Weirdness

Saturday, June 07, 2008

little article about Antwerp in WWII

http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/06/05/antwerp-port-wwII-tech-logistics08-cx_mg_0605antwerp.html

I would point out that as impressive as it was, the V-2 was not without substantial downsides. While terrifying and deadly, it was notoriously inaccurate. What the article doesn't point out is that the reason that London and Antwerp were targeted was because they were two of the few places big enough to guarantee some sort of hit! The monetary costs were staggering too. Perhaps newer and more accurate information has come to light in the past twenty years, but a while back I saw comparisons that showed the average monetary amount of damage from a V-2 was slightly LESS than the cost of the rocket to the Germans! It could still have tremendous psychological value, (they were starting to talk about evacuating London, a real blow to British pride and governmental effectiveness), but when one starts talking about throwing money at each other in late '44 and early '45, America alone trumps Germany by a factor of, oh, let's say 25-1.

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