Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolferz
Not to mention, it was an indiscriminant weapon of terror like the buzz bomb. With no guidance system it was a fire and forget weapon of mediocre destruction. Hardly worth the expense.  |
It did have a gyroscopic guidance system and the accuracy improved as it was used. I would not consider the deaths of 2,754 UK civilians and the injuring or 6,523 to be mediocre that is not even counting the deaths to military personal nor deaths at other target locations. If you compare a V2 to what a single bomber can do the V2 is about equal in accuracy and effect with the advantage of being much harder to defend against of course it cost more than a bomber. The only way it could truly have been a game changer during the war is if the Germans had developed an atomic bomb(not likely as a bomb that size was not developed until the mid 50's) or perhaps more likely a form of dirty bomb to arm it either of those would have caused serious losses. Or just popping into my head a chemical or biological weapon. Even then the war was lost for Germany.
I agree that it was expensive and the money and man power could have been used to better effect elsewhere. Of course in wars nations takes risks the US spent a huge sum on the Manhattan Project without even knowing if an atomic bomb was 100% achievable until July 1945 and the Trinity test it could have been all bust even the head folks took bets as to weather it would explode or be a fizzle or set the atmosphere on fire.
The V2 is more important as a stepping stone towards more advanced rockets and missiles had it not been developed the process would have easily been delayed 10 or 15 years perhaps more.