They can make basic stuff and rocket engines.... But beyond that, it's all Chinese and Russian imports
They are self-sufficient on everything related to heavy industries and are right next to two countries that can provide everything they need, like consumer goods, fuel and food in exchange to the main asset of NK, that being the immense mineral wealth and extensive factories capable of making a lot of munitions. The main hard limit of NK historically has been that it's never really had the farmlands to support the population compared to the much better farmlands that the SK has.
I figured resources would be the trade but I was totally unaware that NK had a wealth of mineral resources. Thank you for the insight.
This is also the big reason why they were ahead of SK in GDP until the 1980's. They offered substantial resources to the soviet industries of the far east and in turn, USSR returned the favor with machinery and tools for the NK which allowed them to industrialize faster than SK did. The collapse of this trade once the USSR fell resulted in a famine because suddenly, the old trade treaties had to be renegged and they weren't going to be favorable for the NK this time. Situation has improved from this collapse in the sense that they don't have famines for now, but they certainly aren't going to have fatties outside the party elite either.
A great looking tank and reliable gun and performance. A shame that lack of fuel, shitty and overweight design and Allied air supremacy outweighed these advantages. Perhaps the Kriegsmarine should have built more U-boats instead of battleships, they very well could have won the Battle for the Atlantic.
Not likely, according to the Kriegsmarine themselves they would have needed roughly double the Uboats they had to actually cut off the UK. And this was in the earlier years of the war before advances in doctrine and technology made ASW a death sentence for the U-boat force.
I'd argue that with the development of the Huff-Duff, sonar, Enigma being compromised, and search radars being installed on Coastal Command aircrafts there really wasn't anything the Germans could do except hope that the British public would get tired of the war faster than the German public. It simply was too hazardous for the U-Boats to do their job.
Oh for certain, really Germany loses the war when it loses the Battle of Britain. Beyond that point they're totally fucked, they've lost control of the Atlantic, they haven't secured their western front, they're about to open an Eastern front, and either knowingly or unknowingly to them the Japs are about to poke the bear at Pearl Harbor.
I do think the Brits could have also fumbled the ball pretty badly if they went thru with Operation Pike, which as a planned aerial bombardment of the Baku oil refineries within the USSR. The project had been greenlit but due to the fall of France, both the launching point of Syria and half the gathered bombers involved became unavailable for the task.
The Brits were very good at fumbling the ball throughout the entire war and the US bailed them out every time. Doubtful that would have been different. The only thing to worry about would be the Tyrant King President Hot Wheels since he was butt buddies with Stalin.
Even with things like bases for destroyers and lend lease, the convoys in the opening stage of the Battle of the Atlantic were getting hammered by submarines, even though most of them sucked. Had the Luftwaffe bothered to strike targets of military importance rather than blitz London, it very well could have been over by 1941.
Potentially, but Warhawk Cripple would have still gotten the US directly involved in the Pacific and by extension Europe sooner or later, that's inevitable. The Germans also would have needed to deal with the Soviets, who were also only able to survive the war due to lend-lease, so there was still plenty of fighting to be done.
M198. I pulled the string and it went boom.
Personally I'm a fan of the American 14 inch rail guns from the Great War since they're literally just spare battleship guns we had laying around that we built a train around. And they fit on regular rail gauge unlike the famous Gustave. The third pic is of a 12 inch gun but the other two are, as far as I'm aware, 15s.
See, I feel that the Gustav and Dora were victims of overengineering in that their original purpose was never fulfilled and they didn't contribute decisively to the war effort in a way that the 88 did, while being an extreme waste of men, materials and time. Kind of like terror attacks like the Blitz, and V1 and V2 wunderwaffe.
That's uh... that's called "Being German". It's a tale that plays out numerous times throughout the war and the decades after.
I like the Soviet D-30, I'm not aware of any other artillery piece that comes with its own tripod.