Poll: American?s disillusion with WW2

[The_Echo]

Wait, Americans think that?

Being American myself, I never once was under the assumption that we won WWII for you guys. We finished up Japan, which ended the war much more quickly, but as for the war in its entirety... Europe did most of the dirty work.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

*cough* Who was the first to defeat the Japanese on land and send them packing?

Good question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Japanese_Border_Wars

The answer is the Soviet Union.

 

[Okysho]

American hate thread move along.

right... its kind of offensive to americans.

Its actually horrific that you're willing to say that britain, canada, and france deserve the praise more than any other country that fought in that terrible war. Every country that participated deserves complete respect, especially the veterans.

To say the british and canadians deserve the praise more is offensive because they suffered far lower casualties than americans, russians, germans, or chinese and japanese.

I've always been one to stand up for America, because it's my personal belief that it is the greatest country in the world (don't flame me, its my belief, and if we weren't the greatest, than how can we be the most powerful?). However in this particular thread, I'm willing to say that any country that participated in the war deserves credit.

Also, next time you try to flame america, a tleast trai two speqll thinkgs korektly.

I don't think the best way to decide "who did better than who" in the war is settled by the number of casualties. That's just not right. While I do believe that the Americans in general let their war praise get to their head, it's not like they have nothing to do with the war. They did help after all. Every country deserves some credit because every country sacrificed something.

I find your post more offensive than OP because they're trying to discredit people who just don't seem to get enough recognition for their war contributions.

And I will flame you! Your country is not the most powerful! Look at your economic situation! Sitting on a stockpile of nukes doesn't make you the most powerful! France has nukes too! They get the least amount of credit out of all the major players (not to mention the victims like Poland and Holland etc).

One last thing.

How dare you try and discredit Canada! It was our Advance flight training facilities that played a huge role in London's defense during the battle of Britain, not to mention Dieppe which Canada was used as the guinea pig for amphibious warfare which helped stage operation Overlord! (AKA the Normandy Landing). NOT TO MENTION! CANADIAN'S PUSHED THE FURTHER INTO FRANCE BY THE END OF THE NORMANDY LANDINGS THAN ANY COUNTRY FIGHTING!

Everyone played their part in the war and everyone made their sacrifices. Don't you DARE try to discredit the other countries for what they lost!

We're just saying that you're not better than everyone else. Swallow your pride and admit that we all did our part.

Also, we played a big part in the Manhattan project.

 

[RoBi3.0]

*cough* Who was the first to defeat the Japanese on land and send them packing?

Good question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Japanese_Border_Wars

The answer is the Soviet Union.

I am not saying you are wrong as I don't know the for sure answer off the top of my head, but citing Wikipedia as a source especial an entry that is currently flagged for not citing references, does not make your case any stronger.

PS. I a believe the OP of the question was trying to hint at Australia. That is just a gut feeling though

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

I am not saying you are wrong as I don't know the for sure answer off the top of my head, but citing Wikipedia as a source especial an entry that is currently flagged for not citing references, does not make your case any stronger.

Believe me. Being Russian, I studied that stuff in school.

Here, this one does cite references. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khalkhin_Gol

 

[VaderMan92]

Let me point a few things out that have probably been mentioned by this point. I'm too lazy to slog through all this.
-the only reason the Brits didn't get overrun by the Nazis was because of the lend lease program.
-the french resistance was supported and supplied by the OSS.
-France has never won a war with Germany since napoleon.
-also everyone seems to forget what the Japanese were doing this whole time. that's right they were a little distracted with their war with the United States. If they weren't they probably would have been helping out their buddies in Germany.

Basically without the United states involvement Europe would have fallen and Russia would not have been able to win a 2 front war with Germany and Japan (that probably would have ended with a stalemate however as Russia is just to damn big to conquer easily). Of course I am taking into account aid the United states gave to the allies before they got involved.

 

[JoeThree]

There's an "illusion" alright, hidden in your assumption that the European front was the only part of WW2. The Nazis were beaten by the USSR and USA. The Brits were holding the line, but were not going to win without the aide of either America or the Soviets, it's that simple. However, what's also important is that we Americans provided sanctuary for Jewish German physicists who were previously under Nazi control, and through them, we unlocked the Atomic bomb and actually ended the war by beating the final member of the Axis Powers. And no, the Japanese were not going to surrender without the Bomb, at least not without about a million more lives being lost.

 

[Vykrel]

American hate thread move along.

agreed. i am american, and i (along with everyone that goes to school in my general area) has learned the opposite of what the OP's generalization of us says

 

[SpireOfFire]

this thread is one big arguement about "whose is bigger?"

