Author Topic: V-1's at Normandy  (Read 6785 times)

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kriegspieler7

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V-1's at Normandy
« on: February 22, 2009, 04:41:44 PM »
Just a question for discussion:  What would the results have been, if any, if the Germans fired their V-1's from Belgium towards the Allied fleet at Normandy instead of off to London as they did just after the Allies had landed?

Any thoughts by anyone?


Bobsalt

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Re: V-1's at Normandy
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2009, 02:50:05 AM »
I doubt there would have been any meaningful result at all. You have to remember that V-1’s were very inaccurate. You could hit a city with one; you couldn’t hit a specific city block with one. When they were first launched, they gave the Allies a few bad moments, until they began to chart the impact points of V-1’s in London and surrounding areas. They were able to use statistical tables to determine fairly quickly that V-1’s weren’t using any sort of guidance to home in on a target – they were being fired in the general direction of London in the hopes that they might hit something valuable (this was actually a case study in my Probability & Statistics class in college).

I’ve never read anything that specifically answers your question, but I suspect that lack of accuracy is why the Germans didn’t fire any of them at the beachhead. Firing a V-1 at a target the size of city meant that you’d almost certainly hit something, even if only an apartment building or other non-military target. The beachhead would have been a much smaller area to aim at. Yes, you might get lucky and hit a supply dump – but it’s FAR more likely that you’d hit an area of relatively empty beach, or even overshoot and dump it in the ocean.

In reality, the V-1’s were just a waste of materials that would have been far better spent on useful military hardware.
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Yoper

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Re: V-1's at Normandy
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2009, 01:38:18 AM »
I wouldn't say they were a waste, they just were a stepping stone.  An early prototype weapon that probably should have been an intermediate step to a more advanced weapon system, but because of circumstances was pressed into action.

If they had been given more time, they would have probably worked to put in a guidance system (like the V-2's) to make them more accurate.

Craig

Bobsalt

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Re: V-1's at Normandy
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2009, 02:46:18 AM »
Craig,

I agree that they were a stepping stone, and if they had been given more time they very likely would have developed them into a more powerful and accurate weapon. That the same is true with the V-2 can’t be argued – the lessons the Germans learned from the V-2 were applied by both the US and USSR to their own missile programs.

However, in my opinion, in spite of what the Germans learned from deploying these weapons, I’d have to say they were a waste because they would have been better off using those resources on other things. If they had these weapons, say, two years earlier than they did then perhaps they might have made more of an impact (so to speak). As it was, they didn’t have more time and they weren’t in any shape by 1944 to be spending resources on something that in the short term was going to have little military value and was going to take years to be perfected.

We’ve never had anyone build any of these in any of our games – usually the game’s over by the time Germany can build them – but I think each one of these built in a game ought to count as a unit against the aircraft build limits to properly reflect the resources that were diverted into these instead of other areas. I also think giving each one a D6 is too high.
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Mark

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Re: V-1's at Normandy
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2009, 11:09:24 AM »
Yup - they are more of a 'fun' unit - kind of like the German Commerce Raider in the game in my opinion.  Agree that allowing them to do d6 economic damage is too much - but wanted to make them remotely worthwhile to build.  Even with the relatively low cost and high damage, i usually don't see many if any getting built.  I like to build one as the Germans just to annoy the British and by that point in the game I am usually in my bunker / Gotterdammerung mindset anyway. . . .