ON February 12, witches' covens across the land will mark the 40th anniversary of the death of Gerald Gardner, left, the Merseyside man who became the father of modern witchcraft.PEOPLE had different ideas about how we could repel the threatened invasion of Hitler's Nazi hordes.Winston Churchill, heavy-jowled bulldog of the people, growled glorious words of defiance.On the heaths and cliffs, bilious majors drilled the rheumaticky Home Guards, stabbing the air with broom handles while threatening to throw the Hun back into the sea. Back on the airstrips, the Brylcremed pilots revved the engines on their Spitfires and raised their eyebrows in nonchalant anticipation.In a clearing in the New Forest, near the Rufus stone, Gerald Gardner and his chums were also anxious to do their bit for the old country in its hour of peril.But what? Most of them had reached a ripe age, no longer taut enough in muscle, limb or mind for parachuting behind enemy lines.They did, though, possess a secret weapon of such potency that it would chill the Fuehrer's marrow and have his Pantzers back-pedalling before you could whisper "Russian winter".

Gardner and his fellow witches, drawn from various covens, had what he called the Cone of Power. This, they claimed, had been responsible for half the Spanish Armada being wrecked before it could reach these shores and Napoleon's failure to mount an invasion of England.

View: Full Article | Source: Liverpool Echo

Hitler wasn't defeated by witchcraft.
Hitler was defeated by:


American Ingenuity

American KnowHow

American Bombs

American Tanks

American Soldiers

American Determination

all much more powerful than any witchcraft ...........

...interesting story though

so the british, french resistance, austrian resistance, canda, austrailia had nothing to do with it then? and there was me thinking hundreds of thousands died fighting for their country....

Yes, I had heard that the Germans were merely using the Eastern front as a warm up exercise.

Yeah, thank God for the US and their valiant defence of Britain from 1939 to 1945....oh wait, let me just check my history books...crikey, it says here that the U.S. didn't join the war until 1941 when they were attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbour!!

That must mean that the rest of us held out against the Germans on our own...surely not!!

Joking aside, we do owe a debt of gratatude to the U.S. for coming to our aid, but let's not forget the sacrafices of those mentioned by Blood Angel.

There were others too: India, New Zealand, South Africa, the Poles (who had one of the highest kill ratios during the Battle of Britain) and many other nations that stood shoulder to shoulder against the Nazis and the Japanese.

On a personal note my Mum didn't see my Grandfather for over 5 years while he fought in the deserts of North Africa in the 8th Army, so I take offence to your comments Joc.

The Russians, everyone forgets the Russians....
The bloodiest battles were fought in Russia, and I personally believe that if the Warsaw pact hadn't deteriorated, we would ALL be speaking German. (Yes, you too America).

You're absolutely right mowo, we do forget the Russians and the sacrafice they made.

"Stalingrad" by Anthony Beaver is a fascinating story of the slaughter of the Eastern Front and how this broke the Germans back.

I am embarassed that I forgot about them - my blood was up!!!!

*wonders if she's the only one utterly sick of the ridiculous, arrogant, and extremely exagerated portrayal that American war films just love to portray of their country's roll in the war *

Isn't there a movie coming out about the battle of Britain, in which one of the handful of American airmen who were there is portrayed as the hero of the battle?...Despite the fact that in reality, I believe he crashed without having shot down a single enemy plane

Anyway...the war wasn't won through any single factor...though I agree the Russians get a lions share of the credit...but I somehow doubt that Mr Gerald Gardner deserves much of it

Oh dear oh dear oh dear...

Joc I think you need to read up a little more on the histroy of WWII before making statements such as yours.

As has been said before there were many countries and people involved in defeating the Germans. The British, Russians, french and all the resistance groups around Europe at least had the balls, nerve, determination, conviction and incredibly brave men and women to go in and fight for the freedom of their countries and Europe right at the beginning of the war! Thankgod for Churchill et al !!

Sorry I am not normally patriotic but posts such as yours where it is obvious that you have not got any idea of what the history of this war was all about makes me cringe!

Lottie

Well Joc...that'll just be your little secret then

Ok Joc and how exactly were we defeated? Hitler never defeated the british you idiot. The war lasted 2 years before you guys entered the war at a point when we were still fighting. How does that constitute us being "defeated".

