What was the level of expertise in the German army in WW2?

Question

History is hard to understand. I am not an 8th grade whiner, but a college grad. Just when I think I understand something a whole other set of parameters appears. Sure they had blitzkrieg, but they had a whole lot of horses as well.

Answer 1

Initially, the German army was one of the best, if not the best army in WW II. Hitler was very helpful in decimating that army with his plunge into Russian in June 1941. After that, the Red Army, the Russian Winter and Hitler's blunders destroyed the Army. Troops in Russia with no winter clothes and Hitler's refusal to let Paulus and the German 6th Army break out of Stalingrad are a couple of examples of wasting fine troops.

When the Allies landed at Normandy, the German army they faced was still a force to be reckoned with. But a combination of Allied pressure and dwindling natural resources brought about by the day and night bombing of Germany, soon reduced the effectiveness of German army. The Bulge further depleted the Wehrmacht.

Near the end, the German army was using kids and old men. The veterans and especially the NCOs had long been killed.

Answer 2

Perhaps you should do more reading on the topic. It will help you to think about what living conditions were in different areas of the globe at different times in history. For example, the tank only appeared on the battlefield in any numbers and in a form that was remotely effective towards the end of WW1. The same could be said for aircraft. Between WW1 and WW2, throughout Europe and in North America, the horse was still a mainstay of the transportation system. The Polish Army still had cavalry at the start of WW2 as did many other nations. Many soldiers walked all the way from the shores of Normandy in to Germany, fighting all the way. Think of the poor German soldier who may have walked all the way to Normandy, only to turn around and walk back home. The reason the Blitzkreig worked was because the German Army had overwhelming numbers of mechanized army units, but not all the German Army was so well equipped.

In contrast you could examine the Falkland Island campaign waged by the British. One of the big lessons learned by the British Army was that there was too high of a reliance on mechanization. Equipment like tanks and light armoured vehicles were completely ineffective in the Falklands because of the terrain. The British had to rely on shoe leather to get around and that was not something that the modern soldier was used to.

The lesson to be learned is very clear, its not about the technology or lack of it, its about tactics and strategies appropriate for the terrain. That's why a single Pashtun with a bag of bullets and a bag of food can stop a brigade dead in its tracks.

Unfortunately for the common soldier, the lessons of history are not easily learned by their commanders if at all and the mistakes of history will be repeated often.

Answer 3

Level of expertise hasn't really something to to with the grade of mobility that a army has.
Expertise is all about the training and battle experience that a soldier / unit has.

In the early years of the war the German troops could still receive a very good training before going to battle but after that the war extended to Russia there was a great demand after replacements and there training became more and more a fraction of what it had been.

This had as result that the units when there received reinforcements that they weren't prepared at the battle and the consequence was that the units couldn't keep up there grade of expertise that they had earned over the years.
So at the end of the war many units where just a collection of inexperience men.

On the other hand there where also unit's that still could put up a very good fight like the most of the panzer divisions, the Waffen SS and there counterparts the elite units of the German Wehrmacht like division Grossdeutsland .

Answer 4

Well, a actual good question for a change!

Hmmmm, If we are talking strictly army, it varied. The officer corps had many WW1 vets. Throughout the interwar years they kept a small national army in Germany. The bulk were conscripts. They had some experienced men who served in the Spanish civil war as did the Luftwaffe.

Answer 5

Being a College grad doesn't make you a soldier. Sure they had horses, so did everyone else. Generally germany had soldiers with a higher level of experience then almost anyone else. Also remember there were 3 axis nations 54 allied nations.

Failure to respect your enemy and know his strengths and weakness is a good way to get you and more importantly your men killed.

Answer 6

The range was great, from the most technically superior with the latest tank designs, jets, v-2 rockets etc, to their horse-dawn artillery. From the poorly trained volkgrenadier divisions in the latter stages of the war composed of boys and old men, to the crack-elite units of the Waffen SS 'classic' divisions...

Answer 7

Experience has almost nothing to do with tactics or equipment. Germans had good panzer divisions, but many of the infantry divisions were unmotorized, and lacked transport, and as such used horse.

Answer 8

When things went sour, soldiers used whatever they could lay their hands on. If you were in the Ukraine getting your as* kicked it was a lot easier to latch onto a horse and wagon than it was to walk back to Germany.

Answer 9

at the beginning of WW2 the german army was probably the best in the world

Answer 10

I would say fair to good in the panzer divisions and not
too good in the straight infantry units.