"Fred J. McCall" wrote in message
...
(Harry Andreas) wrote:
:In article ,
wrote:
:
: (Harry Andreas) wrote:
:
: :In article , "Keith W"
: wrote:
: :
: : "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
: :
: :Keith, I hear ya, and the other posters who have said similar things,
: :but I still object to Mr McCall's statement that, in Germany,
: :"Everything was hand-finished to very high standards".
: :That's just not true. As you point out, it was very selective,
:
: Yes. The big ticket items (which was what I meant by "everything",
: since that is what wars are actually fought and won with) got all the
: hand finishing. Small stuff and aircraft designed specifically to be
: cheap and 'throw away' generally weren't.
:
: So object and be damned to you.
:
ude, you can't say "Everything" and then get mad when someone
:disagrees with you. Everything means everything, not some things...
Dude, I don't "get mad". It's only Usenet. Try and rent a clue...
"Everything was hand-finished..." wasn't the issue with German production.
Read Richard Overy's "Why the Allies Won". The Wehrmacht's besetting sin was
not demanding superior (and useless) manufacturing standards. The main
problems were 1. refusal to stop changing designs and 2. not fully
mobilizing for production until 'way too late.
The Wehrmacht couldn't keep their hand off the production designs, making
changes constantly. It made production inefficient and as important, made
logistics a nightmare. Mobilization didn't happen until Speer was given
overall responsiblity for production. The first years of the war
(1939-1942), when Germany had a real chance to win by knocking the USSR out
of the war saw single-shift production and the largest factory units (Adam
Opel and Volkswagen) only peripherally contributing to war production. As a
side note, when the Barbarossa attack went in, the Wehrmacht had litterally
hundreds of types of trucks and motorcycles in use. Try getting the right
carburetor kit for your broke down truck on the outskirts of Kiev.