You dont have a clue do you?

By the way Joc who reached the reichstag 1st ?

The russians not the americans, they were the ones the brought down the symbol of the nazis not the americans and 20 million on them died in doin so, the russians fought the germans in the largest tank battle of WW2 at Kursk and won that too so think about your daft comments before posting.

Your ignorant comments are an insult to not only every other nation which lost millions around the world fighting hitler, but to your fellow americans who have at least a drop of knowledge on the subject.

Unlike lottie i am patriotic and very proud to be british and i am disgusted by comments like yours.

At least our forefathers had the guts to stand up to the fascist nazis unlike yourselves. So before you go taking a pop at the rest of the world why dont you find out why you lot buried your heads in the sand while we fought.

*while looking up war casualties, found a table that shows the number of allied troops killed by friendly fire shot through the roof right after America joined in... *

Lol

Seriously though this is why there is such an anti-american sentiment flying around though, prolly most americans would just think his comments are stupid but people like him give them all a bad name.

IMHO Hitler defeated Himself by being a coward and commiting SUICIDE! The Chicken sh*t had everyone else do his dirty work for him, then when knowing he was defeated, he took the cowards way out. And Hitler was a JEW himself!!!

Has anyone here ever seen "The Nurumberg Trials" about the POW camps and the torture the prisioners went through?? I have, and Ill admit that I cried through most of it. Seeing dead boddies piled in graves that more than likely contained a more than few LIVE bodies too!!! Now thats HELL!!!

I think we've ben through the whole hitler was a jew thing before an that argument lasted a while.

The concentration camps were without a doubt the most evil invention the human race has ever come up with and we should never forget what happened there. It should always be rammed down our throats to make sure it never happens again

Look the common portrayal of france as a weak country is. in my opinion BullSh*t at best. France is a very small country and what did you expect them to do? have more of there civilians killed in a suicide fight? Americans... Well we put a higher value on glory valor and things like that... we are willing to die for our causes for totally senseless reasons.... hence why we usally come out victorious... not because of great strategy... no britian came up with all the good strategys....
BUT because we dont give the hell if we die or not when fighting for our cause.
France had a rather small army (as did america) before we started up the good o'l draft.
Britian lost so many civilians it is ironic as america pulled itself to power almost equal to that of this great nation in less than 100 years. THEN we used those nazi scientists we kidnapped mixed in with some great british,french,canadian and american minds to invent the H-bomb, the common misconsception we did this by ourselves is for the narrow minded with a sense of foolish pride.

France is not a very small country it has a popultaion of around 60 million people and was actually considered one of the most powerful countries in the world at that time.

It did not have a small army. It was badly led and not properly equiped. Though it wasnt actually that weak. Had the maginole line been placed nmore effectivley it may have had some bearing.

Britain bankrupted herslef through WW1 and fighting for so long ALONE in WW2 ( by alone i include the commonwealth ie canada and australia and many others). This is why our empire which was already creaking fell apart. Thats why britain were no longer a stong world power & although we are no longer a superpower we still do have a lot of clout on the international stage. We also have an army which although no where near as powerful as america is considered to be one of the most professional in the world.

Actually, we are (i believe) the 4th richest country in the world and we have the most powerful army in Europe, but we are heading down that flag waiving, ra-ra, "we're the best" road that our American cousins love to skip down!!

Man, that Joc has got me so peeved right now I am going to go and buy a MacDonalds burger just so I've got something American to jump up and down on!!!

Also its not just americans who have a sense of courage student alive, the french werent being cowards.

There leaders surrendered not them and the proof of there courage is in the way the french resistance stood against germany. Dont underestemiate their importance either.

Stamford we have the fourth stongest economy in the world not nessecarily meaning the 4rth richest country though i amnt an economist lol We may have the strongest army in europe though i think the french have a powerful army too.

Anyway i agree with you about Joc. Im raging

You Guys.........

...well I can see I have pissed off half of the world...

let me clarify some points:

When I said Britain was defeated....what I meant was....London was in ruins,
the Nazis were intent on destroying England...and they would have...

...were it not for American involvement...that's all...

And a word or two about being an American....

....Americans are English, Americans are Scottish, Americans are Welch,
Americans are French, Americans are German, Americans are the end result of melting the best of the rest of the world together...in a land where they could mix in a lot of
freedom.

