I played a WW2 computer game...

Several years ago, I played a WW2 computer game, & I played as the Axis. I eliminated as many Axis mistakes as I could. I forced the surrender of the BEF in France by taking Dunkirk, etc. fast as possible, gave Rommel a lot more resources so he could capture the Suez Canal, did not attack the USSR nor declare war on the USA. And I occupied the British Isles, but britain kept fighting from her colonies such as Canada.

What i couldn't do was to get Japan to relinquish her attacks upon China, which would've ended our oil embargo on Japan, so war with the US was inevitable. As Tojo, I didn't sneak-attack Pearl Harbor without declaring war first, but I did attack the Philippines & Malaya, didn't launch the Midway attack, isolated Australia, & kept the Combined Fleet together as one force.

To keep a long story short, I was able to make the war last until 1964, but the Allies still won, as the Axis simply didn't have the resources that the Allies had. repeated german attacks upon US shipping brought the US into the war against Germany in 1943. Russia, fearful of a German attack, as the land war in the west was over, struck first, in 1944. However, Germany was able to turn almost her full might against Russia, & captured Moscow, Leningrad, & Stalingrad, but Stalin & Co. retreated to Siberia with most of their industry & was able to put up fierce resistance as the German supply lines were stretched.

Actually, I believe GOD influenced the much-quicker ending of WW2. Once Hitler's demon left him as France fell, he was quite-incompetent as a military commander, & his sneak attack on Russia aroused the Russians to great fury, as the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor did us.

No matter what, the Axis would've eventually been defeated, but GOD, I believe, shortened that war & spared millions more lives.

 

I believe the British had discovered some German scientists were working on an A-bomb early on, & so informed the US, which had far-more resources to develop it. Actually, the Germans only got as close as developing "heavy water".

The Allies had more people & far-more resources than the Axis.

Some have said that had Hitler kept the ME 262 jet as strictly a fighter, he woulda won the Battle of Britain & kept Germany from being bombed very much. But I believe it woulda been just a matter of time for the US & Britain to have made a better jet. The British had the first jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor, but it had many bugs to work out, & was used mainly against "buzz bombs" & for strafing runs, as it had a short range due to fuel consumption.

As for the Japanese, they developed theKawanishi N1K-J Shiden, or "Violet Lightning" fighter,(Called code-name "George" by the US) which was a match for the Corsair or Hellcat, but was difficult for many pilots to fly, & had a slow rate of climb, & poor performance at high altitude. It also had landing gear & engine problems. And Japan couldn't produse a large number of them too swiftly. But the US pilots definitely respected them, more than they did any other Japanese aircraft late in the war. But, had the Japanese had them earlier, in sufficiant numbers, with their bugs worked out, they coulda been a game-changer in dogfights. (Due to their slow climb rate, they were not good bomber interceptors.)

 

The Zero was the best-handling fighter any side had, so I've been told by people who piloted Zeros, Mustangs, Hellcats, & Corsairs, ME 109s, Hurricanes & Spitfires. (Never talked to anyone who piloted Russian fighters.) And Zeros had the longest stay-aloft time.

However, the Zero didn't have the armament to match the Allies' planes, & it was fairly-fragile; it didn't take too many hits to take it out. Furthermore, it had no armor to protect the pilot. It sacrificed armament & sturdiness for speed, handling, & range. But it WAS the BEST fighter plane in the world for awhile !

 

The American aircraft were much-tougher than their Japanese counterparts. While the Wildcat, the most-common American carrier fighter, was inferior to the Zero in handling, & slightly-slower. However, the Wildcat was much-tougher & could take an immense amount of punishment & keep flying, while the Zero could not.

Japanese ace Saburo Sakai flew Zeros his entire war career. He said he once shot up a Wildcat badly, til he ran outta ammo, & it still kept flying & even turned in Sakai's plane & hit it several times. (Sakai, outta ammo, was leaving the area.) He said he told newer pilots to never fly head-on at an American plane, as it was heavier-armed & would shred his plane without taking much damage itself.

Another thing-the best Japanese pilots would keep flying until they were killed or disabled.(Sakai flew right up til the surrender, despite having lost an eye.) OTOH, the Americans rotated their fighter pilots, using many of its experienced man as instructors to new pilots on battle tactics.

The attrition among the experienced japanese pilots resulted in many raw rookies going up against experienced Americans in superior aricraft, We see some of the results of that disparity in "the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot".

 

I believe a Zero came down intact on either Attu or Kiska, & our guys got it back into flying shape & thoroughly tested its performance so they could pass their findings on to the brass & our pilots, so they could better deal with the Zeros.

 

And, Roy, as were almost all American "pursuit" planes, the P-40 was much-tougher than a Zero; it acquired armor for the pilot early on. And its hydraulic, fuel tanks, & fuel lines had some protection from the gitgo.

(Military Intel: the only time an aircraft has too much fuel is when it's on fire.)

 

While the Hellcat couldn't turn as tightly as a Zero, nor did it have the range, it was faster, more-heavily-armed, especially when it had six.50 cal MGs, had armor for the pilot, which Zeros didn't, & was much-tougher & harder to destroy than was a Zero.

Chennault & "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell both had abrasive personalities & different philosophies about warfare, a sure formula for a feud, & those 2 had plenty of feuds ! Chennault had better washington connections, so he got his way much of the time. However, when the Japanese resumed their land attack on China, many of his airbases were captured, but his air operation continued successfully. Not long before the war ended, Chennault was replaced as Commander of the 14th Air Force by Gen. George Stratemeyer, who rose to command the whole of the AAF in that area.

(BTW, his family pronounced their surname
"she-NAULT", not the proper French pronunciation of "she-NO".

 

Before the USA & Japan were at war, the Japanese protested because an American leader was fighting them with American planes & pilots.

 

My dad was a tail gunner on a B-17 in the ETO before becoming a quartermaster. His job as a QM was to see that a French unit had all the non-combat material they needed. (Food, meds, uniforms, etc. Their weapons & ammo were supplied by another QM.) Dad followed them all the way to Nuremberg, coming into France with them in July, 1944, being present at some of the trials of the top nazis. He was DC'd in early 1946.

 

Not much, except he said the hardest thing he did conscience-wise was to strafe Italians. It was hard for him to view them as enemies, as there were many Italians in his 'hood when he was a boy. And he would instantly correct anyone he heard badmouthing the Tuskegee Air Force. He said they twice kept his plane from being shot down in German-occupied territory.

And he spoke about the French eating anything, other than people, which was, or had been, alive.