"Harry Andreas" wrote in message
...
In article ,
wrote:

Note that this is sort of the same approach that lost Germany the war.
Everything was hand-finished to very high standards, while us sloppy
folks cranked out ten times as many tanks as they could because we let
the tolerances be looser and eliminated a lot of the skilled
'touch-labor' in the finishing stages.

Hmmm. I wouldn't ride that horse too far.

Ever see a 1944 built Walther P-38, or Waffenfabrik Mauser?
They didn't spend nearly any time finishing them as compared to
the early war versions.


The German record was very mixed

They certainly become very efficient at manufacturing light weapons,
the MG-42 was a classic design that was simple , reliable and
excellent. Trouble is they also made plenty of monstrously complex
weapons systems. The Panther and Tiger tanks were examples of
technically advanced weapons that simply couldnt be cranked out in
the numbers needed due to the complexity of their manufacture.

"US folk" cranked out so much hardware because there were more of
us, we had more natural resources at hand, and we weren't being bombed.


Trouble is even Britain outproduced Germany for much of the war
with fewer natural resources and we WERE being bombed.
Bombing didnt seriously disrupt the German manufacture of weapons
until mid 1943 by which time the tide of war had turned. The allies
decided in many cases to accept technically inferior weapons
if they could be more easily mass produced

Compare Battle tank production in 1943

Germany 3,000 Mk 4, 3,800 Panthers, 650 Tigers
USA 21,000 M4 Sherman

Keith





----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----