Jcordell |
11-07-2009 10:28 PM |
It's been said that in war victory goes to the side that makes the least number of mistakes.
Being very good at logistics can help one to overcome a mistake - even a big one.
It pains me to admit this, but in WWII we (the United States) was actually outfought for much of the war - especially by the Germans on land. Truth be told the Germans were better at tactics and their training and organization was superior. Naval and air were a different story, but I focus on land operations. And I'm talking about the U.S. Army not the Marines.
It really wasn't until the last year of the war (give or take a few months) that the U.S. started to catch up to the Germans. Much of what the U.S. Army changed was based off of what the Germans were doing.
However the Army kept advancing because the U.S. had a superior logistical network. It wasn't just that the United States was able to produce so much stuff, but that the U.S. military was able to get all that cool stuff to the front lines. The U.S. Army had more trucks, more radios, better overall support, an outstanding firecontrol system (artillery) and more airpower.
The Germans frequently outfought us (Battle of the Bulge, Kassarine Pass, Anzio, Mt. Cassino, Hurtegen Forest) but we were able to overcome the Germans by sheer might and we were able to replace our losses. The Germans couldn't.
No I'm not knocking our soldiers. Those American troops fought and fought hard. They fought in horrible conditions and even when they broke and ran they would stop and dig in and fight back. But they didn't have the type of martial tradition that the Germans did. The Germans had learned from WWI and continued to learn. We basically started from scratch in 41 having forgotten everything we learned in WWI.
But ultimately we were better at logistics than the Germans. And that made all the difference. It might not be as ego satisfying but it's the reality.
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