I thought it was this video then when I read the title I thought oh it's a different video but it doesn't appear to be. Is the title wrong and it's hours not days.
@@Trippingthroughadventures As a Brit. I think it is important to clarify that The Battle of Britain lasted for 3 and a half months, from 10 July to 31 October 1940. The title of the video is extremely misleading. Some people have taken it to mean that the Battle lasted only 13 hours. In fact it simply focuses on one particular day, 15 September 1940, to give an understanding of how intense the Battle became.
.my father was a member of RAF fighter squadron 87 in the battle of Britain. Before he passed he told me some amazing stories. I asked him if he ever worried about being killed , he said no , I never thought I would die ! Indeed he survived through the war only getting malaria in North Africa. I picked up his torch and joined the Canadian Army in 1970 and served 13 years . I will always be proud of my father's contributions during the war !
@user-ev1ub5es5m . My dad never considered himself a hero . He told me " oh no , it wasn't me , it was all those poor bastards on the ground " . He was a very humble guy .
@user-ev1ub5es5m Those brave men saved Britain from an invasion. It's just sad that their legacy has been betrayed by politicians in the past few decades.
After the Battle of Britain our Prime Minister Churchill famously said "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". You should also check out 'Jeremy Clarkson's the Greatest Raid of All' about the Commando attack on St Nazaire which was another key moment in the war, and a story of incredible courage and tenacity.
Love you both from England🤗also check out Clarkson history of the Victoria cross.hated history at school as it was just repetitive,boring nonesense about learning every king & queen since 1500 just to pass a pointless exam😫but these videos make life as surprising to me as it does to you & it involved my grandparents!also check out anything by fred dibnah & guy martin.more historical legends that I wish we're my teachers🤗
@@Trippingthroughadventures you should be ok with the greatest raid and Clarkson's other documentary on the Victoria Cross as there are many reactions to it already. Both are excellent and worth checking out.
What "small" nation are you talking about? In 1940 the British had an empire "upon which the Sun never set" and consisted of over half a billion people.
@@rogu3rooster Do you mean in this video - or in reality? See "Gassed up: The juice that fuelled victory in the Battle of Britain". But that aside - You're not going to tell me in 2024 that you're hearing for the first time about the existence of the British Empire are you?
We were being obliterated but did NOT give in. We were only a small island but we had the biggest leader in Sir Wiston Churchill there had ever been. God Bless him always. Respect Sir 🇬🇧. He had some bad times and hard decisions to make but he got us through.
Lots of the RAF fighter pilots weren't British. Hundreds of Poles, New Zealanders, Canadians, Czechs, Belgiums, Australians, South Africans, Free French, Irish (Republic). Americans and West Indian flyers helped out. The RAF Roll of Honour recognises that 574 pilots, from countries other than the UK, flew at least one authorized, operational sortie during the battle.
@philb2085 Pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain, and the countries they were from. Australia 32 Barbados 1, Belgium 28, Canada 112, Czechoslovakia 88, France 13, Ireland 10, Jamaica 1, Newfoundland 1, New Zealand 127, Rhodesia 3, South Africa 25, USA 9, Poland 145, United Kingdom 2,342.
The Polish pilots were enlisted into their own RAF Spitfire Squadron based at RAF Northolt. There is a memorial to the Polish pilots at RAF Northolt on the North Circular Road.
@@sandgrownun66 There could be a person behind those cap locks whose vision is impaired. I myself had severe cataracts for five years which impacted my vision until I was able to have corrective surgeries last year. Try to not be so eager to judge without knowing the possible circumstances for your criticisms.
@@brigidsingleton1596 I don't want to judge first. So I ask about something which won't be the case. Also, I frequently enquire if there is a reason for it. Or do they just think what they write is more important than everyone else.
As a child, I spent a lot of my time with my grandparents. My grandfather was a very gentle person who I never heard raise his voice or swear. A true gentleman. Occassionally, he would be asked what he did during the war. He would only say that he was "knee deep in muck and bullets". He would say no more. However, many years later when I married and had a family of my own, we invited him to come on holiday with us to a cabin on the edge of Rutland water. We were talking one evening and the subject got around to the war and what he, and my grandmother (who was now deceased), had done during the war. I suppose he must have felt that he if didn't open-up then he would take it all with him to the grave so, he bagan talking. My wife and I just listened as he talked. Although he came from Tyneside, which was a big ship-building area at the time (so was also the target of German bombing missions), he was stationed in East Anglia prior to being deployed to France. He told us that my grandmother and my dad, who was 2 at the time (so it would have been 1941), had been bombed out of their home so he was ready to go AWOL and make sure that they were safe before he left. The padre learned what he was intending to do and arranged a short leave so he didn't spoil his military record. Later, he told of a meandering journey through most of Europe being billeted with local people along the way Eventually, as an MP, he was sent ahead of advancing British forces to Belsen camp. He didn't need to go into the horror that he encountered there. My wife and I both knew of its reputation. Towards the end of the war, he was a guard at the Brandenburg gate but wasn't "de-mobbed" until long after the war ended. I suppose his role meant he couldn't be spared. My point is that, perhaps because of his experience during the war, he was such a gentle man. He never spoke ill of anyone or complained when things didn't go well. His generation just got on with things and didn't complain. I suppose there's no point in complaining when everyone is in the same predicament.
My grandmother had an American and a Canadian pilots stay with her when they were recuperating from injuries when they had been shot down. They were about 20 years old. They discovered the cellar and bottles of homemade wine. They asked Gran about it and she said they could help themselves. Soon they asked her if she could make more parsnip wine, which they had been selling as whiskey. Gran said she couldn’t as she hadn’t the sugar. A couple of days later there was a hundredweight of sugar on her doorstep! This pair ran a black market for weeks until they went back to fight again.
@@rileytruax766 The house was a big Victorian semi detached, there was a skylight in the roof and only about 10 feet between each house. These lads were doing their 'thing' when the MPs raided the house. They went through everything but found nothing. What they were doing was storing their goods in the other houses attics
A propos of calm in the face of adversity, Lord Lichfield, the later Queen Elizabeth 's cousin and later a famous photographer, told the story : He and his Nanny were having afternoon tea. There was a big bang and he asked his Nanny what the noise was. She replied, " that was a bomb dear. Elbows off the table"😂😂
I appreciate you recognising the importance of this and the way Britain fought before pearl harbour . My great uncle went to North Africa in 1940 , fought the entire campaign and then in 1943 invaded Sicily and Italy and fought until 1945 . His regiment was the Royal Lancashire Fusiliers, the same as my Grandfather who had pneumonia at the time he should have embarked with his brother . His illness ment I am alive today along with my brothers and sisters , cousins and Aunts and uncles . My great uncle returned with PTSD and never fully recovered, but he did marry a nurse and she cares for him all his life , sacrifice is an action that few can understand these days
My mother lost her twin brother and her cousin fighting in the war. She also told me stories, one where she dived behind a garden wall for protection when she heard a bomb coming down above her. She also told me she was woken up one night by waves and waves of planes heading toward the east coast, she later found out that those planes were heading for France and the start of D day. Love you guys, you are such a lovely couple, hugs from London ❤
Thanks for persevering with this one - I know it was hard work, but looks to be worth it. Hopefully now you understand how amazing it is that we still have so many historical building left in places like London, and also where our sense of humour was honed to the understated, dry place it is today! Respect to all the people who served during the war, and to all those at home who 'Kept Calm and Carried On'.
If they hadn’t won the Battle Of Britain ,the Allies would not have been able to use England as a platform to Prepare for DDay I TAKE MY HAT OFF TO THE PILOTS AND ALL CONCERNED AS WITHOUT THEM THE WORLD WOULD NOT BE FREE FOR US ALL TO ENJOY 😔😔🤷♀️
@@rosaliegolding5549 Well they might not have been in such an impossible situation. Apparently it was war gamed and the result was that, with the RAF the invasion of Britain is still unsuccessful.
13 hours that saved Britain is mythical nonsense! The luftwaffe was never going to beat the RAF! The British for starters, were producing more aircraft than they were losing! And Britain was never in danger of being invaded, the Germans never had the capability to do so!
@@samuel10125 waiting for the motley assorted invasion vessels to invade was the Royal Navy with 80 to a 100 fast destroyers 3 battleships ect that would have reeked havoc with those slow moving river barges and slow tugboat packed with sea sick soldiers and panicking horses. No contest.
@anthonyeaton5153 exactly granted that's hindsight for you our older generations would have had no way of knowing that be even then it would have been suicidal to even attempt to invade the UK.
the young boys on the ground aged 16 reliving their stories were only about 3 yrs younger than some of the pilots they were watching,defending our country....
My Mothers house got hit but the strange thing was the front had gone but the back still stood and the gas supply was intact! So she cooked the last of her rations and invited some old neighbours in to share the meal- they all then had to find somewhere to live- this was in Liverpool 🏴
My father was 6.5 years in the Navy on Atlantic and then Russian convoy duty. My mother never really saw him for all that time - my family lived near Biggin Hill aerodrome which was a major airfield in the Battle of Britain and subject to continuous German raids. One day my mother had just hung my sister’s nappies (diapers) on the washing line when she heard a plane she looked round and saw a plane roaring up the block - it was a Messerschmitt and he opened fire. Mum dived inside the house, and when she came out the nappies were riddled with bullet holes!! She was fuming as with rationing in force she couldn’t replace them! One day Lord Haw Haw gave out that my Dad’s ship (HMS Letitia) had been sunk by U boats. She assumed my dad was dead. About a week later there was a knock at the door and there was my dad - you can imagine her massive joy and relief!! In actual fact the ship had sunk but it had hit an iceberg outside Halifax Nova Scotia. He had a few days leave and then went back to war!!
I still ibe near biggin hill. Had Lancaster and 2 spitfires fly over my house. Must have been something else hearing and seeing those overhead everyday
@@sandgrownun66 They often shot at civilian targets to warm the guns up. A dear friend of mine lost his foot aged 4 playing on the beach with his cousin. His cousin wasn't as lucky and was turned to vapor in front of him. His words not mine.
My father served in the RAF from 1938-46. His younger brother joined the parachute regiment, and both my grandfather were wounded in WW1. Very humbled, and proud of them.
My great grandads were in the black watch in ww1, grandad was in merchant navy in ww2, torpedoed a couple of times then joined the army so he could shoot back. They fought against what England embraces now, sad times
As a country, we survived but not without the help of so many nations who joined in the battles of WW2. To whom we owe a debt of gratitude and respect. Thank you to all who serve their countries.
We survived ALONE. NO other country between July 1940 and April 1941 was threatened with bombing, invasion and naval blockade. If you want to correctly argue that Britain was supplied by its empire and the US then remember to add that nazi Germany was also supplied by its OWN empire of its recent European conquests (including some of the most heavily industrialised nations on the planet), as well as MILLIONS of tons of food, fuel and raw materials from their "best friend forever" the USSR (well, at least until 22nd June 1941), as well as being supplied from neutral Spain, Finland, Sweden & the Balkan countries... oh and not forgetting that the US also supplied HUGE amounts of raw and finished materials to the nazis AS WELL as it did to the British, being a neutral profiteering bystander as it was until Dec 1941!!! In 1940 Britain saved itself INSPITE of the US as much as it did BECAUSE of the US. That truth is directed at the US Govt and corporations. As for ordinary US citizens, we loved you then and still do.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684Some excellent and very valid points here! We had help from many quarters in bringing WWll to an end but we stood alone and endured heavy losses for many hard months in the earlier stages of the war. As for the USA, State papers released in recent years show that they were considering starting a war with Britain as late as the early 1930s because they wanted to annexe Canada to exploit its natural resources and they still held residual antipathy towards "the old country" from Civil War days. No wonder they were busy profiting off both sides of the European war - until Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and teamed up with Hitler's Germany. Only then did their priorities really change.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 "We survived ALONE" If you're British then "you" asked for the war. "You" declared it on Germany not the other way around. "NO other country between July 1940 and April 1941 was threatened with bombing, invasion and naval blockade." Well, except for the country you declared war on... and later upon its allies including Finland for simply defending itself against Soviet aggression. "If you want to correctly argue " Yeah, because Germany got so much "food, fuel and raw materials" from "heavily industrialized Finland and the Balkans"... Well, nothing from the Balkans until at least after American Lend-Lease had already been passed and put in effect. [March '41, ya know.] And little Finland fighting first the Winter and then the Continuation Wars was actually importing food - not shipping it out. Sweden did supply Germany with both raw and manufactured product and materials but not food as they themselves were under wartime rationing due to blockade by..."you", actually. You can read all about this at Wiki. Look up "Sweden during WWII". There we also read "the Swedish government was not convinced that the British could protect them and opted to continue exports [to Germany]. The iron ore [Sweden exported to Germany] provided much needed gold bullion, food and coal from Germany". So if Sweden's getting food and coal from Germany then you can figure that Germany isn't getting that stuff from Sweden, right? The USSR is out of the picture in June '41 - but that as well is after Lend-Lease came into effect. " oh and not forgetting" Hmm. Can you cite your sources for saying "the US also supplied HUGE amounts of raw and finished materials to the nazis AS WELL as it did to the British, being a neutral profiteering bystander as it was until Dec 1941!!!" ? Because I'm trying to square that claim with the fact that in 1940 the US supplied critical 100 octane fuel as early as the Battle of Britain. See "Gassed up: The juice that fuelled victory in the Battle of Britain". "In 1940 Britain saved itself INSPITE of" Nope. See above.
