Matrix Games Forums

If any of you care....if you read Paul Kennedy(Rise and Fall of Nations)
and Keegan(Second World War)

Both authors assert(and I agree) that the Third Reich did not even manage to outproduce
the Kaiser's Germany. That is saying quite a bit. They also point out that neither did
England.

I am amazed that the Third Reich did as well as it did.

According to Len Deighton England was just as bad if not worse. The powers that be
in England would not award contracts to the best designs because they could not
manage to agree who would get the kickbacks. At the start of the war, the Rodney
only had 50% of its munitions and they were all decades old.

The only country actually ready for war, in a modern sense was the USA, and that was only in 1941. If war had come in 1939, we were just as bad off.

Well, none of the democratic countrys were ready. You have to take into account the fact that the world was recovering from the great depression. Defense budgets were cut. Ammo stores of the Rodney cut to 50% doesnt suprise me at all.

Len Deighton also points out that Britain had off-shored nearly all its heavy industry and manufacturing. They had little to respond with when they were isolated. Their steel was low grade and they depended on U.S. imports once contact with the continent was cut off.

Carlos

Out-produce Kaiser's Germany in what sense Laconic? Artillery? Tanks? Warships? Small arms ammunition?

Germany has always had a great industrial potential. Had it been better managed and put on a total war footing sooner.....they could have produced alot more. The fact that for most of the war England outproduced Germany despite being weaker industrially was a black mark for the Germans. Lots and lots of reasons....and yes....its not a simple matter of simply fixing the economy management and putting women in the factories for round the clock shifts. Germany's military time table would have been impacted but ultimately thats a topic outside the scope of what one should expect from a game of this scope.