Figure 1.--Tghere is no doubt that the most dedicated soldiers came from Germay and Japan. Their soiciety predisposed them for the discipline commimebt to be a soldier. Unlike Allied soldiers Germna and Japanese soldiers were unlikely to question orders. Allied commandeers understood that man vor man and unit for unit the Germans in particular were sperior for the Allies. Of course the Allies often had superior numbers and material support. One area in which the Alies excelled, especially the Americans was the familiarity with macinery, giving the United States a hugev advantage in handking, maintaining, and repairuing equioment. Andv this was magnified by the design of American equioment. Many American teenagers, and this meant a very large number, were able to drive a stick-shift car. In America is nwas not just the well-to-do elite that had cars. Even the firt poor Oakies as wec see here had cvars.n And any-one who could use a stick-shift was capable of operating a Sherman. Not only could many operate them, servive them as well. Here we see two individualsworking on a car in a field with little or no equipment. They and their sons were a huge assett in a mobil war requiring the optationn of inumerable motor vehicles. The Germans on the other hand had to train their train their druvers and mechanics from the firound up. ot rain

The Western Allies after World War I rapidly disbanded their massive militaries and war production reverted to civilian products. America and Britain ended military conscription which had been a temporary war-time measure. The public concern was how to avoid another War and the primary attitude was that the best way was ton cut military spending, including research and development, to the bone. The French continued conscription, but like America and Britain, the conscripts primary mind set was how to avoid another war. Movements like pacifism, isolationism, and appeasement sapped the military spirit of these nations. Their lack of ardor was in sharp contrast to spirit of the German and Japanese soldiers who were being convinced that the international system created by the Americans and British in particular, were a fundamental threat to their national existence. Even before rearmament began, the Western Allies had one fundamental advantage. Democracies responded to public demands. This meant that their economies responded primarily to consumer demand. Germany had the second largest industrial economy in the world, but it was less consumer based. (It had been molded by the Imperial German Government and perceived strategic needs.) This is part of the reason that the Western democracies had the largest motor vehicle industries--and the ability to produce the vehicles needed to fight a mobile war. But it was not just the ability to produce motor vehicles, it was the men needed tom operate and maintain these vehicles. At a time that virtually all American teenagers (including many girls) could drive and many boys could maintain motor vehicles, a German youth felt lucky to have a bicycle. Japan and Italy were in even worse shape. And to make matters worse for the Axis, German designers felt no compunction to design vehicles that could be mass produced. German industrialists sneered at mass production and the rickety Ford Model-T that at first came off the assembly line. Nor were they concern with ease of maintenance. In sharp contrast to the German Panzers, GI mechanics could loosen a few bolts on the M-4 Sherman and you could get into the tank's innards for maintenance or repairs. Both mass production and maintenance would have a major impact on World War II battlefields.

France

The French Army was the primary bulwark on the Western Front during much of World War I and suffered grievously. It very nearly broke in 1917, but unlike the Russian Army did not. The bulk of offensive operations, however, had to be carried by the Americans and British in 1918. As a result anti-War thought was rife throughout France after the War. The French continued conscription after the War, but growing pacifist and socialist thought undermined the spirit of the French Army. Even as the threat of the German Luftwaffe increased in the 1930s, French labor unions refused to work overtime in aircraft factories. The unions right up to World War II continued their anti-War stance even though after Munich, it was obvious that the only way to stop Hitler was military action. This of course affected the fighting spirit of the French soldiers that faced Hitler. It was, however, not the only problem. The French General Staff was hugely incompetent. When the Germans attacked in the Ardennes (1940) still had a World War I era communications system. There were no radio connections to front line units. They were using telephones and runners. And unlike the British no program to add radar to their defensive system. Nut unlike the Germans they did have a modern motor vehicle industry. No country in Europe or for that matter the world after Henry Ford created the Model-T Tin Lizzy (1908) ever approached the ability of the United States to produce motor vehicles. France for two decades after World War I was, however the European leader. Only at the onset of World War II did Britain surpass France, and largely because of American joint ventures in Britain. (Germany was a distant third.) France was not only the largest European producer, but it excelled at mass production. The fall of France to the Germans (1940) fundamentally changed the world strategic and military balance. So much so that Hitler felt he had won the War. It also changed the economic balance. The French economy, especially its advanced motor vehicle industry could have been a prized asset to the German War Economy and Grossraum. The Germans for some reason did not even try to use much of the French armaments industry. They did try to use the motor vehicle industry to produce military trucks. But passive resistance from French workers and Allied bombing meant that few trucks were produced. This is part of the reason that the Germans turned to conscripting French workers and transporting them to the Reich to work in German factories (1942). The Germans made no use of French mass production technology.

