M1/What if the....

[Sleeping Dog]

I don't see a connection between attacking Germany, when it was Japan that attacked us.

Germany declared war on us. Their treaties with Japan sort of required it after the war in the pacific was declared (by both parties). It all seems like a lot of strange formalities. With big consequences.

I wonder what would have happened if Germany reneged on Japan and didn't declare war on us. Would we have just continued to supply Churchill and Stalin with supplies and put our entire armed force into the Pacific? Then we'd have probably reached the Japanese home islands before the atom bombs were ready, and it would have been a lot bloodier before we won.

In addition to 1903's, I think the Marines on Guadalcanal had a few of Browning's toys, like the 1911 pistol, 1917 machinegun, 1918 BAR, maybe the 1919 machinegun. Not for the landing, but for the defense of Henderson Field. What they lacked was ammo, food, water. The resupply ships were staying well out of harm's way.

Regards.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I wonder what would have happened if Germany reneged on Japan and didn't declare war on us. Would we have just continued to supply Churchill and Stalin with supplies and put our entire armed force into the Pacific? Then we'd have probably reached the Japanese home islands before the atom bombs were ready, and it would have been a lot bloodier before we won.

Churchill and Roosevelt agreed (as did all our strategic leadership) that Germany was our most dangerous enemy. Had we failed to go to war with Germany, and put most of our efforts into defeating Germany, we might well have finished with Japan only to face a Germany with a full arsenal of super-weapons -- perhaps including the atomic bomb.

Remember the lesson of WWI -- We delayed coming in, and Germany beat Russia, and then turned with full force on the Allies -- and nearly won.

 

[spartacus2002]

If there was no Garand, there would likely be no M14/M1A, as it is a linear decendant.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NMshooter]

Actually Germany was developing the tactics they used in WW2 at the tail end of WW1.

Checkout Bruce Gudmundsson's Stormtroop Tactics for details on this.

If we did not start with the Garand we would have ended the war with something else. Not sure if it would have been a semi-auto battle rifle or an intermediate caliber assault rifle, but we would not have fought the whole war with the Springfield.

 

[Gabe]

If Hitler had not declared war on us post Pearl, we would still be at war with Germany because we would ally ourselves with the Brits who were at war with the Japs and Germans.

However public opinon would probably force us to a "Japan First" strategy. I doubt we could finish Japan much earlier than we did because no nukes = invasion of Japanese home islands.

We would supply the Brits and Soviets and still bomb the heck out of Germany with Flying Fortresses. The European theater would probably still be raging in '46-'47 but the Soviets would ultimatly beat Hitler and the Brits and Uncle Sam would have to race to land in France before the Communists overrun it. It would be a like a larger version of Greece at the end of the war.

As for the Garand, without it we would take more casualties. Maybe 15-20% more. It would suck to invade Japan with a bolt rifle. Wars are however won by tanks and arty.