American Reacts to The Blitz | UK World War 2

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As an American I have to admit I've never heard of the Blitz before. Today I am very interested in learning more about this part of British history during world war 2. If you enjoyed the video feel free to leave a comment, like, or subscribe for more!

[@lordylou1]

This is why the British are so irritated by the American view they swept in and won the war. They didn't. They sat on their hands while all this was going on, only joining when Pearl Harbour forced them to. The British withstood nightly 9/11s for months, not only in London but all over the country. And we did it while pretty much starving to death because our food routes from Europe were cut off and America, the land of plenty, didn't help at all. It was a bitter pill to swallow and the memory is still fresh.

[@cindz4618]

I totally agree but I also get a bit irritated when nowadays some British people say ' we won the war' when it really was a concerted effort - not only the British , the people on the continent- resistance- many commonwealth countries were also called on to help and are often forgotten in some people's minds.... I'm glad Britain wasn't invaded, but feeling superior to countries that were is something I will never understand..

[@morgancluderay3020]

Couldn’t have put it better myself

[@davewellings6281]

I would like to add, that although the USA wasn't much help at that moment in time there were a LOT of brave young American men who (via Canada etc) volunteered to fight for Britain.

[@morgancluderay3020]

@ yup that is true and those men who volunteered are brave hero’s, but that doesn’t mean Britain did none of it. The British people were slaughtered and yet they still held out refusing to surrender

[@lordylou1]

@cindz4618 I couldn't agree more. Our attitude to the French (amongst others), is shocking. They fought couragously and under occupation. It makes me so sad.

[@peterhill1367]

Thank you Australia, new Zealand, south Africa and Canda, India and many other nations. We will not forget

[@AntMorris]

The polish too

[@TryptychUK]

Actually, there were some "Free Americans" went against Roosevelt's specific orders not to get involved, and came anyway.

[@stirlingmoss4621]

1500 did come from the Caribbean nations

[@emstirling-is4nu]

Yes those who made it to the British lines did join in....those who were not fit were housed throughout the UK and looked after. There are many who stayed on after the war and many memorials were erected to the Polish soldiers still to this day. Lest we forget. @@AntMorris

[@TryptychUK]

@@stirlingmoss4621 There were many from all the Commonwealth, but others too from all over the world.

[@anthonybuttigieg4826]

I am from Malta. The Blitz was terrible. Malta sustained the equivalent of the Blitz for three whole years in defense of freedom, fighting alongside the British. You should check it out.

[@charlieyerrell9146]

Anthony Americans have no idea or knowledge of what the Maltese people went through in ww2. I have been to Malta a few times on holiday so I know what the Maltese people went through. First time Christmas 1978

[@charlieyerrell9146]

Not 1978 but 1959.

[@thecraftykiwi8756]

Didn’t Malta get the George Cross?. Think of it. The whole Nation.

[@grahamjackson9007]

Malta was awarded the George Cross because of the islands efforts and bravery in World War Two, when I was a kid it was driven into us that it was not called Malta but Malta GC!

[@bonkerslez91]

And you are the only country with a medal to their name

[@patriciamcl54]

A very famous American journalist, Ed Morrow, who stayed in Britain throughout the blitz, said that he had never witnessed courage like that displayed by the ordinary British people during the bombing of London.

[@charlessperling7031]

Edward R. Murrow said something during the Cuban Missile Crisis which has always haunted me: that it's difficult to deal with an enemy who says that what's mine is mine, and what's yours is negotiable. Beginning with the rise of the "Contract with America" Republicans, I have to wonder how the Republicans went from being the Loyal Opposition to Murrow's Soviets. The Darkside is always there, waiting for us to enter, waiting to enter us...

[@GoPterosaur]

Indeed, feel proud to feel how brave my country was in the war.

[@BearWelsh]

@@GoPterosaurnow look at the country 😂😂 doesn’t have the courage to stop letting criminals into the country, to a point where areas around the uk are no whites allowed. And where many “citizens” would fight for other country’s instead of the uk if the war started. (People have gone around places like London, Birmingham, Coventry and more with a camera asking immigrants who they would fight for if a war started) From hero’s to zeros oh how the might have fallen.

[@AK-ze7ro]

US made a lot of money out of the war. UK only finished off paying its war dept to US in 2006. UK like other European countries had to rebuild before it could move on meanwhile US was developing and profiteering. That is why many in Europe are offended that certain US politician think that Europeans are not paying their way. We paid in so many ways to maintain democracy.

[@WEZ4136]

Lend lease and rationing is why Americans have the idea that British food is terrible, because when GIs came over here there was very little for them to eat or even buy, because everything from spirits to farm produce went to the war effort.

[@MaoZhu-j6q]

US politicians do not think, they just do what the big corporations tell them to do. The USA is probably the only country in the world that professes freedom, but where actually its politicians are slaves to the big corporations. The people that vote for them are meaningless to them.

[@philhallbrook7008]

Hell yeah

[@XiOjala]

Spot on.

[@piligarcia4771]

And they took certain nazi scientists/doctors that had been experimenting various things for Hitler and had them work in America in exchange for their freedom...

[@Stewart682]

This was the origin of the British "Keep Calm and Carry On!" mentality.

[@HA1LILPALAZZO]

the Keep Calm and Carry On poster was never published in wartime. It was made during that period but the government felt it was too potentious considering what people were going through

[@SoSimonSays]

@@HA1LILPALAZZO wow didnt know that, it was made in 1939 but rarely publicly displayed according to wiki

[@HA1LILPALAZZO]

@@SoSimonSays yeah the other one mentioned (the blue one) was a wartime poster but there were many they came up with and the keep calm and carry on one was never published due to the potentiousness of it. It's worth looking them up :)

[@elenamccracken544]

@@HA1LILPALAZZO gotta love it tho, it's truly a British mindset going right back long before Victoria, even if the slogan wasn't thought up until ww2

[@lauriemapplebeck1286]

You were not taught about the Belitz? London was destroyed!

[@1chish]

The reason Americans don't discuss it is because not one bomb fell on the USA. And no - Pearl Harbour was NOT part of the USA until after the war although Hawaii was illegally annexed before the war. And remember we never saw any US forces until late 1942 so 3 years after our war started. This period was known as 'The Battle of Britain'. It was the last stand for freedom in Europe. We had a 9/11 every week of WWII. After Buckingham Palace was bombed and the King slightly injured (the Royal Family never left London) the Queen said 'Now I can look East Enders in the eye' The debt the UK (and arguably the free world) owes the RAF is huge because not only did they keep us free by turning back the Nazi tide they gave the british people and its forces abroad something to cheer about and create some belief the Nazis could be beaten. As Churchill said in tribute to the RAF: "'Never in the field of human conflict was so much been owed by so many to so few" The price the UK paid for standing alone and giving a platform for later victory was colossal and just the loan to repay Lend / lease was not paid off until 2006 while the USA benefitted hugely giving it a huge head start after the war.

[@IDyce88]

well said

[@lookingforthewhy6447]

A lot of Americans joined the British long before the US officially joined the war, with many dying. I did a lot of research on this subject a few years ago.

[@IDyce88]

@@lookingforthewhy6447 doesn't change the fact the US didn't suffer bombing like this on their home soil...thye didn't suffer immense losses like we did...and they didn't have an air force that relied on tactics not numbers...the problem with the USA is thye think numbers matters...do you know how many times i hear Americans say "we got more guns or more soldiers than you" to the british...it isn't about numbers...it's how you use them...that was what our air force was about.

[@gmdhargreaves]

Interesting and facts❤❤

[@tonys1636]

We may have paid our War Debt to the US but the USSR has never fully repaid theirs to us. We supplied US and UK weapons to them as the US would not supply directly. Putin denies any responsibility for the debt as the USSR no longer exists. We lost many ships and men during the winter Arctic convoys, winter as the daylight hours were minimal to try and minimise Luftwaffe bombing attacks and attacks by U Boats. Murmansk was the only port in Russia that could be used in winter but very close to German airfields in Norway. The convoys were routed North around Iceland to keep as far away from Norway as possible.

[@laurabrown2982]

Im 37 and my family hails from the Portsmouth area (major UK naval city). Last week, my grandmother passed away at 91, after years of campaigning (successfully) to have a memorial erected honoring Portsmouth servicemen and women who lost their lives in WW2. Her father was one ofvthe many who died at Dunkirk. I grew up at the knee of my other grandmother (who passed away some years ago at age 80) who would tell me of her life as a small child during the air raids. She used to play in their garden air raid shelter, and remembered the rationing and the black outs. For now, this is just about still "living memory". But those who remain who remember WW2 firsthand were very young at the time and are now in their twilight years. Its very important that we keep their memories alive and pass down their stories. Thank you for making this video x

[@clairechecketts7034]

My mum was born in January 1939 . She remembered being taken in her pram to the tunnels in Portsdown Hill when there was an air raid .

[@laurabrown2982]

@clairechecketts7034 wow, she must have had a very good memory (capacity wise) to remember things from such a young age! But then I suppose regardless of how young are, such traumatic things can imprint even then. Thank you for sharing that.

[@dogsbody49]

My Mum was 9 when the war started & also was brought up in Portsmouth. The 10th January 1941 was one particular bombing raid that stood out in her memory. The Guildhall was destroyed along with the main shopping areas of Commercial road & Southsea.

[@nancyheitmeyer9976]

As an older American I am so embarrassed by our educational system that no longer teaches history. It isn't just World History not being taught but also majority of our American History is no longer taught. When I was in school in the 50's and 60's we were definitely taught about the Blitz and the bravery and suffering of the British people. We also were taught about the fact our American politicians were mostly isolationists. We were also taught Roosevelt did manage to get approval to send weapons and was working to get Congress to approve the U.S. getting involved. Pearl Harbor did change everything in the attitude in America. I have visited London and seen the scars that still exist today and toured the war offices in Whitehall. I don't know when all of this stopped being taught in our schools but very sad it isn't.

[@gordonsmith8899]

You have nothing to feel uncomfortable about Nancy. Education appears to be lacking across many of the western democracies. Listening/watching many of the TV quiz programmes, I'm staggered at the ignorance of history shown by the average participant.

[@emstirling-is4nu]

Nancy its a sign of the times. Most of the people commenting have no idea! All this history of the world should be taught at the High School level. Lest we Forget any war.

[@GeorgeMcilmoyle-v6l]

Were you told it was your own government who militarised Japan. Simple America puts the dollar before anything else you actually brought pearl harbour on yourself.

