In the battle against Poland, the Germans had far superior weaponry and were able to attack at will (Poland being basically defenseless at that time due to its bulge to the east that had no natural barriers unlike now with the Oder-Neisse)
IN the battle against France, the Germans had inferior weaponry (French tanks and guns and artillery at that time were superior), but had superior tactics and far greater mobility.
Against the Soviet union they had the initial advantage of modern equipment but couldn't compete with Russian land advantage. If they had had better tactics and had consolidated, then things would have been different. Instead they targetted Moscow during winter -- insanity
Hitler wasn’t interested in Moscow, it was all about getting the Caucuses oil fields.
However by taking Moscow, it could have very well resulted in the collapse of the Soviet government, certainly Stalin was on thin ice as it was. Stalin made a lot of enemies, and once they overcame their fear of him, it would have been only a matter of time before Stalin got his, and new leadership took over. Who knows they may have even abandoned Bolshevism in order to unite the country against Hitler. Then we would have had the best-case scenario. No more Nazism nor Bolshevism.
I don't think the German "soldier" was better or braver on average.
Better trained, more disciplined, and better equipped. Their only problem was that there were too few of them, thankfully. They inflicted massive casualties on opposing armies. They just outran their supply lines and faced an enemy, the Soviets, who accepted an horrendous loss of life to achieve their objectives. It became a battle of attrition.
Most Americans believe that D-Day was the pivotal battle of the war, but Kursk was the downfall of the German military. It should be noted that British intelligence was able to discover the German plans for Kursk and informed the Soviets prior to the battle. I still have difficulty comprehending the size and scope of Kursk. The statistics are mind-boggling.
The Soviets has the 76mm anti-tank gun which surprised the Germans who generally used 37mm guns. They immediately had to ramp up to the 75mm.
No, the Wehrmacht was diverted from Moscow by Hitler to take over Kiev first over the objections of the Wehrmacht generals. If the German army hadn't wasted time messing with Kiev, they could have take Moscow before winter.