The Most Shocking ALLIED War Crimes

[@claywest9528]

I am reminded of a line from the movie Breaker Morant: "The barbarities of war are not committed by abnormal men. The tragedy of war is the acts , when calmly viewed afterwards, are committed by normal men in abnormal circumstances. "

[@arkadikharovscabinetofcuri3465]

I feel that quote was grabbed from someone else in some way but I have covid so my brain isn’t good lol

[@Veritas.0]

I'd hardly consider men dehumanized and traumatized by war as 'normal'.

[@neilpk70]

Rule number 303.

[@kiwi_comanche]

Brilliant film.

[@claywest9528]

@@kiwi_comanche Indeed it is.

[@estoniaisunderrated5120]

It should be noted that roughly 11,000 German Americans and 3,000 Italian Americans were also interned around the same time as their Japanese American counterparts.

[@dsxa918]

I can only imagine (understanding the origin of police).

[@itsfratalbert6645]

I lost a German great uncle to that. He disappeared once he went in never to be seen again. Somewhere in Georgia..

[@alyssinwilliams4570]

If I'm remembering my history correctly (from books, not personal experience), similar internment camps were set up in Canada as well.

[@jameswhite8830]

I've never heard that looks like I got some digging to do. It's sad what fear can lead good people to do to other good people😢

[@Veritas.0]

ALL major powers of WW2... ALL OF THEM, interred non-enemy peoples of certain cultures and races... ALL. OF. THEM. The U.K. folks bristle at this truth, but it's true for them, too. They just emptied their camps into US camps and then wiped their hands and said 'we don't do that!' No, you offload it onto another country. Edit: For the record, I am not talking about POW camps. Internment camps just like the US did to the Japanese... look it up yourself.

[@nevinbeaver1111]

There's also the strategic firebombing of Tokyo, which in some ways was worse than the atomic bombs. Curtis LeMay, the architect of the firebombing campaign actually said "I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal."

[@gandydancer9710]

What is "actually" doing in that sentence? That was not a confession that he was a war criminal.

[@nevinbeaver1111]

@@gandydancer9710 It is an acknowledgement that his actions could have lead to a war crimes trial. Intentionally fire-bombing an entire city to raze it to the ground? I think that would qualify.

[@Mark-kh1ny]

Interestingly, he probably wouldn’t have. The Geneva convention at the time, didn’t have a provision for the indiscriminate bombing of civilians or civilian infrastructure via aerial bombardment. It was added afterwards though, based on the atrocities of WWII.

[@gandydancer9710]

@@Mark-kh1ny The Nuremburg Tribunal didn't rely on the Geneva Convention, so why is that relevant?

[@gandydancer9710]

@@nevinbeaver1111 "It is an acknowledgement that his actions could have lead to a war crimes trial." You're determinedly missing the point. Did you read the following sentence where LeMay said that ALL war is "immoral"? He wasn't saying that all soldiers were war criminals. but instead that the victors can decide that spitting ion the sidewalk is a war crime IF THEY WIN. You're free to think that he committed a war crime but he didn't "acknowledge" doing anything of the sort, so just stop pretending that he did.

[@Spencer481]

I worked at a retirement home a few years ago. A Japanese american lady and her husband both had been in the Japanese internment camp when they were little kids. She had pretty advanced dementia and sometimes she would think she was a little girl in the camp. Honestly, heartbreaking to see her reliving that time 75 years later.

[@cashewnuttel9054]

I'm not American but that first one is understandable. Can't risk having people from the enemy country wondering about and ending up as spies and blowing up cities.

[@MelvinJ64]

KZbinrs and their constant "heartbreaks " 🙄

[@Spencer481]

@MelvinJ64 have you never seen something upsetting before? Must be blessed to be you.

[@luminyam6145]

I worked in Montreal in the Royal Victoria Hospital and I had a European Jewish lady as a patient. She had too much of a certain medication which caused a mental fog and she was certain she was in an internment camp. Once the medication left her system she became more coherent but her terror when confused horrified me, it spoke very loudly of what she had been through.

[@tysonschroder9849]

​@MelvinJ64 she ain't no you tuber. She's a human with emotions. It's a good thing.

[@Pissedoffdetective]

All of these are taught in UK schools... Or they used to be. "A warcrime is only a warcrime if you lose."

[@JamesChenisKing]

Yep might is right. However unfortunate that is.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

@@JamesChenisKing Well it might not BE 'Right" but the winners certainly get to make the judgements.

[@hairybubbles127]

I learned all of this in school in America. But then, I was in a decent school in a decent town full of decent people. War is hell. We can learnto do it better the next time, or we can equivocate all day.

[@pennywisenibbles4949]

Japanese schools don’t teach about their war crimes, My history teacher actually touched on the subject, I’ve asked someone from Japan about it and apparently they prevent them from being taught because teaching about them would mean they’re admitting to do the wrongs. It’s really messed up, they lost and still claim they committed no war crimes

[@johnathanh2660]

Curtis LeMay said, "If we'd lost the war, we'd all have been prosecuted as war criminals." A comment he made during the Nuremburg trials. And for those who don't recognise the name. He was the USAF Chief of Staff during the Bay of Pigs crisis and was responsible for dropping/overseeing the B29 attacks on Japan, including x2 nuclear strikes.

[@Grisu19840]

I am actually SHOCKED that an english speaking youtuber would talk about this subject. For what its worth, thank you for doing this. Even in Germany when WWII is discussed in school, teachers act like the allies were angles and committed no war crimes, at all.

[@kingmobmor7656]

We have to look at history without bias to not repeat the mistakes. No one is purely evil, no one is all good.

[@POPToppins]

I mean to be fair compared to Germany and Japan aside from maybe Russia the rest kinda were in a way. Definitely goes to show the corrupt thought process a government and its military can have reminds me of the US false flag operation to basically start Vietnam.

[@xtoll123]

I've often wondered if at 22- 23 years old I'd have had the moral fortitude to go against the orders of my superiors and everyone I knew and say no. A good reference is the Milgram experiment carried out by the US in the 50's I think, a real eye opener

[@cjvrsa]

It's because ONLY the Germans are wrong,can do wrong etc. The moment anybody says something that differs,they get crucified,so to speak.

[@xtoll123]

@@cjvrsa history is written by the winners

[@RingsOfSolace]

I'm always surprised how much this surprises people. "No, my people wouldn't have done this!" Chances are, they already have.

[@jamesbuchanan3145]

Yeah...it's War. Frankly, if you aren't prepared for some truly dark shlt, then whatever you're fighting for isn't worth fighting for. War is he'll.

[@BakingBadOBX]

and probably will again

[@rodwilkins1614]

I’m surprised your surprised that people are surprised. Intelligent people know the facts.

[@christopher9727]

.... Do you know Jesus Christ can set you free from sins and save you from hell today Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today Romans 6.23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus

[@Justin.Martyr]

*But, No German EVER Rapped a WoMan!!!! NOT EVER!!!!!*

[@dem4christ04]

The connection between war and inhumane actions is absolutely undeniable.

[@gandydancer9710]

That's meaningless. War is inherently inhumane, but many "inhumane actions" are completely unrelated to war.

[@philipliethen519]

War is synonymous with inhumane actions methinks.

[@gandydancer9710]

@@philipliethen519 Again, NO. Reread what I wrote.

[@dennisweidner288]

@dem4christ04 Duh, of course. Also undeniable is that the only way to confront evil is by force,

[@abdulsabri6551]

​@@dennisweidner288 not exactly. It's a way yes but you need to know when force is needed or not

[@berlin1926]

The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff is the worst maritime disaster ever. 10000 mostly elderly, women, and children were killed by Russians on a single ship.

[@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684]

I heard it was 500,000

[@berlin1926]

@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 the ship carried 10000. Over a million German civilians were slayghtered by the Poles and Russians. 13000000 were Forced from their ancestral homes, or they had resided for hundreds of years

[@boogie153]

@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 On a ship 500.000 people ?? 🤔🤔

[@socke3228]

I am German and my grandfather was a child as he fled from danzig. He actually missed this ship about a few minutes. If He would have gotten on that ship. I would'nt be here today. Crazy to think about...

[@vjbd2757]

Yeah that was hell. But Germany sinking hundreds of allied ships during the Battle of Atlantic makes the Gustloff sinking a drop in the bucket.

[@ZenkoTheGreat12]

Mers-el-Kebir WAS NOT a surprise attack. The British fleet (Force H) arrived and parlayed with French admiral for several hours. An ultimatum was given: either sail out and join the British, sail to neutral ports in the Caribbean, or be destroyed. The French admiral refused both latter options and Somerville (commanding Force H) opened fire on the port with the big guns of his fleet. There was no surprise air attack, although aircraft were in use after the expiration of the British ultimatum. 4:39

[@DrRock1970]

Yeah I don't know what he's on about here

[@HammerJammer81]

THIS! They were given options. The French decided not to join the British Fleet and the Allies couldnt afford for the Germans to get a hold of those ships.

[@randallruble7941]

Thank you for your notes. As presented in Whistler's video the action was questionable but certainly defensible. With your information it is clear that there was no war crime. There was an action of stupidity by the French admiral. Not the first in the history of the World Wars. [Yes I am aware of the question regarding the naming of the wars.]

[@randallruble7941]

Why in hell [gods name?] did the French refuse to sail to neutral ports in the Caribbean? That would have given them the best of all options. If the British sank them on the way; se la vie. But possibly not all the ships lost. If the German U-boats sank them; same. If the Americans sank them; same. If they reached a Caribbean port. Great, the French may have a fleet after the war. Or they might be able to sneak out of the port and harass American interest if they wanted to stay “Vichy” and Axis oriented.

[@jean-philippebobin3732]

@@randallruble7941 wtf are talking about, the French Admiral receive those proposition that were give your navy to Britain or go starve to Death in the Carabbean, France had signed a truce for there navy to not aggravate germain action in France and saying they stay neutral, Britain only ask the French navy to surrender and then firing without an Ultimatum on a former allies and a neutreul cuntrie. That call a war crime

[@se7enity648]

Bloody hell. We all know these things happened, but are not told about them. Thank you Simon. A part 2 would be appreciated.

