Advances In technology
Technology played a crucial role in determining the outcome of World War II. Much of it was developed during the interwar years of the 1920s and 1930s, some were developed in response to valuable lessons learned during the war, and some were beginning to be developed as the war ended.
Almost all types of technology were customized, although major developments were:
- Weaponry: ships, vehicles, aircraft, artillery, rocketry, small arms; and biological, chemical, and atomic weapons
- Logistical support: vehicles necessary for transporting soldiers and supplies, such as trains, trucks, ships, and aircraft
- Communications and intelligence: devices used for navigation, communication, remote sensing, and espionage
- Medicine: surgical innovations, chemical medicines, and techniques
- Industry: the technologies employed at factories and production/distribution centers
- Others which might be unknown.
Electronics, communications and intelligence
Electronics rose to prominence quickly in World War II. While prior to the war few electronic devices were seen as important pieces of equipment, by the middle of the war such instruments as radar and ASDIC (sonar) had proven their value. Additionally, equipment designed for communications and the interception of those communications was becoming critical. Half of the German theoretical physicists were Jewish and had emigrated or otherwise been lost to Germany long before WW II started. Germany started the war ahead in some aspects of radar, but lost ground to work in England and especially by physicists and engineers at the "Radiation Laboratory" of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Germans usually relied on the enigma coding machine on ships, but it was captured later on.