@@bearcatXF "Britain declared war on Germany"..... As I explained to you on another of your utterly clueless comments, you're the type of idiot who when a passer by intervenes to stop a serial rapist from attacking his next victim then calls the "good Samaritan" the "aggressor". "Can you cite your sources"? Do you mean in the same way as you have? I.E completely failed to back up any of your nonsense with ANY sources whatsover? (Mind you, anything you cite would probably come from some David Irving BS or some other neo-nazi cockwash such as "Europa the last battle". I like the FULL story, not just the US centric "edited highlights". Read on. If the US had REALLY wanted to "help Britain" in its "hour of need", then instead of bleeding the British empire dry and causing its collapse, they could have for example sold a production license for Tetra Ethyl Lead (or TEL - The compound required for the production of hi-octane fuels) to Britain when we applied to purchase one from the "Standard Oil of Jersey City Company" prewar.... Instead they & the US Govt refused to sell one to "their British cousins"... So much for the nonsense idea of a "special relationship" between the UK & US. Standard Oil and the US Govt however had absolutely NO qualms though about providing the exact same licence to the nazis when they applied to purchase one in 1938. But when it came to Britain the US preferred to strip the British of ALL their gold, cutting edge technology and military bases around the world during the British "hour of need" in return for a supply of amongst other things, US produced hi-octane fuel. Where there nazi sympathies in the Standard Oil boardroom and in some parts of the US Govt? The truth is so unsavoury were the business practices of the US "Standard Oil" company (such as seeking furtive routes and brokering shady deals to supply nazi Germany with fuel and oil via third party nations during the war) that it's activities were investigated and closely monitored by the US Govt... but only AFTER the they had been DRAGGED into WW2 in Dec 1941 by the German declaration of war on the US!!! The US "business community" engaged in VERY profitable business dealings with BOTH sides throughout WW2. US corporations such as Ford, General Motors, US Standard Oil, IBM, Kodak, Chase Bank, Coke-Cola (to name but a few) carried on "business as usual" with nazi Germany THROUGHOUT WW2. Ford's auto production facility in Cologne and General Motor's Opel subsiduary plant in Berlin were both busy working 24/7 THROUGHOUT WW2 furnishing the nazis with approximately 60% of the Wehrmacht's military transportation needs, as well as a sizeable chunk of the Luftwaffe's aero engine requirements... all the better for attacking Britain with eh, and all the while providing US companies with BILLIONS of dollars in profit, and the US govt with millions of dollars of tax revenue The "ALuminum COrporation of America" (ALCOA) for instance supplied SO much aircraft grade aluminium to nazi Germany in the late 1930s and into the early 1940s that it actually caused shortfalls within the US government's own military aircraft production schedules during the same period, so much so that in June 1941 the situation prompted Harold Ickes, US Secretary of the Interior, to go on record as saying “If America loses this coming war, it can thank the Aluminum Corporation of America”. With "friends" like the US business community who needs enemies? As I said above Britain saved itself INSPITE of the US as much as it did BECAUSE of the US. See above. Rest assured, the US adminstration saw oversaw the death of the British Empire while we fought ALONE for 10 months to maintain the flame of democracy in Europe, thereby saving idiot US isolationists from the nightmare of being sandwiched between a nazi dominated Europe and a Japanese dominated Asia. The US paled her hand excellently by spreading her hegemony into Europe post WW2, but she did so at the cost of MILLIONS of EUROPEAN lives. Give over with your "the US saved us" BS. Now go and polish your "GI Joe sixshooters" little one.
My father told me that his dad was unfortunate enough to tell the wrong joke to the wrong person about the battle of Britain. So I am from Denmark, and Denmark was under German occupation during the fall of 1940, and sometimes they could hear the bombing in Denmark and the huge bomber wings humming in the horizon. The town I was born in has a lot of historical significance, and a Viking burial site was freshly discovered, and my grandpa was a machinist during that archaeological dig. Suddenly, SS officials turned up and were disappointed with the state of the burial site and complained, "What kind of crap Himmler wanted them to take pictures of?" My grandpa answered, "The kind of crap the vikings sailed to England in and stayed there for 200 years... Sir." That was perfectly timed and cost him 40 days in the big house.
It showed the British population, the rest of the world and most importantly the Nazis themselves that they could be beaten. They were not invincible…and we don’t like bullies.
My grandmothers was 18, living in Sittingbourne, Kent when this happened, she had already lost a husband, married at 17. She told me that quite often downed fighters, British or German would hit the ground so fast, there'd just be a crater, quite a lot of those planes are still there. If a plane crash was above ground, they'd take trophies. The things that woman saw were incredible, I have nothing but respect for that generation. My family home, was in Kenley, Surrey. Kenley was one of the frontline fighter base protecting London. I think it was one of the first fighter bases attacked in the Battle of Britain. Great video!
That’s a myth! It’s nothing but propaganda! If you think people who lost their homes, or love ones, kept calm, and carried on as normal. Then you are deluded! It devastated the lives of people!!!
The actor Sir Michael Caine was an evacuee from London as a child. A few in there, such as Tony Benn (a Labour politician) and Nicholas Parsons (tv presenter) also grew up to be very successful! Not forgetting Dane Vera Lynn who was the forces sweetheart and very famous singer, with wartime classics such as “The White Cliffs of Dover”. Bomb damage can still be seen on many London landmarks and buildings, such as damage around the entrance to the Victoria and Albert museum and also all around the base of Cleopatras Needle along the River Thames. A special mention must also go to our Polish friends. At least two Spitfire squadrons were made up of Polish pilots who were displaced after Germanys occupation of Poland. The Polish fighter pilots flying for the RAF were renowned for their excellent airmanship. Britain and Poland have a long friendship and we were lucky to have them fighting with us.
I posted on your blitz video. I grew up hearing my parents talk about their wartime experience. They were both 8 yrs old when war broke out. They lived in kent and they too described it at first as fun at first. I have so many stories i could fill a small book! The war is something that one of us can ever forget although not sure as time passes whether the latest generation feels the same. But the effect on british culture and society was perhaps changed forever. We feel strongly about standing up to bullies and agression and perhaps that is why as a nation we are unwavering in our support for the people of ukraine. I applaud your willingness to learn of our struggle and your thoughtfulness ❤
Hi guys , Dame Vera Lynn was a famous singer who became the forces sweetheart , touring all over the world during the war . In a poll she was voted the no.1 singer by US forces as well , quite an achievement. She died a few years ago at 103 . 🇬🇧
thanks for showing this and reminding us what was done in those far off days , my uncle joined the RAF aged 19 he died a few years back and was always thankful to the USA for coming in and helping us defeat the NAZI's in WW2. His wife was Scottish and in the Royal Navy. she did secret work and would never talk about it. thank you once again.
My Grandfather died when the Germans bombed a house that he was a guest to a birthday party for a friend of his.. who’s son was celebrating his 9th birthday. Every one died in the house. This happened in 1943. I love watching our history. Thank you for sharing this. I’ve always watched everything about World War Two. I’ve subscribed for the first time ever to anything utube. Carry on. I’m so interested in your videos . Blessings.🙏💗x
The reason why America didn't join in the war sooner was wholly political and profit based. The vast majority of Americans didn't want to get involved in another war, not so soon after WWI. Plus the US was making huge amounts of money from Britain buying Aid and Weapons. In fact, we didn't finish paying off our debt to America and Canada until 2006.
@@LS-mx1ge the UK was the world's superpower, we had the biggest and best navy, we still had our empire with military bases that are now mainly under American control. The US wanted us taken down a few pegs, for some reason they thought he would want America back, they feared that we would use Canada to invade. Everything that happened after the way with the UK and the empire was pushed by the American government.
@@LS-mx1ge I wonder how Churchill would go about "avoiding" the war considering he was so enthusiastic in carrying it out. And by that I mean his targeting of German cities up (almost) to the very end. Yes I know all about Bomber Harris. > If domestic factors have any bearing on the outbreak of war in September 1939 they are to be found in the response of the British and French Empires to the decline in their relative international strength and the cost and political difficulties of reversing this trend. For Britain in particular it soon became obvious that a sustained rearmament and increased government spending would produce crisis in the balance of payments, a decline in exports, more imports, a threat to the currency, labour difficulties and so on. By 1939 a Treasury official warned that Britain was sailing economically "upon uncharted waters to an unknown destination" [source: Shay, "British Rearmament in the Thirties", Princeton 1977, p.276]. If Hitler were to be confronted militarily, while Britain and France maintained economic stability and domestic political peace, then 1939 was in some respects the best time to do so. Allied rearmament was planned to peak in 1939/40, while the advantage of using up unemployed resources and avoiding inflation was not expected to last beyond the winter of 1939. Oliver Stanley, President of the Board of trade, concluded that "there would come a time which, on balance of our financial strength and our strength in armaments, was the best time for war to break out" [source: ibid, p.280]. Neither Britain nor France was prepared to accept an end to its imperial power and world influence, though neither could really afford the military effort of defending it. Caught between these two pressures, but reasonably confident of the brittle nature of the Nazi regime, they opted for war. [source: Peden, "A Matter of Timing: The Economic Background to British Foreign Policy 1937-1939", in History, lxix, 1984, pp. 15-28; P. Kennedy, "The Realities behind Diplomacy", London 1981, pp. 301-16]. By June 1940 France was defeated and in political turmoil. By December 1940 Britain was almost bankrupt, entirely dependent on American finance and war production to keep going. The economy and political system of the Third Reich was only brought to collapse by the combined efforts of America, Russia and Britain after four years of total war. < - Richard Overy
@@solatiumz This is true but i think it relates more to WW1 than 2. The US was more than happy to see the Europeans powers tear themselves apart, its own attempts at Empire had not been so successful due to them. Seeing, specifically the British, losing their power over the Empire was something they saw as a good thing, i always got the feeling they were sitting and biding their time during the first World War, to see which way it went, to see how they could profit both financially and politically from it. There was still no love lost between the US and UK at this time, they only entered at the bequest of the French. By the time WW2 came around our Empire was crumbling, unable to fully recover after the disaster of WW1, independence had already been achieved by the English speaking colonies and much of the rest was in revolt. The US entered because they eventually had no choice, the war came to them in the form of Pearl Harbour, they didn't do it so save us and went out of there way after to negate British power and influence.
@@waldorfmcvitty4854 Absolutely. The US should've just stayed out of WW1. Theoretically then there'd never have been a second war because no Treaty of Versailles, no Bolshevik Revolution, no Hitler, and so on. It's Pearl _Harbor_ btw.
A big thankyou for reacting to this amazing documentary and also a big thankyou to all of YOUR OWN countrymen who gave so much shortly afterwards from a nation so far away from your own,, an incredible generation and no mistake.
There’s a movie called “The Battle of Britain”. It has big stars in it. Michael Caine Laurence Olivier Robert Shaw. It is about this time. It’s a great watch. Some of the footage from this documentary would have come from this movie.
My dad and mum both were children when ww2 started. They both saw horrible things here in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Jews being dragged out their houses, afraid, mum being shot in a train by allied planes. And the famine they both experienced in the last winter of the war in 1945. My father was in such a bad state , he was send to Switzerland to live with a swiss family to get some weight and health. Thousands of Dutch children were send there after the war.
