John Kettler Posted June 8, 2000 Share Posted June 8, 2000 Since this is apparently my 100th post, I thought I'd raise an intriguing "what if" and rattle your cages all at the same time. It all started when my roomie got an action figure from England of a Japanese WWII infantryman. We have a running gag around here in which I aperiodically move, change weapons on, or reposition a cheap GI Joe which we refitted with a Panzer Grenadier's uniform, complete with StG 44 and Panzerfaust 60. This time what I did was to borrow the Panzerfaust from the ersatz German and put it in firing position in the hands of the Japanese soldier, giving my roomie quite a shock when he saw it. But it also got me to thinking. The Germans were devoted allies to the Japanese, supplying them with such goodies as radar, advanced optical machinery, the Me-163 Komet, the Me-262 and even uranium for what was apparently planned as a radiation-enhanced conventional bomb. We know this because the sub carrying the last item surrendered to the U.S. Navy shortly after VE Day. So, what if the Germans had supplied the Japanese with the means to build Panzerfausts? The Japanese already had the necessary propellant technology, and they had hollow charge munitions in the form of the lunge mine. With those two elements in hand, the rest would've been fairly straightforward engineering. Our armor casualties were bad enough in the Pacific as a result of lunge mines and soldiers crouching in pits with fuzed aerial bombs, hammers in hand ready to detonate them. Imagine how much worse things could've been, and not just for armor either, had the Germans transferred Panzerfaust technology to the Japanese, giving their almost helpless infantry a real standoff attack capability against armor, strongpoints, crew-served weapons, etc. Something to think about, neh? Regards, John Kettler P.S. I'm astounded that no one in this august body of grognards has responded at all to what I thought was a fascinating and disturbing historical possibility. J.J.K. June 10, 2000 [This message has been edited by John Kettler (edited 06-10-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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