76 Comments

• recordstraight | Oct 22, 2010, 07:37 PM EDT

  It is possible that these efforts heightened the state of alert and cause of alarm in Britain and convinced the British to expend a lot of effort in trying to convince the Irish government to abandon neutrality and side with the Allies at the time Hitler seemed already convinced that any landing should be by invitation only: "..a landing in Ireland can be attempted only if Ireland requests help. For the present our envoy [assumed to be Dr. Eduard Hempel of the German Legation] must ascertain whether De Valera desires support and whether he wishes to have his military equipment supplemented by captured British war material (guns and ammunition), which could be sent to him in independent ships. Ireland is important to the Commander in Chief, Air, [Göring] as his base for attacks on the north-west ports of Britain, although weather conditions must be investigated. The occupation of Ireland might lead to the end of the war."[7]

• recordstraight | Oct 22, 2010, 07:34 PM EDT

  This article is total codswallop. It is a piece taken from 2-3 different sources. 1 of which is Tom Clonans Irish Times article which is itself highly subjective and full of his own conjecture. The other is Operation Green, which there is more proof to say it was a simple bluff to get the Brits expending resources away from the Germans. The intention was to spread rumours that German forces were preparing a landing in Ireland to stranglehold Britain further, reinforcing the current "siege"

• seanomelbourne | Jul 08, 2010, 10:37 PM EDT

  Christisall the crank a scary neo-fascist racist she's gotta be from the deep south.

• shuvonn | Jul 07, 2010, 09:22 PM EDT

  Perhaps you should move Christisall?

• seanomelbourne | Jul 07, 2010, 08:58 PM EDT

  Nice one Monsoonman. Is christall fighting or playing hockey? maybe she's figure skating. She sure is an angry lady. I've had postings pulled using gentler language.

• Monsoonman | Jul 07, 2010, 10:17 AM EDT

  Sean lad...Same thing as when I went to see a fight and a hockey game broke out...go figure.

• Christisall | Jul 07, 2010, 08:50 AM EDT

  to Irish and proud: YOu are so right. Obummer is a loser, a disgrace, a Muslim, a socialist, an arrogant black, a narcissistic creep, an inexperienced dud, a know-nothing, married to a hater of the USA. He needs to be gone. He is ruining the USA.

• Christisall | Jul 07, 2010, 08:48 AM EDT

  This is one of the best arguments for arming citizens.

• seanomelbourne | Jul 07, 2010, 03:07 AM EDT

  All I wanted was the great man to caddy for me, see what happens when you mention golf Monsoonman.

• IrishAndProud | Jul 06, 2010, 09:34 PM EDT

  ZerObama won't have to be locked up. He'll be voted out. He's already on the ropes in the USA -- just ask his party, nowadays.

• shuvonn | Jul 06, 2010, 04:02 PM EDT

  Locked up? I doubt he would be locked up and IF that ever happened it would be after Cheney and Bush were. But ya gotta love that sense of humor ya have :-)

• Monsoonman | Jul 06, 2010, 12:22 AM EDT

  aye Sean me boy, you can have obama, if he's not locked up by then. Come out to the left coast and we can chase the golf balls, lots of Aussies here, you'll fit right in.

• seanomelbourne | Jul 06, 2010, 12:04 AM EDT

  could be in U.S of A early next year, as far as caddies are concerned I'm afraid to answer the question .Could I have Obama as a caddy if we catch up?

• Monsoonman | Jul 05, 2010, 09:46 PM EDT

  Were the Nazis into golf? I am not sure those uniforms with the peaked caps and big black leather boots were conducive to a good golf game. I wonder who caddied for them?

• Monsoonman | Jul 05, 2010, 09:18 PM EDT

  LOL Sean! If you want a sure fire way of keeping your score low just play until you get to 70 then quit no matter what hole you are on...Maybe we can shoot a round together in the future, we just won't discuss politics or religion.

• seanomelbourne | Jul 05, 2010, 08:10 PM EDT

  I am jealous i shot my age and was told I had to play another 9 holes. Keep up the good work,maybe you have given me the impetus to try again. Now that I'm older maybe I can shoot;;;better not go there.