My mother was born and raised in the city of Manchester during WW2. Manchester in those days was an inland port, and therefore was a target for the Germans. At that time, she was a teenager and she vividly recalls seeing the German planes escaping from the RAF. After dropping their bombs on the docks, they would fly at roof top level to escape the RAF fighters, and because they were so low, she could see the crew. They did this because they knew that the fighters would not shoot at them over areas of housing in case the stray cannon bullets hit civilians.
My great aunt worked at the Supermarine Works in Southampton where the Spitfires were made. She was there when the Luftwaffe bombed it. That was definitely something that stayed with her for her entire life.
Thank you for your understanding and comments, I was born after the war in 1953 but my parents both served. My Mother served from 1940 to 1946 and was on RADAR as an operator and served in 'Hell's Corner' in Kent, Dover and Wick in northeast Scotland. She was one of the RADAR Operators supporting 617 Sqn when they were dropping tin foil over the English Channel to simulate a battle fleet and invasion going to Calais while the real invasion was going in to Normandy. She was Mentioned in Dispatches for her work. My Father was in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and served from 1940 to 1952 starting in the UK, then North Africa, Malta, Scicilly (sp?), Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and then over to Palestine and the emerging country of Israel before returning to England to be a trainer. Naturally I served, when I was old enough, during the 1970s and, to us then, the very real threat of nuclear war was upon us. 1971 to 1983 with the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars on Chieftain tanks and spent most of that time on the North German Plain looking at the Russians who were looking at us. Now, we are all looking at each other and wondering who is going to blink first - we are very close to a world war now and I hope the money men and the politicians back off.
On this day, my Father was fighting the Italians and Germans in North Africa, my Mother was in England on the Anti-Aircraft Guns, My Uncle, (Mum's brother) was in the Royal Air Force fighting the Luftwaffe. They were all in the war until the end, and fortunately all survived. Very proud of them and their contribution to the war effort. Also RESPECTS to all who fought in all wars.
My mother was 6 years old at this time, her family lived between Southampton and Portsmouth and she saw a lot of bombing over the war and was on one occasion straffed by a German fighter, she was the youngest of 10 children and her 5 brothers all fought during the war and all survived, now at 90 years of age she is the last of them alive.
Thank you for a superb Vlog, My grandmother was bombed out twice in East London though never harmed physically by the bombing the terror was far too much for her to bear, and she never recovered and she past away in a sanatorium at the end of the war. This was one of the factors I wanted to join the RAF but I was raised by my other grandmother after my father was killed in action in the Korean war 1951 and she would not agree for me join. When I was 21 I joined the RAF the 12 years in the service was the making of me.
@32:00 Where he mentions a German Pilot landing in, what used to be, a Lunatic Asylum, and is now the Imperial War Museum, in Geraldine Mary Hermsworth Park, it was called, by the locals, Bedlam Park in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, to my knowledge, and was where we played on the Football and Cricket pitches, Tennis courts and swam in the Lido. It is bounded by St George's Road, where the Roman Catholic Cathedral is situated, not my cup of Tea, CofE! Kennington Road, which leads south to the Oval Cricket Ground and north to Lambeth North Tube Station onto Westminster Bridge Road, where St Thomas's Hospital lies on the South side of Westminster Bridge, overlooking Parliament and Big Ben, and more importantly, where my two older Daughters were born and my wife enjoyed the view over the Thames (Tems to you yanks). Across the front of the park is Lambeth Road, which leads, to the west, Lambeth Palace and Lambeth Bridge, a strange area, as you walk from the park to the Palace, there are beautiful private, Victoria Houses on the north side and council flats (apartment blocks) on the South side. Behind these flats is a road with a famous name and a song named after it, The Lambeth Walk, where my Secondary School was situated and where I worked at two seperate businesses. Behind the Park is Brook Drive, where the Lambeth Hospital was and where I was born, where I had a Bedsit at 15 years old, and "Come on Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners video was shot. This area has a strange name, The Elephant and Castle and is on the Tube map, just in case you have a map from your trip. I used to walk past all these places to get to my School from Waterloo, where I walked past The Old Vic Theatre. I was just 11 years old, when my Mum took me out of School at midday, for a Dentist Appointment, it was Friday, April the 5th, 1968. We had just got on the traffic island on Bayliss Road at the Junction of Frazier Street, when a Hawker Hunter flew over our heads! At a height of no more than 100 feet. The story is that pilot Alan Pollock, "Buzzed" the Houses of Parliament a few times and then flew down the Thames, over Hungerford, Waterloo, Blackfriars, Southwark and London Bridges at a height of 200 to 300 feet, before flying through Tower Bridge! Well, that never happened! There is no way he flew over Hungerford, Waterloo or Blackfriars Bridges! He may have flown over London Bridge to be "on target" for Tower Bridge but I can assure you he flew over our heads, down Bayliss Road, where he jinked left and then right, to follow the road across Waterloo Road, across the front of the Old Vic Theatre and down the Cut.
Yep,15th Sept saw the most enemy contacts. It was intermittent for the time you say. It depended most of all on the weather. Other days saw up to 1000 aircraft in the sky. As you say it wasn’t one day.
I grew up on stories from my grandad , he was a RAF fabricator and fixed the bodywork on Hurricanes all over Europe so many stories and was the reason I joined and spent 30 years in the RAF.
Years ago iwas on holiday my mother and I were looking around a Arts and Crafts building. We were in the end room which looked over Lake Windermere, which is very long but there in a valley at 90` opposite. 2 Spitfires came down the mere and banked infront of us and went down the valley. It was amazing they sound different and move differently, they make us proud.
The garden that you mentioned, is the county of Kent in South East England. The county, which is a large county, is still known as "The Garden Of England" today. It's basically because a huge variety of things are grown there. It's also very picturesque, just like a country garden in England...
hi you two the lady in this video was our famous singer Vera Lynn she travelled through Europe to sing for our troops try and listen to one of her famous songs which kept the troops from feeling home sick the song is White cliffs of Dover which really are white cliffs when the RAF saw those cliffs they knew they were home please try and find that piece of music you will feel the emotion still when played today it still brings tears even to the young people who parents have maybe played it at home when reminiscing
If you watch to the end of the video they actually say that in the video itself. No it wasn't the end of the war but it doesn't take away from the fact that this was an event within the period of the blitz that changed Hitler's mind about invading Britain. It's not the only defining moment of the war but it was definitely one of them.
@@DerekLangdon If Americans can say "we" won the Revolutionary War then I can say that "we" won World War II. In fact two of the relatives that I was brought up with in the 1950s and 1960s actually fought in that wall so given that they were close family members (Uncles) then yes: "we". OK?
@@DerekLangdon hes still a citizen of that country lol so yes hes a loud to say "us" i would even accept the use of the word if he wasn't becuase it can be used to talk about the allies in general.
Love the appreciation, love and respect you give to our little country. If you ever find yourself in Ramsbottom (North West), look me up. I'd love to buy you guys dinner and few pints ❤
Its taken me until I am in my 50's to realise... growing up there were old men we all called "stiffs". Rigid, obey the rules, aggressive if crossed... "Stiffs"... Only now I am old do I understand what they had gone through... and appreciate it.
Your comment about knowing the sounds of the engines. My parents were children during the war. We were at the beach and the Memorial Flight were at an air display. As the planes were coming towards us my Dad said to my mum. "It's alright Sally they're ours". A few minutes later a Spitfire a Lancaster bomber and a Hurricane flew over head.
My mother could still name all the aircraft in her 80s. We lived a few miles from an airport that held a display every year and she was telling my children how she had been taught to recognise the silhouette and sound of each type of plane
About 2000 in Wainuiomata, Wellington and my elderly parents from Christchurch were sleeping in my spare bedroom on a visit. They got married in 1938 in England, and went through the war in the UK. Our local semi-volunteer fire brigade siren went off in the night and I turned over and went back to sleep. the next morning, my Mom said to me......when I heard the siren, I half-woke up and started listening for the sound of the German bomebers coming.... That REALLY brought 1940 -43 in England home to me!! 🙂
The polish army fought with cavalry during ww2 and the first few days they were effective against the germans, my gran is polish and grew up at the start of the war so i get told lots of stories that you dont normally hear
The Polish squadron took many years to be given recognition. They were initially treated very badly and not taken seriously. When they were finally allowed to go into action, they became the most effective fighter squadron in the RAF. th-cam.com/video/ptijNcDanVw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=DawmmhdNKMsZdWQ8
He has a lot of British blood and grit flowing through his veins...comes from his British grand parents and great grand parents...we are at our core among best people you will ever meet especially when we are really up against it..
Yes, the British are really up against it now!! And what are they doing about it? They are turning to fascism for answers!! The same fascist ideology they fought against in WW2
Of the 2,962 allied pilots engaged in the Battle of Britain, 2,421 were RAF (and Fleet Air Arm), 117 were Canadian, 141 were Polish 11 American and a further 200 were from ten other countries. 515 of them including 29 Canadians were killed.
I thought I'd create a simple "visual aid" in order to assist people learning about the history of the battle of Britain. There is much ongoing debate about the nationalities and proportions of RAF fighter pilots who took part in the battle, with occasionally a furtive aspect which attempts to portray the battle as a victory of "mostly foreign pilots". Below is a graphical representation of the proportion of pilot nationalities serving within RAF Fighter Command during the summer of 1940. Each flag is roughly equivalent to 30 pilots, The numbers after each nation are the ACTUAL number of aircrew from that country, and the approximate percentage of RAF Fighter Command's establishment in the summer of 1940 that they represented. The figures are taken from the RAF records of the awards of the highly coveted "Battle of Britain clasp" to the British 1939-45 Campaign Star. Which was scrupulously ONLY awarded to RAF & Fleet Air Arm aircrew who flew at least one active sortie in the UK in any RAF fighter aircraft between 10th July 1940 and 31st Oct 1940. 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 UK (2342) (80%) 🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱 Poland (145) (5%) 🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿 New Zealand (127) (4%) 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 Canada (112) (4%) (1940 flag emoji not available) 🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿 Czechoslovakia (88) (3%) 🇦🇺 Australia (32) (1%) 🇧🇪 Belgium (28) (1%) 🇿🇦 S. Africa (25) (1%) (1940 flag emoji not available) 🇺🇳 Other nations (France (13), R o Ireland (10), USA (9), Rhodesia (3), Newfoundland (1), Jamaica (1), Barbados (1)) (1%) (And just to preempt any wandering idiot lefty "Identity warriors" from protesting about "The lack of credit given to the black pilots who fought in the battle of Britain"... the pilots from South Africa, Rhodesia & the Caribbean were all of white descent).
You should also checkout an old american movie called 'know your ally britian' Its clearly army propaganda from back in the day but its an american movie that does a good job representing the british spirit well imo and explaining many things about the uk in ww2 that americans probably wouldnt know. People often forget too that the north of scotland was affected as well as northern ireland, the belfast blitz was hugely damaging and many buildings that were bombed out are shells of their former selves to this day. Something to note too even my grandparents/great granprents never ever talked about death in particular, people just were gone due to the war, like they moved away or something and overtime you sort of realise and understand that kids back then just didnt understand all the death they saw and carried these feelings through the rest of their lives. It makes me so thankful that because of their sacrifise me and or my children wont have to experience what they did.
Thank you for this reaction, you are at the top of a rapidly growing list of Americans that would be warmly welcomed here in the UK, I appreciate you both.
Arthur White's little brother David will grow up and become Del boy in "Only Fools and Horses ". AKA David Jason. He and Arthur became great actors, they were both in the detective series " Frost " A great show 👏 😂❤.
Jimmy Perry along with David Croft came up with Dad’s Army, Are You Being Served?, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, Hi de Hi, You Rang My Lord and Oh Dr Beeching. The place you see with the bloke is today a museum in Uxembourg during WW2 Winston Churchill was Prime Minister and he asks a question about if there was any spare aircraft he is told there is no spare aircraft, watch Battle of Britain film it shows the museum. Battle of Britain film footage is shown in this film. Nicolas Parsons late tv personality. Dame Vera Lynn singer died a few years ago. Jimmy Perry Dad’s Army writer died a few years ago.
