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I would imagine much more time would be spent deploying troops to Europe and getting all of the necessary supplies there than actual fighting.
It seems the U.S. would be able to establish air superiority in a little over an hour. They wouldn't even have to engage the Luftwaffe. Just send some bombers to destroy all of their air facilities. One less thing to worry about.
Bomb all of their communication facilities. Two less things to worry about.
What would it take, say, 3 or 4 days to destroy all of their tanks using helicopters and/or jets?
If Roosevelt was suddenly handed today's US armed forces in 1942... Japan, Italy and Germany would become nuclear wastelands within hours.
The doctrine of Total War would demand it and the 1940's era US leadership had no qualms over using nuclear weapons... since obviously they DID use them as soon as they were available in 1945.
As for the special forces, what makes them so effective is not necessarily the soldier, training or rifle in his (and now her ) hands but the vast intelligence and support infrastructure they have at their disposal. Provided our time-traveling soldiers had all the satellites, delivery systems, communications, air support and technologies with them, it would be fairly easy to sweep into the Reich Chancellery, capture and extract Hitler dead or alive early in the war. Later in the Fuehrer-bunker it would be a deathtrap for SF operatives but an easy target for tomahawks or even a MOAB.
The bigger question is would WW2 really have just ended if Hitler was taken out early on? I think not... I think we tend to think of the Nazis as a 1 man show performed by Adolf himself these days but that it's an inaccurate assumption.
Provided our time-traveling soldiers had all the satellites, delivery systems, communications, air support and technologies with them, it would be fairly easy to sweep into the Reich Chancellery, capture and extract Hitler dead or alive early in the war. Later in the Fuehrer-bunker it would be a deathtrap for SF operatives but an easy target for tomahawks or even a MOAB.
So how would that work exactly? Wouldn't it be much harder to locate Hitler in the Reichstag than it was to find Bin Laden? You'd also be in the middle of a large city and everyone would be alerted to your presence.
So how would that work exactly? Wouldn't it be much harder to locate Hitler in the Reichstag than it was to find Bin Laden? You'd also be in the middle of a large city and everyone would be alerted to your presence.
Bin Laden was in hiding, moving from cave to cave. He had some idea how to counter our tech and really, we didn't try all that hard because Bin Laden was more useful as a boogey-man to scare the public into accepting "the new order" of things.
Hitler had a big-ass fancy-pants office a la the US president's Oval Office where he would do his fuehrer-ish stuff and would rightfully figure the chances of the Allies landing commandos right outside of his office were 0, because it would have been impossible to do with 1940's technology.
There would be no conception to the Nazis of instant satellite surveillance, helicopters, ballistic armor, AC130 gunships hosing down the perimeter, EMPs, less-lethal tools like tasers, robots, drones, phone taps, wireless communication, computers and all that other stuff.
Again, easy-peasy, just like it would be cakewalk for people from a hundred years in the future to walk all over our tech.
But again... why bother? 1000 ICBMs launched from submarines and land-based silos would have ended the whole war in 30 minutes and there's no way the era's leadership would have stopped to think whether they should have or not. Like I said: Total War... if you have the means, you use it.
Scenario 1: Britain allows us to set up bases and deploy from their shores. The Brits, however, provide no manpower, no raw materials, etc. We're completely on our own. Now let's assume Russia remains neutral so Germany doesn't have to worry about an invasion from the East. How long does it take for today's U.S. military to liberate Europe and defeat the German army?
Scenario 2: The U.S. thinks it's better to assemble a SEAL Team and bring Hitler back to America--dead or alive. Would they succeed?
What!?
just like those Brits to turn their backs on us, forget Germany, we should make believe attack Britain
Bin Laden was in hiding, moving from cave to cave. He had some idea how to counter our tech and really, we didn't try all that hard because Bin Laden was more useful as a boogey-man to scare the public into accepting "the new order" of things.
Hitler had a big-ass fancy-pants office a la the US president's Oval Office where he would do his fuehrer-ish stuff and would rightfully figure the chances of the Allies landing commandos right outside of his office were 0, because it would have been impossible to do with 1940's technology.
There would be no conception to the Nazis of instant satellite surveillance, helicopters, ballistic armor, AC130 gunships hosing down the perimeter, EMPs, less-lethal tools like tasers, robots, drones, phone taps, wireless communication, computers and all that other stuff.
Again, easy-peasy, just like it would be cakewalk for people from a hundred years in the future to walk all over our tech.
That's true, but logistically speaking, do you send in a couple of SEAL Teams in Black Hawks to do the job? Remember, we need to bring a body back, not simply kill him, which a Tomahawk cruise missile could easily do.
I was talking about both sides having the same WW2 technology & weapons of the period. That's way different than what you asked.
I see. I missed the part about both sides having period weapons. My bad.
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) hands but the vast intelligence and support infrastructure they have at their disposal. Provided our time-traveling soldiers had all the satellites, delivery systems, communications, air support and technologies with them, it would be fairly easy to sweep into the Reich Chancellery, capture and extract Hitler dead or alive early in the war. Later in the Fuehrer-bunker it would be a deathtrap for SF operatives but an easy target for tomahawks or even a MOAB.
