Best bomb/weapon of WW2

[wuzak]

Ok, there are many categories of targets for there to be a best overall bomb/weapon.

I think we can discuss the best bombs/weapons for categories such as:
Industrial Factory
Anti-Ship
Anti-Submarine
Anti-Armour
Hardened Bunkers

I would like to exclude machine guns and cannons, but include rockets and rocket propelled bombs.

I would also like to say that though one type of bomb was used more than any other against certain types of targets doesn't mean it was the most suitable or best bomb for the job.

 

[vinnye]

Ok, I'll start you off with the Tall Boy bomb.
It was designed to penetrate hardened positions that were not able to be damaged by normal bombs.
It was made with a harder skin than normal bombs and was designed to be aerodynamic to increase its striking velocity, and was given a spin by angling the tail fins - this made it more accurate as it was dropped from 18,000 feet or so.

 

[stona]

The V-2
The most advanced operational missile of WW2 and grandfather of just about all modern missile systems. It's target was civilians and it did a good job on them.
Cheers
Steve

 

[fastmongrel]

Ok, I'll start you off with the Tall Boy bomb.
It was designed to penetrate hardened positions that were not able to be damaged by normal bombs.
It was made with a harder skin than normal bombs and was designed to be aerodynamic to increase its striking velocity, and was given a spin by angling the tail fins - this made it more accurate as it was dropped from 18,000 feet or so.

It wasnt designed to penetrate hardened targets the ideal was to just miss and then the bomb would go off about 100 feet underground and cause a cavity called a camouflet underground. This cavity would then collapse and bring the structure down with it or damage it so badly as to make it unusable. It would penetrate concrete very well but putting a big hole underneath concrete structures is better than making a hole in the roof.

They were precision made bombs iirc there was only 2 foundries in Britain capable of making the casing. 1 in 3 had to be rejected because of cracking as the cooling of the casing after casting was very critical. Let it cool too quick and it would be brittle let it cool too slow and the steel was too soft and both conditions would stop it working as designed. Barnes Wallis was a very clever fellow its a pity he wasnt allowed to design his super bomber capable of dropping a Tallboy or Grand Slam at 30,000 feet plus.

For me the best weapon the real war winner The Daddy of them all was the Liberty Ship. You cant fight battles and win them unless you can get your weapons and men there first, they are no use if they are sitting on a quay 3,000 miles away.

 

[Marcel]

Which is Hirochima and Nagasaki in that order.

 

[fastmongrel]

The big Atomic stick. I have often wondered what were the German targets lined up for a visit from a B29 if things had carried on past May 45.

 

[stona]

The big Atomic stick. I have often wondered what were the German targets lined up for a visit from a B29 if things had carried on past May 45.

After the Japanese bombs I would suggest none. The potential radiological impact on nearby allied countries was beginning to be understood.

The Japanese atomic bombings were in August 1945 and I'm not sure when the Americans would have had further devices available,but I suspect several weeks if not months. The effects of the radiation on the victims of the bombs were noted within days and were beginning to be quantified and understood within 6-8 weeks.

You never know though,some non-historical desperate reverse for the Allies might have led to an equally desperate response.

Cheers

Steve

 

[fastmongrel]

After the Japanese bombs I would suggest none. The potential radiological impact on nearby allied countries was beginning to be understood.

The Japanese atomic bombings were in August 1945 and I'm not sure when the Americans would have had further devices available,but I suspect several weeks if not months. The effects of the radiation on the victims of the bombs were noted within days and were beginning to be quantified and understood within 6-8 weeks.

You never know though,some non-historical desperate reverse for the Allies might have led to an equally desperate response.

Cheers

Steve

The bombs were originally intended for Germany up till early 45 when it became obvious that things werent going to last much longer.

Japan was arguably an excuse to use them after all the expense, though I know that is incredibly controversial thing to say and I dont intend for it to descend into the usual flame war.

 

[michaelmaltby]

Napalm ....

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

The A-Bomb. Kind if hard to argue against it.

 

[stona]

The bombs were originally intended for Germany up till early 45 when it became obvious that things werent going to last much longer.

Japan was arguably an excuse to use them after all the expense, though I know that is incredibly controversial thing to say and I dont intend for it to descend into the usual flame war.

I'm not sure why you think that the atomic bombs were ever to be targeted on Germany.

