On the 11th November 2018 I wrote a blogpost on Lessons from World War 1. On the 9th June 2019 I wrote a follow-up on Lessons from World War 2. This blogpost combines and slightly expands on those. Some points are duplicated, as they fell under more than one heading.
Don’t antagonise those who may otherwise be neutral or even sympathetic to you
While still Chancellor of Greater Germany, Otto von Bismarck had warned Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm II not to build up the Imperial German Navy too fast, as that would alarm the UK His warning was disregarded and the Kaiser later dismissed him. Sure enough, the UK, concerned with the buildup and Germany’s general bellicosity, in 1904 negotiated the Entente Cordiale with France, her oldest enemy, and launched HMS Dreadnought, the World’s first modern battleship, in 1906.
As part of the Schlieffen Plan, the German Army invaded Belgium to attack France from its northern border. Belgium’s neutrality had been guaranteed by the United Kingdom, which felt compelled to declare war on Germany and the rest of the Central Powers. The UK decision to go to war was a very narrow one. Other nations, including Portugal, also declared war on Germany over its violation of Belgian neutrality.
In 1917, things were going badly for the Allied Powers. Russia had signed an armistice with Germany and Austria Hungary, exiting the War and ceding large parts of territory to the Central Powers. And then came the Zimmermann Telegram.
The Zimmermann Telegram was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico in the event that the United States entered World War I against Germany. The British successfully decoded it. Arthur Zimmermann, the German Foreign Secretary responsible for the Telegram, admitted it was true. As a result of the Telegram, and of Germany reintroducing unrestricted submarine warfare and sinking US shipping, President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany in April 1917. This proved decisive in the War’s outcome.
In 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbour, the US entered World War 2. U-Boats were sent to attack shipping off the eastern US coast – Operation “Drumbeat”. Mexico initially remained neutral, but after two Mexican flagged tankers were torpedoed and sunk, Mexico declared war on the Axis Powers. The 201st Mexican Fighter Squadron, better known today by its self-given nickname Águilas Aztecas or “Aztec Eagles”, was attached to the US Fifth Air Force and fought during the liberation of the Philippines.
Consider anyone not a friend a potential enemy
The operative word here is “potential”. Many military officers in Sweden were hostile to the Nazis and actively helped the Allies, despite that nation’s ostensible neutrality. When the Bismarck sailed through the Öresund, Swedish Officers reported this to the UK Embassy. Proper security protocol, like sailing through at night blacked out, may have meant she would have escaped detection.
Militaries must be under civilian control
In Germany before World War 1, and Japan before World War 2, the Military had equal authority to the civil branches and politicians. As we now know, this led to recklessness and overambition.
Legally valid isn’t always right
On the 7th May 1915, the British Ocean Liner Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk off the West Coast of Ireland by U-20. The Lusitania had been carrying ammunition, and was thus a legitimate target, but her sinking was a disaster for Germany. The British turned her sinking into a propaganda victory. Among the dead were 128 US citizens, and when the US entered the World War 1 nearly two years later, “Remember the Lusitania” was a slogan used on recruitment posters.
U-20 should have surfaced, given the Lusitania’s passengers and crew time to get off, then sunk her.
Vindictiveness will come back to bite you
The Treaty of Versailles vindictively and unfairly held Germany responsible for World War One. The reparations levelled were horrific. One person who foresaw the consequences was Australian cartoonist William Henry Dyson. His famous cartoon “Peace and Future Cannon Fodder” warned that the cruelty of the Treaty would lead to another war. It proved prophetic. World war Two was in part triggered by the harshness of the Versailles Treaty. Had Hitler not been so incompetent, the whole World would have suffered.
Discrimination is counterproductive
The evils of the Holocaust still appal us today. Yet it was one of the key factors that led to the Nazis’ defeat. The diversion of resources to managing the Final Solution and the murdering of people who would have contributed greatly to the Wehrmacht was significant.
Prior to World War 2, a disproportionate number of Nobel Prizes had been won by German Jewish scientists. In January 1939, German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann of Germany, along with Lise Meitner of Austria and her nephew Otto Frisch split uranium atoms for the first time. But because many German physicists were Jewish and because Einstein, who devised the Theory of Relativity, was also Jewish, research into this field was curtailed. This was instrumental in Germany’s failure to develop a nuclear weapon.
Listen to the experts, especially when they are trying to dissuade you from a course of action
Before Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR), Count von Schulenberg, a former German Ambassador to the SSR, approached Adolf Hitler with a report, notifying him that many ordinary people in the SSR would view the Germans as Liberators and advising him to use that goodwill and not treat them as untermenschen. Hitler’s response was to put the report in a drawer and tell von Schulenberg “Thank you, that was very interesting.”
In the early stages of Barbarossa, the Germans were greeted as Liberators, just as von Schulenberg predicted. Hitler ignored his advice and treated the Soviets as subhuman. This swung them back to Stalin and perhaps more than anything else, cost Germany the War.
