“Courage is the virtue that makes all other virtues possible.” -----------Winston Churchill

It's only as I have gotten older that I now realise what a wonderfully brave generation my parents were a part of. It's documentaries like these that make me proud to be English.

@philmcraig

Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much - it was a career highlight to conduct these interviews.

@desertmandan123

Жыл бұрын

@@philmcraig It was a pleasure to watch, my mother always spoke of these times with a smile and and said it was an exciting time in her life....I served in Iraq and Afganhistan and once there knew exactly what she meant...she met Clark Gable on the tube and never stopped smiling when telling her story to others...anyway, enough from me. Thanks again.

@philmcraig

Жыл бұрын

@@desertmandan123 My pleasure, and great to hear about your Mum too!

@roywinchel3620

6 ай бұрын

Well said!!!

@christophercook723

6 ай бұрын

You got older once. Not ten times!

What a fantastic documentary, an incredible series of stories told by the people who lived through not only the greatest time in their lives, but one of the greatest trials in human history and ordinary people wrote history's pages more tan even the great leaders.

one of the best documentaries I`ve ever seen! I love the British and their courage and their consequently fight for FREEDOM- so: there always be an England- and England shall be free! Greatings from Hamburg where also English soldiers helped German people during the flood in 1962- I was 7 years old and remember it very well.

@gordonfrickers5592

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you. My Father fought the Germans for 7 years. At the end the army gave him the job of helping Germans begin a normal life. He organised civilian labour to reconnect water, power, clean bomsites and roads etc and suprieved bomb and booby tap clearance. He said the British Army did all it could to help the Germans after their conquest, town by town he was sent in to get life resumed. His hardest job was to be made C O of cleaning up Belsen. Proud of his army, he was also Jewish.

@Cromwelldunbar

7 ай бұрын

Me too, I was 6 years old when it began and like you remember it only too well, altho’ there must be a lot I have forgotten. It certainly marked me. Thank you for your generously kind words, it couldn’t have been much joy for you either where you were.

@alanfowler6156

6 ай бұрын

Yes - but how things have changed...not a lot freedom hereabouts these days. And no-one seems to care.

@arejaycee5704

2 ай бұрын

Too be fair you forgot the Indians, South Africans, Australians Canadians a myriad of others that kept England free

@iriscollins7583

14 күн бұрын

​@@arejaycee5704We haven't forgotten anyone, but at the time of the Battle of Britain, the bombs were not falling on on you, they were falling on Britain. London, Birmingham, Coventry, Liverpool, Cardiff, all the Airfields, the smaller places with Factories making the armaments, manned by men and women.Docks all round Great Britain.God bless them all.Dont worry we don't ever forget.We remember who was there.

One of the best World War II documentaries I've ever seen in roughly 50 years . . .

@topbanana4013

3 жыл бұрын

that's the dramatized music doing it bit. the world at war 70s cant beat it

@philmcraig

Жыл бұрын

As the producer - and interviewer - I'm so touched to read this. Thanks

Special thanks to the Canadian Navy that kept the lights on in Britain. Escorting thousands of convoys to keep Britain supplied.

@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684

6 ай бұрын

You missed the word "helped". Those with the interest to read about their national history (not the current BS globalist version of it) have always been appreciative of the RCN and its role during WW2.

@arejaycee5704

2 ай бұрын

Unfortunately in todays climate in the UK its an England wot done it attitude denigrating what others contributed to the war effort

What a great use of the fair rules that allowed the production of such a great documentary! Thank you all...

Indeed, As everyone else has already declared, and I am proud too to join all of them to say that this Documentary is superb and one of the most very best if not the best of all…Thank you so very much all who have made so much effort in this production.

This is the documentary I've been looking for. Excellent.

A really really wonderful documentary, it’s hard not to get sentimental, I have watched so many documentary’s so far, but this is one of my best

I love this documentary! I watched it years ago when I was studying WWII in college.

For the fallen Fighteer Command pilots of the Battle of Britain... "Went the day well? We died and never knew. But for good or ill, Freedom We died for you. "When you go home, Tell them of us and say: For your Tomorrow, These gave their Today." And the name of Air Chief Marshal Lord Hugh Dowding should assume its honoured place alongside those of Nelson and Wellington. So much is STILL owed by so many to so Few. Requiescant In Pace

@desertmandan123

14 күн бұрын

10/10 for your words...

