I recognize that German tanks were expensive and included too many features to be reliable; but this can’t be the only reason.
I recognize that German tanks were expensive and included too many features to be reliable; but this can’t be the only reason.
Jup, the image of the Wehrmacht as this fully mechanized army is a complete fabrication born from the fact that its speartip were indeed fully mechanized, but the overwhelming part of the army was made up of non-motorized infantry and the logistics did not have remotely enough vehicles, so they had to relly of horses. The reason they could advance as such breakneck speeds was a suprising one: Meth. Part of every soldiers rations was methamphetamine in various forms, such as chokolade (Panzerschokolade). This enabled the soldiers to literally march for days (and nights), thus covering distances that seemed insane to their enemies. It also emotionally damped them, thus they could cope better with the horrors of war and genocide. Of course, addiction and withdrawal were serious problems by the late war and post-war period. But fascist govenrments treat their soldiers like bullets and don’t give a shit of course.
Additional fun fact: Post-WW2 all western armies(and I think also warsaw treaty ones) stocked up on meth for their soldiers in case of WW3.