In 1941, the Japanese High Command, angered by US Sanctions, planned an attack on the US Navy Base at Pearl Harbour. Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto, tasked with planning the attack, realised the consequences would be disastrous. He had been the Naval Attaché at the Japanese Embassy in Washington in the 30s, and knew that the US would not run off whimpering but fight back hard. Unable to convince his superiors, he proceeded with the attack.
Matters unfolded exactly as Yamamoto warned. After months of success, the Japanese were halted at the Battle of the Coral Sea, then forced on the defensive after the Battle of Midway. It ended with the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japan’s unconditional surrender on September 1, 1945.
Overconfidence leads to tragedy
With the exception of Austria-Hungary, all major combatants were certain that World War One would take just a few months and end in victory for their side. Every nation underestimated both the capacity and capabilities of the nations opposing them. They also were sure of the security of the codes they were using, even though they had cracked a lot of their opponents’ codes.
Pessimism and despair are self-fulfilling prophecies
According to Geoffrey Regan’s book ‘Military Blunders’, in the late 19th Century after a string of defeats the Austro-Hungarian Military gave in to despair. This was the case for more than 40 years!
After Napoleon defeated the Prussian Army at the Battles of Jena and Auerstedt, and occupied Prussia, officers including Blücher, von Clausewitz, Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, and von Boyen instituted reforms that modernised Prussia and turned the Prussian Military into the most formidable one in Europe. Had the Austro-Hungarian Military, instead of giving up, looked to identify and fix its problems, Russia may have sued for peace well before it did.
Thoroughly vet anyone shortlisted for key posts
Alfred Redl was an Austrian military officer who from 1907 headed the Evidenzbureau, the counter-intelligence wing of the Austro-Hungarian Army. He was also a double agent for the Russians. Why he did is uncertain, but it is suspected that the Russians discovered he was homosexual and blackmailed him. The extent of what Redl disclosed is not fully known, but it is believed to have contributed significantly to the defeat of Austria-Hungary and by extension the Central Powers. Many historians now consider him not just a traitor, but an arch-traitor. Ironically, it was techniques and technologies that Redl himself introduced that in 1913 exposed him.
Redl was well paid for his intelligence, and lived a lifestyle far beyond what his official salary could cover. This should have been a warning sign that something was amiss. Proper vetting may have revealed his treason before too much harm was done.
Appoint competent subordinates at every level…
In 1939, a man named Alan Turing joined the UK Government Codes and Cipher School. He was neither a military man nor a civil servant, yet his contributions to breaking the Enigma and Lorenz ciphers used by Germany significantly shortened the War.
In the 1930s, Soviet Ruler Josef Stalin purged the Soviet Military of anyone who posed a threat to him, even potentially. Thousands of brilliant officers, including Marshall Tuchakevsky, inventor of the “Deep Battle”, were fired, jailed, or murdered. Political Commissars were appointed to oversee military units. After the start of Operation Barbarossa, Stalin replaced the Commissars and reinstated competent commanders. This played a large part in the Red Army’s return to success.
Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe and the Gestapo, is widely considered the second worst military commander of World War 2 after Adolf Hitler himself. Morbidly obese and addicted to morphine, he was more concerned with living in luxury than in running the Luftwaffe. His negligent attitude abetted the diminution of the Luftwaffe’s effectiveness. He boasted that the Luftwaffe would defeat Fighter Command with ease, but took no heed of intelligence reports about it. He repeatedly made promises that were impossible to fulfil, like that the Luftwaffe could prevent the Dunkirk evacuation, and that it could keep the German armies that were surrounded in Stalingrad supplied. In the former, most soldiers were evacuated during bad weather and night time when the Luftwaffe couldn’t fly. In the latter, anti-aircraft guns and Red Air Force fighters interdicted the transporters and the bombers which were impressed to help fly supplies in. Both the Bomber Wings and Transport Wings were crippled as a result.
In 1936, Ernst Udet, the highest scoring surviving German Ace of World War 1, was made Director of Research and Development in the newly reformed Luftwaffe. He was completely unfit for the role, having no taste for the bureaucracy involved nor the skills to monitor research. Things at T-Amt rapidly went bad. The stresses led to him becoming an alcoholic. This, coupled with being unfairly blamed for supply shortages and failures, led him to commit suicide.
…and then get out of their way
Hitler constantly involved himself with even minor decisions. Before Dunkirk, worried about the loss rate of German tanks, and not understanding that most were due to breakdowns and minor damage that could easily be repaired, he ordered that the advance be halted. When the advance restarted, rainfall had turned the terrain to mud, slowing the advance. The resulting evacuation saw over 330,000 men get to England.
At the start of the 1942 German Offensive, things were going very well for the Wehrmacht. The Red Army was pushed back and large amounts of Soviet territory were occupied. Then Hitler ordered that the focus be changed to Stalingrad. This nullified the Germans’ advantage and turned the focus away from the correct target – the Red Army.
