Good reply. There was no significant German insurgency like in Iraq. We crushed what there was of it with field executions and information blackouts.
As I recall, our practice in WWII of actually “winning a war and defeating the enemy’s will to fight” before rebuilding their country enabled a no-nonsense policy of dealing with insurgents. Sure, we may have actually taken more casualties in the long run by immediately going into each Iraqi village with 3 times the troops and establishing order and martial law, but this insurgency would not likely have occurred.
I don’t fault the administration for trying. I only fault those who don’t learn from this mistake.
There was no substantial will to fight in Germany in 1945, nor were there the same ethnic divisions and the religious hatreds were more muted. Also, Germany, unlike Iraq, had recent experience with democracy and free markets. These are other significant differences.