My city.. Sheffield,was badly bombed.. Sheffield was pin-pointed because of the steel that was made here. My family's homes were bombed and many other places. There was an American Air force plane crashed here and we have a monument for the young men that perished. The monument is included in our Remembrance Sunday..and one of the children who came across the crash STILL goes to the monument every week to make sure of it's upkeep..he never misses. Just thought you might like that little story.☮️🇬🇧
Hi from Australia. Glad to see your love and interest in the UK and for somewhere outside of the USA. It appears the average American is little educated about the bigger world they live in. Sad, they miss out on so much to discover, explore and learn. I'm sure it would help in their own country to see what the rest of the world does, has done and why they are, who they are.
It was wonderful to watch this with you. As an ex-Army Officer it humbles me if someone thanks me for my service, but these people were real heroes, from age 6 to 80. It's uplifting when people from other countries appreciate this. We have been in the military as a family since the Crimean War at least but my father was pulled from the rubble as a baby with my young gran at the Clydebank Blitz (near Glasgow) with only his Uncle and Cousin as victims. I don't know if you visited the Imperial War Museum but their names are recorded there.
I will always remember a story my Gran told me about being bombed, she was born before WW1 and so was bombed by a Zeppelin when a child and in WW2 she was bombed in the Blitz.
In our area in Kent there is still a spitfire in operation, as a tourist attraction. It's great to sit in the garden with a G&T and listen to the thrum of the merlin engine as it passes overhead. A piece of living history.
Engine note is easily identifiable when you're hearing them every day. Some years ago I worked as a motorcycle dispatch rider in London. It got so that I could tell the make of the bike coming up behind me from the engine note. I belive soldiers can do the same with the sounds of gunshots. They can tell if the gunfire is theirs or the enemies.
Something that rarely gets mentioned in this narrative is the number of non-British personnel involved in the RAF. There were many members of the RAF who came from around the Empire, Canada, South Africa, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Not to mention all those who had already fought the Nazis in their own countries and made their way to Britain to continue the fight, Poles, Czechs, Free French, Belgian, Dutch, Norwegian, etc. Even people from neutral countries who recognised the danger that Nazi victory would pose to the entire world, instance a number of US citizens who crossed into Canada and joined the RAF claiming to be Canadian. Whilst it is true that the majority of the RAF was British, some of the highest scoring "Aces" came from the ranks of these people who deserve to be fully recognised for their contribution.
What absolute nonsense…it ALWAYS gets mentioned..we are extremely grateful to our commonwealth brothers and sisters and everyone else that helped.. it’s only virtue signallers like you that brings it up …well you can stop patting yourself on the back..and you can put your flag down..There is no need for the perpetual offended to spout off.. 🙄🇬🇧
Battle of Britain was a defining moment...its only one... Pre battle we wer literally the only i suppose super power? Fighting back ..everyone else folded.. yhe air battle was pivitol and was during that battle nations came together... The fighting before the battle of Britain can't be understated ❤
My mom was evacuated from Birmingham to Hereford. Birmingham was bombed but the censors only allowed the press to report " a town in the Midlands has been bombed". Because our industry was so important they didn't want to name our city in case it effected morale.
I am 72 now and very very proud of my first name , given to me by my dad , he and his best friend served in the RAF , at the age of 20 , Garry was killed by the luftwaffe , god rest his soul
When you hear Rolls Royce Merlin engines flying overhead, it's like nothing else you've ever heard. Some years back (about 15 or more) my wife and I were visiting her brother. We were in the garden and suddenly there was this rhythmic humming throbbing noise. "what's that noise" said the brother in law. "That" I said smugly "is the sound of Rolls Royce Merlins." We looked up, and flying overhead was a Spitfire and a Hurricane, both either side of a Lancaster Bomber. So 6 Merlins in total. Obviously going to or coming from an air show somewhere.
@@baylessnow I had that recently in the countryside near RAF Cosford the day before the airshow. Out practicing I guess. I stopped what I was doing and just watched and listened to it 👍🇬🇧
My wife and I visited Chiselhurst caves last year and went on to Dover Castle - They were pretty well organized down under those tunnels and Dover Castle seems to have something new each visit.
Kids being resilient is something grownups say to lessen their sense of guilt or shame. Ask any British person from the boomer generation in the UK and they will tell you what life was like growing up in the UK. Many seem not to have put two and two together, but we lived with the aftermath of WW2. Reminisce with someone who was at a British school into the early ‘80s and they'll tell you about teachers going berserk and attacking students. Crazy teachers, along with crazy park-keepers or bus-conductors and commissionaires, car park attendants - all of them have been written into English culture, especially '60s/'70s comedy shows. So have the cold dark aunts who attended family get togethers, despite apparently hating everyone. They didn’t speak much, they had zero empathy or patience with their nieces and nephews. Many of us had an uncle who was always too busy with something in his shed to come into the house for a cup of tea. Almost any adult could hit you if they took exception to what you were doing, there would be consequence for them. I’ve been punched in face by a teacher when I was in elementary school. I’ve seen kids struck of half strangled by teachers. Everyone my age has been made to sit at a table and forced to finish everything on our plate, regardless of how much we hated it. Many of us have gone to bed late because we were forced to sit at that table and the next day, we would only be given what we had refused the night before. I was born in '62 and nobody 20yrs older than me wasn’t suffering from pretty severe PTSD . And elements of that were passed on to us.
I am a baby boomer and teachers could be crawl in the 1960s but we lived with it . On cross country runs in north Cornwall the games teacher would run behind us with a plimsole and hit the boys who were slow ,luckily for me I loved running. He made us run in to the sea and this was in the winter our legs when blue when running back to school happy days and know excuses
Thank you, I was born near London Dockland, dad a merchant seaman, my brother (21 years my senior) a soldier, survived Dunkirk; second brother injured, 3rd sent down mines. At 4years I was in Wiltshire as an evacuee. Younger sister born as hospital bombed. Amazing.
My Great grandfather fought in war motorcycle reconnaissance. My grandmother was evacuated from London to Cornwall. Dame Vera Lynn in the video very famous singer she even travelled to places near where battles taking place to meet soldiers
I suspect a lot of the realistic color film of the air battles were taken from the movie "Battle of Britain" released in 1969. This documentary ties actual footage (in black and white) & with the color footage (from the film),
it was ive watched the film many times. Even saw parts of it being made when i was a kid and lived close to the south coast and RAF Manston which was used.
Canada was the first country to support the UK, declaring war on Germany a few days later…it was a weekend, and political ministers needed to return to Ottawa for the vote.
It was so interesting what you said about cavalry, that was Poland's big problem. Despite having a large (extremely brave) army it was almost entirely cavalry. They didn't stand a chance against the Blitzkrieg (Lightning War), which had tanks. Now you know why I love London so much, I live nearly a 100 miles away and go there as often as possible, and every time I just walk about feeling the history. We owe everything to those young men, all gone now but never to be forgotten. Thank you for your wonderful appraisal of the film 💖🙋♀️🇬🇧🇺🇲
It made me laugh how apologetic you were on your fry up live stream when you realised you'd just said the blitz video really blew up. We all knew what you meant and when it's live you don't have a script to follow, did make me chuckle tho and great fry up attempt I watched all 90 mins.
are we forgetting that HAD the German's won the Battle of Britain they still had to get across the water? the English Channel would be guarded by now, by the world's greatest Navy and Millions of people would be waiting for them to come ashore and give them a welcome. it wouldn't have been the end of the matter i assure you.
It was more than just 57 nights,of raids,we had raids throughout the war,and in 1944 the flying bombs started,and then the V2;s,which went on well into 1945,I can remember it very well.
Enjoyed this, the view from the people on the ground was really impactful & interesting. I did want to make a few comments The 13 hours were decisive but the battle had been on since early July & the RAF pilots were already exhausted, beyond exhausted at that point. There were fighter planes to be had but pilots were desperately needed by August & into September. Many of the British pilots went up with no more than 5 or 10 hours flight time - these were teenagers. Some Flight leaders weren’t much older by then. Over the summer pilots came from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, America, Poland, France & more as others have noted. Many never went home. The video focuses on London in those hours but over the summer & into the fall of The Battle Of Britain Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton were bombed. The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive in November. I had the massive honour of meeting 3 Spitfire pilots in London in the late ‘90s - in a pub, purely by chance. Humble & grateful to have survived they didn’t talk about it much, but they were very special men and the encounter was one of the most special moments in this Canadian’s life. They were barely more than children and literally saved Britain & probably Europe with it. The Greatest Generation indeed.
Seven of them fell in the Battle of Britain. Let's not forget the Polish, French, Canadian, New Zealand, Australian, South Rhodesian, Israeli and other Commonwealth pilots, many of which fell.
@ANDYDT ...there were around 3,500 pilots in the Battle of Britain , around 3,000 British and 500 mainly Polish , New Zealand, and Czech, and finally around 150 of other nationalities
We are not getting paid for this video, but this was a video you guys ask us to make so we are not going to hold out on you guys over politics. ❤
I thought it was this video then when I read the title I thought oh it's a different video but it doesn't appear to be. Is the title wrong and it's hours not days.
@mattsmith5421 thanks for that, I have reposted this 6 times today I must of got messed up lol.
@@Trippingthroughadventures As a Brit. I think it is important to clarify that The Battle of Britain lasted for 3 and a half months, from 10 July to 31 October 1940. The title of the video is extremely misleading. Some people have taken it to mean that the Battle lasted only 13 hours. In fact it simply focuses on one particular day, 15 September 1940, to give an understanding of how intense the Battle became.
You DO get paid if you get enough hits !
@@HenriHattar normally yes but there’s some copy write issues using this video.
.my father was a member of RAF fighter squadron 87 in the battle of Britain. Before he passed he told me some amazing stories. I asked him if he ever worried about being killed , he said no , I never thought I would die ! Indeed he survived through the war only getting malaria in North Africa. I picked up his torch and joined the Canadian Army in 1970 and served 13 years .
I will always be proud of my father's contributions during the war !
@user-ev1ub5es5m . My dad never considered himself a hero . He told me " oh no , it wasn't me , it was all those poor bastards on the ground " . He was a very humble guy .
@user-ev1ub5es5m Those brave men saved Britain from an invasion. It's just sad that their legacy has been betrayed by politicians in the past few decades.
Thank you for your service. Dear Commonwealth brother
Respect 🇬🇧
@@myrarowlands9216 No. Reform.
After the Battle of Britain our Prime Minister Churchill famously said "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". You should also check out 'Jeremy Clarkson's the Greatest Raid of All' about the Commando attack on St Nazaire which was another key moment in the war, and a story of incredible courage and tenacity.
You beat me to it brawd, I was going to recommend that one too its a good one.
We will see but we got some copy write issues with this one.
Love you both from England🤗also check out Clarkson history of the Victoria cross.hated history at school as it was just repetitive,boring nonesense about learning every king & queen since 1500 just to pass a pointless exam😫but these videos make life as surprising to me as it does to you & it involved my grandparents!also check out anything by fred dibnah & guy martin.more historical legends that I wish we're my teachers🤗
@@Trippingthroughadventures you should be ok with the greatest raid and Clarkson's other documentary on the Victoria Cross as there are many reactions to it already. Both are excellent and worth checking out.
@@andrewcraw7117 There's a little twist at the end of story of the Victoria Cross. I'll let you watch it to see what it is.
We may be a small nation but we are tenacious, never underestimate us!
What "small" nation are you talking about? In 1940 the British had an empire "upon which the Sun never set" and consisted of over half a billion people.
@@bearcatXF well this was about our tiny island was it not?
@@Shell2164 You think in WW2 Germany was only fighting the "tiny island" of Britain? Even in 1940?
@bearcatXF for the 13 hours in question was any other nation mentioned aside from France?
@@rogu3rooster Do you mean in this video - or in reality? See "Gassed up: The juice that fuelled victory in the Battle of Britain".
But that aside -
You're not going to tell me in 2024 that you're hearing for the first time about the existence of the British Empire are you?
Truly 'OUR GREATEST GENERATION '
Every day we give thanks for their service and selfless sacrifice..
#LestWeForget 🙇♂️🌺
Tim Leicester 🇬🇧
The current shower of politicians and their predecessors seem to have forgotten. Or maybe, it's worse than that. They actually want it to be invaded.
Your silence is the best reaction. The understanding of what went on can only be described with respect.