When the Panther and Tiger tanks were being assessed, Hitler insisted that their armour be thickened and their main guns changed. This resulted in weight increases and problems with reliability for both, as well as production delays. The Panther’s reliability problems were eventually fixed, but not the Tiger’s.
After the Stalingrad disaster, the Russian Frost had been stabilised by a brilliant offensive by Erich von Manstein, perhaps the greatest strategist of World War 2. A bulge had formed in the front line around the town of Kursk. Operation Citadel, an envelopment of this bulge, was planned.
Hitler insisted that the attack be delayed so that Tiger and Panther tanks could be used in the attack. This proved disastrous. The Soviets noticed the German buildup and arranged seven defensive belts. The Panthers and Tigers played very little part in Citadel. They were not yet ready and most broke down before they could reach the front. When Citadel opened, it was halted before the third defensive belt and then pushed back by a massive counterattack. Had Citadel opened on the planned date, it may have succeeded. Hitler’s meddling guaranteed its failure.
Have clearly delineated lines of command and succession
On the 6th June 1944, Allied forces landed in Normandy. The German commanders soon realised that this was an invasion, and wanted to get the armoured reserves released for deployment. But because Hitler, the only person who could order their release was asleep, they were held back until it was too late to influence events. Had there been someone with the authority to take that decision, the early release of the reserves would have made D-Day much more difficult.
There must be clear lines of command and succession, so that if a decision maker is unavailable or incapacitated, crucial decisions can still be taken.
Secure all lines of communication
As mentioned above, many of the codes used by the belligerents in World War One were broken. In the case of the Zimmermann Telegram, the consequences changed history. Today, communication of strategic documents uses ultra secure channels and signals officers use techniques to prevent interception.
Secure your lines of supply
Winston Churchill once said that the only thing he feared during World War 2 were U-Boats. It was a justifiable fear. Losses to U-Boats were so heavy that at one point, the UK was down to just one month’s supplies. Only extensive counter measures prevented the U-Boats from winning.
In the Pacific, US submarine forces interdicted millions of tons of Japanese shipping. The Japanese never introduced the counter measures used by the Allies, and were unable to stop the destruction of their merchant fleet. By the end of the War, they had been reduced to using squalene from shark livers as a lubricant for aircraft engines.
During the German invasion of the Netherlands, patrolling Fokker D.XXI Fighter aircraft came across a flight of 55 Junkers 52s and attacked. The D.XXI was an obsolescent design made of fabric over metal tubing, with a fixed undercarriage and four rifle calibre machine guns. They still shot down 39 of the Junkers 52s. Unescorted transport aeroplanes were even then too vulnerable.
The Axis Powers had a huge advantage over the Allies in North Africa – they could ship troops, equipment and supplies directly across the Mediterranean from Italy to Libya. Between the ports, though, was Malta, under British control. Ships, submarines and bombers based in Malta interdicted so much of the Afrika Korps supplies that it changed the course of the campaign. A plan was made to invade Malta (Operation Hercules) but never carried out after air raids on Malta reduced its effectiveness to a point where it was wrongly viewed as no longer a threat. A huge mistake.
Use all available resources effectively
I have pointed out above the damage done by antisemitism and other forms of discrimination. In addition to being very racist, the Nazis were also sexist. While the Soviets had numerous women in their military, many of whom proved deadly and effective soldiers, and the UK had the Land Girls serving on farms, freeing up men to fight, German women were not given any part to play.
Both the Axis and Allied Powers made extensive use of captured enemy tanks. The Germans were the main practitioners of this, but British units had several Panthers serving. The 8th Army in North Africa also made good use of captured Italian Carro Armato M.13/40 tanks.
During the Battle of the Atlantic, one of the problems the convoys faced was Focke-Wulf 200 aeroplanes, which would radio their positions to U-Boat wolfpacks and sometimes even bomb the convoys. To counteract them, Catapult Armed Merchantmen were introduced. These were merchant vessels each fitted with a catapult on which was mounted an obsolete fighter, either an early model Hurricane or Spitfire. When a FW-200 was sighted, the fighter was launched to either chase it off or shoot it down. Job done, the fighter would then ditch in the ocean and its pilot would (hopefully) be picked up by the convoy.
Use what you have, not what you wish you had
In late 1937, Hitler ordered a special committee to research ways to build up Germany’s Navy. In early 1938, the committee replied that there were only two options: build a fleet of pocket battleships and U-Boats, which would be fast and viable, or to build a fleet of battleships and cruisers to match the Royal Navy, which would take a minimum of seven years. Hitler and Admiral Raeder, the head of the German Navy, chose the latter, known as Plan Z.
Less than two years later, the UK declared war on Germany after the invasion of Poland. In addition, the UK had the facilities to outbuild the Germans with regards to ships. Had Hitler and Raeder gone with the first option, the Battle of the Atlantic may have had a different outcome.
Plan Z would never have worked.