[@joolzessam1824]

I wonder how much of the Blitz is still taught in British schools. I am a WWII re-enactor, so we try to teach the younger generations who are probably unaware of what their own families did in the 1940s and how remarkable they all were.

[@bwilson5401]

The US didn't even declare war on Germany after Pearl Harbour. Lets not forget that.There were a lot of politicians in the USA that were of German descent.

[@michaelkneale3825]

I knew a man who lost his whole family during the bombing of Coventry, The shelter they were in, took a direct hit. He avoided death because he hurried across the street to his home, to check on his dog. He was only a young teenager at the time. He spent his entire 88 years being a nervous wreck. He always wept when he spoke of his family.

[@Yesser-Thistle73]

Glasgow was blitzed night after night also.

[@HallieBear-k6v]

I'm from cov it's a well documented story

[@lauramorris7843]

Also from Coventry. After the Coventry Blitz the Germans coined the term 'Coventrate', to describe decimating a city with bond and incendiaries.

[@Helena.E.M]

Horrific. Poor man. My partner's father was in Plymouth during the Blitz. There was a teacher at his school that insisted all the children stay at one end of the shelter. That shelter took a hit and the end of the shelter the children were in was decimated. They were all killed. The other end of the shelter was fine. My partner's father wasn't at school that day.

[@valpayne2963]

That’s so sad. Bless him.

[@scottneil1187]

If they taught you about what actually happened during the war, maybe you'd all quit self-righteously proclaiming you 'saved our asses' and 'won the war'.

[@jonanderson7355]

We DID save your asses. When WWII broke out the US had a standing army of 174,000. We started with the lend-lease act, and supplied you with weapons. During that time we stood up an entire military. Yes, Pearl Harbor was what officially caused the US to enter the war, but did you ever notice that despite that we laid waste to Germany first? After Germany the US turned around and almost single handedly defeated the Japanese. Russia was our frenemy at best. US aircraft could not land in Russia without the crew basically being held as POW's and the aircraft siezed. Despite all that we chose to fight a war that was not really our war..... yet again.... I'm reminded of the frenchman who talked down to a former american soldier who stormed the beaches at Normandy for not knowing french.... His response was simple. "Well last time I was here I had to stop you from being forced to speak German so....." America is either too eager to get into a war or shamed for not entering earlier. How much help did we ask for in Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Saipan, Etc.... You guys had to take back part of Europe, America had to take back the Pacific Ocean after we helped in europe.

[@TalorcMacAllan-p2l]

@@jonanderson7355 you never laid waste the allies did, the British empire was way bigger than the States, and there was Brits, Ausies, New Zealanders , Indians etc etc fighting world wide including against Japan in the Pacific ......read a book , and not what you were taught at School.

[@agnesbrown8630]

​@@jonanderson7355the hell you did! You made a fortune out of us! You tried your racist shit with your black soldiers in an English village pub and got your asses handed to you. While you were getting drunk our boys were fighting and dying!

[@BrittTheFurry]

@@jonanderson7355 The main reason we went to war in the European part was due to the treat of communism to spread after a soviet win and to pay back the damages caused by the Pearl Harbor raid. Everything else was America trying to capitalize on the war

[@horyzengaming3935]

@@jonanderson7355 Everyone learns there own BS of wars from the country they live in. Sorry to say but it was the Russians who helped both the US and UK the most. Without the Russians holding the north of Europe like they did, the Nazis would of had strategic position. Also there would be nothing stopping them with there plan to enter America from Alaska. Hitler had enough of Britain and turned his resources to Russia to break through. The Russians lost more lives by the war which shows you just how much of fight they put up. They deserve much more recognition than any other country that took part. If you live in America or the UK then you would not of got told about the Russians, because we are programmed to hate Russians at an early age.

[@manlu_gaming]

You need to watch a film called "Goodnight Mister Tom" based on a book set during the war, and what happened to London specifically during the blitz, how children were "evacuees" and moved to safer homes in the countryside. It's still taught in British schools, with many schools doing "Evacuee Day" where children dress up as 40s kids and carry a box for the "gas mask" like children back then had to do. I live 500 meters from where an air raid shelter once stood for the local school near my house. We even have a dedicated section of the Royal Engineers who can be called to deal with unexploded WW2 ordnance that gets found during building works.

[@vickyn3899]

I love this story!! We read this at school back in the 90s. I still love it now and the film was very good

[@greenghoul157]

We watched Goodnight Mister Tom in school when we were learning about WWII such a good movie

[@fenlandwildlifeclips]

💯

[@terismith5128]

That was my thought too. Goodnight Mr Tom is so good. Also Atonement is another one that covers British WW2 home and away

[@theshiftybloke4672]

That film makes me cry all the time

[@darkraft1020]

From a British and European perspective - America stood by and watched it's allies getting bombed as they begged for it's support. America did not join until securing many trade deals, which then elevated America in it's position as a global super power - This whilst Europe's economy struggled after repairing all the damage post war. This is why you are not taught it, and why it irks people when we hear 'America came to save the day', or when we hear boasting of Americas position in power.

[@Brookspirit]

America came out of the war very rich, it also got tons of new secret and advanced technology from both the Germans and British.

[@ImSoDamn3vil]

Actually they didn't joined until they were attacked by Japan at pearl harbour.

[@AK-ze7ro]

Not much different as to what is happening now in Europe. My fear is that the drip feeding of resources to Ukraine is a repeat of history. Which we in Europe will pay for in the future if Ukraine is forced to capitulate land to an aggressor.

[@simhedgesrex7097]

Except we weren't America's allies at the time: they were neutral.

[@mariacurtis9247]

My grandad worked for a big car manufacturers and told us that he seen new plans being given to US military

[@richardarcher7093]

You need to watch the 13 hours that saved Britain, it will give you a full view on what happened, when they talk about bombing, raids consisted of 450 planes not 20 or 30, but 450

[@KayHbekind]

Yes this is a fab documentary to watch

[@Strawberry-zd2bx]

Totally agree!

[@maureengrimble548]

I can't believe that the American public are so uneducated about there own history never mind European history, and recent history, my goodness Russia are targeting civilians in the Ukraine,and Israel the inosint people in Gaza.

[@bonkerslez91]

Brilliant documentary

[@kemering]

That documentary is about The Battle of Britain and not The Blitz isn’t it?

[@incamoran9532]

In the early 80s I worked with an English woman who had been a child during the blitz. One day the window cleaners' gantry wire collapsed as it was descending and the gantry came crashing through our office window, sprinkling the English woman with pounds of glass shards over her and her desk. We all rushed over asking if she was okay. She'd had her back to the window so didn't see it coming. She calmly inserted another cigarette in her cigarette holder, lit it, and replied "Well I don't know what that was but I slept through the blitz and it can't be worse than that."

[@emstirling-is4nu]

The British attitude/sense of humour. As they say "Always look on the bright side, could be worse"!

[@gerrywrafsimmons7542]

@@emstirling-is4nu you never said a truer word, stiff upper lip and all that lol and talking about the weather of course 😉

[@SmokiiTea]

I learned about the Blitz in Year 5 (I was nine and ten years-old), we learned about war in a way that did not glorify it. Obviously they didn’t tell us in depth about how horrible it was, but they certainly didn’t glorify it. We covered evacuees, the holocaust, the fighting itself and we went to a museum and had a day dedicated to the Blitz itself, covering what happened, air raids, sirens, firefighters, medics, evacuation, the destruction and such, it was dark and had every right to be. We covered WW1 and WW2 in much more depth throughout Secondary School and Sixth Form, including talking to a real holocaust survivor called Manfred Goldberg, covering the war in the West, the East, and Pearl Harbour and the US' involvement, the involvement of the soldiers from the British colonies at the time and much more, we didn't just learn about Britain or Europe because that is not the whole war. I cannot fathom not knowing about this information, this is essential knowledge to everyone, nobody should forget things or be ignorant to it or we'll be doomed to repeat it.

[@KarenLloyd-yx1gl]

Canadian here, WW2 was also before my time but I'm absolutely stunned that you are so clueless about this!!

[@Roy-gi5ul]

Nothing surprises me about the ignorance of Yanks.

[@margaret426]

True and considering the USA borders, Canada 🇨🇦 and the Canadians were with us. How can they not have heard about the blitz?

[@davidmalarkey1302]

The curriculum in American schools carries an American narrative only. They learn nothing about anything outside of America. This starts by having to swear allegiance to the flag each day at school get indoctrinated to cult America. By the time they leave school they are fully indoctrinated they only know America .This why Americans are generally willfully ignorant about anything outside of America and have zero social awareness as they never leave their bubble. In America they talk about freedom. In America they look at freedom as free to where in Europe we look at freedom as free from .

[@lightgiver7311]

I swear they are purposely dumbing people down. They have conveniently whitewashed history in the US, hid the KKK, Civil War truth, etc. I have to wonder what Canadians are learning anymore.

[@davedixon2068]

@@margaret426 its called selective education

[@Penny-z9b]

Don’t forget that the USA Ambassador to Britain in 1939 was Joseph P Kennedy. He argued with the State Dept and FDR against coming to the aid of Britain. He ruffled feathers in Washington, met secretly with German diplomats and made anti-Semitic remarks. His opposition to America’s anti- Nazi policies led to his resignation in disgrace and ended his political career.

[@araptorofnote5938]

His son, JFK, listened to the debates from the stranger's gallery of the House of Commons in 1939 and formed the opposite opinion.

[@patmason7370]

So kennedy joseph* met with Nazi diplomats secretly while we were being bombed,murdered and starved and the USA made a fortune, I am a 80 year old grandma,born in 1944,in WALES my eldest brother in 1939 when the war had started. The USA was begged for help do you know how small BRITAIN is,others came Canada soldiers + pilots and polish pilots.black soldiers came and were surprised at their treatment as equal humans. When Pearl Harbour happened it scared the hell out of the USA they joined in to help we were on rations till 1954, we finished PAYING the USA in 2006 WOW it had taken so long repair some of the vast damage after all the bombings, karma is real now millions of your own poor people are homeless and live in tent cities it’s horrific.While your uber rich build mansions what for those aren’t homes and buy houses for over 130 million their fellow Americans pay a fortune for health care and operations here it’s free.We are our own enemies letting people come here for serious operations going back without paying a cent,SHADY HEY,USA are quick fighting illegal wars and leave innocent civilians behind and leaving millions of war machines for the enemy to kill the poor people who helped you as interpreters + aids in other ways,how could you,I have NEVER wanted to visit the USA only see the VEITNAM wall I still remember how they were treated on return also not. Allowed in cafes and spat on being black was still the same .And you have all these churches + CULTS with false (we have some of them here too) pastors thrown in,pat mason ,Great Britain,,

[@marvinc9994]

"Joseph P Kennedy" PLEASE don't use foul language here! Kennedy was an embittered gangster, who would have been perfectly content to see Britain fall to the Nazis (and I'm not sure his kinsman de Valera was much better). Hatred is the enemy of Clear Thinking and Humanity.

