What German Soldiers thought about Allied Soldiers -- World War 2 

Wisdom from a WW2 veteran: If you encounter a unit you cannot identify, fire 1 round over their heads so it won't hit anybody. If the response is a fusillade of rapid, precise rifle fire, they're British. If the response is a crapstorm of machine gun fire, they're German. If they throw down their guns and surrender, they're Italian. If nothing happens for 5 minutes and then your position is obliterated by artillery or an airstrike, they're American.

Probably in the comments somewhere already, but a story I was told was that a captured German tank commander was captured and asked if one German tank was as good as five American ones... His answer was "No. it is good as ten." The follow-up question was "Then how did we beat you?" His response was "You always had eleven tanks."

German here. The men of my family who fought in WW2 described it all in similar manner (in short): they respected the British soldiers, they did not respect the French ones, they feared and hated the Russian soldiers, and they did not respect the American soldiers as warriors per se but were afraid of the sheer numbers of American equipment. This is not meant to be a provocation or so, it's just how I was told when I was a young boy.

I remember seeing an interview with a German soldier, talking about the fighting in Sicily. He said that he and his comrades put bodies on the roads because they knew the British wouldn't drive their tanks over them, thereby slowing the advance. Apparently it didn't work with the Americans tankers.

I heard one German general say in an interview. He hated the fact that every second lieutenant in the U.S. infantry could call in artillery support.The amount of trucks the U.S. had was just amazing to this German.

A possibility apocryphal story is that after Market Garden in September 1944, SS troops said to captured British Paras “ You’ve obviously trained hard in urban warfare, you fought better at Arnhem than any of the Russians we faced on the Eastern Front did in urban fighting.” To which the British replied “that was our first time, we’ll be better next time.”.

My grandfather was captured at St Valery (Dunkirk) as part of the 51st Highland Division (Scottish) by Rommel's Mk III panzer's. Interned for the rest of the war, he actually made friends with the German Guards, some like him were ex-miners and had fought in WWI, they were Christian and my grandfather returned from Germany with carved wooden crosses given to him by the camp guards, (We've still got them). However, as the war progressed they were replaced with Hitler youth, they broke his jaw with a rifle butt and smashed his shoulder. Ironically just after the war he was back in Scotland when trucks full of German POW's were coming through the town. My grandfather ran into the house and threw all the bacon, cigarettes into the truck, when asked by my grandmother why? He replied you have know idea what a POW' life is like. My Grandfather died when I was six, but I remember when I asked him what he remembered of the war, he said my greatest memory was seeing the Americans take the camp and releasing him, and the cigarettes them gave him.

I recall reading a story (on Quora maybe) about a German general's driver who was taking the general to a number of German outposts or command centers. The car broke down at one of these stops and the general ordered the driver to get it fixed immediately as they had to continue. Cars were not common in Germany back then; you could not expect to find an auto dealer or repair shop in a small town. There was POW camp nearby so the driver went there and talked with the commandant. The commandant ordered all the prisoners (mostly American) to assemble in the yard. He announced the situation and ordered that anyone who knew how to fix cars step forward. I suppose he may have offered some small incentive. Well over half the camp stepped forward. The driver later wrote in his memoirs that that was the instant he knew they were fighting a losing war. If so many Americans could fix cars, then cars must be common in the US. If they can manufacture so many cars that most people have one, then they are no doubt making war machines even faster. He knew the Germans did not have the capacity to keep up. So without even witnessing a battle, the driver saw the writing on the wall. That's pretty good reasoning.

My grandad(British) always used to say when the German planes came over they used to duck ,when the British planes went over the Germans ducked ,and when the American planes went over everyone ducked.

Quote *I fought the British in the last war, in the trenches of Flanders, I must say, a stubborn, braver people I have not come across.The British soldier always impressed me with his courage, skill, devotion to duty and humanity. As we wait for the order to start our Panzers rolling into Belgium, I feel real dread knowing that I may have to meet them again in combat, but I will do my duty.* " * Ober lieutenant Paul Carius, 3rd Panzer Division, May 1940

Just want to mention that 3,000 Australians were involved in the Normandy landings, with 2,500 of them being instrumental in the airborne attacks that laid the groundwork for the amphibious invasion to take place. It is out of respect that even though they didn't form a bulk of the operation, they were still involved and deserve at least some recognition rather than none at all.

As a former U.S. Army Quartermaster officer, I study logistics for fun. In late 1943 through 1944, the U.S. was producing as much military equipment at the entire rest of the world. At the same time, the U.S. was sending 400,000 trucks to the USSR, supplying farm tractors and equipment, along with seeds and agricultural experts to Australia, and supplying locomotives and rail equipment to the UK and the USSR. The USSR using broad gauge railways, the equipment had to be custom built. When we took France back in 1944, the U.S. basically rebuilt the French rail system, which we had spent two years blowing up. Then there were the blankets, uniforms, boots, personal equipment, and above all FOOD supplied to our Allies. Much of this equipment was supplied through the Lend-Lease system. The military equipment did not count the enormous number of Liberty and Victory ships that were also produced. The volumes of the U.S Army Official History of World War Two covering global logistics and strategy, and supplying the army prior to and following the invasion of France make for interesting reading. I also have an evaluation of the various armies that fought in World War One and Two by the German General Geunther Blumentritt. That also makes for interesting reading.

I watched a documentary a few years ago that said German POWs were actually surprised at the kindness of their American captors because the German high command had told them that if the Americans captured them they'd slit their throats. The speculation was that if German soldiers knew how well the Americans actually treated them if captured, they'd surrender too readily.

My Dad landed at Normandy and as a motorcycle courier fought thru the Battle of the Bulge all the way thru into Germany. His unit had a group of Turkish soldiers attached. He said the Germans were very intimidated by the Turks. Dad respected the German soldiers and people and felt very sorry them at the end. His outfit suffered 85% casualties in the Battle of the Bulge. He lost all of his friends there. He was a great man and my hero.

The point made at 02:12, that a German soldier who had fought on the eastern front told his comrades that the American artillery barrage they'd just endured was worse than anything the Soviets had ever thrown at him is accurate. The U.S. army artillery branch, during the 1930s, developed something (as did the British who had independently invented it and used it in the North African campaign), this was the "time on target" mentioned later in the video, where every gun in range, of whatever caliber, fired at a precisely determined time so that all of the shells arrived on the target at the same instant. We made it work better than anyone else because (as noted in the video) we had a lot more guns than the British did (and generally more ammo per gun as well), and the sheer number of American artillery pieces, plus the use of forward observers and/or spotter aircraft, abundant radios to facilitate coordination, and advanced mechanical computers for computing range, and we could bring much more fire to bear effectively than _anyone_ else during the war. And from the Battle of the Bulge onward, proximity fuses were cleared for use on land, and they greatly increased the effect of artillery fire, making U.S. artillery barrages deadlier still.

My grandfather was almost murdered by Canadian soldiers. He was a student trainee at a truck factory in Hungary Budapest. My grandfather was Hungarian but had a German name. Suddenly German soldiers showed up and had all the workers in the factory with German names line up. Then a doctor looked at everyone. If they "looked German," (whatever that means---as if people in Germany look a certain way that French or Poles or Norwegians cannot look-----as if Germany had a monopoly on a certain type of look) they were pulled out of the line. My grandfather had dirty blonde hair and green eyes. The doctor said "Oh, green eyes, he's German, get him." (trivia fact: green eyes are the rarest, only 2 per cent of the population, so the raving lunatic Aryan theorists decided ANYONE with green eyes must automatically be Germanic Aryan. Which caused me to laugh hysterically when I became a teacher because the gentleman who taught next door to me was Black and had stunning green eyes. So much for goofy Hitler thinking. ) Anyway, all these unlucky Hungarians with German names and blue, grey, or green eyes were dragged of and put in a train to Germany. Upon arrival they were put in the NSSK the national socialist transportation corps. Hitler had a cult about cars and trucks and Germany had a special branch of the military just devoted to vehicles. But my grandfather was in the NSSK not the SS. There was however an Aryan requirement because they trained you how to fix and drive vehicles. They were teaching you a valuable skill and only wanted German folk to get technical training. In the Glorious Reich (sarcasm) after the war non Germans would become peasants and manual labor who did grunt work. My uncle was Hungarian did not speak German and had no desire to join any branch of the German military.And he was only 16 years old. They didn't care. He had a German name and dammit he was German. He got a quick quick half assed German soldier basic training, got a tattoo, and was sent to an intensive training on truck repair where you were punished by beatings if you didn't learn quickly enough. Fast forward to 1944. My grandfather was captured by Canadian troops. At Normandy some SS troops massacred some Canadian soldiers and the Canadians said "Fine, any Germans we capture we will check for the SS tattoo and if we catch any SS soldiers, we'll kill them ". The Canadians didn't know that NSSK Transport Troops like my grandfather were also tattooed. So the Canadians stripped off my grandfather's shirt and found his tattoo. So they put him in a room with some actual SS troops who were going to be shot. My grandfather started blubbering and crying and sobbing that it wasn't fair because he was Hungarian, he was drafted he wasn't in the SS and he just drove and fixed trucks and didnt deserve to die. The other SS men were older and in uniform and wearing helmets. My grandfather was young short and very skinny and shirtless and helmet less. The Canadians hesitated. It's harder to kill someone who looks like a crying teenage boy. By some miracle, one of the Canadians spoke Hungarian and understood what my grandfather was saying. They went back and looked at his jacket again carefully and noticed it had a NSSK badge on it, not SS. They also saw his soldier pay book said he was NSSK and he was paid less than an SS soldier. They decided not to shoot him. He saw the Canadians march the SS off into woods. The Canadians made him fix some German trucks which the Canadians then used. Then he was sent to Canada as a POW where he spent living on a Canadian farm as a laborer and was treated very well and fed better than he had ever been fed in his life. He was even given ration coupons and money and was allowed to buy pencils and paper and stamps and razor blades and toothpaste soap and candy and thing like that. He was so grateful that he worked really really hard and the harder he worked the better the farmer treated him. By the end of the war the farmer (who had two sons in the Canadian Army fighting the Germans!) Let my grandfather sleep in the house and let him eat meals at the table. One thing was the the farmer never understood that my grandfather was Hungarian, not German, and everyone in the town insisted on calling him "little Fritz." He was given special privileges other POW's weren't given because he was five foot four 108 pounds and looked about 14 years old and couldn't grow a beard to save his life. They figured he was more of a joke of a soldier than a real threat and he always wore uniforms too big for him that he was drowning in that made him look like a midget. Plus after fixing vehicles in the snow on the Russian front for two years where you fix the truck or you get left behind and the Russians kill you ....he had gotten good at fixing engines. So if anyone in the town couldnt get their tractor or truck started they would send my grandfather by himself to see if he couldn't fix it. After the war he was sent back to Europe. After a decade, my grandfather emigrated to Canada. He was shocked to learn that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had a complete file on him and they had only let him immigrate because the file said he was no Nazi and he was a good moral person who worked hard went to church and followed directions. He ended up running his own combination gas station repair shop in Canada. One of his son had a career in the Royal Canadian Air Force where he trained people how to train guard dogs to protect Canadian Military Bases from intruders.

