OT: Today In History

Dean · May 8, 2015

Seventy years ago today, the greatest war in the history of mankind ended in the European theater.

Dean
VE Day

Married2Allis · May 8, 2015

Thank God for the brave men and women who fought and died to keep us free. And like it's been said before probably the greatest generation of Americans.

gordy from Iowa · May 8, 2015

Germany is about the size of Mn. and Iowa. How could they ever think they could beat the Soviets and the US in a war? And, then control that much territory. Just plain dumb.

tim s · May 8, 2015

They nearly did it too....

Dean · May 8, 2015

As a student of history, I am astonished that WWII lasted as long as it did considering that the British had broken the German naval code and that the US had done the same to the IJN code both early in the war.

Dean

Billy NY · May 8, 2015

Could you imagine if all of what they were doing was instead used for something honorable, vs what actually happened? One example is the space program, though that was really not a necessity as I see it, but with their technology, knowledge and all the other resources that was put to evil use, in the end, its an unfathomable waste + all the repercussions when Berlin fell and the years that followed with a divided country. The human race and its wonderful ideas at times. Some will say it was inevitable, others not. Loss of life, suffering and all the rest, + the unmitigated destruction of centuries old places, building and such, a shameful waste.

Northvale - PA · May 8, 2015

Divide and conquer. Blitzkrieg. Lightning war and harsh occupation. Hitler thought Americans had no stomach for war. Obviously, Churchill & Roosevelt did a heck of a job saving the world.

GeneMO · May 8, 2015

If Hitler had been half as smart as he thought he was, he could have pulled it off. At least enough to invade Great Britian.

Gene

Paul from MI · May 8, 2015

The valor and skill of our armed forces was second to none, but one of the major factors in the USA victory in WWII was the ability to switch manufacturing from peacetime products to military armor quickly. In a matter of months we were building all kinds of war materials at a record pace. The relatively simple machines of the day allowed that to happen. There were lots of guys and gals well over retirement age that were working 7 days a weeks in factories. I doubt if we could do it today, with so much of our manufacturing facilities and engineering skill gone to foreign countries. Greatest generation, yes they were, and I am thankful that I got to learn from them when I started my career bsck in the 60's.

Patrick Klise · May 8, 2015

One of the comments was how could the Nazis even consider winning with both Britian and the U.S against them. The answer is...Hitler was gambling that the U.S would not enter the war as there was a very strong isolationist movement in the U.S when Hitler began his invasions on the continent. Keep in mind that the U.S. did not enter WWII until December of 1941 when we were attacked at Pearl Harbor...by that time the Nazis had two years of conquests behind them.
Certainly V-E day is to be remembered.

gtractorfan · May 8, 2015

To me probably Hitler's greatest blunder was when he betrayed and attacked his ally, Russia.

JF in MI · May 8, 2015

Remember; Hitler was the one who declared war on us, making it easy for Roosevelt.

JF in MI · May 8, 2015

You have to remember that at that time, post depression, 50% of our industrial capacity was unused. Gearing up for war output was easier for us than any other country on earth.

JF in MI · May 8, 2015

Amen!

JF in MI · May 8, 2015

Not as easy as it seems. While they had the 'Enigma" machine the actual codes were changed frequently and at irregular intervals.

Dean · May 8, 2015

Well aware of that but enormously valuable information was being decoded throughout the war.

Dean

Ultradog MN · May 8, 2015

Thanks Dean.

Goose · May 8, 2015

One of Hitler's problems was a short attention span. He shifted from one front to another before the first was finished. He went from the Battle of Britain to the Russian front. Then when it got cold in Russia, he turned his attention to the Mediterranean and North Africa, etc. etc.

Pair-a-dice farm · May 8, 2015

(quoted from post at 12:27:14 05/08/15) Thank God for the brave men and women who fought and died to keep us free. And like it's been said before probably the greatest generation of Americans.

I don't mean to take away from the efforts and sacrifice of the young people that served in the armed forces. But the greatness belongs to them and the generation before them that developed the military strategies and organized the war effort on the civilian front. To accomplish what they did in that length of time takes the cooperation of a lot of people. It also takes a lot of money. Everyone who contributed what they could deserves gratitude and are a part of that greatness, not just one generation. IMHO

PJH · May 8, 2015

My grandmother had retired as a railroad telegraph operator. She went back to work as a RR station agent because telegraph operators for the military were in demand.

Steve@Advance · May 8, 2015

"In a matter of months we were building all kinds of war materials at a record pace."

Paul, I marvel at that every time I see an old war plane, battleship, any kind of military equipment! What was built with what they had to build it with is truly a miracle! Anyone who has never run old conventional machining equipment wouldn't understand, trying to hold aircraft tolerances with nothing but a Bridgeport mill or a manual lathe... No digital readout, no carbide tools, so many of the people were learning as they did the job with no time for training!

Amazing!

muleboss · May 8, 2015

(quoted from post at 12:27:14 05/08/15) Thank God for the brave men and women who fought and died to keep us free. And like it's been said before probably the greatest generation of Americans.

What makes them the greatest generation?

RodinNS · May 8, 2015

For one, they never intended to fight the US... but Japan buggered that plan on them. Second... they were far superior to the Soviets technologically and in terms of their army training/staffing and planning. Had they not been fighting a two front war or had they headed east somewhat earlier in 1941.. the results could have been far different and indeed very nearly were.
The other major contributing factor is that Hitler would not listen to his general staff... and had he done so and allowed them to run the war they might well have had a different result.
Their absolute racism also allowed them to look down on their opponents to the extent that they severely underestimated their willingness and ability to fight...

Rod

ShadetreeRet · May 9, 2015

Very true, Billy, very true!

ShadetreeRet · May 9, 2015

Without doing into great detail here, I will just say, look up some of the history of WWII on the home front. Read about how women built most of the airplanes and ships, because the majority of able bodied men were fighting over seas. Read about how the automobile factories converted to war production in a short time, and how quickly new plants were built. It is amazing!

oldtanker · May 9, 2015

(quoted from post at 11:18:10 05/08/15) As a student of history, I am astonished that WWII lasted as long as it did considering that the British had broken the German naval code and that the US had done the same to the IJN code both early in the war.

Dean

Actually having the German naval code had little affect on the German war effort because most of it was on land. and the US Navy broke SOME of the IJN codes.

If you look at it both England and France were ill prepared for war. They honestly believed that after WWI that no one would be insane enough to start another war. So the troops were ill led and ill-equipped with WWI equipment and tactics. The tax payers in neither country were willing to pay for better equipped forces.

Now take a look at the US Navy who refused to believe the power of aircraft and the value of the carrier. They still had visions of crossing the T and battle ship battle lines. That's how you won naval victories. And all of the senior naval brass were battleship sailors. They only reason that we adapted so quickly was that we had no other options. You really think the brass was so stupid to leave Pearl so unprotected? They had picket lines out. They were expecting to have plenty of notice if Japan tried something. Yep, the pickets would inform the fleet who would then have plenty of time to get up steam, up anchor and sail forth with the battleships to meet the Japanese fleet also being led by battleships. The surprise at Pearl wasn't the attack. It was an attack by aircraft!

So with both England and the US going into a war ill prepared with poor equipment and not enough troops it's surprising that Hitler messed up enough to lose.

Rick

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