Correct me if I am wrong, but the Hurricane was even used by the Russians, and it was equipped with 20mm cannons and used at teh Eatern Front offensive...
Bloody Foreigners: Battle of Britain
Correct me if I am wrong, but the Hurricane was even used by the Russians, and it was equipped with 20mm cannons and used at teh Eatern Front offensive...
Correct me if I am wrong, but the Hurricane was even used by the Russians, and it was equipped with 20mm cannons and used at the Eastern Front offensive...
Trooper1854
The Brit Pack
Later marks of the Hurricane were armed with four 20mm cannons and were used in North Africa and the Far East with great effect, especially in the ground attack role.
BritinBritain
Per Ardua Ad Astra
The beauty of the Hurricane over the Spitfire, it could absorb more punishment and was easier to repair and to answer Viper, yes she was a more stable platform then the Spitfire.
The Spitfire was a thoroughbred, while the Hurricane was a workhorse. Without a doubt in my opinion, the Spitfire was the most beautiful aeroplane ever produced.
The Spitfire was a thoroughbred, while the Hurricane was a workhorse. Without a doubt in my opinion, the Spitfire was the most beautiful aeroplane ever produced.
It is true that the Spit was a beauty indeed, but I kinda fancy the P-51 Mustang, esprecially the D model, powered by the Rolls Royce Merlin engine.
Coming back to the thread, I just wonder what happened to the Poles finally after the war? These were true heroes, they need to be acknowleged for their sacrifices made during the war.
Hurricanes with 40mm cannon- that is nasty...!
BritinBritain
Per Ardua Ad Astra
Quite a few stayed in the UK, our TV repair man was an ex airman. Nice bloke.
The Mustang was a beautiful aeroplane, she carried on where the Spitfire left off, longer range etc, but the Spitfire still holds many people's imaginations. As one ex Battle of Britain Spitfire pilot said (I forget his name at the moment) "I fell in love with the Spitfire, she was beautiful and she could fight. You didn't get in and fly the Spitfire, you strapped it on, she became part of you."
The Mustang was fitted with the Packard built Merlin engine as was the Mk16 Spitfire which was the same as the Mk9 with the British built Merlin engine.
LeEnfield
Active member
Lets face it the Mustang was designed to British Spec's and the US had little interest in it till they went to war. It was the British that decided to put a Merlin engine in it and turn it into a world class fighter, and the Bubble canopy was also a British conversion that was taken up by America.
Many of the Poles and Checz's stayed on in Britain along with nearly 100.000 Germans rather than go home ander live under Communist rule
Many of the Poles and Checz's stayed on in Britain along with nearly 100.000 Germans rather than go home ander live under Communist rule
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Trooper1854
The Brit Pack
My Mum's first husband was a Free Polish soldier.
He was an officer in the Polish Army when Germany invaded in 1939. He managed to escape to England, where he became a Warrant Officer in the Free Polish Army, fighting in Africa and Italy, where he met my mum.
After the war he couldn't return to Poland because of the Communists regime there so he settled in England with many other former Free Poles, working in the brick yards until he died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage.
There is a large Polish community localy, originating from the Polish soldiers that settled here after the war.
OK, I can understand the Checz and the the Poles, but 100,000 Germans? Were they PoWs? Or are they refugees from the war?
This is getting interesting...
LeEnfield
Active member
They were German POW that did not want to return to East Germany under the Communist Government and they applied to stay in the UK, most of them over time drifted back to West Germany, but I did meet many of them who married and settled in the UK. Quite number even joined the British Army, the funny thing was we had one in our Regiment who fought against us at Arnhem.
BritinBritain
Per Ardua Ad Astra
When I lived in Essex, a friend of mine, his dad was a German POW, apparently he was a 88 gunner when he was captured I beleive in North Africa. He ended up as a POW in Essex and married a local girl after the war. As LeeEnfield said, many of them were from what became East Germany and had enough of despotic rule.
During the war there were also about 10,000 Germans who fought for the British.