If quantity is impossible, use quality
The Treaty of Versailles limited the size of Germany’s Wehrmacht, and prohibited it from letting soldiers serve for less than twelve years to prevent them from building up a reserve of qualified non-serving officers. In response, Germany used rigourous selection criteria, and trained officers to do the position of two ranks above them. When Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles and enlarged the Wehrmacht, there was little to no dilution of skills, thanks to that.
Planning and preparation are vital to success
In addition to limiting the size of the Wehrmacht, the Treaty of Versailles placed restrictions on the types of weaponry Germany could own. No submarines, heavy artillery, or Air Force. Many glider clubs were set up in Germany in the inter-war years. Research into rocketry began. Also, a lot of German companies set up overseas subsidiaries and designed and built artillery, submarines and tanks outside of Germany.
The main reason the Wehrmacht was able to rearm so quickly was because the groundwork had already been laid.
Unity of effort is essential for success
Hitler was notorious for using Divide and Conquer. He would give two people jobs with similar terms of reference. The inevitable result was squabbling, duplication of effort, and turf wars. All inefficient. The biggest victim of this was the Kriegsmarine surface units.
Göring jealously guarded his control of the Luftwaffe and refused to supply more than a handful of aircraft to the Kreigsmarine. In contrast to that, the Royal Navy had both a Fleet Air Arm comprising aircraft launched from carriers and other ships, and a large Coastal Command of land based Patrol and Maritime Strike Wings.
Instead of cooperating, the Kriegsmarine Surface Fleet and U-Boats competed against each other. In Operation Berlin, the single most successful surface operation of WWII for the Kreigsmarine, the German Battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau entered the North Atlantic and attacked British convoys. On two occasions they approached convoys covered by Battleships, which led them to disengage. On another, they were pursued by the Royal Navy Battleships Rodney and King George V. They only escaped by sailing through a squall, which rendered the pursuing ships’ radar ineffective. In the case of the convoys, had a U-Boat been sent to attack the Battleships, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau could then have caused even more damage. Further, the two Battlecruisers could have lured the Rodney and King George V into a trap. This never happened, thanks to the aforementioned infighting.
The original plan for Operation Barbarossa was to focus on Moscow as the target. Hitler had set up an alternative planning team that recommended targeting Leningrad and the Caucasus. He dismissed the plans for Moscow. 16 days later, he changed his mind. By then it was too late. The Germans could not reach Moscow before the winter arrived.
I once read an article about the German program to develop a nuclear weapon. The article said there were two teams, each with a small amount of uranium. This doomed both teams to failure. Neither team had sufficient uranium to make a critical mass. Had the teams been combined and worked together, things may have been different.
Never take decisions in anger
By September 7th 1940, things were dire for the Royal Air Force’s Fighter Command. German attacks on airfields and equipment had caused such heavy losses that it was close to total collapse. And then the Blitz began.
In response to a night bombing raid on Berlin, triggered by a German bomber accidentally bombing London, Hitler furiously ordered the Luftwaffe to target British cities. Although this caused terrible casualties to the civilian population, it took the pressure off Fighter Command and allowed it to recover. Nine weeks later, it was in a position to defend Bomber Command raids on any attempted German invasion. Operation Sealion was rendered impossible.
When the situation changes, change tactics
At the start of World War 2, Fighter Command had introduced the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire, single engined single seater monoplanes with eight machine guns in their wings. Regulations decreed that the bullets had to converge at a distance of 650 yards ahead of the aircraft. This was ineffective as German aircraft were armoured and fitted with self sealing fuel tanks. Many pilots disobeyed regulations and had their guns aligned to converge at 300 yards, or even 200 yards. The extra force of the closer range often made the difference between damaging a German aeroplane, and bringing it down.
When the US Eighth Air Force started sending escort fighters to protect their bombers on raids into Germany, the Luftwaffe adopted a tactic called “Battering Ram”. Messerschmidt Bf-109s engaged the escort fighters while Focke-Wulf 190s attacked the bombers. Because the US fighters initially used close escort tactics this was successful. But then the escort fighters changed tactics, engaging the German fighters as they formated and even doing fighter sweeps over German airfields. This neutralised the Battering Ram tactic.
During the Battle of the Atlantic, a war gaming unit was set up under the Western Approaches Tactical Unit (WATU), staffed by members of the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS). The unit was able to deduce the Wolf Pack tactics used by German U-Boats and develop counter-tactics. When the U-Boats changed their tactics to use acoustic torpedoes to attack escorts, the Wrens were again able to devise new tactics, nullifying the U-Boats’ advantage.
Go as soon as you are ready, no later
This demands both an accurate assessment of your readiness and that of your opponents. Go too soon, and you are likely to fail due to unpreparedness. Go any later, and your opponents may be readier for you.
Hitler delayed Operation Citadel to enable Panther and Tiger tanks to be used. This resulted in the Soviets preparing their defences well enough to thwart the attack. The Battle of Kursk forced the Germans onto the defensive for good.
