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Yup. Like the decision to send the engineers and technicians working on jet engines to join the infantry in late 1940, because they'd be needed for the war agai

by cstross 13y ago

Yup. Like the decision to send the engineers and technicians working on jet engines to join the infantry in late 1940, because they'd be needed for the war against the Soviet Union and jet engines wouldn't be required in the short term anyway(!) -- a costly mistake which set them until the surviving skilled technicians could be hastily recalled. Or Hitler's demand for a jet bomber which forced Messerschmitt to hang bomb racks on the Me-262, delaying their first operational jet fighter for 18-24 months. And some of the stuff they did pursue was absolutely barking. Like the Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1000_Ratte http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1000_Ratte TL:DR; the popular belief in the Nazi regime's inherent technological brilliance is a little misplaced.

rdtsc 13y ago
I take some deal of comfort knowing that an evil and criminal regime was also stupid and irrational. It is kind of like that bank robber that hands in the note to the clerk and the note is a his bank receipt with his address on the bank. It is good that they sent rocket scientists to die in the infantry. Good that they spent resources building that stupid tank. Good that they didn't take too much interest in the nuclear bomb.
- stcredzero 13y ago
  I take some deal of comfort knowing that an evil and criminal regime was also stupid and irrational. Apparently, the Nazi regime was into teutonic myth based occult woo, but I have no idea if that's more a modern distortion than an accurate portrayal. I wonder if society in the US is any more rational. We gave up on Thorium so we could build bombs faster. The authorities sell us wars with the exact ease and facility that Herman Goering spoke about. Supposedly, GM started building cars larger in the post-war decades just so engineering managers could feel more prestigious. (Prestige came with volume of one's subsystem, apparently.)
ericd 13y ago
Wow, they couldn't even get the Maus to work right, could they?
stcredzero 13y ago
Or Hitler's demand for a jet bomber which forced Messerschmitt to hang bomb racks on the Me-262 Apparently, their insistence that new types be capable of dive bombing delayed and compromised many new designs, including the jet powered Arado bomber. It's interesting to note that the Nazis engaged in typical "Pointy Haired Boss" behavior. (Of course, the US did the same with the Space Shuttle and is now doing the same with the Senate Launch System.)

by cstross 13y ago

rdtsc 13y ago

I take some deal of comfort knowing that an evil and criminal regime was also stupid and irrational. It is kind of like that bank robber that hands in the note to the clerk and the note is a his bank receipt with his address on the bank. It is good that they sent rocket scientists to die in the infantry. Good that they spent resources building that stupid tank. Good that they didn't take too much interest in the nuclear bomb.

stcredzero 13y ago
I take some deal of comfort knowing that an evil and criminal regime was also stupid and irrational. Apparently, the Nazi regime was into teutonic myth based occult woo, but I have no idea if that's more a modern distortion than an accurate portrayal. I wonder if society in the US is any more rational. We gave up on Thorium so we could build bombs faster. The authorities sell us wars with the exact ease and facility that Herman Goering spoke about. Supposedly, GM started building cars larger in the post-war decades just so engineering managers could feel more prestigious. (Prestige came with volume of one's subsystem, apparently.)

ericd 13y ago

Wow, they couldn't even get the Maus to work right, could they?

stcredzero 13y ago

Or Hitler's demand for a jet bomber which forced Messerschmitt to hang bomb racks on the Me-262 Apparently, their insistence that new types be capable of dive bombing delayed and compromised many new designs, including the jet powered Arado bomber. It's interesting to note that the Nazis engaged in typical "Pointy Haired Boss" behavior. (Of course, the US did the same with the Space Shuttle and is now doing the same with the Senate Launch System.)