While serving in Germany in the early 1980’s, probably 9 of 10 WWII veterans I had an opportunity to speak with fought mainly in the east against Soviet forces. The few that faced American units all said basically the same thing- Americans violated every rule of tactical fighting- they had poor noise & light discipline, they rarely followed any accepted norms of maneuver & assault, they appeared to do everything wrong, but they were completely unpredictable & just kept coming no matter how badly their attack appeared to be going.

I remember an interview with an old German fighter ace, talking about the P-51 Mustang. He said that it wasn't the Mustang itself that scared him, but the sheer numbers they were showing up in. When he and his comrades had to start fighting swarms of Mustangs over Berlin, he knew the war was lost.

It wasn't only the British themselves that Rommel was up against, it was the British empire soldiers, mainly the Australians and the NZ Mauri division who were the thorn in his side he couldn't remove. Interestingly both the Germans and the Japanese had not lost a ground campaign in WW2 until they were handed their first defeats by Aussies at Tobruk and Milne Bay. And the Canadians were critical in the war effort by taking major Ports in Netherlands and changing the course of the war. The British colonies bred inventive and vicious soldiers who never get the credit for the blood they spilled for Europe's wars.

About Rommel, I read somewhere that what surprised him about the Americans was how quickly they learned and adapted their tactics after Kasserine. Also I read that Germans fighting in the Battle of the Bulge were surprised by the initiative of the individual units in American forces and the ferocity they showed after the initial surprise in the attack.

When I first went into the US Army basic training in Louisiana we had a German cook at the reception station who was interned in a pow camp in Texas during WWII. He told us he elected to remain in the US rather than be re-patriated back to Germany after the war ended as did other pow's. He said he had nothing to return to.

By the way the American artillery tactic of time on target, which my dad helped teach to artillery men during the war, allowed the Americans to open up with devastating barrages without the warning that ranging shells would give. That was one of the reasons American artillery was so much more hellish than anyone else's.

My grandad was in the British Army and was wounded in 1916 and thereafter guarded German PoWs. He had good regard for them. In WWII he worked with German PoWs and became good friends with one of them.

My uncle was a young Aussie farmer volunteer, went through his entire enlistment, from Egypt, Europe and Asia, to my knowledge, unwounded. Came home a different person from the light-hearted young man that left. His old mates were scared of him, but he was never violent, just decisive and quick. Years ago, read an assessment of these sort of people. Had fun when it was time for it, deadly serious all the rest of time. I was born in '42, so only come to know him later.

Having read some of the comments it's interesting reading about some of the different approaches amongst the allies, but also let's not forget what was most important is that we were all fighting together. UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand - we all need to stick together, and remember the lesson from WW2.

You can identify an unknown force by firing one shot and judging the response. If the unknowns respond with precise, regimented rifle fire, they are British. If they surrender, they're Italian. If they respond with heavy machinegun fire, they are German. But if nothing happens for a few minutes, then your whole position gets leveled by artillery, they are American.

