Lars Equalizer ☘️🇺🇦

'Ireland punished citizens who joined the British Army in World War Two'... No. No, it did not. This complete fabrication was invented by British newspapers in 1945, without a shred of evidence. It was robustly called out by Joseph Walshe in the Irish Department of External Affairs at the time, with a scathing outline of how 'British newspapers doctored up Irish news for foreign consumption' ⬇️ In reality, Ireland punished deserters from its army at the end of WW2. This punishment had nothing to do with where they went after they deserted. Some had gone home, some had taken other work, many had joined the British military. But their destination was entirely irrelevant. It was their desertion from the army, in time of war, that led to their punishment. Nothing else. As it was, they got a huge let off, likely because of the extraordinary circumstances. Instead of the usual prison time and criminal record for desertion, those who had left the Irish military only lost unearned pay, unearned pension and got a temporary ban on other state work. A major reduction on usually very harsh penalities. No deserter was punished for joining the Allied war effort. Not one. Nor were any of the other 70k odd Irish joining the UK military, those who did not desert to do so, or the other 190k going to the UK war effort. Unknown at the time of the accusation, Ireland was aiding their enlistment and giving immense support to the Allies, violating its neutrality in dozens of ways. The 260k going to the UK war effort were about 9% of the Irish population. Most families had someone away. They were allowed to do so by one of the very few neutral nations not to restrict enlistment, or in some cases even travel, to active nations. Ireland did this knowing what the result would be, given its huge history of military enlistment. The Irish made up, by far, the worlds largest volunteer enlistment in the UK / Allied forces for a neutral. This enlistment was sanctioned by and facilitated by the Irish government - not resented. The idea that a country only aiding the Allies and facilitating enlistment would punish people for doing so should have been laughable. But this reality wasn't known in 1945, so people believed it. The claim also built on other false accusations of alleged Irish Axis support, like 're-fuelling U-boats' and 'leaving on the lights' and other fairy tales. Incredibly, Ireland fed the flames of this falsehood with a poorly advised and considered 'pardon' in 2013 (actually an amnesty), one based on unreferenced books and exaggerated claims of hostility on those returning. While perhaps well meaning and intending to show there was no animosity towards enlistment, it instead seems to confirm the old fabrication. There was also disgracefully poor reporting by the BBC, who allowed their usual standards to slip by taking the content of an unreferenced book - 'spitting on a soldiers grave' - as their source. The book falsely claimed the men were punished for enlisting, with no evidence, among other fabrications. The reality of Ireland in WW2 is only now emerging from behind a veil of neutrality, agenda and ill intention. Below is Walshe's November 1945 response to the newspaper fabrications of Ireland punishing those whose enlisted. Original source linked here - difp.ie/books/?volume=8&doci…

Eamon de Valera, in a response to Winston Churchills disgraceful slander against Ireland at wars end in 1945, posed a powerful hypothetical question Despite 9% of Irelands population going to the UK war effort, 0 to Germany, and enormous Irish efforts to aid the allies, Churchill falsely accused Ireland of ‘frolicking with the Germans’ at war end This was a lie. This didn’t happen. Churchill knew this. He had an agenda. He had told an American luncheon in 1943, he saw ‘little but an ineffective and inglorious role for Mr. De Valera”. He took his shot at wars end, his intention to diminish Irish aims at ending the undemocratic partition of Ireland. This slander outraged the hundred of thousands of Irish in Britains armies, factories and fields On the point of Irish neutrality, which was no different to American, Belgian, Danish or any other neutrality, de Valera posed a question. He invoked the extraordinary, exceptional circumstances that led to Irish neutrality. The history of Britain in Ireland. The ongoing occupation of the six counties of the north of Ireland, which finally may end soon. These are his words… rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/…