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Old August 11th, 2004 #18
Fredrik Haerne
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Green Man, your grasp of this part of history is incomplete. Let's set the record straight.

Quote:
As for point 1 which you raise: Hitlers fight against Norway, Denmark, France, Belgium, Holland, Wales , Scotland and England was the type of 'defence' for his country that only a nutcase would make.
Only a nutcase would defend himself against the countries that attack him? Then what defense should a non-nutcase make? Should he defend himself against countries that don't attack him while he's under attack?

In case you didn't know, Britain and France declared war on Germany and attacked its borders many times, while waiting for British troops to arrive from the colonies so they could launch a full invasion. If only a "nutcase" would defend himself against Britain and France, what should you do instead when you are attacked by them?

As for Belgium, it had to be taken to get around the Maginot Line, the well-fortified line of cannon France had set up against Germany. Would you prefer to attack such a wall from up front or from the rear? The cannon could not be turned around 180 degrees. And Belgium, by the way, was a de facto British and French ally as everyone knew.

As for Denmark, it was the only route to Norway. And Norway was where Britain was going to launch attacks at Germany from.

His fight against "Wales, Scotland"? Should he only fight England and not its provinces? That'd be hard. Or did you just want more names of places to lengthen your list with?

Here's another tidbit of information: all of France was not taken. Marshal Pétain, the hero from WWI, made peace with Germany, ending France's attack, when the crooked politicians had fled the country. Therefore, the Germans only occupied the northern part, which had industries they desperately needed to defend themselves against Britain, and the coastline in the West, which they had to defend against British invasions. The southern third of the country remained governed by what was called the French State or Vichy France under Pétain. The French State controlled the French empire, ten times larger than European France. French troops and ships fought on Germany's side against the Brits, and against French traitors in the colonies. As soon as Britain had ended its attacks all French territory would be returned to the French State, except of course for Elsass and Lothringen which belonged to Germany. Meanwhile, British airplanes bombed French towns and cities to bits.

As for the attack on Russia, Russia had attacked Germany's ally Romania and cut off the oil imports. An attack on a German ally was definitely cause for a German response. Not to mention that Russia was ruled by a tyranny the likes of which the world had never seen, in case anyone had forgotten. Would it have been better to wait until Russia had nuclear weapons in the fifties?

As for the United States, American ships had repeatedly attacked German ships, a clear act of war. Hitler gave the order to not respond to the attacks, wanting to hold off war, but eventually he had to face the fact that the U.S. was attacking his country's defenses.

Perhaps you didn't know the U.S. was attacking Germany.

Last edited by Fredrik Haerne; August 11th, 2004 at 10:34 AM.