To those of you who are insulted.......I apologize.

I didn't mean to leave out the rest of the world. Of course it was not just
America by ourselves who defeated Hitler.

It is more like a bully who is beating up the playground. The big kid comes over
and helps the little kids defeat the bully. The big kid isn't bragging and didn't
mean to take all the credit.....but the little kids would still be under the thumb
of the mean ole bully if the big kid hadn't stepped in.

*..scratches head wondering if the rest of the planet is now pissed off*

[QUOTE]*..scratches head wondering if the rest of the planet is now pissed off* [/QUOTE]

Um..yes!!!

Why? Because you are still doing it:

[QUOTE]When I said Britain was defeated....what I meant was....London was in ruins,
the Nazis were intent on destroying England...and they would have...

...were it not for American involvement...that's all...[/QUOTE]

The Battle of Britain prevented the 1000 bomber raids that threatened to destroy London and many other British cities; although the Blitz continued, it was enough to prevent the total destruction of our capital. I am a Londoner, MY FAMILY survived the Blitz not because of the US, but because brave men from Britain, the Commonwealth, the Empire and many other nations stood up to be counted. This was in 1940 (your lot decided to come in in December 1941).

[CODE]....Americans are English, Americans are Scottish, Americans are Welch,
Americans are French, Americans are German, Americans are the end result of melting the best of the rest of the world together...in a land where they could mix in a lot of
freedom.[QUOTE]

Yeah? Tell that to the Native Americans!!


[QUOTE]It is more like a bully who is beating up the playground. The big kid comes over
and helps the little kids defeat the bully. The big kid isn't bragging and didn't
mean to take all the credit.....but the little kids would still be under the thumb
of the mean ole bully if the big kid hadn't stepped in.[/QUOTE]

Well thanks "Big Kid", I have seen the error of my ways with this description!!

Do yourself a favour, Joc, and quit while you are behind. You have upset a lot of people with your narrow minded and incorrect history of WW2.

America defeated Hitler? wow i think i'll have to go tell my history teacher he's teaching the kids wrong!
i agree about those films about war, with america as heros and stuff like that. it annoys me.
my advice. put the spade down joc

Are you just on purposley ignoring the facts Joc?

The russians had more to do with the defeat of germany than the americans. Youjust arent taught that over there, but with the comments that you are commin away with it doesnt look like youve been taught much.

BTW little lesson in geography London is not the only city in BRITAIN and england isnt the only country in BRITAIN. My god your ignorance knows no bounds!!

joc,

As a fellow American, and former combat soldier I am asking you to please stop. I studied world war 2 a great deal, you are way off base, a long way off. I don't know where you are getting your info from, but it just isn't right.

I can only assume that you are young and just haven't learned the whole story yet, which you have time to do. Until then, please give more thought to your posts.

Oh boy...

Its a place in the south of france does that answer your pointless question?

Oh i take it your talking about the british, american, australian and canadian invasion of normandy during WW2.

Or are you talking about the norman conquest of 1066?

You are a fool

Sorry i meant just joc not america

I did state earlier that i felt most americans would find his comments embarrasing

I really hope he is doing it on purpose

Oh joc sorry about my mentioning of the norman conquest you dont even know what happened in 1944 never mind 1066. Sorry if i caused you any undue confusion

Now during the Norman Conquest, Joc, we actually WERE invaded, where was the US then when we needed her?

As much as people love to ridicule the French for their war effort, they were the 'big kids' who stepped in and won the war of independance for the US. How quickly they were forgotten...

Statistics arent going to prove anything to him... okay Joc let me put it in words I think you can understand...
we HELPED
but
THEY WON

Sorry lottie i didnt mean to imply you werent proud
sorry

I think we can all agree that joc is in everyway wrong and desnt have a clue what hes talking about. He is ignorant and has offended nearly everyone with an ounce of common sense that has read this post.

The guy is just choosing to ignore the fact that the country of Russia even existed. Clearly not a great thinker.

Lets just all thank each other for ALL our countries individual efforts during and after WW2.

They all beat hitler not 1 single country

Wunarmdscissor,

10 quid says this one aint over just yet!

LOL

Dont think it is either