[@robertwilliams-day320]

Read any first person perspective of war and you’ll find account of war crimes, from loot to murder to sometimes much worse. The famous example would Lt. Spears in Band of Brothers* but might I recommend Charles B. McDonald’s Company Commander, a fantastic book, but watch out for how casually it dismisses rape. *I know there a massive amount of doubt about if it actually happened but in way the truth isn’t important, only what the people at the time believed was true.

[@THEFUTUREMARINE2016]

I was taught all these things in high school. Did you just not pay attention?

[@thenordiccomrade7100]

@@THEFUTUREMARINE2016you know, the subjects that are told in history classes varies from school to school, even more so on a county by county basis and on top of that, it varies between different countries

[@archstanton6102]

​@THEFUTUREMARINE2016 Yes because what you were taught in school is exactly what everyone else in the world has been taught and will continue to be taught. Mug.

[@Epidombe]

@@THEFUTUREMARINE2016probably a propaganda bot

[@ЛАДАРРО]

For me the worst has to be the The Laconia incident. Refers to an event during World War II in September 1942 when a German U-boat, U-156, torpedoed the British troopship RMS Laconia. Unusually, the U-boat's crew then began rescue operations for the survivors, including the ship's passengers and prisoners of war. However, when the German submarine was spotted by American aircraft, it was attacked. The incident led to changes in the German U-boat rescue policy. The most fkd up thing about this is the fact that the americans blatantly ignored a huge Red Cross flag on the foredeck on the sub, 4 lifeboats full of people being towed and started a bombing run. All they destroyed were 2 lifeboats of around 100 people from the RMS Laconia. The Captain of the sub wanted to start evacuations after torpedoing, because it was "the right thing to do and we are their only hope". There was also a second German sub, one Italian sub and 2 French warships on their way to aid. The bombing runs left the U-156 moderately damaged, but still managing to submerge. To the remaining RMS Laconia's survivors, the U-156 re-emerged after the americans left, leaving them in awe. The Germans at this point had had enough and considered the now 4-day rescue mission over and left. The German U-boat rescue policy was changed so that no rescue effort shall be made unless there is a full guarantee of the sub and it's crew's safety. One of the remaining lifeboats that weren't picked up again by the same German subs and transferred to the French warship, drifted around for 27 days until they found land in the Liberian coast. 16 out of the 68 souls in that boat survived. The Laconia incident was also used in the Nuremberg trials, where the German Admiral Karl Döniz only got a 10-year sentence because of what the U-156 and the U-507 had done to rescue survivors. I may have not remembered every detail correctly as i mostly wrote this from memory. Feel free to correct me if i'm wrong

[@JJKillerElite]

I suppose it's about perspective, a German u boat torpedoes a ship then attempts rescuing survivors. From an alternate perspective, The U boat will continue operations, sinking and killing how many other people and ships? Destroying the Submarine at the cost of civilian lives may have been viewed as a worthwhile trade off

[@miskatonic6210]

​​@@JJKillerElite No, that's not how it works! There is no "perspective" to an obvious warcrime like that.

[@JJKillerElite]

@miskatonic6210 you seem to be living in a perfect world where all atrocities are equal regardless of reasoning or aim, unfortunately war is not waged according to justice and equality. No nation in history could win such a war

[@littleguy6753]

​@miskatonic6210 nice sentiment but ww2 had war crimes on both sides. WW2 was the last war where America was attacked. The men who fought it had grown up dirt-poor and had no sympathy for our enemies.

[@globalpropertyinvestment]

@@JJKillerElite No, that is a war crime. One can only act on current situations and not take into account hypothetical future situations. Morally and legally that US bomber crew was wrong and people died for nothing. If one accepts such behaviour, then one can expect the same in return, a never ending escalation of barbarity.

[@Osterochse]

I once had an Eastern German textbook for English that was used in schools. They used the phrase "the English bombed Dresden heavily" as an example to explain the difference between adjectives and adverbs. They also had many texts that extolled the achievements of the British communist party and the protest against the Vietnam war and its violent suppressions by American police forces. Interestingly the textbooks for Russian never used examples like "the red army raped many women in Germany" to teach the Russian language.

[@isogsargent4823]

Boo hoo

[@AdamSchadow]

Now text books tell kids about how ukrainians are suffering almost as if government issued learning materials for children were always full of outright propaganda.

[@karlheinzvonkroemann2217]

We did similar things to West Germany. ALL Media came under the control of the "Allied Control Commission". We all know that the Nazis band some 8.5k books but we don't hear that the Americans band 35k books. All political Parties had to be approved by the Control Commission, school curriculums are a product of the Allied Control Commission. This is just a little bit of what went on and some of it is now an integral part of the BRD today. The bottom line is that a completely sovereign Germany disappered from world history in 1945. If you look and read you can find all of this and more about the postwar era.

[@petegarnett7731]

I note that they forgot to mention that someone fire-bombed Coventry (very heavily) before that event. I hope the British use rather more mundane examples in most of their language text books.

[@23GreyFox]

Because the USSR made sure that any mention of soviet crimes would bring you in a lot of trouble. As a teenager my mother learned it the hard way. But everyone in the former Warsaw Pact know how Russians are. The horrors of their occupation are well remembered.

[@dominiccassidy9708]

The author Kurt Vonnegut was a POW in Dresden at the time of the bombing. His story best illustrates the absurdity of wat. When his Allies and fellow countrymen bombed the city the Germans took hi to an air raid shelter. Later his allies the Russians approached and started shelling the remnants of the city. The Germans then moved him westward. As he pointed out his countrymen and his allies tried to kill him, it was his enemies who saved his life.

[@carrite]

You basically have it, but not quite. Vonnegut and his fellow prisoners, used for slave labor (itself a war crime), were housed at night in an underground meat locker, Schlachthof-fünf - Slaughterhouse 5. So while the city burned above in February 1945, he survived below ground.

[@ItsLunaRegina]

@@carrite It is still true what dominic has said. The actions of Vonnegut's enemies kept him alive and the actions of his allies would have killed him.

[@dieterbarkhoff1328]

@@ItsLunaRegina The Israelis call it The Hannibal Option'

[@OTDMilitaryHistory]

The city was shelled just because by the Soviets. Rumble actually makes for good defensive cover. They would have used artillery to hit the defenders not just to destroy rubble.

[@seanodwyer4322]

@@OTDMilitaryHistory could been more killed if bombing not happen as russia could hav been more deadly with attacks and kiled more Dresden volk.

[@ShaneWreck83]

I vividly remember when I was a sophomore in highschool (1999) when it came time to cover the events that led to WW2 in Europe and the Pacific. There came a point when my history teacher, informed us that what he was about to discuss was about the less than stellar behavior/crimes performed by The Allies (i.e. Japanese Internment Camps and much more). He also made it known that these topics were not part of the lesson plan approved by the school board. But he said that he wouldn't be able to call himself an educator if he didn't teach us everything and not gloss over or outright skip certain issues.

[@dennisweidner288]

@ShaneWreck83 Did he explain how different internment camps were to NAZI and Japanese concentration camps? Did he explain how 95 percent of the civilians and POWs killed in the War were killed by the Axis and Soviets? If he did, he was an educator If he did not he was a propagandist.

[@bertellijustin6376]

Bullshit. I graduated in 1999. We were taught all of these things. Because it was part of the curriculum. All of our school books came from Texas back then. If you went to a public school you were taught these things because it was part of the established curriculum. And it was in the books we all used. Your teacher was a nutter or you’re misremembering things.

[@RickNock]

@@dennisweidner288brain dead comment

[@davvaz62]

​@@dennisweidner288Regardless, the constitution dictates that no person may be deprived of their liberty without the due process of law. The internment camps were a grave violation of civil rights and therefore must be condemned. It's not a competition of who did more neither is it a blaming game. As honest, may I say Christian, people, we must own up to our mistakes and not make an attempt to dignify them by saying, "they did worse." That is simply childish behavior.

[@dennisweidner288]

@@davvaz62 The internment camps were a grave violation of civil rights and therefore must be condemned. Who does not agree with that be they Christian, Muslim Buddhist, or Hindu? Of course, they were. They were a gross violation. But equating them with Japanese camps is both absurd and dishonest. People were not tortured, starved, or died in the American camos. People were murdered and died because of mistreatment in the Japanese camps. And the only reason that any survived is because the atomic bombs forced the Japanese to surrender.

[@hawkins1384]

It is important to remind warcrimes of both sides. My wife's great-grandmother remembered how the Soviets came to liberate her village in Moravia. They ran their tanks through the vineyards, looted the village, culturally enriched a few women at gunpoint, shot anyone who resisted, and left.

[@DD-qw4fz]

So orks being orks as usual...

[@greggiesecke6412]

Russians being Russian, not the West's fault.

[@personc6122]

When they took Berlin they boasted that therre would be no girl or woman between 8 and 80 that went unraped.

[@joshuaortiz2031]

​@@personc6122 that is BS. There was a lot of rape going on in the Soviet occupation of Berlin but it's widely exaggerated.

[@kevinrayner5812]

A bit like Lidice and Oradour-sur-Glane then.

[@BrokenWingsDarkAngel]

Mers-el-Kebir is somewhat misrepresented here as the British did try to avoid a fight. The ultimatum that they presented was more than surrender the ships or be sunk, they included options like sail to the US (which was neutral, this happened before Pearl Harbor) and be interned for the rest of the war, or sail to French colonies in the Caribbean IIRC - basically a place where they would be completely out of reach for the Germans; both of these would have been much more acceptable to France as they weren't eager to risk losing their ships to the Germans or the British for that matter. But the commander of the port at Mers-el-Kebir somehow forgot to mention these options when he asked his superiors for orders - perhaps intentionally - so the whole thing ended in a naval battle. For reference, the same operation at Alexandria ended without bloodshed because the French had a much more reasonable person in command there. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5LSmmZpi6Z0hZY

[@tomcharles6972]

Couldn't have been said better.

[@DeaconBlu]

I seem to recall this information as well. It is rarely presented with “all” options on the table. Typically? It’s “surrender or die”. Which wasn’t the case at all. Not from everything I’ve seen/heard/read.

[@Appophust]

Simon is quite often full of crap.

[@ImpmanPDX]

I'm not saying that it wasn't a terrible international incident, but Admiral Gensour and his commander/envoy who's name I can't remember didn't do their fleet any favors. Having an adequate translator on site would have saved everyone a lot of grief. Also I'm glad that's a Drach video because anything else would just not have done.

