Picture of the Day

[Butcher]

I wonder how many tanks could have been built for one Bismarck, Yamato or Prince of Wales. Considering that one aircraft could take those out, I don´t know how nobody could see their failure coming before the war.

[THeTA0123]

Battleships still played an important role. They did an large amount of work no other unit could furfill.

But

If you dont operate a gaint surface fleet, there is no need for an battleship. So in germanies case, no it would have been unneccesary.

Bismarck 35 000 tonnes. Lets say 30 000 of that is steel. That would have been worth one thousand Panzer IV's (in theory)

[Sander93]

I wonder how many tanks could have been built for one Bismarck, Yamato or Prince of Wales. Considering that one aircraft could take those out, I don´t know how nobody could see their failure coming before the war.

Well, battleships still played an important role in providing firesupport for landing troops or coastal bombardments. No other type of unit/vehicle could deliver such a devastating mix of firepower and accuracy.

And after all, it's always easy to say such things afterwards. Aviation, especially naval aviation made an incredible leap during the war no one could have predicted. Talking about the allied point of view though.

Would agree on the Bismarck, don't really know why the Germans did that. Without a proper fleet to  support it it was doomed from the start. Would've been better to use those resources on tanks/planes/submarines indeed.

[THeTA0123]

Germany/hitler never fully commited to an extensive surface fleet. Wich is one of the reasons of germanies defeat because you pretty much close an very important trading route.

Had Hitler not intervened with construction, Germany would have had 2 aircraft carriers at the start of WW2. Barely any workers were assigned to the project.

[VonMudra]

The German "Z-Plan" was meant to be finished by 1944 with a full surface fleet of useful (though modest) size.  The war's start nixed that.

[Ts4EVER]

What weapon is that?

[Seth_Soldier]

it's a wooden gun, for training !

[Born2Kill 007]

Churchill AVRE of 79th Armoured Division with fascine in position, Suffolk, 6 September 1943.
http://ww2today.com/

[Lupin]

This gif brings back some memories:

[Paythoss]

Map Le Havre 1944 ... Attacking British troops with support of Churchill tanks ... suddenly encountering this 

[THeTA0123]

photoshopped
nazi propaganda
 



London victory parade, And thee are looking upon one sweet churchill MKVII leading sherman tanks

[LuckyOne]

More like slowing down Sherman tanks...

SAS volunteers emplaning into an RAF Bristol Bombay transport aircraft prior to a practice jump while undergoing parachute training at Kabrit, Egypt. (IWM)

SAS had a rough beginning with operation Squatter, which was a complete failure, but eventually emerged to be an important asset in the fight against Rommel. You can read more about it here:
http://rommelsriposte.com/2013/08/29/first-operation-of-the-special-air-service-sas-squatter/

[PanzerKnacker]

[Paythoss]

Daily remaining about what tank was first with all-around sloped armor and diesel engine and why this isn't a T-34 

[Fuchs]

I love that tank.