Posted by: Anakin - Tuesday, 15 November 2005 16:03
During 1941 and part of 1942, the Soviet Union's industry was relocated en masse further East to prevent factories and machinery from falling into the hands of the invading Germans. During this period of relocation, Soviet production was interrupted in efficiency, yet supplies came from Russia's western Allies. Beginning in 1941 and continuing until 1945, ships flowed in from the United States and Great Britain to supply Russia, making a run past German-occupied Norway and docking in Murmansk to deliver their stock. Some supplies also entered the USSR from the Persian Gulf-Iran-Caucusus supply route. Even though Russia's own production eventually came online and quickly churned out tanks, trucks and aircraft, they received the following numbers of supplies from the U.S.A. and the U.K.: 25,000 Aircraft 12,000 Tanks 3,000,000 tons of refined fuel 375,000 trucks 114,000 tons of rubber 15,000,000 pairs of boots Some equipment ended up modified like the American P-40, in which some models were changed to use the Yak fighter's engine (due to a lack of American engine spare parts). Even though American and British tanks were inferior in armor and gunnery to the T-34 and KV-1, they were fielded nonetheless. This was another fine example of the Allies cooperating to defeat the Axis cause. (The Murmansk Run)
During the Battle of Britain, the German Luftwaffe was concentrating on bombing RAF bases in the southern areas of England, hoping to cause enough continuous damage to where the RAF would have to move their fighters further north, thus giving the Luftwaffe air superiority over the English Channel. However, this all changed when a German He-111, which was off-course while flying a night-time mission, accidentally dropped its bombs on London, which was a restricted target. Even though the He-111 crew was reprimanded, the British responded by sending a night-time bombing raid against Berlin. This angered Hitler since Berlin hadn't previously been attacked yet in the war, and thus he responded by ordering Goering to flatten London. Most of the bombers and missions were diverted to attacking London in constant raids that killed thousands of British civilians. This change of tactics was a blessing in disguise for the RAF though. Attacking London gave German fighter escorts less fuel for combat time, and drove most of the German bombers deep enough for central British bases to respond with more fighters than just the southern bases. Also, the southern bases were no longer harassed and could re-strengthen their numbers. The continuating attacks on London in actually did more to hurt the German effort during the Battle of Britain, than it did to damage the British defense efforts. (London Bombing)
Although initially surprising to the British, the German V-1 was nothing more than a guided cruise missile, which made it vulnerable to British anti-aircraft fire. However, with the existence of the P-51D Mustang and the RAF's Tempest fighter and later the Glostor Meteor, the Allies could now attempt to shoot down the V-1 rockets. However, since firing at them at close range was dangerous to the Allied plane, RAF pilots discovered that the best technique to down the rockets was to fly along side it and then flip the rocket with the aircraft's wingtip, throwing the rocket into an unrecoverable roll into the ground, where it could explode without endangering London or any other target city. (V-1 Chasing)
When war broke out in 1939, the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) was ordered to conduct warfare against British shipping and attempt to starve the island nation into submission, or at least to keep them from getting necessary supplies to build up their war machine. Admiral Raeder, commander of the Kriegsmarine, knew that his submarines were well-suited for such a task, but his surface fleet was nowhere near ready to take on the Royal Navy in a conventional battle. Instead of sailing out to meet the Royal Navy, Raeder dictated a doctorine of using his heavy surface units as "pocket battleships". Single heavy cruisers, battlecruisers, or even battleships would sail out alone, slip through the enemy's waters and conduct warfare against merchant shipping in far off areas of the world. One such battleship was the Graf Spee, which was a battlecruiser that sailed for the South Atlantic. She immediately began inflicting damage on merchant shipping, using her scout plane to spot enemy ships, then sail at high speed to meet and easily destroy them with her heavy guns. Since she was alone and in a huge ocean, the Royal Navy had much trouble finding her. Captain Langsdorff, the commander of Graf Spee, sailed his ship into the Indian Ocean, hoping to massacre British shipping in the area. After only a few successful sinkings, he sailed back toward the South American coast. Between the Fauklands and the coast of Uruguay, three light cruisers encountered and engaged the Graf Spee. Graf Spee inflicted considerable damage on two of the British cruisers and escaped northward after receiving some damage of her own. Graf Spee entered the port of Montevideo, where the Royal Navy's tiny squadron set up a blockade. German ambassadors in Montevideo, however, were fed false information by British spies, that a large task force, led by the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, was on its way to trap Graf Spee and would arrive within a day. In reality the Ark Royal was at least four days away, sailing from the waters off West Africa. The German embassy bought the story, and informed Langsdorff, or ordered Graf Spee to sail. Crowds gathered to watch Graf Spee engage the British ships in the mouth of Montevideo harbor, but were surprised to see the Graf Spee catch fire after a series of explosions. The Germans scuttled her, rather than lose her to a force they thought to be overwhelming, but in reality was still only a shattered force of light cruisers that Graf Spee pounded earlier. Langsdorff, who wasn't aboard Graf Spee, shot himself in a hotel later. This was the Royal Navy's first big victory at sea, and their only source of victory as the war in Europe quickly went against the Allies. ("Fooled You!" The Graf Spee goes down)
