World War II: The 13 Hours That Saved Britain
Added 2025-05-09 06:00:09 +0000 UTChttps://youtu.be/mj5m_tz4Bjk?si=laLxSU276rM2OEEO
Comments
Most of what was shown on this film to do with the fighting was actual real footage from ww2 across the entirety of the Second World War 🙏🏻💙🏴 PS got goosebumps my friends All in come on!!
Bcam007
2025-05-14 15:15:24 +0000 UTCSeconded
Kieran B
2025-05-11 19:18:40 +0000 UTCOf course, by the time Fawlty Towers aired, attitudes were changing. "The Germans" aired in 1975, when I was just into my teens and learning German at school, and Germany had been transformed by its 'economic miracle', so even Basil's attitude was understood to be behind the times - or else it wouldn't have been possible to laugh at him. It was understood too that the scars ran deep in older generations who had fought and suffered, though, but what still surprises me to this day is that many of the Germans who had lived through it still saw themselves as essentially innocent victims and, indeed, many still supported the Nazis. It was the generations mostly born after the War that took on the burden of guilt.
OrdinaryDave
2025-05-11 12:03:50 +0000 UTCThis is in no way meant to be a flippant comment but maybe now you can begin to understand in context why when you reacted to Fawlty Towers "The Germans" the Major said he didn't "...care much for Germans.." This was of course only one example of why in that period of history you might not care for them.
Nick Beer
2025-05-11 11:18:03 +0000 UTCI'm glad others have pointed out that many of those witnesses interviewed were well known people later in their lives from politicians like Tony Benn, actors, artists and tv personalities and of course a major personality during WW2 - Dame Vera Lynn. Most if not all are now sadly dead. It was a great idea to mix their experiences with those of other "just" general public.
Nick Beer
2025-05-11 11:16:00 +0000 UTCI feel more sadness than pride personally for the suffering of my parents' generation. They didn't speak of it with pride. The Russian people are bursting with pride right now at the idea of how their ancestors had balls of steel in winning WW2 single-handedly and look where that is getting them, Ukrainians and the rest of us.
OrdinaryDave
2025-05-10 19:36:10 +0000 UTCThe "Doodle bug" or V1 was the world's first cruise missile and used a ram engine, so made a distinctive sound a bit like an outboard motor. When it had reached its intended target, the motor cut and it went silent, except for the whistling sound as it hurtled towards the ground. It was pretty slow, so the latest RAF fighters could actually catch it and, to save ammunition, would sometimes tip its wings with their own, which would disturb its gyroscope and sending it hurtling towards the ground prematurely. It was purely a terror weapon, since its (and that of its successor, the V2 or first ballistic missile) impact on the war effort was miniscule. In fact, most fell well short of their intended target, London, falling instead on Sussex and Surrey where my mother lived. A railway bridge near my London home in the East End used to serve as a makeshift shelter for the local women and kids, but was twice destroyed by a V2 (incredibly unlucky, considering their inaccuracy), killing all inside. There is no memorial or marker for their deaths, but I hope one day to visit the local care home to see if there is anyone alive still who remembers those who perished, so that I might ask permission of the council to erect something in their memory, before it is too late.
OrdinaryDave
2025-05-10 19:27:14 +0000 UTCMy grandad was Major Edward John Evans ❤️. My mum was 1 when he went away to war. For 2 years he was missing and my nan didn't know if he was alive or dead. Turned out he was in a hospital in Germany after being the only survivor after his tank rolled over a mine. He would send mum hand drawn birthday cards every year, drawn by the amazing legend Spike Milligan. Mum still has them. When he finally came home from war my mum was 7. She said she couldn't stop saying daddy because it was a novelty to be able to say it. Bless his heart he survived the war but developed lung cancer and died when mum was in her early 20's. Mum said he wouldn't discuss the war but used to talk about Spike (they were in the same barracks) sitting on the end of his bed in the middle of the night playing his trumpet. My nan told me stories about the war. She was a Londoner so saw a lot of the destruction. She used to talk about a certain type of bomb called a 'Doodle bug'. She said it had a distinctive whistle, as soon as it went quiet she would count to 10. Apparently if you got to 10 you knew you were safe. Mum remembers going in the Anderson shelter they had in their back garden and how her usually very strict and stern gran would sing to her to muffle the sound of the planes over head. Must have been terrifying!