Thank you to the women and men of the RAF, Hugh Dowding , Keith Park and radar.

Peter Vaux was clearly an officer of the very best type. Sadly they were not all as good as he.

The greatest generation!!!

@desertmandan123

14 күн бұрын

Ever....

my father born in east london, was a cadet at age 14 then in queens guard 6th regmt later on with the BEF back from dunkirk rear guard no transport just boots

Something I had not realized before, despite having seen this a number of times. The PBS version, and the BBC version, had different narrators. Male American voice for the former, female English voice for the latter. I think the PBS version went first.

Started to read the accompanying book and still have the VHS version of this documentary. So glad that someone has put it up on You Tube. Is there a DVD or even better a Blur Ray disc available?

Great to have back on YT the two episodes with the original narrator and not that lady. The original had been removed at one point and replaced with a edited version with a different narrator.

The finest documentary I have ever seen. the British people are truly unique and brave. now the Israeli people are in a similar place. Godsave all those good souls and we need to find peace. Brillant work , well done.

@Davidshonfield

6 ай бұрын

With respect, it is the Palestinian people in Gaza who are being bombed and shelled and driven from their homes and having to face an overwhelming military power. And it's not for the first time.

@AreJayCee

2 ай бұрын

Ridiculous comparison there.

@TonyBraun

Ай бұрын

the Israeli people????...... it's the Palestinian people who are being attacked. it's the Palestinian people being slaughtered.....brutalized.

Yes yes...

Special thanks to Lt-Commander Lightoller (2nd officer of the Titanic) who took his personal Yaht across the English Channel to evacuate British soldiers. He also spied on German coastal defenses prior to the Normandy invasions of D-Day.

@spannaspinna

6 ай бұрын

How did an officer get off the titanic

@cardboardempire

6 ай бұрын

@@spannaspinna He swam. Long story short, he made it to one of the overturned collapsible boats and with a group of people, road the overturned boat until rescued. He was the highest ranking officer to survive the Titanic and was an important witness to both investigations that followed. He went on to serve in WW1 Reaching the rank of commander.

@Cromwelldunbar

6 ай бұрын

@@cardboardempire Thanks a million for your input! I confess my utter probable unforgivable ignorance of this quite superb hero! Surely worthy of a successful biography? Thanks again for your efforts to educate me and perhaps others (but I feel there are no others only crass ignorant Joe Bloggs!) A man able to swim in the icy waters that engulfed the mighty Titanic and think of others; who sailed his own boat to rescue others in god-awful plight, at Dunkirk…strength of character and personal Will…leaves me dumbfounded and humble indeed! Your initial sentence says so much in so few words! Here‘s wishing you a Good Remembrance Day today!

This is one of those rare times when the nation is pulling together and the wealthy has respect and concern for the poor. A sense of mutual need. This lasted for about 20 years then the gap (financially and socially) began to widen again. The longer this continued the wider it became. I fully expect this to occur in Ukraine after putin has been discarded. A nation works better when there is respect across the classes.

@darrelneidiffer6777

7 ай бұрын

They, the rich, need the poor for cannon fodder. That's how that works.

@spannaspinna

6 ай бұрын

The Ukraine is on the whole a poor country

Boy Kennedy and Halifax were both a piece of work!!! Had they had their way who knows what the world would look like today...

@arejaycee5704

2 ай бұрын

More than them. Always been rumours of members of the aristocracy who liked Hitler. Kennedy was a shyster.

1:35:15 "the French were given the option of neutralizing or scuttling their ships"- or of joining the British as a continued free French Ally, or of sailing to the West Indies or of sailing to American ports to be interred. Among other time-wasting activities, the French admiral in command refused to speak with an English captain sent to convey these terms as he thought the lesser rank was a slight on his honor. One of the reasons the captain was sent was because he could speak French. The French bore great hatred as a result of the English attack at Mers El Kabir, but one might consider that the French leadership has great responsibility for the death of many Frenchmen. On the other hand, the Vichy led French never did surrender their fleet to the Germans.

@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684

2 жыл бұрын

All correct "Jumpin'", but I would add that at the time of the French fleet scuttling at Toulon in 1942 the writing was very clearly on the wall as to who was going to triumph in WW2, which was not the case in 1940.

The screams of the pilots on fire, out of control had to be the worst experience ever!!!

