Re: "America is Ready to Act" said Obama.
Originally Posted by
Silver Tabby
->
but of course - Audie Murphy and John Wayne won that one between them - how could I have forgotten.
Personally, Bruce, I reckon we owe more to the Anzacs than the americans.
Those two statements say a lot about Britain.
America was the best friend Britain had during the second world war, without lend lease Britain would have sunk and become a financial basket case; despite the name it was just a very big gift of support, ships and supplies from the US. It was NEVER repaid.
And it was only Curtin ignoring that bastard Churchill that stopped the Japanese in Papua New Guinea. Churchill ordered two divisions of Australian troops from the Middle East to be sent to Burma Curtin countermanded the order and had them returned to Australia where they were used in the defence of Australia.
Churchill, Australia's so called friend, said, "We can get Australia back after the war."
I don't think Australia has trusted Britain since, hence in 1951 the signing of the
ANZUS Treaty which is still in effect today.
To ease Curtin's deepening concern for Australia's safety, and resist Australia withdrawing its military forces from Britain, North Africa, and the Middle East, Churchill assured Curtin that a British fleet would be dispatched to save Australia if Japan invaded in massive strength. This was a lie.
Churchill had no intention of sending a British fleet to save Australia from a Japanese invasion. He had already betrayed Australia at the Arcadia Conference (see above).
Curtin was becoming convinced during December 1941 that Churchill's assurances of British military support for Australia against Japan were worthless, and he was not prepared to see Australia abandoned by the British to a Japanese invasion.
On 26 December 1941, the Australian Prime Minister addressed the nation in a radio address that made it quite clear that Australia was in grave danger from the Japanese and reflected Curtin's disillusionment with Churchill's assurances that Britain would furnish powerful support if Australia was threatened with Japanese invasion. In the course of this famous speech, which was published in the Melbourne Herald newspaper on 27 December 1942, Curtin said,
"Without any inhibitions of any kind, I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom."