War Discussion Forum Group

[Bill Phil]

4 minutes ago, The Space Dino said:

@Dman979 your're added!

What are you guys' favourite tank? Mine is the Tiger II.

The T-34 was a good design

[HoloYolo]

19 hours ago, The Space Dino said:

Yeah, like the Gustav 800mm gun and the Maus!

I live in a country where the Japanese have come before in WWII but they did not build much. Most military stuff left by them are in museums now.

German tanks from 1943-1945 were very interesting. Metal beasts capable of everything but being able to be relied on.

Edited November 21, 2016 by HoloYolo

[Dman979]

And mass-production. The German war machine at that point of the war was unable to transfer from high-quality, high-tolerance engineering to reliably producing the cheapest designs. For various reasons, Germany had lost most of their natural resources. In addition, their labor force was hurting, due to the carpet bombing of factories and cities (but this is debatable).

I'd argue that Germany never really transitioned from a per-war, experimentation industry to a war footing, based around simple, reliable, cheap, and effective weapons.

[HoloYolo]

5 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

And mass-production. The German war machine at that point of the war was unable to transfer from high-quality, high-tolerance engineering to reliably producing the cheapest designs. For various reasons, Germany had lost most of their natural resources. In addition, their labor force was hurting, due to the carpet bombing of factories and cities (but this is debatable).

I'd argue that Germany never really transitioned from a per-war, experimentation industry to a war footing, based around simple, reliable, cheap, and effective weapons.

Germany didn't transit into a war economy fully until February 1945. Had they done it sooner it's likely that the Soviets with their massive numbers of tanks would have not been so overwhelming. And, generally, they would've been able to supply troops better, meaning that Fall Blau or Barbarossa would've been different.

Edited November 21, 2016 by HoloYolo

[The Space Dino]

Yes, I do agree with that. They could have focused production on specific tanks to increase their number of tanks to at least combat the massive amounts of T-34s.

Hitler, who told you to attack Russia?

They are stronk and you should know that.

[Dman979]

11 minutes ago, The Space Dino said:

They are stronk and you should know that.

At the beginning of the war? Let's not forget that this is the same Red Army that took tremendous casualties from the Finns, the same Red Army that Stalin had purged of its effective officers, and wasn't expecting to be attacked.

The USSR's main strength during the early war was it's ability to commit almost entirely to fighting the Germans. They didn't have to worry about the Chinese or Japanese, because they were busy fighting amongst themselves, and the British Empire was spread too thin to attack.

[The Space Dino]

2 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

At the beginning of the war? Let's not forget that this is the same Red Army that took tremendous casualties from the Finns, the same Red Army that Stalin had purged of its effective officers, and wasn't expecting to be attacked.

The USSR's main strength during the early war was it's ability to commit almost entirely to fighting the Germans. They didn't have to worry about the Chinese or Japanese, because they were busy fighting amongst themselves, and the British Empire was spread too thin to attack.

Yes, you are right. And during the late war, they were churning out T-34s like paper.

[NSEP]

7 hours ago, The Space Dino said:

@Dman979 your're added!

What are you guys' favourite tank? Mine is the Tiger II.

This Russian beast!

I love the crazy things invented during the World Wars!

This small tank thingy looks cool too.

I like the way modern tanks are so powerfull, but they all look the same. They look so borimg that i lost interest in them.

Edited November 21, 2016 by NSEP

[The Space Dino]

2 hours ago, NSEP said:

This Russian beast!

I love the crazy things invented during the World Wars!

This small tank thingy looks cool too.

I like the way modern tanks are so powerfull, but they all look the same. They look so borimg that i lost interest in them.

WAIT A MINUTE. A FLYING TANK?!!! Oh god. 

Yeah, that's why I don't care about modern tanks too.

[NSEP]

1 hour ago, The Space Dino said:

WAIT A MINUTE. A FLYING TANK?!!! Oh god. 

Yeah, that's why I don't care about modern tanks too.

Yep, a real flying tank. It flew once succesfully, but the idea got scrapped afterwards.

I also have the same feeling with some rockets and missles, they now are just a few cylinders and a bullet shaped thing on top. But when you know all the backstory and the science behind those rockets, it gets real interesting.