Bastard criminal that our fighters had 303 instead of 50 cal which was readily available

@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684

2 жыл бұрын

We shot down enough of the Luftwaffe with our .303s. Rifle calibres were "de rigeur" in the 1930s, and a majority of early to mid 1930s fighter aircraft from nearly ALL nations were armed with just TWO rifle calibre machine guns, the EIGHT .303s of the Spitfire / Hurricane were "cutting edge" at the time of their inception. The move to larger calibres was also underway with a small number of Spitfire Ib s fielding 2x hispano 20mm cannons and 4x Browning .303s.

JFK’s father was a really bad person. Just look up what he did to make all his money then more importantly look at what he did to his daughter for being nothing more than a bit of a difficult adolescent girl. He had some ridiculous phlebotomy or shock therapy…I can’t remember.. done on her that instantly made her forevermore mentally handicap. All while not telling anyone in the family both before or after and said something like she had to be admitted to the mental hospital bla bla bla.. they had to find out on their own. He just acted as if nothing happened and wrote her off. That’s devilish. I guess since she couldn’t be president in his eyes then she wasn’t worth the time. Ruined her life over acting up (and from the story I heard we aren’t talking about much of anything bad) while going thru high school.

When the Wehrmacht bypassed the Maginot Line by passing through what the Allies had foolishly thought was the “impossible” geographical feature of the Ardenne Forest, and the French Army and British Expeditionary Force (BEF) were retreating from the Low Countries after the Netherlands and eventually Belgium capitulated, I know that the French were using the quite powerful Char-B bis heavy tank (with a 75 mm howitzer in the hull and a 47 mm mg in thr turret) and the agile Somua s35 medium tank (which, far ahead of its time, had welded sloped armour on all sides). Of course we all know that, though these two tanks were superior in firepower and protection to the Panzer I and even Panzer III (which made up most of Germany’s tank force during the early Battle of France), French military doctrine obviated these advantages by dispersing their tanks out widely in “support roles” for their infantry. But which tank was the BEF using during the 1940 Battle of France? I’ve studied WWII for many, many yrs as an avocation, but have never heard or read anyone indicating which tank the BEF used primarily on the Continent at this relatively early point in the War. Was it the Valentine, the old and slow Vickers Medium tank, the A11 Mathilda, or the Mathilda II?

@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684

5 ай бұрын

Not just the "impossible" terrain of the Ardennes, but the NEUTRAL terrain of the Ardennes. The French built the "Maginot line" along the Franco-German border from 1929 onwards, but did not want to extend it to the coast as it would signal to the low countries that France was preparing to forsake them. The Dutch had traditionally been neutral, but the Belgians only declared their neutrality without warning to the French in late 1936 AFTER the majority of Maginot line had been built. The French then belatedly started to extend the Maginot line to the coast from 1937 onwards but both finances and winter weather in the late 1930s caused the work to progress slower than was hoped. The Germans for their part declared a guarantee of Dutch and Belgian neutrality in early 1940.... only to then completely renege on that guarantee (what a surprise) 3 months later. As for British armoured forces in 1940, following the British armoured doctrine of "infantry" & "Cruiser" tanks, they consisted of various types including the A9, A10 & A13 "Cruiser" tanks, the Matilda I (A11) & II (A12) "infantry" tanks, with Vickers MkVI light tanks and Daimler "Dingo" armoured cars in the recce/screening role.

@MrMalvolio29

5 ай бұрын

@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 , THANK YOU for a quite well-informed, erudite response to my post. Such historically detailed, precise, and specific replies are quite rare on KZread. Bravo, dear Sir! I had always read that the non-extension of the Maginot to the coast was motivated solely by strategic misplaced belief in the impassable terrain of the Ardennes, and by finances…I *had* read in one source that the French did not want to send Belgium the msg that they were “walling them out in the cold” of coming aggression, but had no idea the diplomatic considerations were quite so significant. In any case, the age of “fixed fortifications” was over, and of course the “tradition-and-bureaucracy-obsessed” French didn’t realise this, and were preparing to re-fight WWI, rather than to getting their air force modernised and on a par with Germany’s Luftwaffe, or to understand tanks as heavy-armour units in their own right, not simply “support” for infantry formations.

@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684

5 ай бұрын

@@MrMalvolio29 Thank you for your comment on my erudition. Absolutely correct in your comment about "fixed fortifications"....As the quote attributed to Carl von Clausewitz 140 years earlier suggests... "If you entrench yourself behind strong fortifications, you compel the enemy seek a solution elsewhere." which history shows us is exactly what happened. All the best.

