VE day 80th Anniversery. Anyone watching or there even?

AMKC

I thought the flypast was disappointing. No Spitfires or Hurricanes. Only a Lancaster and then modern aircraft.

The rest of it the ceremony though has been very good. Certainly a lot of crowds.

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058408751/ve-day-80th-anniversery-anyone-watching-or-there-even

Think I briefly heard something on the BBC News this morning about the spitfires only being able to fly for thirty minutes. Maybe they had a separate flyby. Wasn't really paying attention though.

Was over in the vicinity when the Lancaster's flew overhead one time. Great noise.

Lucien_Sarti

<a gag lifted from from online 2day>

"Thinking of great grandad today who fought all the way from the Normandy beaches to Berlin.

He’d have been proud to see Reform* doing so well

That said, he was in the 21st Panzer Division…"

_________________________

* (an English billionaire funded controlled opposition "party" psyop - just like all the others, boring at this stage 😴 ).

kneemos

Should we celebrate VE Day? Plenty of Irish boys fought in the war.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123420538#Comment_123420538

Awe very good. I think I seen the one that flew in Bray a few years ago

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123420701#Comment_123420701

I think we should because if it weren't for that we would all be speaking German now.

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123420720#Comment_123420720

We're all speaking English so no, we shouldn't be celebrating.

Lucien_Sarti

Shouldn’t we firstly give credit to the then Brisitsh & French ruling class (popularly known as governments for some reason) who cynically and secretly held off any joint preemptive major attack with the USSR against Hitler in 1937- which by many military experts judgment at the time would have brought the German capitalists Nazi adventure to a halt quickly before it started;

then in the same vein held off any major attack during what is labelled ‘the phoney war’ (??? people accept this nonsense terminology???) and then bided their time with minor strategic / selfish sideshows until Nazi Germany was ready to destroy the USSR; and even THEN they waited 2 years for both of those powers to extinguish each other

[ → this is ofc European imperialists favorite military strategy for 500+ years – both in the garden (home territories) and in the colonies (Africa, Asia etc) ]

then they joined the fray at that absurdly late stage and now they claim they won the war!!!
50 million dead in the “European Theater” as a result of that cynical anti-human psychopathy and people want to “celebrate” VE day???

When the equivalent present day psychopaths, still in power unfortunately, are planning the next 15 ways to have the next series of major wars, as we speak.
Celebrate – No. Solemn mourning maybe; Justified ANGER maybe.

Sorry to be a party pooper but F*ck all that sh1t!!!

Galwayguy35

The Brits were on the right side in WW2 but they spent the previous 300 years murdering half the world.

Their so called empire was just as evil as Nazi Germany.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123420727#Comment_123420727

Well I for one prefer to be speaking English than German and I for one am glad the allies won the war and not the Nazis.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421130#Comment_123421130

Oh I agree.

Montage of Feck

It's also the 80th anniversary of Hitler's death.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123420804#Comment_123420804

You seem to be complaining they do AND don't start wars.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421130#Comment_123421130

Isn't that the history of the world. Everything from empires to local chiefs laying waste to each other. Irish people made up a lot of that empire. Lot of Irish in WW2.

machiavellianme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421240#Comment_123421240

That was last week, 30th April

Exiled Rebel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123420804#Comment_123420804

Ah the benefit of hindsight.

Prior to 1937 the NAZI's were just seen by other European nations as aggressors within their own state. The Brits in particular were not ready for a preemptive strike nevermind war in 1937. The French it turned out had major defensive deficiencies and the Soviet Union was a basket case. It wasn't until the early 40s that Stalin had their war machine up and running and by then the Germans were already in Poland ready to steam into the rest of eastern Europe. The Soviets just about held off the Germans by the skin of their teeth before the Eastern front turned in their favour.

So to say a preemptive strike in 1937 would have stopped WWII is for the birds. The capabilities were not there.

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421224#Comment_123421224

You're missing the point. The nazis were just a bad imitation. We had long been nazi'd by 1939.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421446#Comment_123421446

I didn't say any of them were "alright". But if you think they are maybe elaborate why?

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421455#Comment_123421455

You were just shrugging your shoulders when Britain's murderous history was brought up. I was just checking if you were consistent, the nazis would fit in to your "Everything from empires to local chiefs laying waste to each other"? Maybe if there were Irish people forced to help the nazis you'd excuse them?

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421439#Comment_123421439

Ireland in the 1930s...

https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2023/1215/1422003-ireland-blue-blouses-kathleen-browne-blueshirts-fine-gael/

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421466#Comment_123421466

Actually I was pointing out there were a lot of Irish in the British empire, India etc. So it's as much Irish History as British. Ireland was part of the British Empire. Sailed it's ships, fought it's wars.

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421468#Comment_123421468

The original nazis showing how to eliminate millions....

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/08/india-britain-empire-railways-myths-gifts

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421485#Comment_123421485

No, you were excusing Britain's murderous history. Ireland were one of its many victims. The Indian history alone shows that the nazis were just cheap imitations. The nazis even tried to go the starvation route for a while but they were amateurs compared to the British empire.

ancapailldorcha

I didn't do anything. I didn't know there was anything on. A bit of advertising from the city here would have been a good idea I think.

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421496#Comment_123421496

Why would it be advertised here?

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421514#Comment_123421514

I live in London.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421486#Comment_123421486

"...Irish soldiers comprised between 40 and 50 percent of British military personnel stationed in India..."

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/louth/drogheda-news/william-hoy-and-his-own-zulu-dawn/39125465.html

Yeah Irish there too

Flinty997

A lot of Irish died in WW2 I'm sure Irish people were just as relieved when War in Europe ended on VE day.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421491#Comment_123421491

No you're trying to white wash Irish history by excluding the Irish any connection from WW2, in particular VE day.

Flinty997

Ireland on VE day...

https://universitytimes.ie/2021/06/what-the-1945-ve-riots-tell-us-about-a-forgotten-ireland/

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421496#Comment_123421496

The crowds seemed to have been kept back to certain areas from the bits I saw - it didn’t “feel” like previous WW2 commemoration ceremonies although last year was the big one so probably deliberately kept more low key.

I’ve been watching them on TV since a kid - always a good spectacle whether it’s queens /kings being birthday or some anniversary commemoration - but if I were in London, the thoughts of standing 8 people deep to see a glimpse of some horses going by probably wouldn’t entice me

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123421695#Comment_123421695

Very interesting thanks for posting. The quote below resonates as much today as it did then- not necessarily Ireland but certainly countries like Romania and other Eastern European countries, there’s likely a feeling of vulnerability and wanting the protection of a much greater power.

It just shows how democracy is fragile - even a country as big as America is moving away from traditional democracy in favour of a more authoritarian state, to make itself look and feel bigger on the world stage - smaller exposed countires have no choice but to follow that path - the importance of the EU has never been greater

“Founded in 1942, their members were examples of what Douglas calls “the generation of 1940” who felt that “parliamentary democracy was an outmoded 19th century idea… a luxury that especially an impoverished country could not afford”, and looked abroad to continental dictatorships, mostly fascist but also sometimes communist, for inspiration.“