Too much American 'culture' in the UK?

[buck]

Yes I am on an unceasing quest for knowledge buck, unlike some who purport to know it all already.

But making unconfirmed assumptions is another trait of American types on here buck. I've had all of that 'I was there, so I know better stuff' before. I have a total of 16 relatives who fought in the armed forces during the second war, some of whom are still living. 7 of them also fought in the first war. 4 of them served in the R.N. One of them a submariner. Until its recent demise, a good friend of mine was a CPO (co-incidentally) on the Invincible Class, Ark Royal. My father was born, like much of his family before him in Tilbury.

 

What ifs?? There would be little to discuss if it were not for 'what ifs' and your attempt to belittle facts that I'm legitimately addressing shows that you've lost none of your dismissive, 'superior' attitude.

 

The points I'm making are (1). Nazi intentions were to starve us of essential imports in this country during the Battle of the Atlantic. This they came VERY near to doing.

 

And (2). Had the Nazis not been deprived of the French Fleet (when we destroyed most of it at anchor) and were it not for smaller but essential actions such as occurred at St Nazaire 1942 the Nazis would have been in a position where they could have mounted a viable invasion on the UK and the US. They would have had all the time in the world to consolidate and mobilise their european gains.

 

Plek epitomises the very worst of jingoistic nationalistic bluster by maintaining that this country was NEVER seriously in danger of TOTAL defeat. Of course it was.

 

I'd hoped that you might redress the balance over pleks 'rule britania burffoonery'.

 

Of course, I should have known that fair weather allies will ALWAYS be just that.

 

The basis of my beef with America is that they should have entered the war sooner instead of waiting to see who would most likely be the winning side.

 

The USA's hesitance could well have produced a very different outcome to the war.

I don't know why I bother to answer such nonsense. But don't worry, I will not bother again.

[buck]

Do you mean a trike? ... I see quite a few customised bikes with VW engines on the back. Sadly, many trikes are ridden by bikers who've had an accident which prevents them from using 2 wheels anymore ... they just don't want a car (in nice weather at least!)

 

I didn't know George Formby was a Norton fan ... my dad was though (and Vincent). He said the brakes were rubbish ... I rode a Commando and I have to agree (compared to modern bikes)

Maybe Mr Formby should've re-titled his song 'When I'm flying through windows'

No this Harleyhas only two wheels and he forced the motor into the space of the V twin by lengthening the frame. George Formby was a great fan of the Isle of Man races, and the Norton 500 single cylinder bikes that were so dominant. He played the part of a racer on a Norton comically riding the TT, and did most of the stunts himself. I am wearing a Norton Commando T shirt as I write this, but rode an ES2 with sidecar. 600cc in a single pot. You needed a valve lifter to kick start it. There were no disc brakes in the old days, and they faded easily with heat. We shifted gears a lot

[some guy]

I wouldn't say there's too much "American" culture. Islam on the other hand...

[Halibut]

I wouldn't say there's too much "American" culture. Islam on the other hand...

 

Hasn't really made much impact on popular culture compared to America.

[Harleyman]

My last Harley was a 2005 Softail Fatboy. Wonderful looking machine. I took part in the annual ride to Laughlin, Nevada for many years. Never could get the OH to ride on it however. Bikes never were her thing.

After I was sideswiped three years ago by a dopey teen yapping on her cell phone I haven't ridden very much since. In the old days that would never have happened My reflexes were too good back then to allow dopes to get away with such antics.

 

As for trikes. Wouldn't be seen dead on one.

[Harleyman]

Yes I am on an unceasing quest for knowledge buck, unlike some who purport to know it all already.

But making unconfirmed assumptions is another trait of American types on here buck. I've had all of that 'I was there, so I know better stuff' before. I have a total of 16 relatives who fought in the armed forces during the second war, some of whom are still living. 7 of them also fought in the first war. 4 of them served in the R.N. One of them a submariner. Until its recent demise, a good friend of mine was a CPO (co-incidentally) on the Invincible Class, Ark Royal. My father was born, like much of his family before him in Tilbury.

 

What ifs?? There would be little to discuss if it were not for 'what ifs' and your attempt to belittle facts that I'm legitimately addressing shows that you've lost none of your dismissive, 'superior' attitude.

 

The points I'm making are (1). Nazi intentions were to starve us of essential imports in this country during the Battle of the Atlantic. This they came VERY near to doing.

 

And (2). Had the Nazis not been deprived of the French Fleet (when we destroyed most of it at anchor) and were it not for smaller but essential actions such as occurred at St Nazaire 1942 the Nazis would have been in a position where they could have mounted a viable invasion on the UK and the US. They would have had all the time in the world to consolidate and mobilise their european gains.

 

Plek epitomises the very worst of jingoistic nationalistic bluster by maintaining that this country was NEVER seriously in danger of TOTAL defeat. Of course it was.

 

I'd hoped that you might redress the balance over pleks 'rule britania burffoonery'.

 

Of course, I should have known that fair weather allies will ALWAYS be just that.

 

The basis of my beef with America is that they should have entered the war sooner instead of waiting to see who would most likely be the winning side.

 

The USA's hesitance could well have produced a very different outcome to the war.

 

You continually ignore one important fact. Hitler never had any intention nor the slightest interest in carrying out an invasion of the US. His whole agenda was twofold. To expand Germany to the Urals, enslave and then eliminate the Slavic peoples and totally eliminate the Jewish race from all occupied and conquered lands.

His declaration of war against the US was one of no choice. It had been an agreement between Germany and Japan beforehand

 

In December 1941 his army was still winning in Russia even if suffering some setbacks in front of Moscow.

