Bombtastic 

"Just Jeepin'" (macintux) 01/28/2019 at 14:58 • Filed to: None

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Found a reference to this site while reading !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Every bomb dropped on London during the blitz.

Intellectually I know the firebombing of Germany and Japan (plus... y’know) was more damaging, but that’s an incredible sight.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The Ghost of Oppo > Just Jeepin' 01/28/2019 at 15:09

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And that is only till June 1941.  V2s were still hitting London until the final months of the war. 

Svend > Just Jeepin' 01/28/2019 at 15:20

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They are still finding them all over London and the Thames Estuary.

Not just London in the U.K. but places like Coventry where a ex-colleagues mother grew up. On one particularly bad bombing raid on Coventry, there was a very large bright full moon, giving German bombers great sites to work with. His mother every night since (up to her death three years ago) then that there was a bright full moon, she'd panic and scream and cry. 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Just Jeepin' 01/28/2019 at 15:21

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Damn.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Just Jeepin' 01/28/2019 at 15:33

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Not to minimize the impact of the bombings, but maps like these give me fits. Visually, the map makes it seem like London was bombed off the face of the planet. While there were a lot of bombs and there was a lot of destruction, there were still many buildings that were never hit while there were some locations which were hit multiple times.

Making it worse is the combination of new and old information. I’m sure that some of the building footprints depict buildings which were there during that time, but there are also buildings which were not there and buildings which were there but are no more.

DipodomysDeserti > Svend 01/28/2019 at 16:08

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That’s rough. My grandfather “ flew” gliders in WWII and would never talk about it. My Uncle Pete lied about his age and enlisted at sixteen. The guy was one hard motherfucker, but said it was the biggest mistake of his life. He would break down crying talking about it. My BIL was in a short  mortar attack in Iraq and he said he has no idea how people were able to put up with sustained bombing like in WWII.

Svend > DipodomysDeserti 01/28/2019 at 16:21

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Back then it was doing what they thought was right to defend their country. They really were built of sterner stuff back then, but even then what they endured is just unbelievable to us now. The people back home getting bombed had to endure it because there wasn't any other option. 

Many took what they saw to their graves, even now some of those either won’t talk about it because they don’t want to think about it and bring up those memories or say, ‘I signed the Official Secrets Act to not say anything to anyone about what I saw or did and won’t.

DipodomysDeserti > Svend 01/28/2019 at 18:10

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“ Back then it was doing what they thought was right to defend their country. They really were built of sterner stuff back then,”

To a certain degree. I think that’s more true in the UK than in the US. I was in high school when 9/11 happened, and about half my friends have spent a good portion of their adult lives fighting wars. It’s a lot different than WWII, but I wouldn’t say it’s any easier. It’s definitely much more prolonged now. However, it has to put you at ease a bit knowing you’re the baddest dudes on the block, whereas during WWII that hadn’t yet been established . The British  warriors are the same. I once got to shoot the shit with a British ex pat who was a SAS sniper back in the day. Patrolled south Armagh and fought in the Falklands. Dude was definitely made out of some stern stuff.

Svend > DipodomysDeserti 01/28/2019 at 19:23

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War is quite different these days. During the world wars, etc... friends and foes were more easily recognised and you did your job, nation against nation , now, the enemy could be in front of you and you wouldn’t know as it’s nations against essentially guerrillas and the nations are governed by rules and laws of war where guerrillas can and do anything.

Back then the horrors of war were watching your friends and neighbours you grew up with dying on mass, now it’s more cerebral with fear of where they are, what they’ve got hidden waiting for you, etc...

War is no less horrific, just different theatres and methods. 

DipodomysDeserti > Svend 01/28/2019 at 20:31

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That current reality of war has led most soldiers to label everyone in said theater as the enemy. It’s unfortunate, but you can’t really blame them. I have friends who were in Iraq for their civil war. What an absolute nightmare that was. They spent just as much time trying to keep Iraqis from killing each other as they did keeping themselves safe.

The biggest change in warfare has been medical treatment. A lot less soldiers die now from stuff that would have killed them in past years.

Svend > DipodomysDeserti 01/28/2019 at 22:24

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War, it changes yet somehow stays the same. Gets more intelligent yet also more crude. Nobody wants it yet is a necessary evil. 

DipodomysDeserti > Svend 01/28/2019 at 22:28

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I say let’s  keep it crude. Slinging metal beats slinging atoms. Of course everyone can come together over a good meal, no matter what part of the earth you hail from. I’d rather sling food than bombs.