 

[Tupolev]

*cough* Who was the first to defeat the Japanese on land and send them packing?

Soviet forces, under command of Georgy Zhukov, were, I believe, the first people during WWII to successfully send a Japanese land attack "packing". Happened back in 1939.

edit: Looks like someone got there before me!


So...the Soviet Union?

 

[crimsonshrouds]

to state wats already stated

"sweeping generalizations just piss people off"

Im american and I know my history. Every country who participated in the war deserves credit. I don't hear people here bring up ww2 and say how great we are. Surprisingly the only people i hear bringing it up are the people from foreign countries over the internet. Hell, my history teachers never once said anything like that. They always talked about all the lives that were lost...

 

[Hazzaslagga]

America came in late to the war, america made profit fromt the war, american dollars became dominant(over the pound) after sending aid due to some terms of the loans.
I am one angry european person.

 

[Khushrenada]

Where is the mention of Australia, we were brave too!?!

Also I hear the whole thing that "America saved everyones ass in WW2" I honestly don't think America should be bragging about that, they put off their involvement in the war for so long when they did finally help a ton of people were already dead.

I agree the Australians did a great job in WWII, just like all the other Allies. I am a little confused about your comment about America though.

The US had sent tons of supplies and even pilots to aid in the war effort even when they were still taking a isolated stance. The US did the same thing during WWI while insisting they were a neutral nation.

If im not mistaken everyone likes to bash on the US for butting into everyones business but when it benefits the UK they were too slow to start dying for you? I think that is a bit crazy when a powerful nation much closer to the action, oh lets say France, not only fails to put up a fight but gives them a foothold. I am not insulting the Resistance just the nations leadership. On a side note I heard in the news about a year ago the French want some of the burial grounds of foreign soldiers who died in the defence/liberation of France during WWII removed. IMO maybe they should have defended or liberated themselves, then they wouldent have to worry about it.

Everyone did their part in the war, no one won it alone. I will say in my opintion the US involvement saved Britan. Even with US pilots, planes, supplies etc. defending Britan the Germans were pounding them. Inventions like the Radar (invented by the US Navy) were crucial to intercepting German bombers. The USSR's involvement late in the war dividing the fronts would not have been enough, the cities would have been in far worse shape without the assistance of the US.

For the record I am a German living in the US and my family (except my Great Grandfather and Great Uncle who immigrated to the US in the late 30's) were in Russia and died in Russia during WWII. We should all just be thankful that the greatest generation did what they did for us.

 

[chinomareno]

The Atom bomb was not even a real strategic weapon at that point, conventional bombing was so effective most of the country was in ruins. The US sub fleet choked the life out of Japan's merchant navy and blockaded Japan trapping the main army on the mainland. The country had no choice but to surrender and even then it was arguably more in fear of being occupied by the Soviets.

The Atom bomb was powerful enough to destroy a town but so was Airforce, not until the hydrogen bomb did is become ridiculous.

 

[Patrick Dare]

I'm not going to read all these posts so sorry if this has been mentioned before but the Russian Army actually did more to stop the Germans than probably the Brits, Canadians, French and Americans combined but you never hear about that because of the red scare.

 

[Fran108]

This is something almost no one knows that the Mexican air force was vital in the fight for the pacific even-though the country remained neutral. With out the Mexican pilots some events of the war might have changed. The pilots were even nicked-named " The Aztec Eagles " by British and American troops. So yes I don't think people give all the credit due.

 

[Hellz_Barz]

My grandpa served in the Australian army in papua new guinea and he always made sure i knew that if the Americans weren't there in the pacific we'd be speaking Japanese right now. Fight as good as we did without the American numbers to spread the Japanese out, we would have been over run.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Let me point a few things out that have probably been mentioned by this point. I'm too lazy to slog through all this.
-the only reason the Brits didn't get overrun by the Nazis was because of the lend lease program.

You mean apart from their own commonwealth coming together to muster forces with them? Apart from their own airforce crippling the Luftwaffe or the Home Fleet cockblocking any invasion attempt across the channel? When Lend-Lease finally went into effect, in mid-1941 the Battle of Britain was already over and the immediate threat of Germany invading the UK had passed. The battle of the Atlantic was still undecided, but Lend-Lease did nothing for the UK during the time when things looked really grim. Lend-Lease was important, but only to help speed up the rate at which the Commonwealth could take the initiative. It had already survived the trial of fire that was the Battle of Britain.

-the french resistance was supported and supplied by the OSS.

