 3 years after the 1939 beginning of WW2 that the Americans joined the war effort.
@@Londoneye57 let's not forget Stalingrad.
My mum was a teenager during that war. In her 70s, I asked her 'Mum. We know it ended but did you ever doubt. like did you imagine 'what if?'" Her answer said it all. "No. Never. We could NOT lose. "
Don’t forget that the USA Ambassador to Britain in 1939 was Joseph P Kennedy. He argued with the State Dept and FDR against coming to the aid of Britain. He ruffled feathers in Washington, met secretly with German diplomats and made anti-Semitic remarks. His opposition to America’s anti- Nazi policies led to his resignation in disgrace and ended his political career.
His son, JFK, listened to the debates from the stranger's gallery of the House of Commons in 1939 and formed the opposite opinion.
So kennedy joseph* met with Nazi diplomats secretly while we were being bombed,murdered and starved and the USA made a fortune, I am a 80 year old grandma,born in 1944,in WALES my eldest brother in 1939 when the war had started. The USA was begged for help do you know how small BRITAIN is,others came Canada soldiers + pilots and polish pilots.black soldiers came and were surprised at their treatment as equal humans. When Pearl Harbour happened it scared the hell out of the USA they joined in to help we were on rations till 1954, we finished PAYING the USA in 2006 WOW it had taken so long repair some of the vast damage after all the bombings, karma is real now millions of your own poor people are homeless and live in tent cities it’s horrific.While your uber rich build mansions what for those aren’t homes and buy houses for over 130 million their fellow Americans pay a fortune for health care and operations here it’s free.We are our own enemies letting people come here for serious operations going back without paying a cent,SHADY HEY,USA are quick fighting illegal wars and leave innocent civilians behind and leaving millions of war machines for the enemy to kill the poor people who helped you as interpreters + aids in other ways,how could you,I have NEVER wanted to visit the USA only see the VEITNAM wall I still remember how they were treated on return also not. Allowed in cafes and spat on being black was still the same .And you have all these churches + CULTS with false (we have some of them here too) pastors thrown in,pat mason ,Great Britain,,
"Joseph P Kennedy"
PLEASE don't use foul language here! Kennedy was an embittered gangster, who would have been perfectly content to see Britain fall to the Nazis (and I'm not sure his kinsman de Valera was much better). Hatred is the enemy of Clear Thinking and Humanity.
@@patmason7370it should be remembered that pre 1941 there was a substantial Germanic/American population in America and guess who they were hoping the American Government would side with. A clue, it wasn't Britain.
Politicians, particularly in Congress, did what politicians do which is to put politics above morals, and played both sides until the attack on Pearl forced their hand.
Understand I am not justifying what they did, but to truly understand history it is important to see the big picture from all sides.
@@patmason7370 There was also a VERY substantial USA population of Irish ancestry that also wanted to see Britain destroyed and pushed hard until Pearl Harbor to stay out of the war hoping that Northern Ireland would become part of the Republic.
I met a gentleman many years ago 1991, I was a young nurse in theatre
He had local anaesthetic and as the anaesthetic nurse I found a kindred soul, history
He grew up on a farm in Pretoria, he had a pilot’s license by 16
He ran away and joined the South African airforce.
Landed in London before his 17th birthday RAF overlooked a year or two if the buggar could fly and had a sense of humour
His Mum tried to get him back, sadly she was told ‘afraid he’s in the English military now, M’am. No getting out. He flew through the war, the 13 hours that saved Britain
And the blitz
He came home, apologised to his Mum
His farther thanked him. He inherited the farm when his father died and now his son and grandson were taking over
Several of his squadron came to visit and stayed
He kissed my hand and thanked me for knowing what he’d been through.
He told his story occasionally , seems I was the only one that could do maths.
It’s 2024 now, I know he died when he was in his nineties
Never forgot him
He still had the swagger you needed to stay sane
During his time in WW2
He popped into the hospital on very specific dates with flowers or chocolates
I didn’t see him one year, the next a old chap came looking for me, his son to tell me he had died and asked his son to bring me a poppy
What a lovely story, tears in my eyes. God Bless.
This made me shed a tear 😢
What throws me in a real rage, is when you British Throw billions at the 'off-spring' of this NAZIs in Ukraine! I wonder what this Old Chap would say about the ideological background of most of their military and many in their Government! If he died before this Ukraine nonsense started he would have at least been spared the agony of helplessly watching 'the New Generation' thread on his sacrifice with their filthy feet!
Yup , afraid the yanks are a pretty dumb bunch over all
Bless him.
I hope he is resting in truly pure peace
The Blitz was so substantial that even in the present day, construction sites in London and many other cities targeted during the Blitz still occasionally uncover German bombs that never detonated.
Almost every year tbh.
The idea that Americans don’t know what the blitz is is actually blowing my mind. Makes me wonder what else I take for granted that the rest of the world knows nothing about.
You need to watch a film called "Goodnight Mister Tom" based on a book set during the war, and what happened to London specifically during the blitz, how children were "evacuees" and moved to safer homes in the countryside. It's still taught in British schools, with many schools doing "Evacuee Day" where children dress up as 40s kids and carry a box for the "gas mask" like children back then had to do. I live 500 meters from where an air raid shelter once stood for the local school near my house. We even have a dedicated section of the Royal Engineers who can be called to deal with unexploded WW2 ordnance that gets found during building works.
I love this story!! We read this at school back in the 90s. I still love it now and the film was very good
We watched Goodnight Mister Tom in school when we were learning about WWII such a good movie
💯
That was my thought too.
Goodnight Mr Tom is so good.
Also Atonement is another one that covers British WW2 home and away
That film makes me cry all the time
Ok as you are interested, my mother gave birth during a bombing raid. One of my uncles refused to get out of bed when the siren began wailing. Stating that he wouldn’t get up for that ruddy little corporal, Hitler! I have lots of other anecdotes from my family, but I won’t bore on. Thank you for showing this, it’s much appreciated.
Tyler I'm British so I'll say this, It ain't your fault you were never taught this.
The majority of Americans never bother to look at the war from alternate countries perspectives and remain blissfully and stupidly ignorant.
Its actually why the UK population has a kind of distate towards the US when discussing ww2 as they'll almosg always say.
"We saved your butts, we won the war, you'd be speaking german if not for us ect"
This is untrue.
The war was won by a combined effort of the allied powers, no one country "won the war".
The Blitz was brutal, like genuinely brutal and the British civilian population carried on working... including then princess Elizabeth hence why we loved mad lizzy.
She built landrovers in the factories for the war, its actually why she would tinker with the range rovers on her estate even as the queen.
Theres a documentary called the 13 hours that saved Britain...
You will see how bad the RAF pilots had it.
Also side note the spitfire gets all the credit but the real MVP was the hurricane.
You could help a little by not calling it 'ww2' 🙄
@gibson617ajg what are you even on about.
@@gibson617ajgwhat are you talking about
@@gibson617ajg
World War 2, World War II, WW2, WWII, The Second World War, The Great Patriotic War, and 50 other terms in as many languages.
It affected so many people in Europe and across the world, nobody owns "a correct name" for it.
Get over yourself.
