One of the great mysteries of life is that despite the evidence to the contrary millions of otherwise intelligent people still believe that Germany was the all powerful aggressor during the Second World War. Nothing better than these myths illustrate the mind-bending power of propaganda. The provable facts suggest that Germany was the victim and not the perpetrator of naked neighboring aggression. The subsequent allied military triumph was followed by the triumph of the propagandists whose pressing need was to depict the victor nations as being the victim.
THE BRUTISH EMPIRE:
"Germany is too strong. We must destroy her."
Winston Churchill, November, 1936.
"In no country has the historical blackout been more intense and effective than in Great Britain. Here it has been ingeniously christened The Iron Curtain of Discreet Silence. Virtually nothing has been written to reveal the truth about British responsibility for the Second World War and its disastrous results.” Harry Elmer Barnes. American HistorianMYTH 1. THE GERMAN NATION IS AN AGGRESSIVE NATION
"The war was not just a matter of the elimination of Fascism in Germany, but rather of obtaining German sales markets." Winston Churchill. March, 1946
"Britain was taking advantage of the situation to go to war against Germany because the Reich had become too strong and had upset the European balance." Ralph F. Keeling, Institute of American Economics
"I emphasized that the defeat of Germany and Japan and their elimination from world trade would give Britain a tremendous opportunity to swell her foreign commerce in both volume and profit." Samuel Untermeyer, The Public Years, p.347
On September 2nd 1939 a delegate of the Labour Party met with the British Foreign Minister Halifax in the lobby of Parliament. 'Do you still have hope?' he asked. 'If you mean hope for war,' answered Halifax, 'then your hope will be fulfilled tomorrow. 'God be thanked!' replied the representative of the British Labour Party. Professor Michael Freund
"In Britain, Lord Halifax was reported as being 'redeemed'. He ordered beer. We laughed and joked." H. Roth. Are We Being Lied To?
"In April, 1939, (four months before the outbreak of war) Ambassador William C. Bullitt, whom I had known for twenty years, called me to the American Embassy in Paris. The American Ambassador told me that war had been decided upon. He did not say, nor did I ask, by whom. He let me infer it. . . When I said that in the end Germany would be driven into the arms of Soviet Russia and Bolshevism, the Ambassador replied: "what of it? There will not be enough Germans left when the war is over to be worth bolshevising." American, Karl von Wiegand, April, 23rd, 1944, Chicago Herald
"I felt sorry for the German people. We were planningand we had the force to carry out our plansto obliterate a once mighty nation." Admiral Daniel Leahy; U.S. Ambassador ˆ
The facts prove otherwise. A Study of War by Prof. Quincy Wright, shows that in the period from 1480 to 1940 there were 278 wars involving European countries whose percentage participation was as follows:
ENGLAND 28% FRANCE 26% SPAIN 23% RUSSIA 22% AUSTRIA 19% TURKEY 15% POLAND 11% SWEDEN 9% ITALY 9% NETHERLANDS 8% GERMANY (INCLUDING PRUSSIA) 8% DENMARK 7%
Likewise, Pitirim Sorokin, Vol.111, Part.11, Social and Cultural Dynamics, shows that from the 12th Century to 1925 the percentage of years in which leading European powers have been at war is as follows. (p.352).
COUNTRY PERCENTAGE OF YEARS AT WAR
SPAIN 67% POLAND 58% ENGLAND 56% FRANCE 50% RUSSIA 46% HOLLAND 44% ITALY 36% GERMANY 28%
Sorokin concludes therefore, "that Germany has had the smallest and Spain the largest percent of years at war." Of leading modern European states, England, France and Russia show clearly twice the aggressive tendencies of Germany.
