bobdina
10-25-2009, 11:39 AM
Let's Understand What We Owe Vets
October 25, 2009
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
So few of the people in Cayman have any idea of what war is. This is wonderful in a way but sad in another. How can young people possibly appreciate the sacrifices that were made by their grandparents and others in that era that enables them to enjoy freedom today?
Let us look at some of the pivotal battles in the Second World War and try and put a few thoughts into perspective.
In 1938 to 1939 tension in Europe was at a peak. At that time Germany was controlled by a vicious political party called the National Socialists. This was commonly abbreviated to Nazis. Their leader was an Austrian, Adolf Hitler, who twenty years earlier had been a lowly corporal in the German army that lost the First World War. He was bitter and wanted to control most of Europe. He and his cohorts also wanted to eradicate what they termed scourges -- Jews and gay people.
Germany started attacking small countries and these always surrendered. The German air force, called the Luftwaffe, was well equipped and very strong. Britain on the other hand, which had had a terrible time in the first war, had been trying not to spend too much on weapons and defence. It just was not ready to take part in a big war again.
Britain had signed a treaty with Poland to come to its aid if it were attacked. On 1 September 1939, Germany made an excuse and invaded Poland. Britain said, "Get out in 48 hours". Hitler didn't take any notice and the result was that on 3 September, war was declared. France also joined in. Nothing much happened for eight or nine months except that Norway was invaded and beaten and countries in Europe were getting nervous.
The Belgians would not let the British army take up defensive positions in their country in case it irritated the Germans, so in May 1940 when the Germans finally did attack, the British and French Armies were wrong footed and in bad positions. Denmark, Holland and Belgium very quickly surrendered. England and France were in bad shape. The Royal Air Force was suffering heavy losses in a battle in France they couldn't win. The RAF Fighter Command Chief, Air Marshall Dowding, kept telling the politicians that he should not send more of his fighters to France as they would be lost; it was better to wait until the RAF had to defend England.
In a short time France had surrendered and the British army managed to escape from the beaches at Dunkirk and return to England. All together about 350,000 British and some French soldiers were rescued in small private fishing and sailing boats, similar to the North Sound boats. Now it was Britain alone standing up to Nazi fascism.
The Germans did not know that Britain was developing the world's first radar system. In those days these radars had huge antenna that could be seen from miles away. The radar information was passed to women acting as plotters so that the controllers, mostly older pilots from the First War, could see a pattern of an enemy attack developing and respond to it.
Most of the British pilots were very inexperienced, some only having a few hours flying the Hurricanes or Spitfires. The fighters in the south of England were commanded by Air Marshall Keith Park who believed in attacking the planes in the air as soon as possible and then getting at the enemy as soon as they were in sight; six taking on a hundred was typical. The planes in the middle of the country were commanded by an officer called Air Marshall Leigh-Mallory who believed his planes should group up into large formations of sixty or so; taking a long time about it, and then heading towards the enemy. Most agree that by the time they arrived the Germans had dropped their bombs and gone home for lunch.
The attacks by the Luftwaffe were initially against the British airfields, aircraft factories and the radar stations, even though they didn't really know what these did.
The Luftwaffe had a superb fighter called a Messerschmitt 109 and various bombers; Heinkels, Dorniers and Junkers. The Junkers were small dive-bombers that had previously been very successful when operating in mainland Europe against poor air defences. They were to be no match for Spitfires or Hurricanes and it was like a 'turkey shoot" when they came to meet in combat.
Although outnumbered about five to one the British pilots were able to clobber a lot of Germans. The Germans did not believe the British would last long and with the reports from their pilots of the numbers they thought they had shot down they couldn't understand how the RAF planes were still coming up at them.
It was touch and go, and the British did not think some of the reserve squadrons with Polish and Czechoslovakian pilots, who were refugees from their own Nazi occupied countries, would be able to communicate with the British controllers. They could hardly speak English! These were deliberately kept out of the battle. One day a Polish- manned Royal Air Force squadron disobeyed orders and attacked the Germans. They were very successful and were then allowed to join in.
