The fanboys always seem to go week at the knees at the mere mention of the wunderwaffe. Was Germany really that technologically superior to Britain? How would the Meteor compare to the Me 262 for instance?
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Who had better tech in WW2: Britain or Germany?
- Thread starter Emperor Palpatine
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Delta Force
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Germany had good research facilities and funding, but the British had a much stronger academic community. The gap only further widened when many top scientists from the fascist states fled to the United Kingdom and United States.
Also, the Commonwealth had better technology than the United States in some areas shortly after World War II. The British had excellent conventional explosives experts whose contributions helped make the atomic bomb possible, as well as leading experts in jet engines and computers.
Also, the Commonwealth had better technology than the United States in some areas shortly after World War II. The British had excellent conventional explosives experts whose contributions helped make the atomic bomb possible, as well as leading experts in jet engines and computers.
Well I would say the British simply because they won the war.
Whilst the Germans were advanced in many fields the British focused on the fields that mattered (enigma decryption, radar and the funnies in preparation for d-day) plus application as the Germans didn't use radar properly (used it to target things originally only after the battle of Britain did they start use it for defense.) till latter. And the whole wast of the Muse tank was an example how the furriers instinct wasted time among other things.
Whilst the Germans were advanced in many fields the British focused on the fields that mattered (enigma decryption, radar and the funnies in preparation for d-day) plus application as the Germans didn't use radar properly (used it to target things originally only after the battle of Britain did they start use it for defense.) till latter. And the whole wast of the Muse tank was an example how the furriers instinct wasted time among other things.
Germany had some cool technology, but it was resource intensive and valued cool looks over function. For example the V-2 rockets were incredibly freaky, but sometimes missed England. Not just London, but the entire island of England.
British technology was more practical. Better radar for example.
British technology was more practical. Better radar for example.
German Rifles and machine guns were more advanced (e.g. MG 42/43 and Sturmgewehr 44)
Riain
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Early on in the war German radar was better than Britain, the wurzburg was accurate enough for AA gunnery.
I think the OP is rather over simplistic. It could be argued that in matters of pure technology the Germans were more advanced but in the application of appropiate technology for the prosecution of the war Great Britain was way ahead.
Voted Britain. What I was looking at was efficient use. Whatever the merits of German research there was a serious shortfall on the development side during the nazi years. Maybe that was a nazi thing, maybe there was something deeper.
To get into the weeds deeper here; I'm wondering if Churchill was a significant source of inefficiency, made things more efficient, or was a minor or nuetral factor?
To get into the weeds deeper here; I'm wondering if Churchill was a significant source of inefficiency, made things more efficient, or was a minor or nuetral factor?
The only problem with that is Britain had a fully working air warning and control system in 1940 when Germany had about 8 working examples of the Wurzburg and none of them were operational and there was no system to use them anyway. Germanys radars might have been better technically but a working system is better than a perfect system that is useless on its own. Chain Home was continually upgraded technically simply because it was a collection of parts joined by wires, a part of the system could be upgraded by a group of technicians without dismantling the whole system. Wurzburg was beautifully and painstakingly put together by experts and could only be worked on by the Manufacturers painstakingly trained experts. Chain Home could be repaired by a man with a Soldering Iron who used to repair Radios or electric Kettles in civvy life.
I think thats how WesternAllied tech won, good enough but upgradeable and repairable churned out by the thousand always trumps the better.
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The majority of the German rifles were not the Sturmgewehr 44s, they were bolt action-rifles which were quite handily outclassed by a fair number of allied rifles like the M1. While the MG 42 was good as well, I was under the impression that it was also a result of such a firepower inferiority and a reliance on machine guns to compensate - although I admit that my knowledge concerning WW2 small arms is abysmal. Either way, the Allies weren't lacking in their own machine guns that were competent enough.
I'm also being bad and Americentric in which is supposedly a British vs German thread too. Oh well, I don't like 1v1 nation comparisons anyway.
So a somewhat brief advantage, and very limited as elaborated on by a later poster? Not sure if that really applies for a significant technology advantage.
Besides rockets, which area did they press ahead in theoretical technologies beyond the British?
Well, there was once an Arab geographer who thought that Scotland was a separate island, connected by the bridge of Stirling...Sorry to nitpick but since when has England been an island.
To answer the question, I have to echo those posters who said that the allies were far better when it came to actually using technology. A non-Fascist Germany may very well have held a significant advantage in technology, but alas it was the Nazis in charge, who scared away many talented scientists, and ploughed lots of effort into weapons such as missiles which had relatively little effect on the war. In terms of equipment development, German designs tended to be powerful, though mechanically unreliable and there were too many different designs. Voices such as Guderian who wanted to keep the number of tank designs limited were ignored, which led to a proliferation of designs which caused many more maintenance headaches.
Reminiscent of the Arthur C. Clarke short story "Superiority" which was based on the Nazi Wonder Weapons.
http://www.mayofamily.com/RLM/txt_Clarke_Superiority.html
I voted for Germany -- though I think it's almost too close to call.
