New work on Luftwaffe against Allied Bombing Offensive

[lesofprimus]

As my good friend Bill up above suggested, had the Germans invested time and resources to develop a fighter bomber and escort to attack bases on British soil at night, the Luftwaffes War would have turned out much different....

The Greatest Offensive Idea of WW2 that Never Materialized....

 

[Colin1]

...although one has to assume that with air superiority secured...

Can't see it, the RAF would probably pull everything out of the Luftwaffe's reach further north and west before that happened

We are starting to re-hash old threads here, aren't we?

 

[BombTaxi]

Indeed we are. I think we should probably put this one to bed...

 

[lesofprimus]

Yep, stay on topic...

 

[imalko]

Yep, stay on topic...

As I wrote, operational deployment of Messerschmitt Me 262 as fighter in 1942, which was possible as Galland suggested, probably would made a great impact....

 

[davebender]

To be more precise, the KM had no landing craft at all in 1940.

Technology wasn't the issue. German landing craft constructed from 1941 onward were as good as any produced during WWII.
Marinefährprahm History

Germany was also perfectly capable of building amphibious APCs similiar to the American AMTRAC. But none were purchased in time for Operation Sealion.
Land-Wasser-Schlepper

 

[The Basket]

Don't invade USSR.

Me 262 not an option.

Cannot invade UK in 1940.

 

[imalko]

Don't invade USSR.

Me 262 not an option.

Cannot invade UK in 1940.

..... and just seat at home and wait for Allies to start their bomber offensive, so we could defend ourselves succesfully.

 

[davebender]

It's not that simple. Stalin's Soviet Union was aggressively pushing into Central Europe, gobbling up the the 3 Baltic States plus territory from Finland and Romania. In 1941 Stalin backed the Yugoslav coup against the pro-German monarchy. During this time frame the Soviet Military was starting to recover from purges during the late 1930s.

Can a Soviet Union that is rapidly growing stronger be restrained using German diplomacy? It's a gamble no matter what Germany does.

 

[syscom3]

As I wrote, operational deployment of Messerschmitt Me 262 as fighter in 1942, which was possible as Galland suggested, probably would made a great impact....

You cant push technology any faster than it historically unfolded.

The Me-262 came into being when it did in late 1944, because there were many issues that had to be taken care of before it was operational.

By then, the war was lost.

 

[Vincenzo]

It's not that simple. Stalin's Soviet Union was aggressively pushing into Central Europe, gobbling up the the 3 Baltic States plus territory from Finland and Romania. In 1941 Stalin backed the Yugoslav coup against the pro-German monarchy. During this time frame the Soviet Military was starting to recover from purges during the late 1930s.

Can a Soviet Union that is rapidly growing stronger be restrained using German diplomacy? It's a gamble no matter what Germany does.

The western expansion of Soviet Union was directly following, baltic and bessarabia, or indirectly following, winter war, of agreement with German, w/o that agreement no expansion in western. the '41 coup was backed in primis from british, the yugoslav monarchy was not pro germany the regent was pro germany. For true purges, little level not large as the start, on red army ended after the start of war.

 

[imalko]

You cant push technology any faster than it historically unfolded.

The Me-262 came into being when it did in late 1944, because there were many issues that had to be taken care of before it was operational.

I have already wrote this in another thread, but I will repeat it again....

I have read in a book "FIGHTER-The True Story of the Battle of Britain" by Len Deighton, that in 1941 RLM decided that all new weapon development programs (including new jet aircrafts) is to be discontinued if they can not offer results important for the war effort within period of 6 monts. This was another reason (coupled with problems with engines) for delays in development programe of Me 262. Even Galland himself said that becouse of inabillity of RLM to reckognize importance of Me 262 this aircraft entered operational service 2 years later then it would otherwise been the case.

Only when it was too late the programes such as Me 262 were given priority, and even then Hitler insisted that Me 262 should be developed as a bomber.

 

[The Basket]

Germany would not have been bombed if it didn't start the war in the first place.

 

[HoHun]

Hi Imalko,

>Even Galland himself said that becouse of inabillity of RLM to reckognize importance of Me 262 this aircraft entered operational service 2 years later then it would otherwise been the case.

Galland did not know that the early Me 262 he had been flying was powered by prototype engines that while perfectly sound, could not be mass-produced in wartime Germany due to the lack of strategic materials.

It was mainly the time required to re-design the engines so that they would work with inferior materials that kept the Me 262 out of service for so long. The "jet bomber decision" delayed the Me 262 only for 4 or 5 months.

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aviation/questions-about-me-262-a-15029.html

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[FalkeEins]

bit of a daft subject for a dissertation if you ask me ..a 'what if'? at what sort of level is this "work" being pitched..?

The one tactical "innovation" that did enjoy some success when it was introduced to counter the bomber offensive was the Luftwaffe's Sturmgruppen ..that's been discussed here many times also..

have you done any reading at all for your "work"? any thoughts of your own yet ?

 

[imalko]

Hi Henning!

Thanks for additional info on Me 262.
Having been relatively new on the forum I haven't read that thread until now.