The single most influential weapon of the war.

Is that an answer to former Guest-poster (me actually, forgot to login).

 

Yes it is. I didn't know you could post without logging in? I haven't succesfully done that in months.

 

Well, somehow I managed to do it. But just once.

And back to topic:

Well, maybe that cargo truck isn't single most important "weapon", it still had very important role during WW2. How bad supplyproblem allied might had if there was no 2½ ton truck in France after Normandy? According to some documentary film I saw recently, western allies needed to transport 10000-12000 tons of supply every day from French coast to attacking frontline troops without working railroadnetwork. And large amount of those supplies were delivered by 2½ ton trucks.

 

Yes, but a single type of truck - there could have been another, and still, they didn't exactly do miracles. Just their job, their important part in the larger picture. By the way they didn't actually influence any doctrine, design or course of events in a direct sense, they just aided others in doing that. Indirect importance is their place to shine.

 

Tactical bombers is a good one - though they were not a WW2 invention - they were designed, built & used in WW1.

Radar, yes.
How did I forget that!

Battle of Britain.
Nightfighters.
Bomber Command.
ASW.

How many warplanes now fly without radar?

 

Again, I ask myself: did Simon mean 'of' the war or 'on' the war? The radar surely was an influential weapon first used during WW2 but becoming much more widely used and needed later. It wasn't just that important during the war as to call it the most influential 'on' the war.

 

Well, on the war in the Western ETO, and later in the Pacific, yes, it was hugely influential!

 

Certainly RADAR was of immense importance in WW2 as Ricky states but I would not consider it the most important by any means.

Come to think of it, I would put it as second to the A-Bomb in importance.

These were two huge developments of the period. All others of the period shrink to insignificance when compared with the two technologies.

:smok:

 

Why?

 

Why what?

 

Why is RADAR second to the A bomb? The A bomb shortened the war RADAR altered the course.

 

I still don't think, even though it was a vast technological improvement, that it really changed that much to the course of the war. It helped, certainly, but it never determined.

Then it can be said that no technology ever really did. Except for the A bomb.

 

The a bomb never determined the war just the lenght.

 

GP has a point. My point on both the A Bomb and Radar is the far reaching effects they have both had during, and after WW2.

This is why these items were and are important; because they have endured the war and progressed. I can see why GP would think RADAR is number 1 on the list, and perhaps he is correct. My opinion is that the A-Bomb was more significant.

:smok:

 

I don't think there is any greater influence anything could have on a war than to end it. Why isn't this an influence? It determined when the war ended, it determined that there would be no millions of American and Japanese lives spent in an invasion of Nippon itself.

 

It is an influence but just (IMHO) not the greatest.

Without the A bomb the outcome would probably still have been an allied victory.

Without RADAR Britain would probably have been defeated, and sued for peace. This in turn could have caused Hitler to re-instate king Edward to the throne, maybe even encouraging the rest of the British Empire to accept him.

Not the definate route but a possiblilty.

 

Now I agree that Britain's very survival was hanging by a wire, but I don't think that the entire wire was actually RaDAR. The RAF still could have done some major damage to the Luftwaffe as their problem was an insufficient air combat doctrine and relatively hard-to-manoeuvre aircraft. And for the last time, the Germans didn't have an amphibious assault fleet!

 

Had they invaded it wouldn't have needed an assault fleet.
We had abot 100 tanks and not a lot else Immediatley after Dunkirk.

A huge German parachute drop would have secured sufficient harbour facilities.

 

After the A-Bomb, I must also go with Radar. It not only aided Britain in winning the Battle of Britain, it was also an integral part of the U.S. defeat of Japan. U.S. carriers vectoring their fighters (with a more efficient CAP system) via radar was an immense advantage in: 1. Chewing up the veteran Japanese crews they could ill afford to lose and 2. Protecting the precious few U.S. carriers in 1942 and 1943. U.S. surface ships, once they got used to using Radar, also decimated Japanese ships.

After Radar (since it's not truly a weapon) I'd say the fighter/bomber. This gets my nod (barely) over the tank, since it effectively limited the effectiveness of the tank later in the war.

 

Yes, why not nominate the monoplnae fighter? It determined the look of all air combat during WW2. But then it didn't decide anything because both sides had them.

I think this is the main criteria for this discussion; a weapon can only be influential if one side gains incredible advantage from it. The RaDAR qualifies; so does the A-Bomb and the T34 as long as the Germans didn't have an answer to it (October 1941-November 1942).