It would also fair to say the England actually lost the war. Germany was rebuilt way before England, the financial costs for the United Kingdom decimated our economy for decades after the end of hostilities. We gained nothing with our so called special relationship with the United States, Our scientist were key in the development of the nuclear bomb with the promise of data sharing that never happened, the lend lease loan that we paid to keep the USSR in the war was paid in full to the United States to the last dime at a very unfavourable interest rate. I could go on.
I am from the uk and my primary school had an Anderson shelter in the playground. When we covered ww2 and the blitz they staged a air raid in the middle of class and we were made to hide under the tables as a teacher banged on top of them before being marched into the Anderson shelter, all of this was to help simulate to us just how terrifying it was to be a child during the blitz and so we could grab the reality of it.
Im 37 and my family hails from the Portsmouth area (major UK naval city). Last week, my grandmother passed away at 91, after years of campaigning (successfully) to have a memorial erected honoring Portsmouth servicemen and women who lost their lives in WW2. Her father was one ofvthe many who died at Dunkirk. I grew up at the knee of my other grandmother (who passed away some years ago at age 80) who would tell me of her life as a small child during the air raids. She used to play in their garden air raid shelter, and remembered the rationing and the black outs.
For now, this is just about still "living memory". But those who remain who remember WW2 firsthand were very young at the time and are now in their twilight years. Its very important that we keep their memories alive and pass down their stories.
Thank you for making this video x
My mum was born in January 1939 . She remembered being taken in her pram to the tunnels in Portsdown Hill when there was an air raid .
@clairechecketts7034 wow, she must have had a very good memory (capacity wise) to remember things from such a young age! But then I suppose regardless of how young are, such traumatic things can imprint even then. Thank you for sharing that.
My Mum was 9 when the war started & also was brought up in Portsmouth. The 10th January 1941 was one particular bombing raid that stood out in her memory. The Guildhall was destroyed along with the main shopping areas of Commercial road & Southsea.
Your great grandfather was one of the men who died at Dunkirk
My grandfather was one of the captains of the little ships, who sailed across the channel attempting to rescue the men trapped on Dunkirk beach.
On his behalf, I’m sorry he was unable to rescue your great grandfather.
Big up Portsmouth. Strong Island 💪
Queen Elizabeth worked in the motor pool repairing military vehicles during the war. She did not become queen until several years after the war.
The vehicle she worked on used to be kept in the W.R.A.C museum army camp in Guildford when I served, the camp closed so unsure were it is now.
Yes! ,the Queen was a car mechanic! I love that, and many women worked in factories to build the planes and ammo.....
Don't forget that at that time her mother was Queen Elizabeth.
@@raindancer6111 When Buckingham Palace was bombed, the Queen (Queen Mother) said "At least now we can look the East End (of London) in the face."
I don't have much if any respect for the royal family. When queen Elizabeth died I still didn't, (I felt and still feel like they could do so much more for us with there endless welth,) but I can 100% respect her for that.
A queen, ok, up and coming queen, getting down and durty fixing cars? Now that's a queen I could have respected.
I must admit to feeling a bit bad but on the other hand it isn't really my fault, I wasn't taught any of this stuff in school, it was a school for the disabled but that shouldn't have mattered, it's an important part of history and who we are as a people.
43000 killed 50000 injured, 70000 buildings destroyed and 2 million people made homless, in the bombing of Britain during vww2, some areas still have obvious changes in architecture and different house styles due to the bomb damage. Thank God we had tea.
Yes, put the kettle on. ❤
Now that really would have been a disaster, if the tea had run out
@@Raven44453last time that happened the British empire took over the world and that was only defcon mildly miffed.
The day we get really upset even god won't save you
The irony is we're at the same numbers of civilian death, destruction and displacement in Gaza now...
@@ChrisJones-km7tp Good job we weren't hiding the Nasties in tunnels under our schools and hospitals then wasn't it or it might have been worse.
Not only were we taught all about the Blitz all of the way through school but it’s also still visible in some ways, even outside of London (I’m from Bristol). For example, I live on a road of 1930s terrace houses and about 5 or 6 on the road are a much newer simpler build as they were replaced after the bombing of the area. I have an elderly lady on my road who remembers many of the houses going down. Thank you for taking the time to learn and educate about the subject.
Thank you Tyler for learning how British people suffered in the blitz and even after begging the Americans we were refused help.. We were on strict rations over here,I’m 80 years older than now and was 18 months old when the war ended,,Look into Japanese prison torture camps, I am WELSH born and when the prisoners returned to my mid wales small town mum said the people were on the town station to welcome the returning prisoners,a band was playing.Every one was singing THEN* they heard the train coming in the distance a long train,,IT came into the station 1x1 when the first carriage came in the doors opened and medics came out carrying stretchers with soldiers on then you could hear a pin drop. The band and choir stopped and some women started crying,they were human skeletons on those stretchers where there once fit men they were loaded onto army ambulances outside the gates. Then the next carriage pulled in and more men on drips and bandaged helped by medics and other soldiers who looked like they should have been on a stretcher,some woman called out a name through sobs there was silence then a whispered MAM! My mum said it was a scene of horror. I can’t understand how anyone could go to Japan on holiday to me they are wired wrong a cruel weird race, ITS 2024 now and they have bars with young women dressed as school girls these are middle aged businessmen the younger men don’t have girlfriends but mannequin dolls with all the body parts to me that’s more than strange, To the young British school 6th formers what is taught about the wars NOTHING I can’t forgive or forget I wish I could the same with WW1 +WW2,Look at the world now what a mess thousands dying globally a week if not more..GOD HELP US ALL
Pat mason,Colchester,Essex,ENGLAND..
I'm staggered that In UK, we know about Pearl Harbour (basically an outpost of US) and yet Americans don't know that entire cities were bombed relentlessly ALL OVER the nation. Coventry, Liverpool, Hull...parts were absolutely decimated. As somebody born only 30 years after the war ended, I grew up where feelings were still very, very raw. It's no wonder we Brits get offended when some Americans imply they just swept in and rescued everyone. We all worked together, but we were left floundering for far too long. You haven't met brave people until you've met people that survived bombing like that. I highly recommend you watch Blitz Street with Tony Robinson. It's a 4 part documentary and tells the horrific experience of the blitz very well. It's here on You Tube.
Its more young people that don't realize what happened. The history classes aren't that thorough. I blame the public schools. Its one of the reasons why parents are taking children out of school and teaching them at home. Home schooling.....
Hollywood has helped to make sure that we know about Pearl harbour, with movies such as "Tora Tora Tora" and the rather unexceptional "Pearl Harbour". Just as we know about "The Alamo" and "Gunfight At The OK Corral"...! I think it's worth remembering that in the war against Hitler's Germany, the America air force lost more bomber crews than all of their (non naval) losses in the Pacific war put together. So Uncle Sam paid his dues...
The whole of Britain suffered, not just London athough I think they got the worst.
As an Australian I didn't know Darwin was bombed by the Japanese until the day I started work in 1966 at the main trunk exchange in Adelaide and saw a memorial to the telephonists dedicated to the telephonists who died there. Later still I found out about HMAS Sydney being sunk by the Germans off the coast of Western Australia or two Japanese submarines discovered in Sydney.
Couldn't have put it better myself. I learnt all about history from all areas of the globe, yet Americans only seem to learn about their own history
People are sleeping in the underground railway systems today, they are just in Kiev, Kyiv to be correct.