• Monsoonman | Jul 05, 2010, 10:58 AM EDT

  Top of the morning to you Sean....My golf game is improving, thanks for asking. I took a 5 year hiatus and got back into it a few months ago, my scores have been in the high 80's lately and would be in the 70's if I get my putting back under control....Because "you drive for show and putt for dough", so they say. I was at the US Open in Pebble Beach and watched the pros making fantastic shots seem quite run of the mill. So I am fired up again. Are you a golfer?

• seanomelbourne | Jul 05, 2010, 08:05 AM EDT

  By the way how is the golf Moonsoonman?

• seanomelbourne | Jul 05, 2010, 07:57 AM EDT

  I condemn Hitler/Cromwell and now I am an anti-semite because I condemn Israeli violence, the difference between you and I is you condone violence when it's convenient for you. Jew bashing!it's very weak argument and simplistic to pigeon hole anyone who dares to speak out against Israeli violence(almost an admission of failed argument) well! you can add Israel and Ahmadinejad to your top ten most horrific killers, I would be most pleased to see your graded list, as usual you missed the point or choose to ignore it.If you read U.S./Iranian relations (1950's)America is reaping the seeds it had sown then when they actively supported the overthrow of the elected government and installed another cruel dictator "the Shah" and his secret police "Savak" trained by none other than the good old C.I.A. where doe's he fit on your list of murderers (I know where he fits on mine). When it's all said and done IandP don't take it to hard.

• IrishAndProud | Jul 05, 2010, 06:22 AM EDT

  Sean, you're pathetic. Is that all you've got? I won't flat-out rubber-stamp Cromwell as being just as bad as Hitler (even though I've REPEATEDLY stated in my posts that my conclusion was based on SCALE AND INTENT, and have REPEATEDLY called Cromwell a killer and a brute), and so...you rubber-stamp ME as having both Cromwell AND Hitler as my 'hero's (you even threw Franco in there, out of the blue), while, of course, in the very same breath bashing the Jews in Israel who you've already rubber-stamped (in your broad-brushing) way as murderers, themselves. I ask again, is that all you've got? Your post was utterly nonsensical, and is quite obviously meant to merely annoy, and not to respond rationally with any sort of counter-argument. But to be honest, for a flaming antisemite like yourself to tell me that one of MY heroes is HITLER (who would have gladly sent some of my own family members to the gas chamber because THEY are Jewish, Sean) -- in the very same post where you couldn't resist a little Israel-bashing, yourself, rings just a wee bit oxymoronic (accent on 'moronic'). Perhaps, Sean, YOU should try defending YOUR heroes, for a change...Hitler, Ahmadinejad, and Hamas. Now, lie to me that they aren't.

• wmmccall | Jul 04, 2010, 11:52 PM EDT

  They should have invaded! We Irish would have whipped their ass and ended the war a whole lot sooner.

• Parents | Jul 04, 2010, 02:31 PM EDT

  France didn't think it would be that easy either...Yes the irish has a great fighting spirit to protect the homelands but Germany spent all it's time and money on ivasions, greatly organized and fully armed. Thank God that didn't happen.

• Monsoonman | Jul 04, 2010, 01:01 PM EDT

  The Germans were planners. They already had North America broken up into sectors which would be under Nazi control. They had already selected commanders for their sectors. so for them to have an "invasion plan" for ireland is not surprising...and who would say there would be any resistance anyway? British invasion, subjugation and genocide vs. the Germans landing?

• slainte9 | Jul 04, 2010, 12:21 PM EDT

  6 pages of comments on this, ridiculous. Read my lips! GERMANY DID NOT HAVE THE MILITARY CAPABILITY TO INVADE IRELAND DURING WORLD WAR II. THEIR AIRPLANES DIDN'T FLY FAR ENOUGH AND THEIR NAVY...WELL EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BISMARCK... which was sunk after being spotted by American-flown flying boats stationed at Lough Erne and allowed to fly out of there over Ireland by a secret agreement between DeValer and Maffey.

• clonmel21 | Jul 04, 2010, 12:01 PM EDT

  Just thank God Ireland.

