The Germans made some big mistakes World War 2

by The Major

It is generally believed that the Germans had a huge advantage in military hardware and training because they had planned for many years to invade Europe and consolidate regions of German speaking nationals in outlying countries into the Fatherland. This explains Hitler's annexation of Austria, the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, and Poland which also had some German speaking regions.

The Germans did have a training advantage from the invasions and its involvement with the Spanish Civil War. However, there were some severe deficiencies. Hitler put all of his eggs in the Wehrmacht (the German Army).

During the Battle of Britain, the UK was able to maintain air supremacy because they were continuing to build aircraft while the Germans were not. Hitler was a charismatic political leader, but his military skills were marginal. The allies did not try to assassinate him because they were aware of his flawed military thinking and felt Hitler was more useful alive than dead.

Many German weapons system were also overrated. The British Spitfire was superior to German ME-109, particularly since the US had provided the UK with 100 octane gasoline that the Germans didn't have. The gave the Spitfire the edge in altitude and speed. It also took time for the Germans to realize that the UK was detecting their air formations using a new technology called radar.

Hitler also made a strategic blunder by attacking London rather than finishing off the the RAF by continuing the attacks against the UK air bases. If the Germans had to continued to attack UK air facilities, they would have gained air superiority in another three weeks.

The respite gave the RAF time to rebuild its air force. Hitler gave up plans on invading the UK after huge air losses and turned the Wehrmacht onto the Russians. This was a another huge mistake that allowed the allies to launch the Normandy Invasion from the UK in 1944.

At the beginning of the War, the best tank was manufactured by the French. By the end of the war, the Russian T-34 tank was considered the premiere tank. The Panzer tanks had a single gear system that often stripped causing the tank to fail.

The US Sherman tanks had a precision dual gear system that was more reliable. The big German Tiger Tanks were slow and too heavy to operate in many areas. Unfortunately for the Germans, Hitler invested most of his war budget in armor that frequently had little utility.

Russian T-34 tank

The Germans followed a fascist philosophy that encouraged corporate innovation. Unfortunately, the German war efforts was overly decentralized and there was a lot of duplication. The Germans were the first to field jet airplanes in World War 2, but they didn't make enough of them to stop the allied bomber runs. The Germans lost air supremacy because the US and UK made more aircraft. The German nuclear program was small and years behind the US program.

In the Atlantic, the U-boats enjoyed great success early on. But the U-Boats were slow and not much different than the subs used in World War 1. Once the allies started using sonar to track the subs and radar on aircraft to locate subs that had surfaced at night, the U-boats became ineffective.

The allies also captured an Enigma machine that allowed it to break the German code and to know the plans of the German U-Boats. However, The Germans had also broken the UK code books as well.

When the Germans launched the siege of Stalingrad, the Russians had some advantages. First the Russian uniforms better protected their soldiers from the cold. In fact, a documentary on the Military Channel indicated the Russians soldiers could stay nearly 40 degrees warmer than the Germans. The Russian uniforms protected their soldiers from brutal Arctic fronts. The Russians also wore a cold weather cap rather than a steel helmet that rapidly cooled the German soldier's head.

The Russians also had better scopes on their rifles and the Russians snipers took a huge toll on the Wehrmacht. The scopes were of a more modern design and could be quickly calibrated by hand without using a screwdriver, The Russian soldiers in Stalingrad had also been immunized against typhus and tularaemia. Far more Germans died of infectious diseases who had not been immunized.

Russian Mosin-Nagant rifle with sniper scope

Hitler some bad mistakes. He considered himself a field marshall, but he had military intuition of the corporal. He over relied on the Wehrmacht and do didn't invest enough of his war budget in air power and modern U-Boats. He failed to listen to his generals.

Since Hitler was unable to subdue the UK, the US was able to launch bombing raids from the UK over Germany during most of the the war. In fact, the biggest US fatalities in Europe were from the Army Air Force, not the ground pounders.