[@jamesmoy8665]

​@@patmason7370it should be remembered that pre 1941 there was a substantial Germanic/American population in America and guess who they were hoping the American Government would side with. A clue, it wasn't Britain. Politicians, particularly in Congress, did what politicians do which is to put politics above morals, and played both sides until the attack on Pearl forced their hand. Understand I am not justifying what they did, but to truly understand history it is important to see the big picture from all sides.

[@gregorybiestek3431]

@@patmason7370 There was also a VERY substantial USA population of Irish ancestry that also wanted to see Britain destroyed and pushed hard until Pearl Harbor to stay out of the war hoping that Northern Ireland would become part of the Republic.

[@ThePapabear]

The fact that you were not taught about this blows my mind as a Canadian. This is something I remember learning in high school during the 90s. In our History classes, we had a 2-month period of teaching about this.

[@johnnywarnerperfectroad66]

Not surprised and modestly Canada doesn't make a big deal about how much aid and support they gave to free Europe. Just like they don't about their support for Ukraine today. Team effort lots of other non European nations gave so much too

[@RevPeterTrabaris]

American's are taught about the Blitz and WWII. Please know that most of us care much more that it appears listening to Tyler in this video. It was certainly a major part of the curriculum when I was in school, and teachers I know have told me it is still covered.

[@stirlingmoss4621]

that is because Canada didnt see the new European war as an opportunity to bring down the British Empire and make vast profits from deals

[@ads2686]

because Canada had troops in Britain at the time. I'm pretty sure most countries who were part of the empire/commonwealth are taught about this. Just like aussies & kiwis are taught about Gallipoli and Also I'm sure Australians and new Zealanders are taught about the battle of Tobruk when they were cut of from the rest of the commonwealth army and held the city for 240 days. If the Aussies don't hold Tobruk, the chances are the germans would have been able to take Egypt. I'm sure Canadians are also taught about the dieppe raid one of the biggest disasters of ww2. Fir most Americans WW2 didn't start until 1942 because they definitely want to look into what they were doing when the war started. How the American Nazi party held a big party at the garden in new York. Fact is FDR is the only American in politics when ww2 stared who saw the dangers and risked his presidency on helping the British, it also helped that it made America rich and helped them overtake Britain to become the biggest economy in the world.

[@bb1uk108]

We were never taught about this in school either and I'm British!! 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@samcurry7477]

My home City of Coventry, was badly bombed during the Blitz. Its a massive part of the history here. My grandparents were sent out of the city as children and when they returned they told us about how they would collect bits of shrapnel from the bombs. Even to this day unexploded bombs are found a couple of times a year, on building sites. causing a lockdown of the city center! Our Cathedral still stands but its wooden roof was destroyed by incendiary bombs. And stands as a reminder about our history. Interesting to me that Americans aren't tought about this! Great video

[@samcurry7477]

To add, Coventry was a beautiful medieval city and the center was completely destroyed. Only some of its medieval history survived. The city was rebuilt in the 50s/60s, the blizt shaped the city to what it is now

[@ProximaCentairi24]

"Stand alone"? Brits are as bad.as America some times. In the Nattle of Britain there was hundreds of foreign aircraft. Britain's.closest allies did what they could from day one.

[@ianwalker5842]

Your shocked, compassionate, intelligent and humble reaction to this horrifying dark chapter of our history is much appreciated, Tyler. It's a pity indeed that there's so little awareness these days of this in some parts of the world.

[@scottneil1187]

The only part that is unaware is America, too busy banging on about how they 'won the war'.

[@L.K.Rydens]

@@ianwalker5842 If it helps, Swedes have been learning about it in school since back then, so not everyone is unaware of you part in the war ❤️ most Europeans certainly sees you as the saviors and not the States ❤️ it's not much, but it's something ❤️ thank you ❤️

[@emmafrench7219]

@L.K.Rydens Thank you so much. Th a is the first time I have heard that. Most of the time we are told how we British are hated by every country. What you said has warmed my heart. I normally get upset by comments because I can't understand why we are so hated. Thank you.✌

[@L.K.Rydens]

@@emmafrench7219 You are not hated, I can promise you that ❤️ I think we take in more of the negative than the positive, and at the same time we also share more of our annoyance than the positive ❤️ I think most think of you like one of Europa's treasures, but since you are one of the big players on the field, and have been a role model many times in the past, you guys take a lot of crap as well because you are so in the centre of things ❤️ For example, when people reacted to Brexit it wasn't because they hated you, it was because the people in EU countries felt rejected, so it seems like hate but it's just a feeling of abandonment when you look beneath the layers, a "How can you leave us, I thought we were friends?!" kind of thing, which is because people care a lot ❤️ you are not alone, even if it might feel that way sometimes, I promise ❤️

[@emmafrench7219]

@@L.K.Rydens Aw thank you so much for them lovely words It makes a nice change. I agree about Brexit, I didn't want us to leave

[@janemcdonald5372]

Thank you for posting this on Rememberance Day.🌺

[@gracefuller9981]

I met a gentleman many years ago 1991, I was a young nurse in theatre He had local anaesthetic and as the anaesthetic nurse I found a kindred soul, history He grew up on a farm in Pretoria, he had a pilot’s license by 16 He ran away and joined the South African airforce. Landed in London before his 17th birthday RAF overlooked a year or two if the buggar could fly and had a sense of humour His Mum tried to get him back, sadly she was told ‘afraid he’s in the English military now, M’am. No getting out. He flew through the war, the 13 hours that saved Britain And the blitz He came home, apologised to his Mum His farther thanked him. He inherited the farm when his father died and now his son and grandson were taking over Several of his squadron came to visit and stayed He kissed my hand and thanked me for knowing what he’d been through. He told his story occasionally , seems I was the only one that could do maths. It’s 2024 now, I know he died when he was in his nineties Never forgot him He still had the swagger you needed to stay sane During his time in WW2 He popped into the hospital on very specific dates with flowers or chocolates I didn’t see him one year, the next a old chap came looking for me, his son to tell me he had died and asked his son to bring me a poppy

[@emstirling-is4nu]

What a lovely story, tears in my eyes. God Bless.

[@marilynrodgerson3331]

This made me shed a tear 😢

[@njikangclifford8259]

What throws me in a real rage, is when you British Throw billions at the 'off-spring' of this NAZIs in Ukraine! I wonder what this Old Chap would say about the ideological background of most of their military and many in their Government! If he died before this Ukraine nonsense started he would have at least been spared the agony of helplessly watching 'the New Generation' thread on his sacrifice with their filthy feet!

[@RoderickHunt-j7w]

Yup , afraid the yanks are a pretty dumb bunch over all

[@scrappydoo7887]

Bless him. I hope he is resting in truly pure peace

[@dmarcouxbeatty374]

My mum was British. She grew up during the blitz. She joked for years how she walked to school, uphill both ways. In 10 feet of snow during the blitz. You win mum! Mum passed two weeks after my pop, of dementia. We watched her live the war years all over again. It was heartbreaking. Our parents were diplomatic during the Cold War Era. My brother and I grew up all over the world. Mostly in 3rd world countries. It was highly educational and appreciative of our privileged lifes. Due to their job, our parents weren't around much. We were raised by servants and boarding schools. We knew we were loved because of one little story our mum told us. "Every country has a penny. There are so many pennies in the world that you can't count them all. I love you all the pennies!" Pop passed Dec. 17th, mum passed Dec. 31st, 2020. (Not covid) Mum's last words to me. "All the pennies." I live in Europe. Every time I see a penny. Mum tells me she loves me.

[@leswoolmer66]

In the same vein, on hloiday in Florida in the late 80's Americans around the pool thought my children (6 and 8) were telling stories when they talked about staying out of London because of the bombs. We had to explain to them that for a couple of years London was under attack by the IRA (The Irish Republican Army). The Americans had not heard any of this in their news.

[@gabbymcclymont3563]

Because Americans paid for the semtex.

[@janehenry3206]

America funded the IRA..

[@ianmoseley9910]

American money was financing the IRA. And it was a lot longer than 2 years.

[@markignacious7022]

The IRA got over 90% of funds from Americans,

[@02shedboy]

Well said. @Tyler Rumple needs to have a look at this other prolonged period of guerilla warfare in Britain and then investigate how many terrorist attacks in the mid 2020s were foiled, before and after the London bombings 07/07/2005. An event I was caught up in, along with 1000s. WW1 was told to be the war to end all wars, at the time. We have never NOT been involved in a war or conflict ever since, and before. The hopes for humanity are dependant on those with power, money, political might, and reason. We stand at the brinks, yet again.

[@danmonken]

43000 killed 50000 injured, 70000 buildings destroyed and 2 million people made homless, in the bombing of Britain during vww2, some areas still have obvious changes in architecture and different house styles due to the bomb damage. Thank God we had tea.

[@sandrad2506]

Yes, put the kettle on. ❤

[@Raven44453]

Now that really would have been a disaster, if the tea had run out

[@Enough_Is_Enough_Official]

​@@Raven44453last time that happened the British empire took over the world and that was only defcon mildly miffed. The day we get really upset even god won't save you

[@ChrisJones-km7tp]

The irony is we're at the same numbers of civilian death, destruction and displacement in Gaza now...

[@raindancer6111]

@@ChrisJones-km7tp Good job we weren't hiding the Nasties in tunnels under our schools and hospitals then wasn't it or it might have been worse.

[@-R.Gray-]

Maybe you aren't taught it because the U.S. didn't enter the war until a year later. Seeing what the U.K. endured, and the rationing of food that resulted, maybe you'll now understand how something like beans on toast became a common British dish. Commonwealth countries were also fighting along side Britain from early in the war.

[@BrixtonTone]

@-R.Gray- And many people don't realise the food rationing in the UK only completely ended in 1954 . Nine years after the war ended !

