High Tech German military

LOL even the FJs know they're funny!

 

Is this the same Breyer that in his BB & CB book has the Iowa's with a vertical external belt? No I'll stick to my Friedman's.

 

The Same Breyer that attributed near magical qualities to the Bismarck's armor waxing eloquently about its supposedly vastly superior properties to everything else then existant......

 

Well Icky, then stick with Friedman if you wish, I just find it odd for you to trust in someone who makes as many blatantly false statements as he does, his statements on the Type XXI for one are completely uneducated.

 

Perhaps I should throw away all the 'crap' I have by Friedman?

 

I'm thinking you guys completely lost the idea of this thread altogether.

Except GI546.....that is a good one!

 

Bigfun is right, this thread is about the illusion of the High Tech Germany throughout WW2, so it is anything to do with German superiority in technology it belongs in another thread.

 

It is definitely true that the German army was generally outdated and in addition to its vast lack of resources in bad supply towards the end of the war. A lot of scientific breakthroughs were achieved but never made it into full production.

Especially weird that the myth of the super modern German army attacking ill-equipped Russia still is common belief.

I don't think that photos showing the usage of horses or carriages is proving that though.

Comparing the US forces with Germany at the time they entered the war doesn't really make sense either as Germany was down to its last reserves while the US fielded a fully equipped fresh force.

With regards to eating horses: My grandfather was part of the Wehrmacht signal corps and served in Russia from 1941 - 1945. He almost daily wrote a war diary including pictures that is still in family possesion. While it does not give away too much of his thoughts and avoids political topics (since his superiors could have read it) it includes mostly pure facts. During winter time, especially as the army was retreating, there are many accounts of digging out frozen animal cadavers that had to be eaten raw since smoke would have given away the position.

My other grandfather was an officer (US master sergeant equivalent) in the Wehrmacht Infantry, served from 1939 - 1945 in all European theaters. Upon his account he was shattered by his experience from engaging US infantry in France (after being wounded in combat in Russia) as their guns were giving away position easily and the lack of experience had his infantry squadron inflict severe casualties upon them regardless of their tremendous resource advantage.

Those are just two accounts of course, thought you might find it interesting.

 

This is an incredibly valuable resource and family treasure. May I suggest that you invetigate getting it scanned so it's available in digital form. Do talk with an arhivist first though as some of the scanners may be hard on the original.

 

Thanks, you are right and my family knows about its value. My grandfather had it all typed up sometime in the 70's - the original does not exist anymore but the photos do and they had been arranged accordingly and marked with notes.

It is indeed a valuable first hand account of history as it names places and gives first hand accounts of events such as the demyansk pocket breakout. He had been awarded the silver close combat badge, infantry assault badge 25, eastern front badge, demyansk shield, tank combat badge 50, iron cross second class, black wounded badge, and others.

I still struggle if this diary should be published and the earnings transferred to charity.

Sorry if I went a bit off topic...