[@Appophust]

​@@ImpmanPDX"Drach?" May I ask what that means? I thought it meant "dragon."

[@hardy_boehm]

My father occasionally told the story of how some idiot fired a gun at an American tank column, and the response was that every single house in a long street was destroyed by those tanks firing shells into every ground floor.

[@z14d3]

The sinking of the Willhelm Gustloff would have been a good one to include. An estimated 9,000 passengers died when it was hit by a soviet torpedo. There were German military personnel on-board, but most were civilian refugees fleeing the soviets.

[@gandydancer9710]

Why is sinking a transport a war crime? Did the Soviet submariner captain have the manifest to tell that most of the passengers were civilians rather than redeploying troops? (IIRC the US sank a transport carrying US, etc., POWs away from Wake Island. Was THAT a war crime too?)

[@mikebellis5713]

​@@gandydancer9710the Willem Gustloff was shadowed by the sub for some time. The Gustloff had no escorts. So it was obvious it was not a warship. And this was at the end of the war when there was no reason to massacre anyone. Like bombing Dresden

[@mateuszslawinski1990]

@@mikebellis5713 Gustloff was armed (with machine guns acting as AA guns), didn't put lights on and didn't figure as hospital ship (even as simply painting red cross on the side). By all means it was military vessel, escort or not. If anything, civilians shouldn't be allowed there at all.

[@gandydancer9710]

@@mikebellis5713 No, the lack of an escort did not mark the Gustloff as a non-military transport. Ocean liners used as military transports, by both sides, routinely relied on speed rather than escorts/convoys for self-protection. Actually the Gustloff had three escorts, but two dropped out with mechanical problems.

[@Ah01]

Gustloff was fully legitimate target, carried U-boat crews and hilfsmarines, sailed painted in kriegsmarine grey, flying kriegsmarine colours. Nothing unclear about that status, even though it was a huge tragedy and loss of life. (Gustloff was a kriegsmarine floating barrack and transport from 1940 november on. Before that it was briefly a hospital ship. )

[@madcat789]

Remember, it's not a War Crime if you win the War.

[@johanmetreus1268]

It is still a war crime, you just won't be punished over it,

[@briansanchez9899]

Or if the term isn't invented, or if you are allied to the USA...

[@tonys7675]

Don’t try to take over Europe or the Pacific Rim and you won’t have to worry about it.

[@needsmetal]

@@briansanchez9899 considering the first draft of the Geneva convention was mostly what the Canadians did in ww1

[@Jimmy-zo7xv]

Truer words hav never been spoken.

[@BrianHartman]

I'm not sure how Operation Catapult can be seen as a surprise attack. Once the French refused to scuttle the ships, they knew what was going to happen.

[@jackywhite880]

I was born (in the UK) towards the end of WW2. I had a lot of extended family who had been involved in the conflict. Those who survived it were in a minority. One uncle who survived told me of a single war crime he witnessed. Committed not by a German but by an American officer who forced German prisoners to dig a hole, then 'grease-gunned' them into it. Reporting this to his own officers, he was ordered to shut his mouth or face the consequences. Another great-uncle, serving in submarines, twice witnessed German survivors being machine-gunned in the water. No idea if it was anything to do with events depicted here. Complaining to senior officers, he found himself fast-tracked to misfortune in his (volunteer) naval career. Yet another relative, serving in the far east, served alongside Malayan resistance forces against the Japanese. Only to find, months after the War's end, that former comrades were now 'commie terrorists' because they had the affrontery to expect independence from both Japan and Britain. He was actually given charge of re-armed Japanese POWs under British officers tasked with 'maintaining order' among an increasingly hostile local population. If truth is the first casuality of war, then surely moral high ground quickly becomes the second.

[@MartinCanada]

"Fast-tracked to misfortune" -- such a lethal euphemism. Thanks for your comment.

[@RuhRohRaggie069]

So these Innocent solders were passing out bibles door to door when this happened I knew a lovely Jewish ( Krimheld as a little girl ) had the tattooed numbers on the inside of her wrist she lived the nightmare then & haunted her thoughts her entire life but she explained German soldiers cruel but the German civilian's could be even worse their were no innocent people fighting in hell hole but a 500,000 Americans gave their lives saving Europe's ass Hero she said the UK soldiers notorious barn yard animal molestation in the country sde

[@johnjones4129]

The British army reportably rearmed Japanese prisoners of war in Vietnam too …French Indo- China….in the fight against communists

[@MartinCanada]

@@johnjones4129 True enough. Mark Felton posted a 9-minute video essay "Britain's Vietnam War" to KZbin (August 2019) which recounts Operation Masterdom and the re-arming of Japanese Imperial troops in September 1945 to fight alongside British forces. Cheers.

[@Philip271828]

There's a book, Mountbatten's Samurai, (which I am yet to read) on Japanese Surrendered Persons (not PoWs, it preserves honour and sidesteps the Geneva Checklist) being used as colonial police in Indochina. It's also supposed to be the last time that American and British soldiers have shot at each other.

[@charlesmckinley29]

My friend’s grandfather told us, “The Captain said anyone that brings a prisoner on board that prisoner will sleep in their bunk and get 1/2 their rations until the prisoners can be gotten off the ship. We didn’t take many prisoners.”

[@Justin.Martyr]

*THIS TrumpLIAR, Never even said, Wut Nation !!!*

[@lynntownsend100]

​​@@Justin.Martyr ...And those are words!😂😂😂

[@StallionStudios1234]

Simple actions can have massive effects. When that happens more players start coming. We get locked up, shot instantly and people start dying.

[@iang.4910]

​@@Justin.MartyrAre you high dude?

[@justincase5583]

​@@Justin.Martyrtake your time and sound it out

[@lister144]

My father in law was a British P O W just out side Dresden (Paratrooper captured at Arnhem) he with is fellow POW'S were asked if they would clear the street of Dead, which they all agreed to do. a very unforgettable job, always spoken of throwing bodies, on to backs of lorries, but a kindness to children being placed gently on to lorries. A hard man moved to tears.

[@redwater4778]

My friends grandfather was a POW taken at Dunkirk . He survived the war as did the others less one who just died.

[@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684]

Similar things happened in cities across the UK in 1940-42.

[@steffenjonda8283]

Wrong. Way to little casulties Stop lying

[@haworthlowell805]

When I was a teenager my mom worked with w gentleman that was a pilot of a B-17 during WWII. He was telling them ine day that every set of mission orders they received had at the bottom the addition instructions that if thier bomber was damaged, they were runnung low on fuel, or any reason they could not reach their intended target they were to pick out the closest enemy town or city, bomb it, then retutn to base.

[@dsxa918]

Horrific

[@DjDolHaus86]

In fairness, even during ideal conditions it was considered a major success if they landed 5% of the bombs within 2 miles of the intended target. Finding the correct city when all you've got is a compass bearing and a stopwatch was hard enough (less than 1/3rd who reported a successful mission actually reached the designated target) let alone dropping bombs with any degree of accuracy from 10000ft. Bomber command was rarely far from controversy throughout the entire war though, they wasted a lot of their own men, millions of tons of expensive ordinance and aircraft and caused massive civilian casualties while having a highly questionable success rate

[@jocktheripper2073]

Check out the history of the B17, then ask yourself, who were the US future planning carpet bombing (the only real use for heavy bombers) in 1935. Mexico? Canada?

[@cameron398]

Sorry you feel this way but it is called total war for a reason. Breaking the will of the Germans to support their great leader meant sometimes hitting hole cities. It is easy to look back now and say "Oh the allies were going to win", but many times during the war it may not have happened. Bad things happen in war and sadly for people who haven't been there you will never understand. Sit back with your judgements but if you were not in the trenches your opinion matters less. (25 year US Army Officer still serving with 46 months between Iraq and Afghanistan whose grandfathers fought in Bastone and in the Navy Pacific fight).

[@flintbeckadventuretours4955]

@@jeremyw6246 so from the perspective of a huge part of the global population, suffering under British, American and French rule, it was absolutely acceptable, that crimes would be committed against the civilian population of these nations? That’s what you’re saying as well, right?

[@anthonyhunter6882]

The single largest civilian casualty event should be explored by you. That being the fire bombing of Tokyo. It killed more than the 2 atomic bombs combined

[@Leo_Pard_A4]

Yes, it was very effective.

[@YamaXI]

@@Leo_Pard_A4Some would say, alongside the nukes, that it convinced the Japanese to surrender and saved many more lives from needless combat and also preserved japan’s sovereignty in the following concords and agreements.

[@GrievousReborn]

News flash Simon Whistler has talked about the Toyko fire bombings on one of his various channels.

[@carrite]

@@YamaXI - Which does not lessen the fact that it was a war crime.

[@astralb.2647]

True, Tokyo fire bombing was the deadliest, but the nuclear bombs had more lasting effects, as there are still babies born with DNA abnormalities because of the radiation almost 80 years later, so I get why people see them as "worse".

[@minhthunguyendang9900]

6:42 Alan John Percival Taylor in his 1968 ‘The Origins of The Second World War’ wrote that there was nothing wrong with Hitler, except that he was a German. Well he didn’t even get that one right since dolf was an Austrian

[@FionnMcCausland-cc4kj]

This needs to be spoken about more. We're sold this grand story of WW2 as a black and white good versus evil conflict. But as is the case in every war. Everyday regular people get caught in the middle of it all and their stories are often forgotten. Thanks for not forgetting them Simon

[@CosmicBrain21]

I disagree, I don’t think it should be talked about. It’s a teeny minority of wrong-doings (some still debatable) that’s a common casualty of war. Talking about these anomalies out of proportion to the necessary sacrifices that good men had to give, makes it seem like it wasn’t good vs evil when it clearly was. I’ll always be thankful of the sacrifices that men made for us so we can be free today.

[@Monkechnology]

​@@CosmicBrain21GTFO with your "It's okay when we do it" rubbish

[@stevehicks8944]

That isn’t what he is saying. To flagellate ourselves over acts committed nearly eighty years ago proves nothing; not a damn thing will be changed by it. To compare the relatively few incidents of war crimes committed by U.S. and British troops to the gross atrocities committed by the Axis powers is lunacy at best; revisionist at worst.

