Taranto Raid, 1940: The British Raid that Inspired Japan's Pearl Harbor (Documentary)

In November 1940, the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm executed a surprise attack on the Italian naval base at Taranto, reshaping naval warfare... The raid on Taranto would go on to inspire the Empire of Japan to launch their attack against Pearl Harbor a year later.
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0:00 Introduction
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Written by House of History
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#HouseofHistory #History

[@HoH]

✨This video is not sponsored. If you want to help me make more videos and gain early access, consider supporting House of History at www.patreon.com/HouseofHistory!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

You're the Best! Thanks For this 😊😊😊❤❤

[@drj.r.cooper2493]

This video should not be sponsored! The Japanese assessed the effects of this raid ONLY BECAUSE Admiral Yamamoto had already been planning the attack of Pearl Harbor for many months! What is it with British "historians" who must insist they did everything first & better? Propaganda....

[@Young0maker]

The japanese be like: Write that down! Write that down!

[@mrbaab5932]

The USA Navy, we will practice such an attack at Pearl Harbor 6 months before the attack, but still be surprised. Oops

[@suryia6706]

More like "Hold my sake!" 😀

[@johncunningham6928]

@@mrbaab5932 It was more like ten years before. Drachinifel has a series on the US Fleet problems which covers this...

[@SennaAugustus]

The Stringbag was called as such because the plane could carry anything, just like the shopping bag. Their slow speed and superior handling made them the only planes that could take off at night, something other planes needed a few more years to work out. Such is the nature of battle honours, no other ship was given the honour of Taranto 1940 as it was deemed a solo effort.

[@mrbaab5932]

The Japanese Navy and Airforce had already worked night operations for most of their planes by then.

[@asianbandit4054]

@@mrbaab5932 But not in combat. Akagi proved it could be done operationally but under serious combat conditions however the brits were the first.

[@5RndsFFE]

The advantage of the Fairy Swordfish was that as a biplane it had incredibly low takeoff speeds, something which had hampered many monoplanes adopted for naval service, with carriers having to turn into the wind to launch. This in combination with its still all canvas construction meant most small caliber (13-30mm) shells would pass right through it without the contact fuzes functioning. The fact it lacked a radio set is counterintuitive to its ability to launch at night, where everything Nav is done my compass, star and voice comms.

[@SarlaccSurvivor]

Thank you for finally explaining why it was called the string bag. Idk how many documentaries I've seen that quote the name but never explain it. Maybe it's a British thing where they all understand that reference instantly but the rest of us have no idea what a string bag is 😂

[@ApplyWithCaution]

... it was called the string bag because it was a spruce and canvas biplane with the various members held in tension by struts and wire ...

[@grandadmiralzaarin4962]

One cannot help but feel sympathy for the Regia Marina. It spent two decades arming, training and preparing to fight the Marine Nationale of France, and not to go to war until 1942 at the earliest, instead they suddenly found themselves in war with the Royal Navy in 1940, an enemy who specialized in night fighting, had radar and aircraft carriers. That the Italians did as well as they did is nothing short of commendable.

[@kino6395]

Your right but also not entirely, technical advantage was on the Brits side but the Italians still should have won they had a huge advantage in numbers (in terms of in theatre the UK had ships but they needed to be guarding the Atlantic). Above everything the main advantage the Brits had was military tradition the Italians were repeatedly extremely cautious and not using what they had to press home and advantage. While as soon as the Brits sensed an advantage or an ability to even do battle all available ships were brought out. This mindset is why the British won and had continued to win since the days of sail. The problem is your looking back with hindsight, radar was new to everyone in 1938, the UK wasn't any better than the Italians at night fighting and carriers went seen as that important. The Radar is what made the UK good at night fighting, (look at HMS Ajax rampage and the sinking of the Schanhorst). The UK had a military tradition of grabbing any tech with both hands to make sure they stay at the top of the pile and with Radar it payed off. Aircraft carriers before and during the early war was more seen as a scout force with limited impact with a primary goal of counter sub but it very quickly changed. This change was forced as admirals like Cunningham weren't able to match up with battleships having 3 to Italy's 6. Italy failed to push this advantage and gave the Brits time to adapt and go though documented war games from the interwar. Where they found plans for this raid, at the time thrown out as implausible but recorded as that's what the Royal Navy does. As now the Royal Navy was desperate enough to try such a risky plan. And in 1 night 1 ship took out 3 of the previous top dogs. That's why this battle is so important as it shows the point where carriers go from a side arm of the Navy to the primary focus.

