80 years on.

Discussion in 'All Anniversaries' started by Owen, Sep 1, 2019.

  1. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Just remembering what started 80 years ago today.
    Maybe use this thread as each 80th anniversary comes around.
     
  2. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Polish community remembers horror of WW2

    Dawn on 1 September 1939 and Nazi Germany attacks Poland - in the six years that follow, tens of millions of people die, and Poland and the world is torn apart.

    For the Polish, much has changed in the 80 years since.

    The rise and fall of communism, EU membership and the emigration of large numbers of the country's young.

    Many came to Northern Ireland, with about 3,000 settling in the border city of Newry.

    It is home to a host of Polish shops, it has its own Polish church services and there is a consulate in the town hall.

    On Sunday, to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of war, a series of events took place in the city...
     
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  3. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Countdown to World War Two: Saturday 2 September 1939
    Mr Chamberlain assured the House that His Majesty's Government would be bound to take action unless German forces are withdrawn from Polish territory. He also drew attention to the vital question of the time limit to be observed within which the German forces would be allowed to withdraw from Poland. The Government, he said, were in communication with the French Government over this.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/countdown_390902_sat_01.shtml
     
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  4. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    Even larger numbers arrived in Bradford at the end of the war. Large parts of Anders Polish Army settled there. I did my MBA at Bradford University in the late 60s and at that time the Poles were probably the largest minority group in the city.
     
  5. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

    My father remembered exactly what he was doing 80 years ago today: as it was a Sunday, he was at Mass at Corpus Christi in Brixton Hill....my mother was probably there as well....

    “It was Sunday 3rd September, and I was at the 1030am Mass, one of about 12 servers. After the gospel, Father Kelly mounted the pulpit to give his usual long, inaudible but very interesting sermon, at least for those of us who could hear him. Slightly louder than usual, he read to us the announcement that Mr Chamberlain had made over the radio that morning. During the service, we had heard the wail of a siren but had thought it was a practice. He continued Mass, as usual and we left the church at just after half past 11. We were at war but it felt no different than the day before..."

    Over the next 7 years, my parents served with the army for a combined 10 years.. my Dad was called up in September 1939, my Mum volunteered in 1942... like millions of others, they did their bit... and like millions of others, helped to win the peace...

    scan0006 - Copy.jpg halligan0004.jpg
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2019
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  6. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

  7. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  8. I think everyone who was alive at that time would remember what they were doing at that time. When war broke out, my Grandad Roy Wright was 22 and on holiday in Flamborough with friends. They were sat in the pub listening to the wireless about Britain being at war with Germany. Grandad and his friends decided they would join the Forces and fight otherwise Germany would attack Britain next. (Like many British people they were unaware of the Nazi persecution of Jews and minorities.) They caught the train back to West Yorkshire and joined up. Grandad was in the army from 1939 to 1945 and became a medic serving in various theatres of the war. He lived to be an old man. Without his and the contribution of your parents and other people the Nazis would have ended up controlling the world - a terrible thought.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 3, 2019
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  9. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    The PM has just mentioned the anniversary in an opening address to the House of Commons.
     
  10. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    This, from my memoirs;


    3rd September 1939

    The following morning, a Sunday, I started exploring the novelty of living by the sea and I was actually swimming in the sea when the first warning siren sounded, (a false alarm as it happened).
    I hurriedly dried myself and hastened back to the flat, passing on the way two women standing in the doorway of their house. The pair, probably mother and daughter, were both crying and embracing.

    With the sublime arrogance of a sixteen year old I called out to them "Don't worry ..... everything's gonna be all right!"

    They paused in their grief and turned to give me a withering look that left me in no doubt that I knew nothing of the sort of troubles that the world could offer on that day and so I shamefacedly continued homeward where I arrived just in time to listen to the radio and the recorded voice of Chamberlain telling us that war had been declared.


    Ron
     
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  11. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

    Ron,

    Nice.

    If you had only said:
    "Don't worry.. about a thing. Every little thing is gonna be alright..."

    you'll be now owed some royalties from the estate of Robert Nesta Marley?

    best wishes
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2019
  12. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    On September 3rd this year (2019) I opened my copy of the Times.