AngieG
2025-05-10 18:52:21 +0000 UTCi'm sorry... but that one guy saying "Squirting at a whole bunch bombers" and always referring to shooting as squirting is really making me laugh
Custard
2025-05-10 17:33:26 +0000 UTCGoodness, I never knew that. But I did recognise him as the actor who played the desk sergeant in 'A Touch of Frost.'
Static CentreHalf
2025-05-10 17:29:47 +0000 UTCWell said!
Static CentreHalf
2025-05-10 17:24:15 +0000 UTCi enjoy these wartime documentries so much, they always leave me bursting with pride for my nation and ancestors, thank heavens our grandparents had balls of steel
ezza
2025-05-10 16:29:00 +0000 UTCThe saddest part that shouldn't be overlooked is it isn't just one man's ideology though.
OrdinaryDave
2025-05-10 14:13:18 +0000 UTC“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Winston Churchill.
OrdinaryDave
2025-05-10 14:11:11 +0000 UTCI just watch the new Netflix documentary BRITAIN AND THE BLITZ.. Wow that's a must watch . 8 month of bomding of UK 🇬🇧 the footage is unreal .
Dango247
2025-05-10 13:50:46 +0000 UTCThank you for your fantastic and respectful reaction From your brilliant WILTY reactions, music, comedy and of course the inbetweeners. Looking forward to the uk office 2nd series Tremendous content, thank you 💪👍
Keith Scott
2025-05-10 13:38:10 +0000 UTCJess your monologue at the end just reminded me sadly of what happening today. 1 man's ideaology against a nation fighting for freedom.
Jay Lo
2025-05-10 12:47:32 +0000 UTCI think the British are incredibly proud of a particular historical narrative
Paul08031977
2025-05-10 11:30:17 +0000 UTCYou've got to see The Darkest Hour !!
Bobby Beaumont
2025-05-09 23:08:47 +0000 UTCI’m sat on the runway at Biggin Hill watching this. Feeling nostalgic.
James
2025-05-09 22:36:24 +0000 UTCQuite an incredible video. Mike and Jess, you might be interested in this that connects two types of videos that you've watched. England football fans singing 10 German Bombers. Think of it like 99 Bottles of Beer but with 10 German Bombers. The British are incredibly proud of their history. https://youtu.be/YSeyIeDsS5s?si=Tz6pj3paPiiql4-R
Scott Gardiner
2025-05-09 18:19:41 +0000 UTCI'd love to see you guys react to Masters of the Air, it was produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg and is about an American squadron who resides and fights out of the UK during WW2. Its a great watch, huge budget too!
Jamie B
2025-05-09 16:30:54 +0000 UTCall Heroes 🕊️
TheHigh
2025-05-09 15:44:08 +0000 UTCI'm not crying! your crying!! , in all seriousness a very emotional watch , so proud. loved your reaction to this. peaceee 🕊️🤍
TheHigh
2025-05-09 15:41:15 +0000 UTCTony Benn was in the Royal Air Force. Later became a prominant Labour MP. Great man and one of my heroes actually.
