Bismarck and tirpitz together
The home fleet were not sure of the exit into the North Atlantic of Bismarck and PE. They felt that Hood POW and the county cruisers could deal with the threat although they knew it was a risk with Hood's plunging fire vulnerabilities and POW newly commissioned...
Destroying the Panama canal 1941
Q Ship (actually an oil tanker) with a large sealed hold containing 2000 Tons of TNT (any good quality HE mining explosive) + phosphorous and oil/petroleum detonated in the locks will cause lock failure of the gates, the lock itself, the resulting fireball from...
Control the Oasis and you control the desert. How Germany could have won in Russia
What were the Germans strategic objectives?
1. Lebenraum
2. Subjugation of the untermench
3. elimination of key ethnic groups.
Operation Barbarossa is designed to secure the Lebensraum. this is a take and hold...
On the standard Lancaster, my suspicion is that it could stand up to blast better than the B-29. Some of the things pilots like Micky Martin did with Lancs make a breakaway manoeuvre look tame...!
My metal work teacher at school was a flight engineer on Lancasters and I had two relatives...
Task specific aircraft
A10 was a task specific aircraft to address a particular need in a European theatre of operations. Prior to GW1 the US were looking to withdraw the warthog as it was felt it would become too vulnerable to SAM and AAA and replace the tank killing role with Apache. The...
The Avro Lancaster had a bigger single bomb bay than even the B29 (which had two). It also at the end of the war managed to deliver the 22,000 lb grand slam bomb (the heaviest single muniton of the war).
The Little Boy /Fat man devices weighed around 10,000lb and were physically smaller than the...
What were the Germans strategic objectives?
1. Lebenraum
2. Subjugation of the untermench
3. elimination of key ethnic groups.
Operation Barbarossa is designed to secure the Lebensraum. this is a take and hold mission at a strategic level. In order to hold you need to either have...
Germany win by causing regime change in USSR
The key to maintaining a fighting presence in the western USSR in 1941 was retaining MOSCOW. The movement of logistical supplies from the East to the west Hubbed through Moscow and thus south east south west etc from there.
If the German army...
SLBM ? No use an SS-20
If the Soviets want to vaporise Qom then an SS-20 (one or more) would be the way to go. Their strategic missile fleet boats and Rocket forces in the fixed land based silos are un-necessary for this role and would provide valuable intelligence to the US on their...
Maybe if the Germans have elected to expel rather than exterminate the Jews of Europe then a relatively small staging area is required. Requisitioned ships of 1940's design (merchant ships) would only support 500-1000 people in squalid conditions for the 10 week journey to Madagascar. These...
Germans had the MG 42
Section support belt fed machine gun MG 42 was probably the best mobile infantry support belt fed machine gun of the war and formed the design basis for the M60 and the GPMG which are both still used today. Its rate of fire was if anything probably too high but in a well...
POLAND Biggest contributor
Biggest contributor has to be Poland. It was the polish engineers who escaped with a Lorenz enigma and allowed the British to break the German secure code. ULTRA provided massive amounts of strategic intel which is regarded as shortening the war by 12-18 months
Artillery is not boring
Artillery during and since WW1 has developed into a key part of an armies ability to attack or defend an enemy. Unlike Tanks which have become 10 times faster, more protected, able to first round kill beyond 2 miles whilst moving etc field artillery shell size has not...
No battle of Britain
Germany does not invade the low countries but sits behind the Siegfied line watching the French sit behind the maginot line. The result is an armed truce. Germany in Spring 1941 launches Barbarossa with all its available LW and military might against the USSR (a country who...
Boeing 777 Hijacked and flown to an undisclosed location
option 1
The aircraft has been hijacked by one or both of the aircrew who
1.Disabled the oxygen (emergency system)
2. Allowed the cabin to depressurise causing the oxygen masks to drop but with the system switched off causes...