❤
Civilians around their country are being bombed daily. Towns and villages raised to the ground. 6.5 million people displaced predominantly through Europe.
Yeah - and yet it seems as well as President to be Trump, the American public has had enough of coming to their aid and rest of western military powers are just continuing to let it happen. Pretty despicable and complete 2 fingers to learning lessons of history!
Yes, this should just remind us of the situation for civilians in the Uktaine and Gaza
@@deborahcameron4644except with all the tunnels in Gaza, the civilians aren't allowed down there in safety.
My husband at 3yrs old slept in the underground station in London with his parents every night. They came up to find their house and everything gone execpt my husband had his teddy bear. He had to go and live with friends in the country side to be safer. Everyone had to do something to the work effort. His mother was with a team moving the barage balloons that were put up to stop the enemy planes. His father was a fire warden. Even Princess Elizabeth who was a young girl then had to go to learn to be a mechanic and drive. That is why the British had so much respect for her when she became Queen and the Royal family because they stayed in London during the Blitz with the people. I still have my husbands Teddy Bear which we bought with us to Australia. He passed away recently.
What a great story.
Barbaraibberson 6580 thank you for your comments kind regards ex Londoner WW2 uk
10:55 yeah, we do. I loved learning about WW1 & 2 and what I learned has always stayed with me. My grandma and great grandma nearly perished in a Blitz attack in their home town of Coventry (which wasn’t mentioned here). They had air raid sirens to warn people when planes were incoming. My great grandma was working in a cinema at the time and my grandma would walk from her school to the cinema after school and then they’d walk home together. Just as they were about to leave a siren started and all the patrons of the cinema flooded down to the ‘shelter’ which was in the basement below the cinema screen room. My great grandma decided to take her daughter and go home instead, because she knew her son would be home from school soon and she didn’t want him to be alone. The cinema was hit by a bomb after they left and everyone inside perished. I would exist, nor would my mother or any of my siblings, if not for that decision. There were countless moments like that, like bombs landing in back gardens and destroying parts of a house, which left people feeling either very lucky, or in the case of direct hits - very unlucky. Life went on because there wasn’t another choice. The British desire to keep on going cannot be understated. We survived, and we’re very grateful to our ancestors, especially the RAF, for their heroism. Thank you for making this video and shedding light on our history for your American followers! 🙌🏻
I just got to the part where he talked about Coventry, I’m glad it got mentioned!
Thats a crazy story but truly shows how little decisions can affect so much. She had a desire for her son to not be alone during it so she chose her family over her own safety. I think thats amazing as much as its upsetting for the people in the cinema. I remember first learning about the Blitz in school and I was amazed that it was such a short time ago in comparison to other historical stories we were told like romans etc
Not just London… Coventry, Liverpool , Birmingham, Sheffield, Clydesdale & others 😔
Keep Calm and Carry On
My Dad was born in Leeds in 1938 in a house that his family had owned since thy came from Ireland around 1900. He remembers being about 4, standing in their large walled garden, watching the German planes bombing Leeds. His grandfather went mad with him, dragging him inside & down into the cellar just in time, as bomb hit where he had been standing about 3 or 4 minutes later. When they came upstairs after the bombing had died down, their entire garden was destroyed, along with the railway siding on the other side of the garden wall. Their chickens were all dead & their crops destroyed.
Yup Manchester also
Yes not just London. I stay in Clydebank Scotland. Which was devastating. Just end of my street all gone
Belfast as well - the Irish Republic, despite being neutral, sent fire engines north to assist
All the ancient towns and cities from Colchester to Plymouth in the Biedeker raids
My grandparents ran a corner shop in Luton (Luton is just North of London), but during the blitz my grandad was part of a group who had the unenviable task of collecting the deceased after each bombing raid, day after day, many he would have known personally. This understandably affected him for the rest of his life 😢.
My grandad helped his dad collect the bodies from the rubble using their coal cart
God, I'm so sorry.
My eldest uncle was too old for the military so he was a fire watcher in Manchester. He stayed outside during the raids and would report/help fight fires in his area. During one bad bombing a portion of downtown Manchester caught fire. The flames were so hot water from the fire hoses evaporated before it hit the fire.
Americans have also no idea that Canadians liberated the Netherlands!!
The Canadians were thought of as the fiercest fighters. I read recently about the tulip bulbs sent to Canada every year by the Netherlands, in the same way that Norway sends a Christmas Tree to the UK.
Partly..., it was with huge aid from the Polish!👴🧐😉
The Tulips are sent in appreciation of Canada who took in some of the Dutch Royal family during the war.@@silverfireUK
Yep. Paschendaele. Bless them in eternity. ❤️
What (with a twist) makes it easy to remember for me is that my town of birth was liberated by "The Polar Bear Division", Canadian.👴🤷♂
(The twist being "Polar for Polish...".)👴😁
you gotta remember just over 20 years earlier London had also been under siege from the Germans using both bombers and zeppelins which sure didn't kill as many as in the blitz, but still devastated homes and livelihood.
I still have a living relative that was in London during the blitz, my grandmother and her sister both survived the blitz. from what i can remember from what my great-aunt told me on one of the nights both her, her mother and sister watched as some German bombers were coming in (not sure if she could see them or if it was just hearing them she never told me) before they went to hunker down for the coming raid. after the all clear was given they looked out the window and she just described it as "the horizon was on fire, every direction we looked it was orange". mind you they were both 4-5 at this time why they hadn't been evacuated to the countryside I'm not sure, but it makes for a pretty interesting first hand account of the blitz. unfortunately i never got to hear my grandmothers side of it as she died back in 2014 when i was 10 and had very little idea of the world wars, but at least i got to hear my great-aunts side of things!
The King and Queen never left London during the war. They stayed in Buckingham Palace during the entire war, in solidarity with the local population. One of the reasons we love our Royal Family.
It's been acknowledged since that they left for Windsor each night.
@jackie0604oxon The King and Queen left Buckingham Palace each evening to spend them with their Daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, who had been moved to Windsor Castle for safety.
And of course the king's brother was having cosy meetings with German leaders pre-war, and there's evidence he was advocating invasion even during the way while safe in Barbados.
Harry is take 2@Korschtal
With all due respect, it never ceases to amaze me just how little knowledge most Americans have of anything outside of the USA . In 2008 whilst travelling with a group of Americans I made mention of the bombing of Darwin and Broome during WWII and I was informed that "Australia was never bombed during the war!" ....another comment was "Oh I saw something about it in a movie but didn't think it was real"
Oh, and the Australians were there along with their Commonwealth brothers and died alongside them as well. Britain will always be family to Australians as so many of us came from there and in some ways regard it as our second homeland.
New Zealand 🇳🇿 too,for a small population of only about 1 million then,they sent about 100 000 men and women nurses, my mother lost her only brother in the Western Desert in 1943,we were Commonwealth of course.
Canada was there with you. Definitely a huge kinship with our commonwealth brothers and sisters!
Australian troops mainly fought in North Africa & later Papua New Guinea against the Japanese. A number of Australian pilots and Air crew flew for Bomber Command - most notably HCT Bennett who would later command the pathfinder force of the RAF.
