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World War II was totally unrealistic

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Re: World War II was totally unrealistic

#101

Post by rudyfink »

patio11 wrote: post #17
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #12

At first I thought the author might be poking fun at the war -- then I realized that he was actually poking fun at himself. People have high standards for fiction, yet some of the strangest things are real-life stories from history. A couple of my favorites from the Pacific Theater: 1) Radar detected the Japanese strike force approaching Pearl Harbor, but the guy in charge said it was a glitch. 2) The Japanese planne…

Not to mention the aircraft carriers made out of ice, the campaign to firebomb Japanese cities using bats with incendiaries tied to them, or the brilliant idea to starve out Japanese island garrisons by airdropping pigs onto them in the hope that the pigs would eat the grains before the Japanese ate the pigs (failed).

You missed my favorite one. B.F. Skinner had a WWII weapons program that trained pigeons for use as the guidance system of bombs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon ). From a video I saw (but now cannot find) the pigeons were trained to peck at the shape of a warship. Then they would peck at video of a ship which worked to keep the bomb centered on the warship as it fell by directing the fins to where the pigeon pecked.

Re: World War II was totally unrealistic

#102

Post by RyanMcGreal »

>Apparently we're supposed to believe that in the middle of the war the Germans attacked their allies the Russians, starting an unwinnable conflict on two fronts, just to show how sneaky and untrustworthy they could be?

That's not fair. They explained it in the backstory - the Germans were short on fuel and needed full access to Caspian hydrocarbon reserves.

Re: World War II was totally unrealistic

#103

Post by jakevoytko »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #91
borism wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really

??? Say more. The treaty at Yalta wasn't signed by Roosevelt? what?

Well, look at it this way: treaties don't blink into existence completely understood by all parties as perfectly fair without any loopholes or unnecessary concessions.

Re: World War II was totally unrealistic

#104

Post by js2 »

MarkPNeyer wrote: post #38
stcredzero wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I mentioned before, not only do the Nazis have an urgent plan to conquer the world ASAP, but they also have super science weapons research. Stealth bombers, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and jet planes. Yet, at the beginning of the war, they faced cavalry charges ! There are real life super-scientists engaged in real-life super-science intrigue to keep nuclear secrets out of Nazi hands. And on top of that,…

"these guys are worse or on a par for atrocities with anyone ever, real or imagined" If you look at the total number of people killed, hitler's atrocities pale in comparison with those of Stalin and Mao.

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/tyrants.htm

Re: World War II was totally unrealistic

#105

Post by dschobel »

He should have gone further in his analysis.

"Battalions of stormtroopers dressed in all black, check"

Maybe at the onset at the war, but for the last year or two it was a pathetic lot of teenagers and the elderly after all the desirable soldiers had all been killed, captured or maimed.

Re: World War II was totally unrealistic

#107

Post by mturmon »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #78
arethuza wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about bombs bouncing on water or giant weaponized Catherine Wheels: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panjandrum

There were actually successful attacks with water-skipping bombs. In some cases it was the only way to get the bombs to the target due to the low angle needed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise

The technology was innovative, but the results were mixed. Almost half the aircrews died, and the main casualties of the resulting floods were forced laborers and POWs.

Re: World War II was totally unrealistic

#108

Post by anamax »

hughw wrote: post #84
zokier wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

History is written by the victors.

I recommend reading David Irving's Hitler's War and Churchill's War as an antidote to the Churchill hagiography. You'll be able to filter out Irving's opinions and still see another perspective on the war. One in which Chamberlain and Halifax are statesmen who might have been successful in avoiding armed conflict, but for the determined war party of Churchill. I'm not here to make that case -- just saying, there are…

> One in which Chamberlain and Halifax are statesmen who might have been successful in avoiding armed conflict, but for the determined war party of Churchill.

No one disputes that it would have been possible to avoid armed conflict with Nazi Germany. The relevant question is "at what cost?" Given Hitler's ambitions, do you really think that he'd have stopped at the channel?

It is reasonable to suggest that Chamberlain bought some time for Britain to re-arm and that trying to defend the continent was a bad idea. But that's very different from suggesting that sustained peace was a reasonable possibility.

Re: World War II was totally unrealistic

#109

Post by avolkov »

viggity wrote: post #83
patio11 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention the aircraft carriers made out of ice, the campaign to firebomb Japanese cities using bats with incendiaries tied to them, or the brilliant idea to starve out Japanese island garrisons by airdropping pigs onto them in the hope that the pigs would eat the grains before the Japanese ate the pigs (failed).

If anyone is interested in the "aircraft carrier made out of ice", you can find out more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pykrete

Mythbusters had an episode about it http://mythbustersresults.com/alaska-special-2

Re: World War II was totally unrealistic

#110

Post by grandalf »

sedachv wrote: post #92
stcredzero wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I mentioned before, not only do the Nazis have an urgent plan to conquer the world ASAP, but they also have super science weapons research. Stealth bombers, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and jet planes. Yet, at the beginning of the war, they faced cavalry charges ! There are real life super-scientists engaged in real-life super-science intrigue to keep nuclear secrets out of Nazi hands. And on top of that,…

"And on top of that, these guys are worse or on a par for atrocities with anyone ever, real or imagined." This is a Euro-centric perspective. The Germans did not do anything different than any of the colonial powers in their own colonies. The difference with the Germans is that they decided to colonize Europe. In terms of excess mortality, the man-made British famines in India are worse. The genocide of Native Americ…

Also the Irish potato famine was likely caused by the British.
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