I'm really interested to read this, but good gosh, do I despise al this working going into something as inaccessible for long form as Twitter.<p>As an aside however, when I saw this topic, I immediately thought of Steve Blank's website, who goes into quite a great deal of depth on the history of Electronic Warfare and how Silicon Valley rose from the WWII infrastructure created for it. He has a number of articles here: <a href="https://steveblank.com/secret-history/" rel="nofollow">https://steveblank.com/secret-history/</a> If you like this topic, you'll find those to be a good read.
The third largest US military expense in WW2 was on computers both mechanical and electronic. The US perfecting the proximity fuse was probably one of the single most important advancements during the war and was a major factor as to why allied artillery was so much more effective.<p>I wonder how many people realize that artillery shells in WW2 had bloody vacuum tubes in them, or that the US had targeting computers for their naval AA guns that (combined with proximity fuses) lowered the average the rounds per kill from a few 1000’s to under 100… by the end of the war US naval AA could shoot down a Japanese aircraft with an average of 30 rounds fired.<p>The Brits weren’t too shabby either, Bletchley Park the Chain Home early warning radar and much more. In fact the Brits pretty much invented modern radar…<p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-controlled_interception" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-controlled_intercepti...</a><p>The truth was that Germans really didn’t managed to compete with the Allies when it came to technology despite the popular depiction of them in some circles of popular culture.<p>They Nazi’s “dejewification” of science and the pursuit of “German science” reeked havoc within their scientific community breaking down the scientific method and its core institutions and many of the scientists from the Great War and interwar period who remained either weren’t supporting the German war machine or were actively sabotaging it.
Thread unrolled<p><a href="https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1475994609549557761.html" rel="nofollow">https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1475994609549557761.html</a><p>Paper mentioned in the last tweet:<p>The Unseen Fight: USAAF radio counter-measure operations in Europe, 1943 to 1945 by William Cahill<p><a href="https://www.aerosociety.com/media/15088/2020-06-36-bs-rcm-ops-18-nov-20.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.aerosociety.com/media/15088/2020-06-36-bs-rcm-op...</a>
For those unfamiliar with the term "penny packet", see this article that goes into quite a bit of detail for an introductory overview.<p><a href="https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0610penny/" rel="nofollow">https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0610penny/</a><p>There are some lessons here (in the OP's submission and the discussion about penny packets) for software engineering projects.
Recommend R V Jones' book as a "from the horse's mouth" account of WWII tech (written in the window after much of the relevant material was declassified, but before he died, obviously).<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0033806QY" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0033806QY</a>
The fascinating takeaway is the failure of "command". It is something we all see every day in companies large and small(ish). And it rarely is the fault of "some idiot" - it is just that one person cannot attend to all the issues.<p>Which tends to suggest not to look for better generals, but to push the decisions downwards and "outwards" (ie transparency - so that everyone has access to all data used to make decisions)
Another, excellent source for historical use of EW in World War II: the book Instruments of Darkness by Alfred Price [1]. In fact, the Association of Old Crows, a US professional and lobbying organization for EW includes it, as well as several others, in their recommended reading section on History [2].<p>[1]. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Instruments-Darkness-History-Electronic-1939-1945/dp/1473895642" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Instruments-Darkness-History-Electron...</a><p>[2]. <a href="https://www.crows.org/page/recommendedbooks" rel="nofollow">https://www.crows.org/page/recommendedbooks</a>
Dad was there, in the 99th Infantry Division. They were a green unit (never fought before), yet were one of the few that did not give up any ground to the Germans. He was wounded and received his Purple Heart there [0]<p>Just to piggyback on what everyone else has said:<p>1. The other more experienced units in the area absolutely knew without a doubt that the Germans were on the run and that they were going to be crossing the Rhine any day now. The commanders of those units were overconfident [1] and forgot that war is a democracy, and the enemy gets a vote too.<p>2. The 99th had set up pre-planned artillery targets. So all they had to do was call the artillery unit and tell them what fire-plan to execute. A significant time-saver when presented with oncoming tanks.<p>3. They had also dug their foxholes correctly (by The Book), so they had protected positions they could fire from. This also gave them concealment, making them more effective when they did open fire.<p>4. Redundant communication wire was run, in case it was cut by incoming rounds/shells. The importance of being able to coordinate efforts with easy and reliable communication can't be overstated.<p>5. The VT Fuses were present in theater, but had not been authorized for use until this battle for fear of duds being found by the Germans and sent for analysis and reverse-engineering. The shells equipped with the VT fuses would explode at a predetermined height above the ground, so they made sheltering in foxholes and behind walls mostly ineffective. They really were a game-changer, and the Allies were right to withhold their use until truly needed.<p>If you ever get the chance to visit southeastern Belgium, you should. There are a number of excellent museums in the Bastogne area, and pretty much every town has an M4 Sherman tank on display. Plus the beer, fries, and waffles are excellent.<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Elsenborn_Ridge" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Elsenborn_Ridge</a><p>[1] I am of the opinion that the 101st Airborne gains ground by becoming trapped and forcing the rest of the army to go rescue them. As happened in Bastogne.
It would have been interesting if there were any detail about the effects of the jamming on the ground. Did they actually interfere with communication or tactics much?
Lots about radar and jamming in "Most Secret War" by R.V. Jones. Also fun to read for its description of all the petty infighting that went on.
Then as always flyboys were reluctant to support the grunts doing the actual fighting on the ground, just as they are trying to kill the A-10 Warthog today.
This is fascinating and would make for an excellent long-form article. Most people don't think of WWII as being a theater with particularly advanced electronic warfare going on.<p>It's a shame this is presented as a twitter thread.