experiences websites (1 Viewer)

[panda1gen]

There has been quite a bit of discussion about personal experiences and books that people have read and it was particularly impressive hearing what the veterans were saying on some of the other threads for example. I wonder if we could share websites of potential interest? Here is one offering - I'm not sure if you guys in the US for example would necessarily look at the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/C55225

 

[jazzeum]

Kevin,

Thanks for posting that. I am very interested in the British side of the war, more so than the American I have to say (probably has to do with my international upbringing -- went to Christian Brothers School in Montevideo as a kid and spent a year in Trinidad where I learnt to count in pounds, shillings and pence) so please keep on posting those sites.

Do you also subscribe to the BBC History magazine and how do you find that?

 

[panda1gen]

Brad

No, I don't subscribe. I have to say that Ozdigger had already posted a similar thread on the history section but I hadn't read it before posting.

I also like to look at the different perspectives as history is usually written by the victors, and edited for the political needs at the time. I took out a subscription from Purnell's history of ww2 when I was a kid and read every week about what had happened, usually from a different perspective. Like I saw Louis had mentioned on one thread, I like to read about the people at the sharp end - which often ment civilians of course. (See 'Berlin' by Anthony Beevor for example - strategy to personal accounts)

Probably the best I have read are Lynn MacDonald's books about WW1. I took my kids as part of their curiculum to the Western Front - surprising how much you can cover in a day. Walking those battlefields brings on a new feeling after reading those books.

My grandfather was in 'Harry Tate's Navy' in WW2 - depth charges and a four inch gun on a trawler going to Murmansk - and had fought in a similar capacity in an armed trawler in WW1 as well. My mum was the youngest in her family and so her elder sisters were sent to make Lancaster bombers in the local bus staion aged fifteen. Britain was wholly mobilised. Some of my uncles had fought in the desert and on fleet destroyers (after bomber command - read Paul Brickhill's book of the same name - fleet destroyers were probably the worst UK occupation). They never, ever discussed it. That is why I find the accounts so interesting, trying to make sense of what had such a massive impact on my own family upbringing.

Also the different national perspectives are interesting, for example I have been reading a book called 'Tanks Advance' by Ken Trout - a young man put in a tank and sent to Normandy. The generousity of the US sailors that took them across the channel was fantastic, letting them stock up with rations that they hadn't even seen for years, but the USN obviously took for granted. Also they gave him a real tommy gun! Unlikely to happen in the Commonwealth forces. I hear unattributable rumours that things may not have changed too much in the Gulf.

I would love to see what the 'yanks' thought! And the ANZACS, the Indian Army, etc etc At least we have a common language - subject to all the usual qualifcations - I once said in Canada 'I'll knock you up in the morning' and wondered what the looks were for

I went to Sevastopol a few years ago and visited Inkerman, Alma, Balaclava etc. as well as the forts from ww2. Whilst I was there I witnessed the parade to celebrate the Russian victory over the nazis and I have never experienced such an intensity of feeling from the whole town, with women and men marching down the street festooned with medals, worn with real pride and everyone honouring them - but with what Russia suffered, you could perhaps begin to guess the impact on them collectively and individually. I wonder what they thought of the West? Any translated websites around?

Getting belatedly back to the point of the forum, everytime I look at the 25pdr 8th Army set I think of one of my uncles who was in the RA and wonder where he was in the desert and where he fought.

Kevin

 

[Louis Badolato]

Dear Kevin,

Thank you so much for posting that website, and for sharing your family's experiences with us. I know that the British and Russians carried the ball longer than the U.S. did against the Nazi's, and I have always enjoyed learning other perspectives of the Second World War (or the Great Patriotic War, as the Russians called it). Many members of my family also served in WWII, two of whom died in B17's in the 8th Airforce over Germany. Another, My Uncle Jack, who survived, served in North Africa with the U.S. forces at El Guattar. My Uncle Leo, who was in the U.S. Navy, was involved in Operation Overlord, a crewman on a landing craft. He brought home my Aunt Margarite, a war bride from Liverpool. Those that didn't serve in WWII served in Korea.

 

[VIRIATO]

Brad

No, I don't subscribe. I have to say that Ozdigger had already posted a similar thread on the history section but I hadn't read it before posting.

I also like to look at the different perspectives as history is usually written by the victors, and edited for the political needs at the time. I took out a subscription from Purnell's history of ww2 when I was a kid and read every week about what had happened, usually from a different perspective. Like I saw Louis had mentioned on one thread, I like to read about the people at the sharp end - which often ment civilians of course. (See 'Berlin' by Anthony Beevor for example - strategy to personal accounts)

Probably the best I have read are Lynn MacDonald's books about WW1. I took my kids as part of their curiculum to the Western Front - surprising how much you can cover in a day. Walking those battlefields brings on a new feeling after reading those books.

My grandfather was in 'Harry Tate's Navy' in WW2 - depth charges and a four inch gun on a trawler going to Murmansk - and had fought in a similar capacity in an armed trawler in WW1 as well. My mum was the youngest in her family and so her elder sisters were sent to make Lancaster bombers in the local bus staion aged fifteen. Britain was wholly mobilised. Some of my uncles had fought in the desert and on fleet destroyers (after bomber command - read Paul Brickhill's book of the same name - fleet destroyers were probably the worst UK occupation). They never, ever discussed it. That is why I find the accounts so interesting, trying to make sense of what had such a massive impact on my own family upbringing.

Also the different national perspectives are interesting, for example I have been reading a book called 'Tanks Advance' by Ken Trout - a young man put in a tank and sent to Normandy. The generousity of the US sailors that took them across the channel was fantastic, letting them stock up with rations that they hadn't even seen for years, but the USN obviously took for granted. Also they gave him a real tommy gun! Unlikely to happen in the Commonwealth forces. I hear unattributable rumours that things may not have changed too much in the Gulf.

I would love to see what the 'yanks' thought! And the ANZACS, the Indian Army, etc etc At least we have a common language - subject to all the usual qualifcations - I once said in Canada 'I'll knock you up in the morning' and wondered what the looks were for

I went to Sevastopol a few years ago and visited Inkerman, Alma, Balaclava etc. as well as the forts from ww2. Whilst I was there I witnessed the parade to celebrate the Russian victory over the nazis and I have never experienced such an intensity of feeling from the whole town, with women and men marching down the street festooned with medals, worn with real pride and everyone honouring them - but with what Russia suffered, you could perhaps begin to guess the impact on them collectively and individually. I wonder what they thought of the West? Any translated websites around?

Getting belatedly back to the point of the forum, everytime I look at the 25pdr 8th Army set I think of one of my uncles who was in the RA and wonder where he was in the desert and where he fought.

Kevin

Hi,
About the Russians and the West, I guess they thought they were doing more than their fair share, alas with some motive.