Sunday, October 17, 2021

good morning jessicca

  

















1930s:  mechanized, motorized, industrialized


The 1939 German invasion of Poland

revealed for the first time to all nations

the decisive outcome that results when

fast moving armor teams up with 

friendly ground support planes firing

overhead.








Blitzkrieg comes to full bloom in France

where concentrated firepower was rapidly

deployed to pierce the enemy's defense

then run havoc through their backfield

much as a cavalry would in previous times:

on battlefields with similar terrain 

laced maybe with roads amidst trees,

over hills, across streams and rivers.

 

Motorized armor gives one greater speed

in maneuvering troops but is otherwise 

constrained by the conventional obstacles

provided by terrain and distance.


 





A I R  P O W E R  -   THE REAL REVOLUTION OF WORLD WAR 2

 

Warfare has added the third dimension of vertical

position as part of the fluid, rapidly changing battlefield.

The chess match has gone 3D.  Armies unprepared

for overhead attack have their valuable military assets 

 quickly picked off like fish shot in a barrel.


The German's Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber provided much

of the offensive power that gave blitzkrieg its global

reputation.  A well-placed bomb on an enemy position's 

head saves ground forces from a potentially costly

assault. 







s t r a t e g i c   b o m b i n g


total war -  everyone is a legitimate target


The German Army brass wasn't all that keen 

on making the Luftwaffe Hitler's centerpiece 

of future military strategy.  For starts, the

strategic bomber with its necessary four engines

costs too much to develop.  


Germany's greatest military asset is its army.

Renowned worldwide.  You don't dump

a sure thing for untested technology.  

Most Luftwaffe generals agree the

proper role for German air power 

is to be in support of the nation's army,

which, interestingly, is the service they

once belonged to prior to the Luftwaffe.

 

This decision means an air force of tactical

planes with limited range and small payload

yet able to provide deadly results when closely

coordinated through radio communications

with troops on the ground.







B - 17    Flying Fortress


T H E   B O M B E R   W I L L   A L W A Y S   G E T   T H R O U G H

STANLEY BALDWIN / BRITISH PRIME MINISTER - 1932



A V O I D    C O S T L Y    B A T T L E S   

A T    T H E    F R O N T.


Crush enemy's ability to wage war through strategic bombing


destroy military factories and the laborers manning them


modern militaries require free flow of industrial output


cut off petroleum and prized military hardware

without energy becomes junk just lying around.

 

 What if you're the U.S. military and you find you are

up against the German Army with an American Army

that is currently little more than a military police manning

a friendly border.  Maybe technology provides the fast-track

catchup to fending off world-class militaries.  Possibly 

 a strategy heavily invested in air power is the way to provide

necessary defense without rousing suspicions of an isolationist

American voter rigidly opposed to foreign entanglements.

 

 

The U.S. Army Air Force's faith in daytime strategic bombing

 as a feasible, worthwhile endeavor was severely tested 

when raids targeting heavily defended industrial sites such as

at Schweinfurt, Germany and Ploesti, Rumania resulted in

an unacceptably high loss in planes and their crews.







H e r m a n n    G o e r i n g

L U F T W A F F E    C H I E F


Second only to Hitler in power.



I PLAN TO HAVE BRITAIN DOWN ON ITS KNEES


SO THAT THE ISLAND'S OCCUPATION BY


OUR TROOPS CAN PROCEED WITHOUT RISK.



Goering is confident of the Luftwaffe's victory

in the coming conflict with Britain's RAF,

an air force outnumbered and outmatched

as was proven in their recent encounter 

with German planes over France.



WHO CONTROLS THE AIR WINS THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN


Victory is decided by planes -  not tanks, not ships.







R A D A R



The Germans have it but don't quite know what to do with it.


They will learn its value through their experience with the Brits


in the near future.










V 2


1945


i m m u n e   t o   d e f e n s i v e   c o u n t e r m e a s u r e s



1 5    Y E A R S    L A T E R   


w e   f a c e



M U T U A L    A S S U R E D    D E S T R U C T I O N

O U R     B E S T     C O N C E I V E D     P R E V E N T I O N

F R O M     A T O M I C     H O L O C A U S T 



M  A  D


a murder / suicide pact between 

the globe's two most powerful nations


Each armed with missiles pointing to the other's cities

Ready to fire their nuclear volley upon sign of 

the other's attack


galactic nihilism is, almost



_________________



love

   dad





©  Tom Taylor



coldValentine


 

No comments:

Post a Comment