An incident would not have been needed-Pearl Harbour still would have happened, just without Hitler declaring war on the US. The Battle Of The Atlantic would still have been won by the Allies, it just would have taken longer without the US fully committing to it. US participation would still have increased though, and if Germany did not declare war (which they should not, to make this scenario more likely), the US would have declared war on Germany in 1943. It might have been a different situation with a truce though.
WWII–-75th ANNIVERSARY DISCUSSION--#32---MARCH 1942
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Operation Outward was the name given to the British World War II program to attack Germany by means of free-flying balloons. It made use of cheap, simple balloons filled with hydrogen. They carried either a trailing steel wire intended to damage high voltage power lines by producing a short circuit, or incendiary devices that were intended to start fires in fields, forests and heathland.
A total of 99,142 Outward balloons were launched; about half carried incendiaries and half carried trailing wires.
Compared to Japan’s better known fire balloons, Outward balloons were crude. They had to travel a much shorter distance so they flew at a lower altitude – 16,000 feet (4,900 m), compared with 38,000 feet (12,000 m) – and had only a simple mechanism to regulate altitude by means of dropping ballast or venting lifting gas. This meant the balloons were simple to mass-produce and only cost 35 shillings each (approximately equivalent to £86 in 2017).
The free flying balloon attacks were highly successful. Although difficult to assess exactly, they had an economic impact on Germany far in excess of the cost to the British government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Outward
I found this interesting little tidbit of World War II information during this time. A little different IMO.
What do you guys think? -
Thanks for this RJL. I had never heard of it. Very interesting.
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