Wed, Jan 6, 2016
During World War Two Nazi tank tactics were effective in the field. But it's industrial production was inefficient until mass production methods were introduced in 1942. Tank production was considerably higher in1943 and 1944 but by then tank factories were subject to bombing, vehicles were subject to sabotage by slave laborers and new generation tanks were far more expensive. So Germany could not produce the number of competitive tanks its needed.
Tue, May 10, 2016
The Arado Ar 234 was a 1940 design intended as a jet powered reconnaissance aircraft. But the jet engines were not available until 1943 and by then there was interest in the plane as a bomber. Several variants of the generally good airplane were produced. But the engines proved unreliable due to poor quality fuel and poor raw materials in the parts so only about 250 planes were produced.
Tue, Apr 6, 2021
Bernhard sorts through the tremendous volume of documentation about the Waffen-SS, much of it biased, to try to establish the truth about this organization that expanded 23 fold during a period of limited resources and so, was far from static or uniform during is existence from 1939 to 1945.
Tue, Oct 19, 2021
Berhard reviews Rommel's reports immediately following D-Day to understand why the German military collapsed. Rommel concluded that the Allies had substantially superior forces in quality and quantity and was readily able to resupply whereas the Germans struggled due to Allies aerial harassment of their supply lines. Berhard offers additional evidence unknown to Rommel that indicates he was substantially correct.
Tue, Nov 15, 2022
Bernhard is wondering why Russia has not committed any T-80 tanks to the Ukraine conflict. His best guess is they offer little advantage over older tanks in the type of fighting in Ukraine and they are much more expensive to operate. Also over 25% of Russia's T-80 inventory seems to be missing.