Yes. My co-author & I, in “A Patriot’s History of the Modern World” debated a lot the relative quality of the GI vs Germans and no question for most of the war the Germans were superior due to training.
My dad was in the 7th Army. First landfall overseas for him was North Africa. The fighting had already halted but there was still a captured German army left to process, as well as some Italian units. My dad says the Afrika Korps POWs were the best trained soldiers he saw in the entire war. Their officers had them all get up at the crack of dawn and drill every day. They had good order and discipline in everything they did. The Italians... were Italians.
One of the German POWs spoke very good English. He told the GIs processing him “I feel sorry for you. You have to stay and fight the war. I get to go to America”.
My mom lived on a farm in west Texas. During the war they employed a number of German POWs. Coulda been one rounded up by my dad.
The Japanese were good soldiers, well-trained, dedicated (to the point of fanaticism), and tough but lacking any improvisation skills. The Germans combined that with ingenuity.
Books from the German viewpoint like "Hold the Westwall" by Timm Haasler, and Doug Nash's "Victory Was Beyond Their Grasp" gave me a better idea of exactly what my own Uncle B faced while he was still trudging up that learning curve. He was lucky to survive long enough to become proficient at his task.
Mr. niteowl77