Did the British military really play an important role in WW2?

I was being facetious, but the public were not on side, you're thinking of the govt.

A lot of Britain's efforts were done on the Periphery, and were essential to the war effort.

contributions include:

>breaking the Enigma code, relaying all decoded messages to the allies.

>inflicting irreplaceable losses on the Luftwaffe at the battle of Britain

>Victory at El Alamein and North Africa, denying the Germans/Italians access to the Suez Canal and middle eastern oil.

>control of the seas, keeping the shipping lanes protected from U-boat activity in the Atlantic and fighting of Japanese raids in the Pacific.

>the Burma campaign, defeating Japan at the borders of India.

sure there's more, but these are the most notable.

There was a time when Britain stood alone against the evils of the world, and for that, the world should be grateful.

>>the Burma campaign, defeating Japan at the borders of India.
Come on now lad
They lost becaust most of them starved before they even reached India

Still managed to pull off a functional victory against the Germans on their own though.

>breaking the Enigma code, relaying all decoded messages to the allies.

>inflicting irreplaceable losses on the Luftwaffe at the battle of Britain

They had massive amounts of help from other countries in both of those. Poland especially; their cryptographers were the first to crack Enigma in 1932 and the Polish 301st fighter wing alone inflicted over a tenth of the German losses in the battle of Britain.

>muh gud and ebil

>they had some help so they deserve absolutely no credit

do you know how absurd this sounds?

That's not the point. They couldn't have done it alone, at least not as well.

There was a time where Britain cowered on their island waiting to pull their former colony which had surpassed them in every way into the war, and the fact that we bothered to bail their dumb asses out should leave them forever grateful.

What role did those troops actually play?

Britain had their shit pushed in by Japan and was even trounced by Italy in Africa.

10 million Bengalis starved

Japan overrunning Burma will do that to ya.

>was even trounced by Italy in Africa.
Are you talking about that time when 2 British divisions defeated 10 Italian divisions and took like 100k prisoners of war?

strategic bombing and they helped exhuast the german war machine, they also provided alot of manpower and a staging point for the assualt on normandy
they also fucked around alot in africa messing with the germans

YANKED

Well considering this is the war where France, which had a bigger military, failed to accomplish even that, England did ok.

t. burger

>Enigma

Even if our island was invaded and occupied, the very fact we cracked that code won the war in a sense.

Just ship it off to the US and Soviet Union before we're absolutely destroyed.

Thankfully we didn't have to do that

Could any of the allies except CCCP have done it alone?

Implying the Pacific Theatre meant dick.

Well.
The Brits gave themselves the biggest piece of the pie in Holland and failed miserably at it.
>couldn't hold their bridge
>couldn't break through with their tanks

Monty was a hack.

US if it was willling to endure even half as great a loss in men and material as the Soviets did.

>inflicting irreplaceable losses on the Luftwaffe at the battle of Britain
Isn't it historically accepted that if Hitler hadn't gotten impatient, the RAF would have been broken by the Luftwaffe targetting their airfields? Instead they got ordered to attack the cities and the high-altitude BF-109s lost their advantage over the British fliers because they were ordered down to screen the bombers.

>t. burger
A good Burger always knows to capitalize His name. Get out you spy.

2bh the Canadians fought harder than the English did.

>there are still
>STILL
>englanders who will insist that they actually did something in the Pacific theater to help

Why did they wear such a silly helmet? No wonder nobody took them seriously, it's even worse than the GDR helmet.

And who avenged them again?

>Isn't it historically accepted that if Hitler hadn't gotten impatient, the RAF would have been broken by the Luftwaffe targetting their airfields?
No, actually it's accepted that the version you presented is a stupid meme.

kettle pot helmets were the inspiration. Never mind that Lobster pot helmets were better and still had distinct history in english armies.

source?

US marines under MacArthur?

Try Overy's Battle of Britain, it's a short digest version that shows very clearly that the RAF was always gaining strength.
Furthermore Germany moved away from targeting military installations to cities because they wanted to draw out the RAF and destroy it. Their fighters were never "screening" whatever you think that must mean in the context of air escort. German fighters' primary goal was to go hunting for RAF fighters that scrambled.

>Tricked Yanks into joining the war with propaganda films

>not knowing that The Eternal Anglo did Pearl Harbour

Ghandi I guess?

There was a time when Canada declared war on Japan a full 24 hours before the United States did.

there was a time when Canadians weren't jealous of other nations' glory

Sorry to disappoint you, but Poles cracked it first, even send prototype of machine.

It's very rare I see a Britbong say "we could've won the war singlehandedly" the way the Americans do. Most just try to argue they weren't as useless as dickwaving Americans like to say they are.

The poles cracked the first version. The Germans basically plugged that in 1938 and made it considerably more complex. This version was in common use by 1940 when the British cracked it.