It’s interesting to compare the reputations of fighting men from these nations back then and today. I’m British and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Outside of the US I’m afraid that Americans do have a bit of an (in my opinion undeserved) “gung-ho, all the gear no idea” reputation. But I much preferred working with US aircrew than UK aircrew, much more willing to take risks to get the job done, and would accept taskings that the UK crews refused. UK rotary crews in my experience were far more risk averse and less receptive to input from air intelligence (my role) they questioned everything almost to the point of being obstructive. That said it’s easy for me to criticise when I’m not the one putting myself in danger. UK SF however were the opposite, great to work with and welcomed advice. US Navy Seals replaced UK SF towards the end of one of my tours so I handed over to their int guys. They basically smiled said “great work, thank you” and did exactly the opposite to what we advised and botched an op that had been in the planning for weeks. Germans were mega conservative in Afghan, no offensive ops. The most animated the French ever got out there was when their flag was stolen from their compound in KAF. The Scandinavians and the Dutch were well regarded and considered to be dependable. The Romanians were tough but got all the shit jobs. Unfortunately a lot of the RU-vid Armchair Generals appear to have zero military experience and comment based on blind patriotism. The fact of the matter is all nations have their strengths and weaknesses, our triumphs and our fuck ups. The yanks have done much of the heavy lifting since 1945 but would be foolish to discount the contribution of its allies. Likewise, without the protective umbrella of Uncle Sam the USSR would’ve dominated Western Europe. Long may western democracies continue to work together for our collective good.

I had 2 uncles who fought in the Canadian Army in WW2: one in the Fusiliers in Sherbrooke (at the time, a Tank regiment, he was a driver of a Sherman) and the other was in the Infantry fighting in Italy. The funny thing is: each of them thought they had it better than the other: the infantryman dreaded the fire-risk of a tank, while the tanker dreaded the infantryman's life of having to fight at night, sometimes to the point of hand-to-hand combat. What each said about what was worst for themselves: the tanker feared that he might have run over his own men with the tank during the Normandy campaign (tight roads in small towns and among hedgerows.) He was haunted by the chance he'd killed his own people. The infantryman remembered the personal aspect of house to house warfare, seeing your enemy from 10 feet. Facing it day after day. The infantry uncle only gave me one piece of advice if I ever thought of joining the Army: don't join unless it is so important to the country they can't do without you; and for God's sake never volunteer for anything if you do end up in the armed forces. Both had hard lives in the post-War period: prone to alcohol abuse. When I was a teenager I remember them as incredibly serious and to be honest a bit nasty. And fearless too. Bigger than life, heroes to me. The tanker would talk about the Normandy invasion as well as the campaigns after, wouldn't touch some subjects, but was happy to talk about the good parts. He met his wife in the UK and brought her home: a classic war bride. I knew her well. My mother's side of the family were all in the Air Force, and all of them were killed (3 in total.) One was decorated for bombing the Gneisenau, the others died in Bomber Command. The sad fact about the relative who attacked the Gneisenau was that he was killed within the month on a different raid. Canadian fact: my relative had a lake named after him in the North West Territories in commemoration of his sacrifice. We have a lot of lakes. Re: German soldiers: infantryman had no comment; Tanker hated SS and Hitler youth, but generally respected their skill and resourcefulness. Lived in fear of Tigers, but mentioned he hardly ever saw one, They did manage to knock one out though: bounced the shell just under the turret from the front, said it was something they all learned to do with the better armoured German tanks. Went through a few tanks during the war. When he died as an old man, his commander came to the funeral. I had never met him til then. Said he owed my uncle his life at least 3 times over -- I suppose they all felt that way. Tank crews could be tight.

Also remember that the US service members were often very young, having signed on to fight on two fronts but basically not professional soldiers at the beginning. They were learning on the job. Also, what country could have flipped the manufacturing switch so quickly and churned out so many tanks and planes in such a relatively short time.

The British had been at war longer than the Americans so it certainly makes sense that their individual soldiers were more experienced and more efficient. War is not a sporting event and it is not a situation where you should “play fair.” If you can obliterate your opponent with an artillery barrage then you would be negligent not to do so.

Wilhelm Bittrich of the 10th SS Panzer division said the British paratroopers at Arnhem were the toughest soldiers he ever fought

There's a story that Stephen Ambrose tells in one of his books of a German officer who entered a US ammo dump that was overrun and captured during the battle of the bulge. The Americans had abandoned it all, without bothering to try and destroy it. He had his staff car drive up and down the rows of ammo pallets because it was too far to walk, and he would get out and examine them, and it was *just* 105mm ammunition; that ammo dump was larger than the town he'd lived in as a boy. He said when he saw that, he knew the war was lost. There was no way to defeat an enemy that had that degree of material production and could just write it off.

