Coolest dude of the day

Comments

  • johngti
    johngti Posts: 2,508
    I’ve taught some kids like that...
  • johngti
    johngti Posts: 2,508
    edited April 2021
    Oh and that is a bloomin’ brilliant story!
  • photonic69
    photonic69 Posts: 2,416
    Had some nights/mornings/nights/mornings..... like that!


    Sometimes. Maybe. Possibly.

  • hopkinb
    hopkinb Posts: 7,129
    On a related note, my grandfather on my mother's side, had his life saved by going for a shyte. Fighting in the Winter War against the Russians, he was caught short, went for a dump, came back, and his position had been mortared to pieces He was a bit of a pisshead, and when we were kids, he would always tell the story after a few vodkas, and get my mum to translate.

    Not quite as impressive as meth bloke, but that winter war was a hell of a beating for Stalin, off a few pissed up Finns wielding sticks and broken bottles, versus the might of the Soviet army before it had to contend with Hitler's divisions.
  • johngti
    johngti Posts: 2,508
    hopkinb said:


    Not quite as impressive as meth bloke, but that winter war was a hell of a beating for Stalin, off a few pissed up Finns wielding sticks and broken bottles, versus the might of the Soviet army before it had to contend with Hitler's divisions.

    From what I’ve learned of it, the winter campaign in Russia was about as close to hell as you’re going to get. Although you could also say that about some of the pacific campaign battles and most of WW1 I suppose. Awful stuff.
  • hopkinb
    hopkinb Posts: 7,129
    This was the Russians invading Finland, winter 39/40, and getting beaten back.

    Before the Eastern front after barbarossa stalled a few 10's of km from Moscow. That was winter 41/2, then Stalingrad the following winter. The Eastern front was where the Nazis were broken. The war in France post dday
    though obviously fcuking awful, was a sideshow.

  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078
    johngti said:

    I’ve taught some kids like that...

    Have you done this though?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-56858188
    Felt F1 2014
    Felt Z6 2012
    Red Arthur Caygill steel frame
    Tall....
    www.seewildlife.co.uk
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,297
    elbowloh said:

    johngti said:

    I’ve taught some kids like that...

    Have you done this though?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-56858188
    Must confess I thought this thread would be about that guy 😂
  • johngti
    johngti Posts: 2,508
    elbowloh said:

    johngti said:

    I’ve taught some kids like that...

    Have you done this though?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-56858188
    Blimey!! Nope 😶
  • tetley10
    tetley10 Posts: 693
    Thats a bit of you @johngti
  • singleton
    singleton Posts: 2,495
    elbowloh said:

    johngti said:

    I’ve taught some kids like that...

    Have you done this though?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-56858188
    How did he get kids into a strip club....
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 16,522
    singleton said:

    elbowloh said:

    johngti said:

    I’ve taught some kids like that...

    Have you done this though?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-56858188
    How did he get kids into a strip club....
    i heard that andy guested them in
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • johngti
    johngti Posts: 2,508
    tetley10 said:

    Thats a bit of you @johngti

    Harsh.
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 51,320
    Not sure what to make of Finland during that period.
    On the one hand, they were a safe Haven for Jews but on the other, they worked alongside the Germans.

    During World War II, Finland was anomalous: It was the only European country bordering the Soviet Union in 1939 which was still unoccupied by 1945. It was a country which sided with Germany, but in which native Jews and almost all refugees were safe from persecution.[33] It was the only country that fought alongside Nazi Germany which maintained democracy throughout the war. It was in fact the only democracy in mainland Europe that remained so despite being an involved party in the war.

    According to the Finnish records 19,085 Soviet prisoners of war died in Finnish prison camps during the Continuation War, which means that 29.6% of Soviet POWs taken by the Finns did not survive. The high number of fatalities was mainly due to malnutrition and diseases. However, about 1,000 POWs were shot, primarily when attempting to escape.[34]

    When the Finnish Army controlled East Karelia between 1941 and 1944, several concentration camps were set up for Russian civilians. The first camp was set up on 24 October 1941, in Petrozavodsk. Of these interned civilians 4,361[35] perished mainly due to malnourishment, 90% of them during the spring and summer of 1942.[36]

    Finland never signed the Tripartite Pact, but was aided in its military assault on the Soviet Union by Germany from the beginning of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, and in its defence against Soviet attacks in 1944 prior to the separate peace with the Soviet Union in 1944. Finland was led by its elected president and parliament during the whole 1939–1945 period. As a result, some political scientists name it as one of the few instances where a democratic country was engaged in a war against one or more other democratic countries, namely the democracies in the Allied forces.[37] However, nearly all Finnish military engagements in World War II were fought solely against an autocratic power, the Soviet Union, and the lack of direct conflicts specifically with other democratic countries leads others to exclude Finnish involvement in World War II as an example of a war between two or more democracies.[
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078
    To Finland, Russia was their biggest, baddest enemy and were the bigger threat to them. The enemy of your enemy is your friend.

    It doesn't excuse their treatment of POWs however.
    Felt F1 2014
    Felt Z6 2012
    Red Arthur Caygill steel frame
    Tall....
    www.seewildlife.co.uk
  • hopkinb
    hopkinb Posts: 7,129
    Ah, sorry, missed this.

    Yes, Russia invaded Finland, took large parts of it. Russia's enemy was Nazi Germany, so the Germans provided assistance.

    As the extract says though, their government was never Nazi, or Fascist, they were just fighting the Russians.

    One of the less savoury parts of my family history is that I had a great uncle who volunteered to join the Finnish Waffen SS. My grandmother and therefore my mother were never sure whether he joined due to ideology, or to continue to fight the Russians on the Eastern front. My grandfather only fought in the Finnish Army on Finnish soil.

    I'm not sure the Russians, or Germans treated their POWs well. Humane treatment of POWs where the enemy has been propagandised as sub-human scum (the slav as üntermensch) or where the enemy has invaded your nation and deployed units like the einsatzgruppen is rare.