Martyn Dawson
2025-05-09 14:45:33 +0000 UTCIf you want more on second world war. A must is WORLD AT WAR I'm sure most in chat have seen and can confirm one of the best ever documentary ever made 👍
Dango247
2025-05-09 14:10:30 +0000 UTCI'm 36 and could never imagine what it would have been like back then. War still goes on around the world as humans never learn from past mistakes and will continue until the end of days. Looking back, I wondered when my youthful innocence was taken and without a doubt, it would have been in 2001 when I was 13 and I came home from school and my mum pointed at the TV. As I stood there, just after the second impact, I can still actually remember what I was seeing wasn't quite registering and then the complete realisation hitting me as the first tower collapsed. It's a moment, even as a 13 year old scottish child, sitting thousands of miles away, that will never leave me
Malcom Kumar
2025-05-09 13:43:18 +0000 UTCShoutout to the 145 Poles, 125 New Zealanders, 112 Canadians and 100 or so from other nationalities who fought with the 2,300 British pilots in the three-month campaign around the Battle of Britain.
Thomas
2025-05-09 13:04:46 +0000 UTCIf you ever get round to watching Only Fools and Horses, which I hope you do, then you’ll see the brother of the chap with the moustache who thought he found a piece of chicken (Arthur White) - as he plays the main character Del Boy
Kieran B
2025-05-09 11:24:45 +0000 UTCI saw that at the cinema when it came out. My dad didn’t like war movies, having seen six years of combat in WW2. Most movies were made in Hollywood, and Americans seemed to be the heroes and British actors often played Nazis in them. Dad hatred that. Battle of Britain was a homegrown movie and had spectacular footage, as seen in this documentary, so dad was happy to take me and my brother to see it. I was only 11, but remember having a pre-pubescent crush on the leading lady, Susannah York.
Thomas
2025-05-09 11:23:52 +0000 UTCThe footage is a mix of reenactors, archive footage and the 1960s film The Battle of Britain - all the combat footage is from that; it’s definitely a fairly low budget production
Kieran B
2025-05-09 11:18:47 +0000 UTCThe Auxiliaries would be an interesting thing to look into as well - effectively a pre-planned resistance movement
Kieran B
2025-05-09 11:14:10 +0000 UTCDefinitely second those
Kieran B
2025-05-09 11:12:22 +0000 UTCThere’s lots of stuff to add and clarify around this but I think the key one is that this was months of aerial combat - this just happened to be the day with the most and largest raids, so it became known as Battle of Britain Day. The Dowding System was crucial to the victory, no body anywhere had anything like it at the time - not even the US. I’ll put some videos about it in your education list now that you’ve seen this. I’ve built a virtual simulation of it too to get an idea of how it works.
Kieran B
2025-05-09 11:11:52 +0000 UTCThank you Mike and Jess for reacting to this today, great reaction! It feels like as we get further away from it, it’s being forgotten about. Or even worse, people aren’t being taught what happened in the first place. I’m a child of the 70’s, but have a deep respect and appreciation for the sacrifices the wartime generation made for us, that we might have the freedoms we enjoy today. It’s hard to imagine what it was like to experience what they did. And it just became normal life for them! Look around Britain today, and you can still see the scars of the war. Housing estates where a terrace of houses was maybe half destroyed, and then instead of rebuilding it, they would just shore up the destroyed end, leaving a gap, or an odd end to a building that doesn’t match the others in the surrounding area. Fascinating clues surround us if you look for them!
Dave
2025-05-09 11:10:08 +0000 UTCOne of the most famous Battle of Britain pilots was Douglas Bader, who had no legs. He lost them both in a flying accident years before the war, but managed to persuade the RAF to let him fly again once war broke out. He had a couple of kills in the battle. A year later he crashed over France and was taken prisoner by the Germans. They allowed him to receive two prosthetic limbs from the UK, and he repaid them by making a couple of escape attempts. He was eventually held in the infamous Colditz Castle until the end of the war. There is a pub named after him, near where my brother lives in Suffolk, for which Bader actually performed the opening ceremony. Apparently, he found it hilarious that a pub was named after a legless man (legless being slang for drunk!).