[@kino6395]

Thought I'd do a tiny bit of research before I put this next part in more detail. The reason why the UK has so many carriers going into WW2 was for completely different doctrines than we think of today. I can't remember what it's name was but in short the idea was to use Carriers to aggressively hunt U-boats. This plan backfired spectacularly at the outbreak of WW2 with the sinking of HMS Courageous. Leaving the UK with a huge U-Boat problem, not enough escorts to protect the convoys and funnily enough a bunch of carriers that aren't very good at there intended role. Leaving them to get assigned to tasks such as aircraft transport (sinking of HMS Glorious and the Malta convoy) and scouting for the Mediterranean Fleet. While there had been theory for the effectiveness of carriers and I believe most knew it was a matter of when not if. It was still believed by all major Nations the battleship was the primary navel weapon just look into what was being laid down in dry docks I don't feel bad for the Italians as contemporary reports from the Italian side knew how much they outnumbered the UK forces yet they completely failed to press home that advantage through lack of fuel and aggression.

[@daveweiss5647]

It blows my mind that the Italians didn't have their entire Navy just bum rush Gibraltar as their very first act the very day they declared war while the Brits were getting pummeled in France and not at all prepared for a Mediterranean conflict, throw the entire Navy and any Amphibious forces they had at Gibraltar, take it at all cost and fortify it with everything they had and at the same time throw their entire airforce and any airborne troops they had at Malta while it was relatively undefeated and the Brits were very distracted.... they basically could have had full control of the Mediterranean on day one.... once France fell basically insist the Germans force the French to give up their fleet and split it with the Germans, give then the trade off that you'll help them in the Atlantic, bring Franco in by promising him Gibralter (though insist your Navy stays to help protect it until the end of the war) maybe even promis him all of Morocco after the war... or don't but threaten Vichy with giving it to him, plus letting them keep their fleet if they join the Axis (maybe even promis them french soeaking areas of Belgium post war)... which ever is more likely to get both on board and/or whichever either is most likely to accept... in any case, Mediterranean becomes an Axis lake, Greece and Yugoslavia have no Chance of going over to Allies meaning no Balkan Campaign, meaning operation Barbarosa starts earlier which woukd likely mean reaching Moscow before winter and a possible knockout blow against the Soviets, also Egypt is cut off and likely falls fairly easily, Brits cut off from Pacific, Iraq stays in the Axis camp giving them more oil (also Romanian airfield would have never been bombed by Brits, also more oil) etc, etc, etc, etc, etc...... It could have totally changed the course of the war,,, it should have been their number one objective by far!!! Why not?

[@BatMan-oe2gh]

@@daveweiss5647 The same reason Germany failed, one man giving the orders who had no proper military training in leading a large military force.

[@daveweiss5647]

​@BatMan-oe2gh in fairness, I've read a bit on the traditional Royalist Officer Corp running the Italian military as well (the Italian troops and junior officers were actually quite brave and under rated) let's just say... they didn't exactly wrap themselves in glory, I remember reading one anecdote of some young officers sent as military attache to the Wehrmacht who came back to his superiors raving about this new thing called the "Blitzkrieg" that he thought they should look into and was politely told something to the effect of "it sounds interesting we will consider it for the next war" and essentially shelved his report without even looking at it... quite sad so many have been sacrificed to the incompetence and stubbornness of fools...

[@jiyuhong5853]

the battleships actually had good torpedo protection. unfourtunatlet since the torps hit the section without protection they sank

[@jiyuhong5853]

plus they had 3 rudders

[@geoffburrill9850]

Despite the Swordfish's appearance they were excellent torpedo bombers, could carry a decent sized torpedo and could take a great deal of punishment.

