Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "US vs German Squads (Mid-1944) Who was Superior? | Animated History" video.

  1. The absolute hallmark of the Germans was their counter-attack doctrine. In such operations, they had no peer -- clean through the end of the war. Consequently, it was COMMON for the Germans to sit passively to absorb an attack -- relying on their MG42s -- and then, after their enemies had spent themselves -- launch a prompt counter-attack. This sequence was followed at all levels. The Battle of the Bulge was a strategic level counter-attack. After the Normandy breakout, the Germans took a severe morale hit -- plus they lost a ton of panzers.
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  2.  @there_can_only_be_one__unicorn  I still have my copies. I just don't have college kids to play against. And they are pre-video, anyway.
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  3.  @FinnishHammerItOn  You have corn fused me. The Krauts lost their panzers after the Normandy breakout because they could not pull them back. Their panzer's immobility was driven by air strikes against fuel deliveries -- rail and road. Strangely, a deep analysis of air power in mid-44 versus panzers proved that direct air strikes against Nazi panzers were astoundingly ineffective. Air power just tore up all soft targets, but 50 cal bullets just bounced off Panthers. And such bullets were the bulk of ordnance thrown at the Krauts. Even Typhoon rockets were not really effective against panzers. They were fantastically effective against all soft targets, though. They also lost their panzers in Normandy because the Allies dropped every last Seine bridge into said river. The Krauts found that it was impossible to set temporary bridging to solve their crisis. Here and there, working panzers were captured by the British. That's how crazy the retreat became... in the end. The normal German practice was to destroy their panzers when capture was at hand. After the Normandy breakout, German morale totally collapsed. It was not as bad as 2021 Afghanistan -- but it was close. The USA found piles of bicycles and rifles all the way across France. Aachen was originally supposed to be given over to the US as an open city. If this had been done, the war would've been over by Christmas. For Aachen would've put the US Army over the Rhine, hard upon the Ruhr... and without any fighting. Market-Garden really did save Nazi Germany for months and months. BTW, the Allies never ran out of gasoline// petrol. Rather, Monty requested 2,500 GMC 2.5 ton trucks to replace his clapped out lorries. Their loss shut down the Red Ball Express -- and 12th Army Group's advance. The gasoline simply could not be delivered to the front without the now-missing GMC trucks. My own Father lost his GMC to Monty at this time. Bradley brought this up in his auto-bio -- but you just don't ever see the tale in British accounts. For them, these trucks appeared out of no-where. So, they didn't figure in their war narrative. This loss of trucks was brought up in the film 'Patton.' But it's phrased in terms of gasoline -- not the GMC trucks. But it was the TRUCKS that decided the whole affair. The gasoline was piling up back in Normandy something silly.
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  4.  @patcoghlan3852  The National Guard units (28th) started out as militia -- but during the build-up they were drastically changed with new recruits. Read Bradley's autobio which goes into his repair of the 28th. He washed out virtually EVERY officer... putting his pals into the division. So it's no wonder the 28th was selected by Bradley to march through Paris. Marshall's regiment from the 4th Infantry division also marched through Paris.
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  5. BTW, the Germans QUICKLY ran 'out of talent.' Artillery did them in. As for the Germans -- it was their 81mm mortar that did BY FAR the most damage -- NOT machine guns. This was due to the bocage. Arcing fire did the damage.
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  6. There is a STRONG tendency to forget just how MANY bullets an MG 42 can chew through. So much so that no-one can hump that many. So much that in such a scenario it requires just too many bullets for the Germans to bring to bear unless it's a fixed defensive position. D-Day's MG-42s had about 5,000 rounds as a standard issue. Even so, that proved too little. BTW, the actual bullets are personally loaded by the crews before they go into the belts. This is why the Germans ran out of ammo. It's also why Germans can tell historians how many bullets they fired on D-Day. They fired off every bullet that had been 'belted.'
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