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World War 2

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How World War II Changed Warfare

How World War II Changed Warfare
A man wearing olive drab pants and jacket slowly props the muzzle of his Thompson .45 Caliber Sub Machine Gun on a window seal of a half decimated apartment building. He lines up his sights and waits for the signal. He wears the “Screaming Eagle” patch of the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division. Inserted into Bastogne, France via aerial assault from a C-47 Sky Train, in December 1944. Barrels pointed downward onto the rubble covered road. Passing over the road is a German Panzer Tank followed by a platoon of German soldiers carrying MP-40 Machine Pistols. As, the 101st nervously prepares to engage a Panzer Tank, which has them outmanned and outgunned, they hear a whistling sound in the distance believed to be an aircraft. Before they know a P-51 Mustang fighter plane, also known as a “Tank Killer” swoops in and knocks the Panzer out. Unexpectedly, the airborne troops open fire. A few long seconds later, the Panzer Tank sits smoldering in flames and a platoon of Nazis lays dead all around. Never before has the world, scene such a vast arsenal of weapons and tactics used. This will be reflected on the amount of lives, military and civilian, lost in the short span of 1939-1945. The devastation that took place would not just be repaired and forgotten. There is still evidence all over the Europe, North America, and Asia, of World War II and the lives that were lost. Not only was this the coming of an age, for military powers, but World War II also brought about many things that have become used for non-military jobs. According to Kramnik (2010)
Every great war, especially one involving great powers on both sides, brings something new to the art of warfare. But World War II was out of the ordinary in that respect. The changes in the structure, hardware, equipment and the way the armed forces were used were unprecedented in their scope and significance. Even World War I, which first saw large-scale use of war planes, submarines, tanks and much else, had not brought about such massive change. Changes affected not only the armed forces, but also diverse fields of human endeavor. The technological leap accomplished during that war stipulated to a large extent subsequent technical progress and radical changes in human life at all levels - from the global to the everyday - over the 50-60 years that followed. One can go on endlessly describing the impact of World War II on humanity, but we are concerned with narrower questions: How did the war influence warfare? What tactical, operational, strategic and technical changes brought by World War II are still used today? (par. 3-5) It was fought with such adversity that it was seemingly dog eat dog. If you thought that you were the biggest baddest dog, you were wrong. Whether you were flying high in an aircraft, driving through what was left of a town in an armored tank, or silently patrolling the seas in a submarine, there was always something that could take you out. Much like the animal food chain, even though mankind is at the top it does not guarantee survival. Throughout, my paper I will touch upon much of the WWII technology that has changed warfare, even to this day.
Submachine Guns The “submachine gun” or SMG, although, not developed during World War II became an immediate game changer for both the Axis and Allies. The 20 or so years leading up to 1939 were when the sub machine gun was created, but it wasn’t “made” until WWII; somewhat like a person of great status. For example, before George Washington became THE General of the American Revolution, and first president of the United States, he was just George Washington. He was not made into the man he is remembered as today, until an opportunity for greatness presented itself. The need for such great firepower in close quarters combat had never been required. Then again, no one had ever seen a war fought in such urban environments and of such a large scale. This was no longer World War I, being fought by their fathers. This was the second Great War. Men were not popping their heads up, firing long distance shots from inside an 8 foot deep trench. This war was up close and personal, men who weren’t the best aim, needed something that could even the odds. World War II brought about a new style of warfare. House to house fighting was very common. When you are in that close of quarters you do not need to be a precision shooter you need to be a quick shooter. A small compact machine gun that allows you to turn a room into swiss cheese in mere seconds is ideal. What better way to do that than a short, fully automatic sub machine gun. Well, apparently, the designers of the first sub machine guns got it right because modern SMG’s have changed very little. Still used throughout the world as the top pick for most military and law enforcement looking for lots of firepower in close quarter situations, the sub machine gun has seen action in every major conflict since. It has been there at the forefront of many great military victories. The SMG forever has, and will continue to change the way wars are fought. The impression it has made on the world today is known by very little, but if you ever hear of a military or police incident, you can assure yourself that this important piece of World War II history was there.
Bombsights
The development of accurate sights of which to guide the dropping of explosive ordinance made for much larger scale devastation on the ground. Even so, many great cities of Europe and Asia were left a smoldering mess. It was almost as if both sides thought they could bomb the other into submission. Actually, this turned out to be the case in the Pacific theatre.
On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15, citing the devastating power of “a new and most cruel bomb. As stated in “The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” (2012)
On August 6, 1945, during World War II (1939-45), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan's Emperor Hirohito announced his country's unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15, citing the devastating power of "a new and most cruel bomb.” (par. 1).
