The Second World War

Quoted from grimsby pete

I would like to add,

My dad told me he was unwell,

It was my mam who said he was drunk,

BUT

She was not there was she .

fantastic story

Quoted from Green27

Great place but a place closer to home is the Holocaust Centre nr Newark. it is truly stunning and if you're lucky on a Sunday they have a lecture given to you by someone who survived the holocaust it is so humbling.

Taking my class there a week before halt term.

We go on a journey form a platform etc and meet a survivor at the end.

When I booked the coach and made sure they knew where they were going they said they'd been many times before and have only heard the comment "best trip ever" from the kids and teachers.

We were doing some research on the blitz today, had a couple of children really upset as they got more and more in role. The two lads that laughed at some of the witness accounts got a what for though when I put them into the position of a child in war.

I have been to the IWM, I always feel I need a tent when I go in though - could spend a week there.

THe girlfriend and I are hoping to do a battlefield tour 'holiday' next year.

Thanks for the recount Pete. I have a soft spot for those kind of accounts.

My grandads mate tells one of him in a Spitfire:

He was chasing down a Dornier after a raid, gave the rear gunner a quick blast. Went in further to knock it out the sky and realised he hadn't done the rear gunner a job. Next thing he knows there is bullet in the cockpit window that would end up between his eyes.

He thought he was dead! Had a reality check, knocked out the Dornier, landed only to find the bullet that came through the cockpit on the floor between his legs.

Quoted from Green27

Great place but a place closer to home is the Holocaust Centre nr Newark. it is truly stunning and if you're lucky on a Sunday they have a lecture given to you by someone who survived the holocaust it is so humbling.

Went there on a school trip a few years ago, a polish man told us his story, and how he survived the concentration camps. It's quite a privelege hearing it first hand, as in a few years there will be nobody left to tell them.

A book that I strongly recommend is Forgotten Voices by Max something or other. In the 50's and 60's a host of recordings were made of WWI survivors recounting their experiences of The Great War. The book is extracts of those recordings and they are arranged in chronological order. It's an incredibly humbling and awe-inspiring read, the conditions which were faced not only by soldiers but also by civilians caught in the conflict are mind-blowing and reading first-hand accounts of life, death and the journey inbetween makes it a truly superb read.

My Dad was in the Royal Artillary during the war and I have read his diaries.  They make fantastic reading.  Him and his mate once crawled over to a German position that had been bombed in order to get any ration packs/food they could.  His feelings of guilt were immense, but as he stated, it didn't stop him eating the first half decent meal in two weeks.  I think that the fact is that so many people went through so much that we only hear of the truly outstanding actions. These guys probably went through more real sh1t in one month than most of us do in a lifetime.  If people don't want to pay respects, that is their choice, but the knobheads that desecrate war memorials etc I would quite happily make them spend every day in an old army uniform come rain or shine cleaing up their handywork with a toothbrush.

Quoted from dangtfc1

A book that I strongly recommend is Forgotten Voices by Max something or other. In the 50's and 60's a host of recordings were made of WWI survivors recounting their experiences of The Great War. The book is extracts of those recordings and they are arranged in chronological order. It's an incredibly humbling and awe-inspiring read, the conditions which were faced not only by soldiers but also by civilians caught in the conflict are mind-blowing and reading first-hand accounts of life, death and the journey inbetween makes it a truly superb read.

Got all of that series. They also have one on WWI. The holocaust one is chilling the cover is pure white.

If you want the definitive history of the Second World War then I suggest you purchase the DVD collection of the documentary The World at War.

Such was the intense research the programme took four years from conception to transmission and cost Thames Television the equivalent of £11m to make. What makes it so special is that it features first hand intervews with those who took part in the war but who are no longer with us and therefore capture personal views that are no longer available (the series was made between 1969 and 1973). Those interviews include Lord Mountbatten, Albert Speer (the German armaments minister), Traudl Junge (Hitler's secretary and present with the Furher during his final hours), Jimmy Stewart, Lord Avon, front line soldiers and survivors of the Holocaust.

Even after 35 years I've yet to encounter a more definitive televisual coverage of the war. The dvd set is 11 discs long and quite expensive but certainly worth it.

Quoted from kingofthekippers

If you want the definitive history of the Second World War then I suggest you purchase the DVD collection of the documentary The World at War.

Such was the intense research the programme took four years from conception to transmission and cost Thames Television the equivalent of £11m to make. What makes it so special is that it features first hand intervews with those who took part in the war but who are no longer with us and therefore capture personal views that are no longer available (the series was made between 1969 and 1973). Those interviews include Lord Mountbatten, Albert Speer (the German armaments minister), Traudl Junge (Hitler's secretary and present with the Furher during his final hours), Jimmy Stewart, Lord Avon, front line soldiers and survivors of the Holocaust.

Even after 35 years I've yet to encounter a more definitive televisual coverage of the war. The dvd set is 11 discs long and quite expensive but certainly worth it.

Got that too!

If you have the boxset I do not only do you get the original episodes but a series of mini-docs that were never transmitted. They are made up of material they could not fit in and material deemed too strong to be broadcast.

The two episodes that make up The Final Solution - Auschwitz feature some of the cruellest scenes of mans inhumanity to fellow man I've ever seen; footage of skeleton-like dead concentration camp prisoners and those of the ghettos who were flung like rag-dolls onto carts because they were so emaciated. It's hard to realise there were once people just like you and me.

Those cunts on the far-right who idolise Nazism and those who deny the Holocaust ever took place want their bollocks cutting off so they can't create future generations.

Quoted from kingofthekippers

The dvd set is 11 discs long and quite expensive but certainly worth it.

You can get it for £30, which a decent price.

[url]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B00008WQ9Y/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&qid=1253478044&sr=8-1&condition=new[/url]

I used to watch this in history lessons at school; great stuff.

In fact, I think I'm going to order the box-set after I click the 'post' button on here.