No they have not,half the troops in the first waves were British,Canadian and other allies.
Of course once the liberation got going the majority were Americans but I get fed up with people thinking that the Americans were the only people taking part.
Sometimes it seems as if the British have been officially written out of the Hollywood history of both world wars. When Sarkozy invited Obama for the 45th anniversary of D-Day the froglet said he was keen to keep it a Franco-American affair. When you talk to a lot of French people, and not just the young ones, they mostly know very little about Britain's participation in either war. "We've seen Private Ryan" they say. "there were no English people in that".
shareSarkozy is a short-arsed twat, the Yanks are welcome to him.;O)
Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.
Fortunately (mainly for the French) he's now a short-arsed twat out of office and unlikely to return.
His wife, however...
the Americans won the war even though the UK had almost as many casualties despite having a then population of a 1/3 of the US. That's because they were sat on their fat behinds quaffing tea in the NAAFI. apparently
http://www.break.com/video/ugc/funny-skit-from-blackadder-253113
I don't know if you noticed this, but this wasn't a Hollywood production.
Ya know what I get tired of? The Brits constantly B&Ming about how everything is focused on the Americans. Maybe it's because without them, WWII would have turned out much differently. The Brits would have starved and the Soviets wouldn't have been anywhere near as effective in their defense of the Motherland, which would have brought into doubt their ultimate defeat of Germany. And then there's the whole Pacific Theater the US took care of pretty much all by themselves.
Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
Actually more than half of the allied landing forces in D-Day were non American. The British and Canadians actually faced the vast bulk of the best German divisions (the panzer divisions) in Normandy.
America didn't really take the lead until late summer/autumn 1944.
I have noticed this series mentioning 'Americans' far more. Its actually not authentic. The average German thought 'Tommy' was just as much, if not more, in the war as Americans...even late on....especially as British bombers had been omnipresent over Germany since 1942/43.
Hilarious - pity I missed it.
You must see 'the book thief'. It has German civilians waving American flags and cheering as the Americans liberate the Germans. You have to laugh.
Already commented on the BOOK THIEF page about that stuff,don't get me wrong,I don't doubt the role of America in World War 2 but the role of the British,commonwealth and other smaller european nations should not be ignored.
But I guess the impact of the Americans as a cultural thing was bigger than anyone else,Germans started to drink coke and eat burgers and watch American films,sadly most of them did not drink vimto,eat toad in the hole and watch British films.
But I guess the impact of the Americans as a cultural thing was bigger than anyone else,Germans started to drink coke and eat burgers and watch American films,sadly most of them did not drink vimto,eat toad in the hole and watch British films.
Yes I know we occupied big bits of Germany and British stuff is popular (I am Scottish and Germans love all the haggis and kilts and bagpipes)but I still think that the American influence is/was bigger,people in Wim Wenders films dreamed of moving to America and so on.
The way that Germany sometimes seem to want more sympathy for their wartime experiences means that Britain and the RAF is seen in a negative way.
Yes I know we occupied big bits of Germany and British stuff is popular (I am Scottish and Germans love all the haggis and kilts and bagpipes)but I still think that the American influence is/was bigger,people in Wim Wenders films dreamed of moving to America and so on.
But we were talking about the 1940s and 1950s not today.
Of course coke and hamburgers are most sexy than vimto and toad in the hole which is why most people don't eat them now,and why they were reasonable examples.
The rise of America as a world power and the decline of Britain is a fact of history and is reflected in German films and books about the period,as well as the history of the period.
Leaving aside the anti German feelings in Britain and the anti British feelings in Germany Britain was not an attractive place to most Germans in the post war period,in fact Britain was not an attractive place to most British people in the post war period,all of europe fell in love with America which seemed to be full of glamour and hope and was modern and undamaged by the war.
Perhaps the Germans were happier to accept being defeated by the Americans and Russians,they had defeated the French and partly defeated the British.
German leaders and academics liked Britain because we seemed to represent decency and order,and we had training and exchange programmes to promote good relations.
But we were talking about the 1940s and 1950s not today.
Leaving aside the anti German feelings in Britain and the anti British feelings in Germany Britain was not an attractive place to most Germans in the post war period,in fact Britain was not an attractive place to most British people in the post war period,all of europe fell in love with America which seemed to be full of glamour and hope and was modern and undamaged by the war.
Perhaps the Germans were happier to accept being defeated by the Americans and Russians,they had defeated the French and partly defeated the British.
Two other factors aside from cultural reasons - as to why the US role in WW2 is overplayed.
American military power is at present overwhelming - the British etc play significantly smaller roles eg - in the Iraq wars, Afghanistan etc. I have a feeling that as America is the by far the most important military player now, it is assumed that they must have been by far the most important military player on the Western front WW2.
Also, I have a strong suspicion that films like Saving Private Ryan (especially SPR) have lead people to assume that WW2 was largely an US action.
