Ach! What did German soldiers think about American,
Canadian and British soldiers in World War II? From German POW interrogations, documents
and translated mail, we can get some ideas of what German soldiers thought of their Western
enemies. Some may say -- Well, who cares what
some Nazi thought about Allied soldiers? The answer is that we can find out a lot about
what Allied soldiers were really like from former enemies, not just what they wrote home
to their sweethearts. No doubt, some Germans had incorrect impressions,
which were influenced by Goebbel's propaganda and mistaken Nazi views. We need to be careful not to take everything
they said as the gospel truth. But there was a very real German admiration
for “the well-known American humanity.” This assisted the Americans in a interesting way: When the German soldier was in a bad position, he knew that American soldiers
treated their POWs well. This was an inducement to surrender
and not fight to the death, regardless of his orders to the contrary. Germans were amazed at the material
superiority of the Americans. Where the British would have five
howitzers, the Americans would bring twelve. Americans overcame opposition with an
abundance of weaponry and technology. After the war was over, a running
theme from some German POWs was that the Americans didn't really
win with strategy or tactics, but they overpowered the resource poor German
soldiers with their abundance of ships, tanks, ammunition fired, etc. The German Tiger tank was a superior
weapon to the American Sherman, however, there were never enough of them to
take on the swarms of Shermans attacking. After the Germans destroyed a host of Shermans, the next day they would be
replaced and in the front line. A case in point: A shaken German veteran of the Eastern Front told his comrades that the barrage that
the Americans had just fired on them was way worse than anything the Soviets had ever
done. That's an amazing statement, because the Soviets generally had severe preparatory
artillery barrages as a matter of course. American soldiers were seen as enthusiastic
amateurs with an extreme unapologetic, unadulterated combat aggression. One major
difference between the Americans and their European Allies, the Germans noticed,
was how they reacted to a German attack. The other allies would immediately
return fire and edge their way forward to a more favorable position. Americans
would immediately return fire, however, and also bring a punishing rain of artillery or
air power on top of whatever they were fighting, and move on to the counterattack
as soon as the rain of death ended. Germans didn't believe that the average
American infantryman or tanker was particularly skilled compared to
British or German counterparts, but that Americans more than compensated
for it with their sheer aggression. The common German soldier was annoyed that
American infantry declined to “fight fairly” and relied heavily on artillery
and airpower to soften resistance. The Germans were impressed by the
America's logistical system of supply. In Italy, one captured German soldier told his
interrogator that American tactics were bad. He said that American tanks would roll over
their foxholes and then the infantry would come along an hour later, which the Germans
would stop with machine gun fire. The German stated that they counted on the Americans to
make these mistakes. By the end of the war, American infantry and tank cooperation had greatly
improved and this was an American lesson learned. Germans also found that the net
webbing on the American helmet helped them see the silhouette
from a great distance in daylight. Americans were bolder than the cautious
British, but did not charge recklessly, nor did they push relentlessly forward,
taking huge casualties in the process. The holding attack was a standard US Army
doctrine for all units, regardless of size. It was designed to take advantage of
the American superiority in logistics, artillery, and close air
support to reduce casualties. It was very successful. When a US division encountered the enemy, one of its three regiments would engage
the enemy to hold them in position. Then airpower and time-on-target
artillery barrages would hammer the enemy while the other two regiments would
make a single or double envelopment maneuver. They would repeat this action
over and over again when possible. Germans noticed that American soldiers
always seemed to be chewing bubble gum and many found this slightly humorous. German soldiers hated fighting Canadian soldiers
in house to house close-quarters fighting because they felt Canadians were barbaric and enjoyed
fighting with bayonets and wounding superficially. German soldiers believed that British soldiers
were competent, professional, but a bit slow. They felt British forces tended to only
attack with absolutely overwhelming force. Germans respected the average
British soldier's individual skill, but viewed British commanders as overly cautious. They also hated fighting the British
in a static war or a holding battle. There were good reasons why the British
held back in battle the way they did. Because many of the British officers were veterans
of World War I and were sensitive to slaughter coupled with the fact that Great Britain was
running low on replacements after years of war. This made them very cautious and they
wanted to "make the machines do the work". While he was in North Africa,
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel felt the British were better
soldiers than the Americans. He based this on his experiences in the early
battles. Rommel always complimented British soldiers and pilots. However, the British
he faced had been in the fight for over two years before the Americans had even declared war
(on Japan). US soldiers were green and learning on the job. At first, they didn't always take
the advice of their British brothers-in-arms. After the Battle of Kasserine Pass, the
American high command rid themselves of cowardly officers, which was
a step in the right direction. Rommel praised U.S. equipment giving
the British the edge in North Africa, "British experience has been put
to good use in American equipment". He especially liked the American half track.
It's not known if Rommel later changed his mind after the United States soldiers
kicked his comrades out of Normandy. What every German POW, whether in
British, Canadian or American hands, thought was, "Well, at least
I'm not in Russian hands!" If you liked the video you just watched, then you
may like these two other videos from EmersusTech.
