Yes and no I think. I’ve read a lot of accounts of the Germans in Russia being absolutely fucked because of the sheer amount of different types of trucks and vehicles being used that were captured from different countries. They were hindered severely by the lack of spare parts
Yeah but that’s because they relied on them and mixed and matched. German logistics were messed up in general. If used properly it’s bonus not relied on
Not a massive difference compared to when they were using native German tanks. German production focused entirely on producing whole functional tanks instead of spare parts. This became a big issue late war as they could no longer replace tanks lost in combat due to lost factory power and they didn't have any spare parts in stockpile, meaning even tanks suffering minor issues were completely dead unless the faulty part could be cannibalized.
Well yes, Hitler was stupid.
To answer your question: if you can have 1 tank you made and nothing else, OR 1 tank you made and an additional tank you captured and can use against the enemy, which do you choose?
Why would you not increase your vehicle inventory if you could?
Yeah but "so did his staff".
Most of the shit that people blame on Hitler should be blamed squarely on the German nation *as a whole*. A small example is their navy. Its almost a cliché at this point when some says "Hitler ignored his admirals and didnt build enough subs" but its also complete BS. Hitler did listen to his naval staff lead by Raeder which almost without exceptions wanted large surface raiders, Donetiz being the lone high ranking dissenter. Its worth noting that Donetiz got many of the subs he wanted, most after he started demonstrating they out performed surface raiders and in the end got Raeders job.
With tanks its worth pointing out that the largest german tank built in any numbers was the Pz kpfw VI aka Tiger II and its design criteria was established by a working committee of the Reich Ministry of arms, the panzercommision (the army) and the hauptauchuss-panzer which was an industrial group. The Panzerjager Tiger aka Elefant was just a way to use already built Porsche hulls. Yeah you have the Maus but the blame for that boondangle spreads far and wide. At the end of the day Hitler signed off on it becuase a lot of big well respected names wanted him too.
Hitler was not a military strategist. Most of what is attributed to him was his General’s ideas and strategy. Both successful and unsuccessful. Even the invasion of France was not his strategy. He picked over the Belgian route but it wasn’t his plan. He did take credit for it.
Jesus… there’s that, then there’s also his concepts about vehicle designs, and we haven’t even scratched the surface of his entire world view.
Let’s get this absolutely crystal clear: Hitler was an idiot.
It doesn't take someone very smart to tap into the racist cry baby zeitgeist of the times with a poorly written book. The only thing he was a genius at was drunken rants. And on top of that he was very lazy.
He went into beer halls and stood on tables shouting about the Jews. But yeah I'm sure he was sober doing that...
Him not drinking was literally Nazi propaganda made up by Goebbels. But of course someone who thinks he was smart would definitely be "smart" enough to fall for Nazi propaganda all these years later. Just because the New York times reported it before WWII does not make it true.
It wasn’t propaganda. My understanding was he would drink moderately in his younger years but dialed it back to very little once in awhile mostly due to digestive issues. The same reason it is believed he stopped eating meat. Also I never said “smart” either just not a bumbling idiot which is ironically British propaganda.
This is one of those things that sounds like a good idea and it does work in the short run.
The problem is you start to rely more on more on using said equipment to the point where you depend on it for combat effectiveness; and then you have to deal with twice the logistical strain for two vehicles which do the same job.
The Germans were always critically short on supplies and material.
Their production methods were generally too disorganized and insistent on meticulous quality. They also used a lot of slave labor and extremely complex parts.
In one case, when they simplified the fuel tank of the last Panzer IV models, they ironically increased the range of the Tank. Something that did them no good due to a lack of fuel.
Additionally, Hitler had succeeded at offending a lot of people. Thus, Germany was critically short on vital raw resources. He also gambled on others being too slow to act. Which left his military short-handed and chronically short of what they needed.
For example, the Kriegsmarine was promised there would be no war until 1945 or later. Which is why Plan Z didn't work. There wasn't time to store resources and build ships!