Britain

The British like the French were obsessed at preventing another War--at virtually any cost. The World War I losses were traumatic. Most Brits had been convinced during the inter-War era by the increasing popular Pacifist and Socialist thinkers that the real threat to Britain was not the Germans, but war itself. The opposition Labour Party in the mid-30a after Hitler had seized power very nearly adopted the policy of unilateral disarmament. The Oxford Union resolved that they would not fight for King and Country. MPs who favored real opposition to Hitler and the NAZIs could rarely win elections. Churchill and his small group of supporters for several years was a lonely voice in the Commons. Military expenditures had been cut to the bone and even with Hitler's massive rearmament failed to keep pace with the Germans. Prime-Minister Chamberlain and the Appeasers even tried to dampen down criticism of Hitler and the NAZIs thinking that this would help appease them. Fortunately, Labour after Munich turned against Appeasement. While Appeasement left Britain unprepared for the War, it have one salutatory impact. The British soldier and sailor and the public at large entered the War united with the belief that the Government had done everything humanly possible to avoid another war. They were unprepared, but united. Churchill mused upon becoming prime-minister, "I hope it is not too late." One major advantage that the British had was a sizeable motor-vehicle industry. It was Britain that for most of the inter-war era was the second most important motor vehicle producer, close to France and far above Germany, finally eking out a small lead over France at the end of the 1930s decade. Of course cars are not used to fight wars, but motor vehicle factories are uniquely equipped to be turned into war factories.

United States

America was not prepared for World War II. Few Americans wanted to enter the War. Americans largely because of the news reels had negative attitudes toward Hitler and the Japanese, but until Pearl Harbor a majority of Americans opposed entering the War. Only a small number of Americans had any kind of military training. The United States had introduced a draft (September 1940), but the number of Americans who had been drafted and trained was still very small. What we know about the NAZIs today was not known to the American public and servicemen. When the Allies began overrunning concentration camps (April 1945), what they found behind the barbed wire when the Allies entered the camps was a huge shock. America as late as 1941 had not mobilized for war. Nor had the U.S. military developed the modern tactical doctrines needed to fight World War II. As the Panzers neared Moscow and the decisive battle of the War would be fought, the vast armada of American planes, ships, and motor vehicles needed to fight the war and the trained units needed to fight did not yet exist. There was a substantial reservoir of man power, but men with virtually no military training. The Axis had, however, not only men with military training, but experience warriors that had achieved considerable success. What did exist in America was a population with great faith in their country and because of Pearl Harbor and understanding of the needed to defend it. One American historian talks about the soldiers of democracy which defeated the German soldiers who did not have the same capacity to react to changing battlefield conditions. 【Ambrose】 Unfortunately while the author has published many valuable books, this simply was not the case. Both American and British commanders were aware that their men man for man and unit for unit was not he equal of the Wehrmacht men and formations. The German units were able to achieve substantial combat power with a fraction of the supplies of American units. That was why Gen Eisenhower pursued a broad-front approach after D-Day. What the American soldier had going for him was a democracy which provided competent political leadership and capitalism that provided the implements of war in a quantity far beyond the ability of he Germans to produce. America had one important personnel advantage besides the number of men available and that was the largest reservoir of mechanically savvy talent in the world--American youth. More Americans knew about motor vehicles, both how to drive them and even more importantly, how to maintain and repair them, than the mechanics in all the rest of the world combined. This was not part of Hitler's calculation when he set out to wage a mechanized war.

Sources

Ambrose, Stephen. Citizen Soldiers (1997).

Created: 6:33 PM 2/11/2023
Last updated: 6:33 PM 2/11/2023