His wrecked Halifax Bomber is on display at the RAC museum in Hendon after being recovered from a Swedish lake in the late 1970's
@@patriciawenzel3871 Always 🍁(the realms more so than with the entirety of the commonwealth.)
@@margaretreid2153I love the Anzacs some of the toughest warriors on gods green earth
Plymouth (a Small city in South west England) was also badly bombed as it had a Navy base, but also the civilian town was also badly bombed. The air raid siren in the Naval Dockyard there still goes off every Monday morning at 11:30am.
Tyler, as an Englishman I am proud of you for your compassion and open mindedness. You do your country proud.
Its great that he cares enough to learn about these things and educate himself. If only other Americans were as open minded willing to think beyond their own borders.
He's never heard of the Blitz...
@321bytor so now he's learning about it. isn't that a good thing?
@@321bytorWell soon there will be a new generation who have no idea what happened in Britain. Especially the war years. It shows from the younger generation who only know what the last 20 or 30 years has been like. They think things have always been like that! The older generation who used to tell of it from personal experiences have mostly gone now. They won't get to know.
@@najlepsi_na_planetuYes. Govts tell only the story they want you to know. Britain had to build a lot after the mess made and with no money.
Both of my parents lived through the Blitz. Their home town, Chelmsford, was heavily bombed because the main manufacturer of Radar, Marconi, was based there. My Father was 14, a bomb fell on the house next door but didn't detonate. One morning, he left for school, calling at his friend's house, but half of the street was gone, and his friend and all of his family were killed. Someone's head was laying in the middle of the road. My mother was 9, and had three much younger siblings. Her father was in the Army, and away from home, and her mother was in hospital. It was down to her to get the younger brothers and sisters into the Morrison shelter (the cage), and wait for the bombs. They used to count them as they fell, as they soon learned how many bombs were in a 'stick', and as they got closer, count them down. I can't begin to imagine how terrifying that must have been for a 9 year old. Every two nights of the Blitz as many people were killed as those who died as a result of 9/11. This went on for 8 months.
Thanks for sharing. I'm glad to hear they survived such a terrifying event.
My dad lost his mum through illness at around 11 years old and was sent to live with his aunt and uncle who lived in Woolston in Southampton when my granddad joined the Royal Navy. He witnessed first hand the blitz of the city. At the end of the road in Woolston by the River Itchen was the Supermarine factory where Spitfires were built and that added to the it’s role as a large port within easy striking distance of northern France made the city a strategic target. A few years down the road he also bore witness to the preparations for D Day. The docks had been requisitioned by the US Army in 1943 and such was the volume of cargo coming through the port it was for a while one of the busiest in the world. Eisenhower had his HQ at South Western House in Southampton. The city’s shipyards constructed landing craft and the King George V dry dock was used to construct the top secret Mulberry Harbours. In all 3.5million troops embarked on the invasion of Europe through Southampton 2 million which were American. 60% of all US personnel and equipment went through the port. In the days before he recalled the streets packed with men and machinery waiting to be loaded. Southampton and Portsmouth are less than 20 miles apart and with the former the biggest port on the south coast and the latter the home of the Royal Navy both suffered greatly in the later months of 1940.
The Home Office recorded 320 bombs that fell on Chelmsford
@@chrishayward9615I can see the remnants of the mulberry harbour that sank in the Thames from my house. You can get to it at very low tide or with a Jet ski.
I learned about the Blitz in Year 5 (I was nine and ten years-old), we learned about war in a way that did not glorify it. Obviously they didn’t tell us in depth about how horrible it was, but they certainly didn’t glorify it. We covered evacuees, the holocaust, the fighting itself and we went to a museum and had a day dedicated to the Blitz itself, covering what happened, air raids, sirens, firefighters, medics, evacuation, the destruction and such, it was dark and had every right to be. We covered WW1 and WW2 in much more depth throughout Secondary School and Sixth Form, including talking to a real holocaust survivor called Manfred Goldberg, covering the war in the West, the East, and Pearl Harbour and the US' involvement, the involvement of the soldiers from the British colonies at the time and much more, we didn't just learn about Britain or Europe because that is not the whole war. I cannot fathom not knowing about this information, this is essential knowledge to everyone, nobody should forget things or be ignorant to it or we'll be doomed to repeat it.
Are you from the UK?
Because there are many important moments in history from other parts of the world that we don't get taught or know about.
Everyone knows the Big world altering battles, but as for smaller (but still large scale events) they are brushed over or not talked about at all unless you're from the place where it happened.
I remember learning about it in primary school, we learned about the evacuees and had to dress up as some London children getting sent off to the countryside to escape the blitz. It was a big part of our history education (amongst other things) and it's important for everyone to learn about what really happened not just to the brave soldiers but the brave everyday people who had to carry on during the horrors of war. Massive respect to everyone from every country who kept fighting for our freedom.
My Grandad (he’s 90) was born and raised in London. He remembers the blitz, people rallying around and people sitting on rubble drinking tea. When the air raid sirens went off he had to go into the underground and after the war played in the air raid shelters. St Luke’s church in Liverpool was bombed, inside was ravaged by fire and at 3:36 the clock stopped working. The external walls and clock still stand today. Everyone in Liverpool knows it as “the bombed out church”. They have a website.
My great grandad died in 1987, he fought in both wars and never spoke about it, other than when he was shot in the leg and taken as a prisoner of war.
The blitz went on for a long time, with many losses and a lot of destruction.
Both wars should never not be spoken about, it should be remembered and never repeated. We owe so much to our grandparents and their sacrifices.
When you read on the history you can see where the British “stiff upper lip” comes from.
No one means Britain won the war when they say “we won the war”, what they mean is all the allies won.
To this day we still find undetonated bombs in the ground. Street and road signs were taken down so if there was an invader they wouldn’t know where they were
Ukraine is in a similar situation now, although their numbers are smaller than Russia they have the same spirit to defend their own land from foreign aggression.
Yes, because of your bumbling Boris Johnson, who has managed to destroy two countries in less than a decade! What business has NATO got in Ukraine? Is Ukraine a member of NATO? I did not hear such 'sympathies' when NATO was bombing former Yugoslavia, Syria, Libya or invading Iraq (after framing them with 'cooked-up' evidence)! The worst type of people are those who elevate themselves to this your kind of 'self-righteous' Level!
No it isn't. That's propaganda. Russia didn't invade Ukraine. They liberated Donetsk and Lugansk from ethnic cleansing. That war is far older than you think and you should stop believing everything you see on the BBC.
No it isn't
The difference is nobody came to aid Britain for 3 years. the US and UK (and quite a few other countries) have been aiding/aided) Ukraine so they're not in the same situation. They're getting the finances, the military support and even training programs. You can't even compare the 2 without being disrespectful tbh.
@@lilskipper4683 Ukraine isn't even being bombed. It's nonsense.
The true meaning of keep calm and carry on
There was a tv series called the World at War made in 1973- it is on YT and is well worth watching. It was highly acclaimed.
Yes, it was played constantly on tv during the 1980's!
Brilliant series.
