Did the Germans have better technology than the allies during WW2 or did they rush technology to the front?

Question

Think about it, USA's Goddard and rockets, USA and British Aircraft Carriers, Superior production by USA (our stuff actually worked), the USA and proximaty fuses, the British and superior radar against the Luftwaffe, the USSR and T34 diesel tanks, the United State's atomic bomb; I doubt the Germans' had a technological edge.

Answer 1

There is no clear cut answer to this question. It depends on the area of tech you are considering. In some areas, such as tank design it took a long time to catch up ergo the Sherman was inferior to the German tanks. But the tech of the U.S. surpassed the Germans in production of tanks. Further the Sherman was very simple and easily repaired. The German tanks were marvelous jobs of engineering but hellish to repair. And their production techniques were not nearly as good as the U.S. The U.S. supplied sheer numbers to defeat the German armor.

In aircraft the Germans had a clear advantage in the air, as did the Japanese. But when it really go rolling the U.S. produced the finest aircraft of the war. The Mustang, The Flying Fortress (B17), the C47, the B29 and the Billy Mitchell (B25) were all the class of the war during the latter days.

Answer 2

The Allies (us) were very lucky that we had access to adequate resources for the war & Germany didn't, & that we did one hell of a job of catchup with the Germans. The US picked up several asylum seeking German nuclear & rocket scientists prior to the war. At the war's beginning, the German planes, tanks, & small arms were far superior to anything the Allies had. They built the first jet planes & what we now call medium range rockets during the war. They were also very close to a working nuclear bomb when they surrendered. And they lost several key battles near the end of the war when their tanks ran out of fuel.

We were very fortunate. The period between World Wars saw the Germans developing advanced weapons while the Allies didn't.. I think it is likely we might have made the same mistake after WW II if the USSR hadn't kept us on our toes. Since then, we have kept a strong focus on developing better weapons systems, in spite of the cost. We should probably keep doing that as I don't think we will have the opportunity to win at catch up again if another major conflict occurs.

Answer 3

Starting off their technology was far superior. Consider the Panzer's vs our Sherman's. Bigger guns, more armor, diesel engines vs gas engines the exploded like bombs when hit. The early German weapons were far superior to those of the allies. The difference was that when America entered the war we were able to produce a far greater quantity of war materials than the rest of the combatants combined. As we overpowered the Germans by sheer volume of materials their technological advantage began to diminish due to allied weapon advances. While the Germans still continued to field new weapons systems such as the first rocket powered and jet fighters, their ability to produce them in useful volumes declined. By the end of the war it is now well documented that the Germans had developed a crude nuclear warhead but had no aircraft with which to deploy it. Indeed much of the plans for their advanced weaponry was placed on a sub and sent to Japan where it was hoped that they would have the ability to employ it against the allies and bring Germany back from defeat as it were. Germany was defeated by America's previously untapped industrial complex and the determination of a righteously indignant American public.

Answer 4

My grandfather was in WW2, British Army. He was a top gunner in a tank, along came a German tank and blew the side of his tank,(no problem) then the thing set on fire.. he lived, the other two inside didn't. The German tanks were far superior, but with radar and the Spitfire we gained some ground.

That was before the USA joined in of course.

Answer 5

They had stuff that was as good as or better than ours, but under constant air assault, acts of sabotage by slave laborers and resistance fighters, and the frenetic running around of the Fuehrer's train of thought, it never got produced or deployed correctly.

Supposedly Roll Royce had to tell the British government that they were very sorry but they couldn't match the tolerances in a captured Messerschmitt Me-109 motor, let alone match the speed of the twin-jet Me-262. The Germans had tanks that would have overwhelmed anything else on the battlefield, but they couldn't transport them. The V-2 (especially its guidance system) was years ahead of anything we had, which is why we used captured ones to get our own missile program started. They were hot on the trail of the atomic bomb, but Hitler squandered his science on foolishness instead (thank God).

It was Hitler's monomania , and the fact that he decided to fight everyone at once, that lost the war for the Germans.

What we did have on our side was remoteness, resources, and vast industry that couldn't be bombed on a monthly basis.

Answer 6

Germany was MANY years ahead of the British, US, and Russia in technology back in the 40's.

There have been many books and shows on TV about this very topic. We never did fully catch up either. That's why after the war was over, the USA and Russia were in a race to find all the scientists, engineers, documentation and parts.

The entire space race was really a battle between Russia's German scientists and America's German scientists.

Answer 7

In some ways they did. Both the Tiger and panther tanks were superior to ours in armor and firepower. But they were complicated vehicles, hard to produce harder to maintain in the field.
The Germans built the first jet planes and rockets. Too little too late, but still better than anything we built. What we did was build much more, they only built 1500 or so tigers, we built over 35 thousand Shermans and the Russians did the same or better with the T-34. We over whelmed their quality with quantity.

Answer 8

Yes they had the first operational jets and long range rockets.Which Germany had shared with Japan!The Germans were also trying to develop an atomic bomb.From what I understand there was speculation the the German scientists hindered the development.They were probably smart enough to know once Hitler started using the bomb he wouldn't stop!

Answer 9

I was 5 when Japan attack us and got us in the war, and about 11 when we tested the first Atomic Bomb in New Mexico. The Germans are very very very very very smart people, Albert Einstein is a Jew from Germany who is a Pacific's, and left Germany to come to the US. So he already knew what they were capable of. One of his Physics fiends came here and told him what the Germans were working on. He wrote a letter to President Roosevelt, warning him of Hitlers intentions. That started the Manhattan Projects in which the Atomic Bomb was produced which we dropped on Japan. I remember hearing of the test in New Mexico, and we seen it on the News Reels in the movie heathers. When I seen that flash and mushroom cloud coming up it gave me chill. :)

Answer 10

Better technology. Better field commanders. Worse top managment. Bad luck. No doubt - the germans had far superior technology.

We came awfully close to speaking German instead of the spanish crap you hear spoken everywhere now. Hmmm, german doesn't sound too bad after all.