[@12floz67]

@@CosmicBrain21 🍻

[@Sasheenka]

@@CosmicBrain21good men don’t rape lol

[@solomonlynn7456]

I believe the duality of war is best expressed in the Mark Twain story of "The War Prayer". Its a good short read and i highly recomend it to anyone watching. There are no war crimes, only failed leadership of our side or theirs. I would even go so far as to say war itself is the crime. The folks who begin it should be held accountable and on the front lines.

[@Schimml0rd]

Yes! Let them fight their own wars

[@StallionStudios1234]

Very cool I will check that out. Thanks for sharing!

[@TheUmbralPresence]

It's never "good guys vs bad guys" in history, It's always "our valiant knights in shining armour vs their evil monsters".

[@John-sf9jj]

How else do you motivate your people fight? It's not right but it's why they do it

[@remmistein]

I was wondering if this video was going to cover any of Canada's war crimes, but then I realized "Yeah no.. if there was going to be a video covering Canadian war crimes it would likely be it's own long episode on Into The Shadows" (Canada is largely why many sections of the Geneva Convention was even created...)

[@ToddSauve]

Can you cite any sources for your claim Canada was the reason for the Geneva Convention?

[@remmistein]

​@@ToddSauveKZbin unfortunately flags any comments with links automatically as spam and deletes them. However, the Canadian armed forces throughout both world wars had been sadistically ruthless towards their foes, including prisoners of war (which were often tortured then killed, or just killed) The Third Geneva Convention itself when reading through it certain sections appear to fit very specifically with certain things the Canadian army committed towards Germans during WW1.

[@ToddSauve]

@@remmistein If you can provide concrete sources it would be helpful. Until then, well ... I read extensively on WW2 and am aware of certain crimes committed by the Canadian army. One town in Germany was ordered to be obliterated by General Chris Vokes toward the end of the war. Wars are very ugly affairs I suppose is all anyone can say. God will judge everyone on that day.

[@jeremymoses7401]

​@@ToddSauvei wouldnt be surprised if there was some truth to it..... not screwing with Canada is kind of its own trope and not the 1st time ive heard the sentiment.

[@petemclean1352]

As a Canadian, all I'm gonna say is. They fucking started it ! Both times ! We've apologized for our actions during the wars, and have been pretty fucking chill ever since. "If I had American technology. British Officer's, and Canadian soldiers, I'd rule the world" Winston Churchill.

[@kevindondrea144]

The 3rd story is even more sad because a German U-Boat Commander, Werner Hartenstein did the total opposite. He risked his crew's life to save survivors of a ship they just sank, called the Allies and gave their location asking for help.

[@dovetonsturdee7033]

I wonder if the fact that they were Italian PoWs might have influenced him?

[@gandydancer9710]

@@dovetonsturdee7033 The Laconia was carrying 463 officers and crew, 87 civilians, 286 British soldiers, 1,793 Italian prisoners and 103 Polish soldiers. I'm not aware that Hartenstein restricted himself to attempting to save Italians. Did you pull that from your butt?

[@dovetonsturdee7033]

@@gandydancer9710 Oh dear. The usual resort to insult by an ignoramus. How tedious. Please show me where in my single sentence comment I made such a statement. I simply asked a question. Buy a dictionary and look up what 'question' means.

[@Clippidyclappidy]

@@dovetonsturdee7033U-boats stopping for survivors was pretty standard, especially for merchant ships. Well, until this incident happened then it became prohibited to attempt rescues.

[@dovetonsturdee7033]

@@Clippidyclappidy Absolute nonsense. Have you seen inside a WW2 Type VII u-boat? Even had a commander considered picking up a few survivors, there was barely enough space inside one for the crew. Your ignorance is showing.

[@phillipcadrin7275]

While this was technically after world war II, operation keelhaul deserves recognition as one of the worst crimes in history. One which involved all of the allied powers. On the subject of bombing cities during world war II, some estimate that the Nazis killed approximately 60,000 civilians in their bombings of Britain throughout the war. Contrast that to approximately 800,000 civilians killed in Germany from all the allied bombings. One detail that is often overlooked is that Britain bombed Berlin eight times before Hitler ordered retaliatory attacks on London and ultimately other civilian targets in England. Yet so many sources throw in subtle comments about the brutal, evil nature of the German bombings. And Hitler is often depicted as a madman obsessed with bombing London. In a strange twist of fate, my Opa can probably claim that he survived the war because his mom was killed in an American bombing of a German train evacuating civilians. Because of this he was on leave when his unit was surrounded in the siege of Leningrad. He was eventually captured by the Americans whom he says treated him reasonably well. One thing I've heard from a few people who survived WWII in Eastern Europe, Is that the Nazi occupation was far more tolerable than Soviet occupation. Under the Nazis, if you minded your own business and did not oppose them, you were generally safe. Usually people only talk about the exception to this rule. Under the Soviets there was widespread oppression and starvation; religion was a crime; if you had land that they wanted, they just killed you; and sometimes entire villages were killed to deal with isolated resistance in the region. One Slovenian man told me that the Soviets put hundreds of refugees on a train supposedly going to Italy. He was one of them, but had a gut instinct that something bad was going to happen so he escaped from the train. He later found out that everyone on the train had been gunned down before they reached the border. Another Slovenian man told me about how the many caves in Slovenia were sometimes used to inter hundreds of civilians. In other cases civilians were killed in large numbers by being shoved off cliffs and buried.

[@josephanderson8655]

This is what leftists don't want you to know. This is what the media and schools will never talk about. If someone brings this up you will see people come out of the wood work to justify it by saying "they were nazis and deserved it", and what is being a nazi? It's believing in an ideology that opposes capitalism, democracy, communism, and doesn't want Jews in your country because of all their financial and political manipulation. So basically people who believe the official narrative of WW1 and WW2 think that the Germans deserved it for commiting wrong think. Wrong think is a leftist coined phrase and it means thinking anything that isn't ideologically approved (by leftists).

[@tancreddehauteville764]

800,000 civilians is an exaggeration. The most accurate estimate is around 600,000 deaths, of which 50,000 were of foreign individuals working in Germany. I do agree with you that the British escalated the bombing war.

[@jordanfairs9791]

You should do one on Canada, cause they did some absolute horrid things in WWII. Lots of which became part of the Geneva Convention

[@MrBuckman420]

Shush people don't need to know that Canada ain't as friendly as we pretend

[@dylanpardee2492]

I agree!!!!

[@Blox117]

what are you talking aboot

[@ordinaryAussie]

Also they had horrific things done to em as well

[@GrievousReborn]

​​@@Blox117I don't think this one's part of violating the Geneva Convention but Canada also interred Japanese citizens of their country at least 22k Japanese Canadians

[@djsonicc]

9:37 I can only imagine the letter reading something like "We hope this does not cause you any great inconvenience good sir, but have to ask if you could you please stop killing enemy survivors?"

[@DrippyTheRaindrop]

I've been told so many stories of war crimes by the veterans who were actually there when they happened, I've lost count. Committed by the so called Good Guys, on the "right" side of the war, they refute much of the school text books and historical novels. Murder, torture, theft, rape - often done to unarmed civilians and some times children. As one old dogface told me, "It wasn't like a John Wayne movie". Some knew they were the Bad Guys, too. As the heroic and famous Chuck Yeager said to his wing man in 1945, when they were ordered to shoot EVERY THING that moved on the ground in Germany (non-combatants, children, etc.), "It's a good thing we're on the winning side, because from now on, we're War Criminals."

[@OTDMilitaryHistory]

The Germans were still the bad guys. Need I remind you of the Holocaust.

[@dennisweidner288]

@DrippyTheRaindrop You need to retake 2nd grade math. Some 95 percent of the civilians killed in World War II were killed by the Axis. Killing civilians was a high priority NAZI war goal. In contrast, America saved tens of millions of civilians in relief operations during and after both world wars. Not to mention the millions saved because the NAZIs were defeated.

[@StallionStudios1234]

You navigate the universe incased in an armored capsule. As a new player you can focus on one area to develop. You can always change roles if desired. If you want to fight, combat can evolve.

[@StallionStudios1234]

beauty. The gathering and refinement of resources. The building of ships and equipment and even space stations. Players can ban together and form corporations. Other corporations can merge to form alliances.

[@ccompson2]

Thanks for not blocking out the word "rape" all these channels nowadays block out triggering words for sensitive ears and it lessons the seriousness of the topics

[@Alverant]

IMHO the blocking of that word is done not to offend those who think it is acceptable under certain circumstances than the people who are victims of it.

[@ccompson2]

@@Alverant everyone has an opinion

[@klocugh12]

There could be legitimate survivors watching this and getting triggered. While I do think trigger words got out of control, censoring THIS specific word is reasonable to me.

[@ccompson2]

@klocugh12 yeah but people like you are assuming survivors are either children or idiots because whether censored or not....the context is still there. And if they were paying even a remote bit of attention to the video they'd pick up on the subject matter regardless of censorship and still possibly be triggered.

[@markelliott9737]

I think many channels do it to avoid being demonetized

[@PJtheincel]

A letter to a Submarine captain asking him politely to not kill civilians is as British as it gets. Back in the glory days anyway.

[@hillre14]

Those glory days include colonization and the starvation of thousands of Indian men children and women... I think peoples nostalgia often clouds the facts the glory days were fucked up everywhere

[@gandydancer9710]

@@hillre14 You think death for thousands of Indian men children and women only started when the British showed up? I'm anyway not recognizing this "letter to a Submarine captain asking him politely to not kill civilians" incident.

[@hillre14]

@@gandydancer9710 get off the "soapbox" I was advocating for a people who's pain is largely ignored. What I won't tolerate is you lecturing because I didn't say something in a way you felt I should've said.

