Laurence Fox is an ignorant, spoilt brat.

[longwayoff]

What is wrong with this fool? Apparently in James Delingpole's podcast, heavy sigh, he criticises Sam Mendes for featuring a Sikh soldier in WW1 film. Ever heard of the British Empire, Laurence? How many Indians died for Britain? AIBU to say LF is being deliberately divisive and provocative and evidently doing his own publicity?

Sorry I may have Kitchener wrong. Whoever the top dog was in North Africa. Cbf checking it.

@terfsandwich which bit? I accurstely said that the Australian Airforce had a flying boat squadron based in the UK in Coastal command at the time of the battle of Britain.

That's accurate, the claim that no other countries apart from Britain were fighting at the time was erroneous.

Sorry it's Montgomery. Kitchener is the finger pointing guy from WWI I think.

because it is useful to help me realise that all of your claims on this thread and others are now questionable and based on biased ignorance

This are the facts about the Australian Air Force and the role they played in Coastal Command

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._10_Squadron_RAAF

While it was intended that the aircrew would fly these aircraft to Australia after completing their training, following the outbreak of war the Australian government offered to retain the squadron in Britain. As a result, No. 10 Squadron was both the first RAAF squadron and the first British Commonwealth squadron to see active service in the Second World War, when one of its aircraft made a flight to Tunisia on 10 October 1939. It was also the only RAAF squadron to see continuous active service throughout the war.

The squadron's major tasks during the war were escorting convoys, conducting anti-submarine patrols, and air-sea rescue. It sank its first U-boat on 1 July 1940.

So a Commonwealth country sending its own squadron, flying under the RAAF name (not the RAF)....

Your comment about the militia. Perhaps you shouldn't be so cocksure. I now question all your claims about Rotherham.

I do believe the bulk of the Australian Allied support was based in North Africa, with some in Greece or Crete. Google 'Rats of Tobruk' for a quick example

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_Army_(United_Kingdom)

The 8th Army was a 'British Army' consisting of many units from a range of Allied countries.

All ultimately under the command of Montgomery.

The Eighth Army was formed from the Western Desert Force in September 1941 and put under the command of Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham. At its creation, the Eighth Army comprised 7th British Armoured Division and 4th Indian Infantry Division.[12]

By November 1941 it had expanded to two Corps: XIII Corps under Lieutenant-General Reade Godwin-Austen[13] and XXX Corps under Lieutenant-General Willoughby Norrie:[14]

XIII Corps composed of the 2nd New Zealand Division (commanded by Major-General Bernard Freyberg),[15] the 4th Indian Infantry Division (commanded by Major-General Frank Messervy),[16] and the 1st Army Tank Brigade (commanded by Brigadier Watkins).[17]

XXX Corps was made up of 7th British Armoured Division (commanded by Major-General William Gott),[18] the South African 1st Infantry Division (commanded by Major-General George Brink),[19] the 4th Armoured Brigade (commanded by Brigadier Gatehouse) and the 22nd Guards Brigade (commanded by Brigadier Erskine).[17]

The Eighth Army also included the Tobruk garrison which was supported by the 70th British Infantry Division (commanded by Major-General Ronald Scobie) which included the Polish Carpathian Brigade.[17]

By the time the army was fighting the Second Battle of El Alamein, it had reached a size of over 220,000 men in 10 divisions and several independent brigades.[20]

Kitchener who died in 1916?

No they may have been directed by Kitchener but Australuans were fighting as 2nd AIF

You do know that there were various armies fighting in WW2?
Each army was made up of different units from different countries but ultimately they were headed by a General.

Look at the battle of El Alamein.

The Australians were fighting with their own units as part of the 8th Army. Led by Montgomery

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein

Which comment about the militia?

Interesting how you have come from:

The BoB was a British victory. There were no allied forces fighting at that time, apart from I think in Greece. Britain was pretty much alone(

To:

They were part of the Royal Airfoce and the numbers were small

Which country had declared war on, or was fighting, Germany during the BoB time period apart from Greece

To

Do you think men from commonwealth made a 'massive' contribution to the BofB. In what way was it 'massive

There's nothing like quoting answers to completely different questions and so placing them all out of context is there?

There's nowt like changing the goal posts to suit your narrative.

here's nothing like quoting answers to completely different questions and so placing them all out of context is there

You have been asking people to justify the use of the word 'massive' when it comes to the contribution of non UK pilots in the Battle of Britain.

As you have learnt (because I suspect that you didn't know this already because there is no way you would have asked for an explanation), the contribution of such pilots was massive.

Because the RAF was on its knees. The pilots were exhausted, We did not have enough pilots. The RAF stations had been bombed repeatedl and were close to collapse.

On Sep 15th, ALL OUR PLANES WERE UP. No reserves. All of the pilots made a massive contribution.

So yes - they did make a massive contribution to the Battle of Britain and helped save us from certain Nazi invasion.

There's nowt like changing the goal posts to suit your narrative.

The problem here is the usual jumping on someones posts before reading what they actually said.