The Germans then made a big mistake. They had given instructions that no bombs should be dropped on civilians in London. Their commander, Hermann Goering had boasted that if ever a British bomb fell on Berlin, then people could call him Meyer, (a Jewish name, and the Nazis were intent on killing all Jews). Well, one Luftwaffe pilot became lost, dumped his bombs and they fell on London. That night the RAF retaliated and visited Berlin and dropped bombs in return. This angered Hitler so much he made the Luftwaffe change its tactics. Instead of bombing real targets; airfields etc, Luftwaffe planes were ordered to bomb civilian targets in London. This mistake gave a breathing space to the RAF and allowed it to reinforce the pilots, repair some of the planes and get organized again.
The climax of the battle was on 15 September when over one hundred Luftwaffe planes were shot down in one day. That was a day when Leigh-Mallory's big wings arrived in time to join in the scrap. Leading that formation was a Squadron Leader Douglas Bader who had lost both legs in a flying accident seven years previously. It is hard to imagine a fighter pilot with just two tin artificial legs. Such heroism was common. The Luftwaffe realized they could not control the skies over England and with winter approaching an invasion that year was out of the question. The Luftwaffe attacks continued but mostly at night. The war continued for another five years.
The Battle of Britain was the opening move. Germany foolishly attacked Russia in June 1941. The United States was attacked by the Japanese in December 1941 at Pearl Harbour bringing the United States into the world conflict. As incredible amounts of munitions had to be brought from the U.S. factories to Europe, the Battle of the Atlantic developed. And then there was D-Day, the invasion of mainland Europe by the largest armada the world has ever seen.
Ahead of Remembrance Day or Veterans Day on 11 November -- - the day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war -- - the Islands Veterans Association will over the next two weeks present further insights into the Second World War.
Flying in the Royal Air Force was Graham Walker's intention from the age of fourteen. However, a game of rugby resulted in a mashed nose so jet flying was out. He soon found himself flying Army planes and helicopters for four years but was taken out of that 'heaven' and moved to technical duties in the RAF. After serving a number of years he was employed in the defence industry helping design equipment to find Russian nuclear submarines in the Atlanti
October 25, 2009
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
So few of the people in Cayman have any idea of what war is. This is wonderful in a way but sad in another. How can young people possibly appreciate the sacrifices that were made by their grandparents and others in that era that enables them to enjoy freedom today?
Let us look at some of the pivotal battles in the Second World War and try and put a few thoughts into perspective.
In 1938 to 1939 tension in Europe was at a peak. At that time Germany was controlled by a vicious political party called the National Socialists. This was commonly abbreviated to Nazis. Their leader was an Austrian, Adolf Hitler, who twenty years earlier had been a lowly corporal in the German army that lost the First World War. He was bitter and wanted to control most of Europe. He and his cohorts also wanted to eradicate what they termed scourges -- Jews and gay people.
Germany started attacking small countries and these always surrendered. The German air force, called the Luftwaffe, was well equipped and very strong. Britain on the other hand, which had had a terrible time in the first war, had been trying not to spend too much on weapons and defence. It just was not ready to take part in a big war again.
Britain had signed a treaty with Poland to come to its aid if it were attacked. On 1 September 1939, Germany made an excuse and invaded Poland. Britain said, "Get out in 48 hours". Hitler didn't take any notice and the result was that on 3 September, war was declared. France also joined in. Nothing much happened for eight or nine months except that Norway was invaded and beaten and countries in Europe were getting nervous.
The Belgians would not let the British army take up defensive positions in their country in case it irritated the Germans, so in May 1940 when the Germans finally did attack, the British and French Armies were wrong footed and in bad positions. Denmark, Holland and Belgium very quickly surrendered. England and France were in bad shape. The Royal Air Force was suffering heavy losses in a battle in France they couldn't win. The RAF Fighter Command Chief, Air Marshall Dowding, kept telling the politicians that he should not send more of his fighters to France as they would be lost; it was better to wait until the RAF had to defend England.
In a short time France had surrendered and the British army managed to escape from the beaches at Dunkirk and return to England. All together about 350,000 British and some French soldiers were rescued in small private fishing and sailing boats, similar to the North Sound boats. Now it was Britain alone standing up to Nazi fascism.
