Why was the German army better equipped than the Allied armies during World War II?

Question

For example, compare a German soldier, with their camouflage and assault rifles, to an Allied soldier, in their khaki uniforms and bolt- action rifles, or a German Panther or Tiger tank to an Allied Sherman or T-34.

Answer 1

"Why was the German army better equipped than the Allied armies during World War II?"



I remember a historian talking about the fall of France in WWII relating it to the Allied mindset.. "We were afflicted by the illness not uncommon, the belief that were were victorious and powerful and right..."

The Allies were content with the win and figured they had what it takes - so they got complacent in things like tank design and tactics; the Germans on the other hand put great effort in to not make the same mistake[s] again and were anything but complacent.



That's why in the beginning you have the Allied dumbfounded by the likes of Blitzkrieg and use of tanks; why the RAF were flying in the outdated 'Vic' formation of three aircraft while the Luftwaffe developed the Rotte and 'finger four' formation... the Allies didn't take too long to catch up however, proof being in the win.



The equipment didn't much differ, it was how they were used [tactics] that made the difference.. a French Char Bis or British Matilda tank sure beats a PzKpfw II just as there wasn't much difference between a Spitefire Mk I and a Messerschmitt Bf 109 Emil

Answer 2

A lot would depend on when exactly during the war we're talking about. In 1939-1940, the German army was actually behind the allies in many respects. The French had more tanks and better tanks than the Germans in 1940; a Char B was pretty terrifying in battle and the Germans didn't have a tank that could match it. Its armor was thicker and its gun heavier than anything the Germans had. However, there were a couple of things that worked to the Germans' advantage. One was organization; the French distributed their tanks through the whole army by ones and twos in support of infantry units. The Germans concentrated all their tanks and trucks in a handful of elite units and left the infantry to muddle along on foot or with horse-drawn wagons. So in the 1940 campaign whole columns of German tanks only encountered one or two French tanks at a time. Also, while the German tanks were much weaker in battle, they had larger gas tanks and could run longer without refueling. The heavy French battle tanks couldn't chase the Germans across the countryside if they broke through, they were tethered to their supply depots. So the Germans were able to run circles around the French, who collapsed from confusion and demoralization rather than actually being crushed in combat.



Once you're talking 1941-2, then maybe - the Germans had new improved designs of weapons coming out and were probably at their height. But they started running out of raw materials and the allies were ramping up their design and production at full throttle, so by 1943 the allies definitely started winning the technical advantage again, until by the end of the war the Germans were reduced to trying to use AA guns against Russian tanks because they didn't have anything else left.

Answer 3

It wasn't. Ask the Germans who froze to death within sight of the Kremlin how well equipped they were.



Compare: The german army walked across Europe. Western allies drove.

Camoflage is only useful if you aren't moving.

"assault rifles" don't mean squat if you can't hit the target. The M1 Garand was semiautomatic. The Mauser (standard issue german infantry weapon) was bolt action.

The Tiger broke down every fifty miles. The Sherman did the job well, and was easy to make and we cranked out many more than the Germans did.

The T-34 you are apparently trying to disparage was deemed by most historians as the best tank of the war, for it's combination of simplicity of use, ease of construction, and absolutely astomishing handling characteristics. The German Panther was a technological monstrosity meant to be the German counter to the T-34. The T34-85 is still in use.



Technology? Western allies developed an electrnoic computer, and cracked the german enigma machine. The Norden bombsite was a technological innovation. We developed proximity fuses for artillery and anti-aircraft shells deemed so secret, permission was needed to use them, lest one not detonate correctly over enemy troops, and they learn the technology.



German Entered the war against France with technologically inferior tanks. The germans captured more supplies from the Russians at Kiev and Smolensk than they ever made throughout the entirety of the war.



Germany technological superiority, like all German superiority, was a myth.

Answer 4

American troops had the semi-auto M1 Garand, the BAR, the M-1 Thompson, and the Grease Gun by the time they fought the Germans and they wore olive drab AND some camo.



The Germans were generally armed with the KAR 98 bolt-action rifle and the MP-38/40 machine pistol with VERY FEW German soldiers carrying the Sturmgewehr.