The Allies also opened up a second front from the UK in Normandy in 1944. Hitler seemed to be unaware of lessons of Napoleon who was also defeated by the Russians and a brutal Arctic winter. By the end of the war, the Germans had a lot of advanced technology, but the US had better aircraft and the Russians had better tanks.

Some small things like uniforms, cold weather hats, rifle scopes and immunizations also made a big difference in the outcome of big urban battles between the Nazis and the Soviets. Hitler's poor leadership skills also hastened the defeat of the Nazis.

P-51 fighter

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Classy Brazil wins Confederations Cup

Brazil showed their undeniable class in the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 in Johannesburg, fighting back from two goals down at the interval to sink the courageous Americans 3-2.

Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovon grabbed goals in the first period, but the South American champions roared back with a Luis Fabiano brace and a Lucio header to pick up their third FIFA Confederations Cup crown.

The United States not only heeded their coach's pre-game battle cry by not conceding an early goal, but they ran out and notched a surprise opener for themselves after only ten minutes. A lovely cross from right-back Jonathan Spector was met on the volley by Clint Dempsey and guided gently inside the back post by the Fulham striker.

The Brazilians, just three minutes after being stunned by the well-crafted American goal, marched right up the other end, Manchester City star Robinho forcing Tim Howard into a fine save with a curling shot from the edge of the box. The USA seemed to know that trying to defend a 1-0 lead for too long against a team as dangerous as Brazil would be asking for trouble, so continued to try and press the ball high up the field.

The South American champions and five-time FIFA World Cup™-winners, who beat the United States 3-0 earlier in the competition, were clearly caught off-guard by the force of a motivated and confident Stars and Stripes side. Felipe Melo's snapshot in the 25th minute and Maicon's vicious strike from a tight angle shortly after were both well saved by Howard, but cause for some cautious optimism in the Brazilian camp.

In the 27th minute, hope turned to horror for the Seleção. A lightning counter-attack, which was very similar to the goal Robinho scored against the USA ten days ago in Pretoria, led to the Americans doubling their lead. Capitalising on a rare error in the Brazilian build-up, pacy youngster Charlie Davies collected the ball on the left and fed all-time top scorer Landon Donovan, who kept his cool to finish low past Julio Cesar.

With desperation creeping into their game, Brazil nearly cut the deficit with ten minutes to go with a snap-shot from close range by Felipe Melo after a slide-rule Robinho ball. Howard was equal to the task, however, and he repeated the dose when Robinho fired one in minutes before the interval, underlining the form which has earned the Everton custodian the adidas Golden Shoe.

Brazil were out of their changing room well before the US, eager to mount a famous comeback. They didn't have to wait long to cut the American lead in half as Maicon fed Luis Fabiano just inside the area. The Sevilla hit-man swivelled brilliantly, slamming through Jay Demerit's legs and past Howard with only seconds gone in the half for his fourth goal of the competition. It was the first goal conceded by the Americans in 254 consecutive minutes of football.

The goal had the predictable effect of inspiring the Auriverde and Kaka, subsequently awarded the Adidas Golden Ball for the tournament's best player, began to assert his sizeable influence on proceedings. In the 59th minute a Brazil corner was nodded dangerously towards goal by Lucio, and after Howard fumbled the ball, Gilberto Silva fired over with a wild shot. Kaka's header two minutes later from close range flew up off the ground and bobbled off post and crossbar before the US keeper managed to grab hold, wagging his finger defiantly against claims that the ball went over the line.

The 74th minute finally brought Brazil's equaliser, sealing Luis Fabiano's place as top scorer and winner of the Adidas Golden Shoe in the process. A sharp low cross from Kaka on the left was hit off the underside of the bar by Robinho, but the lethal Fabiano was on hand to nod home for his fifth goal in five games. The fight-back was then completed with just six minutes to go when a corner kick from Elano was met by a thumping header from Canarinha captain Lucio which flew in off Howard's post.

source: http://www.fifa.com/confederationscup/matches/round=250122/match=66211/summary.html 

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