[@Londoneye57]

Plus the Polish, French, Norwegians & Dutch

[@tacfoley4443]

Actually, from the second day of the war, mind you, it took a while to get there from Canada....

[@JulieFolsom]

It wasn't just one year later...it was 1942 (after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, Dec. 7, 1941) That's 3 years after the 1939 beginning of WW2 that the Americans joined the war effort.

[@fedodosto3162]

@@Londoneye57 let's not forget Stalingrad.

[@HardyRose22]

My Granny was evacuated from London to Kent, and then to Wales, at 9 years old. She was horribly treated through the 6 homes she was taken in by and didn't return to London or see her family till she was 15. She's 94 now and is still haunted by it. She's told me a lot of stories but often has to pause during them as the memories still make her cry. Her mum, my great-grandmother, was bombed out of multiple homes in London also, all while half her kids were fighting in the war and the other half were evacuated away. She got on with it, though, and used her training as a nurse from WWI to aid at home in WWII.

[@MichaelLamming]

People are sleeping in the underground railway systems today, they are just in Kiev, Kyiv to be correct.

[@cindz4618]

❤

[@AK-ze7ro]

Civilians around their country are being bombed daily. Towns and villages raised to the ground. 6.5 million people displaced predominantly through Europe.

[@jeffreyweitzman6463]

Yeah - and yet it seems as well as President to be Trump, the American public has had enough of coming to their aid and rest of western military powers are just continuing to let it happen. Pretty despicable and complete 2 fingers to learning lessons of history!

[@deborahcameron4644]

Yes, this should just remind us of the situation for civilians in the Uktaine and Gaza

[@lisbetsoda4874]

​@@deborahcameron4644except with all the tunnels in Gaza, the civilians aren't allowed down there in safety.

[@karenglenn6707]

Oh, and the Australians were there along with their Commonwealth brothers and died alongside them as well. Britain will always be family to Australians as so many of us came from there and in some ways regard it as our second homeland.

[@margaretreid2153]

New Zealand 🇳🇿 too,for a small population of only about 1 million then,they sent about 100 000 men and women nurses, my mother lost her only brother in the Western Desert in 1943,we were Commonwealth of course.

[@patriciawenzel3871]

Canada was there with you. Definitely a huge kinship with our commonwealth brothers and sisters!

[@clinging54321]

Australian troops mainly fought in North Africa & later Papua New Guinea against the Japanese. A number of Australian pilots and Air crew flew for Bomber Command - most notably HCT Bennett who would later command the pathfinder force of the RAF. His wrecked Halifax Bomber is on display at the RAC museum in Hendon after being recovered from a Swedish lake in the late 1970's

[@mw-wl2hm]

@@patriciawenzel3871 Always 🍁(the realms more so than with the entirety of the commonwealth.)

[@bonkerslez91]

@@margaretreid2153I love the Anzacs some of the toughest warriors on gods green earth

[@barbaraibberson6580]

My husband at 3yrs old slept in the underground station in London with his parents every night. They came up to find their house and everything gone execpt my husband had his teddy bear. He had to go and live with friends in the country side to be safer. Everyone had to do something to the work effort. His mother was with a team moving the barage balloons that were put up to stop the enemy planes. His father was a fire warden. Even Princess Elizabeth who was a young girl then had to go to learn to be a mechanic and drive. That is why the British had so much respect for her when she became Queen and the Royal family because they stayed in London during the Blitz with the people. I still have my husbands Teddy Bear which we bought with us to Australia. He passed away recently.

[@MartinMilnerUK]

What a great story.

[@lambethian]

Barbaraibberson 6580 thank you for your comments kind regards ex Londoner WW2 uk

[@Domaith]

Thank you for educating yourself about this. As a Briton, I would say I find it truly shocking that American schools fail to teach just how much Britain endured during WW2, long before America joined the war, but, in all honesty, I know all too well how every nation paints these things in their history books to tell the story they want. What so many Americans seem to be unaware of (and I don't blame the people, I blame the governments who fail to teach their people) is just how many years Britain stood alone in Europe against the Nazi war machine before America joined the war, and sent relief. This is _the_ most important reason Britain is no longer the most powerful nation in the world. What standing our ground, unsupported cost us. Both of my parents were post-war children, who lived through the rationing system during a time in which our nation had so little left. Thank you for not only educating yourself beyond the bias of your own nation's education system, but for broadcasting it for others to learn, too. I highly recommend looking up the before/after overview images of London, and other major cities - it's hard to fully comprehend the full extend of the destruction, and consequential rebuilding cost to our nation from ground photos alone.

[@KBJ58]

Both of my parents lived through the Blitz. Their home town, Chelmsford, was heavily bombed because the main manufacturer of Radar, Marconi, was based there. My Father was 14, a bomb fell on the house next door but didn't detonate. One morning, he left for school, calling at his friend's house, but half of the street was gone, and his friend and all of his family were killed. Someone's head was laying in the middle of the road. My mother was 9, and had three much younger siblings. Her father was in the Army, and away from home, and her mother was in hospital. It was down to her to get the younger brothers and sisters into the Morrison shelter (the cage), and wait for the bombs. They used to count them as they fell, as they soon learned how many bombs were in a 'stick', and as they got closer, count them down. I can't begin to imagine how terrifying that must have been for a 9 year old. Every two nights of the Blitz as many people were killed as those who died as a result of 9/11. This went on for 8 months.

[@TylerRumple]

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad to hear they survived such a terrifying event.

[@chrishayward9615]

My dad lost his mum through illness at around 11 years old and was sent to live with his aunt and uncle who lived in Woolston in Southampton when my granddad joined the Royal Navy. He witnessed first hand the blitz of the city. At the end of the road in Woolston by the River Itchen was the Supermarine factory where Spitfires were built and that added to the it’s role as a large port within easy striking distance of northern France made the city a strategic target. A few years down the road he also bore witness to the preparations for D Day. The docks had been requisitioned by the US Army in 1943 and such was the volume of cargo coming through the port it was for a while one of the busiest in the world. Eisenhower had his HQ at South Western House in Southampton. The city’s shipyards constructed landing craft and the King George V dry dock was used to construct the top secret Mulberry Harbours. In all 3.5million troops embarked on the invasion of Europe through Southampton 2 million which were American. 60% of all US personnel and equipment went through the port. In the days before he recalled the streets packed with men and machinery waiting to be loaded. Southampton and Portsmouth are less than 20 miles apart and with the former the biggest port on the south coast and the latter the home of the Royal Navy both suffered greatly in the later months of 1940.

[@theresamorgan3908]

The Home Office recorded 320 bombs that fell on Chelmsford

[@KeytarArgonian]

@@chrishayward9615I can see the remnants of the mulberry harbour that sank in the Thames from my house. You can get to it at very low tide or with a Jet ski.

[@scottywest1834]

The Blitz was so substantial that even in the present day, construction sites in London and many other cities targeted during the Blitz still occasionally uncover German bombs that never detonated.

[@Zanockthael]

My dad was born in the 30's. I remember him telling me about a night just before he was evacuated. He was walking home through London when he heard the air raid sirens go. As he started to run home, he heard planes overhead, then the road he was running parallel to exploded into flame as firebombs were dropped along its length. Saved by blind luck, could have just as easily been along the road he was on. He'd often talk about his life in Cheddar where he was evacuated to, but that was the only time he ever talked about being in London during the Blitz. I honestly can't imagine.

[@jagracershoestring609]

Thanks for your interest in History. My mother lived under the flight path of the attacking bombers. She spoke of shrapnel raining down on the roofs of her village thirty miles from London when a raid was on. She lived next to a fighter Airfield, which was bombed out in 1940.

[@RiaVersteeg]

Americans have also no idea that Canadians liberated the Netherlands!!

[@silverfireUK]

The Canadians were thought of as the fiercest fighters. I read recently about the tulip bulbs sent to Canada every year by the Netherlands, in the same way that Norway sends a Christmas Tree to the UK.

[@Arnaud58]

Partly..., it was with huge aid from the Polish!👴🧐😉

[@emstirling-is4nu]

The Tulips are sent in appreciation of Canada who took in some of the Dutch Royal family during the war.@@silverfireUK

[@chrisjones1480]

Yep. Paschendaele. Bless them in eternity. ❤️

[@Arnaud58]

What (with a twist) makes it easy to remember for me is that my town of birth was liberated by "The Polar Bear Division", Canadian.👴🤷‍♂ (The twist being "Polar for Polish...".)👴😁

[@edenhollow5965]

Not just London… Coventry, Liverpool , Birmingham, Sheffield, Clydesdale & others 😔 Keep Calm and Carry On

[@angelaburrow8114]

My Dad was born in Leeds in 1938 in a house that his family had owned since thy came from Ireland around 1900. He remembers being about 4, standing in their large walled garden, watching the German planes bombing Leeds. His grandfather went mad with him, dragging him inside & down into the cellar just in time, as bomb hit where he had been standing about 3 or 4 minutes later. When they came upstairs after the bombing had died down, their entire garden was destroyed, along with the railway siding on the other side of the garden wall. Their chickens were all dead & their crops destroyed.

[@bodizmoner2838]

Yup Manchester also

[@martinquinn9007]

Yes not just London. I stay in Clydebank Scotland. Which was devastating. Just end of my street all gone

[@ianmoseley9910]

Belfast as well - the Irish Republic, despite being neutral, sent fire engines north to assist

[@georgerobartes2008]

All the ancient towns and cities from Colchester to Plymouth in the Biedeker raids

[@kathrynbaker7278]

Queen Elizabeth worked in the motor pool repairing military vehicles during the war. She did not become queen until several years after the war.

[@linnettsamuel5026]

The vehicle she worked on used to be kept in the W.R.A.C museum army camp in Guildford when I served, the camp closed so unsure were it is now.

[@deirdreevangelista856]

Yes! ,the Queen was a car mechanic! I love that, and many women worked in factories to build the planes and ammo.....

[@raindancer6111]

Don't forget that at that time her mother was Queen Elizabeth.

[@57dollyd]

@@raindancer6111 When Buckingham Palace was bombed, the Queen (Queen Mother) said "At least now we can look the East End (of London) in the face."

[@BradBrown31]

I don't have much if any respect for the royal family. When queen Elizabeth died I still didn't, (I felt and still feel like they could do so much more for us with there endless welth,) but I can 100% respect her for that. A queen, ok, up and coming queen, getting down and durty fixing cars? Now that's a queen I could have respected. I must admit to feeling a bit bad but on the other hand it isn't really my fault, I wasn't taught any of this stuff in school, it was a school for the disabled but that shouldn't have mattered, it's an important part of history and who we are as a people.

