The German Soldiers of World War II

Great history lesson !

Thank you for the great history share Diane.

I think if you look at the historical model for how we organize our Army, especially the Infantry/Armor side of things, it's very much like the model of the Wehrmacht. In spite of how they were portrayed in films, German Officers trained with, lived with and ate the with the troops. Their company, platoon and squad organization are very similar to ours today and they were one of the first Army's to try to insure that the soldier on the lower levels had the concept of the operation at least a couple levels up from his position, so that squad member knew the mission of at least the Company. When you look at most of the Armies coming out of WWI, that in itself was revolutionary.
While I agree on their tanks and light machine guns, I don't find their other arms superior to those of the Allies, especially after 1943. They fought most of WWII with a WWI rifle, their Aircraft was being outclassed by the newer Allied models and they probably would have been better off with a simpler tank that they could have produced in numbers.
The major weakness was obvious from Dunkirk, when the Germans were forced to halt to allow their supply train, that was not motorized to the extent of their mechanized units, to catch up. The lowly Deuce and a Half was probably as responsible for winning the war as the M1 Garand and Sherman Tank. It allowed our forces to supply over long distances and move troops rapidly from one location to another (Think Battle of the Bugle). It also allowed the Russians to move Armies over large distances along with their rather massive artillery capabilities.