I will open this to you guys next week but for now I'm trying to combine my notes on various fast food napkins into a coherent presentation.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, February 03, 2024 - 03:20 pm: Edit

Steve Petrick and I agree this one is #1...

1. Tell the US Navy that their torpedoes DO NOT WORK and explain all three problems (continually variable depth, failed magnetic detonators, failed contact detonaors).

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, February 03, 2024 - 03:34 pm: Edit

2. The US Army infantry needs a true light machine gun in the squad. Buy a German MG34, reverse engineer it, and re-chamber it for 30-06 and there you are. While at it, convince the Brits to throw away those crap BREN guns and use a 303-chambered MG34.

3. The US infantry replacement system is stupid and causes lots of death. Better infantry training in camps, then each infantry division needs a replacement battalion which cannot be committed to combat without approval from a four-star general. New replacements spend 72 hours in this battalion getting intense training by front line soldiers.

3. Tell the US and Royal Navies about Angle-Deck carriers.

4. Tell the US and Royal Navies about submarine snorkels.

5. Increase the US Army armored division to six infantry battalions and 3 tank battalions.

6. Reorganize the British tank division into four teams of two battalions, each one armor and one mech infantry.

7. Convince the US and British Army to build a true APC on the Sherman chassis and issue it to at least three or four mech companies per tank division.

8. Explain to the US Army that "tank destroyers" sound cool as heck but the best tank destroyer is a Sherman with a 76mm or 17pounder gun.

9. Increase US Cavalry Groups to three battalions and heavy-them-up with M7s and Shermans.

10. Move Heaven and Earth if you have to but send the US Marines into combat with Garands, not Springfields.

11. More Thompsons/Greaseguns in US rifle platoons.

12. Quality control for the Sten gun.

13. Drop tanks for fighters. Mid-air refueling for bombers.

14. The B29 engine heat problem.

15. Tell the USAAF to start firebombing German and Japanese cities from the start. It's nasty but it's much more effective.

16. Send Monty to the UK war college where he might learn the virtues of getting along with the Royal Air Force and the US Army.

17. Assign Jean to be Patton's driver and equip him with a shock collar so she can shut him up when he starts saying stupid things.

18. This one pains me deeply. Cancel the Iowas and Alaskas. They won't arrive in time to do any good, and the Washingtons can do anything (after WWII) that the Iowas could be converted to do.

19. Explain what the P51 Mustang is to the USAAF. Explain why it's so good (the radiator exhaust is a defacto jet engine). Allow General Dolittle to detach Mustangs and P47s to raid German air bases instead of tying them to the bombers.

20. Install nose turrets on all B17s and B24s.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, February 03, 2024 - 03:37 pm: Edit

21. Take Sicily, land on the Italian toe and boot, march north until you hit Germans, and STOP. No point in all the casualties in Italy and supporting the Italian population diverts coal and food needed elsewhere.

22. By the summer of 1944, the 57mm antitank gun is useless. Replace it with a 76mm towed gun or with tanks or (if you ignored my previous advice) tank destroyers.

23. Do not field battalions of towed tank destroyers. They are not combat effective.

24. The USMC Reising smg won't work in a jungle. Get rid of it.

25. The Duplex Drive tanks won't work as advertised in the rough waters off Normandy. Use the "trunked" tanks and land them from the boats directly to the beach.

26. On Omaha Beach, the "draws" are too well protected, so go up the cliffs. Use a smoke screen to keep Germans from shooting MG42s at long range.

27. Don't waste the heavy bombers on D-Day. They won't hit anything useful.

28. Marshal planned on a 90-division Army, then disbanded the 2nd Cavalry. Use it as infantry in Europe (it is all black) and form one or two more black infantry divisions. Expand the Army to 95 divisions.

29. Stay out of the Huertgen Forrest. Go around it.

30. More effective leadership by Eisenhower to force Monty to close pockets, which would eliminate the Battle of the Bulge and shorted the war. Tell Monty he is not to mention "single thrust" or "airborne divisions" until the Scheldt Estuary is clear. Do not include any US divisions under any British command (ever). For the D-day landings, Monty commands Gold-Juno-Sword while Bradley commands Omaha-Utah, both under Eisenhower. If the Bulge does happen, Ike should command the northern flank, not Monty.

31. Find something appropriate to use the Ranger Battalions for after D-Day instead of wasting them as line infantry.

32. If Ultra says Enigma traffic is dropping rapidly, watch the heck out as the Germans are planning something.

33. Adopt an Atlantic convoy system and coastal black outs on 7 Dec 41.

34. Do not allow FDR to utter the word "unconditional".

35. Build more Mosquito bombers. Have the US build them under license and use them.

36. Do not let Churchill send troops to Greece and Crete.

37. Learn that battleships cannot operate without air cover before actually losing any battleships.

38. Provide Pearl Harbor with the resources (fuel, spare parts) to maintain PBY patrols over 270 degrees.

39. Replace the waist guns on anti-submarine patrol bombers with 20mm cannons as the 50-cal weapons cannot penetrate the hull of a U-boat on the surface.

40. The French sent their 7th Army to Holland in 1940 instead of keeping it in reserve at Sedan.

41. You really do not need to invade/capture Peliliu.

42. Explain how 'rhino' tanks can break hedgerows.