Europe marks anniversary of WWII beginning

[Story]

Former enemies and allies somberly marked the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II on Tuesday, underlining the need to remember the bloodiest conflict in the 20th century so as not to repeat it.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, whose country sided with Nazi Germany during the initial invasion of Poland in 1939, said the war and its causes needed to be studied from all perspectives.

"We should examine everything which ended up bringing about the tragedy of Sept. 1, 1939," Putin said, standing next to Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk after the two met ahead of official commemorations. "We must do this so that this tragedy never happens again."

Poland's leaders gathered at dawn on Gdansk's Westerplatte peninsula to mark the exact time the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, in the war's opening salvo, shelled a tiny Polish military outpost housing the navy's arsenal.

http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2009/09/01/ap/international/eu_europe_wwii_anniversary.txt

 

[Miss Sis]

Today at 11am (GMT) marks the begining of Britain and the Commonwealth entering WW2.

I'll be taking a minute to remember.

 

[Shangas]

It is indeed the 3rd of September. 70 years ago today at 11:00am, GMT, Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany, in a bid to free Poland from its invaders.

Lest we forget.

On that note...the famous radio broadcast:

http://caferouge1.webs.com/Current Radio/British Delcaration of WWII.mp3

I am aware that the quality of this broadcast is not as good as it might be (it does, after all, celebrate its 70th birthday today), so here's a transcript of the speech, for the hard-of-hearing:

Announcer: "This is London. You will now hear a statement by the Prime Minister..."

Neville Chamberlin, PM: "I am speaking to you from the Cabinet Room, of 10 Downing Street. This morning, the British ambassador in Berlin, handed the German goverment a final note, stating that unless we heard from them by eleven o'clock, that they were prepared at once, to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now, that no such undertaking has been recieved, and that consequently, this country is at war with Germany.

You can imagine, what a bitter blow it is to me, that all my long struggle to win peace has failed. Yet I cannot believe that there is anything more, or anything different, that I could have done, that would've been more successful. Up to the very last, it would have been quite possible to have arranged a peaceful and honourable settlement between Germany and Poland. But Hitler would not have it. He had evidently made up his mind, to attack Poland, whatever happened. And although he now says he put forward reasonable proposals, which were rejected by the Poles, that is not a true statement!

The proposals were never shown to the Poles, nor to us. And though they were announced in the German broadcast on Thursday night, Hitler did not wait to hear comments on them, but ordered his troops to cross the Polish frontier the next morning. His actions show convincingly that there is not chance of expecting that this man will ever give up his practice of using force to gain his will. He can only be stopped by force. And we and France, are today, in fulfillment of our obligations, going to the aid of Poland, who is so bravely resisting this wicked and unprovoked attack upon her people.

We have a clear conscience, we have done all that any country could do to establish peace. In a situation in which no word given by Germany's ruler could be trusted, and no people or country could feel themselves safe, has become intolerable. And now that we have resolved to finish it, I know that you will all play your part with calmness and courage. At such a moment as this, the assurances of support, which we have recieved from the empire, are a source of profound encouragement to us.

When I have finished speaking, certain detailed announcements will be made on behalf of the government. Give these your close attention. The government has made plans, under which it will be possible to carry on the work of the nation in the days of stress and strain that may be ahead. But these plans need your help. You may be taking your part in the fighting services, or as a volunteer in one of the branches of civil defense. If so, you will report to duty, in accordance with the instructions you recieve. You may be engaged in work essential for the prosecution of war, or the maintenance of the life of the people, in factories, in transport, in public utility concerns, or in the supply of other necessaries of life. If so, it is of vital importance that you should carry on with your jobs.

Now, may God bless you all, and may he defend the right, for it is evil things that we shall be fighting against; brute force, bad faith, injustice, oppression and persecution. And against them, I am certain, that the right will prevail".

Announcer: "That is the end of the Prime Minister's statement".

 

[MisterCairo]

Today at 11am (GMT) marks the begining of Britain and the Commonwealth entering WW2.

I'll be taking a minute to remember.

Canada declared war on September 10, 1939. The Liberal government deliberately waited a week in order to show Canadian "independence", as we had been automatically entered in the First World War sweepstakes in 1914 as part of the Empire.

That was the start of the Canadian obsession with our "identity", something the country, officially at least, is still trying to define.

Sad, really.....

 

[Story]

Found this by accident - the Desert Sun (Palm Springs, CA) staff writer Denise Goolsby will profile desert veterans from World War II Wednesday through Sunday through the end of 2010 — the 65th anniversary of the end of the war.

Check all the links from this article on USN LT Saul Smiley -
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100108/NEWS01/1080312/1006/news01

 

[StraightEight]

Hard to know which anniversary to celebrate, the beginning or the end!

 

[Edward]

Hard to know which anniversary to celebrate, the beginning or the end!

Mourn the anniversary of the beginning, celebrate the anniversary of the end?

 

[Story]

People across St. Petersburg turned off their lights and placed candles in their windows on Wednesday evening to mark the 66th anniversary of the lifting of a devastating WWII siege by Nazi forces.

The final land link to Leningrad, as the one-time capital was known for much of the Soviet era, was severed on September 8, 1941 when the German military completed their encirclement of the city.

It would be almost 900 days before Soviet forces finally managed to completely free the "Venice of the North," by which time over 600,000 civilians had died, the majority of starvation.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100127/157698705.html