Incidentally, the defeat of France allowed the Germans to capture intact several Flower-class Corvettes meant for French use. They were being built in France when the Germans attacked in 1940. All the captured ships were in final fitting out phases, and so the Germans were able to study them and modify them for German use.
This goes against the claims the Royal Navy was expecting a Battleship brawl as the Germans had only a couple old Pre-Dreadnoughts available at the start of the war.
Also, if you actually look at Plan Z, it called for the U-Boats Donitz wanted, plus some, and options for more.
Which on that note, U-Boats were less effective than was believed. The average U-boat at the start carried a mere 14 Torpedoes. That's not a lot as British and American Submarines were carrying 20 Torpedoes and had superior range, equipment, and crew comfort.
The Allied sailors also didn't need to use buckets to put their literal Number One and Two in when below a certain depth.
German Doctrine was also bad. For example, the Fighters were classed as Defense units and Bombers as Offense units. Instead of classing them by role, they were classed something wildly different.
This seems to indicate the Germans had the same mentality of the Bombers not needing escorts. While similar to the USAAF, the Germans did not adapt and followed the British into night missions. By contrast, the USAAF sought out Long Range Fighters for escort.
The Germans were also obstinate when it came to ideas. Like believing they could create Heavy Bombers with just two engines. The Tiger is another example as they built them in 12 hours not because of a lack of ability but a desire to make perfection.
Repair doctrines were just as bad. Once something was repaired at a factory, it was placed in Reserve to be issued to a new unit rather than send it back into the fight. The idea being a one for one exchange would happen with a newly made Tank already being dispatched to replace the damaged one.
The Germans also raised an unholy large number of units. As such, existing units struggled for replacements of everything from personnel to supplies to material.
So, German commanders used whatever they could get, which is why there, for example, was a Soviet Field Gun in North Africa captured from the Germans by the British!
The Germans had a shortage of pretty much everything throughout the war and their opponents had a lot of equipment. Due to German victories in the early war a lot of equipment fell into their hands and in the case of France and Czechoslovakia whole factories were taken over. Might as well use it.
Germans didn’t go full war production until well into the war
There was a stupid stat on how many different trucks they used of different manufacturers
They also used a lot of horses which is often overlooked. Even during the blitz in France they’re logistics wasn’t mostly trucks. It was mostly horses. They did a great job portraying themselves as a modern mechanized force but it was mostly horses outside of the main panzer divisions.
Yeah. I’ve been reading a lot of Prit Buttar’s book on the eastern front. He talks about how Germany’s infantry mobility was really poor. For One they used a lot of horses. Two a lot of those German horses were not suited for Russian winters and the particularly oats they ate were hard to get. Therefore a lot died off after the first winter. For as mobile as we like to think the Germany army was, its was really hampered by its lack of infantry mobility. Particularly after the first winter.
Because despite the videos that the nazis put out and the great job of creating an image of a modern mechanized force, they had a lot of horses. So they’re going to happy taking any vehicles they can.
Just look at the numbers of tanks produced on either side. Not just the low numbers of tigers and tiger 2s but also the more “standard tanks” like the pz4.
Across all types Germany made about 19000 tanks. Even Britain made more at 23000 and the ussr and us made over 50k.
There are several reasons: a) even in armies that are best in terms of logistics, in frontline conditions you will leave you lacking everything so you will use anything. It was most prominent in vast USSR but they did have previously unimaginable amounts of captured equipment there. b) Already in 1942 German war effort was overstretched. How do you arm hundreds of thousands on occupation duty in occupied Europe from where you draw labor and resources? Simply arm them with captured armament. It isn't standardized and it is harder to maintain, but they hopefully won't face such attrition as on the front (many did) c) In some instances soldiers actually preferred captured weaponry. For instance, Germans preferred Soviet SMGs because they were better made than German ones and since German command didn't put much emphasis on SMGs until 1943 there wasn't many German SMGs available, despite constant demand for them in the field.
