Originally Posted by
Big Pistons Forever
With respect to Germany’s conduct of WW 2, Amateurs discuss tactics, professionals discuss logistics.....
With respect to education standards I remember reading a report by a US defense attaché in 1938. After observing a German army exercise he said, “Every private would be a corporal, every corporal, a Sargent, every Sargent a lieutenant, in the US army.
IIRC, all German soldiers were trained to be able to fulfil the duties of those two ranks higher, so that if a platoon suddenly discovered that the poor Leutnant had copped it, and the SNCO then fell down clutching his leg saying 'Ouch!', one of the Corporals would know exactly what a platoon commander did and would take over. This contrasted with the British model which seemed to work on the basis of one of the NCOs (or sometimes the Private who was always getting into trouble in peacetime) muttering a profanity, saying 'right, lads, follow me!' and earning themselves a DCM or MM as everything worked out in the end. Which is not quite as stereotypical an account of how it worked in the British Army as it might sound (at least according to my Uncle, who spent a bit of time between 1944-45 having some rather serious disagreements with some Germans).