No doubt he regarded this as a purely temporary one and that the Russian campaign would soon be over (by the following summer at latest) and being in a war on two fronts wouldn't last very long. No doubt he also thought that once the whole of Europe was conquered isolated Britian would sue for peace and the US wouldn't have the stomach to go on the offensive since moving a massive military force across 2,000 miles of ocean without a base to assemble and consolidate on was an impossibility.

 

As for America's late entry into the war I suggest you get to know how the American political system works. Roosevelt just couldn't declare war on Germany for no reason. Even if he had had the power to the American army was still at a small peacetime level with nothing anywhere near in numbers of tanks, artillery and aircraft to match Hitler's. There was also the matter of overcoming the opposition of many politicians and people in the US about becoming involved in another European war.

 

The fact that he managed to pass and implement Lend Lease was a remarkable enough achievement considering the situation at the time

[buck]

You continually ignore one important fact. Hitler never had any intention nor the slightest interest in carrying out an invasion of the US. His whole agenda was twofold. To expand Germany to the Urals, enslave and then eliminate the Slavic peoples and totally eliminate the Jewish race from all occupied and conquered lands.

His declaration of war against the US was one of no choice. It had been an agreement between Germany and Japan beforehand

 

In December 1941 his army was still winning in Russia even if suffering some setbacks in front of Moscow.

No doubt he regarded this as a purely temporary one and that the Russian campaign would soon be over (by the following summer at latest) and being in a war on two fronts wouldn't last very long. No doubt he also thought that once the whole of Europe was conquered isolated Britian would sue for peace and the US wouldn't have the stomach to go on the offensive since moving a massive military force across 2,000 miles of ocean without a base to assemble and consolidate on was an impossibility.

 

As for America's late entry into the war I suggest you get to know how the American political system works. Roosevelt just couldn't declare war on Germany for no reason. Even if he had had the power to the American army was still at a small peacetime level with nothing anywhere near in numbers of tanks, artillery and aircraft to match Hitler's. There was also the matter of overcoming the opposition of many politicians and people in the US about becoming involved in another European war.

 

The fact that he managed to pass and implement Lend Lease was a remarkable enough achievement considering the situation at the time

You are challenging buffoonery, Harley. I have decided that I am wasting my time with him. I have better things to do with my time, like talking about putting VW engines in Harleys. By now he's probably trying to find out on Wikepedia if its possible. If so he will come up with the date of the first occurence, that it was not done in the US since nothing ever is.:hihi:I don't want him to leave however, I need a laugh a day, since my doctor has banned me from alcohol.

[SUPERTYKE]

I love your use of the word 'WE' in your opening sentence - I hope this sufficiently comforts your sense of inadequacy.

 

Are you really saying that we were NEVER in danger of being successfully invaded? How about Dunkerque you lobster? Had the Nazis not inexplicably halted their advance we AND America AND the rest of the world would have been history - literally.

 

Are you really saying that the combined resourses and much of the manpower of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia would have been insufficient to challenge and defeat America?

 

You really are good at producing posts that are so self assured that they APPEAR to be correct - but you and me (and a good few others on here) know that you have employed this tactic for a long time - unsuccessfully on this occasion.

 

Your final sentence is almost as ludicrous as the first - since when did the Americans give us 'FREE STUFF'?? When did they give ANYONE free stuff if there's a buck to be made they'll make it - whatever the occasion. And don't for a second think that because you quickly follow up your ridiculous assertion by referring to 'lend lease' that you have covered yourself.

[Harleyman]

I love your use of the word 'WE' in your opening sentence - I hope this sufficiently comforts your sense of inadequacy.

 

Are you really saying that we were NEVER in danger of being successfully invaded? How about Dunkerque you lobster? Had the Nazis not inexplicably halted their advance we AND America AND the rest of the world would have been history - literally.

 

Are you really saying that the combined resourses and much of the manpower of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia would have been insufficient to challenge and defeat America? You really are good at producing posts that are so self assured that they APPEAR to be correct - but you and me (and a good few others on here) know that you have employed this tactic for a long time - unsuccessfully on this occasion.

 

Your final sentence is almost as ludicrous as the first - since when did the Americans give us 'FREE STUFF'?? When did they give ANYONE free stuff if there's a buck to be made they'll make it - whatever the occasion. And don't for a second think that because you quickly follow up your ridiculous assertion by referring to 'lend lease' that you have covered yourself.

 

 

 

Are you really saying that all these people would have become "little heel clicking Sieg Heiling" Nazis? All ready to don swastika arm bands and become cannon fodder in the Fuhrer's great fight against Big Bad America?

 

Yoo insult your fellow Europeans across the board by making such an assumption as well as our Anglo-Saxon brothers in Australia.

 

As for Asians and Africans which you also include, Hitler was not an Equal opportunity employer" Only white Aryans and some select Slavs were allowed to fight in his army.

 

As for invading England in 1940 this was thought to be a viable option by the Nazis if Churchilll refused to sue for peace. As even a school kid will tell you

he needed to gain air superiority first... which he did not and the Royal Navy was such a threat to any invasion force that Admiral Doenitz probably talked him out of it.

 

His real agenda was to attack and destroy Russia and create a Greater Germany to the Ural mountains and attacked it in June 1941 sure that England was no longer a threat.

[Harleyman]

You are challenging buffoonery, Harley. I have decided that I am wasting my time with him. I have better things to do with my time, like talking about putting VW engines in Harleys. By now he's probably trying to find out on Wikepedia if its possible. If so he will come up with the date of the first occurence, that it was not done in the US since nothing ever is.:hihi:I don't want him to leave however, I need a laugh a day, since my doctor has banned me from alcohol.

 

I feel it my god given duty to try at least to point out historical fact. Since it seems that reading books written by scholars of history is out of fashion and apparently schools dont seem to cover WW2 as part of their curriculum then someone has to step up to the plate.