Germans demand apology for allied bombing raids

[cheddar cheese]

I just recieived a pice of news that Germany demand the the Queen to make an apology for the bombing raids during WW2. Here is the article:

Germans Demand Queen Apologise for WWII



Dresden after the RAF raid of 1945


The Queen is being urged to apologise to the German people for Allied bombing raids carried out during Second World War.

A major German newspaper piled pressure on the monarch, just days before a state visit, with pictures of the bombing of Dresden and the headline "Will the Queen finally say sorry?"

The inflammatory move is believed to be part of a greater clamour among German politicians and diplomats to get Britain to apologise.

The demands have outraged ex-servicemen and women across the UK, many of whom risked their lives on a daily basis in the fight against Hitler.

War veterans groups were almost unanimous in their condemnation of the Germans' call for an apology.


Vote


Peter Storrar, from the RAF's 610 Squadron Association, said: "They started it and reaped the whirlwind.

"I remember seeing Liverpool absolutely devastated and it was like that all over Britain."

Col John Goodsir, vice-chairman of the Air Crew Association, said: "The majority of our members who served in the Second World War would not favour the idea of the Queen saying sorry."

The Queen, who lived in London during the Blitz, is due to begin a royal visit on Tuesday.

She will attend a charity performance of the Berlin Philharmonic intended to raise cash for the restoration of Dresden Cathedral.


"They started it and reaped the whirlwind"
-Peter Storrar - RAF 610 Squadron Association


The Dresden raids in 1945 claimed about 40,000 German lives.

They were designed to crack German morale with wave upon wave of British and US bombers resulting in firestorms on the ground from which there was no escape.

Supporters say the raids hastened the end of the war, but critics say they may not have been tactically necessary.

Its ridiculous. There was also a poll on the site saying whether the queen should apologise, and 94% say no she shouldnt.

You can vote here:

http://channels.aolsvc.co.uk/news/article.adp?id=20041029060009990002

 

[Maestro]

I'll repeat myself, but...

Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot. Over.

Who the hell do they think they are ? Germans demanding apology for Allied bombings ? Why not demanding Jews to apologize for resisting to their execution ? Or why not demanding apology for executing their remaning leaders at Nuremberg ?

Do they realize they are acting like freaking idiots ? I read in a newspaper (a while back) that Nazism was geting stronger in Germany since 1980. Looks like it's true.

I hope the Queen won't apologize.

 

[evangilder]

The Queen should tell them to piss off. I lived three years in the UK adn developed quite a fondness for the Brits. They have NO reason to apologize for that. They were helpiing to end something that the Germans started!

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i'm sorry but i'm part german and even i think that's rediculus, what would they say if the jews made them apologise?? why should we apologise to them, what did we do that they didn't??

 

[evangilder]

The worst part is that they are demanding an apology from the Queen, but not the US President. Both the RAF and the USAAF pounded Dresden, RAF at night, AAF in the day. I guess they probably realize if they asked Bush for an apology, he would probably tell them to kiss his Texas ass. 8)

 

[cheddar cheese]

Or start a war

The fact remains though that they are idiots.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i really hope the queen doesn't apologise, the germans haven't apologised for bombing our cities, do we demand an apology for every commonwealth person killed in the war?? no, because that would be rediculus....................

 

[cheddar cheese]

Exactly. And why do they want an apology from the Queen? She had nothing to do with World War 2

 

[Maestro]

I think everyone on this site know how much I like UK. But I must say that if ever the Queen apologize, all the love and respect I have for UK will be "flushed away".

But, hey, think about it : who forced the Allies to do that ? Didn't Hitler said : "If the Allies wants to take Berlin, we'll let them take only ruins." ?

Now some statistics :

WW I casualities : 8,000,000 deads (total)
WW II casualities : 40,000,000 deads (total) (20,000,000 Russians (2,000,000 only during the Stalingrad battle) - 6,000,000 Jews - 5,000,000 Allies.)

And Germany wants UK to apologize ?????

Am I the only one to be pissed off ?

 

[cheddar cheese]

No, im damn pissed off too.

And if for some stupid reason the Queen apologises, then I will be ashamed to be British.

