To wonder why the Brits are so obsessed with WW2?

[MrsSchadenfreude]

My Mum is 87. She was 12 when the war ended and went through it in London. She remembers being terrified and hungry and getting grief because her grandmother was German. Other elderly relatives don’t have lovely memories either, apart from relief when it was all over. So why do we glorify it all, at every opportunity? Why do we always look back instead of forward?

*family

Annamaria14 I don’t think all the other nations than fought and gave their lives would agree that it was all down to America

My grandfather never spoke of the war except to explain that as a mechanic in the tank regiment, he retrieved, emptied, repaired and redeployed tanks to the front lines. The horror in his eyes when he spoke of removing bodies from tanks, often days after the soldiers died, having sat in blazing sun in the meanwhile. Absolutely grim.

I agree that there is a lot of focus on the victory side and not too much on the factors that led up to war, as modern politics shows we've not learned much. (I used to wonder how people had voted for the party of Hitler despite the growing evidence of its wrongdoing, but now I know.)

Incidentally I absolutely hate it when people spout unmitigated bollocks like "we stood alone" and then throw in "just my opinion" and run. No, it's not just your opinion. It's wrong. You don't get an opinion about facts. Especially when you are writing off the huge sacrifice of millions of people for your jingoistic bullshit.

I remember playing on bombed buildings as a child, they were a popular place to play. Seems weird thinking about it now but living in the middle of a big city with few open spaces made them quite attractive.

The war was different for people, my father was in the Royal Navy and haunted by things he saw, my grandfather was in the army and hand a nervous breakdown at the end of the war, my mother always said she had a great time, well paid job in a factory producing military equipment and a GI boyfriend. She found the years immediately after the war more difficult, father having a breakdown, shortage of work and money.

Thomas Hardy poem- WW1 I think but it's poignant imo

Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!

"But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.

"I shot him dead because —
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although

"He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand like — just as I —
Was out of work — had sold his traps —
No other reason why.

"Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown."

There is not really any us or them.

The UK royal family is german, so how were we really fighting the Germans, when our own royal family is German

We were fighting against Nazism

AnnaMaria
Wtf. NO THEY DIDNT. The contribution of the allies won the war. We needed America’s manpower to execute plans. But Dday was every bit a british plan. We were the strategists.

Highly offensive twaddle. On apar with the twaddle that we won the war.

Stalin was just as evil as Hitler, we had to join forces with one evil to defeat the other.

Oh and @Annamaria14 according to men on the ground, the Americans they came into contact with were shit at holding position. The Brits and Canadians would win a bit of ground and leave it to the Americans only for them to give it up. This happened 3 times with the same piece of land from one account I’ve heard.

@ArriettyJones I’m not ashamed to be British, nor am I “woke”. No problem with commemorating the two world wars. My problem is with the obsession, as someone said, the jingoism, the nationalism - “We won the war!” and the rising tide of racism and anti-immigration that accompanies it.

Why did the Irish government label men who went to fight as deserters? why should we spend VE remembering the likes of De Valera sending a message of condolence on Hitler's death?

I always remember my grandparents telling me about how when there were the signs not welcoming Irish, it because because of the traitorism felt about this. It couldn’t be forgotten at that point.

But let’s forget that shall we, as it doesn’t fit in with the constant and increasing anti-English sentiment on here.

@mummyoflittledragon I just saw an article online, it says

"Most people in Europe, outside of Britain, think that America contributed more to win world war two"

I suppose the 75th anniversary coming in the year of Coronavirus has probably been the whole celebration assume a greater significance, if only as a way of deflecting from our far from perfect present situation.

@MrsSchadenfreude yes i agree! The UK are totally up themselves about ww2.

"We are the best" and then along with it comes racism to everyone else

It's also quite a clever bit of 'propaganda' and subliminal messaging - showing how we came together as a country during and after WW2, as we are doing now.

We were fighting against Nazism We did fight Nazism but I don't think that was the point...it wasn't really an enlightened time.

The UK royal family is german, so how were we really fighting the Germans, when our own royal family is German

Only really silly or uneducated people say that.

The Hanovers/Saxe-Coburg-Gothas were German.

The Queen’s mother was solidly Anglo-Scottish, making HMQIIE half British.

Prince Phillip is of largely Danish and Russian extraction (no ethnic Greek blood), making Charles about a quarter German at most.

The Spencers were very English so William is overwhelmingly British by descent. His children wen more so.

It’s a bit suspect to be applying this one drop theory to any family or population, though. Why do you want to?

I agree Dodgytrousers. It is an ill-informed post. It lacks historical awareness, interest and empathy. I also agree that certain elements of Mumsnet are susceptible to adopting the knee-jerk Britain-bashing perspective so popular among papers like The Guardian. I’m referring to posts along the lines of “well we didn’t really do anything, the Americans won it” which are incredibly ignorant IMO.

The Second World War has shaped our history, culture and relationships with other countries. It was also national trauma (and an international trauma, of course but the OP has specifically asked about Britain). Traumas don’t just vanish; they tend to be handed down through the generations in one way or another.

No-one suggest we would be celebrating the end of the war if we’d been on the losing side.

I had to read this twice to make sure I understood it properly. This is the end of the Third Reich we’re talking about, and the end of a period of time in which millions were killed. The Germans were also traumatised. It’s not a bloody football match!

Slice of Battenberg, sorry Mountbatten cake anyone?

Yes five eyes I know what you are saying, I was trying to counteract the comment about the Royal family being German

It is just not a relevant comparator whatever Boris Johnson says.

My grandfather (now dead) went to fight in the second world war. He ran pharmacy shops round London (bought out by Boots in the 50s)

But surely the biggest scandal is that Boris is now comparing the current situation with the second world war.

It is not comparable?? Who would ever think that.

@ArriettyJones I’m not ashamed to be British, nor am I “woke”. No problem with commemorating the two world wars. My problem is with the obsession, as someone said, the jingoism, the nationalism - “We won the war!” and the rising tide of racism and anti-immigration that accompanies it.

You must know that that’s a minority, though.

Why do we all have to be tarred with the worst of whatever behaviour is going on in the U.K. at any given time? Where do you live that your feeling of what attitudes predominate is so lopsided?

But surely the biggest scandal is that Boris is now comparing the current situation with the second world war.

It is not comparable?? Who would ever think that.

Yes they’re overdoing it in a way that feels inappropriate and the way they keep wheeling out the Queen to deliver government-written speeches is grating on me, I must admit.

PS
I am not going to enter into the argument about the Royal Family.
I support the RF but that should be the least of our worries.