In WW2, if the Germans were so advanced then why did they lose the war?

Question

They had better weapons, better tanks, better airplanes, etc...but still lost the war.

Answer 1

Now we're in my corner. I fought the Germans all the way across Europe 'till we met the Russians coming the other way. Through the whole war, I was front line infantry. They're the guys who eye-ball the enemy and fight them with rifles, pistols, grenades, machine guns, and grenades.
I'd have to say that the Germans were preparing for war many years before other countries. While we were producing washing machines, dish washers, refrigiderators, etc for domestic use, the Germans were using their best inventers for war material.
Their machine gun was better than ours. Their tanks were superior, their artillery guns were better, their planes were better, same with submarines, battleships, and many other war items.
"But still they lost the war". It takes more than just good tools to do great work. Someone has to use the tools. The German soldier was not near as good as they would have you believe. I personally fought them man to man, squad to squad, company to company.
Mant times the German soldiers would surrender when they could have fought their way out. They prefered being a live prisoner to a dead fighter. I know of no case when an American or British soldier did the same. Certainly there are some cases, but I personally know of none.

Answer 2

Better? Not at all. They fought the war with an army that was largely horse-drawn and armed with the Karabiner98Kurtz, a great hunting rifle in its refined state, but obsolete as a military arm. They had no strategic bomber, and until the Me262 came on line the fighter planes were comparable, not superior, to Allied planes. Tactical bombers were also no better than equal. The tanks were innovative but unreliable, and when they were forced to upgrade from small, nimble tanks to heavies in order to keep up with the Soviets, they began to lose consistently. People like to talk about Panthers and Tigers at their best, but the fact is that they broke down after only a few hours' use and required a week to repair a problem that would keep a Sherman down for a few hours. They spent too many resources on too many innovative projects, and this hurt the war effort when compared to the Allied strategy of producing a less capable, older, model in large numbers. It's a case of the best being the enemy of the good.

Answer 3

So advanced?

The majority of German artillery was horse-drawn throughout WW2, as was the transport and supply for two-thirds of the infantry divisions that went in to Russia in 1941

In May !941 the best tanks were not found on the German side, where a high proportion of the tank force were confiscated Czech tanks,
The best tanks were the British Matilda II, the French Char B and the Somua. Overall British and French tanks outnumbered the Geramn ones,
"... German armour was too thin, and their guns not powerful enough" General Guderian, May 1940

he Russian KV1 and T-34 came as a dreadful shock to the invading Germans.

Yes, there were reasons for Germany's early and spectacular successes, but do not buy into popular myths without critically examining them.

Their economy was an unsustainable mess and their production levels were never adequate, especially for a war in Russia.

Answer 4

It is a common myth that the Germans had the "best." The German army of the major war powers was the least motorized. About 70-80% of the German army's transportation depended on horses to move guns and supplies. As the war went on the Germans depended even more on horse and wagons.
When the Americans and Russians had adopted semi-automatic rifles for their infantry the Germans still relied on bolt-action rifles as the standard infantry weapon.
The early war German tanks were largley under-armed and the Germans found themsleves out-gunned by their enemies.
The German strength was in morale, tactics and training of the army.

Answer 5

Because winning of a war isn't just about better weapons. It lost 50 million people and was pinsered by the two biggest nations at the time USA and USSR. The USA could muster the greatest production systems ever developed.

Also, dispite being a great nation for the developement of technology, Hitler and others missunderstood the use of it. For instence, the ME262, the 1st jet fighter, could have stopped the bombing offensive but Hitler ordered to be used as a bomber - which it was not very good at.

Answer 6

If the Allies made all the blunders they made and the Germans made no blunders, the Germans would have gained. it really is how I answer all questions re: even if the Germans would have gained. to respond to your question especially, The Germans already were dropping the warfare at the same time as they determined on imposing "the finest answer". truly some die confusing Nazis realized they were going to lose the warfare and figured because they woud no longer be in a position to deport the Jews after the warfare it will be extra appropriate for the German human beings interior the longer time period (interior the context of generational historic past) in the journey that they killed all the Jews at the same time as that they had a probability. They figured the Jewish race would harm the German human beings at the same time as Germany tried to rebuild after the warfare. The seen the warfare adverse to the Jews as extra of a lengthy time period struglle than only a large warfare between united states of america States. They wanted to kill the jews earlier they lost.

Answer 7

The FULL answer is first with the failure to take Britain out of the war. This left an unsinkable airstrip and a springboard into France. Then thanks to Mussolini, Hitler had to send troops to the Balkans and North Africa. Wasting Valuable troops. Next was the battle of Stalingrad. The lose of an entire army because of the ignorance of their leader. Then theirs the inability of Hitler to allow the troops to withdraw.The failure of the Germans to stop the Invasion in Normandy. The worst is the development of weapons. The Germans wasted resources of men and material to make the wonder weapons.

Also the Germans most advance units were the Panzer and Panzer grenadiers. The Infantry was mostly like a Napoleonic Army. Most of the artillery was horse-drawn.

Answer 8

Because their industries were destroyed by allied bombers and the could produce any of their technologically advances stuff, and towards the end of the war their new recruits werent nearly as well trained as they were in the beginning especially their pilots and an untrained pilot is a sitting duck no matter how good his plane is. But the biggest thing in my opinion is the industries, tanks generally work better if they have fuel for example.

Answer 9

Some historians say Hitler micro-managed his Generals.He also made some bad mistakes,like with the first jets.He made the fastest planes in the world at the time into bombers.That meant prop type planes could keep up with them!Logistical he didn't prepare for cold weather and the distance to bring supplies to his troops.Had he let his Generals make their own decisions,let the jets be fighters instead of bombers and supplied his troops.The war would at least lasted longer.I don't think they would have won because the Americans were highly motivated along with the allies.sorry for the long answere.It's a very good question!

Answer 10

Because the Germans were overextended. They took on too many people once. The had both a western and eastern front and were taking on Britain, US, and USSR, two of which emerge after the 2nd world war as major super powers and leading to an arms race and the cold war.