10,000 88mm flak weapons being kept in Germany was significant, for example
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Bad ideas in war
- Thread starter SpuriusMaximus
- Start date
Wudang
BOFH
I know the scale of WWII was massive but sometimes a single number like that hits home.
Andy_Ross
Penultimate Amazing
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2010
- Messages
- 84,169
Also millions of tons of artillery shells lost to AA shell production, the training and resources for all the artillery crews manning the AA guns and resources put in to millions of tons of re-enforced concrete U-boat pens, deep shelters and bunkers
Not forgetting the production lost to air raid damage.
Before the war the Germans didn't distribute or diversify production. If a factory was hit and work stopped until it was repaired entire supply chains could be disrupted.*
In contrast , by the time the war started the British government had paid for the building and equipping of 'shadow' factories for production of vital weapons and equipment including aircraft and aero engines. Some were even underground, the most famous being the Merlin engine factory built under Box Hill and accessed via the existing railway tunnel.
It had its own underground railway station. Trains entering the tunnel with materials were timed to coincide with trains of finished engines leaving at the other end to help hide the factory.
German aircraft production never got close to British numbers.
*A good example is the Focke-Wulf Ta154. It was going to be the German equivalent of the Mosquito, a plywood nightfighter.
It's construction relied on a particular synthetic adhesive called Tego-Film. It was produced in one factory owned by A company called Goldschmidt and its production process was s trade secret. It's factory was destroyed in an RAF night raid in 1943. No other glue was available with enough strength so all the effort and resources put in to the Ta154 were wasted.
Not forgetting the production lost to air raid damage.
Before the war the Germans didn't distribute or diversify production. If a factory was hit and work stopped until it was repaired entire supply chains could be disrupted.*
In contrast , by the time the war started the British government had paid for the building and equipping of 'shadow' factories for production of vital weapons and equipment including aircraft and aero engines. Some were even underground, the most famous being the Merlin engine factory built under Box Hill and accessed via the existing railway tunnel.
It had its own underground railway station. Trains entering the tunnel with materials were timed to coincide with trains of finished engines leaving at the other end to help hide the factory.
German aircraft production never got close to British numbers.
*A good example is the Focke-Wulf Ta154. It was going to be the German equivalent of the Mosquito, a plywood nightfighter.
It's construction relied on a particular synthetic adhesive called Tego-Film. It was produced in one factory owned by A company called Goldschmidt and its production process was s trade secret. It's factory was destroyed in an RAF night raid in 1943. No other glue was available with enough strength so all the effort and resources put in to the Ta154 were wasted.
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