[FreedomPoster]

That’s a great point many don’t understand. German logistics were largely trains and horse drawn wagons, with the relatively few trucks mostly dedicated to support for armor, artillery and mechanized infantry units.

German infantry divisions walked to get from point A to point B in a road march. While U.S. infantry divisions nominally walked, in reality there were enough vehicles in attached units that had vehicles that pretty much everybody could get a ride. Sure, riding on the back deck of a tank, or jammed in the back of a truck mostly carrying artillery ammunition wasn’t comfortable, but it beat the heck out of walking.

[sparklite2]

Here is something else most people are unaware of, the Goliath.


A few Goliaths were also seen on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day, though most were rendered inoperative due to artillery blasts severing their command cables.  The vehicle was steered remotely via a joystick control box. The control box was connected to the Goliath by a 650-metre (2,130 ft), triple-strand cable attached to the rear of the vehicle. The cable was used both for control and for transmitting power to the electric driven version. Two of the strands were used to move and steer the Goliath, while the third was used for detonation. Each Goliath was disposable, being intended to be blown up with its target.

[Oatka]

in reality there were enough vehicles in attached units that had vehicles that pretty much everybody could get a ride.

I read about a GI who told of his experiences in Nazi Germany near the end of the war - as in May, 1945. He was part of a group herding German soldiers to the rear, marching along a road that had a seemingly non-ending train of trucks bumper-to-bumper.

He caught the eye on one prisoner, who pointed to the trucks and sneered "Propaganda".