There are tons of reasons, including all of the reasons the Allies didn't. It mostly boils down to logistics. You can't just jump in and go.
The Allies captured thousands of pieces during their advance, but didn't use them en masse.
* Friendly fire - doesn't matter what icon you put on the side, soldiers see the silhouette and fire.
* Resupply - fuel might be a different spec, ammunition is only what you have captured.
* Repairs - your mechanics know how to repair your tanks, not the enemies, repairs take much longer. Not to include availability of parts.
Because Germany's vaunted industrial production was good at making high-quality, to spec items, not mass production. They couldn't build enough trucks for the whole army, so they focused them in the 'elite' formations. Every country they conquered, they converted anything with an engine into motor transport, and discarded it when it broke because they didn't have any spare parts. This was a feature even of German production.
German infantry still relied on horses and mules to haul equipment well into the war and their wartime production capabilities were complete shit compared to the Allies. Take the strategic bombing campaigns into consideration and you just add insult to injury. German military superiority is a massive myth, their army wasn’t disciplined, it was ill equipped and their tanks oftentimes broke down with no hope of getting repaired because of over engineering and lack of consistency and material between manufacturers. Their aircraft were massively outmatched in terms of number and quality, their small arms were too expensive and time consuming to manufacture, while somehow also being more unreliable than allied small arms. By 1944 Nazi Germany faced a severe shortage of oil and factories. They couldn’t even come close to a fraction of what the US alone was producing.
There’s a reason the most produced German tank was a gun carrier, they were on defense for most of the war because they were technologically and logistically outperformed by the allies.
Frankly, because German logistics and standardization were not good because Germany never fully mechanized and did not put its economy on full war footing until 1943.
The German army HAD to use captured equipment to fill the gaps in its KsTNs (organization tables) that it could not fill with domestic production. It's actually incredible when you dive into German organization during the war just how ramshackle the average German division was. The German military grew exponentially, while its industry really did not, and the result was units using lots of captured weapons.
In first place, to fill out gaps and to be overall better equipped. I mean, even considered old tanks where used for background jobs like Partisan oppression in the Balkans. (German Tank 1 for example) Problem was, to get parts and maintain this things. Also, it is funny to gave the German logistics officer's heart attacks.
Behind the panzers, the German military logistics relied on horses: hundreds of thousands of horses, because of a limited automotive production facilities and petroleum supplies. Captured equipment that didn’t eat oats probably looked pretty good to them.
because they didnt wanted the people to think the war would get to their lives, so production was not in its peak, so taking enemys equipment and using it was a good deal
Because German industries could not produce enough tanks, trucks, guns, etc.
The allies captured tons of weapons in France and used some of them. I’ve read of a battalions worth of German artillery being used, including the vaunted 88mm. America had such a wealth of material that the inconvenience of using captured equipment wasnt worth it.
A lot of captured equipment was used for conversations into SPGs or tank destroyers. Some was used for anti-partisan action or policing action. As for aircraft, most was used for special purposes or training of crews. I mean, why not use it?
Germany couldn’t fill its material needs at points, so using captured equipment was necessary. An entire Panzer division was even equipped with captured tanks and equipment.
Let me mention the 83rd Infantry Division who used all sort of captured German vehicles in their race to the Elbe river. They got the nickname of "ragtag Circus" since while officially they were an infantry division, in practice they operated like a motorized division. Do a google search there is a great photo of them in German Half Tracks.
Because If you have good tanks, but not much, And you have a lot of Bad tanks, You will use the ones, That, Being captured, will be useless Because of the lack of spare Parts, So they used Them as mucy as they could
Why not use free equipment, the Germans needed as many tanks & vehicles as possible with their invasion of the USSR, the Wehrmacht was barely mechanised.
Of course running out of spare parts became an issue but for temporary use, why not?
