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How the War for the World was Won.

/ Newsgroups > soc.history.war.world-war-ii /
/ and alt.religion.apologetics and alt.philosophy /
/ Forum > TheologyOnline: Philosophy ~ Religion / 4Nov02 /
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 It has been estimated that over the course of the four or so
years of World War Two that the Luftwaffe lost some 100,000
planes. And that is just too damn many planes and pilots to
lose! That's a loss that in and of itself fatally crippled the
Nazi war-machine. Now the curious thing about the Second World
War was the primary importance of air-power in deciding the
fate of the various nations, and ultimately the world. Thus it
was the carrier-war in the Pacific that allowed the Allies to
skip and hop their way right up to Japan's front door.
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 And in Europe the war was actually decided in the fall of
1940 during the Battle of Britain, when the only people
opposing the might of a victorious Germany were the multi-
national RAF fighter-pilots in their Hurricanes and Spitfires.
At one point during the ongoing air-war over south England,
it seemed that the Luftwaffe (despite the enormous logistical
difficulties involved in the cross-channel assault) was
actually on the verge of defeating the RAF by way of sheer
attrition alone! If Hitler had simply left the Luftwaffe alone
they would certainly have succeeded in winning the Battle of
Britain; and the entire course of the international conflict
would then have been *very* different from the way that we
now know it to be.
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 Instead, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to attack London
(in retaliation for the night bombing of Berlin); and that
tactically (and strategically) pointless campaign not only
saved the RAF from certain destruction, but also allowed it to
grow stronger and stronger until finally no German war-plane
even dared to cross the Channel. That was the beginning of the
end for the Luftwaffe (and Germany), for once the American
Mustangs and Thunderbolts joined the RAF over European skies,
they proceeded to demolish the Luftwaffe one plane at a time
until it was no longer an effective military force. And once
the European skies belonged to the Allies, it was only a
matter of time before all the rest of Europe followed suit.
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 Now most people usually think of the grunt with his rifle as
the hero that defeated the enemy, and won the Great War, but
this is not so. The true hero of the Second World War was a
half man, half machine hybrid; a flying weapons-platform with
more firepower than any rifleman could possibly muster. With
its remarkable speed and range this man-machine hybrid could
attack targets on the ground, on the seas, and in the air.
And yet, oddly enough, few people during those crucial years
really appreciated the full significance of the fighter plane
(or the carriers that carried them). Not until it was too late,
I mean. Not until the newer planes outclassed the Zero and the
Me109 (once the terror of the skies).
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 But the really fascinating thing about all this is that while
the Allies had the best fighters, the Axis had the best pilots,
such that the greatest air-warriors of the Second World War
are mostly the German and Japanese Aces. But in a world-wide
conflict it is the numbers that ultimately matter most; not
the quality or spirit of the men involved!
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 - a virtual-fighter-pilot/cyber-prophet hybrid - textman ;>
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P.S. *Faith Hill!* ... God's best argument for monogamy.
x

textman