WWII Quotes

Non-naval discussions about the Second World War. Military leaders, campaigns, weapons, etc.
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minoru genda
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WWII Quotes

Post by minoru genda »

Let's start a little game here. Everyone has to write a WWII related quote. Only 1 quote per post and then a different user has to post another quote and so on....

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

Supposed quotation by Isoroku Yamamoto in the film Tora! Tora! Tora!

Your turn now.
Tora! Tora! Tora!
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minoru genda
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Re: WWII quotes

Post by minoru genda »

Nobody cares? :( :(
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Bgile
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Re: WWII quotes

Post by Bgile »

No, can't think of any.
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tommy303
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Re: WWII quotes

Post by tommy303 »

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.
W.L.S. Churchill, 4 June 1940

Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood and Earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned these defended;
And saved the sum of things for pay.
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José M. Rico
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Re: WWII quotes

Post by José M. Rico »

"The victorious advance from the Aisne to the Swiss border and the Vosges will go down in history as an heroic example of a break-through by mobile troops."

General Heinz Guderian, 30 June 1940
Bgile
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Re: WWII quotes

Post by Bgile »

I'm sorry; I know this is evil, but I can't help myself:

"On average it took five Panthers to take out a Sherman. Four would be in a ditch out of fuel or broken down, the fifth one just blows away the Sherman before breaking down."

Unknown author.
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minoru genda
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Re: WWII quotes

Post by minoru genda »

Another

"On land I am a hero. At sea I am a coward."

Adolf Hitler
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minoru genda
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Re: WWII quotes

Post by minoru genda »

I love this one

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country..."

George S. Patton Jr.
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Legend
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Re: WWII quotes

Post by Legend »

This one has to show the colors of a true naval commander that holds our (or atleast mine) hearts...


"I will not have my ship be shot out from under my ass (Return Fire!)"

Captain Ernst Lindemann
AND THE SEA SHALL GRANT EACH MAN NEW HOPE, AS SLEEP BRINGS DREAMS.
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Terje Langoy
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Post by Terje Langoy »

"Zum ersten Mal in der Seekriegsgeschichte ist es deutsches Schlachtschiffen gelungen, in den freien Atlantik einzudringen ... Und nun ran!"

"For the first time in Naval History, German battleships have succeesfully entered into the free Atlantic … Full speed ahead!"

Admiral Günther Lütjens - 4th February 1941 (Operation Berlin)

(I suspect some of our German members might find my translation a bit off. At least the main context of Lütjens message should be represented here)
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José M. Rico
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Re: WWII quotes

Post by José M. Rico »

"This war must be taken very seriously. Make no mistake about it, it may well last for seven years, and we shall probably be only too happy to see it end then in a peace by negociation."

Karl Dönitz addressing U-boat officers on 4 September 1939.
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RF
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Re:

Post by RF »

Terje Langoy wrote:"Zum ersten Mal in der Seekriegsgeschichte ist es deutsches Schlachtschiffen gelungen, in den freien Atlantik einzudringen ... Und nun ran!"

"For the first time in Naval History, German battleships have succeesfully entered into the free Atlantic … Full speed ahead!"

Admiral Günther Lütjens - 4th February 1941 (Operation Berlin)

(I suspect some of our German members might find my translation a bit off. At least the main context of Lütjens message should be represented here)
Richard Garrett gives a slightly different meaning. German battleships did of course operate in the Atlantic in peacetime prior to both world wars.
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Re: WWII quotes

Post by irving1941 »

"The population of eastern Poland wants to become Russian"

-Franklin Delano Roosevelt to New York Archbishop Francis Spellman in a 1944 meeting.


"I´m personally confident that the people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania would vote to join the Soviet Union"

-Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the same instance.

:silenced: :silenced:
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RF
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Re: WWII Quotes

Post by RF »

With some cynical licence both of these quotes could be absolutely true.

With respect to eastern Poland, what definition of territory do we use? Are we talking of the area of White Russia that was annexed by Pilsudski in 1921 and regained by the Soviets in September 1939? At the time this would (in the West) still be regarded as eastern Poland, and most of the population were and are Russian and not Polish.

As for the Baltic states - well of course they would vote for the USSR if the Soviets ran the poll......

I wonder what FDR might have said if someone had asked him about whether the people of Alaska would vote to join the USSR during WW2..... remembering that prior to October 1867 Alaska was owned by Russia...
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irving1941
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Re: WWII Quotes

Post by irving1941 »

"...I just have the hunch that Stalin is not that kind of man. Harry [Hopkins] say´s he is not, and that he doens´t want anything but security for his country. And I think that if I give everything I possibly can and ask nothing from him in return, noblesse obligue, he wont´try to annex anything and will work with me for a world of democracy and peace."

-1943, FDR at the Teheran Conference replying to former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union William Bullit, when the diplomat told him about the true nature of the Soviet regime and Stalin himself.


"The Soviets has given us so much at this conference that I don´t think we should let them down."

-Harry Hopkins to FDR at the Yalta Conference, February 1945


"I think we fought against the wrong people..."

-George Patton Jr, 1945
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