[@kurtderidder7848]

The attack on Dresden was so horrifically meticulously planned for a maximum cost of civilian life. The plan was to destroy the entire city, not just military targets. This attack was carried out in 3 waves, each timed for maximum effect. The first wave of planes carried conventional bombs used to destroy the buildings and forcing people out of their homes, seeking different kinds of shelter (many took to the sewers). The second wave carried incendiary bombs which would set the debris on fire, causing the sewers and other refuge places to heat up so much, the refugees had to leave the safety of their shelter and take to the open streets again. The British and Americans had calculated how much time was needed before people would take to the streets again and then sent the third wave with the single goal of causing human casualties. Another often forgotten or overlooked war crime is what they DIDN'T do. When many jewish people tried to escape Germany after racial laws started being implemented, many ships carrying jewish refugees were denied entry in the UK and USA, showing little compassion to their faith. Later, during the war, many trains were bombarded: troop trains, ammunition trains, hospital trains with red crosses on top, but not a single train destined for the concentration camps was ever targeted, nor was any concentration camp ever attacked during the war. The RAF did conduct extensive surveys with millions of pictures of all possible locations still surviving to date, but somehow these camps were strangely overlooked. A very cynical example of was when German troops created a fake military camp designed to lure Allied forces to waste effort on a camp containing nothing but prop tanks, trucks and airplane made of wood. The British sent a single bomber dropping a single fake wooden bomb to let the Germans know they knew about their plans all along. This clearly shows the level of intel they had. During World War 2, my grandparents had a little farm with a bit of land some 10km from Bruges. There were 5 Wehrmacht troops stationed at their farm and all of them treated my grandparents with great respect. They helped in the field, took turns in cooking, gave them chocolates. Even though they were officially enemies, they developed a mutual friendship and when they received orders to return to Germany in 1944, they left a record with German military marches, which was a fond souvenir for them and was played countless times after the war was ended. They also left their names and addresses to keep in touch after the war, but trying to contact them later on, they discovered that their train to Germany was bombed by the Allied forces.

[@edwardwood3622]

My grandfather a bridge officer on a British destroyer in the Mediterranean, after sinking a German frigate the captain ordered the destroyer to turn around and run down the few hundred German sailors in the water. Made him tear up telling the story, war is hell.

[@ChaplainAppollus]

Bullshit

[@edwardwood3622]

@@ChaplainAppollus all true man.

[@dieterbarkhoff1328]

@@ChaplainAppollus You'd know, wouldn't you, because after all, you have been fed lies and propaganda from the moment you were born.

[@Frankie2012channel]

Per the Japanese American Internment - you forgot the US vs Korematsu (which disputed the constitutionality of the internment in the first place) but was initiated because the USA was DRAFTING young men out of the prison camps to fight for the US war effort. Now most Japanese Americans (tens of thousands of them) volunteered but around 60 men refused, saying that you couldn't strip all constitutional rights from a people BUT then demand that they do their civic duty to join the military and fight. This was the biggest abomination to me, to draft men from the camps to fight after taking everything away from them. Of course, this was just an abomination to the American ideal of justice and constitutionality. Our prison camps were a far cry from the camps in Europe, which were 'correctly labeled' Death camps because they served a completely different purpose.

[@mindmedic9435]

Not to mention, how ironic that they served with distinction, exceptional bravery, and were very effective in the European theater. This isn't an opinion, it's fact backed by the results. But the extra slap in the face was how they faced unchecked and blatant racism after released from the camps.

[@Nope_handlesaretrash]

I'm more shocked at the cuckolds volunteering to fight for the government abusing them so

[@Ivantheterrible81280]

Always the spineless ones who lament about something they enjoy the fruits of.

[@mikehinnekamp]

In no way was imprisoning Japanese Americans right. But there is no way I would compare it to concentration camps. At least children weren't separated and all gassed when they arrived. Shame on you Simon for that comparison.

[@johanmetreus1268]

@@mikehinnekamp Concentration camps are a British invention from their African wars to gain better control over the population, or certain elements thereof. While death of the intaken was not a goal by any means, the resulting death tolls weren't exactly lamented either.

[@ianshoe1269]

A military attack against a military target can never be a war crime. The fact that one side believed they were protected as Allies, is just a strategy - Sun Tzu would agree.

[@TheJohn8765]

Im slightly surprised you mentioned the firebombing of Dreanden but not Tokyo. That particular conflagration killed as many people as did the nukes, iirc.

[@jrmckim]

There's a difference between the Tokyo and Dresden fire bombing. The Japanese really, really, really wanted to continue the war. Dresden is in a weird spot at which a lot of Germany was somewhere between going through the motions, or barely able to contain the white flags if they were in West Germany. Japan had no such slack of external signs of resistance. This isn't to justify burning down most Japanese urban centers, that's a different discussion, but it makes it less controversial as it may have been unequal blows, but Japan was still trying to stay in the fight. Also,vTokyo is a major industrial hub and center of government. Dresden was a regional city of minimal importance...until it became a key hub for troop movements. It's an easier pitch to accept bombing someone's most relevant industrial governmental hub.

[@simplylethul]

​@@jrmckimThe Japanese didn't want to continue to war, you're literally lying right now and the Tokyo bombing killed over 100k civilians...fcking disgusting.

[@globalrevolution]

The bombing of Dresden is highly politicized by Neofascists to this day, sadly.

[@RiderOftheNorth1968]

@@jrmckim Non of this is relevant arguments to fire bomb civilians.

[@kieronparr3403]

War is Hell

[@Kumimono]

Once you add the soviets and Chinese to the Allied roster, well, war crimes become a norm. Surprised Katynin wasn't mentioned. Too well known, perhaps.

[@АлексейБахта-ь4н]

My favorite part is that Soviets tried to blame Nazis in Nurnberg for Katyn, but eventually shutted the fuck up because literally NOBODY in the West believed them or their sham "evidences" even despite years of pro-Soviet propaganda

[@Flight_of_Icarus]

This is about the shocking ones. The Soviets' war crimes weren't exactly shocking. Terrible, but expected with the Soviet way of doing things.

[@Nephale]

The US puts warcrime whistleblowers in jail. Does not persecute the perpetrators in most cases. Trump even pardoned convicted war criminals.

[@Theeight8b]

@@Flight_of_IcarusI'd say expected, as most of the soldiers saw what German had done to USSR territories and it's people. I'm not saying that it's ok, but i kinda understand why.

[@bel4vel793]

Bro, Katyn was proven to be german propaganda a million times

[@tracylarson1935]

Inter arma enim silent leges is a Latin phrase that literally means "For among arms, the laws are silent" but is more popularly rendered as "In times of war, the law falls silent."

[@marktg98]

You should make a video about all the war crimes committed by Canada in both world wars, it's actually insane how violent they often were. Or maybe do one on those committed by lesser known nations during the wars.

[@dsxa918]

It's too contrary to the narrative, to be aware of these things but anyone objectively studying history comprehends.

[@haggis525]

I'm Canadian... it's war, innit. What my countrymen did in War 1 and 2 was win. No such thing as a fair fight... if you're going to fight fair then you will lose! But isn't it all nice and cozy to sit back 80 or 100 years later and judge them.

[@heyysimone]

​@@haggis525so youre saying mass rape is fine, because it happened during war? When it served no purpose in winning or losong a war, but was instead a way for men in uniform to assert power of vulnerable women and children? And war crimes happen during the wars youve been alive for. If Canada has been in a war, you can bet they have committed war crimes - maybe not as an entire military force, but there will be many soldiers who have done things. You cant think they havent given the number of soldiers Canada has.

[@PoeticPoker262]

@haggis525 genuinely disgusting opinion and it's worrying that there's people out there who think this is an OK think to believe.

[@haggis525]

@@heyysimone That's not what I wrote. You are the one fixated on rape... not me. I wrote regarding the well known propensity in War 1 and lesser but still relatively common in War 2 for Canadian combat soldiers to kill enemy soldiers who were attempting to surrender. Maybe pull your head out of your ass and read what is actually written rather than imprint your fixation on rape onto it. 🤔 War is hell... or haven't you heard?

[@danielroncaioli6882]

As a former soldier I can safely say that war is the crime. As a realist, I can also sadly but safely say that the crime of war will always exist.

[@dennisweidner288]

@danielroncaioli6882 Without war we would still have slavery and the world would be run by a NAZI state.

[@zipp4everyone263]

Thank you for going through this side of the war as well. We all know the horrors the axis wrought and i think we all would spend the rest of our lives crying in the night had we seen even a percent of all the horrors and felt even half of the pain that horror brought. However we also owe it to every single dead and massacred innocent soul to tell the whole story, not just the glorious victories but also the darkest moments of all of the involved parties. I have read about and talked to survivors of several wars and the absolute horrors they have been through still affects me deeply. Its enough for me to not be able to sleep some nights and i wasnt the person this happened to. Its a small miracle that beauty still manages to light its flame after the torrents of pain that has flooded the streets of humanity.

[@dennisweidner288]

@zipp4everyone263 Unfortunately, we all do not know the immensity of Axis war crimes. The vast majority of the killing of civilians and POWs was done by the Axis.

[@SirXCornflake]

Farewell to Manzanar was my first introduction to the Japanese internment camps. My teacher wanted to show that the U.S had always made knee jerk reactions to threats (patriot act). It made for some really great discussion on what war and fear can drive us to.

[@jacquelynsmith2351]

My first introduction was having a teacher who was born in one that wasn't too far a drive away. Hell of a gut punch, that's for sure. And he didn't speak a word of Japanese, and neither did his family. They'd been in the US for generations.

[@scottmccloud9029]

They promised that the Patriot Act was going to be temporary. Yet it still exists. You ask me why I don't trust the federal government. There's your answer.

[@Glitchunlocked]

If you ever get a chance to visit Manzanar, I recommend it. There's hardly anything left, but the foundations for most of the buildings still exist as well as the roads and various other parts of the camp. There are memorials setup at the entrance.

[@arkadikharovscabinetofcuri3465]

Great teacher

[@Nicksonian]

Ya, the Patriot Act. Legalize all sorts of illegal government activity. And let’s create the Dept. Of “Homeland” Security. Why didn’t they just call it the Dept. of Fatherland Security? Goebbels would be proud.

[@gamecollectorbr]

Simon face talking about the rape is so expressive. What a horrendous crime.

[@personc6122]

Dresden was far from the only city targeted, Würzburg was bombed on march 16th 1945. There were no military targets, the only reason it was targeted was that it had over 300000 inhabitants and they wanted to kill as many germans as possible before the war ended. The city was 97% destroyed and it was even contemplated to leave it like that as a memorial. Even today you can still see traces of the bombing as the house I grew up in still had burn marks on the stairs.

[@dennisweidner288]

@personc6122 Nonsnce. there was not a single city in Germany including Dresden that was not involved in the NAZI war economy.

