Necessity is the mother of invention and nothing is more necessary than
victory in war. Driven by the need to defeat Hitler's Nazis and Japanese
Imperial ambitions, the period 1939-1945 saw huge and unprecedented
leaps in the invention and development of war winning weapons and
technology.
Well=known author and military expert David Wragg has studied the whole
range of land, sea and air technical innovations that originated during
the Second World War. Most obvious and strategically important is the
Atomic Bomb (and its successor the Hydrogen Bomb) but the list is truly
fascinating cruise and ballistic missiles, landing craft, self-propelled
guns assault ships, IFF (identification friend or foe), jet engines,
sonar, ejection seats to name but some.
A number of inventions, while important at the time, had no longer term
use; for instance dive-bombers. Others were available but not used until
post-war such as in-flight refueling.
The author concludes from his extensive research arguing that there is
little new in defense today as so many modern weapons trace their
origins back to the Second World War.
This is an original and thought-provoking book by a highly respected
military history author.