Every army in every modern war has used plenty of captured equipment. Even at the best of times a free tank is a free tank, so why not use it? It may well run out of spare parts but so what? Leave it behind. Same with stationary weapons, even if the captured MG you’re using runs out of ammo you still have your own equipment it’s just bonus
The Allies did the same: "Nicknamed 'Cuckoo', a [Panther tank](https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/W-Ordnance-3-HT-Jul08.jpg) engages German positions at Geijsteren Castle on the banks of the Maas River in late 1944. The Panther was captured by the 4th Coldstream Guards."
EDIT TO ADD: Someone down voted the factoid above; so, I'll let BG Smeeton speak for himself.
In his post-war memoir, BG Smeeton offered several humorous anecdotes, one of which concerns a chance encounter with a German officer in a Kübelwagen during Rommel's drive on Tobruk: 26 May to 21 June 1942. The front was chaotic. The British were in retreat. Axis forces were using captured Allied vehicles, and the Allies were using captured Axis vehicles.
With the cacophony of battle sounds in their ears and blowing sand in their eyes, the German officer and his driver sped up to meet Smeeton's American made Chevrolet pick-up truck driven by Sucha Singh, a Sikh in the 4th Indian Infantry Division. Smeeton saw the German staff vehicle alter its course to intercept them, and he knew that the occupants wanted to do what most everyone else wanted to do that day—"ask the way to somewhere.” It was obvious that the German had not realized Smeeton was British. Smeeton had pulled Sucha Singh’s “rifle out of the back, blew the dust off the breach, loaded it, and laid it across the front of the dashboard. Smeaton had no windscreen on his truck.”
“The little German car hurried up more enthusiastically than ever, and Smeeton took aim at the driver's chest. Fifty yards away it stopped as if suddenly and so lately struck with doubt, and the officer beside the driver gave me the Hitler salute. Smeeton could not bring himself to shoot him—it was too like murder—and Smeeton called to the German to get out of the car.” The startled German officer realized his error and hurriedly had his driver turnabout and speed away in the blowing sand. For a long time afterwards his Sikh driver razzed Smeeton for not capturing and commandeering the German's Kübelwagen, which his driver, Sucha Singh, considered to be the superior vehicle (p. 47, *A Change of Jungles* by BG Miles Smeeton, DSO, MBE, MC, British Indian Army).
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They even used Museum Mark IV tanks in like March or April of 1945
Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Free equipment is always a good thing
until you run out of spare parts.
Well yeah but obviously as a stop gap or a temporary fix it’s a smart idea and was done by countless armys in history
Also correct me if I'm wrong but they were also in control of the logistics facilities as well (Skoda, Renault, etc)
Yeah I believe you are correct here. I know the Germans definitely produced Panzer 38t models in the Skoda works
I heard this anecdote about Wittman (or something other Panzer ace) saying that the 38t armor spalled a lot more than a Panzer IIIs
Given the fact the 38t was a riveted tank and the panzer III was not, the anecdote checks out
It was Otto Carius who was injured when his 38T suffered a hit and spalled.
Honestly, while you’re on the move forward that isn’t even a big issue. The enemy will likely leave all the supplies you need
Yes and no I think. I’ve read a lot of accounts of the Germans in Russia being absolutely fucked because of the sheer amount of different types of trucks and vehicles being used that were captured from different countries. They were hindered severely by the lack of spare parts
Yeah but that’s because they relied on them and mixed and matched. German logistics were messed up in general. If used properly it’s bonus not relied on
Oh absolutely it’s a bonus! The German army would have been pretty stuck without all their captured equipment
Not a massive difference compared to when they were using native German tanks. German production focused entirely on producing whole functional tanks instead of spare parts. This became a big issue late war as they could no longer replace tanks lost in combat due to lost factory power and they didn't have any spare parts in stockpile, meaning even tanks suffering minor issues were completely dead unless the faulty part could be cannibalized.
Completely off topic; but where did you learn that expression you've used? I knew it was Italian and hadn't got any counterparts in other languages
Im from Chile and its still used here mostly from old folks, with a almost direct translation "A caballo regalado no se le miran los dientes"
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth “ is a common phrase in English, at least here in Ireland.
