RAF/US/Luftwaffee POWs in Ireland during WW2

[Liberator]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_neutrality

This link has interesting information on Ireland's involvement due WW2 where it was bombed by the Luftwaffe ....and at times german and us/raf were interned as POWs effectively when they bailed out or crashed / landed ......tho some were allowed to return to their services - mostly the US/RAF personnel.

Without Ireland in WW2 on the allied side, would the war been any much harder i wonder?
The staging flights from the US to Ireland ( and aslo vice versa) surely helped transport new aircraft to the RAF and Europe?

[John Dupre]

I wasn't aware that the Republic of Ireland allowed overflight of Allied aircraft during the war. The Republic was definitely neutral though more friendly to the Allies than to the Germans. If the Republic of Ireland had really joined the Allies the war effort would have been helped immeasurably by basing anti submarine aircraft and ships in Western Ireland. Hundreds of damaged ships that ultimately sank might have made it to safety in Irish ports. Tens of thousands of Irish men did join the fight with British forces independently of thier nations neutrality.

Allied ships and aircraft were based in Northern Ireland, then as now a part of the United Kingdom.

[airknocker]

An entertaining film loosely based on such a theme, "The Brylcreem Boys", might worth viewing:
http://www.guerilla-films.com/bb/synopsis.htm