T SCAIFE in his remarks (Letters, July 27) tends to insult the men who gave their lives obeying orders and returning the war to Germany.

While agreeing with his sentiment that war is hell, I believe he has forgotten the wiping out of Coventry and its women and children; he forgets the onslaught of the V1 and V2 weapons which landed indiscriminately on London and a few other places.

We must never forget the civilian refugees dive-bombed as they fled along the roads of Europe.

Whole villages in Europe were wiped off the map, with women and children locked in the local church which was then set on fire while their men were shot and buried.

After the war, I was based on a German airfield, and when regulations were relaxed about fraternisation I befriended a Luftwaffe technical officer and his family.

We have been very good fiends for more than 60 years, and early in our relationship we realised we thought very much alike and we learned so much about the ordinary man in the street in Germany.

Dennis Barton, Woodthorpe, York.