The fact you took the time to learn about our wartime efforts means more to us brits than you could ever realise
We were being obliterated but did NOT give in. We were only a small island but we had the biggest leader in Sir Wiston Churchill there had ever been. God Bless him always. Respect Sir 🇬🇧. He had some bad times and hard decisions to make but he got us through.
This video makes me weep with pride. The best word to describe the British spirit is stoic. We have stoicism in spades.
Or British ' sheer bloody-mindedness'.
There's not a race on the planet more stubborn than the British!
You don't. You're a proper snowflake.
That was then,this now.
I as a Swede weep with pride for your effort, by proxy
It makes you wonder why those brave men bothered though?
Our greatest greatest generation.
❤
Lots of the RAF fighter pilots weren't British. Hundreds of Poles, New Zealanders, Canadians, Czechs, Belgiums, Australians, South Africans, Free French, Irish (Republic). Americans and West Indian flyers helped out. The RAF Roll of Honour recognises that 574 pilots, from countries other than the UK, flew at least one authorized, operational sortie during the battle.
Yes, but most were British. The total number of pilots was over 2,000.
And only 7 were Americans..so they hardly carried that battle..🙄
@philb2085
Pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain, and the countries they were from.
Australia 32 Barbados 1, Belgium 28, Canada 112, Czechoslovakia 88, France 13, Ireland 10, Jamaica 1, Newfoundland 1, New Zealand 127, Rhodesia 3, South Africa 25, USA 9,
Poland 145, United Kingdom 2,342.
56 pilots in the Battle of Britain, were naval aviators, many in 804 Naval Air Squadron and 808 Naval Air Squadron.
The Polish pilots were enlisted into their own RAF Spitfire Squadron based at RAF Northolt. There is a memorial to the Polish pilots at RAF Northolt on the North Circular Road.
OUR WRAF GIRLS WERE IN THE THICK OF IT TOO. BLESS'UM.
Broken keyboard?
@@sandgrownun66
There could be a person behind those cap locks whose vision is impaired. I myself had severe cataracts for five years which impacted my vision until I was able to have corrective surgeries last year. Try to not be so eager to judge without knowing the possible circumstances for your criticisms.
@@brigidsingleton1596 I don't want to judge first. So I ask about something which won't be the case. Also, I frequently enquire if there is a reason for it. Or do they just think what they write is more important than everyone else.
Thank you .your love for the UK.is lovely .American people are always welcome here . We had had each other back in times of trouble for years
As a child, I spent a lot of my time with my grandparents. My grandfather was a very gentle person who I never heard raise his voice or swear. A true gentleman.
Occassionally, he would be asked what he did during the war. He would only say that he was "knee deep in muck and bullets". He would say no more. However, many years later when I married and had a family of my own, we invited him to come on holiday with us to a cabin on the edge of Rutland water. We were talking one evening and the subject got around to the war and what he, and my grandmother (who was now deceased), had done during the war. I suppose he must have felt that he if didn't open-up then he would take it all with him to the grave so, he bagan talking. My wife and I just listened as he talked.
Although he came from Tyneside, which was a big ship-building area at the time (so was also the target of German bombing missions), he was stationed in East Anglia prior to being deployed to France. He told us that my grandmother and my dad, who was 2 at the time (so it would have been 1941), had been bombed out of their home so he was ready to go AWOL and make sure that they were safe before he left. The padre learned what he was intending to do and arranged a short leave so he didn't spoil his military record. Later, he told of a meandering journey through most of Europe being billeted with local people along the way Eventually, as an MP, he was sent ahead of advancing British forces to Belsen camp. He didn't need to go into the horror that he encountered there. My wife and I both knew of its reputation. Towards the end of the war, he was a guard at the Brandenburg gate but wasn't "de-mobbed" until long after the war ended. I suppose his role meant he couldn't be spared.
My point is that, perhaps because of his experience during the war, he was such a gentle man. He never spoke ill of anyone or complained when things didn't go well. His generation just got on with things and didn't complain. I suppose there's no point in complaining when everyone is in the same predicament.
Their generation were just built differently they really were a special breed
My grandmother had an American and a Canadian pilots stay with her when they were recuperating from injuries when they had been shot down. They were about 20 years old.
They discovered the cellar and bottles of homemade wine. They asked Gran about it and she said they could help themselves.
Soon they asked her if she could make more parsnip wine, which they had been selling as whiskey. Gran said she couldn’t as she hadn’t the sugar. A couple of days later there was a hundredweight of sugar on her doorstep!
This pair ran a black market for weeks until they went back to fight again.
what do you get when you put a canadian an american and a (assuming british?) woman together? the greatest black market scam ever lol
@@rileytruax766 legendary move.
Good on them !
@@rileytruax766 The house was a big Victorian semi detached, there was a skylight in the roof and only about 10 feet between each house. These lads were doing their 'thing' when the MPs raided the house. They went through everything but found nothing. What they were doing was storing their goods in the other houses attics
@@Foxhunter49 lol smart dont shit where you eat type energy lol
A propos of calm in the face of adversity, Lord Lichfield, the later Queen Elizabeth 's cousin and later a famous photographer, told the story :
He and his Nanny were having afternoon tea. There was a big bang and he asked his Nanny what the noise was. She replied, " that was a bomb dear. Elbows off the table"😂😂
Nice one, I Like that.
I appreciate you recognising the importance of this and the way Britain fought before pearl harbour . My great uncle went to North Africa in 1940 , fought the entire campaign and then in 1943 invaded Sicily and Italy and fought until 1945 . His regiment was the Royal Lancashire Fusiliers, the same as my Grandfather who had pneumonia at the time he should have embarked with his brother . His illness ment I am alive today along with my brothers and sisters , cousins and Aunts and uncles . My great uncle returned with PTSD and never fully recovered, but he did marry a nurse and she cares for him all his life , sacrifice is an action that few can understand these days
My mother lost her twin brother and her cousin fighting in the war. She also told me stories, one where she dived behind a garden wall for protection when she heard a bomb coming down above her. She also told me she was woken up one night by waves and waves of planes heading toward the east coast, she later found out that those planes were heading for France and the start of D day. Love you guys, you are such a lovely couple, hugs from London ❤
THANK YOU for your kind words and the understanding of our recent history. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE WELCOME IN THE U.K.
Thanks for persevering with this one - I know it was hard work, but looks to be worth it.
Hopefully now you understand how amazing it is that we still have so many historical building left in places like London, and also where our sense of humour was honed to the understated, dry place it is today! Respect to all the people who served during the war, and to all those at home who 'Kept Calm and Carried On'.
A different generation made of sterner stuff,god bless them all.
If they hadn’t won the Battle Of Britain ,the Allies would not have been able to use England as a platform to Prepare for DDay I TAKE MY HAT OFF TO THE PILOTS AND ALL CONCERNED AS WITHOUT THEM THE WORLD WOULD NOT BE FREE FOR US ALL TO ENJOY 😔😔🤷♀️
@@rosaliegolding5549 Well they might not have been in such an impossible situation. Apparently it was war gamed and the result was that, with the RAF the invasion of Britain is still unsuccessful.
13 hours that saved Britain is mythical nonsense! The luftwaffe was never going to beat the RAF! The British for starters, were producing more aircraft than they were losing! And Britain was never in danger of being invaded, the Germans never had the capability to do so!
The Royal Navy has disappeared you know then you take into account Germam equipment and resources it was impossible they wouldn't have succeeded.
@@samuel10125 waiting for the motley assorted invasion vessels to invade was the Royal Navy with 80 to a 100 fast destroyers 3 battleships ect that would have reeked havoc with those slow moving river barges and slow tugboat packed with sea sick soldiers and panicking horses. No contest.
@anthonyeaton5153 exactly granted that's hindsight for you our older generations would have had no way of knowing that be even then it would have been suicidal to even attempt to invade the UK.
the young boys on the ground aged 16 reliving their stories were only about 3 yrs younger than some of the pilots they were watching,defending our country....
Fact.
My Mothers house got hit but the strange thing was the front had gone but the back still stood and the gas supply was intact! So she cooked the last of her rations and invited some old neighbours in to share the meal- they all then had to find somewhere to live- this was in Liverpool 🏴
Unbreakable spirit. Makes me proud. Much like the people of Coventry who immediately rallied after the devastating attack.
My father was 6.5 years in the Navy on Atlantic and then Russian convoy duty. My mother never really saw him for all that time - my family lived near Biggin Hill aerodrome which was a major airfield in the Battle of Britain and subject to continuous German raids. One day my mother had just hung my sister’s nappies (diapers) on the washing line when she heard a plane she looked round and saw a plane roaring up the block - it was a Messerschmitt and he opened fire. Mum dived inside the house, and when she came out the nappies were riddled with bullet holes!! She was fuming as with rationing in force she couldn’t replace them! One day Lord Haw Haw gave out that my Dad’s ship (HMS Letitia) had been sunk by U boats. She assumed my dad was dead. About a week later there was a knock at the door and there was my dad - you can imagine her massive joy and relief!! In actual fact the ship had sunk but it had hit an iceberg outside Halifax Nova Scotia. He had a few days leave and then went back to war!!
I still ibe near biggin hill. Had Lancaster and 2 spitfires fly over my house. Must have been something else hearing and seeing those overhead everyday
Not sure why a pilot would strafe civilians?
@@sandgrownun66 They often shot at civilian targets to warm the guns up. A dear friend of mine lost his foot aged 4 playing on the beach with his cousin. His cousin wasn't as lucky and was turned to vapor in front of him. His words not mine.
My father served in the RAF from 1938-46. His younger brother joined the parachute regiment, and both my grandfather were wounded in WW1. Very humbled, and proud of them.
My great grandads were in the black watch in ww1, grandad was in merchant navy in ww2, torpedoed a couple of times then joined the army so he could shoot back. They fought against what England embraces now, sad times
Thank you for there service. a lot of my family and extended family were killed in the WW1 and WW2, I'll always remember the ones i got to know.
As am I !
You should watch the movie The Battle of Britain. Just a thought
As a country, we survived but not without the help of so many nations who joined in the battles of WW2. To whom we owe a debt of gratitude and respect. Thank you to all who serve their countries.
Those countries were also fighting for themselves. Had Germany won Hitler would not have been kind to them.
We survived ALONE. NO other country between July 1940 and April 1941 was threatened with bombing, invasion and naval blockade.
If you want to correctly argue that Britain was supplied by its empire and the US then remember to add that nazi Germany was also supplied by its OWN empire of its recent European conquests (including some of the most heavily industrialised nations on the planet), as well as MILLIONS of tons of food, fuel and raw materials from their "best friend forever" the USSR (well, at least until 22nd June 1941), as well as being supplied from neutral Spain, Finland, Sweden & the Balkan countries... oh and not forgetting that the US also supplied HUGE amounts of raw and finished materials to the nazis AS WELL as it did to the British, being a neutral profiteering bystander as it was until Dec 1941!!!
In 1940 Britain saved itself INSPITE of the US as much as it did BECAUSE of the US. That truth is directed at the US Govt and corporations. As for ordinary US citizens, we loved you then and still do.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684Some excellent and very valid points here! We had help from many quarters in bringing WWll to an end but we stood alone and endured heavy losses for many hard months in the earlier stages of the war.
As for the USA, State papers released in recent years show that they were considering starting a war with Britain as late as the early 1930s because they wanted to annexe Canada to exploit its natural resources and they still held residual antipathy towards "the old country" from Civil War days. No wonder they were busy profiting off both sides of the European war - until Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and teamed up with Hitler's Germany. Only then did their priorities really change.
@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 "We survived ALONE" If you're British then "you" asked for the war. "You" declared it on Germany not the other way around.
"NO other country between July 1940 and April 1941 was threatened with bombing, invasion and naval blockade." Well, except for the country you declared war on... and later upon its allies including Finland for simply defending itself against Soviet aggression.
"If you want to correctly argue " Yeah, because Germany got so much "food, fuel and raw materials" from "heavily industrialized Finland and the Balkans"... Well, nothing from the Balkans until at least after American Lend-Lease had already been passed and put in effect. [March '41, ya know.] And little Finland fighting first the Winter and then the Continuation Wars was actually importing food - not shipping it out. Sweden did supply Germany with both raw and manufactured product and materials but not food as they themselves were under wartime rationing due to blockade by..."you", actually.