Haunting title music 😢
I saw this as a 13 year old on BBC tv it was quite an education - my parents lived through the war so we were not sheltered from the horrific history and adults knew it was important that we never forget.
ruclips.net/p/PLYxy4la9w2tfotW1Xs-7oICGflf4dJtj5&si=EYZ7mqIZHBPqfKib
Brit here! I really don't comment on videos, but I really wanted to share my story! All of my older family members were children during the Blitz, mostly living near, and with parents/older siblings working in huge factories at the time. They used to tell me stories about them being so afraid that their house wouldn't be there in the morning, or that when the sirens would go off, they would worry all night that their parents or older siblings wouldn't make it home from work and die in the factories. And when I say they were children, I mean between the ages of 4 and 10 years old. Sadly, many of them aren't here anymore. My parents, who aren't that old, grew up playing in the rubble of bombed houses and infrastructure as late as the 1970s.
My ex was American, and I understand that not all Americans are like my ex, someone who really just would not see the world through a non-American lense - which I understand because how can you know if you have never been taught about it... But they never understood why I would get so intense when they made out the war wasn't that bad. They very much made out that the Brits of the time were crybabies and that it must have been so embarrassing for us to admit that we needed help after 1775 hahaha etc etc. They always used to say, "You should be grateful for us Americans that you still speak English and not German. We saved your ass!" and I could only sit there and beg them to educate themselves despite how many times I would tell them about the Blitz. (The relationship didn't last long, mind)
They didn't realise the extent we were decimated by the Blitz until they visited the UK, and noted that large swathes of the country's infrastructure is brutalist - built in the 50s, 60s and 70s, that was mostly due to the way we were bombed. It was the British people of the time that kept the country from collapsing entirely. I hold much admiration for my older family members.
However! Something that may be really interesting to look at, if you admire us Brits for turning shit situations into good ones, you should take a look at the Beveridge Report. It introduced huge reforms in British society at the time. WW2 was horrible, but it did give us a blank state to pull our country out of the Victorian slums and absolute poverty. You might find it interesting if you wondered how we pulled ourselves back from it all!
My dad was born in the 30's. I remember him telling me about a night just before he was evacuated. He was walking home through London when he heard the air raid sirens go. As he started to run home, he heard planes overhead, then the road he was running parallel to exploded into flame as firebombs were dropped along its length. Saved by blind luck, could have just as easily been along the road he was on.
He'd often talk about his life in Cheddar where he was evacuated to, but that was the only time he ever talked about being in London during the Blitz. I honestly can't imagine.
Thank you for posting this on Rememberance Day.🌺
I'm proud to have served for over 20 years in the Royal Air Force. The Battle of Britain was one of the RAF's greatest achievements.
It was, don't forget the Polish pilots that helped us win it though.
my grampy was in the merchant navy, he was on Atlantic convoys. bringing back aviation fuel from Galveston to the UK to keep the RAF in the skies. we NEVER hear of their bravery. #heroesall
@@scottneil1187We are all fully aware of the Polish pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain, thanks, partly because every RUclips video has at least one person like you who insists on reminding us when we don't need reminding!
My Aussie grandpa served in the RAAF in Darwin when it was bombed by the Japanese. He never once spoke about it, he was the most gentle and loving and playful grandpa and I know that it affected him. My son, who is now 34, was given grandpa’s medals, which he treasures.
My father was a senior aircraft engineer at that period, working feverishly to service the planes every time they came back
My grandfather was an air raid warden.
My grandma and her three daughters between 6 months and 7 years were saved by a neighbour when they hadn’t realised an incendiary bomb had landed in the roof of their house. They lost everything. They left the house surrounded by fire and collapsing buildings. My mum relived it often. She was 4.
Not forgetting all the unexploded bombs still being found in London for decades after the war had ended.
Me and a few friends mucking about on the bank of the Thames found 2 of those near HMS Belfast back in the early 1970s 😅
Not just London ... but across the country near any strategic cities.
@@Abogado-Del-Diablo🤯
@@Gantali9305 not just strategic cities i have personally found 2 in a wooded area and another 2 in a nearby field not far from a small mansion in the countryside, they removed the 2 in a field about 18 years ago, and the 2 in the forest i have no idea but i assume they were removed at the same time.
@@Gantali9305 And Germany
To get an idea as to how badly the RAF were outnumbered you should look up the Battle of Britain, it's a real eye opener and gives a fuller picture of just how things were over here during the war.
A very close run thing .
The reason we won was because of RADAR.
Because we were able to detect incoming attacks, we didn't need to waste fuel and aircraft on patrolling borders.
All aircraft would be available and scrambled at a moments notice, thanks to the RADAR and the ground spotters.
@@edmundprice5276Radar and the German underestimation of its importance. Had they realised the significance of our radar to our strategic air defence capability, they would and could have with more importance based on it, taken it out and leave us open to almost invisible attacks from the sky.
Plus: RAF fighters were operating close to their bases so could stay in the air battle longer than the Me Bf 109's that soon had to turn round and go back. British pilots who had to bail out and parachuted safely to the ground could soon return to their squadrons, but Luftwaffe aircrew who bailed out and survived became PoW's and out of the war.
@@edmundprice5276 In addition to radar (and the Observer Corp spotters) what made a real difference was the control system planned and put into place before the war. This meant that information coming in could be collated and presented to commanders in a clear form allowing them to deploy the available forces most efficiently. The division by area and squadron meant it was immediately clear which forces were deployed and which still free. On one fateful occasion, during a visit to the command centre by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the answer to his question, "What forces do we have in reserve?" was, "None. All available aircraft are deployed..."
Radar allowed an early 'heads up' as it could detect enemy aircraft before they even reached the English Channel so fighters could be put in the air only as needed rather than patrolling randomly looking for aircraft. The RAF also enjoyed the advantage of fighting above friendly territory. If shot down, assuming they survived, pilots could be back in the cockpit just as soon as they could get back to base. Any German pilots suffering the same fate could only look forward to years in a POW camp. Remember that trained and experienced aircrew are far more difficult to replace than the aircraft they fly.
Jerry Springer was actually born in a London Tube Station during WWII while his Mum was taking precautionary shelter because of the risk of air raids. He has spoken about it (mostly in a lighthearted manner) a few times on UK TV programmes. Though his episode on Who Do You Think You Are? is absolutely heartbreaking as he discovers what happened to his family that stayed behind when his parents (and I think his sister too) fled to the UK.
For the World Wars it is necessary to keep in mind that Europe was in total war, with great swathes of the mainland becoming battlegrounds. Though this was the case in many other parts of the world, I have the impression that it was more widespread in mainland Europe (though that might just be the bias of the perspective I’ve been taught). We here in the UK were part of that total war but were also on the periphery of it as we watched our young men go off to foreign climes we only really experienced bombs where on the European mainland they had armies digging trenches in their fields and having battles on their streets and with either the enemy living amongst you as an overlord or the imminent threat of that happening. Where the island of Great Britain (the UK mainland) wasn’t invaded, though the Channel Islands were (though they aren’t part of the UK they are crown dependencies and their residents are British Citizens). But as much as the UK was on the periphery, the US was light years away from that epicentre. So you have not grown up within families and towns/cities that are steeped in the scars of total war. I know that for someone of my generation whose Grandparents were the ones going through this total war, it was always kind of just there. Our parents were brought up with rationing and played in the bomb sites and our Grandfathers either served or were in reserved occupations deemed essential to the war effort (my Grandas were one of each, one served In the army from 19 year old in 1939 right up until the end in 1945 and the other was 14 at the start but went into the shipyards and as soon as the war ended was called up for National Service in the RAF). Even if (as in my family) wartime stories weren’t constantly offered, throwaway remarks and answers to questions always were.
