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  1. No Doctrine of Unconditional Surrender in WWII

    I am always fascinated with this sort of POD. The root of seems to be that all that kept the war going for 2 1/2 years was "Unconditional Surrender" when absolutely NOTHING in the historical record indicates this to be the case. Just a few issues (not, by any stretch, all): 1) No ONE on the...
  2. The Confederate States Rise Again (WWII:NEWSPAPER)

    This is just short of idiotic. Of all the time periods since the end of the ACW, the period when the "Old South" had the LEAST reason to rebel was the 1930's-through WW II.
  3. Pacific War Redux

    Here is March 14, 1942 Comments encouraged. Enjoy. March 14, 1942 02:20 hrs local (Singapore) – After nearly seven hours of effort, nearly no munitions or replacement ammunition has been off loaded from the three surviving freighters. To the barely contained outrage of Alexander and his...
  4. World War 3: Third Reich vs. Imperial Japan

    No. Jessica Simpson replacing Joe Biden as VP elect is ASB. This is simply silly.
  5. Alternate aftermath of Leyte, Japan surrenders

    Not quite. The Japanese also wanted a few other little things, like no action against their war criminals, recognition of their position in Manchuria, no demobilization of their forces, and access to U.S. Steel scrap amd oil exports to be resumed. In short, they wanted to WIN the war despite...
  6. Best Case Scenario for the Japanese at Letye Gulf

    I would. The Kongo was a very poor upgrade. When the San Francisco is able to pound one to scrap AND survive the engagement it is a very telling result. They were faster than the American OBB but no where near as well armored for ship to ship slugging. (torpedo protection is a different matter...
  7. Flight of the Valkyrie

    The Foxbat was built in response to the mere rumor of the B-70. While the version that went into production wasn't capable of dealing with the B-70 , assuming it had worked as designed, there is also littel doubt that the real answer to high altitude penetration bombers was and is SAM networks...
  8. Flight of the Valkyrie

    Speed stopped being a bit of magic when the reliable SAM came into being, along with extremely long range radars. The SR-71 was able to survive thanks to its extremely high speed that made pursuit curves near impossible for manned platforms, but mostly because it was an Intel platform (i.e. no a...
  9. Best Case Scenario for the Japanese at Letye Gulf

    "I shall return!" McArthur was determined to get his moment. He managed to talk FDR into it during a meeting with Admiral Nimitz and the President. General Marshall was also a big supporter of the invasion, without it, the Army was out of a job in the Pacific since the decision had been...
  10. Best Case Scenario for the Japanese at Letye Gulf

    They did. However, they were still building them on a low production schedule. By December/January they would have had eight or nine, including an additional 1-2 uranium weapons. There was a half finished plan to use up to seven weapons in a quasi tactical fashion to support the landings on...
  11. Best Case Scenario for the Japanese at Letye Gulf

    What did happen was about the best case. It is forgotten at times that there were still around 450 aircraft in the area ready to attack the Japanese BB's. It is also commonly forgotten that every one of the CVE had around 20 torpedoes on board, as well as a number of depth charges that could be...
  12. The History of the Malaya Campaign

    Interesting. Still that unhealthy love for the F2A I see.:D Look forward to the next installment.
  13. Little Pearl Harbor escalated

    Napalm? Incendiary. Dropped it on the Japanese too, lakes of it. Napalm was a primary element (along with both Thermite and WP) of the firebombs dropped by the B-29s over Japanese cities, starting with the March 9/10 1945 Tokyo attacks. It is noteworthy that it wasn't until the introduction...
  14. Little Pearl Harbor escalated

    Chemical weapons would be just one more level of brutality in what was already a war that exceeded any before or since in it's totality. The addition of Mustard or Lewisite to the weapons dropped on Dresden or Tokyo would have been nothing more the cherry on top the sundae. On the other hand...
  15. Little Pearl Harbor escalated

    Not quite, but the comparison has some merit, as far as the need to maintain a counterforce, even if one had no plans for first use. The difference between Gas and Nuclear weapons in practical effect is almost as great as the difference in how they work. Nukes can be highly effective against...
  16. Little Pearl Harbor escalated

    Gas wasn't used for two basic reasons: 1. Poor ROE - Gas gains you very little and causes you a lot of trouble. It is much more difficult for the less well supplied and outnumbered force than for the better supplied, more numerous opponent. Once one side uses chemicals, the other side responds...
  17. Who Won the War of 1812?

    Everybody(almost). Brits got about 90% of what they wanted, the U.S. got about 70% of what they wanted, and the merchants got to keep their markets on both sides of the Atlantic. Only real losers were the poor bastards to got killed or crippled. Like always.
  18. Greatest General in History?

    Let’s look a bit at this list. WAY too American and way too publicity and movie driven 1. Yi-Sun-Shin – Yep. 2.Agrippa -Okay. Caesar’s strong Right Arm 3.Horatio Nelson – Absolutely. Brave, daring, and most of all, lucky 4. Duke of Wellington – The first Coalition builder on the list...
  19. Pacific War Redux

    The greater the range, the greater the loss of accuracy. That is part of the reason to close to 20K yards. The 15" gun on the Royal Sovereign also had some issues at max range, which would also be a reason for the action to open at around 11 miles. EDIT: Here is a quickie article on the logest...
  20. Pacific War Redux

    The actual Japanese mistake WAS to close. They could have stayed outside the range of the British ships at the start of the engagement and chosen when and how to fight, had the known what they were facing. Bad intel cost them dearly. The Long Lance was a spectacular weapon, within its envelope...
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