There was a German commander named Hermann Balck. He was by a cold river in Russia. His troops were cold and only 25 tanks remained. Then, a massive Russian army, hundreds of tanks, struck. But Balck's small band did not flee but ran very quickly. Those 25 tanks were able to destroy more than 220 Russian tanks in just a few days.
This is because they were trained in this way. There was no bossing around by the high bosses. They simply set the young soldiers a target and let them work out how to achieve it. It made them very quick and deadly in small engagements.
But these skills were not enough to save them. They were very poor at the big picture.
The army was not modernized. Most of them used horses to pull their wagons. Heavy snow fell and they were cold and hungry. In addition, Germany had the error of fighting America, Britain, and Russia simultaneously. It's impossible to win if your enemies can make more weapons.
Also, they were not innocent. We should not forget that ordinary Germans committed horrific acts of violence against civilians.
No doubt they were very good at fighting on the ground. Their leaders did not have a plan to win the real war.
Comments
Post a Comment