Hope for the best but plan for the worst, and consider both the best and worst case scenarios for any decision
Many strategic plans of World War One failed to accurately calculate the response and capabilities of the other side. The best example of this was the German Naval Plans.
The Plan assumed that any Royal Navy blockade would have to come close to the German coastline, making their ships easy targets for German Torpedo Boats and U-Boats. This was not the case. The Royal Navy had enough warships to conduct an extended blockade. It was able to interdict German shipping without ever entering German Coastal waters.
When Germany reintroduced unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917, it calculated that even if the USA declared war on Germany, it would not have enough merchantmen to keep the supply lines to France and the UK open. It forgot about German shipping. When the US declared war in April 1917, there were numerous German ships in US harbours. These were immediately seized and placed into service with the US. Because of this, the US had enough ships to keep supplies flowing to Britain and France.
Including Worst Case Scenarios is now best practise in military planning.
Hitler consistently gave in to overconfidence. After Dunkirk, the General Staff urged that planning for the invasion of Great Britain should start. Hitler, convinced that the UK would voluntarily submit, refused. By the time he realised that his terms had been rejected, the best opportunity for an invasion had gone.
Karl Student, the General of Paratroopers, had recommended an airborne assault to capture a port. This would have meant that instead of the barges, the Germans could use Destroyers, Liners and Cargo ships to transport troops and equipment across. The Germans had only a very small window of five to six weeks after Dunkirk. They needed to land before the Royal Air Force, Army and Navy, recovered from the French and Norwegian campaigns.
Hitler, not without justification, believed that Barbarossa would be an easy victory. He had said of the SSR “Kick in the door and the whole house will collapse.” This overconfidence would eventually sink him.
Operation Barbarossa had been delayed by several weeks due to the Germans having to help out the Italians, thanks to their Grecian misadventure. This delay concerned several Generals, who feared that winter might arrive before Barbarossa succeeded. Hitler ignored this and refused to let factories switch to manufacturing winter gear. As a result, a huge number of German troops suffered frostbite and other injuries from the cold.
Hitler also shut down the research units and suspended the building of the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin. The latter might have had an impact on the Battle of the Atlantic. The former had a delayed effect, but it was massive. Game changing technologies and designs were delayed or never delivered. When the Germans captured a cavity magnetron valve, they did not realise its significance until 1944, which was then too late. Had they realised that the Allies possessed centimetric radar, they would have been able to introduce counter measures, or maybe even create it too.
Do not let up until the goal has been reached
In June 1940, The UK was in a perilous position. Although the Dunkirk evacuation had rescued over 330,000 soldiers, the situation were still bad. The Royal Navy had lost a lot of ships in the Norwegian Campaign, the Royal Air Force had lost large numbers of aeroplanes and a number of pilots, and the British Expeditionary Force had lost all its tanks, artillery, and transport vehicles. It was in no position to repel an invasion.
The German General Staff recommended the immediate execution of Sealion, the operation to invade the UK, before it was able to recover. But Hitler, convinced that the UK would voluntarily submit, refused. By the time he realised that it wouldn’t, the window of opportunity had closed.
Had Hitler followed the advice of the General Staff and executed Sealion within six weeks of Dunkirk, the UK would almost certainly have been conquered.
Failures, mistakes and setbacks are inevitable, so learn from them
On August 19th 1942, Allied forces launched a raid on the French port of Dieppe as a trial run for a full scale invasion. That the operation is now better known as the “Dieppe Disaster” says everything. Over 100 aeroplanes and 30 ships, and almost 4000 troops were lost. Vital lessons were learnt and new equipment like “Hobart’s Funnies” was introduced, which made the difference between success and failure at D-Day.
Properly test all equipment
In 1942, US submariners returning from patrol complained that their torpedoes were running too deep and sailing underneath Japanese ships. The US Navy’s Bureau of Ordnance sneeringly accused them of blaming their bad aim on the torpedoes. In response, the submariners set up tests where disarmed torpedoes were launched at fishing nets. The torpedoes were indeed running too deep. The Bureau of Ordnance dismissed these tests. Eventually, the Navy ordered the Bureau to properly test the torpedoes under realistic conditions.
Several weeks later a very embarrassed Bureau of Ordnance admitted the submariners were right and issued a series of fixes.
At the start of the War, German torpedoes frequently failed to detonate on impact. This problem was soon fixed.
Research and technology are crucial to success
As I mentioned before, an overconfident Hitler ordered the closing down of research offices in 1940. This had several effects.
The Focke-Wulf 190 was the best German single engined single seat fighter of the War, but it had a weakness. Above 6000m, its performance dropped rapidly. To fix this, two new models (the “B” with nitrous oxide boost and the “C” with a DB603 and turbocharger) were introduced. Both failed due to problems with, among other things, their pressure cabins. Had the research offices been kept running, these issues may have been fixed.