Thomas
2025-05-09 10:28:28 +0000 UTCWar is hell - William Sherman
Paul
2025-05-09 09:42:18 +0000 UTCDame Vera Lynn, who features as one of the witnesses, was a famous singer who became known as ‘The Forces Sweetheart’ because she entertained our troops during the war. One of her most famous songs ‘White Cliffs of Dover’ was written by an American in 1941 about the Battle of Britain. It must have been of great comfort for the embattled British people. It’s a beautiful song guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye after watching this documentary. One of the lines is ‘There’ll be bluebirds over the White Cliffs of Dover tomorrow, just you wait and see.’ The American writer wasn’t aware that bluebirds aren’t indigenous to Britain, but that doesn’t taking anything from the sentiment of the song. As someone who comes from a centuries old Dover family, it obviously means a lot to me personally. Please give it a listen, it’s so beautiful. https://youtu.be/89487uG13Ro?si=gBBlG-eOsnh1pfXi
Thomas
2025-05-09 09:35:55 +0000 UTCGuy Martin did a 2 part documentary a couple of years ago in which he trained as a fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain. It's really good. He's like a modern Fred Dibnah, just a normal bloke doing extraordinary things. I have it but I don't think it's be good for YouTube, it's channel 4 who usually region block to the UK. I got a few of his shows
Danny
2025-05-09 09:02:20 +0000 UTC"And you, what is your name?" "Don't tell him Pike!"
Athan Immortal
2025-05-09 08:56:22 +0000 UTCYes, these were mainly very young men. For historical context, Mick Jagger (who you both marvelled over in your Rolling Stones reaction) was born in Dartford, Kent, over which much of the Battle of Britain was fought, less than two years later in July 1943. His generation could not have been more different from those young men of the wartime generation.
Thomas
2025-05-09 08:37:16 +0000 UTCNicholas Parsons, (the gentleman in red with glasses at six mins forty six) is the son of my grandmother's family doctor. He was down in London at school, and very shortly after this his dad sent him to Scotland. By the start of the Battle of Britain, about a million children had already been evacuated from London and this increased as the bombing intensified. I've had the privilege of meeting many hundred WW2 RAF aircrew members in my lifetime, mainly bomber command crew, but some fighter command. The pilots were essentially children themselves. The average age of Bomber Command crew during the war was 22, and there were experienced combat veterans in senior officer positions as young as 24, 25, and 26. They had to grow up at a speed and intensity that modern youngsters couldn't imagine and it made for a quite unique generation. My Grandmother was 17 on the outbreak of war, and by this point in the war she was working in a munitions factory producing ammunition for the Spitfires. If the sirens went off, they'd walk to the shelter, and then go back to work when the 'All Clear' sounded. If the factory was bombed, they'd clear it up as quickly as possible and then get back to work. It is the privilege of my life to have known so many of these men and women.
David Smith
2025-05-09 08:26:18 +0000 UTCJimmy Perry, the eyewitness who talked about being told to obey any German invaders, went on to write one of Britain’s most-loved sitcoms, Dad’s Army. It’s about the Home Guard, which was a civilian defence force, basically amateur soldiers, who would have done their best (armed with old rifles and pitch forks) to disrupt any invading forces.
Thomas
2025-05-09 08:22:00 +0000 UTCI really hope you guys get to react to Band of Brothers (HBO). It’s produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks and follows 1 company of the 501st Airborne through WW2. At the start of each episode there are interviews with the actual people portrayed.
Scott Perkins
2025-05-09 08:12:27 +0000 UTCTwo of my teachers at grammar school were decorated former Battle of Britain fighter pilots. As boys, we knew nothing of this until after they retired. On each occasion, a newsletter was sent to our parents with brief descriptions of their war records. I guess they wanted no fuss.
Thomas
2025-05-09 08:09:07 +0000 UTCDame Vera Lynn. 🤍
Terrahawk
2025-05-09 07:03:39 +0000 UTCMuch of the footage is taken from a film called Battle of Britain (1969), which is a personal favourite.
Zr0w3n
2025-05-09 06:28:14 +0000 UTC
