27 replies to this topic

[olli]

nah an asteroid can wipe out the whole earth... a nuke with a megaton or gigaton warhead can wipe out a small country or a fairly meidum one...say luxemburg? or bigger

[MSpencer]

nah an asteroid can wipe out the whole earth... a nuke with a megaton or gigaton warhead can wipe out a small country or a fairly meidum one...say luxemburg? or bigger

This is the only 50 megaton bomb ever made exploding.
A gigaton bomb would blow the earth in half. A bomb like this would decimate Luxembourg and then some.

By WWII the plans had morphed back to infantry/cavalry rather than mixed offences with workhorses because of economy, rather than prior lack of experience. After the war economies where shattered and the millitaries went through a disarmerment phase. New tanks were deemed essential, but because of the lack of funding development ended up in a two-pronged approach. First of these was the supertanks, such as the T35 and Vickers International. They were big, bad, and too expensive to be purchased. So lighter tanks were made, although the desire for heavies hadn't been dismissed, Vickers and others discovered its easier to sell a 6tonner than a 60. The Germans were developing workhorses, with an unwavering respect to the values of mobility and comunication. This allowed for mixed fast offensives, whilst the allied nations of France and the UK backed back to the classical cavalry and infantry roles of mid 1917, rather than the late-war pre-blitz tactics. The Germans had been initially dismissive of tanks, opting for AT weapons as a better investment, but it must be handed to them to have learnt more about their use than the people using them.
The 1919 plan called for round the clock bombing of Germany with RAF flying HP1500s, HP0400's at night, and American Vickers Vimy's at day.
A typical HP1500 bomb load being about 4,000 lbs is equivilant of a the later Wellington, whilst the day bombers would cary 2,000 lb loads, with raids composed of an excess of 2-300 bombers at a time.
Whilst not on the scale of the Allied bombing of Germany in the latter part of WW2, this would have been equivalent to say the London Blitz of 1940/41 or raids such as that on Coventry.

While the actual presence of plans is an admirable thing, Reagan also had some high hopes to put lasers in space to blow up ICBMs. Does that mean we had lasers in the sky? No.
The fact that the thought was being circulated doesn't mean that the weapons were effective or ever could be effective. Massive strategic bombing of Germany was never even attempted until World War II. Plans or just rambling thoughts? Yes, but then again, the US had plans to turn Sicily into a 51st state in 1945.
Also, I should call attention to the whole tank thing. Germany didn't begin constructing tanks en masse until the late 1930s. By the time World War II began, they had a strong standing infantry army with very few tanks, mostly light tanks (This is elaborated on in depth in Heinz Guderian's memoirs, entitled "Panzer Leader" in English, and is attributed mostly to obstinate infantry commanders in higher positions). At the time of the German invasion of France, the French and British had more tanks deployed. They had more time with potentially world class militaries and significant military strategists to develop a concept of movement warfare: they had none. The British and French tanks were wholly ineffective against the German tanks not for technical reasons (The Germans even conceded that the French Char 1 bis was significantly better than any tanks they could deploy), but because they were neither employed effectively nor in the correct way. They were still being deployed in an infantry support role, something hardly pre-blitzkrieg.
The presence of a person or two with ideas which aren't listened to does not guarantee that a certain weapons system will be effective. I do believe the British had some excellent strategists, I just don't think they were listened to, and also, the British focus on military might was significantly less than the Germans. When it comes down to it though, the British fought no wars between 1918 and 1939, and when it came down to it, the Germans were, piece for piece, much more effective even up until 1945 simply because they had better doctrines and better strategists.

[olli]

i thought a gigaton bomb would only destroy a country the size of france...lets say. surly it wouldnbt cause global destruction as bad as what you described.

and where the fuck did they test that thing?

btw...could this be real? i think so....ill let spenser decide

[Simiswimm]

What about Stealth Bombers? How do you hit something you can't detect? And the JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) Nuclear Bunker-Busters. What happened to underground protection...

-=- Simiswimm -=-

[DemonWolf]

erm...emotions can be thought of as a "weapon"
the key to all conflicts.
Anger, greed, jelousy, revenge. that is a weapon in itself because if man did not have emotions, i personally think that there would be no wars. ever, because no body has a need to start a war.

You watched Equilibrium, didn't you?

[olli]

nope.
all my own thoughts.
but the only part i have seen of it is the kick ass gun scene where he does the neat gun tricks and shoots everything.

[Verrückt]

Forgot the v1 and v2, what would life be without the first cruise missile .

[Jetz]

My Top 10

Maxim MG
Mark I WW1 Tank
Early firearms
Lee-Enfield SMLE MkII
M1 Garand
Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947 (aka AK47)
EM2
Martini-Henry
PPSh-41
Panzer MkIV