How To Blitz A War Story

[Arthur Little]

Each nation has its myths about the Second World War. We Brits see ourselves as the stoics ... steadfastly tholing the Blitz with a cheery :smile:; the French fondly believe their every man, woman and child fought in the Resistance ... while the Yanks imagine THEY won the conflict single-handedly. :laughitupsmilie:

Such stereotypes can be enormously entertaining over a :66: in the pub, but they're usually avoided by historians who, instead, often devote long passages (like the one on which I'm about to embark ... so be WARNED!) to demolishing them.

Writer, Norman Stone, however, has little time for those analyses: Arising from his own efforts to encapsulate the entire war into a mere 200 pages :biggrin: - leaving no space for subtlety - he uses grand, sweeping statements. "Poland", he declares, "was the martyr ... just as Great :Britain: was the hero and the United States, the victor". < :laugher:

France, he maintains, was merely a nation of cheese-eating :ARsurrender: monkeys ... not only did it fail to produce a Churchill to lead its people, but the whole of French society was deemed rotten from top to bottom; the working classes, he says, comprised "dirty, sullen, cigarette-chewing individuals who smelt of cheap :Wine:".

:yeahthat:'s amusing :icon_lol: - so long as you're not French (:yikes: one of our members here ... username, 'Pacific Electric' ... IS, though!) - yet it's a bit worrying :23_111_9[1]: nonetheless, in a tome claiming to represent serious history ... ignoring, as it does, the fact that the British would have [probably] collapsed :Bricks: just as fast as the French, were our shores not protected by the English Channel. Moreover, it also contradicts the HUGE body of evidence in our Mass Observation archives showing that morale in Britain was nowhere near as chirpy as we like to think. :nono-1-1:

Once Stone has accepted stereotypes like these, all kinds of errors begin to emerge ... e.g., Britain is credited with cracking :xxaction-smiley-047 German codes whereas, in effect, both the early codes and the German Enigma machine were given to us by the Poles.

There again, Churchill is absolved of responsibility for handing Stalin control of *Eastern Europe (:icon_rolleyes: ... wish to Christ he'd kept *it - Stalin, I mean!) at the Tehran Conference in 1943 - despite it being clear from his letters that he [Churchill] didn't put up any form of resistance to the transfer. Communists are easy bogeymen: Stone blames them for deliberately antagonising :poke: the Germans into committing acts of reprisal against civilians. But, for example, it was Czech nationalists - NOT communists - who thereafter proceeded to assassinate high-ranking Nazi, Reinhard Heydrich ... in turn, provoking the infamous Lidice Massacre.

Apparently, too, throughout the book, the author makes increasingly controversial statements without backing up their legitimacy. And, while most military historians nowadays, view the **war in the Mediterranean as a vital stepping stone en route to D-Day, he appears to dismiss **it as "an irrelevant sideshow" - in the same way as he seems convinced that D-Day itself could've been achieved in 1943 ... a theory that's rather difficult to take too seriously. Similarly, the strategic bomber offensive is then denounced as a "strategy without logic". :23_116_6[1]:

Stone's book is, undoubtedly, an intriguing and entertaining read, full of quirky detail. There's even a description of the Romanian tanks that could not defend themselves on the Soviet Front because mice had :biggrin: chewed through the wiring.

Ill-balanced and unreliable as this account of the war may seem to its readers, it is undeniably stimulating. :Hellooo:

[Terpe]

Interesting stuff Arthur :xxgrinning--00xx3:

I also enjoy reading such books, or watching documentaries on TV.
There was quite a good documentary about the relationship between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

There's a short but interesting read here called Franklin, my dear... (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0311.bclark.html)
The author attempts to explain what was going on between them.