In several areas, the Germans and British were roughly equal (jet development, radar, metallurgy). The British were clearly ahead in atomic development. The Germans were ahead in chemistry (nerve gases, for instance), rocketry and undersea development (there's a reason the Allies spent so much time testing the Typ XXI Elekroboot and V2 postwar). I think, but am not certain, that the Germans were a bit ahead with infrared, though not to such an extent as to have any impact.
I think the Germans were very slightly better at the visionary aspects. The British, though, were well ahead when it comes to identifying key technologies and developing them sufficiently to make a difference on the battlefield. And in the end, that was the bit that counted.
It's almost too close to call, when it comes to "pure technology", and it might not take much additional knowledge for me to flip my judgement.
I will add that resource availability and funding (especially in atomic development) counted very heavily against Germany. Considering this factor, I think the Germans did at least as well with the funding and resources they had available, as the British and Americans (you almost have to consider them together in some respects) did with theirs.
In several areas, the Germans and British were roughly equal (jet development, radar, metallurgy). The British were clearly ahead in atomic development. The Germans were ahead in chemistry (nerve gases, for instance), rocketry and undersea development (there's a reason the Allies spent so much time testing the Typ XXI Elekroboot and V2 postwar). I think, but am not certain, that the Germans were a bit ahead with infrared, though not to such an extent as to have any impact.
I think the Germans were very slightly better at the visionary aspects. The British, though, were well ahead when it comes to identifying key technologies and developing them sufficiently to make a difference on the battlefield. And in the end, that was the bit that counted.
It's almost too close to call, when it comes to "pure technology", and it might not take much additional knowledge for me to flip my judgement.
I will add that resource availability and funding (especially in atomic development) counted very heavily against Germany. Considering this factor, I think the Germans did at least as well with the funding and resources they had available, as the British and Americans (you almost have to consider them together in some respects) did with theirs.
Deleted member 1487
Well, the Allies looted $10 Billion in 1945 worth of technology and patents from Germany after the war:
http://www.amazon.com/Science-Technology-Reparations-Exploitation-Plunder/dp/0804717613
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgenthau_Plan#Implementation
The Germans were significantly ahead in synthetic materials, had invented the magnetic recording tape, which was unknown to anyone outside of Germany, and had done a lot of interesting work with electronics.
However it should be noted that when the US army corps of engineers did a survey of German science during the Nazi era they found that depending on the field they were so badly organized due to the Nazi system that they produced between 10-50% of what they could have.
http://www.amazon.com/German-research-world-war-II/dp/B0007DVL80
http://www.amazon.com/Science-Technology-Reparations-Exploitation-Plunder/dp/0804717613
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgenthau_Plan#Implementation
The Germans were significantly ahead in synthetic materials, had invented the magnetic recording tape, which was unknown to anyone outside of Germany, and had done a lot of interesting work with electronics.
However it should be noted that when the US army corps of engineers did a survey of German science during the Nazi era they found that depending on the field they were so badly organized due to the Nazi system that they produced between 10-50% of what they could have.
http://www.amazon.com/German-research-world-war-II/dp/B0007DVL80
Yah, there's a reason the Allies were so very hot to grab German research and researchers after the war... and it wasn't because the Germans were behind -- sorry, Allied fanboys.
They weren't light years ahead -- sorry, Axis fanboys -- but they were enough ahead in enough areas to constitute something of a bonanza to the victors.
Of course most Landser were equippet with the K98, but the question was who had the better technology, and by the end of the war the Stg 44 was by far the most advanced rifle on the battlefield and is the basis for most modern assult rifles.
MG42 was the most advanced machine gun on the battlefields of world war 2. It had the highest rate of fire and a precision that was unmatched by most other machine guns.
The german squad level tactics were centred around the machine gun (based on experiences in WW1) and the MG42 was a real game changer.
It was produced in masses (I was very easy to produce) and was easy to handle.
The american G.I.'s were trained to spot their enemey and kill him in a matter of 7 seconds. Because that was the average time you needed to reload the MG42.
There is a reason that the USA copied most parts of their M60 and their M240 machine guns from MG42.
Hell, it's even still in use today. Notable useres are the German-, Austrian-, Swiss-, Italian-, Dutch-, Estonian-, Latvian-, Lithuanian-, Pakistani-, Canadian-, Turkish-, ... and shit ton of other armed forces still use it today in the form of the MG3 (it's the MG42 in NATO calibre).
Good story, but the analogy would be that the enemy being fought were more akin to the Russians. At no time do they make any noticeable tehnological improvements the way the British from their jets to improve anti tank rounds to super bombs.
I would vote for the Germans having the better tech. However, for one reason or another they could only apply it in small numbers. Moreover, they missed gems such as the Ruhrstahl X-7 ""Rotkäppchen"", which could have been deployed years earlier than it was.