[@dnorfed]

My mum, and my mother in law both stayed in London during the blitz, my mum worked in the naafi serving the troops while my dad was in north Africa fighting Rommel in the desert, my mother in law was 9 years old, she was sent away to be safe from the blitz in the countryside, a week into it, she ran away and got caught, then sent home, she missed her own mum, she lived in Walthamstow in east London, who really took a hammering as it was so close to the docks in the east end of London. My mother in law is still with us , now aged 93, she’s one of the greatest generation for sure

[@sezk404]

My grandparents ran a corner shop in Luton (Luton is just North of London), but during the blitz my grandad was part of a group who had the unenviable task of collecting the deceased after each bombing raid, day after day, many he would have known personally. This understandably affected him for the rest of his life 😢.

[@mariacurtis9247]

My grandad helped his dad collect the bodies from the rubble using their coal cart

[@TerryTheNewsGirl]

God, I'm so sorry.

[@mancyank564]

My eldest uncle was too old for the military so he was a fire watcher in Manchester. He stayed outside during the raids and would report/help fight fires in his area. During one bad bombing a portion of downtown Manchester caught fire. The flames were so hot water from the fire hoses evaporated before it hit the fire.

[@davidian3412]

Tyler, as an Englishman I am proud of you for your compassion and open mindedness. You do your country proud.

[@SweetLotusDreams]

Its great that he cares enough to learn about these things and educate himself. If only other Americans were as open minded willing to think beyond their own borders.

[@321bytor]

He's never heard of the Blitz...

[@najlepsi_na_planetu]

​@321bytor so now he's learning about it. isn't that a good thing?

[@janetmalcolm6191]

​@@321bytorWell soon there will be a new generation who have no idea what happened in Britain. Especially the war years. It shows from the younger generation who only know what the last 20 or 30 years has been like. They think things have always been like that! The older generation who used to tell of it from personal experiences have mostly gone now. They won't get to know.

[@janetmalcolm6191]

​@@najlepsi_na_planetuYes. Govts tell only the story they want you to know. Britain had to build a lot after the mess made and with no money.

[@brianferris8668]

The King and Queen never left London during the war. They stayed in Buckingham Palace during the entire war, in solidarity with the local population. One of the reasons we love our Royal Family.

[@jackie0604oxon]

It's been acknowledged since that they left for Windsor each night.

[@brianferris8668]

@jackie0604oxon The King and Queen left Buckingham Palace each evening to spend them with their Daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, who had been moved to Windsor Castle for safety.

[@Korschtal]

And of course the king's brother was having cosy meetings with German leaders pre-war, and there's evidence he was advocating invasion even during the way while safe in Barbados.

[@sarahprice1375]

Harry is take 2​@Korschtal

[@necmacleod]

Tyler, you should do some research about The Home Guard. These were men who were too old for service but they formed their own army to defend their country. They would work at their regular jobs all day and then patrol in shifts to protect the land. Many men both old and young were in the Home Guard. Also, check out "Dad's Army" it was a TV show about the Home Guard. Quite amusing.

[@SC-tl3px]

Also disabled men who couldn't fight. My father was disabled but joined the home guard. His job was to cover live bombs in sand until bomb disposal could get there. Incredibly brave. I'm so proud of him.

[@glennaustin37]

Not forgetting all the unexploded bombs still being found in London for decades after the war had ended.

[@Abogado-Del-Diablo]

Me and a few friends mucking about on the bank of the Thames found 2 of those near HMS Belfast back in the early 1970s 😅

[@Gantali9305]

Not just London ... but across the country near any strategic cities.

[@glennaustin37]

​@@Abogado-Del-Diablo🤯

[@Freakyman403]

@@Gantali9305 not just strategic cities i have personally found 2 in a wooded area and another 2 in a nearby field not far from a small mansion in the countryside, they removed the 2 in a field about 18 years ago, and the 2 in the forest i have no idea but i assume they were removed at the same time.

[@worthington3637]

@@Gantali9305 And Germany

[@hypnoticuniverseofficial]

I'm staggered that In UK, we know about Pearl Harbour (basically an outpost of US) and yet Americans don't know that entire cities were bombed relentlessly ALL OVER the nation. Coventry, Liverpool, Hull...parts were absolutely decimated. As somebody born only 30 years after the war ended, I grew up where feelings were still very, very raw. It's no wonder we Brits get offended when some Americans imply they just swept in and rescued everyone. We all worked together, but we were left floundering for far too long. You haven't met brave people until you've met people that survived bombing like that. I highly recommend you watch Blitz Street with Tony Robinson. It's a 4 part documentary and tells the horrific experience of the blitz very well. It's here on You Tube.

[@deirdreevangelista856]

Its more young people that don't realize what happened. The history classes aren't that thorough. I blame the public schools. Its one of the reasons why parents are taking children out of school and teaching them at home. Home schooling.....

[@tedthesailor172]

Hollywood has helped to make sure that we know about Pearl harbour, with movies such as "Tora Tora Tora" and the rather unexceptional "Pearl Harbour". Just as we know about "The Alamo" and "Gunfight At The OK Corral"...! I think it's worth remembering that in the war against Hitler's Germany, the America air force lost more bomber crews than all of their (non naval) losses in the Pacific war put together. So Uncle Sam paid his dues...

[@emstirling-is4nu]

The whole of Britain suffered, not just London athough I think they got the worst.

[@heatherfruin5050]

As an Australian I didn't know Darwin was bombed by the Japanese until the day I started work in 1966 at the main trunk exchange in Adelaide and saw a memorial to the telephonists dedicated to the telephonists who died there. Later still I found out about HMAS Sydney being sunk by the Germans off the coast of Western Australia or two Japanese submarines discovered in Sydney.

[@sammansfield21]

Couldn't have put it better myself. I learnt all about history from all areas of the globe, yet Americans only seem to learn about their own history

[@carldufton1286]

Ukraine is in a similar situation now, although their numbers are smaller than Russia they have the same spirit to defend their own land from foreign aggression.

[@njikangclifford8259]

Yes, because of your bumbling Boris Johnson, who has managed to destroy two countries in less than a decade! What business has NATO got in Ukraine? Is Ukraine a member of NATO? I did not hear such 'sympathies' when NATO was bombing former Yugoslavia, Syria, Libya or invading Iraq (after framing them with 'cooked-up' evidence)! The worst type of people are those who elevate themselves to this your kind of 'self-righteous' Level!

[@WildMorgan]

No it isn't. That's propaganda. Russia didn't invade Ukraine. They liberated Donetsk and Lugansk from ethnic cleansing. That war is far older than you think and you should stop believing everything you see on the BBC.

[@WildMorgan]

No it isn't

[@lilskipper4683]

The difference is nobody came to aid Britain for 3 years. the US and UK (and quite a few other countries) have been aiding/aided) Ukraine so they're not in the same situation. They're getting the finances, the military support and even training programs. You can't even compare the 2 without being disrespectful tbh.

[@WildMorgan]

@@lilskipper4683 Ukraine isn't even being bombed. It's nonsense.

[@nicholastreadwell3195]

My grandad remembers the buzz bombs flying overhead. "As long as you can hear them your safe, when they go quiet that's when they fall"

[@WestCoastMumma]

With all due respect, it never ceases to amaze me just how little knowledge most Americans have of anything outside of the USA . In 2008 whilst travelling with a group of Americans I made mention of the bombing of Darwin and Broome during WWII and I was informed that "Australia was never bombed during the war!" ....another comment was "Oh I saw something about it in a movie but didn't think it was real"

[@dpcnreactions7062]

As a Canadian, I find it shocking that you never heard of The Blitz before this. Events of the World Wars were covered deeply in History class and on tv. The Blitz and many other events, including Pearl Harbour are remembered at Remembrance Day ceremonies on Nov 11.

[@Arnaud58]

Surely you can't be one of those people surprised by the self-centered, nationalistic nature of US citizens, are you?👴🤷‍♂

[@Ghhft33]

The true meaning of keep calm and carry on

[@OliTaylor]

There is a quite a famous photograph of a milkman delivering milk during the time of the blitz and it is a testament to how our country was. My great grandparents lived in Bethnal Green which was an area that was hit very hard. My great grandfather, Arthur-James Taylor, fought in Belgium and unfortunately died there. My great grandmother talked of the time at home through the bombings and spoke of a close friend of theirs who had sadly lost their infant daughter during the bombing raids. The mother of said girl was out on the streets the very next day like everyone else trying to restore the mess and chaos that the Germans had left on our community. The photograph sits on the entrance hall to my home and I will forever be proud of the inner British mentality that is still embedded into us. As well as my great grandfather, my grandfather has also served, and my father, and me, and I hope one day my son will too. We are few in numbers in Britain, but we are very much still in the fight, wherever that may be. 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@L.K.Rydens]

To the Americans watching this that didn't know: this is what's happening in Ukraine, this is why we are reacting, this is why supporting Ukraine isn't us being nice, it's them fighting a war on everyone's behalf.

[@WEZ4136]

Sorry but that’s not the same, the current situation in Ukraine is a 100% proxy war for the Americans against Russia, now that Ukraine has a more pro west leader installed after the Americans facilitation of the pro east leader’s removal circa 2014

[@Bryt25]

And Gaza. The horror.

[@L.K.Rydens]

@Bryt25 Yes, absolutely horrific.

[@gemmawilliams4166]

Well said and most definitely true!! 👏

[@djnitrogaming2170]

@@Bryt25 no gazans are terrorists. Idf forces send them plenty of warning to evacuate. Hamas tell them to stay

[@richardengland7138]

As much as we appreciate the American war effort don't forget that the UK and the commonwealth stood alone for two years before America joined the war. There were however 3 Eagle squadrons made up of American volunteer piolets flying for the RAF.

[@cptncutleg]

Pilots*

[@WEZ4136]

@@cptncutlegalso when the Americans did actually join the war they were rather disgusted that we had black Americans not only flying alongside us too but, they were treated as equals regardless of their role which was in stark contrast to how their compatriots treated them, often when a fight broke out in an English pub it would be started by an American that wouldn’t drink if the black men were not told to leave which almost always ended up with the white American being told to leave instead.

[@OldLady-p9i]

And it took us to 2005 to pay America back for that help

[@shaneord7527]

​@@WEZ4136and that was the high ranking Americans.

