Comments by "Dennis Weidner" (@dennisweidner288) on "4th Panzer Army is shattered! BATTLESTORM STALINGRAD E36" video.

  1. These discussions of the Ostkrieg often note how the German allies (Hungarian, Italian, and Romanian) forces were largely ineffectual. The assumption was that they did not have the same fighting spirit as the Deutsche Ostheer. This may or may not be true, but it is vital to recognize how poorly equipped they were. They did not have much in the way of anti-tank guns or modern artillery. The Deutsche Ostheer itself was poorly equipped. Some 80 percent of the Ostheer was unmotorized infantry moving east on foot with horse-drawn carts. So you can imagine to what extent the Germans helped equip the allied armies. This should be born in mind when assessing the NAZI allied armies. here are other important considerations: Why were the Germans not better able to supply their own as well as allied armies? They had a far larger heavy (steel) industry component than the Soviets. They should have out produced the Soviets hands down . Especially so much of Soviet industry was located in the Western Soviet Union and overrun. The Soviets moved whole factories east, but many were overrun. And the NAZIs occupied or controlled virtually all of Western and Eastern Europe, except the unoccupied Soviet Union. They should have hugely out produced the Soviet Union, but they did not. So you have to ask why. There were three basic reasons: 1. NAZI industrial policy was a disaster. Not only in the Reich, but in the occupied territories. Unlike the Soviets, German companies continued to focus on quality and resisted mass production methods. And Except for Czechoslovakia, the occupied territories were not effectively integrated into the NAZI war economy. France is a case in point. France had a large modern, arms industry which made almost contribution to the German war effort. The NAZIs seemed as interested in killing slave laborers as increasing production. 2. The Soviets in contrast rose to the occasion. They introduced American mass production techniques during the 1930s. They also realized that the life span of tanks and other equipment night be only a few days in battle. Thus it did not make sense to create high quality weapons made to last a life time. They also understood that unnecessary tinkering with designs slowed down production. There was also American Lend-Lease which was very important. . Here the Americans give too much weight to it and the Russians attempt to say it was meaningless. 3. The most important factor was the War in the West. German MANPOWER was primarily committed to the Ostkrieg, German INDUSTRY, however, was primarily committed to the War in the West. It takes a lot of industry to build aircraft and ships, very little to build horse carts. It is important to understand that half of Germany's war industry was used to build air craft and missiles. And the air war was primarily fought in the West as was the naval war. This diversion of industrial output meant that the Ostkrieg, the decisive campaign of the War, was fought by the Ostheer which was poorly equipped and supported.
    3