US soldiers were very green at the start of WW2 and lost a lot of their best trained proffessionals to the Japanese in the Philippines. They had to learn a lot of lessons the hard way. By 1945 they had a large number of experienced troops, these are the men that got called back to fight in Korea

I remember reading accounts of German POWs who were just blown away by the variety and quantity of food they enjoyed once they made it to American POW camps in the USA. Decades later a former German POW was at a camp reunion and told a reporter "If there is another big war get on the side the Americans are fighting and get captured by the Americans as soon as possible. You'll have it made."

My grandpa was Waffen SS Latvian division. He said they respected the Americans and British. They didn't think much about the French but absolutely hated the Soviets.

My uncle fought in North Africa and with Patton's 3rd Army in Europe. He noted that initially US forces had a lot to learn, this was after all mostly an Army based on conscription-except for a few elite units. By late 1944/45 American troops had learned a lot and were as good as the British and German troops at that time. Of course the Africa Corp was mostly in POW camps by then.

My father, a U.S. Army WW2 veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, recounted that on numerous occasions he shot at, and purposely missed, many horribly frightened German soldiers who he knew to be merely farmers, or shopkeepers, who were recently forced into battle with little training. However, he made certain that those he knew to be SS never failed to meet their Maker.

One major factor was the mass production capabilities of the US and Canada. The auto plants in Michigan and Ontario could build more tanks than the Germans could destroy. It was the same with the Liberty ships, they could be built faster than the U boats could sink them. Every company that could make anything was involved. The Lionel train company made navigation equipment for ships for just one example.

Keep in mind, the Commonwealth and Soviets were also using American hardware and American materiel, or building with American resources on American tools. We weren't just drowning them in steel, we were bankrolling three or four more fronts to keep them fighting. They even borrowed and melted down silver from the treasury to make particle accelerators at oak ridge. The end result was the sun coming down on the Japanese empire. Twice.

One of the things I've read is that the American troops baffled and infuriated the German (and British to an extent) Because of the American's general lack of military protocols in hierarchy. A German soldier feared to be spoken to by a superior officer above his normal Sargent. An American soldier knew his Captain just sold insurance in real life. He treated the rank with respect, but spoke to the man as a peer, not his class superior. The other thing the Germans didn't like was even if the command structure of a unit was killed, the Americans still continued to function as a cohesive unit instead of falling apart. As one Officer said "They all think they're George Patton".

One German general said that if a gate in a fence was locked, the Germans, British, Italians and Russians would try to kick in down. The Americans would attack it with an artillery barrage.

My grandfather fought in WW2,his division was in combat for 282 days. They landed in Normandy on 11 June. By January 1945 the Getmans feared the 30th Division. They referred to them as Roosevelt's SS. At the end of the war they were the first division to be selected to be moved to the Pacific Theater for the intended invasion of Japan. But fortunately the Japanese surrendered before the move was made. Also B.H.LINDDEL hart stated that the 30th was the best combat unit in Europe

I remembered reading about German submariner POWs talking about getting on board trains for POW camps in the west. They would be on trains for 4 to 5 days seeing farm after farm thinking if they knew how big America was they never would have wanted to get into a war with us.

My father was in the Wehrmacht against his will,he participated at Barbarossa,never fought directly US soldiers… But he told me when the Americans saw a German helmet they fired at the position until nothing moved…they had enough ammunition

"don't bring a knife to a gun fight" Canadians: "hold my beer eh"

As outlined in the movie Zulu, the tactics of the American holding attack are virtually identical to Zulu tactics. As for logistics and material advantage, there is a story about a high ranking German officer who was reviewing aerial reconnaissance photos of an American division which was completely mechanized, with no infantry troops walking on the ground, full of tanks, trucks, etc. He asked the analyst, "Which American panzer division is this," only to be told that it was the US First Infantry Division.

In 2004 I heard a woman that lived in Berlin during WWII tell how her brother(s) ensured that he/they were captured/surrendered to American/British. The one managed to get leave from the Eastern Front to visit Berlin and surrendered in France. This matches things said in this video.

I remember reading that when a German general was captured and realized the magnitude of the US logistic. He stated that with American logistic and productivity and German technology then the US and Germany could have conquered the world together.

There is how WW2 was won albeit simplistically by: Russian manpower, American industry and British intelligence

As a Canadian, I got a chuckle out of hearing our boys described as barbaric. Certainly doesn't fit the "nice people" stereotype. Those of us who've long studied Canadian troops in war, have always known they consistently punched way above their weight class.

The English kept all captured senior German officers at a country estate with a full wine cellar, cigars, victrolas and newspapers. Idleness and frustration lead to a lot of gossiping, and every room in the place was bugged. They gleaned a lot of useful info that way, that helped in the trials as well as battle.

The nerve of Germans calling Canadians Barbarians.