On the military side,realization that a bomb would probably be ready for testing in the summer of 1945 led to concrete planning for the use of the new weapon,on the assumption that the bomb when completed would work.By the end of 1944 a list of possible targets in Japan had been selected,and a B-29 squadron was trained for the specific job of delivering the bomb.It was also necessary to inform certain commanders in the Pacific about the project,and on 30 December 1944 Maj.Gen.Leslie R.Groves,head of the Manhattan District,recommended that this be done.No targets in Germany are mentioned.
This comes from a memo from Groves,published in "Foreign Relations of the United States: The Conferences at Malta-Yalta, 1945"

Secretary Stimson chaired a committee (the interim committee) which was to decide how the bomb was to be used. It didn't even report until June 1st 1945,after Germany's surrender,and number one on its list of recommendations was that the bombs should be used against Japan as soon as possible.

I don't think that they were used to justify the cost. The discussion of and rationale for their use are in the public domain and for the most part perfectly reasonable,particularly given recent American experience at Okinawa. I'm not aware of any discussion of German targets but then the bombs were not available until after Germany's surrender (Trinity test July 16th 1945).
There must have been an element of showing the Soviets what the US had,but it doesn't feature in publicised papers as far as I remember (it's been a while since I looked at this).

Cheers
Steve

 

[fastmongrel]

The work on theoretical fission weapons started in 1939 with the Uranium Committee. The practical work started in 1940 got going properly in 41 and by Dec 41 the groundwork and theory was in place. In 1941 the US thought they could whip the Japs with one hand tied behind there back if it ever came to it so who else was the bomb going to be dropped on. Vannevar Bush who was the main man behind the early years of the Manhattan Project and Roosevelts top scientific adviser certainly thought Germany was the Target.

 

[stona]

That may be the case,I honestly don't know. I do know that in 1944,when it became evident that the project (and a couple of billion dollars)might actually produce a viable weapon some time during the following year,Japan was the only target considered. The US was the only nation involved in the targeting process though the British approved of and consented to the plan on July 4th 1945.

There were many doubters. Most famously Admiral Leahy said "This is the biggest fool thing we have ever done,the bomb will never go off,and I speak as an expert in explosives." Obviously not a nuclear physicist though

Cheers

Steve

 

[Glider]

My starter for ten

Industrial Factory - 4,000 lb bombs
Anti-Ship - Highball a unique idea that had a lot going for it
Anti-Submarine - Homing Torpedo
Anti-Armour - S type 40mm gun ( I know its a gun but rockets were not accurate enough)
Hardened Bunkers - Napalm

 

[tyrodtom]

The V-2
The most advanced operational missile of WW2 and grandfather of just about all modern missile systems. It's target was civilians and it did a good job on them.
Cheers
Steve

Sadly the V2 did kill a lot of civilians, over 21,000, but 12,000+ of those civilians died in the production of the missile.

The V1 and V2 weapons programs put together cost a great deal more than the Manhatten Project.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Sadly the V2 did kill a lot of civilians, over 21,000, but 12,000+ of those civilians died in the production of the missile.

The V1 and V2 weapons programs put together cost a great deal more than the Manhatten Project.

They were wasted resources for the Germans, but the V-2's contribution to the modern missile and space program are undeniable.

 

[nuuumannn]

von Braun always said he wanted to build a moon rocket, even before the war, that's why he adorned one of the prototypes with the "Frau im Mond" emblem.

 

[tyrodtom]

Nobody has mentioned antipersonel bombs. Every country had them, but they're not as known.
The US had the 25 lb parafrag, very good low level over AA sites and aircraft revetments.
The Germans had a whole line of SD-1, 2, 4, etc. cluster bomblets and dispenser combinations for dropping on everything from troops to light armor. The SD-2 was so closely copied by us that you have to look close at the two to tell which is the SD-2 and which is the BLU-23.

 

[awack34]

Yep theres the atomic bomb dropped on japan, then theres the what ifs like a V2 with a chemical warhead....but as far as conventional weapons go, the fritz x, high velocity guided bomb or the US bat guided glider bomb.

 

[vinnye]

Frtz X was a very good weapon and may have been more significant if the LW had been able to use the at Normandy?
For big bang - aside from nukes - Grand Slam.