Comments by "Kameraden" (@Alte.Kameraden) on "Britain’s WORST EVER tank battle: The Battle of Gazala 1942 BATTLESTORM Documentary" video.

  1. I often try to convey to people. "Were the Germans really that good or were their opponents really that bad?" You often see a common trend with a horribly unorganized command structure, infighting or flat out inexperienced officers leading to a lot of military disasters in WWII. Having good soldiers and good equipment can only take you so far. Not to defend the Soviets really on this one, not aiming to. But people often point to poor officers and Stalin's purges on why the USSR performed so terribly in the early years of the war. Issue is, so did the French, and British... they also performed poorly early on in the war so what was 'their' excuse? The British however rather than admitting their own failures often, will uplift "German Superiority" as a crutch, an excuse. "We were fighting the very best! So of course we took some licks." I would argue, that the German Military at this time were not super saiyans. But... were just actually competent. The only real competent military at the time, in spite of all it's shortcomings it was the competency that kept it alive. When looking back on it from a modern perspective it's honestly hard to see how so many militaries could be so incompetent. You actually see this in the Pacific theatre as well, British in Indo-China pretty much gave up with barely any resistance the moment their battle plan was compromised ie the moment the Japanese went around their positions through the jungle, instead of trying to reform new lines elsewhere they surrendered the entire garrison! Meanwhile you have the Phillipines and Wake Island where local US Marines, Filipinos, and armed Civilians actually held up really well against the Japanese, in spite of fighting pretty much hopeless battles, losing in the end but giving the Japanese a black eye similar to the Russo-Finnish War. Making the British collapse in Indo-China look that much more embarrassing for well British pride. That being said the US Military wasn't perfect, but I think that kind of digs that knife a bit deeper when you think about it. I'm honestly curious how bad the British Officer Corp really was at this time in history. It's obvious they had some good officers who understood their shortcomings and tried to make something good out of the British military early war. But my god... man. It's a mess.
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