[@StallionStudios1234]

Governed by 4 great Empires. You navigate the universe. You have complete neural control. So be adventurous. If if you want to fight, you can fly solo missions. While for some it can be the thrill of fleeting up. You can look into uncharted space. You can also engage in prosperity. These can be done alone or with others.

[@lddeckert]

I'm sure it's been said, War Crimes are defined/prosecuted by the victors. We can only hope to limit them, on either side.

[@j.a.weishaupt1748]

War crimes are defined by international treaty’s such as The Hague and Geneva conventions and not only the victors have signed these.

[@Nephale]

@@j.a.weishaupt1748 Oh please try to enforce these on the USA. They committed countless of them in Vietnam and Iraq. Are still committing them. The whistleblowers get prosecuted though and not the perpetrators.

[@kenliljekvist255]

Of about 195 Japanese Prisoners of War taken by the United States between January 1, 1942 and June 30, 1942, only 19 made it back to long term holding. 90% died in transit. When as a child I heard of this, I asked several adults I knew who had been in WW2. I was told "It was not US policy to kill Japanese POWs, it just was not policy to not kill Japanese POWs." The wording was consistent enough I found it strange to come from so many sources when I was twelve. I did get one different response from a former US Marine. He told a story of how ground combat units felt about the transport echelon killing POWs. It involved three Guadalcanal veterans explaining things to seven Airmen. Five of the Airmen were hospitalized. The Marines were punished. Confined to quarters for three days, Docked three days pay, bread and water for three days. They were escorted to their tents by the Sgt at Arms. When they got there, they found an ice chest with ice cream and beer plus chocolate bars and local delicacies in their tents. The Regimental Sergent passed the hat for a collection to make up for the lost pay. They each got almost a months pay. It took a while for the transport echelon to get the message.

[@gandydancer9710]

They actually convicted an American for killing a few dozen Italian and German POWs on Sicily, but he was pardoned and returned to duty after about a year when the heat had died down.

[@bdleo300]

the US government had no problem to save Japanese Unit 731 from persecution (probably the worst war criminaIs in WW2), they even hired them after the war.

[@Don-mu2qh]

My Uncle and Godfather served with the American 36th infantry division under General Clark in Italy and Alsace. He witnessed the murder by shooting of German (SS) POWs by troops in his unit. Later he was captured by the SS and and was afraid he would be shot but instead was sent (marched) to Stalag 5A near Stuttgart until the end of the war. It was no picnic and at the end neither the prisoners nor the guards had enough to eat. The Russian prisoners, separated only by barbed wire, were treated badly.

[@anakamarvelous]

Seamen: “What of the survivors?” 🐙Captain: “…there are no survivors…”

[@jordanhicks5131]

"Come sail away with me!" -the captain

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:10 - Chapter 1 - America concentration camps 4:25 - Chapter 2 - Sinking the french fleet 7:25 - Chapter 3 - Killing shipwreck survivors 12:25 - Chapter 4 - Rype 15:30 - Chapter 5 - The bombing of dresden

[@mikeyost3672]

One excuse for the Internment camps was the Niʻihau incident, but it was also a classic real estate grab.

[@druisteen]

The French Fleet of Mers el Khébir . Two Battleships and two Battlecruisers , five destroyers . Not really , the most impressive event of the war

[@jordanhicks5131]

Internment isn't a concentration camp. Quit building it up to more than it was

[@dennisweidner288]

@@mikeyost3672 Probably true, but conflating the internment camps to Axis concentration camps is dishonest.

[@bdleo300]

@@dennisweidner288 'interim camps' were literally concentration camps, more than dishonest trying to deny this with Iame semantics.

[@ICB-vl3ym]

Congratulations for doing this video. As an Australian, I note Australian troops historically took few prisoners in WW1 against the Arabian rebels (Egypt and Sinai campaigns) and Germans (Western Front). They did happily take Turkish prisoners in WW1 - the Diggers had a lot of respect for John Turk. It was a pity that the Turks treated their captives so poorly. Similarly with the Japanese in WW2. Partly explained by reaction to the tendency of German machine gunners in WW1 continuing to fire until the Diggers were within bayonnette range and then putting their hands up. As regards the Japanese in WW2, few would consider surrender, many attempted to kill their captors after apparent surrender and the barbaric treatment of Australian/ US POWs all made mercy by the Australians (and US troops) to Japanese troops a rare occurrence. And yes, Australian and US aircrew did strafe Japanese troops in the water (particularly in the Battle of the Bismark Sea), following orders to prevent them being rescued and then taken as reinforcements to Lae to fight in that battle - easier to kill them in the water than in the jungle. Interesting Dresden was mentioned, but not the firebombing of Japanese cities, and the selection of purely civilian targets for the atom bombs. No side had 'çlean hands' but there was a very different level of scale between the Allies and Germany/ Japan. History is written by the winners.

[@arrjay2410]

This, particularly at this time in history, points out the need to avoid war in the first place.

[@j.a.weishaupt1748]

This time is no different than any other time in modern history. Things may feel tense now, but they were also tense in the 80s, 70s etc…

[@mountainmonk5874]

War is what people do.

[@paulcool4384]

I think it is strange that the use of the 2 nuclear bombs are not seen as war crimes ...

[@percyprune7548]

The pure barbarism of the Japanese armed forces meant there was little love for the nation as to treat as merely misguided. The extreme evil of their war crimes gave an 'open season' view on them. Plus, 3 1/4 million Allied servicemen were expected as casualties in a conventional invasion of Japan who had a Standing Order to murder every Allied P.O.W. the instant mainland Japan was invaded. They got off lightly with just 2 bombs considering their war crime record.

[@weeklyfascination]

Curtis LeMay said about the fire-bombing of Tokyo and Dresden, "If we had lost the war, we would have been prosecuted as war criminals." It is estimated that over 100,000 civilians were killed in Tokyo.

[@christophermerlot3366]

We had Japanese internment camps here in Canada too. Mostly, but not entirely, in BC.

[@sirhenrymorgan1187]

Canada also interred Ukrainian Canadians during WW1 and German and Italian Canadians during WW2. America also interred German and Italian Americans during WW2.

[@christophermerlot3366]

I actually own a pen holder/ink well set that was made by a German internee 1944. @@sirhenrymorgan1187

[@ronyeahwiggie729]

I applaud you for having the courage to address this all. It has been kept in the dark for far too long. In war, through the ages, all sides commit acts both of good and, unfortunately, of evil.

[@rodwilkins1614]

Only you have been in the dark. Everybody else already knew about this.

[@dennisweidner288]

@@rodwilkins1614 Absolutely correct.

[@dennisweidner288]

@ronyeahwiggie729 Nonsense. You must be the only person on the planet who is unaware og Google. And on Google often Allied war crimes get more attention than Axis war crimes even though most of the killing of civilians and POWs was done by the Axis and Soviets.

[@bdleo300]

A lot of angry Mericans and Brits in comments... What's next, calling ChurchiII a war criminal? How dare you!

[@BrianSmith-ow9gy]

France was given every opportunity to surrender its fleet, sail it to a neutral port or scuttle it. Negotiations went on for days. An ultimatum giving the time of the assault was given both verbally and in writing. There was no treachery and no betrayal; and no war crime.

[@rosesandsongs21]

No, it all happened on the same day, the French had surrendered to the Germans, the British had no business telling the French what to do, they opened fire before the French negotiator had reached his ship and in the end, they murdered 1,200 French Sailors many of whom had helped them get away at Dunkirk, a clear war crime. Hitler left them their fleet because he had no use for it, even adding the French fleet to his own the British were still much more powerful, his only effective weapon was the U-Boats. On the other hand the French colonies would have been very useful to the Germans, Hitler did not seize them hoping the French would join his fight against communism, they didn't. Too bad, if they had done so, communism would have disappeared right there and then. The French had promised that they would scuttle the fleet if ever the Germans got too close, and that's exactly what they did, if Churchill couldn't trust them it was his problem, the French kept their word.

[@MrDeadstu]

You barely scratched the surface Simon.

[@shiftymcgee9359]

No one will admit it. But it’s only an acknowledged war crime if you lose.

[@pennywisenibbles4949]

The Japanese’s lost and they still won’t admit to the absolute atrocities they committed

[@jackieking1522]

The French admiral had several honorable options. He was also provided with a specific timetable. He chose to call the Poms bluff and threw away the ships and his sailors.

[@jean-philippebobin3732]

You mean he didn't betray is countries in fear of retaliation of the Germain and that the British messenger forgot to told him they would attack, I have a hard time believing those who sank hospital ship on a regular basis?

[@bokajtob96]

Yes, I've heard this too.

[@bdleo300]

Yeah, I guess you can blame Roosevelt for Pearl Harbor...

[@kevinking8345]

If you think those internment camps weren’t a war crime then you don’t have a soul

[@craigplatel813]

Not a war crime per the laws of war. But definitely against the US constitution.

[@mountainmonk5874]

More Jap/Americans came out of the camps than went in. Not so much a war crime.

[@johanmetreus1268]

They were not WAR crimes.

[@joshuasill1141]

They weren't war crimes. Many of those 125,000 Japanese-Americans that were interned lived and worked around major US naval bases, airfields, dockyards, and shipyards. They were interned so they couldn't spy and report ship and troop movements to Japan. They weren't put there to be exterminated, which is a war crime. There was a criteria that had to been met before a person of Japanese decent could be interned. Was it wrong - yes. Were their rights as American citizens violated - yes. Was there a legitimate reason for the internment - yes.

[@johanmetreus1268]

@@joshuasill1141 even if they HAD been all exterminated, it would not have been a WAR crime. This was a crime committed by a state against its own population, and there the rules of war does not apply.

[@minhthunguyendang9900]

10:15 read Nicholas Montsarrat’s “The Cruel Sea” As to the Bismarck Sea the men shipwrecked were soldiers who would swim ashore to fight another day. The Japanese treatment of Allied shipwrecked men & women who made it ashore didn’t dispose the Allies toward leniency.

[@philrussell585]

You missed the US fire bombing Tokyo

[@drakeaniha2023]

Well they fire bombed us first 😂

[@Finnbobjimbob]

@@drakeaniha2023NO? They didn’t, they bombed a military installation (Granted it was illegal as war was not declared) and your country responded by setting AN ENTIRE COUNTRY ablaze and topping it off with two Atomic bombs, all of this was intentionally done and meant to kill as many people as possible and destroy as much as possible.