Sorry Polebro, you can't take credit for this one. You contributed, though.

>en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine

>On 26 and 27 July 1939,[3] in Pyry near Warsaw, the Poles initiated French and British military intelligence representatives into their Enigma-decryption techniques and equipment, including Zygalski sheets and the cryptologic bomb, and promised each delegation a Polish-reconstructed Enigma. The demonstration represented a vital basis for the later British continuation and effort.[4]

>wikipedia as a source
>specifically, the mobile wiki

step it up pole

Supporting effort during the initial battle of France.
Main effort during battle of Britain (duh).
Main effort during North African camaign
Supporting effort Sicilian and Italian campaigns.
Supporting effort during Invasion of Normandy and the western front campaign till ze German surrender.
Supporting effort in the Pacific.

>Supporting effort in the Pacific.
That was the Aussies, lad.

He said supporting you dingus

Uh guy, the US entered WW2 because Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and Germany declared war on it 2 days later.

>the Polish 301st fighter wing alone inflicted over a tenth of the German losses in the battle of Britain.
Lol k.
Anyway the reason Britain really won the Battle of Britain and stopped Germany in its tracks was mainly thanks to the invasion of the radar. After that the German Luftwaffe couldn't resist against British bombings which caused a serious blow to Germany's industry.

>After that the German Luftwaffe couldn't resist against British bombings which caused a serious blow to Germany's industry.

I'm a Brit and that's a load of rubbish. Strategic bombing was never particularly effective for either us or the Yanks, and the fact we did it at night made it wildly inaccurate.

>Strategic bombing was never particularly effective for either us or the Yanks
This is a meme propagated by pacificist apologist academics who want to push their agenda of painting the strategic bombing as ebul war crimes. Strategic bombing was devastatingly effective and became near paralyzing when the Allies 1. ramped it up a fuckton and 2. concentrated on communication and petrol near the end.

>I'm a Brit and that's a load of rubbish.
Yeah me too. Considering how bad British history education is I don't think you should expect that statement to carry too much weight.
>Strategic bombing was never particularly effective for either us or the Yanks
400'000-600'000 dead Germans isn't particularly effective to you?
>and the fact we did it at night made it wildly inaccurate.
Wow gee whizz ya don't say. But considering the sheer number of bombs that were dropped on each square mile of a German city in the average bombing run, the fact that the single bombs in their own were inaccurate seems like a pretty irrelevant factor.

No one could have won the war alone, you dumb yank fuck.

Not in popular perception. When people think "D-Day" they think of Americans. Except Americans landed on Utah and Omaha while Sword and Gold were taken by British and Juno - by Canadians. This is very characteristic for Western front in general where everybody remembers about Americans while British, Commonwealth and various forces "on exile"(Poles, French etc.) are forgotten.

Juno was taken by British commandos with Canadian support.

OH SNAP -> MORE UK TROOPS ON D DAY THAN AMERICANS

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings#Allied_order_of_battle

American zones
Commander, First Army (United States): Lieutenant General Omar Bradley[71]

The First Army contingent totalled approximately 73,000 men

British and Canadian zones

Commander, Second Army (Britain and Canada): Lieutenant General Sir Miles Dempsey[71]

Overall, the Second Army contingent consisted of 83,115 men, 61,715 of them British.[12]

>Did the British military really play an important role in WW2?
>It seems like all they did was fuck up tactically, allow millions of their subjects to starve, and help patch American gaps in intelligence.

Quit memeing and read a fucking book OP.

This isn't /b/ or /pol/.

WW2 is the national religion in England but you have to admit that the UK did extremely little in terms of direct action

Poland so desperately tries to be relevant.

>No one could have won the war alone

Before the summer of 45'?

No.

After?

I beg to differ, my irate, toothless fat friend.

To be fair the Poles took it in the ass during WW2.

>MORE UK TROOPS ON D DAY THAN AMERICANS
>American zones, First Army (United States): approximately 73,000 men
>British zones: 61,715 of them British.[12]
>MORE UK TROOPS THAN AMERICAN
>61,000 BRITS
>73,000 AMERICANS
>MORE
>61,000
>73,000

British math.

I guess now you're going to argue that Canadians are somehow "British"...

I wonder how things would've turned out if Germany or Russia had the bombs.

We'd have been alright.

Europe, and the U.K., would've been fucked...

something something airburst

something shrapnel something

Best thing Britian did in the war was bring Canadians and Australians to the party.

They took it in the ass afterwards as well, to our eternal shame. Funny considering the original objective of the war was to liberate them

They did nothing but fucking use and waste American rations. It's amazing Britiain is still a sovereign considering their debt to the United States.

Another pair of useless memes

And before WWII. And after WWII.

