My Tank is Fight!

David S Poepoe · Dec 24, 2006

My Tank is Fight! - Deranged Inventions of WWII
Zack Parsons

http://www.amazon.com/My-Tank-Fight..._bbs_sr_1/103-9116455-9027856?ie=UTF8&s=books

I've had the book for awhile, tho I can't quite put my finger on it if it is actually good. The book takes a quick look at some 20 secret projects of both the Allies and Axis during WWII. A chapter is dedicated to each one (listed below) and provides only the barest technical information. Each one receives an Analysis entry, Hypothetical Deploment History, which is an ATL usually set in the last two years of the war; and a What Fight Have Been, which is a fictional vingnette centered around that vehicle or device.

The Secret Projects:

Land:
Panzerkampfwagne VIII Maus; Landkreuzer P.1000 Ratte; V-3 Hochdruckpumpe; Panzerabwehrrakete X-7 Rotkappchen; Nachtsichtgeraten - German Night Vision Devices; Landkreuzer P.1500 Monster

Air:
Weser WP 1003/1; M1932 Christie "Flying Tank"; The heliofly III/57; the German Space Program; Horten Ho IXB Nachtjager; the German Atomic Bomb; Baimler-Benz Carrier & Parasite Project Series; Sanger Silbervogel Antipodal Bomber

Sea: VS8 Tragflugelboot; Type XI-B U-Cruiser; HMS Habbakuk; Project Loedinge: Seeteufel; Submarine-Launched Rockets

zoomar · Dec 26, 2006

Why didn't you respond the thread I posted several weeks ago with the same title?

Anyway, I liked it a lot. The best part is the sarcastic humor. Most books about Nazi superweapons focus on how supposedly powerful and awesome they would have been. Parsons focuses on how impractable, stupid, and ludicrious they would have been. A much more reasonable interpretation in my mind.

Superdude · Dec 26, 2006

Subsidized by the glory that is SomethingAwful.com.

Ivan Druzhkov · Dec 28, 2006

zoomar said:
Anyway, I liked it a lot. The best part is the sarcastic humor. Most books about Nazi superweapons focus on how supposedly powerful and awesome they would have been. Parsons focuses on how impractable, stupid, and ludicrious they would have been. A much more reasonable interpretation in my mind.

Though, in a way, it's almost quintessential Nazi thinking, isn't it? That practical stuff is all well and good, but only the unworkable crazy-ass ideas will bring us a new tomorrow!

Nik · Dec 29, 2006

Ratte !! Ratte !!

Some other info at...

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php

IIRC, one comment was that the Ratte could have lost the war rather quickly...

Problem was, at ~ 3 miles per hour, it could not *catch* any-one who did not care to fight it on the ground --creating salients-- and it was vulnerable to air attack.

Worst-case scenario was the defence simply went around them and waited for the fuel to run out.

I suspect the idea was a LandFleet with Ratte = Battleship, Mause = Cruiser, KingTiger = Cruiser (Light), Panther/Tiger = Destroyer etc. Unfortunately, Reich could neither build, transport nor supply them...

Paul Spring · Jan 3, 2007

zoomar said:
Why didn't you respond the thread I posted several weeks ago with the same title?

Anyway, I liked it a lot. The best part is the sarcastic humor. Most books about Nazi superweapons focus on how supposedly powerful and awesome they would have been. Parsons focuses on how impractable, stupid, and ludicrious they would have been. A much more reasonable interpretation in my mind.

I think that one reason for the awe with which Nazi superweapons are held is that some of them really were powerful and/or ahead of their time to a greater or lesser degree - ballistic and cruise missiles, swept-wing jet fighters, jet bombers, anti-aircraft missiles and missiles launched from aircraft, etc. Unfortunately most of the good ideas were either too little too late, or too far ahead of their time to reach operational status. And of course the good ideas were mixed with a substantial number of projects like the super-sized tanks or flying disks that were ineffective and a waste of resources (although they looked cool).

zoomar · Jan 4, 2007

Paul Spring said:
I think that one reason for the awe with which Nazi superweapons are held is that some of them really were powerful and/or ahead of their time to a greater or lesser degree - ballistic and cruise missiles, swept-wing jet fighters, jet bombers, anti-aircraft missiles and missiles launched from aircraft, etc. Unfortunately most of the good ideas were either too little too late, or too far ahead of their time to reach operational status. And of course the good ideas were mixed with a substantial number of projects like the super-sized tanks or flying disks that were ineffective and a waste of resources (although they looked cool).

Parsons, whether in jest or not, seems to make the observation that even ones which worked pretty well (ballistic missiles, jets in general) were quite possibly a waste of effort given the resources available to Germany when they were being developed (late in the war). He seems to be arguing that the Germans could better have focused on incremental improvements in the outstanding new weapons they did have in time to be useful (Panther tank, late model Fw190's, Type XXI u-boat, etc). I also think that, in a way, he is making fun of those who in the "Just if..." school who believe that "just if" the Nazis had perfected the Ratte or Sanger antipodal bomber in time, they would have changed the course of the war.

Melvin Loh · Jan 6, 2007

Any-1 ever watched the SECRETS OF WAR series narrated by Charlton Heston which came out back in 1999 ? There was 1 episode which delat specifically with these Nazi secret weapons.

It's cool to hear that the author actually takes the Nazi secret weapons he discusses with a pinch of salt re their war-winning spectacular capabilities, instead of lionising em as actual war-winners.