The Germans did not know that Britain was developing the world's first radar system. In those days these radars had huge antenna that could be seen from miles away. The radar information was passed to women acting as plotters so that the controllers, mostly older pilots from the First War, could see a pattern of an enemy attack developing and respond to it.
Most of the British pilots were very inexperienced, some only having a few hours flying the Hurricanes or Spitfires. The fighters in the south of England were commanded by Air Marshall Keith Park who believed in attacking the planes in the air as soon as possible and then getting at the enemy as soon as they were in sight; six taking on a hundred was typical. The planes in the middle of the country were commanded by an officer called Air Marshall Leigh-Mallory who believed his planes should group up into large formations of sixty or so; taking a long time about it, and then heading towards the enemy. Most agree that by the time they arrived the Germans had dropped their bombs and gone home for lunch.
The attacks by the Luftwaffe were initially against the British airfields, aircraft factories and the radar stations, even though they didn't really know what these did.
The Luftwaffe had a superb fighter called a Messerschmitt 109 and various bombers; Heinkels, Dorniers and Junkers. The Junkers were small dive-bombers that had previously been very successful when operating in mainland Europe against poor air defences. They were to be no match for Spitfires or Hurricanes and it was like a 'turkey shoot" when they came to meet in combat.
Although outnumbered about five to one the British pilots were able to clobber a lot of Germans. The Germans did not believe the British would last long and with the reports from their pilots of the numbers they thought they had shot down they couldn't understand how the RAF planes were still coming up at them.
It was touch and go, and the British did not think some of the reserve squadrons with Polish and Czechoslovakian pilots, who were refugees from their own Nazi occupied countries, would be able to communicate with the British controllers. They could hardly speak English! These were deliberately kept out of the battle. One day a Polish- manned Royal Air Force squadron disobeyed orders and attacked the Germans. They were very successful and were then allowed to join in.
The Germans then made a big mistake. They had given instructions that no bombs should be dropped on civilians in London. Their commander, Hermann Goering had boasted that if ever a British bomb fell on Berlin, then people could call him Meyer, (a Jewish name, and the Nazis were intent on killing all Jews). Well, one Luftwaffe pilot became lost, dumped his bombs and they fell on London. That night the RAF retaliated and visited Berlin and dropped bombs in return. This angered Hitler so much he made the Luftwaffe change its tactics. Instead of bombing real targets; airfields etc, Luftwaffe planes were ordered to bomb civilian targets in London. This mistake gave a breathing space to the RAF and allowed it to reinforce the pilots, repair some of the planes and get organized again.
The climax of the battle was on 15 September when over one hundred Luftwaffe planes were shot down in one day. That was a day when Leigh-Mallory's big wings arrived in time to join in the scrap. Leading that formation was a Squadron Leader Douglas Bader who had lost both legs in a flying accident seven years previously. It is hard to imagine a fighter pilot with just two tin artificial legs. Such heroism was common. The Luftwaffe realized they could not control the skies over England and with winter approaching an invasion that year was out of the question. The Luftwaffe attacks continued but mostly at night. The war continued for another five years.
The Battle of Britain was the opening move. Germany foolishly attacked Russia in June 1941. The United States was attacked by the Japanese in December 1941 at Pearl Harbour bringing the United States into the world conflict. As incredible amounts of munitions had to be brought from the U.S. factories to Europe, the Battle of the Atlantic developed. And then there was D-Day, the invasion of mainland Europe by the largest armada the world has ever seen.
Ahead of Remembrance Day or Veterans Day on 11 November -- - the day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war -- - the Islands Veterans Association will over the next two weeks present further insights into the Second World War.
Flying in the Royal Air Force was Graham Walker's intention from the age of fourteen. However, a game of rugby resulted in a mashed nose so jet flying was out. He soon found himself flying Army planes and helicopters for four years but was taken out of that 'heaven' and moved to technical duties in the RAF. After serving a number of years he was employed in the defence industry helping design equipment to find Russian nuclear submarines in the Atlanti