High Tech German military

US Army report on German Cavalry In WWII


http://www.onewest.net/~holscher/images/German Cavalry In World War Two.pdf

 

Some nice footage of tanks being unloaded in Norway.Then.......Horses!!! .

Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive at USHMM -- RG-60.2403

 

I like that last photo it is good.

 

Great find, JC. Obviously this was writtern post-war. Did the original link have the date of release listed?

 

I realize some like to point out the lack of German mechanized transportation. The fact is everybody had their shortcomings. The Soviets relied on western industry to provide it with its needs and the U.S. waited practically three years before it even got heavily involved with the war in Europe. The simple fact is the Wehrmacht was still the best trained army and had the best equipment.

 

I think there are those here who would question and seriously debate that that was not true in its entirety.

 

I wonder how many trucks and motor vehicles were lost by the German Army between Summer 1941-May 1944?

The Germans, at their peak, had 1/3rd motorization in the summer of 1941. If there were no Russian invasion and no serious losses from that theater,the German Army may have achieved near total motorization by May 1944.

 

It gets worse for the Germans as the war progresses. Tractor production ceases in late 1941. By the beginning of 1944 most unarmored halftrack production has ended. All those large half track prime movers? What units had was all they were getting.
Now, the Wehrmachtschlepper halftrack and the RSO did continue in production along with dwindling numbers of Mailter half track truck conversions but, as the war progressed the Germans were in many ways de-motorizing their army.
It doesn't help that the Luftwaffe and SS were pigs when it came to motor vehicles. Their units often took more than their share of vehicles, particularly the Luftwaffe. This really bit into motorization and keeping units motorized in the Wehrmacht.
The lack of engineering and construction capacity also just demolished what motor vehicle capacity the Wehrmacht did have. Since the Germans were unable to keep the railways advancing with the army, particularly in Russia, trucks had to be substituted for trains to haul supplies forward. With more construction capacity the Germans might have been able to keep their supply lines open with trains instead of trucks greatly reducing the loss rate of the later through wear and tear.

 

Ill have to check and see. That report was one of the many I had in my files LOL.

 

In the early war stage (1939-1941) the SS got shut off and disfavored from the Heer's distribution channels. When did the SS/Luftwaffe gain enough political backing to take more?

 

I've always been curious about how many tons of supplies were continuously available for a Heer infantry division compared to US Army infantry division in Normandy.

 

For things like motor vehicles they simply cut seperate contracts with the suppliers then through their political connections got higher priority for the equipment. The Heer got what was left.

 

The German Army, and Hitler, were apparently planning for a war to start in 1945. Perhaps they would have been fully mechanised by that time, if their original plan had worked.

 

I have been trying to give you rep for some time now for this thread, and I keepgetting that I have to spread it around. ahh