[@robinwhitebeam4386]

Aone in 1939 , 1940 , 1941 , 1942 . In spring 1942 the lend lease act was signed off to help the UK. The Republican party voted against helping the UK , a bit worrying for Ukraine.

[@lisadowsett6836]

My family are from the East End of London, where the Blitz was at its worse, and my grandfather was a fireman, who while the women and children were taking shelter in the underground, was fighting fires and pulling people (dead and alive) out of burning amd collapsed buildings; Myself and my cousins were born in the 60's and 70's, but were told all about this, so we're all really proud of him and his bravery to this day, and while he died in the 1970's, all of his great grandchildren and their children, know all about him, and we all have photo's of him on our walls.

[@jessebailey1725]

We are all proud of him ❤

[@fion1flatout]

that's why.. we were never taught at school because everyone knew. We were always told to look out for unexploded bombs, and there were mine cases painted red and used for charity collection on the seafront

[@NaturalistScott]

We are definitely taught in schools here in the UK but even outside that it can be hard to miss. In the city near where I live on one of the main roads into the city it leads to a roundabout where in the middle of it is a bombed out church left there as a reminder of the blitz.

[@robertofraser101]

Thank you tyler for taking a interest in my country appreciated

[@alanfothergill9719]

I'm proud to have served for over 20 years in the Royal Air Force. The Battle of Britain was one of the RAF's greatest achievements.

[@scottneil1187]

It was, don't forget the Polish pilots that helped us win it though.

[@janemac64]

my grampy was in the merchant navy, he was on Atlantic convoys. bringing back aviation fuel from Galveston to the UK to keep the RAF in the skies. we NEVER hear of their bravery. #heroesall

[@B-A-L]

​@@scottneil1187We are all fully aware of the Polish pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain, thanks, partly because every KZbin video has at least one person like you who insists on reminding us when we don't need reminding!

[@karenglenn6707]

My Aussie grandpa served in the RAAF in Darwin when it was bombed by the Japanese. He never once spoke about it, he was the most gentle and loving and playful grandpa and I know that it affected him. My son, who is now 34, was given grandpa’s medals, which he treasures.

[@patriciamcl54]

My father was a senior aircraft engineer at that period, working feverishly to service the planes every time they came back

[@sammic7492]

To get an idea as to how badly the RAF were outnumbered you should look up the Battle of Britain, it's a real eye opener and gives a fuller picture of just how things were over here during the war.

[@georgerobartes2008]

A very close run thing .

[@edmundprice5276]

The reason we won was because of RADAR. Because we were able to detect incoming attacks, we didn't need to waste fuel and aircraft on patrolling borders. All aircraft would be available and scrambled at a moments notice, thanks to the RADAR and the ground spotters.

[@WEZ4136]

@@edmundprice5276Radar and the German underestimation of its importance. Had they realised the significance of our radar to our strategic air defence capability, they would and could have with more importance based on it, taken it out and leave us open to almost invisible attacks from the sky.

[@simongleaden2864]

Plus: RAF fighters were operating close to their bases so could stay in the air battle longer than the Me Bf 109's that soon had to turn round and go back. British pilots who had to bail out and parachuted safely to the ground could soon return to their squadrons, but Luftwaffe aircrew who bailed out and survived became PoW's and out of the war.

[@MrPaulMorris]

@@edmundprice5276 In addition to radar (and the Observer Corp spotters) what made a real difference was the control system planned and put into place before the war. This meant that information coming in could be collated and presented to commanders in a clear form allowing them to deploy the available forces most efficiently. The division by area and squadron meant it was immediately clear which forces were deployed and which still free. On one fateful occasion, during a visit to the command centre by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the answer to his question, "What forces do we have in reserve?" was, "None. All available aircraft are deployed..." Radar allowed an early 'heads up' as it could detect enemy aircraft before they even reached the English Channel so fighters could be put in the air only as needed rather than patrolling randomly looking for aircraft. The RAF also enjoyed the advantage of fighting above friendly territory. If shot down, assuming they survived, pilots could be back in the cockpit just as soon as they could get back to base. Any German pilots suffering the same fate could only look forward to years in a POW camp. Remember that trained and experienced aircrew are far more difficult to replace than the aircraft they fly.

[@delilahs_angels]

thank you tyler for uploading on such an eventfull day in british history!my great grandma was in london at the time of the bombings. really touched, thank you

[@jillenglish5878]

There was a tv series called the World at War made in 1973- it is on YT and is well worth watching. It was highly acclaimed.

[@deirdreevangelista856]

Yes, it was played constantly on tv during the 1980's!

[@patriciamcl54]

Brilliant series.

[@Crypto-Jas]

Haunting title music 😢

[@Isabel-of4wq]

I saw this as a 13 year old on BBC tv it was quite an education - my parents lived through the war so we were not sheltered from the horrific history and adults knew it was important that we never forget. kzbin.info/aero/PLYxy4la9w2tfotW1Xs-7oICGflf4dJtj5&si=EYZ7mqIZHBPqfKib

[@JudyB-tw2bp]

My uncle went from Saskatchewan to to Britain to enlist in the RAF. If not for the British holding fast Germany would have moved on to North America with Japans help. Most Commonwealth countries sent troops to fight. If the Americans had helped earlier in the war a lot of lives would have been saved

[@helenhymer5809]

That's why we hold our Remembrance day on 11 hour 11 day of the 11 month , every year to pay tribute to all the brave soldiers who sadly died fighing for our freedom. God bless them all, we who are living today owe them our gratitude. ❤❤ and pride.

[@susieq9801]

My dad was in London at this time and said the sky would darken from the bombers. When the Luftwaffe was losing much of its capacity they sent over V1 and V2 rockets. He said you held your breath hoping the engine sound would continue because if it stopped you were dead. The lack of knowledge of this in the US is unpardonable. If the UK had capitulated, the western hemisphere ....including the US, would have been next. Civilians often slept in the tube to be safe. Almost 8000 children were killed in the Blitz. When I was in London in the 60's there were still vacant lots where bombs had destroyed homes and businesses. The woman I was with was from Coventry and leapt into an alley when a car backfired, still suffering from PTSD almost 20 years later. Another friend's father was going to send a soldier home because he was underage. He said, "My home is gone and my family are dead". Canada also lost many ships and sailors in convoys supplying the UK to keep it alive and able to fight. Canadian factories and farms supplied as much as possible to help. My dad was in the RCAF and volunteered at the start of the war. Australia, India, Scandinavian countries, free Poles, French resistance, Russia, NZ, S African and many British allies were in the fight years before the US. The US did NOT win WW2 single handed. "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON"!

[@sharonsnail2954]

My mum said that the V1s were easier to cope with because you could work out roughly where they would hit after the engine cut out. The V2 on the other hand gave no such warning. They were also quieter. I was born just after WWII and so had quite a few play areas courtesy of the Luftwaffe a.k.a. bomb sites. We were under strict instructions from mum NOT to play in them but.. well they were so inviting.

[@susieq9801]

@@sharonsnail2954 - Doing something you're told not to is almost a dare! 😳

[@rosemarielee7775]

It is also important to realise that the Empire forces who came to help were volunteers. There was no compulsion fron an evil colonial government.

[@SA-cs7pg]

While drilling in Finchley London. We had to stop as we had EOD with us. Every meter we would have to test the ground below to ensure we don’t hit one of many unexploded ordinances. The plastic that separates the detonators perish after x mount of years. There is still a genuine risk to this day.

[@colinbirks5403]

NOW, you can understand Brit's attitude to America's part in WW2. Brits see them as Johnny come lately. America only joined in WW1, for the last few months.

[@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGE]

But they made up for it by being really early into Vietnam.

[@colinbirks5403]

@@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGE And made a pigs ear of it.

[@Chloeprettyoccasionally]

​@@IN_THIS_DAY_AND_AGEWhich should have been completely left alone from day one

[@Hava744]

I think Americans are very ignorant of lots of things out side America. I was at Disney in Florida on 4 th July and the American dad was saying to his young son “ we are celebrating our independence, from who, I don’t know “. We turned to him and said “ the British “

[@scottneil1187]

Really?!, I knew they were dumb but that's unbelievable.

[@jojeffrie962]

Omg that is unbelievable 😢

[@larchman4327]

As an American from the 80s I am shocked this guy never heard of the blitz. As a kid though and now history was and is interesting. I watched a documentary one time about firefighters during the blitz it was pretty interesting and they had to deal with collapsing brick building s unexploded bombs no water pressure they talked about trying to get people out of rubble before the fire came.

[@johnchristmas7522]

When the British fought the British!

[@eddiehawkins7049]

@@johnchristmas7522 With some help from our European enemies of the time.

[@lynnejamieson2063]

Jerry Springer was actually born in a London Tube Station during WWII while his Mum was taking precautionary shelter because of the risk of air raids. He has spoken about it (mostly in a lighthearted manner) a few times on UK TV programmes. Though his episode on Who Do You Think You Are? is absolutely heartbreaking as he discovers what happened to his family that stayed behind when his parents (and I think his sister too) fled to the UK. For the World Wars it is necessary to keep in mind that Europe was in total war, with great swathes of the mainland becoming battlegrounds. Though this was the case in many other parts of the world, I have the impression that it was more widespread in mainland Europe (though that might just be the bias of the perspective I’ve been taught). We here in the UK were part of that total war but were also on the periphery of it as we watched our young men go off to foreign climes we only really experienced bombs where on the European mainland they had armies digging trenches in their fields and having battles on their streets and with either the enemy living amongst you as an overlord or the imminent threat of that happening. Where the island of Great Britain (the UK mainland) wasn’t invaded, though the Channel Islands were (though they aren’t part of the UK they are crown dependencies and their residents are British Citizens). But as much as the UK was on the periphery, the US was light years away from that epicentre. So you have not grown up within families and towns/cities that are steeped in the scars of total war. I know that for someone of my generation whose Grandparents were the ones going through this total war, it was always kind of just there. Our parents were brought up with rationing and played in the bomb sites and our Grandfathers either served or were in reserved occupations deemed essential to the war effort (my Grandas were one of each, one served In the army from 19 year old in 1939 right up until the end in 1945 and the other was 14 at the start but went into the shipyards and as soon as the war ended was called up for National Service in the RAF). Even if (as in my family) wartime stories weren’t constantly offered, throwaway remarks and answers to questions always were.