• jamthecat | Jul 04, 2010, 11:36 AM EDT

  It's amazing to me that this story is being presented as something that WOULD have happened, not merely a best-case-scenario offered up by an overly-optimistic group of Nazi planners. Not for one second do I think their invasion would have been this easy or their advance to Dublin so swift. Yes,there probably would have been a large number of civilian casualties, but the push-back by not just the Irish army but the whole population would have been so intense, the Nazis would have suffered massive casualties, themselves. I mean seriously -- look at how much trouble England had in Northern Ireland for 30 years, and that's with the help of half that area's population and speaking the same basic language. Presenting this story so breathlessly in this "see what would have happened" manner does a disservice to the Irish spirit and willingness to fight back against any who try to oppress her. BTW, Churchill did not plan to invade Ireland; according to this article, he planned for a counterattack should the Nazis invade and somehow wind up being successful. Pay attention. And it only makes sense for him to have done so.

• Sparklet | Jul 04, 2010, 05:10 AM EDT

  Churchill wanted to invade Ireland? Your source for this?

• seanomelbourne | Jul 04, 2010, 01:16 AM EDT

  One of the reasons Churchill did not invade Ireland was Roosevelt would not allow it.

• PolinDeB | Jul 03, 2010, 09:06 PM EDT

  Did anyone ever see the RTE series in the Germans who came to Ireland to see if this could happen? They all gave up with in 2 weeks. I am major general smith on a break.. Oh? Your the german guy here to see jimmy the IRA guy. As for the Irish jews, apparently were already given new identities for this exact purpose. Hitler would have found no jews in Ireland. The author forgets we just came out of 700 years of British rule...and a guerrilla war.

• dan Breen | Jul 03, 2010, 02:03 PM EDT

  They are still trying ! This time they will send the pope !!!

• IrishEddy | Jul 03, 2010, 10:50 AM EDT

  Ireland was is a strategic location for the Nazi's to raid and invade England from the the East, France and West, Ireland. It would have made it difficult for the USA to counterattack. American bases would have needed to be located in Iceland or Greenland

• seanomelbourne | Jul 02, 2010, 07:34 PM EDT

  anyone who quotes Wikipedia as a sole source of information is mentally moribund.

• Rebelforce | Jul 02, 2010, 04:07 PM EDT

  It's well known that Hitler was interested in "lebensraum" in Eastern Europe. He had no interest in taking over Britain or Ireland.

• Mike Vaupel | Jul 02, 2010, 01:14 PM EDT

  Scarry stuff.

• shuvonn | Jul 02, 2010, 09:15 AM EDT

  Hmm, Someone has been quoting DIRECTLY from Wikipedia and not citing sources?

• seanomelbourne | Jul 02, 2010, 08:31 AM EDT

  You just choose to miss the point and take (what you perceive) to be the high moral ground, evil is evil regardless of who the perpetrator is, your making it a Jewish versus Cromwell game as if it were a world cup on who can score the most evil points. maybe you would like to list a top ten of "most evil" again I reiterate,PUERILE. Maybe you would like to wash the feet of Israeli child killers in Palestine or are they immune from blame.If the dead could talk maybe you could ask them who tops their list of "most evil" The killers who took their life or Cromwell/Hitler/Franco or any other of your right wing hero's.

• IrishAndProud | Jul 02, 2010, 04:43 AM EDT

  Yes, sean...you DID take a cheap shot. And neither have I 'laid off' this point of discussion. I've been discussing it almost solely, for the last several posts, now. As usual, just read them. When you say I haven't been 'sticking to it' (as if you're in charge of making the rules, anyway, which you are not), then either you're being dishonest, or you're functionally illiterate. Cromwell: brute, who murdered Catholic Irish people (including very possibly some of my own distant relatives) as he put down Irish rebellion against British rule. Then, he left. Hitler: racist murderer, who preached German Aryan supremacy and whipped an entire nation into fanatical support, and who sought to exterminate entire RACES of people (Slavs, Gypsies, and most especially Jews) and who set up an entire government (and puppet governments) that systematically purged all non-Aryans and/or rebellion from their societies, rounded them up into concentration camps, and meticulously and ruthlessly tortured, starved and worked nearly 10 million people to death (those that weren't butchered initially as the German army advanced)...even denying his own army desperately-needed supplies as the war neared it end, because he was using them to kill as many Jews as possible before he himself fell from power. You do the math. On sheer scale and intent (as I've already mentioned) Hitler was WORSE than Cromwell. And as I've also said, a rather noteable present-day lack of sympathy for Jews can flavor one's opinion, otherwise. We could go on ad infinitum (nauseum?) about this, but it won't change any minds. This discussion is pointless. Hitler was WORSE than Cromwell, by light-years.

