British Army Pulls Out Of Germany

[Jason]

Nah, war was decided in Stalingrad. You helped with your lend-leasing to the Soviets so pat yourself in the back there!

Myopic view. Normandy was not an afterthought, and was not irrelevant to the war. Stalingrad ended 2 years and 2 months before Germany surrendered, and nearly 1 1/2 years before the invasion of Normandy.

Stalingrad was "a" decisive battle, but to say the war was won in February 1943 is pretty silly. The people actually fighting the war didn't think they had won it, and were just mopping up in Stalingrad. Moreover, the Americans had been involved for well over a year by that point, and it wasn't before the US got involved.

Incidentally, the war was lost for Germany because of Russia and if you want to pick a decisive point then Stalingrad would be it.

[JimC]

Ein Volk...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Coito is so easy to troll you can troll him before he even participates in a thread.

Just now noticing that? It's easiest on the days he has a real stick up his ass.

[Coito ergo sum]

Nah, war was decided in Stalingrad. You helped with your lend-leasing to the Soviets so pat yourself in the back there!

Myopic view. Normandy was not an afterthought, and was not irrelevant to the war. Stalingrad ended 2 years and 2 months before Germany surrendered, and nearly 1 1/2 years before the invasion of Normandy.

Stalingrad was "a" decisive battle, but to say the war was won in February 1943 is pretty silly. The people actually fighting the war didn't think they had won it, and were just mopping up in Stalingrad. Moreover, the Americans had been involved for well over a year by that point, and it wasn't before the US got involved.

Incidentally, the war was lost for Germany because of Russia and if you want to pick a decisive point then Stalingrad would be it.

Stalingrad was one of the decisive factors, yes. But, the war was not "lost" for Germany -- the allies were not sure, on June 3, 1944, 1 1/2 years after Stalingrad, whether they could break fortress Europe, and if they couldn't, Germany could still win.

[Coito ergo sum]

Coito is so easy to troll you can troll him before he even participates in a thread.

Troll?

It's actually very common for Euros to make the "merkins just come in at the end for the easy parts" argument, and they do so with all seriousness many times (even if it was not serious in this instance). Discussing the issue is fun, because it makes me laugh to read folks suggest that World War 2 was all but won in December, 1941, and all the Merkins did after they were attacked by Japan is come in and steal the glory. It's either that the war was over already when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor or it was over in February 1943 when the Russians beat the Germans at Stalingrad. I find it interesting that the commanders of the allied forces didn't seem to share that matter-of-fact "the war is already won" attitude, even as late as June 4, 1944.

Errr.. edited to correct my John Belushi "Germans bombed Pearl Harbor" bit... lol

[SteveB]

Speaking of WW2, I never knew just how lucky the Germans were when they took Norway. They only got it because of Norway and Britain's sheer incompetence for the most part. Both countries didn't heed warnings, they were too slow in acting, they made one poor decision after another. Makes me wonder how lucky the Germans were when they took over those other 15 countries or so.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Coito is so easy to troll you can troll him before he even participates in a thread.

Troll?

It's actually very common for Euros to make the "merkins just come in at the end for the easy parts" argument, and they do so with all seriousness many times (even if it was not serious in this instance). Discussing the issue is fun, because it makes me laugh to read folks suggest that World War 2 was all but won in December, 1941, and all the Merkins did after they were attacked by Japan is come in and steal the glory. It's either that the war was over already when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor or it was over in February 1943 when the Russians beat the Germans at Stalingrad. I find it interesting that the commanders of the allied forces didn't seem to share that matter-of-fact "the war is already won" attitude, even as late as June 4, 1944.

Errr.. edited to correct my John Belushi "Germans bombed Pearl Harbor" bit... lol

And you don't realize they do that to troll.

[Mysturji]

I thought we were Gondor? And the Americans were the Riders of Rohan, fucking cowboys.

No, Brits are Hobbits. Canada is Gondor. As evidence, consider the fact that the last time Rohan "Came to Gondor's aid" (in 1812 or thereabouts) they thought they could just forget to bugger off again afterwards. Gondor sent them packing.

[Mysturji]

Actually, the Elves must be Italian:
As soon as it looks like trouble is brewing, they up sticks and fuck off into the sunset.

[Svartalf]

Ein Volk...

What's up with Russian wolves?

[Svartalf]

Speaking of WW2, I never knew just how lucky the Germans were when they took Norway. They only got it because of Norway and Britain's sheer incompetence for the most part. Both countries didn't heed warnings, they were too slow in acting, they made one poor decision after another. Makes me wonder how lucky the Germans were when they took over those other 15 countries or so.

Thay attacked France while we were busy eating cheese

[Coito ergo sum]

I thought we were Gondor? And the Americans were the Riders of Rohan, fucking cowboys.

No, Brits are Hobbits. Canada is Gondor. As evidence, consider the fact that the last time Rohan "Came to Gondor's aid" (in 1812 or thereabouts) they thought they could just forget to bugger off again afterwards. Gondor sent them packing.

...except that in 1812 it was the Hobbits who did the fighting. Canada didn't have an army. It was the British Army, not a Canadian one.

[SteveB]

Speaking of WW2, I never knew just how lucky the Germans were when they took Norway. They only got it because of Norway and Britain's sheer incompetence for the most part. Both countries didn't heed warnings, they were too slow in acting, they made one poor decision after another. Makes me wonder how lucky the Germans were when they took over those other 15 countries or so.

Thay attacked France while we were busy eating cheese

That means their window of opportunity was between 12:00 am and 11:59 pm in any given day. Those dastardly Germans!

[Mysturji]

I thought we were Gondor? And the Americans were the Riders of Rohan, fucking cowboys.

No, Brits are Hobbits. Canada is Gondor. As evidence, consider the fact that the last time Rohan "Came to Gondor's aid" (in 1812 or thereabouts) they thought they could just forget to bugger off again afterwards. Gondor sent them packing.

...except that in 1812 it was the Hobbits who did the fighting. Canada didn't have an army. It was the British Army, not a Canadian one.

Not entirely correct.
We also had a girl with a cow and a box of chocolates.

[Coito ergo sum]

I thought we were Gondor? And the Americans were the Riders of Rohan, fucking cowboys.

No, Brits are Hobbits. Canada is Gondor. As evidence, consider the fact that the last time Rohan "Came to Gondor's aid" (in 1812 or thereabouts) they thought they could just forget to bugger off again afterwards. Gondor sent them packing.

...except that in 1812 it was the Hobbits who did the fighting. Canada didn't have an army. It was the British Army, not a Canadian one.

Not entirely correct.
We also had a girl with a cow and a box of chocolates.

She was a hottie, too, as a young lass --