I just read an interesting book about weather and world war 2. Weather affected operations much more than I thought. Consider this; Eastern Front D-Day Battle of the Buldge These are the obvious ones. Any thoughts?
There's nowt the British like more than discussing the weather. Nice thread! Currently reading a good book on Wallis' bombs, and just covered the Tirpitz raid. The weather was absolutely central to any bombing raid. Until Gee came into effect if a target could not be seen, forget it. bring your bombs back or dump them in the sea, cos you ain't hitting anything. I don't really know about the land war. Apart from rain and snow, what other problems did they face?
The follow up after El Alamein was slowed by a rain storm. For a while it looked like the the British would cut off Rommel's army but a sudden rain storm on 6th November turned the desert into a quagmire and the chasing army was slowed down. Rommel, now with only twenty tanks left, managed to get to Sollum on the Egypt-Libya border
The weather is a major factor in almost all operations. From the obvious 'if there is colud cover there in no air cover' and 'too rough for a sea landing' to the not so obvious need for planning water supplies, length of daylight restricting movment, wind diresction effecting smoke and restricting vision and it's no good advancing into wind in heavy rain as they can shoot at you when you can't see them. The British have RAF forward Met men (RAF) and info gathered by the artillery. The Americans have complete units dedicated to gathering info and forcasting the weather wherever they go.
There's nowt the British like more than discussing the weather. Nice thread! Currently reading a good book on Wallis' bombs, and just covered the Tirpitz raid. The weather was absolutely central to any bombing raid. Until Gee came into effect if a target could not be seen, forget it. bring your bombs back or dump them in the sea, cos you ain't hitting anything. I don't really know about the land war. Apart from rain and snow, what other problems did they face? The land war ie battle of the buldge was only possible because the weather eliminated allied air power. The winter in Russia is also greatly detailed.
That's an interesting "contraption" onthe front of the jeep - doen't look like the usual wire cutter. Any ideas?
Just looks like a slightly bent wire cutter/catcher to me. The more I read the more I realise that one of the most remarkable achievements of any massed army in any period was the very act of staying alive in the field. Not just going to battle but doing it having spent weeks, months, or even years, night and day, exposed to the elements. I've slept in the odd rural ditch in my time and it's hard enough rolling a fag & lighting a fire in the morning, let alone setting out to 'kill or be killed'.
