leviramsey Posted August 27, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 27, 2013 My WW2 as a football game post from several years ago is lost in the mists of history (I don't think I could duplicate it, either :( ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drat01 Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 Being in Africa for the past few weeks its interesting this thread has now come up. Couple of things, people often forget the many other countries that lost troops as part of WW2. The SA's for example lost a load of troops - from Wiki Of the 334,000 men volunteered for full-time service in the South African Army during the war (including some 211,000 whites, 77,000 blacks and 46,000 coloureds and Indians), nearly 9,000 were killed in action. The separation of troops into ethnicity also is a interesting historical consideration. For a separate consideration look at the way SA has changed over the past 25 years or so - that is something that we really should be studying in schools as historical lessons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veloman Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 For some reason my wife doesn't like me watching The History Channel, even though I am subjected to hours of cookery programmes and people buying houses that we couldn't ever afford. I don't know if she thinks I'm blood-thirsty or just morbid but I've learnt stacks from it ;we never studied WW11 as it had only just finished !!! Didn't realise Hugo Boss was involved in the Nazi uniforms (even though I think it was mentioned on here recently), didn't realise the Nazis recruited muslims from Albania into their ranks' presumably because of their dislike for Jews and didn't realise how advanced the Germans were in creating synthetic oil as their main supply was from Romania. Think I've got all that right anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 The History channel is crap now anyway. Pawn Stars and Storage Wars. Very educational. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted August 27, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 27, 2013 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 ^ That bloke will be recognised for the prophet he is by future generations. I like ancient and modern history but there's a huge chunk of time in the middle which I'm not really interested in (apart from the Renaissance). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaajax Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 For some reason my wife doesn't like me watching The History Channel, even though I am subjected to hours of cookery programmes and people buying houses that we couldn't ever afford. I don't know if she thinks I'm blood-thirsty or just morbid but I've learnt stacks from it ;we never studied WW11 as it had only just finished !!! Didn't realise Hugo Boss was involved in the Nazi uniforms (even though I think it was mentioned on here recently), didn't realise the Nazis recruited muslims from Albania into their ranks' presumably because of their dislike for Jews and didn't realise how advanced the Germans were in creating synthetic oil as their main supply was from Romania. Think I've got all that right anyway. Fanta was invented in Nazi Germany when the trade embargo prevented Coca Cola syrup being imported and so Coca Cola Deutschland had to come up with something they could produce with what they had available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC_Hitz Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 When it comes to WWII I find i'm less interested in the home front and to a larger extent what happened on the Western Front. That's not to say I won't read the shit out of anything on that. My interest has always been in the Eastern front and the more bottom-up approach of the history from this theatre. If I could read Russian i'd probably hole my self up in Moscow library for a few months and read everything on offer to do with the time period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 My WW2 as a football game post from several years ago is lost in the mists of history (I don't think I could duplicate it, either :( ) All you need to know is that the USA are Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AValon Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 WW2 is fascinating. I'd love to be a bit more up to speed about the North and East African campaigns (which I believe were mostly just us stomping on Italy) though. Anybody got any good links or videos? Found this folded up inside one of my great uncle's books when we were sorting out his things a year or two ago Strange, I remember seeing a similar letter my old man had, bearing a copy of Monty's signature, only it was for the D-Day campaign. He did'nt even know he had it, but he had to dig out his army paybook for a specific pension and there it was. Quite fascibating, although obviously just a example of morale building propaganda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 For some reason my wife doesn't like me watching The History Channel, even though I am subjected to hours of cookery programmes and people buying houses that we couldn't ever afford. I don't know if she thinks I'm blood-thirsty or just morbid but I've learnt stacks from it ;we never studied WW11 as it had only just finished !!! Didn't realise Hugo Boss was involved in the Nazi uniforms (even though I think it was mentioned on here recently), didn't realise the Nazis recruited muslims from Albania into their ranks' presumably because of their dislike for Jews and didn't realise how advanced the Germans were in creating synthetic oil as their main supply was from Romania. Think I've got all that right anyway. Fanta was invented in Nazi Germany when the trade embargo prevented Coca Cola syrup being imported and so Coca Cola Deutschland had to come up with something they could produce with what they had available. Volkswagen means 'people's car'. It was created by Hitler as a socialist manufacturer of vehicles for the people of Germany. The Beetle was actually the original Volkswagen. He then commissioned the Volksjäger, or the 'people's fighter' to defend the reich near the end of the war. I find it fascinating that his sketch of a car for everyone has become such an automotive powerhouse, with Volkswagen owning Audi, Seat, Škoda, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Bentley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaajax Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 I've mentioned this before in one of the car threads but the main reason I would never buy a Volkswagen is because it was founded by the Nazis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted August 27, 2013 Share Posted August 27, 2013 I've mentioned this before in one of the car threads but the main reason I would never buy a Volkswagen is because it was founded by the Nazis. I know what you mean, but everything's relative in some way. I drive a VW and a Skoda, but I don't feel bad about it because the company that's there now can't be held accountable for Hitler's genocide. It'd be like boycotting anything German. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 I'm sat here coaching the nipper through some Geography homework (yep, 7 week break and we are doing it with days left). Although it's still very recent history, reading through some of the statistics on the 2011 earthquake and tsunami it really is quite chilling. Looking at a fishing town called Ofunato, as the wave approached it was over 8 metres high, but due to local geography it was funnelled and channelled down directly into the town and when it hit land it was 24 metres high and travelled miles inland. It swamped six of the town's tsunami refuge shelters. But it wasn't the first time, same town, 1896 a similar wave killed 27,000. Same town, 1933 a similar wave killed 1,500. Part of the assignment question says 'what can we learn about this and about Japan's disaster management plan?' Surely the answer is: don't live in Ofunato? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted August 28, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 28, 2013 It should be renamed "Nofunato". 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted August 28, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 28, 2013 I've mentioned this before in one of the car threads but the main reason I would never buy a Volkswagen is because it was founded by the Nazis. I know what you mean, but everything's relative in some way. I drive a VW and a Skoda, but I don't feel bad about it because the company that's there now can't be held accountable for Hitler's genocide. It'd be like boycotting anything German. It's also worth noting that VW as it originally was was a failure - pretty much no German ever got a Volkswagen under the Nazis. The company exists as it is now largely due to the British army getting the factory going again as a way of getting Germany back to work following war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 What I find fascinating is Japan, both it's older history (Samurai, etc.), and it's post-Western contact history. I find it amazing the way they learned, adopted, mastered, and even improved Western ideas and practices, and how they transformed their country from agrarian self-isolation to industrialized imperialistic conquerors within decades. But not only that, the way they recovered and thrived after the war is simply incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponky Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Part of the assignment question says 'what can we learn about this and about Japan's disaster management plan?' Surely the answer is: don't live in Ofunato? Bring in Bradley Guzan to hold back the flood waters. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaajax Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 My Dutch grandfather found this Christmas magazine type of thing that the German soldiers were given. Here are a few pages from it. I don't speak German so I have no idea what any of it is but I'm guessing it's a German attempt at humour... any German speakers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ME Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 My Dutch grandfather found this Christmas magazine type of thing that the German soldiers were given. Here are a few pages from it. I don't speak German so I have no idea what any of it is but I'm guessing it's a German attempt at humour... any German speakers? Well I don't speak German but the naked gentleman with terrible forward neck posture *he needs my help* looks like he's about to get Mr. Over sized hat mans over sized milk bottle up the bum. So basically, just how I've always pictured a German Christmas. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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