[The Space Dino]

Totally agreed.

[tater]

Quantity has a quality all its own.

Manufacturing and logistics were epic fails on the part of the WW2 Axis. 

[NSEP]

1 hour ago, tater said:

Manufacturing and logistics were epic fails on the part of the WW2 Axis. 

Agreed!

Spoiler

Dont know what to say now.

 

[Guest]

I guess you could add me, too.  I'm the kind of person who has grown up watching WW2 documentaries, movies, etc.

Spoiler

Bonus points if you've seen this:

 

 

[HoloYolo]

Just now, CliftonM said:

I guess you could add me, too.  I'm the kind of person who has grown up watching WW2 documentaries, movies, etc.

  Hide contents

Bonus points if you've seen this:

 

 

I also watch my fair share of documentaries, from the Bulge to Moscow, but I have not seen that particular one. Where can I find it?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, HoloYolo said:

I also watch my fair share of documentaries, from the Bulge to Moscow, but I have not seen that particular one. Where can I find it?

It's a 70's British TV show: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071075/

[HoloYolo]

4 minutes ago, CliftonM said:

It's a 70's British TV show: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071075/

Thanks a lot. Feels like it's a little bit biased after reading the movie trivia and some of the reviews, but still looks good.

[Guest]

Just now, HoloYolo said:

Thanks a lot. Feels like it's a little bit biased after reading the movie trivia and some of the reviews, but still looks good.

Yes, it most definitely is biased, but it does do a great job at showing film from the war.

[HoloYolo]

1 minute ago, CliftonM said:

Yes, it most definitely is biased, but it does do a great job at showing film from the war.

I love war footage. That will probably wash away the bias.

[Dman979]

50 minutes ago, CliftonM said:

I guess you could add me, too.  I'm the kind of person who has grown up watching WW2 documentaries, movies, etc.

  Reveal hidden contents

Bonus points if you've seen this:

 

 

I have the boxed DVD set in my computer room upstairs. Highly recommended.

[tater]

Books would be a good thing in this thread...

Later tonight I will list a few quite good books (I'll admit that they will be biased towards WW2 PTO, a particular area of interest to me (though I'm reading a history of the Armada at the moment).

[HoloYolo]

11 minutes ago, tater said:

Books would be a good thing in this thread...

Later tonight I will list a few quite good books (I'll admit that they will be biased towards WW2 PTO, a particular area of interest to me (though I'm reading a history of the Armada at the moment).

I have a book called "World War II Day by Day". Great book that goes into every week (and day) of the war from 9-1-1939 all the way till 9-2-1945.

[razark]

28 minutes ago, HoloYolo said:

I have a book called "World War II Day by Day". Great book that goes into every week (and day) of the war from 9-1-1939 all the way till 9-2-1945.

I just finished the WWI version of that.  Quite interesting, considering my limited knowledge on the subject.

U.S. school education being: France and England got into a war with Germany but Russia turned out to be worthless at fighting Germans, so we finally got tired of it, went over there, sorted it out, wrote the peace treaty, and we've never had any trouble from it since.

[HoloYolo]

Just now, razark said:

I just finished the WWI version of that.  Quite interesting, considering my limited knowledge on the subject.

U.S. school education being: France and England got into a war with Germany but Russia turned out to be worthless at fighting Germans, so we finally got tired of it, went over there, sorted it out, wrote the peace treaty, and we've never had any trouble from it since.

I read ahead in my History Textbook and they seem to acknowledge that we did enter very late, but we saved the Tommies and the Frenchies. Not saying that we were the heroes but we weren't useless either. We did give Britain and France a lot of resources and money, and we had over 4 million soldiers in France by 1918 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_in_World_War_I).

[tater]

The US entry into the war was a palpable reminder to the Germans that they would certainly lose their war of attrition. They were never on track to win it simply because the UK had more colonials to burn than they had Germans, but the US made it so much more obvious. 

Good WW1 books would be Storm of Steel, Now it can be told, and The Guns of August. If you want a great podcast, try Dan Carlin's Hardcore History ww1 series, "Blueprint for Armageddon "