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While the OKW command structure was centralized under Hitler, when it came to small unit tactics the Germans were excelled. I’ve known dozens of WW2 vets who flat out told me “You never got anything from the Krauts unless they were ready to give it up’’. On the offensive the Germans hit hard and fast and when they encountered heavy resistance, especially in a fortified or fixed position they surrounded it , cut it off and kept moving, leaving the infantry to deal with it. As their fortunes changed they believed in defense in depth and whenever and where ever possible always counter attacked.

The father of my college roommate was an Italian who throughout the war managed to be with four of the armies. First the Italian Army in N. Africa, then picked up by the Germans after his unit dissolved under British fire. Then captured by the British and taken along to Sicily as an interpreter. And finally with the Americans in the same capacity on the mainland. I asked him who in his opinion were the best soldiers. Without hesitation he said the Germans.

I'm an admirer of Stephen Ambrose and there is truth in his admiration of the valor of American boys raised to question everything vs. utterly fanatical Japanese and Germans. Von Steuben observed something similar a hundred and sixty five or so years before, saying with Prussian trainees you told them what to do and they just did it. American troops would demand to know why they were doing things Von Steuben's way. If the Germans had equaled the Americans and British in numbers, mobility, and air and ground firepower the fight in the west would probably have turned out very differently.

I think today's volunteer American army is similar to the Wehrmacht in terms of professionalism, but made up of the same kind of irreverent and free thinking Americans that served at Valley Forge and Normandy. It's more than sad to see them having to serve under this current pack of traitors.