homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation Battle of Britain + Battle of Britain II Here's what happened (Continued)

Folks,

The pages are filling fast.

We have already discussed all the finer points of most of these interesting issues along the way from Z2's thrilling first chapter until now. All my useless thoughts are already on record so there is no need for me to recapitulate or should that be regurgitate, my own thoughts regarding the politics of the issues or the relative strengths of the German people and the British. The allies were victorious and that speaks for itself.

Let me then interject some thoughts regarding Hitler's plans and the relative strengths of the opposing armour.

There have been some new developments regarding Hitler's possible plans for America if not Britain. Hitler had very little respect for Americans. He thought they were degenerates and soft. He woefully underestimated America's ability to fight and especially the overwhelming capacity of the US manufacturing potential.

Recently an apparently authenticated un-published manuscript has been un-earthed which is said to be written (dictated) by old Adolph indicating that once Russia was firmly in the bag he planned to turn his eyes toward North America.

There were secret weapons such as the so-called New York bomber under development but never finished. Which reminds me of Germany's huge mistake in never developing a long range multi- engined bomber capable of reaching deep into Russia. This allowed Stalin to move all his manufacturing out of the reach of the freezing fingers of the Luftwaffe. Those T-34s and IL-2s just kept on coming, and coming and....

Speaking of those pesky T-34's here's a comparison:
Panther D T-34/85
43 tons 32 tons
Engine 650 HP 500 HP
Crew 5 5
Armour 120 mm 75 mm
Speed 27 mph 31 mph
Armament 75 mm gun 85 mm gun
1 mg. 2 mg

The old Sherman only carried 1 75mm gun and 2mg, its armour was 81 mm thick and it streaked along at just about 25 mph. Both sides always had a sufficiency of tanks although the allies production was always greater.

The T34/85 was an improvement over the old T34/75 but the panther D was a match for it. There was a scheme in place for a new German medium tank way back to 1939 and something close to this precise design came into manufacture late in 1942. There were problems. Transmissions were faulty, gunnery optics inadequate, and there was a nasty "shell trap" under the mantle which made the tank vulnerable to HE and even small arms.

Of the first 300 Panthers constructed that survived Kursk,every one but a few had to be returned to the factory for rebuilding. Nevertheless the Panther was a fine tank superior to the T-34 in all its versions and preferable to its partner the Tiger. The Panther's tragedy, from the German's POV was that she could never be produced in sufficient quantities to meet a desperate situation. There in lies IMHO the advantage of the lesser T-34. Russia could make a crap load of them and keep them rolling out to replace their losses.

In spite of Albert Speer's best efforts, that were nothing short of miraculous, no more than 5,508 Panthers were ever built compared with many times that many T-34s alone. The bombing of her factories , the dilution of skilled labor and the failing of critical materials all hindered the German effort, too much of which was wasted on less advantageous equipment.

The Porsche "Elephant" or "Ferdinand" (a competitor for the Tiger) was an example of such wasted effort for the 90 models on which much labor was expended turned out to be a hopeless failure. In strength lay weakness for their immensely thick armour allowed them to do what other assault guns could not, that is lead the attack in immunity. But once cut off in the enemy rear and with only a limited traverse weapon and one Mg for protection they were at a hopeless disadvantage and hunted down like rats.

The great and much vaunted Tiger and King Tiger tanks were a marvel when they were not broken down and that wasn't often. They were also way too heavy for most roads and bridges of the day as well.

In the final analysis, if the Normans could do it, Hitler might have also done it. I mean it was possible. As mentioned, he would have had to put on his thinking cap early on and been very serious about it. Probably had he been prepared at the moment the last British soldier waded out into the Channel leaving France for Blighty he might have succeeded. Later on, it would have been a hell of a lot harder. All that hardware on the ground, on the sea and in the air do their bit. It always boils down to the poor guy with a rifle to take the dirt and the Brits are a tenacious people. England when fighting for her home and hearth would be formidable. Not even the fanatical Japanese would have fought any harder. I myself would not therefore foolishly bet the farm on any modern nation's ability to conquer her magnificent people at home.