I am going to the Somme next week does anyone want any pictures of there relitives graves if so PM me there details and i'll try and do them. I usually go for rememberance day but i am going later this year as there a Memorial being unveiled for the Tank regiment.
Photo's I am going to the Somme next week does anyone want any pictures of there relitives graves if so PM me there details and i'll try and do them. I usually go for rememberance day but i am going later this year as theres a Memorial being unveiled for the Tank regiment.
My Great Uncle in WW1 a Captain in the Northumberland Fusiliers - Tyneside Irish. When he joined up he was Headmaster of a school in Hemsworth. He was killed near Arras and buried in a small military cemetary at St. Martin sur Cojeul. I visited the grave when I lived in France, which like all others in France was imaculately maintained by the CWGC.
Your right 'we don't know we're born' Awful times, there were some unsung heroes, apart from the recognised heroes.
I think of my dad as a hero ... but he was adamant he was just tying to do his bit and remain alive Whenever I think about what he went through, I often wonder if I'd have had the necessary strength of character. I'm not ashamed to admit, I'm never that confident the answer is yes. All I know is I hope I never have to find out.</p> Also a special mention to my gran (who was about the same age as my dad) and spent the war working in a munitions factory. She died last year, but she still had a bulge in her right bicep, where she'd built up muscles working on the heavy machinery in the factory making shells. There were a lot of women who did seriously hard manual factory jobs supporting the men at the front.</p> </p>
RE:Tomi's Comments following on from Tomi's comments about his family,the Russo Finnish war of 1939 is not too well known over here,but the Finns fought an extremely heroic defence of their country following Stalin's unprovoked invasion,for anyone who wants to know more,a superb movie called 'The Winter War'(vinterkriget)can be found on the net with English subs ,I never found it on sale anywhere here, there is also a documentary called 'Fire and Ice'.
Wow I've learnt something today I always thought the Finns were "on the Germans side", but having read up on that war I realise what was really going on and that was a slightly naive understanding of things.
Yes my Fathers two brothers both got killed during WW2' .... My Father....god rest his soul, lived through the hell, but it surely left him scarred....
Think we've all learned something today Some very good accounts of the War years from everybody today.
RE: Message for Tomi - Have any Board posters lost relatives in the various wars Hi Tomi , Long time no see or hear . I read your post and found it very emotional . Happened to mention it to my Swedish friend Peter and this really touched a nerve . Small world hey ? His mother was Finnish and was 3 yrs old when the winter war during WW2 between the Finns and Russians broke out . The Finns apparently knew the Russians would invade and that they were a much stronger military force . They knew they could only hold out for so long . Their number one priority was to buy enough time to evacuate the children out of Finland to Sweden . The Russians invaded in the south ; dense woodland area with a mindset that it would be a pushover. The Finns were out numbered minimum 20 to 1 sheer numbers, had v limited tanks and artillery etc but they were experts in how to live in the terrain - a bit like Robin Hood . The Finns hid in the tall trees, chopped down some of them into logs , hid the logs and camouflaged themselves.From the trees they fired on the Russians , took cover so that the Russians did not know where the gunfires was originating from . They also had very brave men who ran up to the tanks , positioning the logs to stop the tanks in their tracks. The tanks stoped and when the infantry plus tank crew got out to fix, the Finns picked them off .They slowed down the invasion long enough to get the kids out . Whilst eventually the Finns had to surrender they managed to achieve their objective to get the children out via boats to Sweden . They all went to foster parents , who took one child , They were tagged and scared, could not speak the l anguage of the new country and most never saw their families again . Peter's mum only founf her 5 yr old sister when she was in her 20s . Her foster mum brought her up as her own and became Peter's grandmother until she died a few months ago . This is not an account form the official history books , just a personal account passed down through generations . I think your grandad Tomi was a true hero who fought to ensure that the Finnish culture and future generations survived.You should be proud of him . The Finns apparently were convinced that if Russia invaded their children would end up in Russina labour camps and had v limited time to get their children out to Sweden . I hope this tale of bravery , helps balances some of the posts I read about gamma minus semi morons who sounded horns at the 2 minute Remembrance service in 11 11 07 . Cheers Tomi . Freya
It's a subject the British don't know much about I'm always interested in history, and I'd never heard the story of how brave the Finns were.</p> On the back of this thread I've read up s bit, and by all accounts we owe the Finns more than sometimes they are given credit for. It's thought that on the basis of how much of a bloody nose the Finns gave the Russians, it's thought that Hitler decided the Russians were vunerable and there for the taking. If Hitler hadn't decided to attack the Russians and concentrated on just one battle front, most historians think the outcome in Western Europe was much more likely to have gone in the Germans favour.</p> I think theextent of the Finns bravery is something that's not widely reported in how it affected the course of the war</p>
Great grandad was wheeled round in a wheelbarrow for a while after he was shot in the first world war, apparently.
One of my Grandads died during WW2 when my dad was about 5, and I always thought he was a soldier, I think my dad did too, until i researched the family history. He was a miner and a 'bad chest' did for him. My other Grandad spent WW2 in India and so far I haven't researched the history of that vulkans dad was an mp and served in north Africa in WW2 as far as I know we're fortunate not to have lost anyone in the wars
RE: Message for Tomi - Have any Board posters lost relatives in the various wars Hey there Freya, nice to hear from you again. You seem to know a lot about this subject, or did your friend tell you about all this? As far as I know, no close relatives of my family were evacuated to Sweden during the war, but you're right that lots of Finnish children were sent there. I can't even imagine how hard it must have been for the kids, and their parents as well. My father - who was born during the war - and his family, had to leave their homes in Karelia (a province in the eastern Finland that was captured by the Russians) at the end of the war though, but at least they got away safely (unlike many others) and started a new life on the west coast. Stalin obviously thought that invading Finland would be easy so he wanted to do it as quicky as possible, but the Finns fought back and inflicted heavy losses on the Russians. Eventually the superior numbers of the Russians was too much, so Finland had to surrender, but I guess that was inevitable, considering the small size of the Finnish army... Oh well, I think I've just repeated everything that you said in your reply... (chinny) However, at the end of the war, Finland was the only non-allied country in WW2 that wasn't captured, but we paid a horrible price for our independency. And yes, I am indeed very proud of my grandfather and all others who defended us in the war.