>Isn't it historically accepted that if Hitler hadn't gotten impatient, the RAF would have been broken by the Luftwaffe targetting their airfields? Instead they got ordered to attack the cities and the high-altitude BF-109s lost their advantage over the British fliers because they were ordered down to screen the bombers.
It's not. It's a myth. Seriously - even wikipedia covers it pretty much. The RAF was getting stronger throughout the BoB, the LW was getting weaker. The Brits thought they were in a tough spot, the Germans thought they would be getting the upper hand - but in fact it was the exact opposite.

>the CCCP could have done it alone

they didn't even have trucks till the US gave them several ten thousands of them.

>they didn't even have trucks till the US gave them several ten thousands of them.
they did

nuh uh

I think they contributed fairly. When the rest of Europe was getting btfo (France) Churchill kept them in the fight. They didn't let the Luftwaffe win in the Battle of Britain and they kept the German Navy relatively at bay in the Atlantic. Their campaigns in the Middle East and Africa forced the Germans to use up reaources and manpower while they negated them access to oil. From the Fall of France to Barbarossa they were the only real Allied power still fighting. They contributed to the Pacific War in Burma and were heavily involved in D-Day and the resulting drive towards Germany on the Western Front of the European theater.

Note: I am a Burger and still think they were a huge part of the Allies.

Underrated post

>First country to defeat the Axis and eject them from an entire theatre of war
>destroy or neutralise the German, Italian and Vichy French fleets
>stop the Germans getting Middle-East oil thus ensuring their defeat
>Dominate the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic Oceans
>hamstring the Luftwaffe
>bomb the shit out of German industrial areas
>break the unbreakable Enigma cyphers on a daily basis
>Tube Alloys project gives massive boost to atom bomb development
>make huge technological advances available to the allies for free (see the Tizard Commission)
>invent Special Forces, copied by everyone
>plan and execute D-Day and provide most of the troops, ships and planes

Well, the British-indian army inflicted the biggest defeat ever (until the Russians invaded Manchuria) on the Japanese army, much bigger than anythign the US achieved with its vastly greater numbers and resources.

Total myth. There was only one occasion when a bombed RAF airfield was out of action for more than 24 hours. Ever seen one? Just a huge expanse of grass with a few hut-like buildings dotted about. Bombing the airfields was a mug's game and the Luftwaffe paid a heavy price in experienced aircrew. The rest were pushed to breaking point.

...

>WW2 is the national religion in England
>what is our NHS

Why do British play up the African campaign like it's something to be proud of? An outnumbered, vastly undersupplied, mainly Italian army whipped the shit out of the British over and over until they forced them into situations where they literally couldn't lose.

The French and aussies performed well in africa. Imagine manstein or someone with real skill in Africa and not rommel

You need to read more and post less, friend. Preferably a lot less.

>Implying it wasn't the Americans who drove them out of Africa
>can guarantee you lose alemein without American lend lease so really an American victory
>the bombing of Germany was mainly carried out by US Air crews

Face it Britain you were our little buddy that only didn't lose because of water

>being proud of g beating the tiny German navy, the incompetent Italians and bombing and unprepared French fleet in port

WEW

Tell me where I'm wrong? The axis never outnumbered the British in any capacity and suffered constantly from lack of supplies. Italians made up the majority of afrika korps. Tell me Nigel what am I wrong about? Montgomery was the only smart one there who forced rommel to fight him when only he had all the advantages.

>axis at alemein
>outnumbered in every category
>tanks and vehicles had less than 48 hours of fuel at most
>far away from supplies and with Americans on the way in

STUNNING VICTORY WE ARE THE HEROES

Is it still strategic in nature if specific industries are being targeted that are directly linked to the war effort? Always took it that strategic bombing was essentially terror bombing intended to wipe out the population and devastate cities regardless of what was being produced in them (although I'm sure there is substantial crossover in practice)

Max Hastings:

>The British Army was just not very good. I was talking the other day to a very distinguished military historian who also fought with distinction in Italy and he said to me, when I came back from the war I always promised myself that I would never tell anybody just how bad the British Army was. He said I never forgot the sight when we landed at Salerno of seeing men of the Durham Light Infantry who had only been in action for 2 days, just cowering in the bottom of their trench and refusing to come out, and we just looked at them and we couldn’t believe that a battalion which had not suffered that many casualties, that had just been shelled and mortared for a couple of days, had just sort of given up. And even today people are reluctant to acknowledge, in a way that knowing soldiers like Field Marshall Lord Carver, whom I used to spend many hours talking to about this, that although bits of the British Army in World War 2 got pretty good towards the end, the British Army as an institution was a disaster in World War 2. It was the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force that earnt most of the laurels.

Can the USSR be considered allies?

Battle of england and north africa (because italians were even worst)
Intelligence did a great work too.

The rest was fucked. Their time was over.

Oh fuck off you jealous british cuckold
you won't even accept that our tankers were better than yours

They replaced them with less goofy looking MK III helmets in time for Normandy.