[TML] Molding Ships

[Garry Ward]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Ramsay" <quakers_united at yahoo.com.au>
To: "The Traveller Mailing List" <tml at travellercentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 11:39 AM
Subject: Re: [TML] Molding Ships


> Charles Prevatte wrote:
>> Think about operation Market Garden.  What would a dozen Huey's gunships
>> with gatlin guns have done to hold the "bridge to far"?  Each helecopter
>> could have brought in 12 new soilders and equipment per trip and provided
>> close air support on the way out.  Add to this that they could have 
>> deployed
>> combat engineers behind the enemy to take out bridges that allowed
>> reinforcement to reach the bridge and overwhelm the partroopers trying to
>> hold it.
>
> If they had enough transport aircraft Market Garden would have been a
> lot closer to success. The main issue was lack of momentum early in the
> battle due to low numbers of troops (of course if the game _Close
> Combat: A bridge to far_ is to be believed, I can hold off whole
> companies with two MG-42's). But I don't think a dozen helo's would cut 
> it.
>
> In a situation like WWII when you generally need things *now*, would it
> be worthwhile to make high tech boondoggles, or increase the manufacture
> of already proven (though sub-par) equipment? Especially when plain bad
> luck (rifle fire, engine failure etc) could take out a rare high tech
> toy.  The Soviets won WWII with masses of cheap weapons and simplistic
> tactics. Making the T-34/85 a few years earlier would achieve more then
> a few super tanks.
>
> The best use of high tech to improve WWII would be satellites (or high
> orbit UAV's)  and networked logistics. Market Garden failure was down to
> poor logistics.
>
Poor logistics tends to be one of the key elements in failure of any 
military operation. As critical as the actual combat troops are to success, 
the inability to
a) get them to where they need to be
b) with enough supplies and ammo
c) the continued ability to repeat a & b

tend to make for failures.

The early successes in WWII were due in a large part to the logistics 
advantage of the new mechanized warfare over the previous horse/wagon/foot 
methods.

That advantage was lost once the Allies began to use the same techniques and 
developed the ability to perform those logistical tasks in larger quantity 
and over a wider area.

Garry
> -- 
> the_raptor
> "As for sniping... Dude, I was a freaking sniper!
> It's what I do!" - Doug Berry
>
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