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celticlord2112 -> RE: Russian responsoe to potential US missle sites in Poland (8/16/2008 3:58:17 PM)
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quote:
This is broadly correct CL, The destroyers were not all fit for action, some were, while others needed minor refits and the odd few major refits. Most of these destroyers had been mothballed for ten years, and the main benefit was that these could be used mainly for convoy escort work, freeing up modern RN destroyers for other tasks.
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
In the profession of arms especially, and in life generally, there are no small contributions.
None of the US aid detracts from the valor of the British during WWII, but neither does British valor detract from the value of that US aid.
It is true that, by deciding to invade the Soviet Union, Hitler effectively shelved Operation Sealion indefinitely, and thus it is true that the RAF won the Battle of Britain. However, would the British have won the other great battle of the early stage of WWII, Battle of the Atlantic, without those destroyers, or the subsequent Lend-Lease aid?
As with all military "what-ifs", the answer is highly problematic. As effective as the Nazi wolfpack tactics were, their U-boat fleet had several vulnerabilities--their over-reliance on the Enigma ciphers in particular. Still, during the initial stages of the Battle of the Atlantic, the U-boat forces were very effective and Britain was in danger of being starved into submission. It is not improbable that Britain would have sued for peace at some point were it not for US assistance (Rudolf Hess flew to Scotland believing that to be an immediate possibility).
It is highly improbable that Great Britain would have landed forces on the European Continent without US involvement. Thus the outcome of WWII without US involvement would likely have been an acceptance of the Nazi Third Reich dominating Europe for quite some time, or possibly Stalin conquering Western Europe after bleeding the Nazi's at Leningrad and Stalingrad.
This is the real lesson to be drawn from Allied efforts during WWII, and even WWI: peace comes when nations cooperate for a greater good, and prosperity comes when that peace has a chance to last. The outcome of WWII, the subsequent era of peace on the European Continent--the longest since the days of the Roman Empire--and the relative prosperity of the European Union, prove this quite definitively.
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