A wartime thought on radios.

[Capt. Teach]

Very cool info ... but it does raise the question in my mind ... how then did they equip all those panzers with radios? I was always under the impression that one of the key features of the blitzkrieg was radio comms for all the tank commanders. Also, I'm not sure but ... didn't the panzers utilize vertical antenna's?



[Although ... it still would not solve the battery problem for a remote radio decoy or that it would have to be waterproof ... not to mention cooling considerations once all those tubes were fired up ... I think they would fry up after a short time anyway since there wouldn't be a venting system for the heat if it was waterproof. Also, there is the question of range? I dont know much about radio's but wouldn't there be a significant difference in range capability between a sub radio and a panzer radio(as well as a significant difference in range requirement)?]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

They don't seem to have had a clue that it was happening. Doenitz insisted on constant reporting, and never seemed to put the two together.

But lets be honest too ... history, indeed even the present is rife with examples of so called "leaders" being ... hmmm ... shall we say "less than competent" so it wouldn't surprise me that panzers did have the comms and vertical antenna's (army) and the subs didn't (navy).

Also, and once again I'm speaking from very limited knowledge, but didn't the german navy get pretty much ignored? Additionally I'm pretty sure that Doenitz and Goering (might have butchered that spelling) didn't exactly get along ... so the Luftwaffe didn't provide very good support for the navy under the best of conditions due to that little feud. [perhaps its just the way history is written for the most part but almost all of what I see and hear about WWII Germany concerns the Luftwaffe and the Army.] I mean, didn't Doenitz only recieve 1/2 of the number of subs he stated he would require to impliment the blockade? If that is the case I would think his only real alternative would be to "bare bones" his subs so his budget or whatever would allow the production of more. This would place expensive [and then] high tech decoys on the backburner if not totally scrapped.

And last, but not least, this brings into focus just how much we take satellites for granted now.