The Sherman had the advantage of numbers and maintainability as did the T-34. The Tiger was complex and prone to disabling and unrepairable (in the field) breakdowns.



You're simply not very well-informed.

Answer 5

They weren't. While they had some decent gear, for the whole of the war, most German infantry units has horses and wagons as their main mode of transport, while the UK and US were wholly motorised forces.



Next, when Germany invaded the USSR, they were shocked to run into tanks there that were far superior than most of their gear, the T-34 and KV-1s. Only Soviet poor operational tactics saved the Germans from that inferiority for two years, due to Stalin having executed his best military commanders before the war.



Panthers were into action for the first time at the Battle of Kursk, and showed that they had a lot of teething troubles. They didn't become properly operational and trustworthy tanks until 1944, and by then they were far too late. The Tiger was a poor heavy tank, with one good thing, a powerful and accurate gun. But, Tigers wrecked a lot of roads and bridges that they used, and their armour scheme was primitive compared to Panthers, Shermans and T-34s.

Answer 6

"Better" is a matter of opinion. Some equipment was demonstratively more effective, as mentioned field uniforms, Some was not good, German hand grenades were not as effective. Allies tended to mass produce in preference to continual revisions. The Sherman tank was improved, it was much better in 1945 than earlier but still no match for the best German tank, which were produced in small numbers. It became a war of production and Germany despite using slave labor just could not keep up.

Answer 7

The German soldier was NOT better equipped than the Allied soldier:



- The British and American armies were fully motorized, whereas the average German infantryman had no choice but to walk from place to place.

- The American main infantry rifle was the semi-automatic M1 Garand. The Germans primarily used bolt-action rifles, many of which were looted from conquered territories. In fact, the German military used a ton of looted equipment of all types - tanks, trucks, artillery, rifles, and so on. Automatic rifles were not terribly common in the German military, and submachine guns were no more common there than in any other major army.

- The American artillery units were able to provide extremely accurate fire extremely rapidly to requests for fire support, because they basically carried the pre-calculated instructions for every single possible fires mission around with them. No other military of WWII was able to do this, because they all had to rely on either battlefield surveying prior to engagement (the British and German practice) or focused on preparatory fires as part of a fire plan (the Soviet practice).

- Except in isolated cases where units were cut off, American and British forces in Western Europe never ran out of food or ammunition, while the Germans were perpetually short of both. Even the Soviets were rarely short of either after 1943 or so.

- American medical units had access to large quantities of penicillin, which was totally unknown in the German military because it was only produced in the United States at this time.

- A grand total of 1,350 Tiger I and 500 Tiger II tanks were produced, part of a total of 50,000 German armored fighting vehicles. The Americans and Soviets each built twice as many tanks, and the German tanks were less reliable. The average American infantry unit could rely on a tank being available when needed, while the average German infantry unit would never receive armored support; the average American armored unit was generally at or close to authorized strength, while the Germans had to keep reducing the authorized strength of their armored units so that they wouldn't always be chronically short.

- The average German soldier was no better camouflaged than the average American, British, or Soviet soldier. In fact, the Germans regularly praised the Soviets for their skill at camouflage and concealment.



The fact is that the average German soldier could lay down less firepower, carried less ammunition, had less protection from the elements, had less food, had access to less medical care, and so on. You're basically repeating Nazi propaganda or "History" Channel myths.

Answer 8

you've been mislead. while German equipment was usually of better design than Allied, it wasn't enough to make up for shortage of numbers -- especially in artillery shells.



there are plenty of exceptions to this as well -- the standard issue German infantry rifle for most of the war was bolt action and fired wooden bullets while the British/US rifle was semi-automatic and fired heavier metal rounds for longer distance.

Answer 9

Germany was busy arming for war while the rest of the world was at peace. They got a 5-year jump.

Answer 10

Germans are masters of efficiency , brilliant engineering



that's why WW1 WW2 happened - Zionists were jealous of Germany's manufacturing ability - they wanted to stamp out the competition because they were outclassed

Answer 11

They spent more time getting ready for war.

Answer 12

Because Nazis spent a lot of money doing military research and development.

Answer 13

They had a head start.