[@OneExhaustedFather]

Thank you! In light of everything going on today people need to see that in war there are no good guys. War crime perpetration was not and is not limited to the “bad guys”.

[@PxThucydides]

"No one in this war has been killed with a bayonet who didn't have his hands up first." First World War soldier.

[@Doom1981]

My grandma told me, that when she her sisters and her mothers were waiting on a train station while already being occupied by the Soviets they used to hide her teenage sister under the luggage, she and her youngest were pretty save and they hoped that her mom could fight off any advances, which apparently worked, at least she never told me otherwise.

[@bdleo300]

Ah so they r-ped your grandma?

[@budwilliams6590]

“Some of you young men think that war is all glamour and glory, but let me tell you, boys, it is all hell!” General William T. Sherman

[@Nope_handlesaretrash]

Yet another rapacious psychopath given medals for murdering women and children

[@bdleo300]

Sherman was definitely an expert on war crimes 😃

[@devious187]

"Fight Fire with fire, but tell the public we're using water" has always been a popular war strategy. And besides, the winners don't commit war crimes, they "fight gallantly against horrifically overwhelming odds," only the losers are monsters who need to be punished for their deeds. Its always been that way, the winners write the history books.

[@robertmchugh9024]

A rarely mentioned war crime was New Zealand troops in the Western Desert killing wounded and defenceless German soldiers in a military hospital. The New Zealand general apologised to Rommel saying he was unable to control some of his Māori troops.

[@jordanhicks5131]

I mean, he should respect their heritage, the Maori didn't really do the whole "taking prisoners" thing historically.

[@jfruser]

Did they eat them, too?

[@chrisbilham7587]

In the 1980s I did a hiking trip in NZ together with a Dutch guy - typical North European appearance, over 6 feet tall, blond hair, blue eyes. When we finished (in a remote country settlement) we went to the pub for a beer or three. We met an elderly Maori who asked if my friend was German, saying that he looked just like some Germans he had met during the war. His unit had captured some Germans in Italy - teenagers and clearly terrified. The NZ soldiers tried to reassure them that they were safe. Then an officer came over and ordered them to shoot the prisoners. They did, but this man still felt bad about it nearly 40 years later.

[@dennisweidner288]

@robertmchugh9024 A little context is needed here. How many Germans were killed in such circumstances? The actual number can not be very many. Most German POWs in Allied hands not only survived the War but actually gained weight. Some 5.7 million Soviet military personnel fell into German hands during World War II. By the end of the War, only about 930,000 Soviet POWs had survived.

[@NelsonMandela961]

​@@dennisweidner28895% if those in USSR perished

[@DjDolHaus86]

War makes monsters of all men. When taking lives becomes a normal, everyday activity that is encouraged or even applauded and your life could be over in a heartbeat then all the rest of the rules of society carry significantly less weight.

[@dennisweidner288]

@DjDolHaus86 War does not make monsters of all men. The people in the countries liberated by the Allies would have seen that as an obscene comment.

[@edmain1137]

My father was with Patton when they liberated a concentration camp, where before many German prisoners were killed but after that these men never took prisoners. It bothered my father enough to request his officer to stop this, except the man said he knew the men would only ignore this order since their hatred and anger was so great.

[@rosesandsongs21]

Yeah, unfortunately the Americans had conveniently forgotten that they had destroyed all modes of transportation in all of Germany, making the delivery of food and medications to the camps impossible, it was them who were responsible for the terrible conditions they saw when they got there. The Red Cross says so in its final report. Of course they didn't bother asking any questions, they just murdered all the German soldiers they found, based on a false assumption, a clear war crime.

[@DH.2016]

Sounds a bit hypocritical and self absorbed by Quetel when he stated that Operation Catapult was an act of "treachery and betrayal" given that it was France and not Britain that broke their alliance when it made a separate peace with Germany.

[@DeaconBlu]

The Lippisch massacre… I’ve been a student of the Second World War my whole life. (I’m almost 60 y/o) I’ve Never, Ever heard mention of this…anywhere. I grab my historical sources from every where I can, regardless of “side” or “affiliation”. Stunning… Absolutely stunning. 😢😢

[@digilyd]

Operation Catapult: it is malpractice to address that action without comparing it to the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807, a previous occasion where the british fleet annihilated another fleet to prevent it from falling into the hands of its direct adversary. Such a previous action is unavoidably a part of the British naval decision-tree.

[@fredmidtgaard5487]

My mother's school in Copenhagen, Denmark was bombed by the British RAF during WW2. Many kids were killed. My mother miraculously survived. If not I would not have been born many years later. It was a school, not a military target, and in an allied country! My father was in his teens during the war. He blew up German transport trains in Denmark. He never talked about it. And he was never rewarded for his efforts.

[@abzzeus]

A the start of the war bombing was so inaccurate that getting within 8km of the target was considered good

[@fredmidtgaard5487]

@@abzzeus What I heard was that the pilot misidentified the school and thought it was a military building. Anyway, bombing in the center of a big city might not be very smart.

[@jajsjejaiajawn]

That wasn't a war crime at all though. That was just a horrible accident. The Danish resistance begged the RAF to bomb the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen. During the raid one of the first planes crashed into/near the school. Some planes from follow up waves mistakenly bombed it, thinking the smoke was the Gestapo headquarters. It was a tragic accident, but not even close to being a war crime

[@fredmidtgaard5487]

@@jajsjejaiajawn I know! I did not say it was a crime. However, it was a bad accident. And my mother could have been killed. Thats all.

[@jajsjejaiajawn]

The wording of your comment did make it sound like it was deliberate. But yeah its horrible that it happened, I can't imagine going through that. @@fredmidtgaard5487

[@lovepeaceandlive]

I dont know.. its seems to me that once the axis powers threw out international law, treaties and rules.. it was carte blanche for the allies to follow suit. It may not be moral but atleast it keeps you alive.

[@gruenherz54]

Dresden was neither a logistic center or a manufacturing city. Notably Dresden was attacked after the battle of the bulge, Germany was done as a industrial country. Notably, what was bombed, Dresden center, had no effect on logistics or manufacturing whatsoever. The he’d end rail station hit was passenger traffic only, militarily traffic was unaffected. The only manufacturing affected were cigarettes. The Russians, supposedly the beneficiaries of the bombing, condemned it because it did nothing for their military actions. Most telling, Churchill himself famously questioned its justification.

[@peteralflat281]

By that stage of the war, this was untrue, much of Dresden's prewar industry had converted to war production, as was the case of every German town and city. That said, the attack was more to fulfil a promise to the Russians rather than military necessity.

[@percyprune7548]

A rail hub to the Eastern Front (and concentration camps), made weapons including machine guns and torpedoes as well as essential parts for the V1 & V2 weapons, and the Russians wanted it bombed to support their advance.

[@anthonylaw2109]

I once did a debate in one of my classes on ww1 and I did draw the short straw which meant I had to argue on the side of ww1 Germany and being that i am a Canadian and we did gain quite the reputation of looking at the rules of war is suggestions at the time I did end up winning that debate as my opponent talked about how Germany tried to take over others land which I am sure you can see the big flaw with that point considering that they were on the side of the British you know the empire responsible for the creation of independence days across the globe decided but although I won the battle I lost the war as people in my class still were mad at me for doing my part of assigned work and it took for my teacher to step in to remind everyone it was for educational purposes only and that’s why I love channels like this who don’t shy away from taking about the good guys warcrimes as I do find far to many people see the acts of the allies in we2 and ww1 as completely justified while the same actions committed by the other side are the viewed as war crimes and I sometimes say in a half joking manner that “it’s not a war crime if the winner did it” and am so glad we can see the wrong doings of both sides and hopefully learn from them for the future

[@CJD666]

You do realise that the British were not the only ones trying to build empires just the most successful, mainly because of the British Navy. Look it up. As for learning from the past research all the wars since the two world wars and you will see little or no change.

[@gandydancer9710]

WWI had nothing to do with either German or British imperialism.

[@TheQuickSilver101]

There were too many war crimes on the allied side to begin to list them fully here (for the record and because someone will suggest I'm saying it, of course that does not excuse the Axis war crimes which were worse). I'd like to see another part to this if possible. Thank you!

[@weybye91]

So what all the historians that says the allied didn't commit war crimes are really saying is "it's ok when we do it"

[@bravo2zero796]

Didn't mention the 5 options the Royal navy gave the French they gave them plenty of warning

[@finnhd915]

My grandparents live in Hannover Germany, the town hall has a model of the city before and after ww2 and the destruction is pretty crazy. The entire city was firebombed and my grandfather was forced to flee as a toddler before his house was bombed. The Allie’s certainly commuted war crimes and it really is a shame we don’t talk about them

[@ericjohnson7234]

so alot of honoured people are soon to be disgraced?

[@benpurcell4935]

Always remember it’s not a war crime the first time.

[@ordinaryAussie]

Evidently you forget that your grandparents were on the enemy side

[@brianmoore581]

But why should we play nice when you aren't? Why should we follow rules when you don't?

[@ericjohnson7234]

hes not asking for you to ignore crimes commiteed against people, BRIAN, hes asking for people to have understanding that it wasnt just the axis who commited them.@@brianmoore581

[@broccolinyu911]

Thank you for talking about this, Simon. Assuming you ignore the Soviets, people love to act like allies were bastions of good and the axis were 100% evil to the core when the truth of the matter is there were good and bad people on all sides. And any time you bring up war crimes of the allied powers, idiots like to be like "But the axis was worse!" like it justifies the allies own dark moments.

[@StallionStudios1234]

Yeah I am Canadian and it was certainly framed like that in our history classes and so forth. Of course the Red Scare after the war I imagine certainly factored into the Soviets not looking like angels.

[@tarzankom]

American here. The interment camps that held the Japanese was ABSOLUTELY a war crime. Our country has done some awful things. This was just one of them.

[@ROE675]

Actually I disagree with you it was not an "ABSOLUTELY a war crime", the US was not at war with these people and they were not enemy combatants. This was a crime against humanity.

[@bdleo300]

and they downvoted your comment.... truth hurts I guess....