[Arthur Little]

:cwm24: ... oh dearie me ... :bigcry: ... my historical (or should I say, "hysterical"?) ramblings ain't, so far, being "blitzed" by many responses. :NoNo:

[Arthur Little]

Interesting stuff Arthur :xxgrinning--00xx3:

I also enjoy reading such books, or watching documentaries on TV.
There was quite a good documentary about the relationship between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

There's a short but interesting read here called Franklin, my dear... (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0311.bclark.html)
The author attempts to explain what was going on between them.

:icon_sorry:, Peter ... my "moan" seems to've crossed with your mention of the television documentary featuring fascinating insight into the relationship between OUR great wartime hero and the White House incumbent during that troubled era, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Thank you for providing the appropriate link ... I shall definitely :ReadIt:

[Terpe]

Arthur, during those few years I spent caring for my father before he died, I started to record all his stories and memories about his wartime experiences.
I even managed to convince him to talk into his old tape recorder. So I've got loads of tapes but not yet sure how to transfer to my PC

My dad was only 18 when he got called up, and didn't return home to UK for over 8 years.
He was with the 8th Army and the Desert Rats in the North Africa campaigns under Montgomery.
After North Africa he was moved to head the invasions of Sicily and Italy, and later for a few unfortunates to head to the western front
and join the race to Berlin.

He had loads of stories to tell and even shared how he'd fell in love in Italy, and very nearly returned to live his life there.
In the spring of 1945, when he was just 23 he was mysteriously sent to the Western Front and served directly under Patton in the race for Berlin as a member of special forces.

To the day he died he never spoke a single word about those times in special forces. We only know that he fought long and hard to return to his home in Clipston in 1948.
He was haunted by his nightmares until the day he died.

Anyway, one of these days I have a plan to put all this together in a single source.

well that's the plan anyway. Maybe when I have more time as a retiree in the paradise islands.

Sorry to HiJack your thread Arthur, just struck a chord with me. :icon_sorry:

[Terpe]

Talking about stereotypes I'm sure most here know that:-

Heaven:-
Where the police are British, the cooks French, the mechanics German, the lovers Italian, and it is all organized and run by the Swiss.

Hell:-
Where the police are German, the cooks British, the mechanics French, the lovers Swiss, and it is all organized and run by the Italians.

[WhiteBloodAda]

I always maintain that History ended when the Tudors died out, and anything since then is too modern :P I've always been fascinated with the dark ages and all things Medieval. I'd always dreamt that if I was to marry (and I was all against marriage before meeting Ruby! Damn woman!) it would be in a medieval style.

But recently I've been more and more fascinated by more modern stuff, and shocked myself by buying a history book from the 18th century. Two years of history infact, 1762-64. Britain's invasion and occupation of the Philippines. Quite amazing how life could have turned out if things panned out differently.

[joebloggs]

I even managed to convince him to talk into his old tape recorder. So I've got loads of tapes but not yet sure how to transfer to my PC

My dad was only 18 when he got called up, and didn't return home to UK for over 8 years.
He was with the 8th Army and the Desert Rats in the North Africa campaigns under Montgomery.
After North Africa he was moved to head the invasions of Sicily and Italy, and later for a few unfortunates to head to the western front
and join the race to Berlin.

He had loads of stories to tell and even shared how he'd fell in love in Italy, and very nearly returned to live his life there.
In the spring of 1945, when he was just 23 he was mysteriously sent to the Western Front and served directly under Patton in the race for Berlin as a member of special forces.

To the day he died he never spoke a single word about those times in special forces. We only know that he fought long and hard to return to his home in Clipston in 1948.
He was haunted by his nightmares until the day he died.