My great grandmother tells me first hand about the blitz. She lived one street away from the docks, it’s something that still scars her to this day. War is costly, peace is priceless. Every night I hope we never have to endure anything like this again, only now, the weapons are 10+ times deadlier.
I appreciate my American cousins looking into this, we were down, but not out, you helped us endlessly, food, planes and resources, but you didn’t win us a war, we would’ve won eventually. You reduced its length by 20+ years for sure though 😂
As a Canadian, I find it shocking that you never heard of The Blitz before this. Events of the World Wars were covered deeply in History class and on tv. The Blitz and many other events, including Pearl Harbour are remembered at Remembrance Day ceremonies on Nov 11.
Surely you can't be one of those people surprised by the self-centered, nationalistic nature of US citizens, are you?👴🤷♂
There is a whole branch of my family that doesn't exist becuase of the London Blitz. My grandma's aunt and uncle and three cousins, plus another older cousin and her baby, were all killed when their house took a direct hit. My grandma never liked to talk about it but she agreed to talk to me about it just once for a school project (back in the early 90s) and I'm so glad she was brave enough to do that because I'll never forget the story. The impact of her sharing it on me was really profound.
As much as we appreciate the American war effort don't forget that the UK and the commonwealth stood alone for two years before America joined the war. There were however 3 Eagle squadrons made up of American volunteer piolets flying for the RAF.
Pilots*
@@cptncutlegalso when the Americans did actually join the war they were rather disgusted that we had black Americans not only flying alongside us too but, they were treated as equals regardless of their role which was in stark contrast to how their compatriots treated them, often when a fight broke out in an English pub it would be started by an American that wouldn’t drink if the black men were not told to leave which almost always ended up with the white American being told to leave instead.
And it took us to 2005 to pay America back for that help
@@WEZ4136and that was the high ranking Americans.
Aone in 1939 , 1940 , 1941 , 1942 . In spring 1942 the lend lease act was signed off to help the UK. The Republican party voted against helping the UK , a bit worrying for Ukraine.
My mum was 11 years old when war broke out. My family lived in the east end near docklands. The Germans bombed it relentlessly, so much so her family then moved to Clapham South London. All her life after the war, if she heard the warning siren go on a programme or film she’d shudder. In the road where she lived, the school at the end of the road was flattened to the ground. Thank god it was a night raid & not during the day, although some schools were hit during the day.
She did say that the Americans seemed to think that the bombing of pearl harbour seemed to be their terrible tragedy & it was, any loss of life it dreadful. But uk suffered for a very long time.
Good for you to want to know more about it. Hats off to you. 👏🏻
Proud to be British so much history the good and the bad it makes us who we are strong proud and down to earth, thanks to all our heros in the armed forces from past and present that keep our beautiful isles and amazing people safe
pity our new authoritarian history we are making now is a horrid stain on our previous history.
My family are from the East End of London, where the Blitz was at its worse, and my grandfather was a fireman, who while the women and children were taking shelter in the underground, was fighting fires and pulling people (dead and alive) out of burning amd collapsed buildings; Myself and my cousins were born in the 60's and 70's, but were told all about this, so we're all really proud of him and his bravery to this day, and while he died in the 1970's, all of his great grandchildren and their children, know all about him, and we all have photo's of him on our walls.
We are all proud of him ❤
that's why.. we were never taught at school because everyone knew. We were always told to look out for unexploded bombs, and there were mine cases painted red and used for charity collection on the seafront
Thank you tyler for taking a interest in my country appreciated
My granny lived in London during WW2! she said the boys next door would get on the roof with shovels to flick the bits of bombshells off
my other gran who lived in wigan was too young to really know what was going on during the war, but she discovered the morrison shelter was great for tap dancing on! 9:23
Not just British history
There were Allied pilots from many countries involved Canada, Australia, Poland,etc.
My father fought as Fighter Pilot in the Battle of Britain/The Blitz. He flew Spitfires Mosquitoes and Hurricanes in RCAF Squadron 1 against the German Luftwaffe bombers and single-engined single-seat Messerschmitt They were outnumbered 10:1. The Allies eventually won preventing Hitler from taking control of Europe. Churchill later thanked the surviving pilots “'Never in the field of human conflict was so much been owed by so many to so few.”
My father flew 1939-1944.
The military sent him home early after 5 years of dog fighting because he was still alive.
In America’s entire history1931-1841 has been the only ten year time of peace when they haven’t been at war with another country or each other.
Respect to your dad on Remembrance Day.❤My dad was in an RCAF Mosquito Squadron. I lost 4 Canadian cousins. The new Bomber Command Memorial (2012) in Green Park is beautiful. One man who raised a lot of money and fought the government (such as refusing to pay taxes on the materials) was Robin Gibb of The Bee Gees.
Lot's of New Zealand 🇳🇿 pilots in RAF during the Battle of Britain too,lot's of Commonwealth countries involved.
You ought to read about the silent V1 and V2 bombers. I was born the year after the war and my mum and dad told me about them and it gave me nightmares.
From what I hear, the Polish were elite in the air
My uncle went from Saskatchewan to to Britain to enlist in the RAF. If not for the British holding fast Germany would have moved on to North America with Japans help. Most Commonwealth countries sent troops to fight. If the Americans had helped earlier in the war a lot of lives would have been saved
That's why we hold our Remembrance day on 11 hour 11 day of the 11 month , every year to pay tribute to all the brave soldiers who sadly died fighing for our freedom. God bless them all, we who are living today owe them our gratitude. ❤❤ and pride.
@@helenhymer5809they gave a last full measure of devotion to the cause of freedom
My dad was in London at this time and said the sky would darken from the bombers. When the Luftwaffe was losing much of its capacity they sent over V1 and V2 rockets. He said you held your breath hoping the engine sound would continue because if it stopped you were dead. The lack of knowledge of this in the US is unpardonable. If the UK had capitulated, the western hemisphere ....including the US, would have been next. Civilians often slept in the tube to be safe. Almost 8000 children were killed in the Blitz.
When I was in London in the 60's there were still vacant lots where bombs had destroyed homes and businesses. The woman I was with was from Coventry and leapt into an alley when a car backfired, still suffering from PTSD almost 20 years later. Another friend's father was going to send a soldier home because he was underage. He said, "My home is gone and my family are dead".
Canada also lost many ships and sailors in convoys supplying the UK to keep it alive and able to fight. Canadian factories and farms supplied as much as possible to help. My dad was in the RCAF and volunteered at the start of the war. Australia, India, Scandinavian countries, free Poles, French resistance, Russia, NZ, S African and many British allies were in the fight years before the US. The US did NOT win WW2 single handed. "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON"!
My mum said that the V1s were easier to cope with because you could work out roughly where they would hit after the engine cut out. The V2 on the other hand gave no such warning. They were also quieter. I was born just after WWII and so had quite a few play areas courtesy of the Luftwaffe a.k.a. bomb sites. We were under strict instructions from mum NOT to play in them but.. well they were so inviting.