Good summary that matches what veterans told me over the years. Germans also commented that American soldiers rarely made the same mistakes twice, but instead learned quickly and adapted.

People forget, but the US Army, before WW2, was the 19th in the world in term of numbers and power. It's quite amazing what they were able to achieved so quickly.

American troops have an unfair perception issue that have followed them long after the war ended. Early, in Africa and Italy, when the Yanks were still getting their feet wet, they would broadly plan four US troops to oppose one German soldier to be competitive. By time D-Day came around the experienced and disciplined US soldiers were the equal of their German counterparts, and by time of the Battle of the Bulge no one thought poorly of US troops, especially their perfecting of air support and precision artillery. When jokes are made about American airpower and artillery they are only half-joking, because it was devastating.

"The best American general was General Motors".

I was told by a WW2 veteran that Canadian signalmen were highly regarded for their ability to get the job done under the worst field conditions and combat conditions. So much so, that British generals put them in the most critical positions. The Germans learned to recognize their style and took it for granted that when they moved up Canadian signalmen a major attack was in the offing.

I’m from a military family (am not a veteran myself), but have heard multiple family members on both sides make comments on the ferocity of Canadian soldiers - love how contradictory to the Canadian stereotype that is 😂

My uncle served in Royal Canadian Highlanders - The Black Watch - and fought in Holland and Germany after D Day. He was involved in house to house combat in Holland. They did not take prisoners! Intense fighting. 35 years later, I saw my uncle flip his mental light switch and turn into a killer! The blank look on his face was scary to see. Made me realize that the war was still there in his mind.

Having lived in Germany for about twenty years, and hearing several versions about their opinions of Allied Soldiers, this vid is GREAT!

My father made an acquaintance of a former German soldier who had fought on the Eastern and then Western fronts before immigrating to the US after the war. He told my dad the Russians were like fearsome animals that attacked in huge waves, but used poor tactics and were easy targets. The British were methodical and brave, but predictable. The American infantry were generally more reckless, but better marksmen, and would open fire at much longer range, like 400+ yards if possible. If you exposed yourself for any length of time, you would get hit, if not by rifle then by air or mortar.

These stories are priceless! I hope someone is collecting and cataloging them for future generations. My father fought in Europe during WWII. He told me a few stories and I have passed them on to my grandkids. To those of you who have heard these stories from your parents, friends of parents, or even just talking with someone who was there, pass the stories on.

I love your content. I'm powering through it all. Thanks!

little fun fact, I can't remember where I read it but apparently the Germans hated, *hated* the .50 cal M2 browning heavy machine gun, they simply had nothing on the infantry level to take on the .50 slugs being flung at them with sustained automatic fire. It could punch through most cover and most of their light vehicles like trucks or half tracks, it'd leave an awful mess too if you got hit directly by them. Now imagine this fucked up weapon is EVERYWHERE, carried by the heavy MG sections of infantry companies, on half tracks, on tanks, on trucks, on jeeps, everywhere you go these guys have this high caliber machine gun and they literally shoot it at any target. A truck? Hit it with the .50! A house with infantry in it? Get the .50 on it! A bush that *might* have enemy infantry hiding in it? Fuck it, give it a burst from the .50! The .50 Cal machine was a fear weapon and it still is today, I've had the pleasure of getting to operate one for over 3 years in the military myself, it is one impressive and fearsome weapon..... when you can get working lol

i also remember watching a video of a german soldier talking about facing Canadians. He said they dreaded coming up against them because they would take heavy casualties and not give up ground and would in many cases even push forward after taking those casualties, so they knew they were in for one hell of fight.

Imagine that. A German WWII soldier complaining about somebody else not fighting fair. 😂

One German said he knew the war was over when he noticed that Americans seldom turned off their vehicles, they gas a plenty. A German officer captured in North Africa was being taken to the rear. They passed a supply depot that was a mile wide and mile long. He thought it was nuts that the Americans put all their supplies in area and would be a field day for German air attack. They went down the road a few miles and came across another depot, a mile wide and mile long. By the time they passed the fifth depot, he knew it was over.

I had four uncle who served during WWII. Charles Boatright (US Army Air Corp) who died of tb during basic training. John L. Boatright (U.S. 3rd Army) was wounded during the Battle Of The Bulge. J.P. Boatright (U.S. 1st Army) stormed the beach at Normandy. Forest Simpson (U.S. Navy) was taken prisoner by the Japanese and held as a POW for 2 years when his destroyer was sunk. None of them would ever talk about the war. Although, not long before he passed away, my Uncle John started talking more about it. Someone in the VFW put together a shadow box with his medals, purple heart and commendations and presented it to him, and his kids said that got him to opening up a bit more about it. He had never talked about his wartime experience before, but he hung that shadow box on his wall with pride. I've got his "WWII Veteran" cap that he use to wear all the time.