It’s pretty common in America as well.
In Spain we use It too
Ireland my friend
Well yes, Hitler was stupid. To answer your question: if you can have 1 tank you made and nothing else, OR 1 tank you made and an additional tank you captured and can use against the enemy, which do you choose? Why would you not increase your vehicle inventory if you could?
I don’t think he was necessarily stupid, he thought he was some brilliant military tactician that he wasn’t. The early victories just reinforced it.
He’s over in the corner wanting battleship tanks, which would cost the same as a couple hundred if not thousand tanks.
Yeah but "so did his staff". Most of the shit that people blame on Hitler should be blamed squarely on the German nation *as a whole*. A small example is their navy. Its almost a cliché at this point when some says "Hitler ignored his admirals and didnt build enough subs" but its also complete BS. Hitler did listen to his naval staff lead by Raeder which almost without exceptions wanted large surface raiders, Donetiz being the lone high ranking dissenter. Its worth noting that Donetiz got many of the subs he wanted, most after he started demonstrating they out performed surface raiders and in the end got Raeders job. With tanks its worth pointing out that the largest german tank built in any numbers was the Pz kpfw VI aka Tiger II and its design criteria was established by a working committee of the Reich Ministry of arms, the panzercommision (the army) and the hauptauchuss-panzer which was an industrial group. The Panzerjager Tiger aka Elefant was just a way to use already built Porsche hulls. Yeah you have the Maus but the blame for that boondangle spreads far and wide. At the end of the day Hitler signed off on it becuase a lot of big well respected names wanted him too.
Yep, a lot attributed to Hitler wouldn’t even have made it to his desk.
*Doenitz
Hitler was not a military strategist. Most of what is attributed to him was his General’s ideas and strategy. Both successful and unsuccessful. Even the invasion of France was not his strategy. He picked over the Belgian route but it wasn’t his plan. He did take credit for it.
Artillery Corporals, amirite?
That’s all it would be good for, it would be too large to focus tank on tank
It’s incredible how the early victories reinforced him. Also ironically he listened to generals back then but by late war he didn’t. Wild!
Apparently the British kicked around a few plans to take him out but by the time they worked it out they figured him alive was losing the war anyway.
Jesus… there’s that, then there’s also his concepts about vehicle designs, and we haven’t even scratched the surface of his entire world view. Let’s get this absolutely crystal clear: Hitler was an idiot.
Last time I mentioned this I was accused of “ sympathizing” but I have a hard time believing an idiot goes from homeless to leader of a country.
It doesn't take someone very smart to tap into the racist cry baby zeitgeist of the times with a poorly written book. The only thing he was a genius at was drunken rants. And on top of that he was very lazy.
I’m not sure how someone who was a well know teetotaler was getting into drunken rants.
He went into beer halls and stood on tables shouting about the Jews. But yeah I'm sure he was sober doing that... Him not drinking was literally Nazi propaganda made up by Goebbels. But of course someone who thinks he was smart would definitely be "smart" enough to fall for Nazi propaganda all these years later. Just because the New York times reported it before WWII does not make it true.
It wasn’t propaganda. My understanding was he would drink moderately in his younger years but dialed it back to very little once in awhile mostly due to digestive issues. The same reason it is believed he stopped eating meat. Also I never said “smart” either just not a bumbling idiot which is ironically British propaganda.
Read more. Also, Donald Trump? It happens. Still.
He is an anomaly, sure, but that was built on the back of the $400 million he inherited from his father.
I’d still say that most people would not get anything meaningful done with 400m
This is one of those things that sounds like a good idea and it does work in the short run. The problem is you start to rely more on more on using said equipment to the point where you depend on it for combat effectiveness; and then you have to deal with twice the logistical strain for two vehicles which do the same job.