• Sparklet | Jul 02, 2010, 03:56 AM EDT

  Wish you could edit these posts! I meant to put Cromwells were,not Cromwell's there!

• Sparklet | Jul 02, 2010, 03:55 AM EDT

  Hitler's motivations weren't religious. Cromwell's there. That doesn't make his actions any better than Hitler's but he believed he was doing the work of God in the same way that religious extremists do today. What they do is totally wrong, but if they're so religious that they believe they have to do something on God's behalf, does that make them less evil? And there was a lot of difference between men's attitudes 300 years ago and the 1900s. In theory, Hitler should have been more civilised than Cromwell due to natural progression. The acts of both men were equally abhorrent and evil. I'm just not sure that Cromwell, wrong as he may have been, was actually evil at heart.

• seanomelbourne | Jul 02, 2010, 12:41 AM EDT

  I did not have a cheap shot,I would like you to condemn the premise of my argument and quit laying off the point of discussion, Hitler /Cromwell no difference. one starved people to death the other beheaded or "hung drawn and quartered" his enemies. "Hitler was worse than Cromwell" what a puerile argument, schoolyard stuff.

• irishwxman | Jul 01, 2010, 08:06 PM EDT

  Controversially, and against the advice of some advisers, De Valera formally offered his condolences to the German Minister in Dublin on the death of Hitler in 1945, in accordance with diplomatic protocol. This did some damage to Ireland, particularly in the United States - and soon afterward De Valera had a bitter exchange of words with Winston Churchill in two famous radio addresses after the end of the war in Europe.

• irishwxman | Jul 01, 2010, 08:04 PM EDT

  Shuvonn you are a flat out R-Tard. No other way to state that.

• IrishAndProud | Jul 01, 2010, 07:02 PM EDT

  Thanks, sparklet...but sean knows that, already. He's merely taking a very predictable cheap shot simply because we've disagreed on other posts and he thought he had an opening on me, with this. It's pretty silly and and he's not changing any minds or helping himself, in the process...so don't let it bother you; I'm quite used to it. You put up with cheap shots sometimes, from the usual suspects, when you voice an opinion or take a stand on these posts or anywhere else, really. It's perfectly normal. And citizen69...I would be inclined to agree with you (in a more general sense, at the very least), because as I've already said peoples' views of the Jews and of Israel will inevitably and undeniably affect their views of how bad the Holocaust was in relation to all else.

• chaireland | Jul 01, 2010, 01:55 PM EDT

  i feel embaressed for daniel o carrol and this article.to compare what happened with hoths 4 army in poland and what would happen in ireland is idiotic given that the germans thought of the poles and czechs as slavic inferior people.as a celtic people we would have been treated in the same way as denmark or norway with an intact irish government.the proposed irish gauleiter would have been native irishman sean russell .quote.;historien john .p.duggan; . the i.r.a who were in constant contact with the germans aboout the practicality of a bombing campagn of british facilities in the north so to say the germans would crackdown on the gaa is laughable.for some real insight into this period in ireland readthe life of adolf mahr dublin nazi no1 by gerry mullins at least its a read with good hard facts

• citizen69 | Jul 01, 2010, 12:13 PM EDT

  Incredibly it sounds like there are a couple of Nazi sympathizers posting on here.

• Sparklet | Jul 01, 2010, 10:49 AM EDT

  I dont think Irishandproud is condoning any violence.

• seanomelbourne | Jul 01, 2010, 01:09 AM EDT

  As the banner over liberty hall(Dublin 1914)said "We serve neither king nor kaiser but Ireland" and so it would have been in 1940, if you can believe Mr O'Carroll's exaggeration of the facts. Cannot find a difference between Cromwell and Hitler the murder of the innocence by both of them is unacceptable. Irishandproud condones Cromwell's violence because it was "gentler" than Hitler's style,what a load of poppycock.

• missly1212 | Jun 30, 2010, 11:27 PM EDT

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• belfastdanny | Jun 30, 2010, 10:33 PM EDT

  the most bombed city in Britain ? London ? Coventry ? no it was Belfast 58000 homes where bombed and the brits offered no defence for the people ,the turn lights on mock cranes and ships in the waterworks where the people lived in north belfast, to save the the shipyard and aircraft factories. and more men in Ireland volunteered to join ther British army and fight the Germans than any other country

• piperpete | Jun 30, 2010, 10:13 PM EDT

  IrishAndProud - How does it feel to have the right to express your opinions? Considering that there are high penalties in the EU now for disputing or even questioning any part of the official version of the holocaust, you have me at a disadvantage. You can express your opinion, seeing as how it matches the government's version exactly, but NOBODY in the EU has the right to disagree with you. You guys crack me up, you really think the Allies won the war, despite the facts that our freedom of speech has been taken away and Europe is now largely a Communist State. Good thing the All lies "won the war for democracy", huh?

• IrishAndProud | Jun 30, 2010, 08:15 PM EDT

  Good point, Sparklet. Another thing Cromwell did not do to his opponents was conduct medical experiments on them -- in addition to having the goal of exterminating them completely based on race. Some may try to either erase or be ambivalent about the differences between Cromwell and Hitler (or say they were the 'same'), but there is no comparison, when the scale of things (and the stated aims of each) are considered. Cromwell was anti-Catholic (which is a religion), but he did not seek to utterly exterminate the Irish because of it -- which he could have at least attempted, if he'd wanted to. He killed many Irish, but he did not seek to obliterate them, utterly. This is historical documented fact, and anything else is sheer speculation (for various motives, which I could guess). One didn't need tanks or planes in Cromwell's day to make such an attempt to exterminate -- any weapons available at the time would have been sufficient. The point is, those weapons WEREN'T used. Cromwell did NOT have as his goal with the Catholics what Hitler and the Nazi death machine set out to do to the Jews and gypsies(or what one of the left's favorite sons, Ahmadinejad, currently seeks to do). Of course, if one is hostile toward Jews (and Israel) to begin with, then to them the Holocaust isn't special or different, at all...in fact it must NEVER be said to be different or worse from anything else. And thank GOODNESS England did not fall in WW2 -- otherwise Ireland would have fallen too, and very quickly, and very easily. It would have been utterly BUTCHERED in another Nazi blitzkrieg, its Jews would have been liquidated, and it would have made Cromwell look like a sweet choir boy, by comparison.

• piperpete | Jun 30, 2010, 08:07 PM EDT

  Comments like these make me extremely concerned for Ireland's future. Where are your heads? This article is propaganda, pure and simple. "The plan has recently come to light" it says. How so? What new information has been uncovered? The article doesn't say. Wake up and smell the treason folks. Germany was the only country to stand up to the Soviets, and the Allies bombed their civilians into oblivion for it, starved their German POWs after the war, and raped millions of German women. And how has Europe fared since "winning" that war? Muslims and Africans taking over everywhere, all of Europe's economies tied together into a de facto Communist state, freedom of speech and other human rights disappearing rapidly. Stop buying into the propaganda, and try to see who your real enemy is. You might start by examining exactly what lobbying group is behind the mass immigration that threatens all of Europe. Europe didn't win WWII. The Communists did.

• chialando | Jun 30, 2010, 07:26 PM EDT

  Thank God the Nazis lost the war!

• shuvonn | Jun 30, 2010, 06:42 PM EDT

  Did you forget the thousands of Irish that fought and lost their lives for the allied forces based upon lies they were told by England? Irish independence for starters... And after the famine, there were not as many millions left in Ireland.

• YoungPike | Jun 30, 2010, 05:43 PM EDT

  I hope that the Irish diaspora realise that, had England not stood up to Nazi Germany, millions in Ireland would have perished.

• Sparklet | Jun 30, 2010, 05:38 PM EDT

  Cromwell thought he was acting for God - did Hitler? Maybe Cromwell is more comparrable to bin Laden? He was a religious extremist. Was he evil? What he did was certainly evil, but he believed he was acting for God. In this day and age he would certainly be declared evil I think, but those days were less enlightened. Hitler was surely pure evil because not only did he butcher people, but he used them for experiments. He was an inhuman madman. Cromwell's problem was not with the Irish but with Catholicism, and he murdered Catholics in Britain too. As pointed out, he wasn't trying to exterminate a race, but a religion. It isnt at all constructive, or logical, to defend Hitler on the basis of what Cromwell did.

• citizen69 | Jun 30, 2010, 05:36 PM EDT

  @slainte9: Germany did have the capability to attack Ireland by air. Belfast was blitzed numerous times by the Nazi bombers, killing thousands. @Silling: " Germany will rise again, third time lucky". Are you sick in the head? Tens of millions of people slaughtered in two world wars and you say "third time lucky"? If the Germans were misguided enough to try again they would be wiped off the face of the earth once & for all.

• shuvonn | Jun 30, 2010, 04:56 PM EDT

  Now we are having a debate as to who was worse Hitler or Cromwell? You have GOT to be kidding me, they were BOTH sick individuals who used their position to murder all round, there is NO possible debate as to who was worse that could be considered rational... There is no rational perspective as Cromwell would have done so much more damage had he had the technology available to Hitler, that was not at his disposal when he butchered the Irish at will... Just because we do not have a word similar to antisemitic for exterminating Roman Catholics does not mean he was a better man than Hitler...

• IrishAndProud | Jun 30, 2010, 03:13 PM EDT

  pfiddle: You're framing the debate entirely wrong. The Nazis did NOT treat the Jews with mere 'indifference,' as Cromwell did with the Irish. They treated the Jews with utter EXTERMINATION in mind. Cromwell killed and butchered for sure, but he didn't round up and kill every single Catholic he saw, based on their genetics (and Catholicism is a RELIGION, btw, not a race). Cromwell was an English brute (as I've already said) and a religious killer, who lashed out and butchered as he went, but he did not have it as his intent to EXTERMINATE all Irish Catholics from the face of the earth. He was not an antisemite madman with a carefully-orchestrated plan to exterminating an entire race of people simply because of their genetics. On scale and intent, there is no comparison between the actions of Cromwell and the Nazi Holocaust. Again, not defending Cromwell but simply putting things in perspective.

• Silling | Jun 30, 2010, 01:52 PM EDT

  Admiral Bismarck said that if the Dutch ran Ireland they would feed the world and if the Irish ran Le Pays Bas ( The Low Lands ) Holland, Germany would have a port on her western frontier. After the American revolution there was a vote as to which language the nation should endorse. German only lost by one vote. It is a tragedy that Germany did not occupy Ireland and the Irish would have been only too glad to assist them settle in. Just imagine how we would be today. A German victory and Ireland an ally ! What a kick up the ass to the English. At least they shafted them in South Africa. Germany will rise again, third time lucky. So be ready Ireland and welcome them into your hearts and homes. Deutzland Uberalis. Regards, Silling.

• Sparklet | Jun 30, 2010, 01:43 PM EDT

  Was Hitler sane enough to think rationally though? Didn't he want world domination? Or was that propaganda.

• slainte9 | Jun 30, 2010, 01:39 PM EDT

  This is ridiculous. The Germans never, ever had any serious plan for invading Ireland. They weren't even really interested in invading England. Their number one interest was destroying the Soviet Union. A German invasion of Ireland existed primarily in the imagination of Winston Churchill who wanted an excuse to seize Irish ports (which his serious military planners didn't want). Aside from it being completely pointless and of no interest to the Germans, an invasion of Ireland was completely impractical for the Germans. It can't be done by sea or air without first capturing Great Britain. People who write about this need to put on their thinking caps. The Germans didn't have enough planes that could fly far enough to invade Ireland if the British objected. Ireland is 300 miles from the French coast. The ME 109BF was marginally effective during the Battle of Britain because its limited range resticted it to 15 minutes of flight over Southern England. It couldn't even fly as far as Ireland for heaven's sake. It's transport planes were similarly limited in number and range. The island of Crete was less than 100 miles from German-held airfields. The German invasion was almost complete disaster, which failed primarily due to bad tactics on the part of the British and their failure to send a few tanks to Crete from North Africa. German casualties were so high that Crete marked the end of German airborne fighting capability.

• kpbdublin | Jun 30, 2010, 01:19 PM EDT

  Of course those nice chaps in Sinn Fein wanted the Nazis in

• Sparklet | Jun 30, 2010, 01:14 PM EDT

  pfiddle, God bless all those Irishmen who fell in two world wars. They weren't traitors, but men of foresight and principle.

• pfiddle | Jun 30, 2010, 12:40 PM EDT

  Firstly: when DeValera was asked what would happen if the Nazis invaded he answered - on record - that if the British invaded to repel the Nazis "We would fight on two fronts". Many - including my father (RAF) were helped to get to British recruiting stations by the 'Free State' and more Irish fell than English in the first world war and they were treated as traitors upon return by many. Little reason to go again to help the British but 50,000 did - out of a population of just under 3million. Allied soldiers 'escaped' en-masse several times to the North even commandeering trains from the Curragh THOUGH Dublin on lines that were rarely used and so on to Dundalk and over the border into 'British' territory. This way almost 4000 battle-experienced allied troops were back in their ranks in time for D-Day. It is also a matter of record that 2,300 Irish men and women were detained and about half of these imprisoned as possible help to the Germans. German spies were rounded up and rarely loose for more than 24 hours. No German/Italian ever escaped. Many (1200 ) settled for some time after the war, many still are here - in one way or another. And we're a better place for them and the Allies that stayed. As for Cromwell - it's on record that he did in fact treat the Irish peasantry with the same indifference as the Nazis did the Jews. Sometimes several hundred murdered and flung into rivers for no other reason than - they were there, they were Irish but - they were not Protestant. Read further on Coote and Valentine - both coronals in the New Model Army in Ireland both very different men.

• MarkMary73 | Jun 30, 2010, 12:27 PM EDT

  If Irish and British forces had fought together, in Ireland, against an evil so monstrous as the Nazis, what would that have done for the unification of Ireland? The Brits and the Irish fighting together--now you're talking an historical sea change!

• Sparklet | Jun 30, 2010, 11:52 AM EDT

  Would the Americans have entered the war at all had it not been for Pearl Harbour. Hitler was the Osama bin Laden of his day. Why wasn't America in from the start? Irishandproud, you talk a lot of sense.

• Sparklet | Jun 30, 2010, 11:49 AM EDT

  tomgallagher, by crushing, do you mean the mass murder of British citizens? Or by "The British" do you mean the Government. Either way, surely whatever history says, no decent person should have supported a madman like Hitler.

• shuvonn | Jun 30, 2010, 09:48 AM EDT

  Eamonn DeVelera was an American citizen, it saved his hide when all other leaders of the 1916 rising were executed and was in no way sympathetic to Hitler, Ireland was neutral on the side of the Allies. You negate all of the thousands of Irish that died serving Great Britain in both world wars with a glib statement. Dev may have signed the book of condolences which was only to prove his neutrality, stupid yes, but does not prove ANYTHING. Making a statement with no proof means nothing. Britain did not win that war without American help so it was NOT just the British that saved Ireland from speaking German today.

• tomgallagher | Jun 30, 2010, 08:55 AM EDT

  I imagine any group that advocated the crushing of the British would have been welcomed with open arms.

• irishwxman | Jun 30, 2010, 12:29 AM EDT

  Funny, because Eamon De Valera was sympathetic to Hitler.

• IrishAndProud | Jun 29, 2010, 05:27 PM EDT

  Actually, GuinnessGrrl...the Nazi's plans were far worse than the Brits. Cromwell wasn't an Aryan supremacist, with European domination and extermination of the Jews on his mind. He was an English brute, but he wasn't a German, Aryan Nazi. Cromwell didn't exterminate Jews, nor kill millions in concentration camps. He didn't go about measuring peoples' noses, or see who their grandparents were, to see if they were 'Aryan,' or not. This is not defending what Cromwell DID do; it's just pointing out some very glaring and distinct differences.

• citizen69 | Jun 29, 2010, 04:33 PM EDT

  The IRA hatched a plan for a Nazi invasion of Ireland called 'Operation Kathleen'. It was sent to Germany in 1940 and a German intelligence agent Hermann Goertz was parachuted into Ireland. The plan was only called off after Goertz came to the conclusion that 'the IRA was riddled with informers and led by drunks'. So much for IRA patriotism!

• GuinnessGrrl | Jun 29, 2010, 03:57 PM EDT

  The Nazi plans don't sound much different than what Cromwell would have done in modern times. British suppression, Nazi suppression...not much different!

• IrishAndProud | Jun 29, 2010, 02:55 PM EDT

  And I've no doubt they'd have done it...brutally suppressed and murdered the Irish. The Irish would have been POWERLESS. It may be a bit ironic, but Britain's stand against Nazi Germany (which thankfully held) was likely the only thing that kept the Irish from speaking German, today.

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