 

[lesofprimus]

You have a better chance of seeing Usama Bin Laden pop his head outta the Queens ass than see her apologize to the Germans....

 

[kiwimac]

Well,

I'm sure there's more to the story than we can see here, lets just cool down a little and wait and see?

Kiwimac

 

[cheddar cheese]

Cool down? There isnt much to be cool about here...

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

i'm sorry but i'm part german and even i think that's rediculus, what would they say if the jews made them apologise?? why should we apologise to them, what did we do that they didn't??

The Germans did apologise.


For both WW2 AND the Holocaust...

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

Oh yeah, wasn't Dresden mainly a US effort?

 

[cheddar cheese]

I thought it was more to do with the RAF

And if the Germans apologised of their own admission, why suddenly shift the blame?

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

yes dresden was mainly us but the yanks were there to..............

 

[HealzDevo]

The fact remains that the Germans started that phase, because they were pounding enemy cities such as Paris and the cities of Warsaw and that to crush them quickly, long before the battle of Britain began. Their whole system of Blitzkrieg is based on the fact of Shock, Awe and massive might in the form of Stukas, Panzers, Bombers and troops all moving fast and acting as a unit to quickly overwhelm all obstacles in their past, including enemy cities. Blitzkrieg works by inflicting massive casualities and keeping the enemy guessing where and when the next strike will come and against what. Therefore, the war against London was something that the Germans had already done to many of the European countries. It seems however, that we are looking at some Germans that are looking at history through rose-coloured glasses (reference to Nazi flag colour intended) and seeing things as if they had done absolutely nothing to provoke Britain when they full well should know that the invasion of Poland was the final straw as far as Britain was concerned in dealing with a fiend with an insatiable lust for territory and power. Therefore, Germany really brought WW2 on herself, although the Allies do bare maybe a bit of responsibility for what happened, largely what happened was as a result of the actions of the Germans in attempting to destroy Britain and those that opposed them. Don't forget that Germany had military plans for Operation Sealion- The Invasion of the British Isles, which were only called off after it was found out that the RAF had absorbed remarkable damage and recovered to retake the skies over Britain.

 

[HealzDevo]

Because of the ability of the RAF to recover, only the first phase of Operation Sealion was ever carried out. Does anyone, really believe that the Germans would have acted in a very civilized manner once they got their boots on the ground? Not really, as there seems to be reports about German atrocities during the war. Also don't forget that in numerous countries that they invaded, they stirred up resistence moments that were reliant on Britain staying Free as a symbol of hope to them. If Britain had really fallen, it might have been the end for a lot of resistence movements as a Free Britain gave them something worth fighting for, and hope that someday the struggle would be vindicated and that they would be able to one day salute their countries flag in a country free from German control. France and a lot of these other places would probably be opposed to the British appoligizing to Germany for the bombings. This is my interpretations of those dark days of WW2 when it seemed that the whole of Europe might fall to the Germans.

 

[HealzDevo]

That's significant, we are talking about one of the only human regimes that only purely produced darkness, fear and mistrust. It was the French Revolution on a larger scale. If the bombings had not been done then it is possible that Germany could have located all its strategic military resources within cities until ready and then used these to blast Britain off the face of the earth. The reality is that the Germans were trying to blast Britain at the beginning. The Allies, managed to turn the tables and blast the Germans. The bombing of the cities may have been necessary, even though critics doubt this. Hitler was using propaganda on his people, the only way to get through to the German people the reality of what was going on at that time was to bomb Dresden and other German cities. If this hadn't been done the results could have been disastrous. As it is there was a large potential for WW2 to go wrong for the Allies. The last thing they needed was a massively re-equiped German Armed Forces to overrun Britain. The bombing of those cities distracted Hitler from this and made sure that production was channelled into producing Fighters and Flak guns to shoot down the number of Allied bombers crossing the channel, or coming from other bases. The resistance movements were acting as spotters for the Allied Bomber Force. They told of the German City targets that were worth striking and the amount of damage that was done. Whatever damage was done by the Allies in Dresden they had already had that damage meated out to them by the Germans. Therefore, the bombing of cities like Dresden may have stopped an Iraq Gulf War with primative weapons where the rules of engagement may have favoured Hitler.