Posts by JWfan

what amazes me that I am not only the youngest but that I am also from Holland.

cya Danny

hi hondo,

Columbus was Portugese and discovered South America.
The British Henry Hudson in service of the dutch WIC discovered the north, so he would claim the title more.

But you are right about how to choose the greatest American, when I think of America, I think of John Wayne, Indians and Mc Donalds.
I think the greatest American would be George Washington or someone like Lincoln but no Oprah Winfrey

cya Danny

born in 1988 Den Haag (The Hague)

cya Danny

I just saw the list of the 100 nominees, I am no American but I really miss some persons of the list, for example Robert. E. Lee, cause he is I think here in Europe together with Patton the most famous American military commander.

I see to few historical persons on the list, and for example Schwarzenegger dont belongs on the list.

cya Jwfan

I think those votings are not so important as long as you know yourself who is the greatest, those votings on the greatest are just dont right.

For example about an year here in Holland there was also a huge television show about who was the greatest dutch person. Everyone would have expected William of Orange to win who was the founding father of our nation or Michiel de Ruyter our greatest naval hero to win.

But unfortunately Pim Fortuyn won, a dutch politician who was shot about 3 years ago won, that is in mine view just bullshit.
I mean in 30 years everyone will have forgotten him.

cya Jwfan

I like Queen and of course film music

cya Jwfan

It took some time but this is mine 200th post!!!!

cya Danny

I dont know If anyone of you is still voting on IMDB, I try to vote on the Searchers and other Wayne movies from time to time, but not every day.
The Searchers is now ranked on place 167 and the highest ranked Wayne movie is The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, I also give the lowest vote to movies who doenst belong on the list like Braveheart.

What I ask is to vote some more on IMDB to bring Wayne movies their true value and at least one needs to be in the top 100 list.

cya Jwfan

ringo kid you ever been or seen the fernseher tower in Berlin if you look to that tower you really get fear of hights.

btw I might go to the US with my father this summer If I have the guts to step in the plane

If I wouldnt have fear of hight I would have visited the US for sure not only for statues for famous people but also to see monument valley

cya JWfan

hi ringo kid,

could you also give me the names of the persons from who there are statues because I am quite interested in that.

Here in Holland we have statues from:

William of Orange (the Silent) - leader of the dutch war of independence

Piet Heyn - first admiral of the dutch fleet and capturer of the spanish silver fleet and San Salvador

Michiel de Ruyter - defender of the fatherland he was dutch last hope in the year of disaster (1672) he saved Holland from a English/French invasion.

Antony van Leeuwenhoek - biologist, founder of the microscope

Jan Huygens - inventor of the sawmill and several other things.

William III of Orange - led dutch forces to victory in the 3 great wars of Louis XIV and invaded France

Johan de Witt - one of the most important European political leaders of the 17th century

Johan van Oldenbarnevelt - Dutch stadtholder and founder of the first world wide trading company the VOC.

Prince Maurice of Orange - great field commander he was the first commander in Europe that could beat the invinsible Spanish infantry on land at Nieuwpoort and captured much ground of the Spanish in what is now is Belgium and was an example for other leaders like Gustav Adolphus.

Desimerus Erasmus - humanist, great philosphor of 16th Century

and some others

cya Jwfan

hi ringo kid,

I have a question about something entirely else, I am fond of statues of historical figures, now here in Holland there are lots of statues in Den Haag and I have visited many cities in Europe including Paris and Berlin and I guess it is something typical European to make statues of important persons but I wonder if there are many statues in the USA of important persons/

cya JWfan

hi ringo kid, stumpy

I dont think there is much to read about the dutch involvement in WWII because the invasion of Holland only lasted for 5 days and there were only 2 major battles:
the battle at Ypenburg dutch marines vs german paras and the battle at the Grebbeline dutch infantry equipped with WWI weapons vs german infantry.
The reason why we were occupied so quickly was that we were attacked by surprise because Holland declared to be neutral but still we were attacked.

My grandfather who was a farmer, told me a story about the invasion, he was working on the land and suddenly there was one big shadow and alot of noice and when he looked up he saw hundreds of paratroopers.
Only at the airfield at Ypenburg the marines could inflict heavy casualties on German paratroopers because the dutch placed obstacles on the landing zones.

But if we could hold them back for a couple more days we could have been helped by the British and French troops who were coming to help and then the outcome of the war could have been different.

Also I am proud of how dutch people resisted against the German occupation, I dont know If you have seen the dutch movie Soldaat van Oranje or Soldier of Orange from Paul Verhoeven the movie gives a clear view of how the resistance was.

My grandmother who had healthy parents and they lived in a large house did go every day to school, but every week there came less people in the class because Judish people who had to hide or were betrayed didnt show up anymore.
I just cant imagine how that would have been.

About the movie Operation Amsterdam I have heard of It but I have never seen it.

And about the large piano in holland we call that a 'vleugel'.
I dont know how they say that in English.

Stumpy, thanks for the links.

cya Jwfan

hi ringo kid,

I think you are talking about the marines who defended Rotterdam It was one of the few place were we could hold off the Germans when they invaded in 1940.
But when the marines refused to surrender the city was bombed.

cya Jwfan

hi ringo kid,

I am not sure if Nelson was being killed by the French because the battle at Trafalgar was the British against the French and Spanish but the most of the fleet were french ships so I think he was killed by the French.