:xxgrinning--00xx3:

my father joined the Russian army to fight the Nazi's he was around 20 when WW2 started, that's all i know as he died when i was 11 :NoNo:

my mother told me stories how the Nazi fighter planes flew over and that was it Lithuania was invaded, she told me how the Nazi's burnt all the Lithuanian school books and made them all learn German in school, she speaks perfect german :doh, how she was threatened as a kid by the Nazi youth for not joining up, i could go on and on..

kids these days have no idea what our parents and grand parents went thru :NoNo:

if you've got a cassette player you can easily get an audio lead to connect the earphone connector on your player to the mic or audio in socket on your pc, nero or something similar can record it straight to mp3 :xxgrinning--00xx3:

like this should do the job peter.
http://www.expansys.com/startech-3-ft-slim-3-5mm-stereo-audio-cable-m-m-213410/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=base&ito=1701&mkwid=svHjLhmZB&kword=adwords_productfeed&gclid=CK6f4cm8rLUCFeTMtAodBBoACw

[stevewool]

its not till you are a little older that history becomes interesting, well for me that is, i do like watching the tv channel,YESTERDAY,
They show all the tv programs, world at war, i think this should be part of schooling

[Terpe]

......Britain's invasion and occupation of the Philippines. Quite amazing how life could have turned out if things panned out differently.

There's a very interesting book written by a friend of mine who, not only lived for over 20 years in the Philippines but is also a fellow enthusiast of the Philippines and a well known historian, columnist and writer.

If anyone has an interest check out his book 'Chew The Bones: Essays on Philippine History'
Available for Kindle on Amazon at just pence. A wonderful well researched read of shorts.

[Terpe]

.....if you've got a cassette player you can easily get an audio lead to connect the earphone connector on your player to the mic or audio in socket on your pc, nero or something similar can record it straight to mp3 :xxgrinning--00xx3:

like this should do the job peter.
http://www.expansys.com/startech-3-ft-slim-3-5mm-stereo-audio-cable-m-m-213410/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=base&ito=1701&mkwid=svHjLhmZB&kword=adwords_productfeed&gclid=CK6f4cm8rLUCFeTMtAodBBoACw

I don't have a player, but you've given me an idea.
I could easily find one at a car boot sale and the season will be here soon.
What I would need is cable that connects to the headphone socket on a cassette tape player to a USB socket on my laptop. Any ideas????

[joebloggs]

I don't have a player, but you've given me an idea.
I could easily find one at a car boot sale and the season will be here soon.
What I would need is cable that connects to the headphone socket on a cassette tape player to a USB socket on my laptop. Any ideas????

your laptop must have a mic socket ? next to a headphone socket ?
probably be red in colour.

what have you recorded the tapes on ? if not casette ? reel to reel :cwm24:

[Terpe]

your laptop must have a mic socket ? next to a headphone socket ?
probably be red in colour.

what have you recorded the tapes on ? if not casette ? reel to reel :cwm24:

Ah yes, I have a mic input , great stuff Joe.:xxgrinning--00xx3:

I've got 5 cassette and 2 'Philips' reels of tape.
I remember now I threw out the old old reel-to-reel machine:doh

The stuff he recorded during his last 3 years was all on cassette.
Yep, I chucked that machine out too. :cwm23:
I'll take a visit to our Maplins tomorrow maybe they have some stuff.

Thanks for your nudge and info Joe

I'll bet we both know things about war that these days still happen and are still not being adequately dealt with.........

[joebloggs]

you can get devices to do it, but i dont think you need one peter, straight cassette player earphone out socket and into your mic socket on your laptop should work fine, just make sure the speaker volume is not too high to start with you shouldn't have a problem.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-5020869-1.html

[Terpe]

you can get devices to do it, but i dont think you need one peter, straight cassette player earphone out socket and into your mic socket on your laptop should work fine, just make sure the speaker volume is not too high to start with you shouldn't have a problem.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-5020869-1.html

Thanks for that.
I'm on it tomorrow at Maplins.
As long as I have stored electronically I feel better.

Any ideas on those reels?
Can I transfer to cassette or is it different speeds.
Some of them are marked up 1962 - 1966

[Ako Si Jamie]

There's a very interesting book written by a friend of mine who, not only lived for over 20 years in the Philippines but is also a fellow enthusiast of the Philippines and a well known historian, columnist and writer.

If anyone has an interest check out his book 'Chew The Bones: Essays on Philippine History'
Available for Kindle on Amazon at just pence. A wonderful well researched read of shorts.About the history of the Philippines. I came across this newly uploaded vid on YouTube the other day. It's long and comes in eight parts. Here's part 1.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8HaHmZvMaU

[joebloggs]

Thanks for that.
I'm on it tomorrow at Maplins.
As long as I have stored electronically I feel better.

Any ideas on those reels?
Can I transfer to cassette or is it different speeds.
Some of them are marked up 1962 - 1966

if you can find a reel to reel player? off ebay , might need an amplifier , and a jack convertor (cost £1 or so)
or if not
for the reel to reel maybe you can find someone local like these peter?

http://www.vinyltodigital.co.uk/audio/reel-to-reel-to-cd.html

[Pete/London]

Each nation has its myths about the Second World War. We Brits see ourselves as the stoics ... steadfastly tholing the Blitz with a cheery :smile:; the French fondly believe their every man, woman and child fought in the Resistance ... while the Yanks imagine THEY won the conflict single-handedly. :laughitupsmilie:

Such stereotypes can be enormously entertaining over a :66: in the pub, but they're usually avoided by historians who, instead, often devote long passages (like the one on which I'm about to embark ... so be WARNED!) to demolishing them.

Writer, Norman Stone, however, has little time for those analyses: Arising from his own efforts to encapsulate the entire war into a mere 200 pages :biggrin: - leaving no space for subtlety - he uses grand, sweeping statements. "Poland", he declares, "was the martyr ... just as Great :Britain: was the hero and the United States, the victor". < :laugher:

France, he maintains, was merely a nation of cheese-eating :ARsurrender: monkeys ... not only did it fail to produce a Churchill to lead its people, but the whole of French society was deemed rotten from top to bottom; the working classes, he says, comprised "dirty, sullen, cigarette-chewing individuals who smelt of cheap :Wine:".

:yeahthat:'s amusing :icon_lol: - so long as you're not French (:yikes: one of our members here ... username, 'Pacific Electric' ... IS, though!) - yet it's a bit worrying :23_111_9[1]: nonetheless, in a tome claiming to represent serious history ... ignoring, as it does, the fact that the British would have [probably] collapsed :Bricks: just as fast as the French, were our shores not protected by the English Channel

Interesting topic Arthur, I have come to the conclusion that we are not that great at fighting wars with most of our war leaders and generals being as useless as our politicians, while expecting our armies to fight with inferior weapons and lack of supplies.
Going back over the years, experts reckon Waterloo was won by the Prussians who saved Wellington`s a++e but he managed to take the glory, and how did we manage to lose to the yanks in the battle for independence.

2nd world war, well the embarassment of getting pushed all the way back to Dunkirk , our army of 6000 men surrendering to 3000 Germans in North Africa before Monty was put in charge, thousands surrendering Singapore without hardly a shot fired in anger, the raid on Dieppe and operation Market Garden.
Brave men led by donkeys still rings true today with some of the wars we are getting mixed up in. :Erm:

[Arthur Little]

Interesting topic Arthur, I have come to the conclusion that we are not that great at fighting wars with most of our war leaders and generals being as useless as our politicians, while expecting our armies to fight with inferior weapons and lack of supplies.


Thanks, Pete ... I'm pleased you found my article of interest. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

:iagree: too, with your views on the :crazy:, clueless idiots - both military and civilian - charged with the ALL IMPORTANT responsibility for handling matters concerning our National Defence in recent years.

[WhiteBloodAda]

There's a very interesting book written by a friend of mine who, not only lived for over 20 years in the Philippines but is also a fellow enthusiast of the Philippines and a well known historian, columnist and writer.

If anyone has an interest check out his book 'Chew The Bones: Essays on Philippine History'
Available for Kindle on Amazon at just pence. A wonderful well researched read of shorts.

I'll check this out at some point :xxgrinning--00xx3: