133. Battleground '44 - Arrival of the Americans

Battleground

Goalhanger Podcasts

History

4.6 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this instalment of Battleground '44, Saul and Patrick look at the dramatic social impact that the mass arrival of American soldiers and Airmen had on UK society during the second world war and the legacy that lasts until today. The American's brought with them Hollywood glamour and impressive fighting kit, but also a segregated military, which marked the start of modern day British race relations in popular society. If you have any thoughts or questions, you can send them to - [email protected] Producer: James Hodgson X (Twitter): @PodBattleground Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:20.1	in person and on the go. Shopify is made for
0:22.8	entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup. Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Battleground 44 with me Saul David and Patrick Bishop.
0:49.0	This week we're looking at the social impact of the war on British society, in particular the arrival of huge numbers
0:55.4	of overseas troops in preparation for the great invasion of France. They came from all over
1:00.7	the world, but the majority of them were, of course, Americans. US troops and airmen first began
1:06.1	coming in 1942, but at the start of 1944, 80 years ago, vast numbers of infantrymen began flooding in,
1:14.4	leaving an indelible imprint on British society.
1:17.8	We promised that this series would not be all about battles.
1:21.1	War is many things, but above all, it is transformative.
1:24.8	The arrival of so many foreigners, albeit many of them speaking English,
1:28.8	changed the look and feel of the British way of life and set the country up for a post-war
1:33.5	era in which the demographic would steadily and irreversibly change. We'll be looking into all
1:39.6	that, but first, Patrick, give us some of the background. Well, so for all its imperial reach, Britain was a pretty enclosed society when the war began in 1939.
1:51.6	Most people outside London had never seen a foreigner and only the rich travelled abroad.
1:57.7	So you've got racially this pretty homogenous society, but it was, of course,
2:02.1	strictly defined by class. So from the start of the war, all this starts to change. In London,
2:07.9	you get large-scale arrivals from the defeated nations, first Poles and Czechs, then French and
2:15.4	Belgians and Norwegians. And they're pretty visible. They set up their
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