I've been repeatedly accused of saying that no other people, apart from British people, fought in the BofB. In fact I have repeatedly said that is not the case. What I actually said was that Britian, as a country, fought the Germans 'pretty much alone' in the BofB, whlle repeatedly acknowledging that some of those fighting for Britain were not British. I even posted a standard and widely accepted list of RAF pilots by nationality and was then accused of ignoring other nationalities in the RAF and misrepresenting the numbers!

This isn't a discussion about the BofB though, it's about personal attacks and insults, my posts have even childishly been compared to a Nazi military offensive.

BTW the BofB 'alone' subject is not even considered controversial , historians and hobbyists debate it all the time. But as I said, it's probably best to agree to disagree now because it's getting too repetitive

You have been asking people to justify the use of the word 'massive' when it comes to the contribution of non UK pilots in the Battle of Britain.

Sigh! No I did not.
I asked about the mention of 'commonwealth' contributions (BofB) and whether the poster meant that contribution was 'massive' in numbers of pilots. The post I was answering specifically said from the commonwealth

Again this is an example of posters not reading my posts properly, not quoting them and jumping in with false accusations

But Britain "as a country" was not the only one fighting in the BoB as has been pointed out. But initially you said just between June and September 1940, which makes it even more inaccurate. Further more you have now sought to shrink it to countries with actively involved forces in the BoB, and you are still incorrect.

The initial post which started this debate was mine which was about the historical accuracy of Britain standing alone as this is never challenged by the same people that complain about BAME people being represented in war films. The Britain did not stand alone, it had huge support from the Empire in terms of resources, allied servicemen in action in the BoB and in North Africa, and even another countries air force flying under their own colours.

This was the initial point which you have then sought to change to suit your narrative.

The BoB was a British victory. There were no allied forces fighting at that time, apart from I think in Greece. Britain was pretty much alone

You dont seem to understand the difference between men from other countries, in small numbers, joining the RAF, some of who were British nationals, and a government actively sending men

They were part of the Royal Airfoce and the numbers were small

No. Britain declared war in 1939 (In response to the fact that the Commonwealth countries declared war in 1939)

I see you are specifically debating that the contribution of Commonwealth pilots to the Battle of Britain was not massive.

So if you look at the stats (and exclude the pilots from non Commonwealth countries), there is still several 100.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-British_personnel_in_the_RAF_during_the_Battle_of_Britain

AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM MADE A MASSIVE CONTRIBUTION TO THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Because we needed every single pilot.

You are minimising their vital contribution.

You also made some point about if the UK contributed some ships during the Pacific campaign, would it be massive?

I suppose you could argue that the US Navy and US marines didn't need the UK to win in the Pacific as they had overwhelming military might,.

But in the Battle of Britain, we were on our knees and we needed every single pilot in the fight of our lives.

Never before has so much been owed by so many to so few.

And that is every single pilot in the Battle.

Anyyyy way.

Back to the initial point. People don't get as upset, or upset at all when historical inaccuracies favour the Brits.

In the end 1917 is a film based on a story told by Sam Mendes grandfather, and as with other films, I don't understand why the outrage occurs. As with all movies there will be some parts that are added for narrative effect (not that the presence of Sikh soldiers is inaccurate). Why the fuss.

Do the same people complain about Steve McQueen in the Great Escape or any of the other inaccuracies in that?

Why are people so upset?

@chomalungma That really is true. We owe so much to every pilot that took part in that battle, whichever country they came from. As I understand it, there were also Americans who volunteered to take part, as they felt strongly about defending the free world and didn't agree with Roosevelt's isolationist policy.

There were so many heroes.

I see you are specifically debating that the contribution of Commonwealth pilots to the Battle of Britain was not massive.

This is getting ridiculous. No I am not.

A poster said the commonwealth contribution during the BoB was massive.
I asked what was meant by massive, did the poster mean by numbers. That poster did not reply. But this was only a tiny part of the whole thread and I don't even think I stated definitively that it wasn't 'massive,' I asked for clarification but IiRC I got no reply from the poster

So if you look at the stats (and exclude the pilots from non Commonwealth countries), there is still several 100.

Compared to 1,000's of British pilots, I'm not sure that could be considered massive by numbers. But now I expect an argument will be attempted about the definition of the word massive. This is honestly becoming too repetitive and nitpicking. Would you agree? I mean seriously, what is this supposed to even be about? How can anyone understand what point you're making here below without going back and following the whole conversation

No. Britain declared war in 1939 (In response to the fact that the Commonwealth countries declared war in 1939)

Why are people so upset?

Good question

If you want to discuss the "massive" contribution, then you need to take the point on board that every single pilot mattered.

Without an extra hundred or so commonwealth pilot, the result would have been very different.

That's a massive difference.

Compared to 1,000's of British pilots, I'm not sure that could be considered massive by numbers

The first use of the word was by me at 17:21 yesterday

The Battle of Britain was not just fought by white British males. There was a massive contribution from the Commonwealth

They made a massive contribution to the Battle of Britain

Do you dispute that?

I wonder if @Flaxmeadow knows that Air Vice Marshall Keith Park, who commanded 11 Group responsible for the defence of London and the South East was not British.

He was from New Zealand.

Bloody New Zealanders, coming over here, joining our RAF and helping lead the defence in the Battle of Britain

She would say that as they were in the RAF that counts as British.