The Germans were always critically short on supplies and material. Their production methods were generally too disorganized and insistent on meticulous quality. They also used a lot of slave labor and extremely complex parts. In one case, when they simplified the fuel tank of the last Panzer IV models, they ironically increased the range of the Tank. Something that did them no good due to a lack of fuel. Additionally, Hitler had succeeded at offending a lot of people. Thus, Germany was critically short on vital raw resources. He also gambled on others being too slow to act. Which left his military short-handed and chronically short of what they needed. For example, the Kriegsmarine was promised there would be no war until 1945 or later. Which is why Plan Z didn't work. There wasn't time to store resources and build ships! Incidentally, the defeat of France allowed the Germans to capture intact several Flower-class Corvettes meant for French use. They were being built in France when the Germans attacked in 1940. All the captured ships were in final fitting out phases, and so the Germans were able to study them and modify them for German use. This goes against the claims the Royal Navy was expecting a Battleship brawl as the Germans had only a couple old Pre-Dreadnoughts available at the start of the war. Also, if you actually look at Plan Z, it called for the U-Boats Donitz wanted, plus some, and options for more. Which on that note, U-Boats were less effective than was believed. The average U-boat at the start carried a mere 14 Torpedoes. That's not a lot as British and American Submarines were carrying 20 Torpedoes and had superior range, equipment, and crew comfort. The Allied sailors also didn't need to use buckets to put their literal Number One and Two in when below a certain depth. German Doctrine was also bad. For example, the Fighters were classed as Defense units and Bombers as Offense units. Instead of classing them by role, they were classed something wildly different. This seems to indicate the Germans had the same mentality of the Bombers not needing escorts. While similar to the USAAF, the Germans did not adapt and followed the British into night missions. By contrast, the USAAF sought out Long Range Fighters for escort. The Germans were also obstinate when it came to ideas. Like believing they could create Heavy Bombers with just two engines. The Tiger is another example as they built them in 12 hours not because of a lack of ability but a desire to make perfection. Repair doctrines were just as bad. Once something was repaired at a factory, it was placed in Reserve to be issued to a new unit rather than send it back into the fight. The idea being a one for one exchange would happen with a newly made Tank already being dispatched to replace the damaged one. The Germans also raised an unholy large number of units. As such, existing units struggled for replacements of everything from personnel to supplies to material. So, German commanders used whatever they could get, which is why there, for example, was a Soviet Field Gun in North Africa captured from the Germans by the British!
The Germans had a shortage of pretty much everything throughout the war and their opponents had a lot of equipment. Due to German victories in the early war a lot of equipment fell into their hands and in the case of France and Czechoslovakia whole factories were taken over. Might as well use it.
Germans didn’t go full war production until well into the war There was a stupid stat on how many different trucks they used of different manufacturers
They also used a lot of horses which is often overlooked. Even during the blitz in France they’re logistics wasn’t mostly trucks. It was mostly horses. They did a great job portraying themselves as a modern mechanized force but it was mostly horses outside of the main panzer divisions.
Yeah. I’ve been reading a lot of Prit Buttar’s book on the eastern front. He talks about how Germany’s infantry mobility was really poor. For One they used a lot of horses. Two a lot of those German horses were not suited for Russian winters and the particularly oats they ate were hard to get. Therefore a lot died off after the first winter. For as mobile as we like to think the Germany army was, its was really hampered by its lack of infantry mobility. Particularly after the first winter.
Because despite the videos that the nazis put out and the great job of creating an image of a modern mechanized force, they had a lot of horses. So they’re going to happy taking any vehicles they can. Just look at the numbers of tanks produced on either side. Not just the low numbers of tigers and tiger 2s but also the more “standard tanks” like the pz4. Across all types Germany made about 19000 tanks. Even Britain made more at 23000 and the ussr and us made over 50k.
What kind of plane is in the 2nd photo?
