EdJ0307 wrote:
We didn't just stand back and watch, we supplied the Brits and Russians with tons of material and equipment.
England, France and other League of Nation countries stood back and watched as Hitler invaded one country after the other. I saw news reels of Chamberlain getting off that plane waving a piece of paper in the air and saying "Peace in our time"? That went on from the mid 1930s until September 3rd, 1939, when they decided they better do something. Even then he invaded more countries until it was only England left standing. If Hitler had concentrated on England instead of going after the Russians, the UK might have been one of his trophies.
We didn't just stand back and watch, we supplied t... (
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Hmm, that's somewhat of a glib explanation. We tend to look at history with the lens of the present and that skews things.
Most everybody knew that war was coming in the run up to 1939. England was working feverishly to build up its defenses, such as the Supermarine Spitfire, the Chain Home radar system, the Avro Lancaster and yes, aircraft carriers and battleships, etc. France had the largest army in the world at that time, along with the most tanks and quite an air force as well. They were sitting pretty behind the horribly expensive Maginot Line as the plan was for the invading armies of Germany to go through Belgium in order to get to France proper.
Before Hitler (Time Magazine's Man Of the Year 1938) invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938, he invited Mussolini, Daladier and Chamberlain to a conference where they agreed to the Munich Agreement that allowed Hitler to annex the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia and stop there. I seriously doubt anyone thought that would hold, but I believe that Chamberlain was stalling for time as England was not ready in 1938. When Hitler annexed the Sudetenland and then continued and gobbled up most of Czechoslovakia, Hitler was gambling the Allies would not stop him.
He was right, the Allies did nothing. I'm sure people remembered the horrors of WW1 (just 20 years prior) and were not anxious to restart that again.
Then when Hitler invaded Poland a year later, accompanied by his buddy Stalin, the Allies final reached their limit. I have read accounts that said Chamberlain verified with Air Command and others to see if they could hold against the Luftwaffe and when he was told they could, the rest is history.
BTW, England was not alone even after France fell in 1940. When England declared war on Germany on September 2nd, 1939, it was with New Zealand, Australia and India behind it. A few days later, South Africa also declared war on Germany. A couple days after that, the Deranged Dominion (Canada) also declared war on Germany. Where the other countries supplied troops to England, Canada also provided an industrial base for munitions, aircraft and tanks, nothing the size of the US, but they built a lot of Lancaster bombers.
Now, whether Hitler could have invaded England will remain one of those "historical what ifs" forever. The Battle of Britain was quite decisive; the Luftwaffe failed to destroy the RAF and without air superiority, let alone air dominance, any attempt to invade England from France was most probably doomed to failure. Also, the Royal Navy was the dominant sea power in those days, and it would have reduced an invasion fleet to flotsam in short order, especially with the RAF flying cover. The U-Boats would not have been able to do much of anything in the English Channel, they were best far out at sea, out of the reach of aircraft. Operating in the Channel would have been suicide.
In my opinion, Churchill was absolutely right when he praised the RAF Fighter Command right after the Battle of Britain had been won. They really did save England.
The next existential danger England faced was the U-boat menace in 1941-43 but when they finally got that under control, there was no longer any danger of England capitulating.
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Of the ships sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor all but three were repaired: the USS Arizona (too badly damaged to be salvaged), the USS Oklahoma (raised but considered to be too old to be worth repairing), and the USS Utah (also considered obsolete).
BTW, the 'J' word is derogatory.