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How Allies Used Math Against German Tanks
Pepebuho writes "This an article about how the allies were able to estimate the number of German tanks produced in World War 2 based on the serial numbers of the tanks. Neat! Godwin does not apply."
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Here's the original source... from July 2006.
Don't be so dismissive. Knowing how many tanks the Germans had in total is related to knowing how many they can marshal in a particular region. Also, part of the allies' goal was to figure out how many tanks the Germans could manufacture. If that number was high, then the Germans could have bolstered an undersupplied and perceived-to-be-weak region.
To be back on track, the math involved is pretty straightforward. For those interested, the Wikipedia article has more information on the subject.
in the 1950s
so they started looking at satellite photos of the Russian bombers
Hmm. Correct theory, but wrong implementation.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
The wars in Iraq (which is all but over for the US, good luck with that INA) and Afghanistan are very different from World War Two. If the US had fought Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan with the same disregard for civilian casualties and overwhelming firepower there wouldn't be a problem.
Modern Mindset - Isolate Fallujah, tell the civilians to get out, then go house to house to secure the city with Marines and Army.
World War Two Mindset - Mass on one side of Fallujah, carpet bomb the far side of the city for a couple days, then send infantry in supported by artillery while blowing blocks up, block by block until no one is left to resist. Or, firebomb the city with incendiaries, or bombard with artillery for days before going in, like Casino. Any one that flees, harass with airpower and/or chase down with armored cavalry units
Right now if a shooting war broke out between the United States and today's Germany or today's Japan, it'd be no contest, although Japan has a better military right now, the US would win.
The last time the US really went all out was the ground war to take Kuwait at the end of Desert Storm, and even that was just about 1/3rd of the total air and naval power and about 1/2 of the ground forces. The US military has become much more lethal in the 20 years since Desert Shield started.
Ah, here come the armchair heroes who've played some WWII game and think they know everything. Clearly you're right - I'm lying. Obviously I have massive amounts to gain from lying on Slashdot about my dad's achievements.
Bluntly, you are being daft. Did you not notice the language I couched it in? I'm no WWII expert and don't intend to be one, I'm recounting stories I was told as a kid by my dad. There'll be people who know more than me about this and will correct me - 'lying' doesn't begin to come into it.
Here's my dad guarding Belson, by the way. Picture 1 and Picture 2. They were one of the first forces into the area - please let me know when you've achieved a tenth as much.
Anyway, that link shows my dad to have been in the 11th Armoured Division. It seems you're right - not Berlin, but Lubeck and Neustadt. So yes, turns out I'm inaccurate. But lying? No.
Cheers,
Ian