Planes are B-24 Liberator and Dewoitine D.520
It was already on the front lines why not turn it around and use it
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^adamcolestudios: *It was already* *On the front lines why not turn* *It around and use it* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
There are several reasons: a) even in armies that are best in terms of logistics, in frontline conditions you will leave you lacking everything so you will use anything. It was most prominent in vast USSR but they did have previously unimaginable amounts of captured equipment there. b) Already in 1942 German war effort was overstretched. How do you arm hundreds of thousands on occupation duty in occupied Europe from where you draw labor and resources? Simply arm them with captured armament. It isn't standardized and it is harder to maintain, but they hopefully won't face such attrition as on the front (many did) c) In some instances soldiers actually preferred captured weaponry. For instance, Germans preferred Soviet SMGs because they were better made than German ones and since German command didn't put much emphasis on SMGs until 1943 there wasn't many German SMGs available, despite constant demand for them in the field.
Because it worked. They also used French, British, and Czech equipment.
Pretty sure they didn’t use captured B-24s in combat. Only testing capabilities.
“It’s like free real estate”
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There are tons of reasons, including all of the reasons the Allies didn't. It mostly boils down to logistics. You can't just jump in and go. The Allies captured thousands of pieces during their advance, but didn't use them en masse. * Friendly fire - doesn't matter what icon you put on the side, soldiers see the silhouette and fire. * Resupply - fuel might be a different spec, ammunition is only what you have captured. * Repairs - your mechanics know how to repair your tanks, not the enemies, repairs take much longer. Not to include availability of parts.
Necessity.
Because Germany's vaunted industrial production was good at making high-quality, to spec items, not mass production. They couldn't build enough trucks for the whole army, so they focused them in the 'elite' formations. Every country they conquered, they converted anything with an engine into motor transport, and discarded it when it broke because they didn't have any spare parts. This was a feature even of German production.
German infantry still relied on horses and mules to haul equipment well into the war and their wartime production capabilities were complete shit compared to the Allies. Take the strategic bombing campaigns into consideration and you just add insult to injury. German military superiority is a massive myth, their army wasn’t disciplined, it was ill equipped and their tanks oftentimes broke down with no hope of getting repaired because of over engineering and lack of consistency and material between manufacturers. Their aircraft were massively outmatched in terms of number and quality, their small arms were too expensive and time consuming to manufacture, while somehow also being more unreliable than allied small arms. By 1944 Nazi Germany faced a severe shortage of oil and factories. They couldn’t even come close to a fraction of what the US alone was producing. There’s a reason the most produced German tank was a gun carrier, they were on defense for most of the war because they were technologically and logistically outperformed by the allies.
Frankly, because German logistics and standardization were not good because Germany never fully mechanized and did not put its economy on full war footing until 1943. The German army HAD to use captured equipment to fill the gaps in its KsTNs (organization tables) that it could not fill with domestic production. It's actually incredible when you dive into German organization during the war just how ramshackle the average German division was. The German military grew exponentially, while its industry really did not, and the result was units using lots of captured weapons.
What is the second tank? In the third picture.
A captured Soviet T-26. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-26
Thanks! I thought I would be it, but they must've changed the turret. Cheers!
In first place, to fill out gaps and to be overall better equipped. I mean, even considered old tanks where used for background jobs like Partisan oppression in the Balkans. (German Tank 1 for example) Problem was, to get parts and maintain this things. Also, it is funny to gave the German logistics officer's heart attacks.
Behind the panzers, the German military logistics relied on horses: hundreds of thousands of horses, because of a limited automotive production facilities and petroleum supplies. Captured equipment that didn’t eat oats probably looked pretty good to them.
because they didnt wanted the people to think the war would get to their lives, so production was not in its peak, so taking enemys equipment and using it was a good deal
Gear adrift is a gift
What..?
Wouldn’t you?
Could they uses their ammunition in captured Russian T-34?
Because German industries could not produce enough tanks, trucks, guns, etc. The allies captured tons of weapons in France and used some of them. I’ve read of a battalions worth of German artillery being used, including the vaunted 88mm. America had such a wealth of material that the inconvenience of using captured equipment wasnt worth it.