I have read accounts of American tankers in the Gulf Wars going to battle with pictures of Rommel inside their tanks. They admired and made use of the Blitzkrieg tactics.

As usual we forget the Australian and New Zealand Forces. Rommel was quoted saying, “if I had to take hell, I would use the Australians to take it and the New Zealanders to hold it.”

There is a story of a German intelligence summary that mentions the US Army had excellent very readable manuals on all aspects of soldiering and combat, but unfortunately no American soldier ever appeared to read them.

I have two books by the son of a German journalist who interviewed a number of serving soldiers in Normandy prior to D-Day and then managed to track some of these men to interview them again post war. One man said that when he was captured he asked an American soldier "Where are your horses?", the soldier laughed and say they didn't have any. The German was amazed as so much German transport was still horse drawn. Another German soldier said he thought that the Canadians were the best soldiers, when necessary they would use supreme violence but could turn it off quickly once the situation settled down. All of them said that they thought they were defending a united Europe against American/British invasion and couldn't understand the level of hatred shown to them by the Allies. The two sides of the propaganda being feed to the troops.

I heard a story about the time a German officer was inspecting a captured American mail truck. He knew they had lost the war because, Americans could afford to waste fuel, shipping packages across the world to their soldiers in Europe.

One German officer recounted that he first realised the war was lost when they captured an American field canteen and he saw that G.I.'s were eating ice cream at the front.

My Grandfather was a Veteran of WWII. A member of The U.S. / Canada First Special Service Force He saw action in the Italian campaign, The Alutieans and Southern France. He landed on the Anzio beach head and saw action at Monte La Difensa, The Mussolini Canal, The Gustav Line The Gothic line and the winter, Hitler and Bernhardt lines. He was up against The Herman Goering Division. He said they were tough soldiers. He said the German conscripts in The German Army weren't bad but The SS were Bastards.

Yeah we Canadians are nice.....till we aren't :)

My father was a G.I. in Patten's 3rd Army. I asked him what kind of soldiers the Germans were. He said, well if the Germans had an Officer there to tell them what to do they fought as good as Americans. While Americans fought well with or without an Officer. He said his platoon couldn't keep an Officer they were wounded, killed, or promoted. Sargents or even enlisted men with combat experience provided all the leadership an American soldier needed.

I'm glad that he said that the Germans hated house to house fighting with canadians. My grandpa said that was easily the worst/scariest part of the war.

I noted the repeated comments on American artillery. Other armies had artillery that was attached to each unit, but rarely supported other units. American artillery was attached to the units, but was also cross linked to other units. This allowed a tremendous amount of artillery to be concentrated where it was most needed. Essential to this was good communications. Most important was excellent logistics so that the artillery had the huge quantity of ammunition that was needed to make this work.

Other opinions of Australin troops include: “For dash and gallantry the bloodthirsty Scots, Australians and Canadians led the way, with the impetuous Irish close behind. The Australian to my mind were the most aggressive and managed to keep their form in spite of their questionable discipline. Out of the line, they were undoubtedly difficult to handle, but once in it, they loved a fight. They were a curious mixture of toughness and sentimentality.” LT GEN Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, VC. Gen. Alan Moreshead simply called them: "white Gurkhas".

I met a German vet as a kid here in England, he said once captured in France he was given bacon and eggs and treated well

Decades ago I read that a German soldier had said he knew they'd lose the war when he saw his first dead American. He had new boots, a coat, and food.

My great uncle fought with perth regiment from Canada through Italy. I remember my uncle telling me he almost got brought up on charges when csm caught him with both sides of his bayonet sharpened on his Enfield( normally enfield bayonet has only one sharpened side, he sharpened both like a Fairbanks dagger, apparently a no no)

There was one German commander who had extremely high regards to Australian and New Zealand for their abilities. Erwin Rommel was quoted as saying: "If I had to take hell, I would use the Australians to take it and the New Zealanders to hold it.

My Dad was A Battery, 343rd Field Artillery of the 90th Division. His battery was the tip of the spear for Gen. Wild Bill Weaver's dash across France. I found him in the 90th Division's history book. He was a wonderful individual and I miss him very much.

Mein Opa fought for the Heer for the 3rd Reich in the war. He fought both the Soviets and the Americans. He was one of the 20,000 plus of the wounded that was evacuated from Stalingrad prior to Paulus’s surrender. He spent most of 1943 recovering from his wounds. In 1944, he was reassigned to France. He hated the Soviets but said they were predictable. He said the Americans were unpredictable but their fire power was overwhelming.