From the years 1815 to 1907 the record stands as follows:
BRITAIN 10 wars RUSSIA 7 wars FRANCE 5 wars AUSTRIA 3 wars PRUSSIA-GERMANY 3 wars
GERMANY DID NOT WANT WAR
"I believe now that Hitler and the German people did not want war. But we declared war on Germany, intent on destroying it, in accordance with our principle of balance of power, and we were encouraged by the 'Americans' around Roosevelt. We ignored Hitler's pleadings not to enter into war. Now we are forced to realize that Hitler was right." Attorney General, Sir. Hartley Shawcross, March,16th, 1984
"The last thing Hitler wanted was to produce another great war." Sir. Basil Liddell Hart
"I see no reason why this war must go on. I am grieved to think of the sacrifices which it will claim. I would like to avert them." Adolf Hitler, July, 1940
Winston Churchill agrees: "We entered the war of our own free will, without ourselves being directly assaulted." Guild Hall Speech, July 1943
MYTH.2 THE GERMAN ARMED FORCES
OUTNUMBERED THEIR NEIGHBOURS
POLANDAustrian divisions). Of the remaining 46 divisions only 10 were fit for action on mobilisation and even in these the bulk of them were raw recruits who had been serving for less than one month.
30 Active Divisions
10 Reserve Divisions
12 Large Cavalry Brigades
Poland had nearly 2,500,000 trained men available for mobilisations.
65 were active divisions
Including 5 cavalry divisions, two mechanised divisions, one armoured division, the rest being infantry. On the German borders stood the French command stood 85 Divisions and could mobilise 5,000,000-armed troops. These were supported backed by five British divisions.
Britain's relatively small but high quality Regular Army was supported by the Territorial Army consisting of 26 Divisions with plans well in hand to boost this to 55 divisions. This of course was in turn supported by the then world's largest conscription army holding an empire 'upon which the sun never set.'
The British Empire consisted also of the former German 'empire' of New Guinea, Nauru, Western Samoa, South West Africa, Quattar, Palestine, Transjordan, Tanganyika, Iraq, Togoland and the Cameroons. These territories stolen from Germany added another 1,061,755 square miles to the British Empire, the equivalent of 35 Scotlands
Against these formidable forces Germany was able to mobilise just ninety-eight divisions of which only fifty-two were active (including
The other 36 divisions consisted mainly of Great War veterans over the age of forty who were unfamiliar with modern weapons and up to date military techniques.
THE BALANCE SHEET
On the balance sheets it can be seen that the Poles and French alone, not counting Britain and its Empire, had the equivalent of 130 divisions against a total of 98 German divisions of with 1/3rd were virtually untrained men.
In terms of trained soldiers the Germans were at an even bigger disadvantage. (Note at the outbreak of war over 50% of the German armed forces was horse drawn).
WAR IN THE AIR
"The superiority of the Luftwaffe has been greatly exaggerated to create the impression that Britain was the underdog; a David fighting Goliath. In the run up to the Battle of Britain (August 10th 194) the Luftwaffe had 929 fighters available; mostly single-engine Messerschmitt 109s. Of these 227 were twin-engine long-range Me110s which had a top speed of 350mph. Although it had a faster rate of climb it was inferior when turning or manoeuvring.
The ME109's range restricted its field of operation. Their real fields of operationout and backwas a little over 100 miles, a flight time of barely 95 minutes and a tactical flight time of just 75 minutes. This was a severe handicap when it is considered that whereas the Luftwaffe pilots were operating scores of miles from their base, British pilots were often within sight of their own. This handicap was made more critical by the fact that downed RAF pilots could be rescued whilst Luftwaffe pilots were of courseif they were luckyimprisoned.
The twin-engine ME110 was a slow flyer able to cruise at a little less than 300mph and was easily outpaced by the RAF's Spitfires. It was also 'sluggish in acceleration and difficult to manoeuvre.'
The greatest handicap for the Germans however was there primitive radio equipment. Unlike the British versions it was poor in air-to-air operation and could not be controlled by the ground.
On the British side a total surpassing 650 fighter aircraft had been amassed by mid-July, mostly Hurricanes and Spitfires although including nearly 100 of the older types. During that whole year Britain produced 4,238 fighters compared with a derisory 3,000 manufactured by Germany.
