I CAN’T remember what the dispute between Messrs Scaife and Grogan was, but I think I must challenge Malcolm Balmforth’s claim that “if we hadn’t the support of the Americans in the Second World War who came in to help in 1941, then we would now all be speaking German” – We need the support (Keighley News, August 2).

Up until December 7, 1941, the USA had been content to sit on the sidelines, growing rich largely at the expense of the UK.

One of the many imponderables is whether America would have even gone to war against Germany at all had Germany not declared war on the USA on December 11, 1941.

Another is whether Japan would have dared to attack the British Empire in the Far East without trying to eliminate the threat from the USA first.

As a result of the Battle of Britain Hitler had shelved his plan to invade Britain and, on June 22, 1941, invaded the Soviet Union, his erstwhile ally in the occupation of Poland.

That ultimately proved to be his undoing and the result may well have been the same had Japan and the USA stayed out of the war which up until Pearl Harbour had been a largely European affair.

ROGER CHAPMAN Thwaites Brow Road, Keighley