[@oliverhughes610]

It's incorrect to state that Taranto 'irreversibly tipped the scales'. Britain arguably enjoyed superiority beforehand, but it is also argued that Italy enjoyed a period of supremacy after the Alexandria raid just over a year after this.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Huge fan of your work! Keep it up😊😊😊

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

An informative and wonderful historical coverage episode shared by an excellent ( house of history) channel...introduced clearly. Showed British naval forces' superiority on Mediterranean sea.while, the Italian navy suffered from devastating loss in single naval assault .launched by swordfish biplanes those took on British aircraft carriers .. both Italian navy and German navy hadn't aircraft carriers. Thanks for sharing

[@HoH]

Thank you!

[@richardkeilig4062]

This was a prelude to Pearl Harbor. This incident is not well known. The British planes were not great, but the pilots were. The Italians did the best they could to save their ships. Thank God that the terrible war ended.

[@Volcano-Man]

Actually, reinforced what the yanks did BEFORE 1940. They carried out at least one mock attack on Pearl Harbor. It was declared that all attacking aircraft were shot down by the defenders. However, the attacking force comprised two sections - one attacked from the sea, the other came in through the valleys of Oahu. All eyes on the sea watching for the attackers, and the ones coming in from the land took the defences totally by surprise. Several ships were declared hit, but the umpires declared 'foul' and that the attack had been shot down - same as the attack from the sea. What happened next gave the Japanese the next piece of the jigsaw - the yanks went out in to Honolulu visiting the bars, and where houses where they bragged in detail. Japanese intelligence operatives listened, and noted everything being said. That information went back to Tokyo - courtesy of the US Mail. The IJN started improving its preparations, and when they received the intelligence about Taranto, they had almost everything they needed to carry out the attack on Pearl Harbor. The decision was made to attack at dawn, and it just so happened that the fleet was in position on Saturday 6th December 1941, meaning g the attack would be at about sunrise on the Sunday - 7th December 1941. So yes, the IJN carried out the attack which kicked the US off the fence, but ultimately they US actually showed the IJN how a surprise attack could succeed. Even today the yanks still brag about how they achieved something in an exercise - and then repeat it and are surprised when it goes tits up - Bosnia Stealth Bomber flew the same route at least twice and was shot down!

[@adamstrange7884]

Bismark, I AM ZE BEST BATTLESHIP IN ZE ATLANTIC! Stringbag: REALLY?

[@suryia6706]

British "Hold my beer"

[@user-jg2se1yo6m]

John Tovey, HMS King George V, HMS Rodney, HMS Victorious, HMS Norfolk, HMS Dorsetshire, HMS Suffolk and HMS Ark Royal: "You sure about that?"

[@adeptusmagi]

were any of these listed speeds ever tested by anyone apart from the Italians ? the problem with listing these speeds is the Italians speed tested their ships before they were complete Often before the gun turrets had been put into the hulls so count 300- 400 tons per turret and the fact that no ammo was on the ships makes a massive difference to the true ship speed

[@shawngilliland243]

I have read the same thing, that the Regia Marina held the speed trials when the ships hadn't yet been completed, and were thus significantly lighter.

[@adeptusmagi]

@@shawngilliland243 yes they held the trials when the hull was launched before turrets had been lowered on and before the ship had its other supplies and equipment on board the french also tested without supplies and equipment at was all about boasting who had the best new ships on paper compliant with the Washington naval treaty

[@anonnemo2504]

Superbly described and illustrated account of this historic action. Many thanks!

[@KHK001]

Great video as always!

[@pomicultorul]

great quality, thank you!

[@DeaconBlu]

Nice vid! Thanks mate! 😎👍

[@paulsara9694]

Good job they didn't have the type 14 US torpedo.

[@Centu07]

Hey .. I love ur editing and voice overs..keep educating us with ur impressive videos love from India 😊🇮🇳

[@chrish42000]

Loving the content

[@penandsword4386]

Awesome video! A good read on this raid - " The Attack on Taranto", by Thomas P Lowry - 2023

[@ThomasEJohnson]

Great video!

[@Raphael-pt7rx]

love your videos :D

[@eazygamer8974]

I don't know if the Italian's hearts just were not in the fight but the amount of military blunders they had during ww2 is astonishing.

[@lilboy3102]

Could you make a video on MV Ondina and HMIS Bengal battle against Hokako Maru ? It would be very great as not many people know it 😅

[@richardstone5552]

Thanks

[@davidclaudy4822]

I just found your channel. Good stuff. I subscribed.

