Funny how we always try to attach modern day values to things that took place decades ago as if it will make the slightest bit of difference.

I am English, I lost 3 Uncles, one on a fishery vessel strafed in the Channel and two on HMS Hood.
My wife is German, she lost one grandfather and one uncle. When we married, the remaining grandfather became my Opa too. I was treated like to 5 grandchildren until his death last week. Move on people, there are just too many if's in life and getting hot under the collar is not going to get any ware, except the thread locked maybe.

Charlie, great website, shame about the rest.

Matt

PS, Just out of interest Opa was an armourer on JU52's in the war and saw service for the Russian Front to Crete and he hated Hitler!

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i'd rather lament the lack of respect for human life.

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I think that, aside from the babbling of the ignorant, that you'll find less of that attitude outside Germany than within. Had Hitler not risen to the heights he attained, America would probably have eventually found itself at war in that decade with Japan and /or the Soviets anyway... it's pretty obvious. The stage was set, the spotlight was waiting, and Hitler characteristically moved to the center to get all the attention, dragging Germany with him.

But the Allies were fighting on two fronts half a world apart, having been caught with their pants down by two nations to be reckoned with when agitated: Germany and Japan. There was never any assurance of victory on the front lines throughout that conflict, as we were woefully unprepared (especially the US). What the Russians did on the ground on their western border and in Europe was miraculous, all things considered; America and GB could hardly hope to do the same, so the doctrine of "total war" was applied as regards air power. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the ultimate expression of that (although the prior bombing of Japanese and German cities produced much more suffering and destruction in total)- call it terrorism if you want, but the alternative (assuming peace could not be achieved) would have been much worse for both sides, I think. And let's not forget that the Axis was doing their utmost to do the same, especially Germany. If the Luftwaffe had the capability to strike civilian targets in the US before, say,  Dresden, what do you think Hitler would have done? And if Roosevelt  had hesitated after Pearl Harbor, instead of immediately stretching to the absolute limit to strike Tokyo, do you suppose Tojo would have simply withdrawn his navy to concentrate on securing the Pacific for Japan, or might he have pressed farther?
   Maybe at the end the German and Japanese people became casualties of a preliminary power struggle between America and Russia (the less of Europe left standing for Soviet occupation, the better, as far as the western allies were concerned... and then there was Truman's alleged comment about intimidating Stalin with actual deployment of atomic weapons against Japan), but the bottom line is that Germany under Hitler and Japan under Tojo scared the hell out of the rest of the industrialized world and we were getting our asses kicked  at greater and greater expense every time we coinfronted them, so drastic measures were taken.

It's unfortunate that so much talent and love of country made all of that a reality, but some of us respect the resolve, inventiveness, and courage of the German and Japanese people at that time (and since that time) nonetheless. Those who obeyed their masters, and those who defied them (and we so rarely hear about them!)... they all deserve our respect.