[@Flow-cf6uu]

My mother was evacuated during the Blitz as a child. There are plenty of shrapnel holes in the old buildings of London. At Cleopatra’s needle for example. All the new building were built on bomb sites. In the 70s I remember as a kid there were still huge boarded up bomb sites. They only got built on when money came back in the 80s. My grandmother refused to talk about it when we used asked her. She just used to say : “It was awful , I don’t want to remember it”. She lived through 2 world wars.

[@melissatheminx4710]

My Mother was 8 years old during the Blitz. We live in the North east of England, a coastal town and had many bombs dropped on our City. My Mothers home was destroyed, by a bomb. The family were in a shelter in the garden. My Mother had to sleep in a school for weeks until emergency housing was found for the family. In the next house, my Mother was in bed when a bomb dropped and the cieling collapsed on her bed, she survived, but again the house was destroyed and they had to move again. She died 2 years ago, but while she was alive, whenever there was a programme about the War on TV and the sound of an air raid siren sounded, I could see the trauma in her face as she switched the channels on TV to avoid the sound. She also lost a Brother in the War. He was 20 years old. I believe all told, the number of british people killed in bombing raids in Britain was approximately 45,000. Hitler went from quite admiring the british, to wanting to wipe the British from the face of the earth. There was nothing to do but fight. Surrender was NEVER an option. Thank you for your compassion and for taking a look at our history, Tyler. We remember all Allies, including our American ones. x

[@oldgreybeard2507]

I remember as a child playing on 'the bomb site' at the top of the street. 20 houses were blown to bits and my grandparents house had cracks in the walls. Germans either dumped their bombs having missed the shipyards or were after the colliery. We once found a shoe in some of the left over rubble. I took it home and was shocked by the reaction of my grandparents. I think I know why.

[@melissatheminx4710]

@@oldgreybeard2507 \yes, even then, kids did'nt understand the full horror of what they were playing in. Its a mercy you and they did'nt realise, really. Your poor grandparents trying to shield you from the worst. I hope you're doing well these days, oldgreybeard. :)

[@catherinewoodsellerbeckhor7560]

Tynesider too…missed the war but my mother would panic whenever the local fire station in North Shields siren went off ….. even in the sixties, must have been dreadful wondering if your house would be next.

[@davesimpson5702]

Now you know why we British are (or were) known for our fortitude, resilience and "Stiff Upper Lip"

[@lorrainehamilton5051]

My grandparents and my mum (who was 8 years old) were bombed in March 1941 in what is now known as The Clydebank Blitz. The Luftwaffe's targets were supposed to be the shipyards and munitions factory in the town but instead they hit the high density workers houses, completely destroying huge areas of the town. Out of 12000 homes, only 7 were completely undamaged. Civilians killed were officially reported as 600-odd, which is now accepted as a gross underestimate, true figure over 1000. There is a Mass Grave of the Blitz victims in the local cemetery for those unclaimed or unidentifiable, every year a Memorial Service is held there. All her life my mother was left terrified of thunderstorms and fireworks due to her childhood trauma. Look up the story of the Clydebank Blitz, 13 & 14 March 1941. It wasnt just the major cities which were bombed.

[@grenniespexify]

There is a whole branch of my family that doesn't exist becuase of the London Blitz. My grandma's aunt and uncle and three cousins, plus another older cousin and her baby, were all killed when their house took a direct hit. My grandma never liked to talk about it but she agreed to talk to me about it just once for a school project (back in the early 90s) and I'm so glad she was brave enough to do that because I'll never forget the story. The impact of her sharing it on me was really profound.

[@connellsmith]

I’m from Portsmouth in England. Portsmouth was also a major dockyard city and naval base and was also heavily targeted.Portsmouth withstood 67 air raids between July 1940-may 1944. The heaviest attack was between 10-11 January 1940. The Germans dropped over 140 tones of bombs and 40,000 incendiaries on the city. 930 civilians were killed and 1,216 was seriously injured or injured.also destroying 1 out of 2 of the main air raid shelters in southsea just miles away from the dockyard. Over 20% of houses was destroyed or damaged.

[@hapenny13]

Not just British history There were Allied pilots from many countries involved Canada, Australia, Poland,etc. My father fought as Fighter Pilot in the Battle of Britain/The Blitz. He flew Spitfires Mosquitoes and Hurricanes in RCAF Squadron 1 against the German Luftwaffe bombers and single-engined single-seat Messerschmitt They were outnumbered 10:1. The Allies eventually won preventing Hitler from taking control of Europe. Churchill later thanked the surviving pilots “'Never in the field of human conflict was so much been owed by so many to so few.” My father flew 1939-1944. The military sent him home early after 5 years of dog fighting because he was still alive. In America’s entire history1931-1841 has been the only ten year time of peace when they haven’t been at war with another country or each other.

[@susieq9801]

Respect to your dad on Remembrance Day.❤My dad was in an RCAF Mosquito Squadron. I lost 4 Canadian cousins. The new Bomber Command Memorial (2012) in Green Park is beautiful. One man who raised a lot of money and fought the government (such as refusing to pay taxes on the materials) was Robin Gibb of The Bee Gees.

[@margaretreid2153]

Lot's of New Zealand 🇳🇿 pilots in RAF during the Battle of Britain too,lot's of Commonwealth countries involved.

[@GayJayU26]

You ought to read about the silent V1 and V2 bombers. I was born the year after the war and my mum and dad told me about them and it gave me nightmares.

[@kerrymason609]

I'm so glad you're covering this it's such a huge part of our recent history,my mum lived in London and had to endure this and was evacuated after a month of bombings not knowing if her parents would still be alive,she was 5 years old!

[@countryview2020]

The commentator failed to add Belfast to his list of cities that was bombed during the blitz.

[@Definitely_not_in_your_walls]

My Great Grandma was one of the women who was crushed at Bethnal Green back in the war, when she evacuated inside with my 3 year old grandma. When everyone panicked to get into the station, as my Great Grandma was being suffocated to death, she had to make the choice to either be pulled out herself or get my grandma out. As you can probably infer, she chose the latter. There's an old film from 1975 about the crush, that gives better context, but I'm just going off of what my grandma has said, which is why she never uses curtains and opts for blinds, due to the fear of enclosed spaces. I recommend you watch it if you want to know about that too, it's called "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow". It's free to watch on KZbin.

[@MrWilksey]

Proud to be British so much history the good and the bad it makes us who we are strong proud and down to earth, thanks to all our heros in the armed forces from past and present that keep our beautiful isles and amazing people safe

[@disasterincarnate]

pity our new authoritarian history we are making now is a horrid stain on our previous history.

[@DreadEnder]

We shall remember them Those that sacrificed their time for us Those that sacrificed their minds for us Those that sacrificed their bodies for us Those that sacrificed their lives for us Lest we forget

[@Strawberry-zd2bx]

My maternal grandmother was in her twenties then and used to shelter in the London Underground stations with her family. My paternal step-grandfather was an older child and was evacuated to Surrey, he stayed good friends and had regular contact with the family that hosted him until the day he died a few years ago. Nearly 25 years ago, on New Years Eve turning into the year 2000, the fireworks from everybodys new years eve parties around our south london neighbourhood were particularly spectacular, loud and going on a lot longer than usual due to it being a new millennium. As we always did, we opened the front door to let the new year in and wish the neighbours, who would also all come outside, a happy new year. An elderly neighbour was out in her front garden with her dog and she looked at me with terrified eyes and said in dead seriousness "Thank you, but its too much like The Blitz for me, its bringing back memories" and as soon as her dog was finished she ran back inside. Ive never forgotten what she said to me that night.

[@ziggystardust3060]

Thanks Tyler, especially for posting this on Remembrance Day. 🌺 It's said that each petal that falls at the end of the rememberance service at the Royal Albert Hall in London, represents one military service person's sacrifice in the line of duty during wartime. We stand in silence for two minutes, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month; the month, day and time in 1918 when the First World War ceased hostilities. Lest we forget. ❤

[@stuartfitch7093]

It wasn't just during the blitz that London and other UK cities and towns were bombed. The blitz was only the main period of bombing which included the most concentrated number and largest German bombing raids on the UK. Luftwaffe bombers were dropping conventional bombs on London until the end of January 1944, and the V1 and V2 flying bombs were not stopped until March 1945. So, for all of WW2 (with the exception of the period from the start of September 1939 until August 1940), UK cities and large towns were being bombed until not long before the end of the war. London gets highlighted, but many other UK cities suffered really badly from German bombing raids, too. Coventry is a good example of a UK city that was heavily destroyed by German bombing. The cathedral was destroyed. The fact is just about every UK city and large town was bombed at some time or another during WW2.

[@lordkabal2010]

Yeah up here in hartlepool and it's near towns like Seaton etc were hit.....even by German ships hence you can look up the Hughe Battery and get mini tour guides to show the places that were hit.....so many places in the whole of UK were hit. And yeah the buzz bombs them dreaded rockets.....the scary part wasn't hearing the buzz of the rocket but when it stopped that's the part where you were scared as you knew it was falling but where u didn't know

[@howardbowen-RC-Pilot]

Exactly the Baedecker raids.

[@cstock7624]

Chopwell was bombed and the next morning my Aunty was born, as my Grandma had had a fright. A German plane also crashed in the Chopwell Woods. Chopwell is near Newcastle

[@minhearg8331]

My mother was a 16-year-old girl when Coventry was bombed. Codenamed ‘Moonlight Sonata’, the raid lasted 11 hours and involved nearly 500 Luftwaffe bombers gathered from airfields all over occupied Europe. The aim was to knock Coventry out as a major centre for war production and they did bomb a lot of the industrial parts of the city, but there were no strategic reasons for obliterating the city centre other than an attempt to terrorise its population. Despite her young age, my mother volunteered for the Air Raid Precaution Team (ARP) whose main task was to try and protect people during air raids. After the raids, all the victims were laid out in rows and as part of her duties, she had to accompany a doctor and take notes as a doctor tried to identify the corpses from their identity tags. Interestingly, she said that after a while, she became inured to the sight of charred bodies and got used to the smell of burnt flesh, and that the only thing that affected her was seeing a small dog running from a burning building with its fur on fire.

[@emstirling-is4nu]

How the people survived the horrors actually haunts me.

