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Production of arms unaffected by loss of raw materials continued throughout the bombings. The classic example often used is ball bearings, whose production incr
by c_crank 3y ago
Production of arms unaffected by loss of raw materials continued throughout the bombings. The classic example often used is ball bearings, whose production increased up until 1945.
- qwytw 3y agoGermany also began fully mobilizing it's economy for war production between mid 1943 and 44 so I'm not sure it's that straightforward to measure. You might be right but I don't think we can handwave the possibility that Germany would have been able to produce more military materiel without if their population centers, infrastructure and factories were left completely undamaged.
- c_crank 3y agoThe allies were also investing their own resources into the bombing fleets. In the economy of war, an extra tank or artillery gun or fighter bomber produced far more valuable and clear results than another strategic bomber.
- qwytw 3y agoThe allies could and did massively outproduce Germany anyway. Wasn't getting the tanks for France and Belgium the main bottleneck throughout most of 1944? So if that equipment was to be sent to Russia investing those resources into (supposedly) less effective bombers might have been the more pragmatic long-term option (at the horrible cost of additional Russian lives).
- c_crank 3y agoThe war was fought the way it was with the goal of preserving American lives compared to Russian ones. If the Allies wanted to preserve Russian lives, the best way of doing so would have been to do the Normandy landings years earlier, instead of dragging their feet in Italy and the North African front. The primary motivator for them eventually invading France was to preserve France and a fraction of Germany from being under Soviet control.