And the Soviet Union and the OSE. Your point is? The "French Resistance" was more akin to many independent groups consisting of liberals, communists, syndicalists and nationalists to mention a few political groups. All of them had their own agenda and many of them (the communists in particular) did not recieve any aid from the western allies.

-France has never won a war with Germany since napoleon.

You mean apart from World War 1, obviously. You know, the second biggest war in history.

-also everyone seems to forget what the Japanese were doing this whole time. that's right they were a little distracted with their war with the United States. If they weren't they probably would have been helping out their buddies in Germany.

You seem to forget that Japan was 'distracted' with trying to subdue China from Autumn 1937 all the way up until 1945. The majority of Japan's resources was not devoted to fighting the USA (And the UK, Australia and the rest of the commonwealth) in the pacific islands but was tied up in the bloodbath that was China. In fact, the biggest Japanese Army during World War 2 was stationed in Manchukoko (modern day northeastern China) and Korea in case the Soviet Union would decide to attack from the North. The biggest amount of soldiers was stuck in China and between Burma, Malaysia and the Dutch East Indies you had far more soldiers then in the islands that the USA captured. Sure, the USA certainly crippled the IJN but the IJA was brought to its' knees by the Commonwealth and China. Either way, there was no way that the Japanese could have "helped Germany" as they were too busy trying to realize their own vision of a pan-asian Japanese Empire.

Basically without the United states involvement Europe would have fallen and Russia would not have been able to win a 2 front war with Germany and Japan (that probably would have ended with a stalemate however as Russia is just to damn big to conquer easily). Of course I am taking into account aid the United states gave to the allies before they got involved.

Basically, you choose to use anectodal evidence, cherry-picked evidence and just plain disregard for the geo-political situation at the time to reach this conclusion. I'm sorry, but you've overplayed the USA's significane in the second World War. That's not to say that the USA wasn't one of the major contributors to the war effort on the Allied side, but by no means was it the saviour of the free world. In the end, the USA contributed signficantly but there is no evidence to suggest that they 'saved the situation'.

 

[TwitchierGuitar]

Now it?s a common fact that the American army came to aid the allied forces engaged across Europe.
However Americans believed this meant they single handily turned the tide of the war and ?won it?.

How much do you think Americans are bias about their engagement in World War 2?

Personally being English I feel their involvement was instrumental in ending the war a lot quicker but I think the true praise belongs to British and Canadians, but more so the French, those who faught the war from the bloody begining to the bloody end. Their country is a living memento to the fallen, all over and I mean all over France you can find graveyards and a memorials to all the men whom fought and died in that horrendous war.

I appologise for posting within the incorrect threat catagorey

I'm not here to argue, Sir Wanks-a-lot. I'm just here to fully explain a few things for you to think about before going to the internet to talk about something... Am I saying USA=#1? Good god, no. But niether is Britain, france, or Canada.
Just for the record, I think it was a team effort though, minus the French...
P.S. PURE BLOOD AMERICAN (Que Hate posts... I know these are coming...)
Let's Start The List!!!

1- Too many people in other countries say the same thing about us and our actions...
"We ALL put everyone's resources together and came out on top..."

2- We didn't start anything... We just finished it... Then we got tied into this and that...

3- We helped france get German occupancy out...

4- Canada sucks to begin with... Went to Quebec and Toronto for a week a piece, Minded my own buissness, and got cursed out by twelve different people when I was just sitting under a tree in the middle of nowhere... And that was just Toronto. Don't get me started on Quebec...

5- Try looking this one up, PEARL HARBOR Dec. 7, 1941... All of those men who died were minding their own buissness, too... Hell, I lost my grandmother and grandfather to that war... My grandmother was a Corpsman on the same ship as my grandfather, a Naval technicain in the navy from 1935 to 1941... Not to mention three great uncles on the shores of Omaha, Germany...

and finally, 6- WE ALL KICKED THE AXIS POWERS' ASSESS!!! Cheers all around...

So can we all please get over this pissing contest?

 

[thejboy88]

As for as I am concerned, it was a group effort. The armies of Nazi Germany were, at the time, too powerful for any one of the other great powers of the era to stand against. If America had gone in alone to fight them, they would have lost. If the Soviets had gone in alone to fight them, they would have lost. If my country the UK or France had gone in to fight them, either alone or even together, we certainly would have lost. Nazi Germany was through its military the most powerful nation on Earth. As such, it took all of us fighting together to beat them. As for them "American dillusion" about beating them themselves, that seems to me to be simply them involving themselve in Europe at the right time. Essentially, they were reinforcements for an already allied effort to hold the nazis back.

Sorry if anyone disagrees with me, no offence intended.