Prior to WWII, bombs were dropped manually from aircraft by hand (Sean Foley, 2011, p. 12). As you can imagine, this style of aerial bombing was rather ineffective. It was not until World War II that more advanced and accurate bombsights were used. Great Britain had the Sperry, United States the Norden, and Germany the Lotfe 7 (Sean Foley, 2011, p. 15-17). With the evolution of bombing making it possible to leave entire cities in ruin it seemed as if nothing was safe. Even before the golden age of bombing, Charles Lindbergh, once summed it up by saying “As we can no longer protect our families with an army. Our libraries, our museums—every institution which we value most, is laid bare to bombardment” (as cited in Ginsburgh & Wheeler, 1972, par. 7). No longer were bombs dropped strategically but rather dropped to cause mass devastation of all sorts. They wanted people to fear the air and the vast power that could be derived from it; although, if need be they could more accurately place bombs in the area intended. Even though the development of these bombsights made it easier to place the bombs where they needed to go, they were still not very accurate. In 1943, the U.S. Air Force bombed a factory in Germany, about only one in every ten bombs landed within 500 feet of the target (Norden M-9 Bombsight, 2010, par. 4). Even so, the Norden was still used for a fairly long time. Acording to John T. Smith (1998) it wasn’t until the Vietnam War that laser guided “smart bombs” were introduced (p. 64). World War II created the need for a way to accurately drop bombs; like most other things, the technology continued developing therefore revolutionizing the original formatted design. The bombsights designed in WWII eventually became obsolete and were swapped out for more advanced techniques, but one thing is for sure, they have led to major changes in warfare and will forever shape the way war is fought.
Radar
The element of surprise had always existed for the most part in the sea and skies. Up until the beginning of World War II the only real, feasible chance you had of detecting aircraft was if you saw/and or heard it in the sky; this goes for ships at sea as well. Neither plane nor ship had a surefire detection method until the U.S. Naval Research Laboratories or “NRL” began looking into it. As mentioned in “The Development of the Radar Principle” (n.d.)
From 1930 to 1940, NRL explored the use of radio for detection and ranging, and in 1935 the Committee on Naval Appropriations of the U.S. House of Representatives allocated $100,000 to NRL for the development of radar. This led to NRL's invention and development of the first U.S. radar, the XAF (installed on the battleship USS New York in 1939), and led eventually to its commercial production form, the CXAM. By the time of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, 20 radar units were in operation on selected vessels. These radars contributed to the victories of the U.S. Navy in the battles of the Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal (par. 2).
Now there was nowhere to hide no matter where or what you were in. The ability to detect planes and ships made it nearly impossible to implement the element of surprise. In time, stealth bombers were developed to combat radar capabilities. The United States just recently became the first country in the world to deploy stealth fighters, which is an amazing accomplishment in itself. Even though radar is slowly becoming obsolete against the world’s most technologically advanced nations, it played a big part in developing the first ever transistor (Radar During WWII, 1999, par. 1). The radar revolutionized more than just warfare, look at all of its uses today; navigation, weather, speeding, mapping out terrain, and much more. Even so, the radar still plays a big part in the way the United States’ military operates. Just because the radar has little use against us, does not mean that it is useless against other, less technologically advanced nations.
Tactics
It is 1940, and the way wars are fought has drastically changed. Trench warfare is never to be seen again, and a more mechanized form of fighting takes place. Tactics greatly changed just by the use of more agile tanks and artillery pieces. I also went over the use of the sub machine gun in World War II; there were also many semi-automatic weapons that were used widespread, along with light machine guns. Between sub machine guns, and semi-automatic rifles warfare became very fast paced; like comparing high school football to professional football. This along with the ability to cover such long distance in short time really made anywhere a potential battle zone. The mechanization of tanks and artillery made it possible to go almost anywhere. The new tanks were designed for independent offensive action as the spearheads of blitzkrieg attacks. They were fast, low, heavily armored, and armed with powerful large- and small-caliber guns (“World War II Historical Intro”, 2008, p. 6). They were actually capable of going most places a foot soldier could, but much faster; this goes for artillery as well. Most artillery could be mounted onto a vehicle or towed behind; unlike World War I, where horses were used to move artillery at a very slow pace. This often resulted in the death of some horses as well. With vehicles, this problem became almost non-existent, aside from your occasional car problems that can temporarily slow you down. One day, soldiers could be emerged in fighting in one country, and a week later a hundred miles away in another country. As I mentioned earlier, small arms had changed combat all together already. House to house, urban warfare, was extremely common thanks to new firearm technology. It would be a little difficult to raid a house full of enemy soldiers and only be able to fire one bullet before having to rack a bolt on your rifle to fire again, then repeat. Having semi and fully automatic weapons at the hands of almost every soldier gave one man much more firepower than ever before. There have not necessarily been leaps and bounds with these sorts of weapons since World War II but they have definitely played their parts in revolutionizing close quarters combat. Truthfully, the term close quarter combat was pretty much coined for World War II. Before it was known as hand-to-hand combat because once soldiers got this close there was no time to reload their weapons to fire another shot. The evolution of firearms changed hand-to-hand into close quarters combat because it now consisted of men at a very close distance, firing their weapons at each other; as opposed to an anything goes bare knuckle brawl to the death.
Close quarters combat has transformed the way wars are fought. Leading up to the current war in Afghanistan, most wars have consisted of much more close quarters combat than long distance. About half of all the firefights taking place in Afghanistan are at a distance of 300 meters or greater (As Cited in Greg, 2010, par. 3). Even though the war in Afghanistan has been fought at a predominantly long range, the war in Iraq has been as up close and personal as ever. The ability given to soldiers in World War II to fight in tight, close quarters, has completely altered the way soldiers on the ground fight. Many tactics used during this war have become training measures for soldiers still to this day. Although, there have been many changes to some of the original tactics developed in the 1940’s, they have not been that major. Little things such as room clearing techniques and setting up ambushes have taken some pointers from strategies and tactics of the time; but the ability for soldiers to function more efficiently in combat in my opinion has derived straight from their World War II counterparts.
Conclusion
They say that even though war is a horrible thing, technology needs it to continue moving forward. To ensure the survival of mankind, and the advancement of technology, people must always strive to be better.

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