[@HoH]

Welcome aboard!

[@gregorylumban-gaol3889]

Hopefully you can do one on the Battle of Surabaya

[@MCorpReview]

Italians lack radar 😂they literally invented the radio 📻🤯🤯🤯

[@paulclarke1207]

Marconi, an Italian, might have invented radio, but he didn't do it in Italy. He did it in Chelmsford, England.

[@simongills2051]

How can you miss a bloody huge stationary battleship? Specsavers comes to mind.

[@Zottyo]

After watching this video, I wouldn't call Taranto a well defended fortress. Not a single fighter were launched to intercept the bombers? All those "magnificent" AA guns were managed to shot down only 2 planes? Wow, what a fortress

[@lastguy8613]

You do realise the attack was a night don't you?

[@albertarthurparsnips5141]

I get rather bored, frankly , with what has been an inexhaustible stream of works of every conceivable sort on the kriegsmarine. It’s always SUCH a lovely relief to see something being done on the Regia Marina . Amongst a myriad of other aspects of great interest, the pioneering work done by the navy of Italy with regard to the development of submersibles & rather advanced ‘frogman’ deployment is fascinating !

[@lilboy3102]

Could you please make a video on Operation Livery 1942 and Operation Transom, Operation Cockpit 1944 ? These content animated are not there on youtube. And they are very less known

[@HoH]

Thanks for the great suggestions, I will have a look!

[@user-vo8ss2bm3p]

1:40 several complains: 1. not to scale. 2. possible error with Doria class crew size - while it seems similar to Cavour class, the complement over 2000 sounds insane.

[@Martin77641]

The italian had 6 battleships 3 were dmaged but he said that the italians had now 2 battleships to fight. What happened with the 6. battleship?

[@BA-gn3qb]

​The other battleship, in typical Italian fashion, immediately surrendered. It was called: Whatsa Matter U.

[@Whatisthisstupidfinghandle]

Go away. Start your own channel

[@antoniodemunari3335]

Also the data sheet is incorrect as it states the techincal data for the duilios and cavours before the reconstruction

[@jamesross8410]

Torrens-Spencer was a US Naval officer?

[@tigerland4328]

I was confused about that aswell as the aircraft show wasn't a swordfish either

[@drd4059]

Interesting the Italians did not get their ships moving to make harder targets given the advance warning.

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

It can take a few hours to get the boilers up to working pressure, depending on how they left them running. In the First World War, the German High Seas Fleet needed 6 hours to get ready for sea. Destroyers would probably have been quicker though.

[@tobycowman]

I recently walked around Taranto as I wanted to see the site of this famous neglected battle. There is a huge Fascist era naval HQ and parade ground overlooking the vast anchorage. I can imagine the dictator Mussolini posturing and gloating from the balcony there before the war.

[@That_Man785]

Strongest Italian battleship VS weakest British Cruiser

[@user-gc9ld1gn4l]

Would be courios, to learn more about the Kemlitz incident, where the Russians lost 13 airplanes without any enemy

[@cerberus2881]

Fiu-may

[@estebancastellino3284]

🌋

[@janlindtner305]

👍👍👍

[@hellascommentor]

Great work! Just a few discreoancies in the map of Greece (Thrace border with Turkey and Bulgaria & the extent of the Italian invasion & advance)

[@Martin77641]

Great video but there are a mistake in the end. He said 3 battleships were damaged but there were 3. Then he said italian had now 2 but there are 3 now. This video shows that the britain can make this attack so much better but they did it with on aircraft carrier why?

[@miroslavtordaji1675]

UK didn't have that many carriers at the start of the war

[@neilbuckley1613]

the old Carrier HMS Eagle was supposed to participate in this attack but she had an engine malfunction and had to drop out.

[@shawngilliland243]

@@neilbuckley1613 thank you for answering Martin's question correctly. Imagine how much more damage might have been done to the Regia Marina had TWO Royal Navy carriers launched their torpedo bombers at Taranto!

[@tigransuqiasyan4839]

✨✊✨

[@joekellyou]

The adventures of the Second Pacific Squadron ending with the Battle of Tsushima.