Trooper1854
The Brit Pack
A lot of former German POWs had nothing to go back to.
It had all been destroyed.
In "Through Hell For Hitler" by Henry Metelmann, he describes how after being released from captivity, he returned to Hamburgh, only to find his family and home gone. So he returned to England were as a POW he worked on a farm and formed friendships with numerous locals.
He married a local girl, and became a signal man for British Rail.
Ok, Mr Brit, now I get the picture that these Germans who stayed behind in UK after war, they did it for reasons that you and others mentioned.
As for Germans fighting for the Allies, or in this case the British- the only time I heard of something like this was a unit called S.I.G (Special Identification Unit?). But what I heard and read was that these group was mainly comprised of German Jews- is this correct?
Trooper1854
The Brit Pack
German jewish refugees served in the British Army in many roles.
They were mainly restricted to the Pioneer Corps and non combattant duties as, unfortunately, they were never trusted fully by the authorities. However some did serve in combat units.
They had to choose a non German, or Jewish names, and their ID tags and papers were marked with these new names and with no mention of their religion incase they became POWs.
A great book to read is "Arnhem Lift" by Louis Hagen.
He was a German Jewish refugee who was interned initialy when he arrived in England, but then was able to join the Pioneers, and later the Glider Pilot Regiment where he flew Horsas into Arnhem.
His story is quite moving at times and a fascinating record of a small part of the battle of Arnhem. Well worth a read.
BritinBritain
Per Ardua Ad Astra
One or two were pilots in the RAF, another was in tanks and that's just off the top of my head.
42RM
Banned
The Special Interrogation Group was made up mostly by German-speaking Jewish volunteers from the British Mandate of Palestine. Using German equipment and uniforms, they operated behind German lines in the Western desert gathering intelligence.
No. 3 Troop in No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando were virtually all German speaking Jewish refugees mainly from Germany and Austria but also some from Czechoslovakia, Hungary and other European countries.
No. 3 Troop in No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando were virtually all German speaking Jewish refugees mainly from Germany and Austria but also some from Czechoslovakia, Hungary and other European countries.
Ok, will follow-up as suggested...
Der Alte
Banned
As a British POW you could freely return to the British, American or French zone in Germany even if you originally came from the part of Germany which now lay in the Soviet zone.
Many had nothing to come back to, no home, no job, no food, and perhaps no family. I also believe that the very humane and compassionate treatment, you as a German got in England was instrumental in that many Germans chose to stay in England and some also became British nationals.
I was lucky that my grandparents had a farm in northern Germany as the war had not really affected the rural agricultural areas in the north, so they gave me work and shelter. We lived like royalty even though we had to deliver a part of what we produced to the British occupation authorities.
My grandfather had had two French prisoners of war assigned to work on the farm throughout the war and they would really like to return to France. The day they went home, they came over to my grandfather and gave him their hand and thanked him for a good treatment. My grandfather who had fought against the French during the First World War and spoke a little French expressed that this was hopefully the last time that we in Europe would throw us into the madness of war. He was a strict but a fair man and he never quite understood the National Socialist ideology. He was a man of the old school.
Yes, it was a tough time for many Germans, but I was blessed.
Many had nothing to come back to, no home, no job, no food, and perhaps no family. I also believe that the very humane and compassionate treatment, you as a German got in England was instrumental in that many Germans chose to stay in England and some also became British nationals.
I was lucky that my grandparents had a farm in northern Germany as the war had not really affected the rural agricultural areas in the north, so they gave me work and shelter. We lived like royalty even though we had to deliver a part of what we produced to the British occupation authorities.
My grandfather had had two French prisoners of war assigned to work on the farm throughout the war and they would really like to return to France. The day they went home, they came over to my grandfather and gave him their hand and thanked him for a good treatment. My grandfather who had fought against the French during the First World War and spoke a little French expressed that this was hopefully the last time that we in Europe would throw us into the madness of war. He was a strict but a fair man and he never quite understood the National Socialist ideology. He was a man of the old school.
Yes, it was a tough time for many Germans, but I was blessed.