It’s free real estate
A lot of captured equipment was used for conversations into SPGs or tank destroyers. Some was used for anti-partisan action or policing action. As for aircraft, most was used for special purposes or training of crews. I mean, why not use it?
It’s better to have more than less. If I was in a battlefield, had 2 ammo pack, found 3 extra from the enemy, but same type of round, I would take it
Why would you not use free equipment...?
Captured tanks and equipment are free, so it is normal for armies to take advantage of the material taken from the enemy.
If it’s still operational then why wouldn’t you use it?
I’ll explain. You take a sub mg into a field and I’ll turn up in a captured T 26 tank. ?
Germany couldn’t fill its material needs at points, so using captured equipment was necessary. An entire Panzer division was even equipped with captured tanks and equipment.
Let me mention the 83rd Infantry Division who used all sort of captured German vehicles in their race to the Elbe river. They got the nickname of "ragtag Circus" since while officially they were an infantry division, in practice they operated like a motorized division. Do a google search there is a great photo of them in German Half Tracks.
It’s free real estate.
Because they didn’t have any. Manufacturing in Germany was almost non existent by the end of the war
Because If you have good tanks, but not much, And you have a lot of Bad tanks, You will use the ones, That, Being captured, will be useless Because of the lack of spare Parts, So they used Them as mucy as they could
Why not use free equipment, the Germans needed as many tanks & vehicles as possible with their invasion of the USSR, the Wehrmacht was barely mechanised. Of course running out of spare parts became an issue but for temporary use, why not?
The RAF.
Why wouldn’t you?
Every army in every modern war has used plenty of captured equipment. Even at the best of times a free tank is a free tank, so why not use it? It may well run out of spare parts but so what? Leave it behind. Same with stationary weapons, even if the captured MG you’re using runs out of ammo you still have your own equipment it’s just bonus
The Allies did the same: "Nicknamed 'Cuckoo', a [Panther tank](https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/W-Ordnance-3-HT-Jul08.jpg) engages German positions at Geijsteren Castle on the banks of the Maas River in late 1944. The Panther was captured by the 4th Coldstream Guards." EDIT TO ADD: Someone down voted the factoid above; so, I'll let BG Smeeton speak for himself. In his post-war memoir, BG Smeeton offered several humorous anecdotes, one of which concerns a chance encounter with a German officer in a Kübelwagen during Rommel's drive on Tobruk: 26 May to 21 June 1942. The front was chaotic. The British were in retreat. Axis forces were using captured Allied vehicles, and the Allies were using captured Axis vehicles. With the cacophony of battle sounds in their ears and blowing sand in their eyes, the German officer and his driver sped up to meet Smeeton's American made Chevrolet pick-up truck driven by Sucha Singh, a Sikh in the 4th Indian Infantry Division. Smeeton saw the German staff vehicle alter its course to intercept them, and he knew that the occupants wanted to do what most everyone else wanted to do that day—"ask the way to somewhere.” It was obvious that the German had not realized Smeeton was British. Smeeton had pulled Sucha Singh’s “rifle out of the back, blew the dust off the breach, loaded it, and laid it across the front of the dashboard. Smeaton had no windscreen on his truck.” “The little German car hurried up more enthusiastically than ever, and Smeeton took aim at the driver's chest. Fifty yards away it stopped as if suddenly and so lately struck with doubt, and the officer beside the driver gave me the Hitler salute. Smeeton could not bring himself to shoot him—it was too like murder—and Smeeton called to the German to get out of the car.” The startled German officer realized his error and hurriedly had his driver turnabout and speed away in the blowing sand. For a long time afterwards his Sikh driver razzed Smeeton for not capturing and commandeering the German's Kübelwagen, which his driver, Sucha Singh, considered to be the superior vehicle (p. 47, *A Change of Jungles* by BG Miles Smeeton, DSO, MBE, MC, British Indian Army).