Thread: Interesting, Odd or Funny Pics.

Originally Posted by spudboy

Interesting dramatisation of a dog fight between a Spitfire and a Messerschmitt. If you watch to the end, it has a bit of a surprise fact that I never knew about!

The German

BTW- it is 9 minutes long.

Good stuff ! and an interesting take on history...

from: History of Ireland 1932 - 1945: The Economic War and the Second World War

(my underlining 2nd last para) & I wonder what the true story was ....

In September 1939, the UK went to war with Germany when it invaded Poland ignoring British and French demands for it not to. Northern Ireland, as part of the UK, found itself at war too. Eire, being a small country with few military resources, immediately declared neutrality. The return of the naval ports had come just in time, since Eire would have had to oust the British to remain neutral. The Eire government looked with increasing anxiousness as Hitler invaded and took over 8 neutral European countries in 1940, since they knew that the Irish army wouldn't have a hope against the Germans in an invasion. (In fact documents found after the war showed that Hitler had genuine plans to invade Ireland. The operation, called "Operation Green", would have provided a springboard for invading mainland Britain through its unprotected west coast. The invasion never happened due to German distractions in the USSR.) Nevertheless, de Valera refused to join the war. When the IRA began collaborating with the Germans in 1940, the Eire government cracked down hard in order not to anger the British and provoke a strategic invasion.

Despite the government's official line, however, the Irish people sympathised with the British and 40,000 Irish joined the British army and over 150,000 worked for the war effort. Nevertheless, the Irish declaration of neutrality brought resentment in Northern Ireland where times had got hard with rationing and blackouts while Eire could still trade freely.

In mid 1940, Britain looked to be in an impossible situation. With most of Europe in NAZI hands, and the USA refusing to join the war, they were desperate for any help. In June a British minister, Malcolm MacDonald came to Dublin and more or less offered to give Northern Ireland to Eire in return for military help. He told de Valera that he believed that Stormont would agree to this idea. De Valera, however, was sceptical and did not think that Stormont would be that easy to persuade. He also feared the consequences of a large Unionist population being pushed into Eire against their will. So he refused the offer.

In April and May 1941, the Germans began bombing cities in the UK nightly in a tactic known as the 'Blitz'. Stormont was complacent, believing that the Germans would not attack a part of the UK as far away as Northern Ireland, and did not install many air-raid shelters. However they were wrong: in German eyes Northern Ireland was contributing to the war effort and was therefore as much a target as the rest of the UK. On several nights, but mainly on the night of 15-16 April 1941, German bombers pounded both Belfast and Derry with hundreds of tonnes of explosives, killing 900 people, destroying thousands of buildings and making 10,000 people homeless. Largely due to the lack of air-raid shelters Belfast suffered more casualties than any UK city except London. Despite Irish neutrality, the fire brigades from Dundalk, Drogheda and Dublin assisted in the Blitz. Many people, united across their politics by fear, fled into the country. Some wealthier people lived in hotels in Eire during the Blitz. Eire did not get off totally scot-free. One set of lost German bombers mistook Cork for Cardiff and bombed it. Dublin was also lightly bombed on a number of occasions. On each occasion, the Eire government swallowed hard and let it pass.

Again, Eire viewed its policy of neutrality with some artistic license. For example it permitted British and US planes to overfly county Donegal on their way to bases in Fermanagh and when British airmen crashed in Eire they were quietly escorted to the border, while German pilots were interned. All told, aside from the loss of life and property, the war was good for both Eire and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland's flagging ship and cloth industries boomed. And a new industry, aircraft manufacture, was set up in Belfast which still exists today. Eire benefitted with many of its citizens employed in the war effort. It also enjoyed trade with Britain for scarce goods that Eire could get as a neutral country, such as butter.

The only things to mar the good relations between the two states were (a) de Valera condemning the siting of US bases in Northern Ireland (b) de Valera expressing his condolences to the German ambassador when Hitler died (c) Britain's public, verbal, attack on Eire when the war was over for not joining the 'crusade against fascism'.

thats awesome, is it from a film, so hard to get good footage of WW2 dog fights, obviously its not a real one but still a good peice of footage

Eire did not get off totally scot-free.

Got a few refugees from Scotland?