The latter, it’s not even close. Infantry hasn’t changed that much, air combat is like night and day (sometimes literally).
See all the cases where modern militaries have had their asses handed to them by guys with WWII surplus weapons.
Modern air wins, absolutely no question. Look at the gulf war. Baghdad, a HIGHLY defended city with an insanely sophisticated AA network got smashed to rubble and their air force destroyed and routed because the US got the leash taken off for a minute.
Air dominance wins fights period. As long as those WWII boys have radios and maps, they just sit back and watch the fireworks.
Air dominance wins fights period. As long as those WWII boys have radios and maps, they just sit back and watch the fireworks.
Infantry exists to paint targets for people with real guns
You can’t take or hold a city with air force.
Infantry is needed for that
What exactly does “take a city” mean? If you’re not too squeamish then you’ll find you don’t need infantry, just a few MIRVs.
21st Century Air Force. Modern ground forces rely on air superiority to win.
WW2 ground forces will win. Modern munitions stores are a lot smaller, so they will cease to be a factor within weeks of a full scale war. Ww2 munition stores on the other hand were gigantic.
Then the WW2 ground forces will win, as air forces cannot hold ground.
WW2 forces will get obliterated at nighttime, no night vision. Assuming modern ground forces are still alive by nighttime, that is.
I fully expect that they can hide pretty well at night. They’ll take modest losses maybe, but wiping them out completely while the forces looking for them get picked off by helicopters is a tall order.
The modern air force would wipe out the ww2 air force, break for lunch, then the ground forces would start getting pummeled by precision munitions fired from outside the range they can retaliate at.
Meanwhile, ww2 ground forces would be very bored.