The most produced fighter in history was the Messerschmidt Bf109. By 1943 it was obsolescent and outclassed on all fronts. Two successors (the ME Bf209 and ME Bf309) had been designed, but neither left the prototype stage. The Bf109 would be developed into the excellent Model K, but even that was no match for Allied fighters by the end of the War.
The World’s first jet fighter to see combat was the Messerschmidt-262. This faced numerous delays and only reached operational service in 1944. Some of these were due to Hitler’s insistence that a bomber version be made, but there were also problems with the engines. Had the research facilities been available, they may have been able to fix the problems sooner.
Properly assess new technologies
World War One saw the introduction or mass use of technologies that hadn’t been used in those ways before. Submarines, machine guns, poison gas, aeroplanes and tanks were a few of these new technologies.
On the 22nd September 1914, German submarine U-9 sank three armoured cruisers ((HMS Aboukir, HMS Hogue, and HMS Cressy). Prior to that, submarines had largely been viewed as toys. At the outbreak of World War One, Germany had 48 submarines. Unrestricted submarine warfare warfare was used by Germany during several periods in the War. The U-19 Class, the first practical class of German submarines, had been introduced in 1912. Had the U-Boats been properly assessed and operational plans introduced for their use before World War One, they may have succeeded in cutting British supply lines.
The 15th September 1916 saw the first use of tanks in combat. Early tanks were unreliable, slow, unwieldy, and still quite vulnerable. They were nevertheless quite effective. Learning from experience, later designs improved reliability, protection and firepower. New tactics were introduced to take advantage of their attributes.
J. F. C. Fuller compiled Plan 1919. It would have used massed tank assaults to penetrate the German lines and advance into their rear area to destroy headquarters, supply bases and lines of communication, and render them unable to regroup or counterattack.
The Germans initially responded by focussing on anti tank weapons and largely ignored tanks. Eventually, they fielded their own design, the A7V. But by the time it entered service the War was almost over, and only 20 were produced, in contrast to literally thousands of British Tanks Marks 1 through 6. The Germans also made use of captured Allied tanks.
Allow adequate time for development
Panther and Tiger tanks, and the early jet aeroplanes, could have been very successful, had they been allowed adequate time to develop.
How technologies are used is also vital
Radar was vital to Fighter Command’s eventual success in the Battle of Britain. Yet by then it was well known. What was innovative about Fighter Command’s radar was the way it was used. Every single radar station in the UK was linked to Fighter Command Headquarters at Bentley Priory. As soon as a radar contact occurred, the information was transmitted to the Control Room. In this way, Fighter Command had an accurate picture of the incoming enemy aircraft and the forces at its disposal.
The Messerschmidt-163 rocket powered fighter was a technological marvel capable of speeds close to 1000 km/h. It was also a complete failure in its intended role as a point defence fighter. Take off and climb to altitude rapidly, attack enemy bombers, then return to base to refuel and rearm.
The ME-163 was fuelled by a mix of two substances, one of which was concentrated hydrogen peroxide. This was so reactive that numerous 163’s were lost to explosions on the ground. There was only enough fuel for eight minutes of flight, after which the aircraft had to glide back to base. This return stage made it very vulnerable to attacks by Allied escort fighters. Finally, its great speed was too great – it could not keep Allied bombers in its sights for long enough to rip off a burst capable of bringing them down. Eventually, the ME-163s were fitted with recoilless mortars activated by a photoelectric cell that would trigger when the shadow of an aircraft overhead fell on it. Despite this, ME-163s only scored nine confirmed kills.
New technology can overturn well established concepts
From 1931 to 1935, Fort Eben-Emael was built alongside the Albert Canal to defend against a German attack through the neutral Netherlands. It was believed to be impregnable. Shortly before 05:30 on the morning of 10 May 1940, German Paratroopers in DFS 230 gliders landed on the fort and several nearby bridges. Group Granite, the unit tasked with capturing Eben-Emael, disabled the fort’s gun cupolas and casemates with shaped charges, then used explosives and flamethrowers to seal any entries and exits they found to trap the fort’s garrison inside.
It had been intended for the 51st Engineering Battalion to relieve Group Granite within a few hours, but unexpected resistance delayed its arrival until May 11. After a final assault by the Battalion supported by an infantry regiment, the fort surrendered at 12:30.
A fortress intended to significantly delay a German advance had been disabled within hours and captured in less than two days. Permanent fortified positions were no longer cost effective or even effective.
In 1906, HMS Dreadnought, the World’s first modern battleship, was launched. By the start of World War II, many nations had battleships and battlecruisers as part of their fleet, especially the UK But after World War II, most of the surviving big gun warships were scrapped. HMS Vanguard was the last battleship ever constructed and was commissioned shortly after World War II ended, but was decommissioned in 1960 and scrapped.
Even in World War I, submarines and mines had constrained battlecruisers and battleships. In World War II, aeroplanes were a further danger, made even greater by the guided anti-ship missiles and glide bombs introduced by Germany. Most battlecruisers and battleships damaged or sunk during World War II were as the result of air attack.