[@bdleo300]

@@ROE675 Ah this again. How about German crimes in Czechoslovakia, they annexed it before the war? Also, how about civil wars, you claim there can be no war crimes during civil wars?

[@ROE675]

@@bdleo300 I think you are misunderstanding me. As I see it war crimes are crimes that are done under the auspices of combat operations or against the civilian population in occupied territory. Also war crimes are often acts that have been agreed upon by at least some of the belligerents as outside the scope of legitimate combat. Crimes against humanity would tend to be the acts that the world has decided so shock the conscience that they don't have to be agreed upon to be binding on people. It is not outside the realm of possibility that crimes could be both war crimes and crimes against humanity. I was specifically speaking about the internment camps the USA set up during WW2 to house US people of Japanese descent. I do not believe this was a war crime but a crime against humanity. I also believe that it was a gross violation of their civil rights. As to can war crimes be committed during a civil war, yes obviously. The Geneva Convention specifically discusses this concept. Even in a civil war lawful enemy combatants have to be treated in accordance with the terms of the Geneva Convention. I understand that this rarely happens as both sides in a civil war see the opponents as "traitors", and they are often treated as such. Also acts by the military agains civilians in the war zone would most assuredly be classed as war crimes if they don't comport with the various treaties and agreements on the lawful conduct during war.

[@HomebrewHorsepower]

The Minidoka internment camp in Idaho is now a national historic monument. It's very interesting to visit. I highly recommend it. It's a hell of a thing to walk through the very site where thousands of innocent people were imprisoned out of fear and racism.

[@ToddSauve]

Most Japanese North Americans were likely loyal citizens of the US and Canada. But some were not. One Japanese Canadian called the "Kamloops Kid" went back to Japan and took up a position as a POW guard at a prison in Hong Kong filled with Canadian prisoners. He was noted for his extreme brutality and was executed post war as a war criminal. Another Japanese Canadian went back and served in the Imperial Japanese Army until their surrender, IIRC. He then came back to Canada and founded Japan Camera in 1959, with many stores across Canada and the US. The famous "Tokyo Rose" was a Japanese American woman who happily worked for the Imperial Japanese government all through WW2.

[@HomebrewHorsepower]

@ToddSauve yup, and despite that it's never acceptable to suspend the civil liberties of innocent people. There will always be individuals who choose to harm others. That doesn't make it ok to imprison everyone who fits some arbitrary demographic. If that were the case we should preemptively lock up all middle age white men because that demographic is most likely to be a serial killer.

[@jacaredosvudu1638]

​@@ToddSauvenot to mention the Niihau incident

[@ToddSauve]

@@jacaredosvudu1638 Yes, you are correct. Oh how I wish everyone could get along peacefully but that is not our nature. We humans so often want some advantage over others to exploit them, and from that comes wars. Sigh.

[@bdleo300]

@@ToddSauve : 'One Japanese guy born in Canada allegedly did something bad in China. So concentration camps were actually ok'. -random yankee troll.

[@roykeller2893]

The attack by the British on the French Fleet July 3rd 1940 also sent a clear message to the United States (and Soviet Union too) that Britain, unlike France were serious about fighting Nazi Germany to the end come what may. Britain was asking for aid from the United States and so needed to persuade American leaders that they were going to fight on.

[@Mr.Seb0]

"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster."

[@meh7348]

Lol war didn't turn them into rapists, they were already like that.

[@sirhenrymorgan1187]

​​​​​​​@@meh7348Not true. Most men who went off to war were normal people before the horrors of war conditioned them into committing these brutal and savage acts. It's been scientifically proven how our brains can force us to dehumanize the enemy, to enable us to perform horrific atrocities. Anybody could be capable of this. You, me, anybody. I've seen this same sentiment echoed by Azerbaijani civilians in response to the torturous rape and murder of a young Armenian woman named Anush Apetyan by Azeri troops just last year. The Azeris said these soldiers were psychopaths who prolly would've committed such grotesque rapes and mutilations back in Azerbaijan anyways. This idea is NOT supported by science...

[@boristhedespot3473]

What i could never get was that england and france declared war on germany for invading poland yet two week later the soviets invaded poland and they did nothing, the soviets went on to invade the baltic states and finland. the british invaded lebanon, syria Iraq and iran the faroe island and iceland. Under the nurnberg protocals germany where prosecuted for making war, a crime whisch did not exist until after the war and has been since been broken by all the allies.

[@kaltaron1284]

Victor's bias, plain and simple. Poland got "compensated" with German territory and the privilege to be under the Soviets yoke and the Soviets got to control most of Eastern Europe. And that the British and French were a plague to the Middle East is a time honoured tradition.

[@Nope_handlesaretrash]

Perfidious Albinon

[@Finnbobjimbob]

No?

[@Gaphalor]

Dude stop it, you are making too much sense right now!

[@Finnbobjimbob]

@@Gaphalor He’s really not

[@steveli59]

"History is written by the victors" also applies to this video. The Allies were no bunnies either: THe declining British, French and Dutch Empires with the millions of dead indigenous people across the globe; the rapacious US keen to use their industrial might to rapidly create a new empire of their own and what can I say about the USSR and the murder of tens of millions of its own citizens ... Attackers / occupiers commit more crimes by default, as often they need to battle guerrilla bands hiding within the civilian population. While the anglo-americans were opportunistic entrants to this conflict, and the French have had some scores to settle, I think that the ugly fight without gloves was between the Germans and the Slavs were incredible atrocities were committed by both sides, when each had the upper hand. You might wish to examine the treatment of all the ethnic Germans in Central and Eastern Europe / USSR once Germany capitulated - not pretty... In short, all sides commit war crimes, but the winning side gets to bury or whitewash their own.

[@am53n8]

If you have to go " *_technically_* it's not a warcrime..." you know things are bad

[@keithwalmsley1830]

I'm sure the Allies did commit what would now be regarded as war crimes, but I think in our comfortable, free world, able to discuss these topics thanks to the sacrifice of the Services in World War 2, we are incapable of truly understanding the scale of the evil threat posed by the Axis Powers, and if you were to do a video on war crimes committed by the Axis we would be here until the end of time!!! I remember seeing an interview with a former Bomber crew member who took part in the bombing of Dresden, and on the way back he saw the trails of V2 rockets on the way to smash London, so the war and the Germans were far from finished even at that time of the war.

[@IntoTheVoid1981]

Random guy: "There is this topic of allied war crimes we almost never speak of, which is barely known, little researched, poorly investigated, scarcely documented, the vitnesses mostly silenced and almost never testified, overwhelmingly huge part of the perpetrators got away with it, lived their lives and 99% of them died without any sentence." You: "At leAsT caN we nOw sPEak aBoUt tHe axIs wAr cRimeS?"

[@AussiePom]

An American soldiers who served in WW2 said that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed by both sides not just one side but as is often stated you lose you pay the price and if you win you go unpunished. I've never looked upon the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials as real justice for they were just victors justice because none of the Allies were in the dock being prosecuted for their war crimes and crimes against humanity. They even go after people in the 80's and 90's who participated in the holocaust but don't go after allied personnel in the 80's and 90's who committed war crimes too.

[@MrGoesBoom]

Yeah, most of this gets glossed over or not even touched on in American schools...the way we treated our own people simply over their ancestry was appalling. It's too late to ask him, but I wonder sometimes how my grandfather ( german american, I can't recall if it was his parents or grandparents that were immigrants ) was treated at this time, as he was in the US Navy in the Pacific in WW2

[@gandydancer9710]

It was not unreasonable to worry about Japanese-Americans aiding their home country, though the actual danger from that, as opposed to OF that, was exaggerated. Just being born on American magic dirt didn't necessarily determine loyalties. A Japanese pilot was in fact aided by Japanese-American civilians when he crash-landed on a minor Hawaiian island in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor. (The locals -- not Japanese-American, I believe -- ended up killing him and the male collaborator committed suicide, iirc.)

[@12floz67]

@MrGoesBoom I don’t know what school you attended but Japanese interment camps were taught to us in the 8th grade. I’ve never had an issue with it because I don’t judge history I learn from it plus neither of us has access to all the information that Roosevelt had at the time.

[@davidkinsey8657]

You should really do a second part covering Allied war crimes in the Pacific theater. Some US ships machine-gunned survivors of sunken Japanese ships. The fire bombing of Tokyo was as devastating as the bombing of Dresden. At times Allied troops mutilated the bodies of dead Japanese soldiers for trophies. Soldiers attempting to surrender were often shot (of course many Japanese would feign surrender and then attack making this an understandable response.) And the Soviet attack in August 1945 also was accompanied by war crimes.

[@BakingBadOBX]

what we did in the pacific theater was awful, but I give them a little excuse for it as the manner in which the japanese committed war and war crimes themselves was so horrific that it had to have affected the marines significantly on a psychological level, far worse than those in europe. Eventually they refused to take prisoners because the assholes would suicide bomb when surrendering and the pow camps for the japanese were by far the worst. They treated any captive like they were filthy rats.

[@LarsonPetty]

@@BakingBadOBX When I was a kid, my family knew an old guy that was held on one of the Japanese forced labor/prison ships in WW2. Until the day he passed, he wouldn't allow a Japanese car be parked on his property. Never understood this as a child, but after reaching adulthood and reading about those awful ships, I completely understand how he could've had such a lingering hostility.

[@jonnyjetstreamer997]

@@LarsonPettyI also had a neighbor who would not allow anything Japanese up his driveway either… He was a navy guy with a real bad attitude

[@matthewcharles5867]

​@@LarsonPettythat kind of thing was more common than you think I can think of 2 instances of it I remember as a kid. 1) the old bloke down the road who was a pow at sandakan 1 of 6 survivors out of 2500 pows the the Japanese either slaughtered or marched to death. He went on later to testify at a war crime commission against the Japanese. 2) a uncle who fought against the Japanese in new Guinea and later on in the islands. He found one of his men in a Japanese cooking pot after he went missing the night before when on patrol. Later on he rescued some Indian pows who had been transported over to be used as food. As you can probably imagine both of those men had no time whatsoever for anything remotely Japanese for the rest of their lives. Wasn't until I was much older that I understood the context behind their views.

[@bdleo300]

Japanese were beyond brutal tho, what they did in China is hideous. Yet the US government saved and even hired Japanese Unit 731 after the war.