Discussion on Key WW2 Battles and Alternate Outcomes

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cdbatra
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Discussion on Key WW2 Battles and Alternate Outcomes

Post by cdbatra »

Recently I was quite intrigued while watching Dunkirk. I did not know about history of British withdrawal . The question I had in my mind was why were combined British and French troops numbering 4 lakhs not able to hold advancing German Penzer division when they were almost equal in numbers. I want to use this forum to discuss real reasons behind key WW2 stands and why they failed or succeeded.
Atmavik
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Re: Discussion on key WW2 Battles and alternate outcomes

Post by Atmavik »

here is a youtube channel that discusses such topics. he has a video about Dunkirk withdrawal.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK09g6 ... 0x1VCF1hgA
Khalsa
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Re: Discussion on key WW2 Battles and alternate outcomes

Post by Khalsa »

I would recommend listening to the World War II history podcast on iTunes.
If you have the damned patient to listen to about 60 episodes , you sir will have the finest understanding of Dunkirk become the collection bucket of multiple folding lines that all folded on one hinged point dictated by various german thrusts and french counter thrusts.

About Dunkirk, yeah when you have your back at the sea and cant go back (manouvere) any further its not pretty.
Besides all the troops that had reached there were hardly packed full of rations and ammunation.
Their equipment was being lost as they had retreated miles to get to Dunkirk.

Remember they did not choose Dunkirk, Dunkirk chose them.
ramana
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Re: Discussion on key WW2 Battles and alternate outcomes

Post by ramana »

What's the iTunes link or title? I read a lot of WWII history.
Rakesh
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Re: Discussion on key WW2 Battles and alternate outcomes

Post by Rakesh »

I did not know you were a World War 2 buff. Same here :)

I am reading Snow & Steel right now....amazing book.

https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Steel-Battl ... +%26+steel

I also got hooked onto books on the history of Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne after watching HBO's Band of Brothers.

Wild Bill Guarnere is a legend!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Guarnere
shiv
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Re: Discussion on Key WW2 Battles and Alternate Outcomes

Post by shiv »

cdbatra wrote:Recently I was quite intrigued while watching Dunkirk. I did not know about history of British withdrawal . The question I had in my mind was why were combined British and French troops numbering 4 lakhs not able to hold advancing German Penzer division when they were almost equal in numbers. I want to use this forum to discuss real reasons behind key WW2 stands and why they failed or succeeded.
All the best. Call me cynical, but after decades on BRF I have found that threads that starts with "Let's discuss this.." are difficult to sustain unless the thread starter has a "seed" of solid information to "sow" to get others thinking what he/she is thinking.

If you research 2-3 battles and post your views it will make good reading and help others to learn and contribute. But saying "Hey I saw a movie and had a thought. Let's discuss my thought" is an iffy way to stimulate discussion
shiv
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Re: Discussion on Key WW2 Battles and Alternate Outcomes

Post by shiv »

Anyhow - here is a muse.

When I was a young man we actually had WW2 comics where the "Allies" were winning and the Achtung Himmel Nazis were losing as were the Banzai Slanteye Japs. Dunkirk Battle of Britain etc were "par for the course" and WW2 movies were a dime a dozen - 633 Squadron, Patton, The Dam Busters, The Train, Guns of Navarone, The Battle of the Bulge etc. I spent years and years reading the history of ww2 while I read about Vietnam and saw the Vietnam war play out in the news and in colour pics in Time and Life magazines.

One change I see nowadays is a change for the worse. It is the availability of too much info on the internet. Up until the early 1990s it was still possible to get colour coffee table books that gave one a brief overview of WW2 or a particular battle. That has all but died. Now it is Wiki, blogs and videos - none of which is as good as a book you can pick up and put down anytime anywhere.

That said - I personally think that 1962, 1965 the Bangladesh war etc are as important for us as ww2 - but withoutthe internet Indians would, like me, still be reading about the great heroism of the Yanks and Brits along with Mughal empire.
Mort Walker
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Re: Discussion on Key WW2 Battles and Alternate Outcomes

Post by Mort Walker »

shiv wrote:That said - I personally think that 1962, 1965 the Bangladesh war etc are as important for us as ww2 - but without the internet Indians would, like me, still be reading about the great heroism of the Yanks and Brits along with Mughal empire.
This is exactly correct. WWII was primarily another European war. Hitler had great admiration of the British for having its vast colony of India stretching from Kabul to Rangoon, and he wanted his European colony stretching from France to Russia.
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