During the late stages of the war, the German Luftwaffe attempted to design new, easy-built, but superior jet aircraft. The Heinkel 162 was planned to be one such aircraft that could be built in large quantities even with a lack of raw materials. The Messerschmidt 163 "Komet", however, was an attempt to deal with the American daylight bombing raids that were becoming ever more numerous and dangerous with their new long-range P-51 escort fighters. The Komet was a rocket, not a jet-powered, aircraft that used a chemical reaction to rocket itself up to 30,000 ft. in less than 3 minutes. She could reach speeds up to and over 700 km/h and was designed to make speedy passes through the B-17 formations, inflicting harsh damage with her dual 30mm guns. This wasn't easy to do however, as the Komet had only 6-8 minutes of fuel, and she passed much too fast for pilots to get good shots in. The bad news came when the fuel ran out. The Komet pilots were expected to glide back down, which made them vulnerable to the American P-51 escorts. Also, the Komet ejected her gear upon take-off, relying on a tiny ski to land. Those that were lucky enough to make it back to land found that landing was perhaps their most dangerous task in the mission. Some pilots suffered spinal injuries due to the rough landing, while others were severely burnt by any ruptured fuel since the chemicals were very corrosive. The Komet killed more German pilots than Allied airmen. Only 9 kills were contributed to the Komets in total, and she was so dangerous that Luftwaffe pilots lovingly called the plane "the widowmaker". (Me-163 Komet "The Widowmaker")
World War II proved that the aircraft carrier, not the battleship, was the true sovereign of the seas. This was a tough lesson learned by several nations. The first nation to learn this was Italy, when British Swordfish biplanes carrying torpedoes managed to surprise the Italian fleet in Taranto and cripple three major battleships with their attack. The Germans weren't so unfortunate, but the sinking of the battleship Bismarck is partly due to the biplaned Swordfish torpedo-bombers jamming the Bismarck's rudder with a torpedo (allowing the Royal Navy to surround her and destroy her). The Japanese learned from the British at the potence of catching an enemy fleet in its docks with aircraft and applied this knowledge to attack the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Finally, the Americans themselves, who were without any good number of battleships after Pearl Harbor for a few months, managed to sink four Japanese carriers at Midway, ignoring the Japanese attempts to confront them with battleships as Admiral Yamamoto intended. Even in 1943, the German U-Boats began to lose ground to the convoys in the Atlantic partly due to escort carriers, which could launch planes quickly, were easy to produce, and could accompany most important convoys. Just as blitzkrieg became the new warfare on the ground, the carrier-based fleet became the new center of warfare on the seas. (The Aircraft Carrier - New Sovereign of the Seas)
The American operation to attack the Marianas prompted the Japanese to launch Operation A-GO, which was designed to use "outranging tactics" against the Americans by combining the use of aircraft carriers and airfields in Japanese occupied-Guam to attack the American fleet while the Americans wouldn't be able to respond to the Japanese fleet. This fell apart quickly as the airfields in Guam were demolished by American carrier-wing raids. The American fleet's use of defensive formations known as "gun rows" and their use of radar and fighter escorts, added to the lack of experience by the 1944 Japanese carrier pilot, all led to the "Marianas Turkey Shoot", where over 300 Japanese carrier planes were shot down in total, along with over 400 land-based planes being destroyed either in the air or the ground. The American counterattacks and submarines sunk three aircraft carriers, and heavily damaged three more. This ended any chance for Japan to revive her carrier air wings and crippled what remained of her carrier-based navy. (Battle of the Marianas & the "Turkey Shoot")
This operation was created by the British Royal Navy to deal with the threat of the Germans utilizing the French Navy for their war effort. With France now under German occupation, their navy's fate was in question. The first step was to seize French ships in British harbors, which happened without much incident. In the port of Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, however, a large contingent of French warships were confronted by the Royal Navy and given four choices: Join the Royal Navy, Hand the ships over to British Crews, Disarm the ships, or schuttle them. The French refused, and the British allowed another choice: Sail to the West Indies to be handed over to the neutral United States. The French again refused and on July 3rd, the Royal Navy's task force opened fire on the ships. Over 1,200 French sailors were killed and the Battleship "Dunkerque" was heavily damaged, while the capital ships "Betagne" and "Provence" were completely destroyed. (Operation Catapult, Allies firing on Allies)
Ironically, the U.S. Navy used "unrestricted submarine warfare", a term coined by the Germans, against the Japanese to an extent that the Germans never achieved against the British. The Japanese never came up with the complex convoy systems used by the Allies in the Atlantic, so the American subs, which made up only 2% of the American Navy, were able to sink nearly half of all Japanese tonnage that was sunk in total. Not only did American subs sink several carriers and warships, they totally dismembered the Japanese merchant marine fleet, grinding the Japanese ship and aircraft industries to a halt as they lacked the rubber, tin, and oil raw materials that were shipped from the Dutch East Indies. (U.S. Silent Service)