[@richardarcher7093]

A USA information film about Britain during the war “know your ally, Britain” really very informative

[@thepickledpixie9052]

My mum was born in 1941 so here's some of our family memories. We live in rural Scotland and they hosted a family of refugees from the Clydebank Blitz. As a wee girl they were just always there so she was confused when they left. She remembers everyone carrying gas mask boxes and apparently she had a full body suit designed for babies. My Granda was a coal miner which was a retained industry so he didn't go to fight. He did his bit as an Air Raid Patrolman, checking around the village to ensure the UK blackout was adhered to and there were no lights showing that could be used by German planes. She remembers his tin hat with ARP on it hanging on the back of the kitchen door. I have his big whistle, also with ARP on it. Their house had a wee half height wall with iron railings on top. She remembers they came and cut them down to melt them down to be used in the war effort. Granda also converted the whole back garden to grow veg and fruit to feed family and neighbours as rationing made food scarce. The local farmers would shoot rabbits and it was a good day when you cane home to a rabbit hung by the door. Rationing continued well into the 50s and my dad remembered being told they were getting a delivery of bananas to his family shop. He didn't believe they were bananas because he'd been told they were yellow, not green. One of his earliest memories was as a wee boy in Glasgow hearing the planes, then hearing explosions and seeing the sky light up as they headed to the Anderson shelter. Some gardens still had Anderson shelters in the 70s when I was a kid. They were useful for storage. It's absolutely wild to me that Americans aren't taught the full history of WW1 & WW2. They were massive global events in very recent history and part of the curriculum across Europe.

[@stumccabe]

My dad lived in Manchester when he was a boy. One night during the Blitz an incendiary bomblet crashed through the roof of his house into his bedroom - luckily it failed to ignite so the house wasn't burnt down. If it had ignited I probably wouldn't be here making this comment! PS my dad, being a normal boy, was not at all scared - he found the whole war thing exciting.

[@sheilaoneil18]

My mother talked about Coventry's bombing, twelve miles from where we lived...I was a baby...the sky was on fire she told me and the smell of burning was intense. My parents took us, my brother and me, down the Anderson shelter in the back garden whenever the air raid sirens sounded. They never knew if we'd have a home left when we came out. They and our neighbours, were brave, loving, caring people looking after each other and sharing what we had. I would like you to look at videos which show you the rations for the family for one week. You would get another surprise. Coventry was one of the worst bombings. A city obliterated. The term Coventrated was invented to describe it. Watch a film 'Goodnight Mr Tom' about the evacuees. AND WE WON!!! I am so interested in your reaction!

[@sylviadunn1622]

It’s incredible to see how this has impacted him!

[@jondavies9347]

Same here,my now 85yr old mother saw the glow of Coventry burning where she lived in Birmingham.

[@starsailor9774]

Birmingham was the third most bombed city during the war after London and Liverpool..... However , Coventry had the single most devastating attack by the Luftwaffe with 500tons of bombs dropped on the 14th November 1940 in an attack called "The Moonlight Sonata" by the Nazis.

[@donnaweston7697]

Same here, my husband's family lived in north Oxfordshire and his parents said they could see the glow of Coventry when it was bombed. 😮

[@joyparry9354]

My home city of Norwich was blitzed during the war, over 300 people died in a short time & around 2/3 of the city's buildings were damaged. My 15 year old Mum helped man a water hose, her family (including my Granddad who was in a wheelchair) shared a shelter behind their house with 3 other families - a self built one called an Anderson shelter. My Nan kept a note of every bombing raid & how many times the sirens sounded - which fills 3 little notebooks. It was a terrible experience for everyone.

[@alisonblack8318]

Tyler, as a Scot born a few years after the Blitz and brought up on such stories, I enjoyed watching your heartfelt reactions to this documentary. You didn't deserve the ungracious comments posted by some of your viewers. I was divided between regret for the poor teaching of history (unfortunately true nowadays here too) and a feeling of warmth & consolation in seeing you absorb the truth of the burden that Britain carried before the USA came to our aid. I should also add that many kind Americans posted parcels of food. (C. S. Lewis was one recipient.)

[@SOPARA862k]

If you ever come to London, some bomb damage is still visible. Such as at the Natural History Museum and the opposite building the Albert and Victoria Museum. They have an engraved stone saying the damage was left unfixed as a memorial to what happened.

[@majbrat]

As a Canadian, of course, we were part of Britain during this time, and we had soldiers in every level of the fight, so it is part of our history, too. We were taught this fully even after we gained separation from British rule to this day. We have always thought it unreal how little our American friends know of real history or current events (disasters around the world worse than any North America has suffered) which are lucky to even get a 10 second sound bite on U.S. news. The mass, weeks long, reporting of terrible disasters in the U.S. where the loss of life and damage was, of course, awful, seemed overreactive, excessive, and condecending in scope to other places that have suffered so much worse on a regular basis. This is part of why some have the opinion of Americans as conceited, calous, and self-absorbed.

[@jay-rk1ve]

Canadians have always had my respect our main alies in Europe for sure. Americans where lost in the Pacific still looking for Europe 😂😂😂

[@davidsharpe7644]

Hull was called a north east city the bomb damage was comparable to London but it was never mentioned as such. Coventry is mentioned because its badly damaged cathedral but the historical center of Hull is omitted 90,000 homes, churches and factories were either damaged, or, flattened together with the city's infrastructure also badly damaged. Everyone knows of London that's the main reason why the air raids/blitz is associated with it but the damage to the country is centered on it.

[@ChrisShelley-v2g]

Because of Hulls location it was also targeted from the sea, this means that there was no warning as such.

[@peterhopkins4748]

Due to its location Hull often was used as a secondary target when the bombers couldn't find their primary target further inland in the midlands. It was seldom named in news reports and was usually referred to as a town in Eastern England due to its importance.

[@leehannon1756]

A town in the north

[@Chloeprettyoccasionally]

The problem being that only English people have heard of Hull

[@leehannon1756]

@Chloeprettyoccasionally and the Germans, apparently.

[@Nicholas-fw1id]

My father in law passed away a month ago, he was 6 during the blitz and was evacuated from London. He had PTSD from air raid sirens for over 80 years.

[@sarahh1636]

How awful 😞 My Grandad was also an evacuee, he sent to Wales from Liverpool. I can’t even begin to imagine how traumatic it must have been for those children and their families

[@Tracywhited2]

How can you not have heard of the Blitz ?!?! That's stunning.

[@hannahcallow6374]

Innit. I wonder why.... Not that the UK got the worst of it, but if the Blitz was conspicuously missing...

[@c.laviniamulholland585]

I've only begun watching and am smiling at your reaction to the Blitz, we are very proud of our grandparents/ancestors character during these times.Whenever we need to pull together or face tough times we channel the 'Blitz spirit' here in the UK. It was a battle of wills and we tend not to lose those😆(In a good way) Sounds like you'll understand the british more and why we can't stand bossy windsocks who take themselves too seriously! We british laughed at him the way he carried on during his speeches and saw through him for the nasty jumped up little tit he was. In my irish family he was called 'an insufferable gobsheen" .Scarily the conditions etc meant the germans foolishly took him seriously.

[@allanmanaged5285]

For a while I thought you were talking about Trump.

[@TheVanillatech]

My Dad was born in '24. He was a kid growing up in the War, living in Hull so the city was very heavily bombed due to the double dockyards and it's ship building and repairing and fishing industry. He told me that when he was a young teen, and the sirens would blare, sometimes his Dad would grab him (eldest boy) if they knew that the street next to them (or not too far away) had been hit, and together with the local firefighters and home guard they'd shift rubble to try to save people or at least find the corpses of the people who had died. They'd do this while his mother and sisters and younger brother ran to the shelters. He told me that he lost his first girlfriend to one of those raids, when they were just 13 years old. A girl in the street next to them. He was too young to sign up for the army, and he was small, so despite him attempting to lie about his age to the recruiting sargent twice he was marched back home to his parents. He left school at 14 during wartime and got a job as an apprentice fitter on the docks, straightening railway tracks, refitting ships with guns or making them seaworthy, etc. By the time he turned 17 he was denied entry to the army because he was classed as a skilled essential ship worker / engineer so he spent the rest of the war working on Navy vessels out of Hull docks. After the war he got a job in the Merchant Navy and sailed the world for 25 years as 1st engineer. I used to wonder and marvel at how my Dad was so tough and unemotional about things that I'd consider to be distressing or problematic, and how he always had a way of explaining things that'd make me shrug them off and realize they were no big issue, as I was growing up. Later on as I gained some perspective about life I figured I understood why. He grew up in a war, the most bloody in history. Nothing scared him, or worried him, unless it was our health or something financial. He died 5 years ago aged 96. End of a special generation, guys and gals like him, with that harrowing experience in their memory.

[@emstirling-is4nu]

God Bless them all.

[@vpalmer]

What an amazing man ❤

[@lynnsteer6723]

This reminded me of my dad such a calm man, never raised his voice even when I crashed his car. Bombed out of his house in Liverpool 3 times before being evacuated to Wales.

[@Appl-mq8bw]

New video idea-just watch Horrible Histories and the songs (bc this taught me almost every thing that I know until like GCSE/A-level)

[@hazelmaylebrun6243]

Some of the young ones don't know what the blitz is, but older folks do. I'm Canadian. I had family fight in WWII and one was lost over the Bay of Biscay. I grew up listening to real stories of things that went on, but even apart from that, in my area of Canada, at least, we heard about the blitz pretty extensively and other aspects of WWI and WWII. I know people who grew up in England and as children, even though the war was over, they remember rubble and ruined buildings. It took a long time to rebuild. Rations continued for a while after the war too. There's another topic for you. You will likely look at some movies and books differently in light of this information. The Narnia series, for example... why were the children sent to live with the professor in his big house out in the country? They were evacuated there because of the blitz. There is a new movie out right now, though I don't know if the US theaters are showing it... it's simply called Blitz and it looks really good. I'm planning to go see it. There are lots of movies that alllude to the blitz. Lots of TV shows too. You might enjoy finding out how badass the queen who wasn't yet the queen was during that time. She insisted on serving and was a mechanic during the war. I've heard many fascinating stories of survival and service from that time, and I never get tired of it.

[@peterstead2622]

We still find unexploded WW2 bombs, most recent was 3 days ago in East Tilsbury

[@kathrynabbott5032]

My neighbour found an incendiary bomb a few years ago - we all had to be evacuated while the bomb squad came to dispose of it.

[@AlisonWilson-g9f]

Coventry was literally obliterated, but it didn't stop the vicar putting out a Christmas message, it was heard by millions, the King and Queen visited as well, and we still beat them 🌹🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@lucaswilkinson8398]

I love seeing Americans learn our history thank you for taking such interest