In 1937, Japan started work on the Yamato Class battleships. At 72,000 tons fully loaded, they were the biggest and most expensive battleships ever made. Two (the Yamato and Musashi) were launched, with the third (Shinano) converted to an aircraft carrier. Despite bristling with anti aircraft artillery, Musashi and Yamato were both sunk by US carrier aircraft.
The purpose of the battleship was to inflict heavy damage on enemy shipping at long range. By the end of World War II they were too expensive and vulnerable, and missile launching submarines and aeroplanes could do the job more cheaply and effectively, and at much lower risk to themselves.
Use proper metrics and data, not guesswork, and verify they’re accurate
In 1917, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe was First Sea Lord. He refused to institute convoys to protect merchant shipping, believing that since 5,000 ships entered and left British ports, such a system would be untenable.
Commander Reginald Henderson proved Jellicoe’s assumption wrong. There were fewer than 150 ocean going sailings a week. He also confirmed that escorted vessels suffered very few casualties compared to those without escorts. But when he presented his evidence to Jellicoe, he was ignored. Henderson eventually had to appeal to then British Prime Minister David Lloyd George to get a convoy system introduced, in the face of Jellicoe’s objections. Results were soon obvious. Sinkings of merchantmen declined rapidly. It is possible that the introduction of convoys tipped things back to the Allies and won the War.
During World War 2, much was made of the effectiveness of Strategic Bombing. Post war, a very different picture emerged. German industrial output had increased throughout the War. Key industries were disguised, hidden, or distributed to reduce the effectiveness of bombing.
After the Battle of Britain, it was decided that Fighter Command would go on the offensive. For several years, RAF Fighters engaged in cross channel sweeps, entering occupied France and attacking German aircraft flying from airbases there. They were viewed as a success, with 739 German aircraft destroyed for a loss of over 600 fighters.
At the war’s end, the Luftwaffe’s archives revealed that the sweeps had not merely been ineffective, but counterproductive. Only 135 German aeroplanes, not the 739 claimed, had been lost. The exchange rate had favoured the Germans by over 4 to 1.
Target chokepoints
Strategic bombing only had an effect when it targeted German refineries. The Germans were always short of oil, and had to rely on Oil from Coal processes. When the refineries were targeted, things collapsed fast.
Do not engage in the Sunk Costs fallacy
The Sunk Costs Fallacy, also known as “throwing good money after bad”, occurs when we expend more resources in an ultimately futile attempt to recover losses. It includes reinforcing failure and Continuation Bias.
Reinforcing failure
The Nazis followed a system of belief based on the occult. One of its aspects was that will was all important.
At El Alamein, Stalingrad and Normandy, Hitler ordered the German forces to stand firm instead of retreating to survive or reach more defensible positions. The first led to the almost complete destruction of the Afrika Korps. The second led to an entire army falling to the Red Army. The third led to the hastening of VE Day.
Continuation Bias
Continuation Bias occurs when we continue with a plan after it is clear it is no longer valid.
Helmut von Moltke the Younger was Chief of the Great German General Staff at the outbreak of World War 1. The Schlieffen Plan guided Germany’s grand strategy during World War 1. Devised in 1905-6, by 1914 its premises were out of date. But von Moltke was forced to use the original plan as a basis.
Plans must regularly revised and updated to accommodate changes in the situation. Also, to completely discard a plan, either in part or in whole, even during its implementation, must always be an option.
Good ideas are good, regardless of origin
John Fuller was a British Major General and proponent of mechanised warfare. His ideas were studied by German military theorists like Heinz Guderian, and adopted into Blitzkrieg.
On the 19th December 1941, Italian Navy Divers attacked Alexandria Harbour, placing mines beneath the Battleships HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth. Neither Battleship was sunk, but both were disabled for a number of months. In May and June 1942, several Japanese midget submarines attacked shipping in Sydney and Newcastle Harbours. Noticing how successful the attacks had been, the UK introduced the X-Class midget submarines. In September 1943, two X-Craft laid mines on the seabed under the German Battleship Tirpitz. The resulting detonations shook the Tirpitz‘s steam turbines out of their beds, crippling her for months, although they failed to sink her.
Adapt and refine, but don’t reinvent, the wheel
The Lewis Light Machine Gun was one of the best small arms of World War 1. Germany even set up a factory to convert captured Lewis guns to fire the standard German military cartridge.
Blitzkrieg was based on the ideas of two British Officers. When the Wehrmacht adopted the doctrine, they incorporated air support into it, among other things.
The Red Army adopted Blitzkrieg, including the combined/all arms aspects, but didn’t have troop transports. Instead, they used “tank rider” battalions. These were infantry units who literally rode into battle on the backs of tanks.