@@sharonsnail2954 - Doing something you're told not to is almost a dare! 😳
It is also important to realise that the Empire forces who came to help were volunteers. There was no compulsion fron an evil colonial government.
My nan was an evacuee during the war. She was from Liverpool and was evacuated to a farm in wales with her siblings. Sadly she came of age to work whilst she was there and they sent her back home alone. She told us stories us having to take shelter inside the anglican cathedral during raids. We took her to the cathedral one time and she described hearing the shrapnel striking the walls. The holes can still be seen today along the sides of the sandstone walls. We have a postcard that has a photograph of them on the farm, and she'd written on it that their time there was "the happiest in her life". I think it must have really upset her when she was split from her siblings and sent back to essentially a warzone
NOW, you can understand Brit's attitude to America's part in WW2. Brits see them as Johnny come lately. America only joined in WW1, for the last few months.
But they made up for it by being really early into Vietnam.
@@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGE And made a pigs ear of it.
@@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGEWhich should have been completely left alone from day one
@@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGEand got their asses kicked
My maternal grandmother was in her twenties then and used to shelter in the London Underground stations with her family.
My paternal step-grandfather was an older child and was evacuated to Surrey, he stayed good friends and had regular contact with the family that hosted him until the day he died a few years ago.
Nearly 25 years ago, on New Years Eve turning into the year 2000, the fireworks from everybodys new years eve parties around our south london neighbourhood were particularly spectacular, loud and going on a lot longer than usual due to it being a new millennium. As we always did, we opened the front door to let the new year in and wish the neighbours, who would also all come outside, a happy new year.
An elderly neighbour was out in her front garden with her dog and she looked at me with terrified eyes and said in dead seriousness
"Thank you, but its too much like The Blitz for me, its bringing back memories" and as soon as her dog was finished she ran back inside.
Ive never forgotten what she said to me that night.
I'm so glad you're covering this it's such a huge part of our recent history,my mum lived in London and had to endure this and was evacuated after a month of bombings not knowing if her parents would still be alive,she was 5 years old!
You never heard of it cos in your schools you only learn about your own country’s history no one else’s, American school history classes only care about themselves and their guns. 0:24
100% agreed
It wasn't just during the blitz that London and other UK cities and towns were bombed. The blitz was only the main period of bombing which included the most concentrated number and largest German bombing raids on the UK.
Luftwaffe bombers were dropping conventional bombs on London until the end of January 1944, and the V1 and V2 flying bombs were not stopped until March 1945.
So, for all of WW2 (with the exception of the period from the start of September 1939 until August 1940), UK cities and large towns were being bombed until not long before the end of the war.
London gets highlighted, but many other UK cities suffered really badly from German bombing raids, too. Coventry is a good example of a UK city that was heavily destroyed by German bombing. The cathedral was destroyed.
The fact is just about every UK city and large town was bombed at some time or another during WW2.
Yeah up here in hartlepool and it's near towns like Seaton etc were hit.....even by German ships hence you can look up the Hughe Battery and get mini tour guides to show the places that were hit.....so many places in the whole of UK were hit.
And yeah the buzz bombs them dreaded rockets.....the scary part wasn't hearing the buzz of the rocket but when it stopped that's the part where you were scared as you knew it was falling but where u didn't know
Exactly the Baedecker raids.
Chopwell was bombed and the next morning my Aunty was born, as my Grandma had had a fright. A German plane also crashed in the Chopwell Woods. Chopwell is near Newcastle
If you ever come to London, some bomb damage is still visible. Such as at the Natural History Museum and the opposite building the Albert and Victoria Museum. They have an engraved stone saying the damage was left unfixed as a memorial to what happened.
My home city of Norwich was blitzed during the war, over 300 people died in a short time & around 2/3 of the city's buildings were damaged. My 15 year old Mum helped man a water hose, her family (including my Granddad who was in a wheelchair) shared a shelter behind their house with 3 other families - a self built one called an Anderson shelter. My Nan kept a note of every bombing raid & how many times the sirens sounded - which fills 3 little notebooks. It was a terrible experience for everyone.
My Mum and Dad were children and lived in London during WW2. They spent nights in underground (tube/subway) stations, neighbours were killed in the bombings/rubble. My Mum was bombed out of several schools and didn't have a good education for the wartime years.
V1 and V2 rockets used to fly over indiscriminately and drop/explode/destroy/kill. Just like Ukraine today.
Yes, this was the Blitz. Not only London. Other UK and European cities. e.g Hull, Coventry, Liverpool, etc.
That's why some of us Brits (and other nationalities) have such strong views on bully countries like Russia doing the same in Ukraine.
I'm really pleased you're 'educating' yourself and have put this video out. Thankyou!! And cheers from the UK❤
A USA information film about Britain during the war “know your ally, Britain” really very informative
Seconding that rec. There's a chunk of it that's basically 'they've been through hell. Don't belittle that'
To the Americans watching this that didn't know: this is what's happening in Ukraine, this is why we are reacting, this is why supporting Ukraine isn't us being nice, it's them fighting a war on everyone's behalf.
Sorry but that’s not the same, the current situation in Ukraine is a 100% proxy war for the Americans against Russia, now that Ukraine has a more pro west leader installed after the Americans facilitation of the pro east leader’s removal circa 2014
And Gaza. The horror.
@Bryt25 Yes, absolutely horrific.
Well said and most definitely true!! 👏
@@Bryt25 no gazans are terrorists. Idf forces send them plenty of warning to evacuate. Hamas tell them to stay
I think Americans are very ignorant of lots of things out side America. I was at Disney in Florida on 4 th July and the American dad was saying to his young son “ we are celebrating our independence, from who, I don’t know “. We turned to him and said “ the British “
Really?!, I knew they were dumb but that's unbelievable.
Omg that is unbelievable 😢
As an American from the 80s I am shocked this guy never heard of the blitz. As a kid though and now history was and is interesting. I watched a documentary one time about firefighters during the blitz it was pretty interesting and they had to deal with collapsing brick building s unexploded bombs no water pressure they talked about trying to get people out of rubble before the fire came.
When the British fought the British!
@@johnchristmas7522 With some help from our European enemies of the time.
I applaud this guy for learning about this topic, but equally amazed its not even passing knowledge that the blitzed happened!
Hull was called a north east city the bomb damage was comparable to London but it was never mentioned as such. Coventry is mentioned because its badly damaged cathedral but the historical center of Hull is omitted 90,000 homes, churches and factories were either damaged, or, flattened together with the city's infrastructure also badly damaged. Everyone knows of London that's the main reason why the air raids/blitz is associated with it but the damage to the country is centered on it.
Because of Hulls location it was also targeted from the sea, this means that there was no warning as such.
Due to its location Hull often was used as a secondary target when the bombers couldn't find their primary target further inland in the midlands. It was seldom named in news reports and was usually referred to as a town in Eastern England due to its importance.
A town in the north
The problem being that only English people have heard of Hull
@Chloeprettyoccasionally and the Germans, apparently.