You can read all about this at Wiki. Look up "Sweden during WWII". There we also read "the Swedish government was not convinced that the British could protect them and opted to continue exports [to Germany]. The iron ore [Sweden exported to Germany] provided much needed gold bullion, food and coal from Germany". So if Sweden's getting food and coal from Germany then you can figure that Germany isn't getting that stuff from Sweden, right? The USSR is out of the picture in June '41 - but that as well is after Lend-Lease came into effect.
"
oh and not forgetting" Hmm. Can you cite your sources for saying "the US also supplied HUGE amounts of raw and finished materials to the nazis AS WELL as it did to the British, being a neutral profiteering bystander as it was until Dec 1941!!!" ? Because I'm trying to square that claim with the fact that in 1940 the US supplied critical 100 octane fuel as early as the Battle of Britain. See "Gassed up: The juice that fuelled victory in the Battle of Britain".
"In 1940 Britain saved itself INSPITE of" Nope. See above.
@@bearcatXF "Britain declared war on Germany"..... As I explained to you on another of your utterly clueless comments, you're the type of idiot who when a passer by intervenes to stop a serial rapist from attacking his next victim then calls the "good Samaritan" the "aggressor".
"Can you cite your sources"? Do you mean in the same way as you have? I.E completely failed to back up any of your nonsense with ANY sources whatsover? (Mind you, anything you cite would probably come from some David Irving BS or some other neo-nazi cockwash such as "Europa the last battle".
I like the FULL story, not just the US centric "edited highlights". Read on.
If the US had REALLY wanted to "help Britain" in its "hour of need", then instead of bleeding the British empire dry and causing its collapse, they could have for example sold a production license for Tetra Ethyl Lead (or TEL - The compound required for the production of hi-octane fuels) to Britain when we applied to purchase one from the "Standard Oil of Jersey City Company" prewar.... Instead they & the US Govt refused to sell one to "their British cousins"... So much for the nonsense idea of a "special relationship" between the UK & US.
Standard Oil and the US Govt however had absolutely NO qualms though about providing the exact same licence to the nazis when they applied to purchase one in 1938. But when it came to Britain the US preferred to strip the British of ALL their gold, cutting edge technology and military bases around the world during the British "hour of need" in return for a supply of amongst other things, US produced hi-octane fuel.
Where there nazi sympathies in the Standard Oil boardroom and in some parts of the US Govt? The truth is so unsavoury were the business practices of the US "Standard Oil" company (such as seeking furtive routes and brokering shady deals to supply nazi Germany with fuel and oil via third party nations during the war) that it's activities were investigated and closely monitored by the US Govt... but only AFTER the they had been DRAGGED into WW2 in Dec 1941 by the German declaration of war on the US!!!
The US "business community" engaged in VERY profitable business dealings with BOTH sides throughout WW2. US corporations such as Ford, General Motors, US Standard Oil, IBM, Kodak, Chase Bank, Coke-Cola (to name but a few) carried on "business as usual" with nazi Germany THROUGHOUT WW2.
Ford's auto production facility in Cologne and General Motor's Opel subsiduary plant in Berlin were both busy working 24/7 THROUGHOUT WW2 furnishing the nazis with approximately 60% of the Wehrmacht's military transportation needs, as well as a sizeable chunk of the Luftwaffe's aero engine requirements... all the better for attacking Britain with eh, and all the while providing US companies with BILLIONS of dollars in profit, and the US govt with millions of dollars of tax revenue
The "ALuminum COrporation of America" (ALCOA) for instance supplied SO much aircraft grade aluminium to nazi Germany in the late 1930s and into the early 1940s that it actually caused shortfalls within the US government's own military aircraft production schedules during the same period, so much so that in June 1941 the situation prompted Harold Ickes, US Secretary of the Interior, to go on record as saying “If America loses this coming war, it can thank the Aluminum Corporation of America”.
With "friends" like the US business community who needs enemies?
As I said above Britain saved itself INSPITE of the US as much as it did BECAUSE of the US. See above.
Rest assured, the US adminstration saw oversaw the death of the British Empire while we fought ALONE for 10 months to maintain the flame of democracy in Europe, thereby saving idiot US isolationists from the nightmare of being sandwiched between a nazi dominated Europe and a Japanese dominated Asia. The US paled her hand excellently by spreading her hegemony into Europe post WW2, but she did so at the cost of MILLIONS of EUROPEAN lives. Give over with your "the US saved us" BS.
Now go and polish your "GI Joe sixshooters" little one.
My father told me that his dad was unfortunate enough to tell the wrong joke to the wrong person about the battle of Britain.
So I am from Denmark, and Denmark was under German occupation during the fall of 1940, and sometimes they could hear the bombing in Denmark and the huge bomber wings humming in the horizon.
The town I was born in has a lot of historical significance, and a Viking burial site was freshly discovered, and my grandpa was a machinist during that archaeological dig. Suddenly, SS officials turned up and were disappointed with the state of the burial site and complained, "What kind of crap Himmler wanted them to take pictures of?"
My grandpa answered, "The kind of crap the vikings sailed to England in and stayed there for 200 years... Sir." That was perfectly timed and cost him 40 days in the big house.
It showed the British population, the rest of the world and most importantly the Nazis themselves that they could be beaten. They were not invincible…and we don’t like bullies.
Britain showed the world we were far from finished that we were still in the fight
My grandmothers was 18, living in Sittingbourne, Kent when this happened, she had already lost a husband, married at 17. She told me that quite often downed fighters, British or German would hit the ground so fast, there'd just be a crater, quite a lot of those planes are still there. If a plane crash was above ground, they'd take trophies. The things that woman saw were incredible, I have nothing but respect for that generation.
My family home, was in Kenley, Surrey. Kenley was one of the frontline fighter base protecting London. I think it was one of the first fighter bases attacked in the Battle of Britain.
Great video!
Keep calm and carry on.We did🇬🇧
That’s a myth! It’s nothing but propaganda! If you think people who lost their homes, or love ones, kept calm, and carried on as normal. Then you are deluded! It devastated the lives of people!!!
The actor Sir Michael Caine was an evacuee from London as a child. A few in there, such as Tony Benn (a Labour politician) and Nicholas Parsons (tv presenter) also grew up to be very successful! Not forgetting Dane Vera Lynn who was the forces sweetheart and very famous singer, with wartime classics such as “The White Cliffs of Dover”.
Bomb damage can still be seen on many London landmarks and buildings, such as damage around the entrance to the Victoria and Albert museum and also all around the base of Cleopatras Needle along the River Thames.
A special mention must also go to our Polish friends. At least two Spitfire squadrons were made up of Polish pilots who were displaced after Germanys occupation of Poland. The Polish fighter pilots flying for the RAF were renowned for their excellent airmanship. Britain and Poland have a long friendship and we were lucky to have them fighting with us.
I posted on your blitz video. I grew up hearing my parents talk about their wartime experience. They were both 8 yrs old when war broke out. They lived in kent and they too described it at first as fun at first. I have so many stories i could fill a small book! The war is something that one of us can ever forget although not sure as time passes whether the latest generation feels the same. But the effect on british culture and society was perhaps changed forever. We feel strongly about standing up to bullies and agression and perhaps that is why as a nation we are unwavering in our support for the people of ukraine. I applaud your willingness to learn of our struggle and your thoughtfulness ❤
Hi guys , Dame Vera Lynn was a famous singer who became the forces sweetheart , touring all over the world during the war . In a poll she was voted the no.1 singer by US forces as well , quite an achievement. She died a few years ago at 103 . 🇬🇧
thanks for showing this and reminding us what was done in those far off days , my uncle joined the RAF aged 19 he died a few years back and was always thankful to the USA for coming in and helping us defeat the NAZI's in WW2. His wife was Scottish and in the Royal Navy. she did secret work and would never talk about it. thank you once again.
My Grandfather died when the Germans bombed a house that he was a guest to a birthday party for a friend of his.. who’s son was celebrating his 9th birthday. Every one died in the house. This happened in 1943. I love watching our history. Thank you for sharing this. I’ve always watched everything about World War Two. I’ve subscribed for the first time ever to anything utube. Carry on. I’m so interested in your videos . Blessings.🙏💗x
The reason why America didn't join in the war sooner was wholly political and profit based. The vast majority of Americans didn't want to get involved in another war, not so soon after WWI. Plus the US was making huge amounts of money from Britain buying Aid and Weapons. In fact, we didn't finish paying off our debt to America and Canada until 2006.
@@LS-mx1ge the UK was the world's superpower, we had the biggest and best navy, we still had our empire with military bases that are now mainly under American control. The US wanted us taken down a few pegs, for some reason they thought he would want America back, they feared that we would use Canada to invade. Everything that happened after the way with the UK and the empire was pushed by the American government.
@@solatiumz Darn those American upstarts!
@@LS-mx1ge I wonder how Churchill would go about "avoiding" the war considering he was so enthusiastic in carrying it out. And by that I mean his targeting of German cities up (almost) to the very end. Yes I know all about Bomber Harris.
> If domestic factors have any bearing on the outbreak of war in September 1939 they are to be found in the response of the British and French Empires to the decline in their relative international strength and the cost and political difficulties of reversing this trend. For Britain in particular it soon became obvious that a sustained rearmament and increased government spending would produce crisis in the balance of payments, a decline in exports, more imports, a threat to the currency, labour difficulties and so on. By 1939 a Treasury official warned that Britain was sailing economically "upon uncharted waters to an unknown destination" [source: Shay, "British Rearmament in the Thirties", Princeton 1977, p.276]. If Hitler were to be confronted militarily, while Britain and France maintained economic stability and domestic political peace, then 1939 was in some respects the best time to do so. Allied rearmament was planned to peak in 1939/40, while the advantage of using up unemployed resources and avoiding inflation was not expected to last beyond the winter of 1939. Oliver Stanley, President of the Board of trade, concluded that "there would come a time which, on balance of our financial strength and our strength in armaments, was the best time for war to break out" [source: ibid, p.280].
Neither Britain nor France was prepared to accept an end to its imperial power and world influence, though neither could really afford the military effort of defending it. Caught between these two pressures, but reasonably confident of the brittle nature of the Nazi regime, they opted for war. [source: Peden, "A Matter of Timing: The Economic Background to British Foreign Policy 1937-1939", in History, lxix, 1984, pp. 15-28; P. Kennedy, "The Realities behind Diplomacy", London 1981, pp. 301-16]. By June 1940 France was defeated and in political turmoil. By December 1940 Britain was almost bankrupt, entirely dependent on American finance and war production to keep going. The economy and political system of the Third Reich was only brought to collapse by the combined efforts of America, Russia and Britain after four years of total war. <
- Richard Overy
@@solatiumz This is true but i think it relates more to WW1 than 2. The US was more than happy to see the Europeans powers tear themselves apart, its own attempts at Empire had not been so successful due to them.
Seeing, specifically the British, losing their power over the Empire was something they saw as a good thing, i always got the feeling they were sitting and biding their time during the first World War, to see which way it went, to see how they could profit both financially and politically from it. There was still no love lost between the US and UK at this time, they only entered at the bequest of the French.
By the time WW2 came around our Empire was crumbling, unable to fully recover after the disaster of WW1, independence had already been achieved by the English speaking colonies and much of the rest was in revolt. The US entered because they eventually had no choice, the war came to them in the form of Pearl Harbour, they didn't do it so save us and went out of there way after to negate British power and influence.
@@waldorfmcvitty4854 Absolutely. The US should've just stayed out of WW1. Theoretically then there'd never have been a second war because no Treaty of Versailles, no Bolshevik Revolution, no Hitler, and so on. It's Pearl _Harbor_ btw.
Thank you for highlighting such an important part of British history
A big thankyou for reacting to this amazing documentary and also a big thankyou to all of YOUR OWN countrymen who gave so much shortly afterwards from a nation so far away from your own,, an incredible generation and no mistake.
There’s a movie called “The Battle of Britain”. It has big stars in it. Michael Caine Laurence Olivier Robert Shaw. It is about this time. It’s a great watch. Some of the footage from this documentary would have come from this movie.
it has come from the movie.
My dad and mum both were children when ww2 started. They both saw horrible things here in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Jews being dragged out their houses, afraid, mum being shot in a train by allied planes. And the famine they both experienced in the last winter of the war in 1945. My father was in such a bad state , he was send to Switzerland to live with a swiss family to get some weight and health. Thousands of Dutch children were send there after the war.