    I fully expected to read at least something regarding the advent of World War2 in 1939, it was, after all, the 80th anniversary of that world shaking event, but, not for the first time, no-one at the Times seemed to have acknowledged the significance of the date.

    I immediately wrote to the editor to express my disgust, waited to see if my complaint would be published (silly me !) and now publish the letter in ww2talk as follows:

    Sir,

    I never thought that I would have to remind you that today is September the 3rd, 2019, some 80 years since the beginning of World War 2.

    I write as a 96 year old WW2 veteran, one of 5 brothers who all served during the war including one who was an RAF Bomber Command Mid-Upper Gunner who was to lose his life over Nuremberg during the closing stages of those terrible times.

    I wish to place on record my complete lack of understanding of your ability to ignore in your columns the significance of this day in world history, either by a significant article on the subject or at least by a mention in the section titled “It happened on this day”.


    Ron Goldstein
    ex 49th Light Anti Aircraft Rgt .RA and 4th Queen's Own Hussars Rgt, RAC


    North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Austria, Germany & Egypt


     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2019
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  13. I agree, a momentous event like the start of World War Two should be commemorated, especially as Nazism and hate crimes against minorities is rising again.
     
  14. Aeronut

    Aeronut Junior Member

    Today (13 December 2019) is the 80th anniversary of the naval action known as 'The Battle of the River Plate'
     
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  15. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    During my career I have met people who from their own experience did not regard WW2 has having started with the invasion of Poland but earlier- they came from Manchuria, China etc
     
  16. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Trouble is Bob most of the folk in Great Britain during 1939 only had knowledge in a very local fashion so their main news of the day was when the Germans invaded Poland and for them that is where it all kicked off 1st September 1939
     
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  17. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    The Graf Spee was a Kreigsmarine pocket battleship,the last of three which was designed to circumvent the Versailles Treaty which limited a Kreigsmarine warship to 10.000 tons but was built with a sea going tonnage of over 16000 tons....fast,heavy armoured,its design was of firepower and speed.At 26 knots maximum;it was designed to outrun any warship she could not outgun.

    The sinking of the Graf Spee was a serious blow to the Kreigsmarine raiding of British commercial shipping in the South Atlantic.It had already sunk 9 ships and had 60 British seamen on board who had been captured from the merchant ships sunk.The neutral countries of South America had drawn up a 300 mile exclusion zone which no belligerent warship was supposed to be present but this was ignored by the Germans.

    To operate and keep on station in the South Atlantic,the Graf Spee required fuel which became its Achilles heel.The British authorities in early December 1939 urged the Brazilian authorities to allow German merchant shipping to fuel up by oil tanker from its ports knowing that the oil tankers could well be fuelling up the Graf Spee. The opportunity to intercept the Graf Spee came on 13 December 1939 when the Graf Spee approached the coast of Uruguay and three British cruisers,the Exeter,the Ajax and the Achilles were in the area patiently searching for the raider.....located it,surrounded it and badly damaged it but over 4 hours the Exeter was put out of action.the Graf Spee suffering 30 dead and 60 wounded. Damaged, her Captain Langsdorff sought the safe haven of Montevideo and requested 15 days to undertake repairs.This was denied and he was given 2 days only.Failure to put to sea would lead to the Graf Spee and its crew being interned.

    Deceived by the intensity of British wireless traffic indicating a greater British naval presence outside Montevideo and others converging on the scene,Langsdorff sought instructions from Berlin.At 6 pm on 17 December 1939,the Graf Spee weighed anchor in the fading light and was seen by a large crowd being towed out to sea by tugs along the Rio de la Plata. Suddenly she stopped and with the tug boats unhitched,a series of explosions rang out.The Graf Spee settled on the bottom within 3 minutes. Langsdorff survived along with his crew and the 60 captured British seamen....he had taken Hitlers order to scuttle his ship rather than be humiliated with a defeat at sea.

    A depressed Captain Langsdorff,3 days later with the German Imperial Navy flag wrapped around him,shot himself in the head.The destruction of the powerful Graf Spee,a success at sea in the days of the phoney war in the battlefield of Western Europe.
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2019
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  18. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    'Nominally' designed to outrun anything she couldn't outgun. HMS Repulse might disagree :)
     
  19. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  20. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

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