[@daveweiss5647]

It blows my mind that the Italians didn't have their entire Navy just bum rush Gibraltar as their very first act the very day they declared war while the Brits were getting pummeled in France and not at all prepared for a Mediterranean conflict, throw the entire Navy and any Amphibious forces they had at Gibraltar, take it at all cost and fortify it with everything they had and at the same time throw their entire airforce and any airborne troops they had at Malta while it was relatively undefended and the Brits were very distracted.... they basically could have had full control of the Mediterranean on day one.... once France fell basically insist the Germans force the French to give up their fleet and split it with the Germans, give then the trade off that you'll help them in the Atlantic, bring Franco in by promising him Gibralter (though insist your Navy stays to help protect it until the end of the war) maybe even promis him all of Morocco after the war... or don't but threaten Vichy with giving it to him, plus letting them keep their fleet if they join the Axis (maybe even promis them french soeaking areas of Belgium post war)... which ever is more likely to get both on board and/or whichever either is most likely to accept... in any case, Mediterranean becomes an Axis lake, Greece and Yugoslavia have no Chance of going over to Allies meaning no Balkan Campaign, meaning operation Barbarosa starts earlier which woukd likely mean reaching Moscow before winter and a possible knockout blow against the Soviets, also Egypt is cut off and likely falls fairly easily, Brits cut off from Pacific, Iraq stays in the Axis camp giving them more oil (also Romanian airfield would have never been bombed by Brits, also more oil) etc, etc, etc, etc, etc...... It could have totally changed the course of the war,,, it should have been their number one objective by far!!! Why not?

[@tboi5826]

This is some hearts of iron brain boss. You wanna put the entire Italian fleet into an attack on possibly the most fortified position on earth, far out of range for air cover, and at the risk of being surrounded on both sides? Spain consistently felt no need to join the war, the Vichy French fleet was scuttled when the Germans tried to capture it, and even if Gibraltar was somehow captured supplies would still run to Egypt around the cape of Africa, as they often did. The Italians had pretensions of empire that their military was simply unequipped to realise

[@daveweiss5647]

It would have been a hell of a hail Mary to say the least but I think younover rate the state of the Brits during the fall of France, they essentially didn't have an effective army left, their Navy was tied up in the Atlantic with Uboats and English Channel keeping a line of escape open and their Airforce was barely enough to protect England their Naval forces in the Mediterranean were no match for the Italians at that stage and I think Gibralters Defense was no match for WWII tech, I don't even think they believed they could hold it (they built a hidden room in a cave for a stay behind Cadre for when it fell) the French fleet was scuttled, amd still may have been, but it happened well after the surrender, I think if the Germans had acted quickly while they were in shock immediately after the fall they may have gotten a chunk of it... Malta definitely would have been much easier a target and I think would have been a gimme very early in the war and still would have been a huge pick up for the Italians in its own right. I know they did send supply around Africa but I don't think it would have been sustainable on its own to support Egypt plus all their other African ajd Pacific operations, especially when you consider that the Axis wouldn't have had to use resources in the Balkans and could have sent them all to Egypt with no attrition from allied forces... I definitely think it would have been worth a shot, but that is definitely looking at the situation in hindsight.

[@tboi5826]

@@daveweiss5647 the navy forces involved in the u boat campaign and evacuation were primarily light, destroyers, frigates and corvettes. With a threat to a position as important as Gibraltar undoubtedly the admiralty would send a decently sized task force from the home fleet. The Mediterranean fleet also consistently outfought the Italians, despite being smaller. Although the raf was struggling to defend Britain at the time, the fighters are not the issue for the Italians here, it’s swordfish naval bombers stationed at gib that could cause significant damage to an Italian fleet away from their own fighters. Gibraltar surely wouldn’t have held indefinitely, but the tunnels would have allowed a defence for significant time, likely until a relief force could appear. The British army was on the back foot at the time, but still strong enough to destroy the Italians in North Africa, and I believe the vast majority of supplies for the 8th army were delivered around the Horn of Africa, the few exceptions being crucially rushed convoys. Malta would have possibly been an easier target, but crete showed the difficulties with airborn ops of that scale. You assume no operations in the balkans but why would the Greeks simply surrender without firing a shot? The Gibraltar operation you propose could have robbed the Italians of their strongest arm, their navy, within a month of joining the war. You’d rarely find a commander willing to make that gamble. Like Churchill said about jellicoe, how was the only man who could lose the war in an afternoon. The Italians wouldn’t have lost the war so quickly, but I’m willing to bet any Italian admiral who rolled those dice and lost would also lose their head.

