Great Britain in World War 2 - Know Your Ally: Britain

Just found this on youtube and thought it amusing.



Funny that so much is still true .

a reply to: boymonkey74

5 minutes in and I'm loving this. Thanks a lot

Hell ... I almost feel patriotic!

a reply to: boymonkey74
God I love the Brit's... my father in law flew the first P-47 , the razor back. He did 198 missions in New Guinea, with 13 kills and a lot of ground support.

He became very close friend he met their he was in the RAF with a couple of squadrons of Spits....I don't know what his record was but I know he flew as many missions as my father in law if not more.

Fast forward to the early 90's...they stayed in contact over years and he won a trip to the US. well at that time they had the mad cow disease and dinner was always at my house. I am a good cook especially a t BBQ.

these two old war birds could out drink me under the table, I loved hearing their stories ...don't recall the Brits name but when he first met my father in law at the airfield in Port Mosbly he took one look at the P-47 and asked where did the rest of the crew sit...LOL. Any way back to dinner they wanted steak every day.

They are both gone now God rest their souls.

Meh.............Cayuse crap smells the same in any country........War is a Racket.....

Two things I noticed from the early minutes.

Firstly, I wonder how many people nowadays recognised the opening music?
It was "Hearts of Oak", a patriotic song from the same era and with the same sea-based outlook as Rule Britannia.
The opening words are "Come cheer up my lads, 'tis to glory we steer", and the verse ends with;
"Hearts of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men
We always are ready- steady, boys, steady
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again".

Secondly, nobody editing the film can have noticed how the representative American soldier was being grossly insulting, either to the British or to the audience in general.
He stuck two fingers up at them!
Obvioulsy he was trying to imitate Churchill's "Victory V" gesture, but he got it the wrong way round (as did Churchill occasionally, embarassing his advisers).
"V for victory" was supposed to be done with palm facing outwards, but this man had his palm facing towards himself, turning it into a traditional English insult. The significance of "sticking up two fingers"- well, let's just say it has the same level of offensiveness as the American "one finger" gesture, and leave it at that.
The gesture was briefly known as a "Harvey Smith", because a top show-jumper of that name completed a clear round and then made the gessture towards the judges, to show them what he thought of them (for some reason which I can't remember). They responded by making it a reason for disqualifying him.
So I can only hope and pray that someone showed that American soldier how to turn his hand round, before he arrived in England and starting waving two fingers at people in the pubs.

How similar the sentiments in the opening song to Deutchland Uber Alles....
It aint no coinkydink either weve been conned into blowing each other away for the bankers time after time....

Man, see how they get you? I'm all fired up now, patriotic, fight ANY enemy....Anytime, anyplace! In its day, this glitzy little piece was aimed at people who had no idea how the game was played. War is a racket as Stirling suggested. That aside, it's interesting to see this film through today's eyes.