Picture of the day

[Dark Alley Dan]

Man, those are nice pictures. large format film for the win.

There are about a million different shades of blue in that pic of the Dauntlesses. Very, very pretty. Naval aircraft seem to photograph well over the ocean:

 

[Ganderite]

Probably a 4x5 Kodachrome. ASA 10.....

 

[Gibbs505]

The first turning point occurred earlier. It was Churchill's assumption of the Prime Ministers office and his actual getting the power of the office, the people and the houses of parliament behind him. Read the book, "Five Days in London, May 1940." by John Lukacs.
Without him, Germany and England may well have come to an 'accommodation'. In that case, FDR would never had given them the support, Japan may have had a free run in the pacific and the German army would never have to leave what was basically another army in the west against England.

Turning Points

- Battle of Britain: Stopped Germany taking Britain and turned Hitlers attention to Russia. Also allowed Great Britain to be turned into an unsinkable aircraft carrier. If you want one single turning point I believe this is probably the closest there is. If Germany had won the Battle of Britian the war in Western Europe would probably have been over with a good chance that Germany would have beaten Russia in 1941 as the distractions, Greece and the Balkans, that delayed Germany's attack on Russia would not have happened.
- Battle of Midway: Stopped Japanese expansion and crippled the Japanese fleet.
- Battle of El Alamein: The beginning of the End for German Expansion and stopped German access to additional oil supplies. This turned out to be critical in the long run.
- Battle of Moscow: Stopped the German Advance in Russia and inflicted enormous casualties on the German Army
- Battle of Stalingrad: Stopped the German Army once and for all and started to push the Germans back.
- Battle of Normandy: The beginning of the end for Germany in Western Europe.
- The Atomic Bombs:

I deliberately didn't include Sicily, Italy, Battle of Kursk, Battle of the Bulge etc. While they were major operations and tied down German troops and caused a lot of damage and shortened the I don't believe that they were turning points more of a progression.

My point being that no one battle, except the last, is really THE turning point. If Germany had won the Battle of Britain the Battle for England would have been over very quickly as by this stage Britain didn't really have an effective army. If Midway hadn't happened the way it did then the Allies would still have won. It would have been another setback but the invasion of Mainland USA was beyond the Japanese. Both Germany and Japan knew they could not win a war of attrition. Both aimed for a quick and decisive war. In Japans case to negotiate a peace (which was never going to happen after Pearl Harbour) and in Germany's case to win the war against Russia in the summer of 1941. Net result would have been a prolonging of the war and more casualties but the simple reality is that the US got the A Bomb first and ultimately that would have won the war anyway.

 

[CV32]

Might want to start another thread somewhere, perhaps OT. There were so many 'turning points' in WWII (that is my point, after all) that you could easily fill out a sizeable thread.

 

[Ganderite]

Why such a small tube?

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Small gun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neubaufahrzeug

We're looking at three-fifths of the total number of Neubaufahrzeug sent to Norway, the only place they were used. Here's another view:

https://1.bp.########.com/-8qzeNJQ6f_4/V0TjaPrKlkI/AAAAAAABzjw/cZqNbxPG5Tkz8-GpvUYexOpoOSfZ13dCgCLcB/s1600/Neubaufahrzeug_19_April_1940_worldwartwo.filminspector.com_1.jpg

"Busted down in Oslo with them Wehrmacht blues again..."

 

[ipscgraz]

This is WW1 but fits here.

UK Daily Mail article and pics on WW 1 snipers. Difficult-to-watch video montage at the end.

ht x tp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4338200/Kit-Allied-sharpshooters-used-pick-enemy-targets.html

Remove the x and spaces in http.

 

[grinder08]

Why such a small tube?

Simple answer low velocity gun used for shooting High Explosives as infantry support which didn't need a long barrel. At the beginning of WW2 tanks were designed for different roles and therefor had different guns. It wasn't until later that they evolved into longer high velocity guns for all purposes.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

That's quite the collection of pics.

I'm just about done Herbert McBride's A Rifleman Went to War. He's a profoundly unsentimental guy, not much given to PTSD or grief apparently, who came up form the States to serve in WW1 with the Canadians. When 1917 rolled around, he left our army and signed up with the Yanks. Did quite a lot of sniping.

Quite the read, partially for the very different view of war from what we see these days.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Anyone here know about the Borgward Sd.Kfz. 301?

That big box on the nose is chuck full of explosives. The idea was to drive it (via remote control) to wherever you wanted something removed forcefully, drop off the nose-bomb-thing, then let 'er rip.

Likely worked about as well as expected. Big, easy to spot, full of explosion-making stuff.