[@tigerland4328]

By going straight for Gibraltar the Italians would have bought even more British forces to the Mediterranean. The Royal Navy would have sent a sizeable number of ships from the home fleet to counter the Italians(that's not even mentioning the British ships already in Gibraltar) Also the British Mediterranean fleet was based in Alexandria not Gibraltar so any attack in the western Mediterranean would have left the eastern med completely vulnerable to the Royal navy.

[@daveweiss5647]

​@@tigerland4328 That's why them seizing Malta was so important, these actions would have had to be a "Pearl Harbor" like action... Surprise attacks before Italy was officially in the war while they were relatively lightly defended... then turn Malta into a fortress packed with as much airpower as it can hold... creating a Scilily/Malta/Libya defensive line isolating Egypt and protecting Gibralter from any attack from the east/make Brits pay for any Naval activity by air or Submarine attack... do the same with Gibralter (possibly getting support from Spain in exchange for promising it to them after the war) also keep in mind this was early in the war when the German surface fleet still terrified the Brits and was tying up a ton of their fleet and the Uboat campaign as well as surface raiders being able to cut off supplies to UK was a real fear... as was the French fleet going over to the Axis... plus a fully defended Gibralter expecting an attack from the Brits would be different animal to a Gibralter who thought it had no enemies from the Med side... like I said... it would be a long shot/hail Mary... but possible, and possibly worth it... considering the final outcome...

[@spidos1000]

Michael Torrens Spence isn't American ffs!

[@nomooon]

How come the anti air fire here is so effective, yet those anti air fire protecting Yamato was so useless...

[@chadrowe8452]

Yamamoto was at sea there didn't have land based aa and searchlights to supplement it's own and the planes that hit Yamato were moving 500mph instead of 100mph, making them much harder to hit

[@RaEndymion1231]

Almost 400 us aircraft attack yamato, the taranto raid only with 21 aircraft.

[@lastguy8613]

You do realise this attack was at night? Yamato was caught in daylight and by a much larger force

[@GosWardHen98]

A good video on an important episode in naval warfare, without the Yanks, in the Mediterranean theatre. Isntbit also that the European call Lieutenant as leftenant pronunciation & the Yanks lootenant,!. Just saying...

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

Although there WAS that American pilot along with the stringbags if you spotted him!

[@tigerland4328]

​@@WhatHoSnorkersI'm pretty sure that was a mistake as I can't find any info on an American pilot at Taranto. Plus the animation shows a floatplane not a swordfish torpedo bomber

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

@@tigerland4328It did surprise me a bit. I re-watched and the man with the Stars and Stripes was en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Torrens-Spence who was born in Ireland in March 1914 and was Royal Navy through and through. 11:39 or so is the timestamp!

[@zippypinhead9573]

HELLO EVERYONE. from North Idaho USA. Love the channel.

[@Khasidon]

This radar sound effect is annoying and not needed to get the message through. One blip if any should be enough. Nice videos though and script.

[@matthewmontgomery6670]

This is such a bs title. The Japanese were not "inspired" by the Taranto raid. Go back to the mid to late '30's and research when Yamamoto went to Pearl Harbor and had wargames between the brasses, the scenario was how would you attack Pearl Harbor. They played the 'game' on the tennis courts (with nets removed, ofc) and Yamamoto attacked Pearl more or less the same way as he did in '41.

[@patrickmiano7901]

If they had attacked a German naval base they might not have been as successful.

[@soldierofwessex7616]

no they would have been a lot more successful, as much shit as Italy gets for ww2, the kreigsmarine would have lost in 1941 had it not been for the regia marina, also can i point out that more German surface raiders were sunk in harbor by bombers than at sea. but still in a list of most powerful Axis navy's Germany is the weakest out of the there main countries

[@Britishempirewillneverdie]

Its so funny all the salty italians, indians and yanks in the comments calling down Britain because they were so good and won 😂😂 keyboard warriors who never served and wouldnt say a word to our faces 😂