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I'd like to add that the Americans like to have the UK on board despite our pitifull military capability because it lends weight to what ever they are intervening in at any given time. our history is that we're pretty good at what we do with limited resources. Make do and mend mentality. we are not the force we once were. Just saying.....
http://www.break.com/video/ugc/funny-skit-from-blackadder-253113
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I was not knocking America or its role in World war 2 or in cold war europe,I was just trying to point out that the American role is the once most often mentioned in films and books about post war influence and people forget or never knew the role of the other allies,Britain,Canada and so on.
Taking account of the importance of the Marshall plan and fact that the American forces in post war europe were nearly everywhere and were obviously the representatives of a wealthy country I don't see how people can doubt that the American role made a huge impact on the minds of people in europe in Germany and elsewhere.
Germans knew that that their nation was mostly defended by Americans,with a big British input on the ground on a day to day basis,and the money for rebuilding europe came from America
So that explains to me why it is always American shown as the occupying power in German films and tv.
Since this is a film site can I suggest people watch THE BIG LIFT,A FOREIGN AFFAIR,NIGHT PEOPLE and 123 to get an idea of the period.
Even though the USA was late to the party, they ware STILL responsible, in a big way, of helping Britain stay alive in the early part of the war...if it weren't for the lend lease act, it would have been curtains for the English and Europe as a whole.
shareGermany had no way of invading Britain or its Empire, with or without US lend lease.
shareWell,if they didn't alter their plans of attacking britains air force bases, switching to cities instead, they were a few weeks away from defeating Britain, and occupying their homeland.....read it.....it's a given. The strategy of attacking England's cities INSTEAD of continuing assaulting britains air force was the BIGGEST. Mistake they made....ENGLAND WAS HANGING ON A THREAD!!!!!!
shareIt was a mistake to the extent that targeting cities stiffened British resolve to not come to terms with Germany, which is what Hitler desired.
However, even if the Luftwaffe had achieved air superiority (which they still wouldn't have done if they had continued to target airfields), there is absolutely no chance that they could successfully launch an invasion of Britain.
ENGLAND, or rather Britain, was NOT HANGING ON A THREAD, rather Britain's will to continue to the war against Germany and not seek a negotiated settlement was to a certain extent 'hanging on a thread' in the summer of 1940.
In short, if it were not for lend lease and British resolve it would have been curtains for continental Europe.
Damn, u know a ton....but, I respectfully disagree....had the British air force faltered, england was just about doomed...though I accept the fact that the german military hierarchy did indeed see an invasion of Britain as a monumental task....the generals were stumped on how to pull it off....
Great info, thanks.
Numerous war games conducted following the war have suggested Operation Sealion would have failed either on the beaches, or at the first defensive line, as it would have involved barging troops without armour across a Royal Navy dominated Channel, with very little effective air cover and no logistical support. Also, those war games were conducted by the army, and they purposely limited the effectiveness of the navy to give themselves ground scenarios to play with.
shareIf the RAF had been beaten then the Royal Navy would have have had huge losses from German air attack.
Perhaps we under estimate the importance of the Royal Navy in 1940 but without the RAF winning the air war the German invasion would have been much more possible.
Yes the landings would have been difficult and Churchill was planning to spray the invasion beaches with gas but without air cover could the British have beaten the German invasion?
I think, its more like "without air superiority we should not even bother to do sealion". Which actually happened.
For example, the German navy was (except the U-Boats) kind of small and they already lost many of their destroyers in the Norway operation. So, they kind of lacked the units to screen a big invasion fleet and provide support fire.
Another thing is even by winning air superiority it was still difficult to maintain it. They lacked long-range fighters and bombers and also aircraft carriers. So it was highly unlikely to totally stop the production of new aircrafts in the middle and northern parts of England. And it was also still difficult to do a devastating attack against Scapa Flow.
Even though the USA was late to the party, they ware STILL responsible, in a big way, of helping Britain stay alive in the early part of the war...if it weren't for the lend lease act, it would have been curtains for the English and Europe as a whole.
Well,if they didn't alter their plans of attacking britains air force bases, switching to cities instead, they were a few weeks away from defeating Britain, and occupying their homeland.....read it.....it's a given. The strategy of attacking England's cities INSTEAD of continuing assaulting britains air force was the BIGGEST. Mistake they made....ENGLAND WAS HANGING ON A THREAD!!!!!!
As far as D-Day goes, America did invadecthe worst beaches of the Allied attack. But thinking how Great Britain suffered for years before that, getting bombed from the air, etc, it seems somewhat fair. You're right op, it was a team effort. Let's not forget, 27 million Russians died in this war, they paid the highest price.
shareDepends just on the landing zone. Americans had the highest losses on the first day, mainly because of the situation on Omaha Beach. But at Utah beach, they had comparatively little resistance.
But in the next days, the most heavy fighting shifted to the British troops in the east of the landing zone, which tried for weeks to take the city of Caen against strong German opposition.