Now you know why we British are (or were) known for our fortitude, resilience and "Stiff Upper Lip"
My grandparents and my mum (who was 8 years old) were bombed in March 1941 in what is now known as The Clydebank Blitz. The Luftwaffe's targets were supposed to be the shipyards and munitions factory in the town but instead they hit the high density workers houses, completely destroying huge areas of the town. Out of 12000 homes, only 7 were completely undamaged. Civilians killed were officially reported as 600-odd, which is now accepted as a gross underestimate, true figure over 1000. There is a Mass Grave of the Blitz victims in the local cemetery for those unclaimed or unidentifiable, every year a Memorial Service is held there. All her life my mother was left terrified of thunderstorms and fireworks due to her childhood trauma. Look up the story of the Clydebank Blitz, 13 & 14 March 1941. It wasnt just the major cities which were bombed.
My mother talked about Coventry's bombing, twelve miles from where we lived...I was a baby...the sky was on fire she told me and the smell of burning was intense. My parents took us, my brother and me, down the Anderson shelter in the back garden whenever the air raid sirens sounded. They never knew if we'd have a home left when we came out. They and our neighbours, were brave, loving, caring people looking after each other and sharing what we had. I would like you to look at videos which show you the rations for the family for one week. You would get another surprise. Coventry was one of the worst bombings. A city obliterated. The term Coventrated was invented to describe it.
Watch a film 'Goodnight Mr Tom' about the evacuees.
AND WE WON!!! I am so interested in your reaction!
It’s incredible to see how this has impacted him!
Same here,my now 85yr old mother saw the glow of Coventry burning where she lived in Birmingham.
Birmingham was the third most bombed city during the war after London and Liverpool..... However , Coventry had the single most devastating attack by the Luftwaffe with 500tons of bombs dropped on the 14th November 1940 in an attack called "The Moonlight Sonata" by the Nazis.
Same here, my husband's family lived in north Oxfordshire and his parents said they could see the glow of Coventry when it was bombed. 😮
As someone who went to school in England, I’m shocked that the Americans don’t learn about this
Because in our history lesson we learn about everything from the German invasion of the Soviet Union, to the blitz, to D-day, to Pearl Harbor, to the Manhattan project, and a lot of stuff in between.
We learn about all of the sides from how the uk bombed Germany as well as how Germany invaded everywhere else.
I’m shocked that the Americans only have one point of view that only paints them as the heros.
Mate, it's American exceptionalism. Nothing matters except them in their education system and that's why they think they're the best in the world at anything.
Some of the young ones don't know what the blitz is, but older folks do. I'm Canadian. I had family fight in WWII and one was lost over the Bay of Biscay. I grew up listening to real stories of things that went on, but even apart from that, in my area of Canada, at least, we heard about the blitz pretty extensively and other aspects of WWI and WWII. I know people who grew up in England and as children, even though the war was over, they remember rubble and ruined buildings. It took a long time to rebuild. Rations continued for a while after the war too. There's another topic for you.
You will likely look at some movies and books differently in light of this information. The Narnia series, for example... why were the children sent to live with the professor in his big house out in the country? They were evacuated there because of the blitz. There is a new movie out right now, though I don't know if the US theaters are showing it... it's simply called Blitz and it looks really good. I'm planning to go see it. There are lots of movies that alllude to the blitz. Lots of TV shows too. You might enjoy finding out how badass the queen who wasn't yet the queen was during that time. She insisted on serving and was a mechanic during the war. I've heard many fascinating stories of survival and service from that time, and I never get tired of it.
My Parents and Grandparents grew up in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire (around 70 miles from London) and they could see the glow from the fires of the Blitz burning. As everywhere was on blackout that was the brightest thing in the night sky for miles around.
I’m from Portsmouth in England. Portsmouth was also a major dockyard city and naval base and was also heavily targeted.Portsmouth withstood 67 air raids between July 1940-may 1944. The heaviest attack was between 10-11 January 1940. The Germans dropped over 140 tones of bombs and 40,000 incendiaries on the city. 930 civilians were killed and 1,216 was seriously injured or injured.also destroying 1 out of 2 of the main air raid shelters in southsea just miles away from the dockyard. Over 20% of houses was destroyed or damaged.
What you say is so right. The US is fairly isolated so have never had to deal with bombing campaigns etc. The US only joined the war because of pearl harbour which is nowhere near the mainland. Whereas in the UK , most people in certain areas either saw the blitz (few now) or heard of it from their parents or grandparents. I live in Wales and the luftwaffe would drop their excess bombs on our area to lose weight when the RAF chased them away.
My Mother was 8 years old during the Blitz. We live in the North east of England, a coastal town and had many bombs dropped on our City. My Mothers home was destroyed, by a bomb. The family were in a shelter in the garden. My Mother had to sleep in a school for weeks until emergency housing was found for the family. In the next house, my Mother was in bed when a bomb dropped and the cieling collapsed on her bed, she survived, but again the house was destroyed and they had to move again. She died 2 years ago, but while she was alive, whenever there was a programme about the War on TV and the sound of an air raid siren sounded, I could see the trauma in her face as she switched the channels on TV to avoid the sound. She also lost a Brother in the War. He was 20 years old. I believe all told, the number of british people killed in bombing raids in Britain was approximately 45,000. Hitler went from quite admiring the british, to wanting to wipe the British from the face of the earth. There was nothing to do but fight. Surrender was NEVER an option. Thank you for your compassion and for taking a look at our history, Tyler. We remember all Allies, including our American ones. x
I remember as a child playing on 'the bomb site' at the top of the street. 20 houses were blown to bits and my grandparents house had cracks in the walls. Germans either dumped their bombs having missed the shipyards or were after the colliery. We once found a shoe in some of the left over rubble. I took it home and was shocked by the reaction of my grandparents. I think I know why.
@@oldgreybeard2507 \yes, even then, kids did'nt understand the full horror of what they were playing in. Its a mercy you and they did'nt realise, really. Your poor grandparents trying to shield you from the worst. I hope you're doing well these days, oldgreybeard. :)
Tynesider too…missed the war but my mother would panic whenever the local fire station in North Shields siren went off ….. even in the sixties, must have been dreadful wondering if your house would be next.
I've only begun watching and am smiling at your reaction to the Blitz, we are very proud of our grandparents/ancestors character during these times.Whenever we need to pull together or face tough times we channel the 'Blitz spirit' here in the UK. It was a battle of wills and we tend not to lose those😆(In a good way) Sounds like you'll understand the british more and why we can't stand bossy windsocks who take themselves too seriously! We british laughed at him the way he carried on during his speeches and saw through him for the nasty jumped up little tit he was. In my irish family he was called 'an insufferable gobsheen" .Scarily the conditions etc meant the germans foolishly took him seriously.
For a while I thought you were talking about Trump.
I'm a 76 year-old man. I went to high school in the 1960s. And we absolutely learned about the blitz. In history class. Beyond that, I've always felt and thought I knew that most every American has known about the blitz due to its importance and the fact that it was during World War 2. There's so much film footage of that period of time during the blitz on London that I myself have seen different clips over my many years.
The Blitz was where the phrase "Keep calm & Carry on" came from.
My Grandad lost his brother in a blitz raid, and my Nan was one of the children sent to the country along with her brother. At tge train station they tried to split up my nan & her brother, she was 6 and hevwas about 9 or 10, but she held him so tightly a family agreed to take them both; they were a lovely family from Sussex. (Or maybe Suffolk, I forgeg which?)
To this day you can still see the scars of the blitz around the country, and how it shaped people of that generation.
There are still bomb shelters dotted around the country, most closed & abandoned.