In terms of armaments the noted British military historian, B.H Liddell Hart noted: "What is quite clear, and became evident at the start, was that the German bombers were too poorly armed to be able to beat off the British fighters without a fighter escort of their own."History of the Second World War.
GERMANY AND OTHER FREE COUNTRIES ATTACKED
Poland carried out the first acts of aggression. In March 1939 Poland, already occupying German territory 'acquired' in 1919 invaded Czechoslovakia. During the months running up to the outbreak of war Polish armed forces repeatedly violated German borders. On August 31st 1939 Polish irregular armed forces launched a full scale attack on the German border town of Gleiwitz.
Within hours Germany retaliated resulting in Britain and France's declarations of war on the German nation on 3rd Sept 1939. In Britain's case this declaration of war was constitutionally illegal. It was not as it should have been ratified by parliament.
Despite her borders being constantly attacked by the numerically superior armies of France and England, and economically strangled by world finance, Germany refused to be drawn, negotiated for peace and turned the other cheek for ten months.
Only when it accurately learned that England intended to broaden the western front by occupying the Low Countries and Norway, thus surrounding and threatening Germany's entire borders, did Germany carry out a pre-emptive strike.
Germany's defensive counter attack was launched on 10th May 1940. This resulted in the rout of 330,000 British and French troops by a significantly smaller army. It was one of the worst debacles in military history. (The British press called it 'a miracle').
Russia invaded Finland on November 30th 1939. Britain (not for the first time) and France invaded Norway's neutrality on 8th April 1940. To avoid attack via the Baltic Sea Germany counter-attacked. In the small battles that followed (Trondheim) 2,000 German troops routed 13,000 British troops. They were evacuated on 1st May. To save face Churchill disembarked 20,000 British troops at Narvik. They were driven out by 2,000 Austrian Alpine troops.
Canada declared war on Germany 10th Sept 1939. In June 1940 Soviet Russia invaded Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Rumania. In June 1940, Britain declared war on Finland, Rumania and Hungary whilst also occupying defenseless Iceland. All of these acts of aggression in gross violation of international law and previously signed treaties.
On May 10th 1940 in brazen defiance of international law Britain occupied Iceland. Icelanders regarded the British armed forces as an occupying force.
On 7th Dec 1941 a British backed coup overthrew the Yugoslav government. On 27th March 1941 British troops enter Greece. On 6th April 1941 Germany retaliated and Britain retreated again. In June 1940 Britain prepares to invade neutral Portugal.
The United States, supposedly neutral, consistently attacks German shipping and arrests or otherwise kidnaps German citizens, even those living in South American countries. In August 1941. Germany retaliated.
In 1940 alone Britain, supposedly standing alone and at bay, added 1.6 MILLION SQUARE MILES TO ITS WORLD EMPIRE occupying Italian and French colonies; Syria, Iraq and Persia. Britain's foremost military historian, A.J.P. Taylor conceded: "There can be no doubt that he (Hitler) broadened the war in 1941 only on preventive grounds.”
Footnote on casualties: In terms of casualties the United Kingdom came in at number seven. Russia came first (official figures at 13.6 million, Germany 3.5, China 1.3, Japan 1.3, Romania 350,000, Italy 279,000, UK 264,000, United States 252,000, France 213,000, Hungary 200,000, Poland 123,000, Greece 88,000, Finland 82,000, Canada 37,000, India 24,000, Australia 23,000, Belgium 12,000, Czechoslovakia 10,000, Bulgaria 10,000, New Zealand 10,000 (another country threatened by Germany no doubt!), Netherlands 8,000, South Africa 6,000, Norway 3,000, Denmark 1,800, Brazil 943.
A FINAL EPITAPH FROM ONE OF ENGLAND'S FINEST POETS:
A curse for England, false and base,
Where nothing can prosper but disgrace,
Where crushed is each flower's tender form,
And decay and corruption feed the worm . . .
. . . Sounds familiar?