My mother was born and raised in the city of Manchester during WW2. Manchester in those days was an inland port, and therefore was a target for the Germans. At that time, she was a teenager and she vividly recalls seeing the German planes escaping from the RAF. After dropping their bombs on the docks, they would fly at roof top level to escape the RAF fighters, and because they were so low, she could see the crew. They did this because they knew that the fighters would not shoot at them over areas of housing in case the stray cannon bullets hit civilians.
My great aunt worked at the Supermarine Works in Southampton where the Spitfires were made.
She was there when the Luftwaffe bombed it. That was definitely something that stayed with her for her entire life.
Thank you for your understanding and comments, I was born after the war in 1953 but my parents both served.
My Mother served from 1940 to 1946 and was on RADAR as an operator and served in 'Hell's Corner' in Kent, Dover and Wick in northeast Scotland. She was one of the RADAR Operators supporting 617 Sqn when they were dropping tin foil over the English Channel to simulate a battle fleet and invasion going to Calais while the real invasion was going in to Normandy. She was Mentioned in Dispatches for her work.
My Father was in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and served from 1940 to 1952 starting in the UK, then North Africa, Malta, Scicilly (sp?), Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and then over to Palestine and the emerging country of Israel before returning to England to be a trainer.
Naturally I served, when I was old enough, during the 1970s and, to us then, the very real threat of nuclear war was upon us. 1971 to 1983 with the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars on Chieftain tanks and spent most of that time on the North German Plain looking at the Russians who were looking at us.
Now, we are all looking at each other and wondering who is going to blink first - we are very close to a world war now and I hope the money men and the politicians back off.
On this day, my Father was fighting the Italians and Germans in North Africa, my Mother was in England on the Anti-Aircraft Guns, My Uncle, (Mum's brother) was in the Royal Air Force fighting the Luftwaffe. They were all in the war until the end, and fortunately all survived. Very proud of them and their contribution to the war effort. Also RESPECTS to all who fought in all wars.
if you can find it Watch the Film BATTLE OF BRITAIN Great Film.
most of it was in their video
The organisation involved was extraordinary. It seems as everyone kept their cool and did their job. Marvellous.
My mother was 6 years old at this time, her family lived between Southampton and Portsmouth and she saw a lot of bombing over the war and was on one occasion straffed by a German fighter, she was the youngest of 10 children and her 5 brothers all fought during the war and all survived, now at 90 years of age she is the last of them alive.
This is a very measured and thoughtful response. Many thanks.
So sad but so lucky, you just never know.... 🍀♥️
Thank you for a superb Vlog, My grandmother was bombed out twice in East London though never harmed physically by the bombing the terror was far too much for her to bear, and she never recovered and she past away in a sanatorium at the end of the war. This was one of the factors I wanted to join the RAF but I was raised by my other grandmother after my father was killed in action in the Korean war 1951 and she would not agree for me join. When I was 21 I joined the RAF the 12 years in the service was the making of me.
That’s the truth! All this, they kept calm, and carried on nonsense is sickening!
Thanks for such a sensitive delivery of this moment that is so important to us British folks.
@32:00 Where he mentions a German Pilot landing in, what used to be, a Lunatic Asylum, and is now the Imperial War Museum, in Geraldine Mary Hermsworth Park, it was called, by the locals, Bedlam Park in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, to my knowledge, and was where we played on the Football and Cricket pitches, Tennis courts and swam in the Lido.
It is bounded by St George's Road, where the Roman Catholic Cathedral is situated, not my cup of Tea, CofE! Kennington Road, which leads south to the Oval Cricket Ground and north to Lambeth North Tube Station onto Westminster Bridge Road, where St Thomas's Hospital lies on the South side of Westminster Bridge, overlooking Parliament and Big Ben, and more importantly, where my two older Daughters were born and my wife enjoyed the view over the Thames (Tems to you yanks). Across the front of the park is Lambeth Road, which leads, to the west, Lambeth Palace and Lambeth Bridge, a strange area, as you walk from the park to the Palace, there are beautiful private, Victoria Houses on the north side and council flats (apartment blocks) on the South side. Behind these flats is a road with a famous name and a song named after it, The Lambeth Walk, where my Secondary School was situated and where I worked at two seperate businesses. Behind the Park is Brook Drive, where the Lambeth Hospital was and where I was born, where I had a Bedsit at 15 years old, and "Come on Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners video was shot. This area has a strange name, The Elephant and Castle and is on the Tube map, just in case you have a map from your trip.
I used to walk past all these places to get to my School from Waterloo, where I walked past The Old Vic Theatre.
I was just 11 years old, when my Mum took me out of School at midday, for a Dentist Appointment, it was Friday, April the 5th, 1968. We had just got on the traffic island on Bayliss Road at the Junction of Frazier Street, when a Hawker Hunter flew over our heads! At a height of no more than 100 feet. The story is that pilot Alan Pollock, "Buzzed" the Houses of Parliament a few times and then flew down the Thames, over Hungerford, Waterloo, Blackfriars, Southwark and London Bridges at a height of 200 to 300 feet, before flying through Tower Bridge!
Well, that never happened! There is no way he flew over Hungerford, Waterloo or Blackfriars Bridges! He may have flown over London Bridge to be "on target" for Tower Bridge but I can assure you he flew over our heads, down Bayliss Road, where he jinked left and then right, to follow the road across Waterloo Road, across the front of the Old Vic Theatre and down the Cut.
Our special generation. Thank you for your service.
This film portrays only one day in the battle of Britain. In fact, it lasted for over three months,
10 July - 31 October 1940
Yep,15th Sept saw the most enemy contacts. It was intermittent for the time you say. It depended most of all on the weather. Other days saw up to 1000 aircraft in the sky. As you say it wasn’t one day.
The most defining three months in our nations history
I grew up on stories from my grandad , he was a RAF fabricator and fixed the bodywork on Hurricanes all over Europe so many stories and was the reason I joined and spent 30 years in the RAF.
Years ago iwas on holiday my mother and I were looking around a Arts and Crafts building. We were in the end room which looked over Lake Windermere, which is very long but there in a valley at 90` opposite. 2 Spitfires came down the mere and banked infront of us and went down the valley. It was amazing they sound different and move differently, they make us proud.
The garden that you mentioned, is the county of Kent in South East England. The county, which is a large county, is still known as "The Garden Of England" today. It's basically because a huge variety of things are grown there. It's also very picturesque, just like a country garden in England...
hi you two the lady in this video was our famous singer Vera Lynn she travelled through Europe to sing for our troops try and listen to one of her famous songs which kept the troops from feeling home sick the song is White cliffs of Dover which really are white cliffs when the RAF saw those cliffs they knew they were home please try and find that piece of music you will feel the emotion still when played today it still brings tears even to the young people who parents have maybe played it at home when reminiscing
There were actually FIVE more years of fighting for us from the Battle of Britain in 1940 to 1945. Six years in all for us.
If you watch to the end of the video they actually say that in the video itself. No it wasn't the end of the war but it doesn't take away from the fact that this was an event within the period of the blitz that changed Hitler's mind about invading Britain. It's not the only defining moment of the war but it was definitely one of them.
@@Loulizabeth Yes, the video that they were reacting to said, incorrectly, " ... four more years ..." at 56:46
Us? andypandy Us? You weren’t even born!!
@@DerekLangdon
If Americans can say "we" won the Revolutionary War then I can say that "we" won World War II. In fact two of the relatives that I was brought up with in the 1950s and 1960s actually fought in that wall so given that they were close family members (Uncles) then yes: "we".
OK?
@@DerekLangdon hes still a citizen of that country lol so yes hes a loud to say "us" i would even accept the use of the word if he wasn't becuase it can be used to talk about the allies in general.
Love the appreciation, love and respect you give to our little country. If you ever find yourself in Ramsbottom (North West), look me up. I'd love to buy you guys dinner and few pints ❤
Thank you for the kind words
Its taken me until I am in my 50's to realise... growing up there were old men we all called "stiffs". Rigid, obey the rules, aggressive if crossed... "Stiffs"... Only now I am old do I understand what they had gone through... and appreciate it.
Your comment about knowing the sounds of the engines. My parents were children during the war. We were at the beach and the Memorial Flight were at an air display. As the planes were coming towards us my Dad said to my mum. "It's alright Sally they're ours". A few minutes later a Spitfire a Lancaster bomber and a Hurricane flew over head.
My mother could still name all the aircraft in her 80s. We lived a few miles from an airport that held a display every year and she was telling my children how she had been taught to recognise the silhouette and sound of each type of plane
That phrase, "it's alright they're ours" is memorable.
About 2000 in Wainuiomata, Wellington and my elderly parents from Christchurch were sleeping in my spare bedroom on a visit. They got married in 1938 in England, and went through the war in the UK. Our local semi-volunteer fire brigade siren went off in the night and I turned over and went back to sleep. the next morning, my Mom said to me......when I heard the siren, I half-woke up and started listening for the sound of the German bomebers coming.... That REALLY brought 1940 -43 in England home to me!! 🙂
The polish army fought with cavalry during ww2 and the first few days they were effective against the germans, my gran is polish and grew up at the start of the war so i get told lots of stories that you dont normally hear
The Polish squadron took many years to be given recognition. They were initially treated very badly and not taken seriously. When they were finally allowed to go into action, they became the most effective fighter squadron in the RAF. th-cam.com/video/ptijNcDanVw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=DawmmhdNKMsZdWQ8
@@adrianmcgrath1984Polish 303 Squadron RAF had the most kills of the Battle of Britain.
He has a lot of British blood and grit flowing through his veins...comes from his British grand parents and great grand parents...we are at our core among best people you will ever meet especially when we are really up against it..
Yes, the British are really up against it now!! And what are they doing about it? They are turning to fascism for answers!! The same fascist ideology they fought against in WW2
Of the 2,962 allied pilots engaged in the Battle of Britain, 2,421 were RAF (and Fleet Air Arm), 117 were Canadian, 141 were Polish 11 American and a further 200 were from ten other countries. 515 of them including 29 Canadians were killed.
I thought I'd create a simple "visual aid" in order to assist people learning about the history of the battle of Britain. There is much ongoing debate about the nationalities and proportions of RAF fighter pilots who took part in the battle, with occasionally a furtive aspect which attempts to portray the battle as a victory of "mostly foreign pilots". Below is a graphical representation of the proportion of pilot nationalities serving within RAF Fighter Command during the summer of 1940.
Each flag is roughly equivalent to 30 pilots, The numbers after each nation are the ACTUAL number of aircrew from that country, and the approximate percentage of RAF Fighter Command's establishment in the summer of 1940 that they represented.
The figures are taken from the RAF records of the awards of the highly coveted "Battle of Britain clasp" to the British 1939-45 Campaign Star. Which was scrupulously ONLY awarded to RAF & Fleet Air Arm aircrew who flew at least one active sortie in the UK in any RAF fighter aircraft between 10th July 1940 and 31st Oct 1940.
🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 UK (2342) (80%)
🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱 Poland (145) (5%)
🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿🇳🇿 New Zealand (127) (4%)
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 Canada (112) (4%) (1940 flag emoji not available)
🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿 Czechoslovakia (88) (3%)
🇦🇺 Australia (32) (1%)
🇧🇪 Belgium (28) (1%)
🇿🇦 S. Africa (25) (1%) (1940 flag emoji not available)
🇺🇳 Other nations (France (13), R o Ireland (10), USA (9), Rhodesia (3), Newfoundland (1), Jamaica (1), Barbados (1)) (1%)
(And just to preempt any wandering idiot lefty "Identity warriors" from protesting about "The lack of credit given to the black pilots who fought in the battle of Britain"... the pilots from South Africa, Rhodesia & the Caribbean were all of white descent).
You should also checkout an old american movie called 'know your ally britian' Its clearly army propaganda from back in the day but its an american movie that does a good job representing the british spirit well imo and explaining many things about the uk in ww2 that americans probably wouldnt know. People often forget too that the north of scotland was affected as well as northern ireland, the belfast blitz was hugely damaging and many buildings that were bombed out are shells of their former selves to this day. Something to note too even my grandparents/great granprents never ever talked about death in particular, people just were gone due to the war, like they moved away or something and overtime you sort of realise and understand that kids back then just didnt understand all the death they saw and carried these feelings through the rest of their lives. It makes me so thankful that because of their sacrifise me and or my children wont have to experience what they did.