Seemingly foolish ideas can be highly effective
I mentioned “Hobart’s Funnies” above. To enable the D-Day landings to succeed, Major General Sir Percy Hobart was tasked with leading a team to create specialist vehicles to handle difficulties and obstacles on the Normandy beaches.
Using the Sherman and Churchill tanks as a basis, they created among other designs: a flail tank (the “Crab”) to explode mines harmlessly; a flamethrower tank (the “Crocodile”) to take out emplacements; a bomb launcher (the “Petard” or “Flying Dustbin”) to destroy hardpoints and walls; an emplaced charge carrier (the “Double Onion” or “Goat”) to demolish walls; a Bobbin tank (the “Carpetlayer”) to lay down a canvas road for wheeled vehicles to drive up and off the beach; an assault bridge carrier; and the Duplex Drive – a tank with propellers and a canvas housing that could be launched from a ship several miles off shore and sail to the beach. Where Hobart’s Funnies were used, casualties were lighter than beaches where they weren’t.
During the campaign in North Africa, Jock Lewis and David Stirling, two British officers, approached their superiors with a seemingly absurd idea – a long range raiding and strike force to attack targets far behind enemy lines. Their superiors consented. To hide the role of the unit, it was named the Special Air Service (SAS). By the end of the War, it was one of the most effective units in history, with an effect out of all proportion to its size.
Simpler is typically better
The Germans produced many types of self-propelled artillery and assault guns during World War 2. These included the Hetzer and Marder, on the Czechoslovakian 38 tank chassis; the Sturmgeschutz III, using the Panzer III chassis; the Sturmgeschutz and Jagdpanzer IV with the Panzer IV chassis; the Geschutzwagen III/IV, which combined the Panzer III and IV chassis; the Jadgpanther using the Panther’s chassis; the Jagdtiger that used the Tiger tank chassis; and the Elefant (Elephant).
While all but the last two were effective, the plethora of different chassis complicated manufacture, training, and maintenance. By contrast, the Red Army settled on two tank designs (the T-34 and KV, which was developed into the JS) and also used them as the basis for the SU and JSU self-propelled gun carriages. More T-34’s were made than any other tank in World War 2, and more than any other tank except the T-54/55, which was developed from the T-34. The US took a similar approach with the M4 Sherman and produced nearly 60,000, along with other combat vehicles using its chassis.
Do not let personal or political factors outweigh professional ones
In 1911, Colonel Isaac Lewis designed the light machine gun that bears his name. Due to political differences between Lewis and General William Crozier, the chief of the Ordnance Department, the US Army did not adopt the Lewis gun. Lewis moved to Belgium in 1913 and set up shop. In 1914, the Birmingham Small Arms Company acquired a licence to make Lewis guns, and in 1915, the UK adopted it for service.
The Lewis gun was one of the outstanding small arms of World War 1 with over 150,000 made. The Germans even had a factory to convert captured Lewis guns to fire the standard German 7.92mm cartridge. Yet US animosity persisted. The army even took Lewis guns away from US Marines in France and replaced them with Chauchat LMG’s.
Erhard Milch was the Luftwaffe’s Head of Procurement during World War 2. He was known as an abrasive individual who annoyed a lot of people in the German aircraft industry. He viewed Ernst Heinkel as a bomber manufacturer. As a result, the Heinkel-219 night fighter, the only non-jet aeroplane able to catch the de Havilland Mosquito, was never mass produced and fewer than 300 were made. Heinkel was a pioneer of jet engines, but was refused a contract to develop them. The Heinkel-280, the first jet fighter to fly, was cancelled in favour of the Messerschmidt-262 which ran into development problems and was delayed. Had development of the He-280’s engines continued, Germany would likely have had jet fighters by 1942, just when US air raids were starting.
Milch also had a fixation on Multi Role Combat Aircraft. This led to absurdities like demanding the Heinkel-177 heavy strategic bomber be capable of dive bombing, a ludicrous and unworkable requirement that caused endless problems for it.
Avoid magical and wishful thinking
The Nazis followed a system of belief based on the occult. One of its aspects was that will was all important. This is magical thinking.
At El Alamein, Stalingrad and Normandy, Hitler ordered the German forces to stand firm instead of retreating to survive or reach more defensible positions. The first led to the almost complete destruction of the Afrika Korps. The second led to an entire army falling to the Red Army. The third led to the hastening of VE Day.
In 1944, a plan was drafted that it was hoped would shorten the course of the War in Europe. Paratroopers would land near and take Arnhem, then ground forces would attack and link up. The operation, given the code name “Market Garden”, is better known today with the phrase “a bridge too far”.
Unbeknownst to the Allied commanders, the German forces around Arnhem comprised two SS Armoured Divisions. An intelligence officer noticed that the forces were stronger than expected, but when he tried to push the issue he was suspended. The operation proceeded, and ended in disaster, with almost 80% of the airborne forces killed, wounded, captured, or missing.
Identify your strengths and play to them as much as possible
Russia vs. Germany in a war of attrition. ‘nuff sed.
I hope you found these useful
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