In '45, as things got tougher for the German army, several were converted to anti-tank vehicles via the mounting of rocket tubes on one side:

They were deployed in Berlin, where they failed. Here's the remains of one in front of what once was the centre of German power:

Same angle, a month or two later:

Desperation breeds innovation, but not always success.

 

[diopter]

Battlecruiser SMS Seydiltys After Jutland Battle

http://3.bp.########.com/_lEtkuz8ScYM/S-AeQfozhOI/AAAAAAAADWE/cnGzY4SWUsE/s1600/SMS+Seydlitz+5.jpg

http://1.bp.########.com/_lEtkuz8ScYM/S-AeIZFpc-I/AAAAAAAADV8/sJ2pS7pLkWk/s1600/SMS+Seydlitz+6.jpg

http://navalwarfare.########.ca/2010/05/sms-seydlitz.html

http://navalwarfare.########.ca/2010/05/sms-seydlitz.html

 

[XRCD011]

Sd.Kfz301.............big brother to the Sd.Kfz302 "Goliath"................now who says those wartime Germans never had a sense of humour calling the tiny 302 a "Goliath" and their Jumbo sized super tank a "Maus" ?

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They look like they would be a lot of fun to drive around in, if it was not for all the shooting, things exploding and everyone trying to kill you doing so.

 

[RRCo.]

The US embargo on Japan in regards to scrap steel and oil is what finally pushed Japan into WW 2 and attacking the US.

The Japanese were also not pleased with the US military support of China.

Google ( US oil embargo on Japan ) for further reading on that and related subjects.

Just as important was opportunism: Germany's sudden knockout of the French and Dutch, and expected knockout of the Soviet Union meant they were in a race to grab as many chairs as they could while the music was still playing, so to speak. Otherwise the Germans would ultimately claim the dependencies of the defeated powers and move into the Pacific.

The British were tied up by the Germans: it was the perfect chance, or so they thought. One has to remember that the Japanese Army and ruling class was full of nutbars who thought the "Son of Heaven" was destined to rule the world etc. etc., and it's worth remembering they planned to have to fight the Germans for final world domination in the end. LOL.

The IJN was actually more sober-minded, and while the Army was modeled on the Germans, the Navy patterned itself more after the Royal Navy, with whom they had had close ties during the Anglo-Japanese alliance of WWI and before. The ships that won at Tsushima were mostly built in Britain for example. The last British-built capital ship in the IJN was the Kongo which served right through WWII.

If they'd left China alone they might have got away with it, but elder brother is going to have the last word. A pity because they had the opportunity to truly create an Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, had they been able to understand the human factors. Japan resented the presence of the Western imperial powers in Asia, but as soon as she got the chance, proceeded to do exactly what they had done, only with far more cynicism and brutality. So much for "racism". In the 30s leading figures openly bragged that they were going to exterminate the Korean culture and language and totally "Japanize" the Korean people.

Dale Carnegie would have his work cut out there.

 

[CV32]

Commander Andria Slough, commanding officer of the US Navy Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78), one of two Burke class destroyers that conducted the recent cruise missile strike against Shayrat airfield in Syria.

 

[sail32]

Kongō was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Sealion while transiting the Formosa Strait on 21 November 1944. She was the only Japanese battleship sunk by submarine in the Second World War, and the last battleship sunk by submarine in history.

The Kongo was built in Britain.

The other 3 of the Kongo class, Hiei, Kirishima, Haruna, were built in Japan.

 

[diopter]

Very appropriate that one of the commanders was female.

 

[grinder08]

http://3.bp.########.com/_lEtkuz8ScYM/S-AeQfozhOI/AAAAAAAADWE/cnGzY4SWUsE/s1600/SMS+Seydlitz+5.jpg

http://1.bp.########.com/_lEtkuz8ScYM/S-AeIZFpc-I/AAAAAAAADV8/sJ2pS7pLkWk/s1600/SMS+Seydlitz+6.jpg

http://navalwarfare.########.ca/2010/05/sms-seydlitz.html

http://navalwarfare.########.ca/2010/05/sms-seydlitz.html

It never ceases to amaze me that they managed to get her back to port. The damage control boys sure earned their pay that day.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

I wonder why the US military hasn't standardized on a single, unisex uniform. Not like the US Navy female dress uniform is that flattering.

Gotta think the standard male uniform, tailored correctly, would do the job and look better.

 

[diopter]

The Zeiss Fernobjektiv 50cm f/8 with the "Flektoskop" reflex device, mounted on a Zeiss Ikon Contax III.

Finnish artillery scouts - Karelian isthmus near Kronstadt, autumn 1941:

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

That's a very interesting piece of kit, and not something one ordinarily thinks of as part of the big machine that is the military. Thanks for that, Diopter.

What kind of magnification could one get out of that lens? Looks like you could count the fine hairs on Dietrich's top lip from five miles out...