I'm reading this book that is the war experience of German tanker Otto Carius. He seems to have a wonderful memory and shares his experiences in great detail. He fought on both fronts and seems to think more highly of the Russian soldier than the American soldier. He says thirty Americans are worth five Russians,however, I believe it is somewhat due to a difference in combat doctrine but Carius does not seem to think along those lines. The other thing I question is if he inflates his own success as far as the quantity of tank kills that he claims to have. Still this is a good read about one of Germany's greatest warriors. He comes across as a very smart man and he seems to have few regrets as he was just doing what his nation called him to do.
It is a good book, I like it very much. It is easy to ready and yet substantial at the same time. here are some other threads about this book. http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-books-publications/12980-also-carius-book-exoneration.html http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-books-publications/12736-best-tiger-book-anyone-3.html http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-books-publications/12916-tigers-mud-reprint.html http://www.ww2f.com/weapons-wwii/21554-tiger-heroic-tales.html You have to, and I think you have, take into account at what time he fought the Americans. He was in the Rurh Pocket and nobody on the outside was in any hurry to collapse it. They wanted to go home.
I really wonder about that one. I think he inflates numbers which was common for the Germans or anyone else. I know we inflated Iraqi tank kills in Desert Storm.
Possible but I personally doubt it, take at a look at # of Soviet tanks destroyed in the war...a lot may have broken down in battle but many were the victims of warriors like Carius.
As far as his opinion of US troops goes it is largely, if not completely, irrelevant. Carius had only the briefest combat experiance against the US while commanding 1/512 S. Pzjr Abt. in the Ruhr pocket in late 1944 early 1945. His encounters there were limited and his command ended up falling apart and surrendering piecemeal along with other troops in that pocket. 2/512 under Lt. Albert Ernst did a bit better and managed the only formal surrender of a command in the pocket. But, Tiger tanks were a true rarity along with heavy Pzjr. They were truly the exception in the German military. They may have done well where they fought but, like a rock in the middle of a river they did little to impede its overall flow. In the end analysis they were a mistake logistically, and employed improperly both tactically and strategically. Essentially, for the Germans they were one more self-inflicted mistake in the military art.
Actually Gardner, the WWII American units that impressed me are the Rangers and the Marines. Why not give me a good link to American tank aces of WWII? Thanks for remaining civil, in light of your obvious disagreement (if not anger? lol, at my posts?), wish I had more time to argue, er discuss, the many points u raised.
Start with this: http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/9861-best-tanks-aces-3.html Creighton Abrams is another US tank ace of some note as a second name on this. Or for the weird: http://www.ww2f.com/weapons-wwii/12478-piper-cub-tank-hunters.html
Two points Hawkerace: 1. I rarely, if ever, "get mad" with another poster. Ask anyone who's been here any length of time. I have the patience of Job. That is one of the finer qualities of a good Navy Chief. 2. In showing you Sgt Pool I was demonstrating that the Allies too had their tank aces and that theirs were every bit as sharp as the Germans. The exact score doesn't matter. Any and all of the scores shown could be wrong by up to 100%. My point, and that of many others here is that the Germans were not some group of "Super soldier" who alone were possessed of some "Hollywood" version of mass destruction. Both sides produced their share of aces every bit as good as the other did.
Lord knows he's had ample opportunity. I saw him actually get mildly aggitated one time with a poster, though. It was an Aussie goober named Roddoss72 and he later got intimate with door to the forum.
that was a poor thread to post as it disproves your point... To quote the reliable MKenny... "Further to this how many of the 52000 German AFV's shall we say served in the East? Let me make pluck say 30000 out of the air. 96000 Russian losses against 30000 is something in the region of 3:1. Even if we halve it at 26000 we still don't get the cricket scores. No matter which way you cut it the huge ratio of losses often quoted just does not bear scrutiny." And yet more to blow your own argumement away using the thread you posted... "The figures for January to June 1943: Russian Tank/SP losses, 5750 German tank losses only, 3500 The German losses for Febuary 1943 are very high, 1600 against Russian losses of 1570." Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
"In showing you Sgt Pool I was demonstrating that the Allies too had their tank aces and that theirs were every bit as sharp as the Germans. The exact score doesn't matter. Any and all of the scores shown could be wrong by up to 100%." Actually it proved to me that overall the allies tank aces were no way up to snuff with those of the Germans. I can't see how a score does not matter and I don't believe for a minute that all of the scores could be wrong 100%. How can someone with 25 or 40 combat missions (talking about pilots) equal someone with 100s of combat missions? So Wittmann may not have shot down a single tank in WWII?? The allied tank and fighter aces were no way even close to the Germans. Anyway, that's IMHO.
Baron, I posted that discussion because it gave some interesting figures and views. How does this disprove my point in that I don't believe the figures of the German aces are exaggerated? U dont make sense Baron.
