London Blitz vs V1

In article , robert
arndt writes
Bernardz wrote in message news:MPG.1a593408a139
2c869897ea@news...

SNIP

Any comments!

34,000 V-1s were produced by Fiesler, Volkswagen, and the Mittelwerke.
Unit cost was RM 5000. Of all those produced only around 5000 found
their targets in the UK and Belgium. That makes it 20% effective of
those launched, the remaining number found stockpiled. It was a cost
effective weapon compared to a Mark IV tank (RM 100,000) but
militarily of little value. As a psychological/nuisance weapon it did
well but did not in any way deter the Allies from bombing Germany and
grabbing land. The Germans would have done better to replace the
amatol warhead with a radiological warhead. London and Antwerp would
have then been contaminated and abandoned.

Rob

The Germans conducted many nuclear experiments with minimal shielding,
so they would probably have not considered it a useful weapon. But if
they did consider it viable, could they have laid their hands on enough
material to use it in warheads?

Even if they had been able to, I don't think the allies would have
abandoned these cities - ignorance of radiation sickness reigned supreme
until the long-term effects of it were found some time after the
Hiroshima raid.

Not to say there had not been some good opportunities to find out:

People used to drink Radium cocktails for the alleged benefits in the
1920/30s, but the only person who was known to have suffered the
horrific effects was an American millionaire who used to drink about a
pint a day. He simply disintegrated.

Pierre Curie handled so much Radium in his life that his hands began to
look like reptilian claws.

Miners in areas with rocks bearing a high fissile content often
developed lung cancer due to the Radon.

But still no-one sounded the alarm bells. If any muck had been dropped
on these cities the people would have been advised to wear gas masks
when passing an impact area, and if no gas mask available a damp
handkerchief would do...

Cheers,

Dave

--
Dave Eadsforth