Yes I know about Patton although he is my favorite commander of WWII that also has to do with the movie with George C. Scott I like his character.

About dutch soldiers, Holland was great on the sea never on the land, we won the eighty years war of dutch independence against Spain not because we won from them on the battlefield but because the dutch fleet could inflict heavy damage on Spanish trade. The only great field commander we had was Prince Maurice of Orange Nassau.

If you look back on dutch military history you can see that the dutch fought in many wars but in all the wars on land we never had great commanders. like in the spanish war of succesion dutch forces were under the command of the british commander John Churchill Marlborough also in the austrian war of succession and during the battle at Waterloo dutch forces were under the command of Wellington.

So I am not that proud of dutch military history on land but on sea I am.

cya Jwfan

hi ringo kid

Tromp was the father of the first real naval tactics, he defeated in 1639 during the thirty years war, the second spanish armada at the downs which was send to invade to invade Holland.

Blake was a British admiral who is also seen as the greatest British admiral after Nelson. Blake and Tromp fought each other in lots of naval engagements during the first Anglo-Dutch war. In these war Blake first introduced the ship of the line tactics and was also the reason why the Dutch lost the war. (the first anglo-dutch war is also seen as the first modern war because the war was fought entirely at sea and it was the first trade war).

I also give some info about Michiel de Ruyter, he is dutch greatest naval hero.
He was involved during the Dutch conquest of Brazil against the Portugese and later he fought as vice admiral in the first Anglo-Dutch war (1652-1654). In the last battle Tromp was killed and he took over command of the Dutch fleet.
In 1658 he was victorious in the battle at the Sond during the Dutch-Swedish war and also captured the island of Funen. During the second Anglo-Dutch war (1665-1667) he won one of the greatest naval engagements ever fought the four days battle but lost the St. James day fight. The british burnt a dutch merchantfleet and wanted revenge, so they sended de Ruyter to attack London. de Ruyter broke the chains of the thames which were protecting London, burnt most of the British ships and sended 2000 zeesoldaten or mariniers (seasoldiers or Marines) on land to attack fort sheerness this action is also known as the first ambifien operation so de Ruyter is the father of the Marine corps.
In 1672 in the dutch 'rampjaar' (year of disaster) when we were attacked on sea by the British and French fleet from the south by the French and from the east by German kingdoms. De Ruyter won on sea all the naval engagements against the allied fleet. Whit as highlight the battle at Kijkduin were he fought a twice as big fleet and still wanted to attack which the British and French didnt expect and when they saw Dutch sails at the horizon coming with de Ruyter in his shining armour on the flagship some French ships fled away. On land the war didnt go to well and Holland was for 70% taken. But after 2 year fighting with a smaller army under the lead of William III later king of England all the invading armies were driven out. In 1676 de Ruyter was send to help the Spanish at sicily against a French invasion. He was victorious in the battles at Etna and Palermo but he lost the last battle which I cant remember the name of and de Ruyter was killed.
The french sended a escort for the body of de Ruyter with black sails and at every harbor they passed there were saluting shots fired. So de Ruyter has also earned the respect by his enemies.

Btw. The french killed the 2 greatest admirals Nelson and de Ruyter.

About Marshall you say he is in high command but he never fought a battle himself
he was more political I think.

About the qualities you named I agree with all you named except 5, ofcourse being political is important but If you look into history how many great commanders are being political. I mean de Ruyter, Nelson, Patton, Rommel and many others were not real political brains. They just fought to win, to what they were ordered.

cya Jwfan

hi ringo kid,

About nimitz he was a great naval commander during WWII but I dont think he is as great as de Ruyter, Tromp, Blake or Nelson. If the list would be like 100 greatest commanders he would be sure in the list but a list of like 25 greatest commanders I personally dont think he deserves to be on the list.

About the Russian commanders you named, they all sound the same for me I,
I only know Zhukov. I am not so familiar with the Eastern front so I dont know most of the Russian commanders. Although one of my favorite warmovies Cross of Iron is about the eastern front.

About George C. Marshall I have heard of the name, but I dont really know what kind of important things he did during WWII.
I also like to know what kind of aspects a great military commander in your view needs. (like courage, tactician or something else).

Also thanks for the facts about the engagements in the civil war

cya Jwfan

hi Ringo Kid

I dont quite agree with you that Jackson and some other names on your list fit in the list of greatest military leaders. In my opinion was Jackson a great soldier but he was not a great tactician. I do agree with Erich von Manstein, he was the inventor of the blitzkrieg if I am right and for the Russian names on the list I dont know them so I cant judge. The only great Russian military leader I know is Peter the Great. Also Chester W. Nimitz and Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard dont belong in a list with names like Napoleon, de Ruyter, Hannibal, Gustav Adolphus and many others.

cya Jwfan

I did something wrong on the link.

http://www.rateitall.com/topic

hello,

I have a question to all who like warhistory like me.
I am registered on a forum about all kind of stuff but there is poll about the greatest military leaders of all time. But there are in my opinion to many americans, not that I have anything against American military leaders.
But there are names like Patton, Lee, Jackson, Washington, Grant, Eisenhower and MacArthur.

Of these names I only think that Patton and Lee should deserve on this list.

http://www.rateitall.com/topic…ge=0&TopicID=779&show=all

(please vote 5 star on Michiel de Ruyter)

cya JWfan