There is this contemporary joke: "You see a platoon of infantry in front of you, but don't know who it is, so you fire a machine gun burst over their heads. If they answer with raging machine-gun fire, they are German, if they answer with organized rifle fire, they are British but if nothing happens at first, but the air starts to fill with the sound of bombers later, they're american. "

My uncle served in Third Army under Patton, and ran a mortar section. He said the German mortars had beautiful optics, and after they had everything lined up they could drop a round exactly where they wanted it. But he said it took them four or five minutes to calculate everything. He said the American mortar sights were not nearly as sophisticated, but they could fire two ranging rounds and fire for effect in about 90 seconds.

My father-in-law was a gunner in an American Sherman tank. Based upon his letters home, his only objective was to destroy the Hun so he could get back home. During the Battle of the Bulge an 88 mm shell killed their driver. My father-in-law and his Lieutenant bailed out before a second 88 mm shell destroyed their tank. After a few months at hospital in England he spent the rest of the war trying to catch up with his unit as they raced across Germany. He finally found them in Berlin after hostilities had ceased. He wasn't able to ship out for home with his buddies because he had to make up for the time he had been out of action. He claimed that post-war parades for dignitaries were worse than being in combat. Letters from his brother, a general's aide, mentioned the women in Paris and the German 88s, but mostly complained about how rough the jeeps rode, and how his typewrit er skipped a spa ce every now a nd then.

"Sepp Dietrich grumbled, that even the elite divisions of the SS could not effortlessly overrun the Americans. It was impossible to convince Hitler that these were tough opponents, soldiers as good as our own men." Speer page 418 Inside the Third Reich

Germans whine about "unfair fighting," but they completely lost the plot. The point of war is to *win,* not fight fair.

My grandad knew an old guy who fought all through ww2, he basically said the average German soldier was just the same as he was just on the other side, he wasn't to keen on the SS and absolutely hated the Japanese with a passion to the point where he had banned anything made in Japan from his house. He never said why he felt like this but im sure he had his reasons.

Excellent video. A good book to read about a Canadian's perspective of fighting in Italy. The book is called, "Not All of Us Were Brave" by Stanley Scislowski. He served in the Perth Regiment of Canada. (My grandfather also served in that regiment)

My German teacher was a long-time combat veteran on the Eastern front. He did not fight the Americans or the British, but claimed that the average German soldier thought the Americans and British were okay soldiers -- nothing exceptional -- but the Russians were "The Enemy." He had a lot of respect for Russian mortar men.

My Grandfather Fought a tanker in the Red Army from Moscow to Berlin. His thoughts were. Collaborationists (RONA, ROA, Foreign SS legions, UPA, and UON) were absolute bastards he said "They are lapdogs for masters who hate them." He liked Germans a lot, and stayed there a few years after the war. after the war but made it his mission to kill every SS member that came along his way (his family was murdered by them in Belarus, and he claims that he personally shot 2 SS soldiers who had been captured near the end of the battle of Berlin). He did meet Americans and overall didn't really care about them. he thought they were loud and uncultured, but he valued their contribution as fighters in the war.

retired MM1 USN-1972-1996. My father WWII vet fought in Europe from D Day to VE Day, including Pop, were 4 survivors of his company! he never talked about it. after he passed, found 2 Bronze, 1 Silver Star Medals & 4 Purple Hearts in his sock drawer. USA might have been a late commer to WWII, but we turned the tide on 2 fronts. never underestimate American fighting men

My father was a German officer. He was part of the Afrika Korps headquarters staff, and was captured when North Africa fell to the allies. He told the story of having been captured, and being moved from one holding camp to another, and passing an olive grove. In between the orderly rows of olive trees were row upon row of spare American tanks (no unit markings) This was a luxury unknown to the Germans, and my father knew at that point the war was lost. He ended up in a POW camp in Concordia Kansas until the war ended.

Very interesting to see all the comments about each nation's soldiers, many from their children. One thing to remember, ALL the forces, British, Australian, Canadian, and American, were very small before the war, and they were in armies with almost all WWI equipment. Millions had to be inducted, trained, and sent into the harshest learning environments imaginable. Officers and NCOs aren't trained overnight. Only the Soviets, French, and Germans had large armies up until a year ago before the war. The entire US military only had around 250,000 in 1939. By 1945 they fielded 12 million, while developing the greatest industries to supply virtually the entire world at war, including their former enemies. The only way to really say it is that 'The Greatest Generation' existed in all the free countries, and we were lucky to have them.

There's an anecdote about Canadian soldiers in Italy, who were in a tight spot outnumbered by German troops, during a brief lull in the fighting a German officer called out, " British officers, there is no dishonor in surrender for gentlemen!" To which came the reply; "We ain't British, we ain't gentlemen and we'll be damned if we'll surrender!" In reality there were probably quite a few unprintable words included.🍁🇨🇦🍁

My Grandfather was with the British 8th Army in North Africa. He asked his superior officer what to do about taking prisoners, the officer replied: 'You decide as they will be eating your rations!!'.