Re: El Guettar, German and US forces were pretty much equal strength...as curiously, were the costs of battle. Eachside had about 5000 KIA/WUA, and about 50 tanks destroyed. The British 8th Army, was proximate to the battle, and the Germans were concerned about being outflanked. But perhaps the greatest difference was the commanders..Patton had just taken command, while Rommel was in Germany at the time.
Bastogne, while an incredibly heroic action by lightly armed US troops, isn't, IMHO, a valid argument. The Germans knew they had an incredibly short time window to take the town..it was never an organzied campaign..they just kept throwing in more and more troops and armor in frontal assaults...and once the first one failed, they were committed. Really bad command decisions...the US troops were very brave, and very lucky..
So let me make sure I’ve got this right.
Victories in battles like Kasserine Pass, where inexperienced American troops were led by incompetent commanders like Fredendall making bad decisions, are signs of German military prowess. It’s okay that Rommel went up against Fredendall. That’s shows how much better German generals were.
On the other hand, victories like El Guettar were not signs of American effectiveness because Patton was so much better than Hans-Jürgen von Arnim. Bastone doesn’t count either despite overwhelming numerical superiority because after all, the Germans were led by commanders making bad decisions.
Is that about right?