@MrMalvolio29

5 ай бұрын

@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 Von Clausewitz *was* a military and-in this case especially--a prophetic genius. Are you also one of the few of us non-soldiers who have read some of him not bc one is preparing for a career as an officer, but bc one simply has a peace-loving person’s fascination with military history? Whether or not your answer is yes, it sounds as though it would be quite the privilege to know and have the pleasure of regular conversation with you.

@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684

5 ай бұрын

@@MrMalvolio29 When I was young lad I was, as a lot of young people still are, fascinated with military history to the point that I would read my "war comics" (it was the 1970s after all) and imagine what an "exciting adventure" it would be to be involved in a "life & death" stuggle between "good" and "evil".... but age, wisdom, and a father who served in the Royal Navy right through WW2 (I was a "late" child) enabled me to put that naivety behind me. I suppose it has resulted in me developing as you say a "peace-loving person’s fascination with military history". I'm reasonably well read on military matters (Through my own interest, and not through formal education, Can you guess my main interest is WW2? 😁) and I'm far from being a "scholar".... on top of which "quotation websites" are a helpful way to recall vague memories of sayings dragged from the thick fog of my distant memory 🤔. Nowadays I spend my spare time trying to ignore the current world situation as it appears it's once again being intentionally directed into a state of chaos by those "at the top". So in my bid to escape from the current day nonsense and so not sink into an MSM induced state of low spirits, I instead come on YT to engage with others in the hope that just sometimes I will be able to enlighten them (hopefully diverting them from the misdirection of modern TV etc), maybe answer questions they may have about various topics, and quite often challenge some views I feel are devious, unsavoury or just downright unpleasant.... but also to learn about other topics I have little knowledge about myself, YT having plenty of "gems" amongst its slagheaps of mediocrity. I'll sign off before someone types in "get a room, you two!!!". You'll probably see me around here, as I chip into many threads. All the best.

How many rounds can you shoot from a enfield revolver into a german officer, without a reload ?

@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684

2 жыл бұрын

6 rounds. As compared to the 9 rounds of 9mm parabellum that can be emptied into innocent soviet civilians, or others deemed as "undesirables" from a P08 Luger or P38 Walther pistol.

0:11 0:22 1:12

1:08:11 oof! 😢

It's not 'Aydolf', but ''Adolf' , pronounced 'Addolf', with a short 'A''. Why this delierate mispronunciation?

@Texasbiologyhelp

9 ай бұрын

Probably just to annoy you, and make you upset.

Way too many mega bytes here....Downloading it takes three hours .............

@Texasbiologyhelp

2 жыл бұрын

I didn't post it for download.

Special thanks to the French army who fought to allow the British to escape knowing their own country was at severe risk.

@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684

6 ай бұрын

Dear dear.... what nonsense. The British, French and Belgians fought to allow the evacuation of British, French and Belgian troops.

@cardboardempire

6 ай бұрын

@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 Tell that the to French 2nd Light Mechanized Division And the French 68th Division. 35k Frenchmen who were left on the beach to cover the retreat.

@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684

6 ай бұрын

@@cardboardempire Yes the French divisions fought bravely.... alongside the entire British 51st Highland division and 35,000 other assorted British troops that were taken prisoner by the Germans at Dunkirk. When together they finally laid down their arms, along with thousands of Belgian troops that had fought on after the surrender of their country, the rearguard action they had fought enabled the Royal Navy to rescue 190,000 British troops, 110,000 French Troops and 40,000 Belgian troops. Try to include ALL the details in your rebuttal, not just the ones that support your one sided nonsense. All the best.

@cardboardempire

6 ай бұрын

@@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684 Naturally because all these entries are part of The French Army. Right?

@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684

6 ай бұрын

@@cardboardempire Sorry, your "reasoning" has lost me. Your OP Suggested that the French army alone fought to allow the British army alone escape from France. I've provided you with easily researchable primers which will show you the nonsense of that statement. You post above makes no sense to me, whether it is simply a failure in your English skills or lack of historical knowledge I cannot fathom.

Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last.

@gordonfrickers5592

2 жыл бұрын

That was not the attitude I found among British veterans. They knew the odds and accepted they would likely be wounded or killed. Many said "I was there to do my bit".