Convoys to Russia gathered in Loch Ewe and were able to take on fuel before they left together.
Thank you for this reaction, you are at the top of a rapidly growing list of Americans that would be warmly welcomed here in the UK, I appreciate you both.
You would enjoy watching "Know your Ally" very very interesting
Thank you for the video and your interest.
Thanks for showing this
Oh wow 😮 Thank you for viewing we love and respect Great Britain and its History
Arthur White's little brother David will grow up and become Del boy in "Only Fools and Horses ". AKA David Jason. He and Arthur became great actors, they were both in the detective series " Frost "
A great show 👏 😂❤.
Wow that blew my mind, I just ran into to Tiffany to show her, now we got to check out frost thank you 😊
@@Trippingthroughadventures enjoy 😉 😘 😊
And both in the darling buds of May another fantastic tv show
Jimmy Perry along with David Croft came up with Dad’s Army, Are You Being Served?, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, Hi de Hi, You Rang My Lord and Oh Dr Beeching. The place you see with the bloke is today a museum in Uxembourg during WW2 Winston Churchill was Prime Minister and he asks a question about if there was any spare aircraft he is told there is no spare aircraft, watch Battle of Britain film it shows the museum. Battle of Britain film footage is shown in this film. Nicolas Parsons late tv personality. Dame Vera Lynn singer died a few years ago. Jimmy Perry Dad’s Army writer died a few years ago.
My city.. Sheffield,was badly bombed.. Sheffield was pin-pointed because of the steel that was made here.
My family's homes were bombed and many other places.
There was an American Air force plane crashed here and we have a monument for the young men that perished.
The monument is included in our Remembrance Sunday..and one of the children who came across the crash STILL goes to the monument every week to make sure of it's upkeep..he never misses.
Just thought you might like that little story.☮️🇬🇧
Aye when "Sheffield Steel" was known around the world.... until the globalists shifted it all to China.
Hi from Australia. Glad to see your love and interest in the UK and for somewhere outside of the USA. It appears the average American is little educated about the bigger world they live in. Sad, they miss out on so much to discover, explore and learn. I'm sure it would help in their own country to see what the rest of the world does, has done and why they are, who they are.
It was wonderful to watch this with you. As an ex-Army Officer it humbles me if someone thanks me for my service, but these people were real heroes, from age 6 to 80. It's uplifting when people from other countries appreciate this. We have been in the military as a family since the Crimean War at least but my father was pulled from the rubble as a baby with my young gran at the Clydebank Blitz (near Glasgow) with only his Uncle and Cousin as victims. I don't know if you visited the Imperial War Museum but their names are recorded there.
I like to ask what regiment veterans have served with I guess me taking an interest in their military career is why way of thanking them
I will always remember a story my Gran told me about being bombed, she was born before WW1 and so was bombed by a Zeppelin when a child and in WW2 she was bombed in the Blitz.
In our area in Kent there is still a spitfire in operation, as a tourist attraction. It's great to sit in the garden with a G&T and listen to the thrum of the merlin engine as it passes overhead.
A piece of living history.
You lucky beggar.... I'd LOVE that. (make mine a cup of tea though) 😁
Engine note is easily identifiable when you're hearing them every day. Some years ago I worked as a motorcycle dispatch rider in London. It got so that I could tell the make of the bike coming up behind me from the engine note. I belive soldiers can do the same with the sounds of gunshots. They can tell if the gunfire is theirs or the enemies.
At ninety-two years, memories are still vi vid but it is greàt that such a fine couple as yourselves are interested. Yòu are more than welcome herè.
Something that rarely gets mentioned in this narrative is the number of non-British personnel involved in the RAF. There were many members of the RAF who came from around the Empire, Canada, South Africa, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Not to mention all those who had already fought the Nazis in their own countries and made their way to Britain to continue the fight, Poles, Czechs, Free French, Belgian, Dutch, Norwegian, etc. Even people from neutral countries who recognised the danger that Nazi victory would pose to the entire world, instance a number of US citizens who crossed into Canada and joined the RAF claiming to be Canadian.
Whilst it is true that the majority of the RAF was British, some of the highest scoring "Aces" came from the ranks of these people who deserve to be fully recognised for their contribution.
What absolute nonsense…it ALWAYS gets mentioned..we are extremely grateful to our commonwealth brothers and sisters and everyone else that helped.. it’s only virtue signallers like you that brings it up …well you can stop patting yourself on the back..and you can put your flag down..There is no need for the perpetual offended to spout off.. 🙄🇬🇧
Battle of Britain was a defining moment...its only one... Pre battle we wer literally the only i suppose super power? Fighting back ..everyone else folded.. yhe air battle was pivitol and was during that battle nations came together... The fighting before the battle of Britain can't be understated ❤
My mom was evacuated from Birmingham to Hereford. Birmingham was bombed but the censors only allowed the press to report " a town in the Midlands has been bombed". Because our industry was so important they didn't want to name our city in case it effected morale.
So was my Mom, from Birmingham , she was evacuated
I am 72 now and very very proud of my first name , given to me by my dad , he and his best friend served in the RAF , at the age of 20 , Garry was killed by the luftwaffe , god rest his soul
When you hear Rolls Royce Merlin engines flying overhead, it's like nothing else you've ever heard. Some years back (about 15 or more) my wife and I were visiting her brother. We were in the garden and suddenly there was this rhythmic humming throbbing noise. "what's that noise" said the brother in law. "That" I said smugly "is the sound of Rolls Royce Merlins." We looked up, and flying overhead was a Spitfire and a Hurricane, both either side of a Lancaster Bomber. So 6 Merlins in total. Obviously going to or coming from an air show somewhere.
@@baylessnow
I had that recently in the countryside near RAF Cosford the day before the airshow. Out practicing I guess.
I stopped what I was doing and just watched and listened to it 👍🇬🇧
@@beefsuprem0241 It's a brilliant sound isn't it?
The "BBMF" or "Battle of Britain Memorial Flight". MARRRRRRRRRRVELLOUS !!!!
Jesus wept! An internal combustion engine, is an internal combustion engine!! If the sound of one makes you orgasmic, you need help bud!!
The Spanish (Hispano) BF109 fighters also used merlin engines.
My wife and I visited Chiselhurst caves last year and went on to Dover Castle - They were pretty well organized down under those tunnels and Dover Castle seems to have something new each visit.
Kids being resilient is something grownups say to lessen their sense of guilt or shame. Ask any British person from the boomer generation in the UK and they will tell you what life was like growing up in the UK. Many seem not to have put two and two together, but we lived with the aftermath of WW2.
Reminisce with someone who was at a British school into the early ‘80s and they'll tell you about teachers going berserk and attacking students. Crazy teachers, along with crazy park-keepers or bus-conductors and commissionaires, car park attendants - all of them have been written into English culture, especially '60s/'70s comedy shows. So have the cold dark aunts who attended family get togethers, despite apparently hating everyone. They didn’t speak much, they had zero empathy or patience with their nieces and nephews.
Many of us had an uncle who was always too busy with something in his shed to come into the house for a cup of tea.
Almost any adult could hit you if they took exception to what you were doing, there would be consequence for them. I’ve been punched in face by a teacher when I was in elementary school. I’ve seen kids struck of half strangled by teachers.
Everyone my age has been made to sit at a table and forced to finish everything on our plate, regardless of how much we hated it. Many of us have gone to bed late because we were forced to sit at that table and the next day, we would only be given what we had refused the night before.
I was born in '62 and nobody 20yrs older than me wasn’t suffering from pretty severe PTSD . And elements of that were passed on to us.
@@adrianmcgrath1984 thank you! Very few people acknowledge what it was like to be the children of parents traumatised by the war.
I am a baby boomer and teachers could be crawl in the 1960s but we lived with it . On cross country runs in north Cornwall the games teacher would run behind us with a plimsole and hit the boys who were slow ,luckily for me I loved running. He made us run in to the sea and this was in the winter our legs when blue when running back to school happy days and know excuses
Thank you, I was born near London Dockland, dad a merchant seaman, my brother (21 years my senior) a soldier, survived Dunkirk; second brother injured, 3rd sent down mines. At 4years I was in Wiltshire as an evacuee. Younger sister born as hospital bombed. Amazing.
Well done, lovely people, it’s a beautiful group of islands.
My Great grandfather fought in war motorcycle reconnaissance. My grandmother was evacuated from London to Cornwall.
Dame Vera Lynn in the video very famous singer she even travelled to places near where battles taking place to meet soldiers
I suspect a lot of the realistic color film of the air battles were taken from the movie "Battle of Britain" released in 1969. This documentary ties actual footage (in black and white) & with the color footage (from the film),
it was ive watched the film many times. Even saw parts of it being made when i was a kid and lived close to the south coast and RAF Manston which was used.
Hey❤, always much respect to Americans learning about European history! Thanks.
Canada was the first country to support the UK, declaring war on Germany a few days later…it was a weekend, and political ministers needed to return to Ottawa for the vote.
It was so interesting what you said about cavalry, that was Poland's big problem. Despite having a large (extremely brave) army it was almost entirely cavalry. They didn't stand a chance against the Blitzkrieg (Lightning War), which had tanks.
Now you know why I love London so much, I live nearly a 100 miles away and go there as often as possible, and every time I just walk about feeling the history.
We owe everything to those young men, all gone now but never to be forgotten.
Thank you for your wonderful appraisal of the film 💖🙋♀️🇬🇧🇺🇲
It made me laugh how apologetic you were on your fry up live stream when you realised you'd just said the blitz video really blew up. We all knew what you meant and when it's live you don't have a script to follow, did make me chuckle tho and great fry up attempt I watched all 90 mins.
Thank you so much I caught myself and was like ….🥴 haha next weekends toad in the hole lol
Britain also gave America a lot of the tech it had developed during the war to create the best chance possible of winning.
are we forgetting that HAD the German's won the Battle of Britain they still had to get across the water? the English Channel would be guarded by now, by the world's greatest Navy and Millions of people would be waiting for them to come ashore and give them a welcome. it wouldn't have been the end of the matter i assure you.
It’s amazing how much of the film the Battle of Britain is used in this documentary.
It was more than just 57 nights,of raids,we had raids throughout the war,and in 1944 the flying bombs started,and then the V2;s,which went on well into 1945,I can remember it very well.
Why are people using the royal we, when they weren’t even born then?
@@DerekLangdon Pathetic comment
@@DerekLangdon She said she remembers it. Show some respect.
It was actually 57 consecutive nights in 40/41.
Enjoyed this, the view from the people on the ground was really impactful & interesting.
I did want to make a few comments
The 13 hours were decisive but the battle had been on since early July & the RAF pilots were already exhausted, beyond exhausted at that point.
There were fighter planes to be had but pilots were desperately needed by August & into September.
Many of the British pilots went up with no more than 5 or 10
hours flight time - these were teenagers. Some Flight leaders weren’t much older by then.
Over the summer pilots came from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, America, Poland, France & more as others have noted. Many never went home.
The video focuses on London in those hours but over the summer & into the fall of The Battle Of Britain Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry, and Southampton were bombed. The attack on Coventry was particularly destructive in November.
I had the massive honour of meeting 3 Spitfire pilots in London in the late ‘90s - in a pub, purely by chance.
Humble & grateful to have survived they didn’t talk about it much, but they were very special men and the encounter was one of the most special moments in this Canadian’s life.
They were barely more than children and literally saved Britain & probably Europe with it.
The Greatest Generation indeed.
Dont forget there were american pilots that had volunteered and fought in Battle of Britain ,and from many other countries
Seven of them fell in the Battle of Britain. Let's not forget the Polish, French, Canadian, New Zealand, Australian, South Rhodesian, Israeli and other Commonwealth pilots, many of which fell.
Yes the commonwealth countries
@@bwilson5401 Just the one listed in the statistics, which I don't know why as you're right Israel didn't exist until 1948 except for around 1300BC.
@ANDYDT ...there were around 3,500 pilots in the Battle of Britain , around 3,000 British and 500 mainly Polish , New Zealand, and Czech, and finally around 150 of other nationalities
I believe they lost their American citizenship because of it