High Tech German military

Why would they be wearing German uniforms? Im assuming that you havent taken the time to read the thread.The Germans along with others used horses and bicycles from before the war till the very end. The Germans more so then others. Hence one of the reasons for this thread.

 

My father was in the 14th Cavalry Group. '43-'44 prior to deployment to European theater these guys were still training on horses in the U.S. They would ride at a full gallop, with their side arm (.45) in their right hand and fire at targets from 25-30 feet away. Horses would not flinch one bit with the firing next to their head. Horses probably half deaf in that ear.

Granted they were a fully mechanized cavalry unit when they arrived in Europe, but the concept of horse mounted reconnaissance still existed.

Did not read the full post above, but seems to me that the Germans throughout the war used horses quite extensively to pull artillery, etc.

My dad observed on several occasions columns of German forces in retreat back into Germany that had been strafed (Jan. and Feb. '45). There would be stretches where there were dozens, upon dozens of dead horses.

 

You might like to read all of it when you have a chance . Lots of information provided about the use of horses by the Germans and the myth of the armored mechanised might of the Wehrmacht. One of the points made is that the Germans HAD to use horses quite extensively rather then the Allies who use them when they felt the need.

 

Sorry .History always portrays germany having the best equitment during ww2.

 

well not exactly german heavy tanks usually were as worthless as the people who made them like the tiger 1 the steering mechanism would sometimes break down under the vehicles wieght and the tiger 2 king tiger if you read in other threads concerning the tiger 2 they are always saying about how the tiger 2 tank would have alot of mechanical break downs during battles making them extremely unreliable but they were used during the battle of the bulge even though that is not the subject of this thread and also if the germans were so good tech wise then how come they lost the war I mean sure they had the first jet engines but coud not get them enough of them in action quick enough so there you go germans lost the war there tech was not very good.

 

They were probably more reliable.

 

Thats what I bet they were thinking. And so much easier to maintain LOL.

 

Absolutely, there have been excellent examples provided here of the deficiencies in German technology. Many of the examples have shown to be primarily with transportion and the use of horses.

Let this not mislead visitors to think that the German army was this vastly technologically inferior fighting force and the reason we defeated them was primarliy because of technology superiority. (Although the invention of the gravity suit for pilots by Dr. Wood enabled our pilots to turn inside the turns of German fighters without passing out. This invention helped to gain air dominance)

German armor on tanks was generally superior to U.S. tank armor. Some frontal armor was upwards of 8" The Sherman was sometimes referred to as the Zippo Lighter because when hit it often times went up in flames. Armor on Shermans was not nearly equal its counterparts.

There was a greater array of automatic weaponry available to the German foot soldier. The German had the advantage in small unit suppressive fire abilities. The MG-42's rate of fire was 1200-1500 rpm and was portable with a bi-pod that flip out when the soldier went prone. When the barrel in a MG-42 needed to swapped out, it could be done in a manner of minutes. Swapping the barrel on a .50 or .30 machine-gun took some time. I am well aware that the .30 and .50 were excellent weapons, but I am referring to portability here. U.S. soldiers for portable automatic fire had the Thompson which had a very low rpm and was not highly effect at any kind of longer range. The BAR, although a potent weapon had a relatively low rate of wire.

The 88 mm gun was no pop gun and proved deadly against U.S. armor. Anyone ever hear of the "88 crouch"? It was a reference to having yourself in a crouched position prepared to hit the ground when you heard the zip of the incoming 88. The flat trajectory and velocity of the 88 gave virtually no time o react to "incoming".

I am sure those with more knowledgable in weaponry will counter argue here. My point is to show that there were areas where German technolgy was in fact excellent.

 

And those subjects have been covered many many times here in this Forum before. I don't claim that they didn't haver items that were superior but I would prefer to not have this thread changed to things already covered before in other threads . This thread is not to argue over how good or advanced the Germans were but to show that contrary to popular belief the majority of the German military was based on using the horse and other less High Tech equipment. Check out the endless "Best" type threads LOL.

 

Wintertime

 

My intent was not to rehash other threads. Rather I was simply questioning the lack of qualification that some posts had. A novice with limited knowledge who has not done as much research as you might walk away from this thread thinking the Germans were a vastly inferior force.

I was making an observation of a possible conclusion one might draw. Manner of opinion.

Qualification in discourse serves a purpose.

 

I see your point but I do want to point out that they were vastly inferior when it came to Transportation, and Logistics,Production and Manufacturing and even Engineering. What use is it to have "excellent" weapons if you cant supply them or get them to the troops or to even get the troops and supplies like food to the front? As I have stated before this thread was made to show that unlike what the propaganda promoted the German military was far less mechanised then they were. Not that thier weapons nor thier soldiers were inferior. They were not the technological supermen that some think.

 

I see your point as well. What was portrayed through the offcial propaganda machine did not show the pervasiveness of horse drawn vehicles. Re: production. Don't recall were I read but do remember that some German tank production was at its highest level towards the end of the war. No diesel to run them however.

 

German tank production peaked in late 1944. But, this was done at the expense of stopping production of other things that largely negated the increased tank production. For example, the Germans stopped production of tractors (wheeled and tracked of the sort like a caterpillar or a John Deere) in late 1942 in favor of more military production. With the huge draw on horses by the Wehrmacht to make up for losses German agriculture suffered. Farmers didn't have tractors and now, they didn't have horses.
By early 1944 the production of unarmored half tracked vehicles ended. This led to a shortage of prime movers for artillery and recovery vehicles for tanks. But, the Germans got more infantry halftracks instead.
The same went for tanks. The problem then became that there weren't enough support vehicles to keep them supplied and running. So, even when there was sufficent fuel or ammunition it couldn't be gotten to the tanks when it was needed. Broken down tanks were abandoned instead of recovered and repaired. The equipment for this often wasn't available.

The same thing happened with aircraft. The Germans built literally thousands of airplanes in 1944. But, there weren't anywhere near enough pilots and ground crew. Pilots were in short supply because the schools and instructors had been emptied earlier in the war to provide pilots in a pinch. The ground crew had disappeared into the army as replacements having been idled in the earlier years when fewer aircraft were available.

German production planning was incredibly shortsighted.

 

How about the German body armour. The German used this body armour in ww1, so I am guessing that the German would have used this equitment in ww2.
Does not look German high tech to me.

German military equipment

 

I don't think those stormtrooper armor vests were worn in WW2. Soviet troops did wear them, though.

 

Thanks wolfy. They weren't.