I’ve heard that story told a lot. Germans marveled at the Willy’s Jeep, not because it’s a particularly good truck, a German truck was a work of art compared to a Jeep, but America had so many of them we didn’t need to give a damn about them. Blow one in half with a mortar and the yanks’ll just go to the motorpool and get another. Plus the bougie assholes leave their engines running! They act like they got plenty of gas.
The Japanese were disheartened to learn the US Navy operated ice cream barges. They were struggling to come up with tires, we had pineapple sherbet.
a German truck was a work of art compared to a Jeep
Was it though? A lot of WWII German equipment and practices have developed a myth of quality that isn’t remotely true. You hear a lot about how great Panzer tanks were but rarely do you hear that their transmissions tended to last 200 miles or less. Meanwhile the stupid Sherman had cross cut gears so it was way quieter and lasted way longer.
We also tend to ignore that German logistics were absolutely bonkers. While American’s were unloading pallets with forklifts and putting them on trucks Germans were unloading loose bags / boxes by hand and putting them on pack animals (because they didn’t have trucks). Even worse the same dudes unloading the cargo were often combat units!
One thing they absolutely nailed was the Jerry can. Some fella on YouTube did a deep dive on them, and apparently the SAS desert rats were raiding German equipment to scavenge as many Jerry cans as they could get because the British fuel cans were so shit by comparison.
It was about resource management. The Germans didn’t have a lot of oil to use on massive amounts of tanks, so they built really strong tanks that could devastate the enemy and then resupply. This also ties into why they didn’t have as many trucks and forklifts. What the Germans were able to accomplish was impressive given the resources they had.
What the US could produce was on an entirely different level though once they switched to a wartime economy. They also had different constraints, it had to be lighter to be loaded into a ship in one piece. It had to be reliable or easily serviceable because it wasn’t going to be able to get back to the US easily. A lot of things the US produced were more disposable because they weren’t limited by oil or steel, but by the size of ship cranes and ocean transport.
It is my understanding that German vehicles were designed as advanced, high performance machines with impressive capabilities…but that meant they required intensive maintenance by specialized technicians and thus not easily replaced. A German truck, new or well maintained, would kick a Jeep’s ass. Except the US made and transported 1.73 frillion of them plus parts and tools.
Because the US was isolated from the war damage in Europe, due to distance and waiting it out, and even their early war ability was going to be greater than what an island nation could pull together. I know there are alternate histories where Japan doesn’t poke the tiger, and things go a lot differently because the US stalls longer or just avoids the war.
Still, fighting against Japan on their terms was hardly easy. It was ugly. It was horrible.
Also Soviets to the North preparing a full scale invasion. Japan watched Germany being sliced up and knew it was over. Better to be ruled by one superpower than be divided by two of them.
Ironically, that was one of the reasons we dropped the bombs when we did. Stalin was already being difficult when the Allies were trying to split up Germany. Truman knew that if one drop of Russian blood was spilled invading Japan, Stalin would demand territory in return. Truman didn’t want to deal with that, so we didn’t even give Russia a vague notification beforehand.
Also more supplies and manpower than Japan could have imagined.
I’ve heard that story told a lot. Germans marveled at the Willy’s Jeep, not because it’s a particularly good truck, a German truck was a work of art compared to a Jeep, but America had so many of them we didn’t need to give a damn about them. Blow one in half with a mortar and the yanks’ll just go to the motorpool and get another. Plus the bougie assholes leave their engines running! They act like they got plenty of gas.
The Japanese were disheartened to learn the US Navy operated ice cream barges. They were struggling to come up with tires, we had pineapple sherbet.
Was it though? A lot of WWII German equipment and practices have developed a myth of quality that isn’t remotely true. You hear a lot about how great Panzer tanks were but rarely do you hear that their transmissions tended to last 200 miles or less. Meanwhile the stupid Sherman had cross cut gears so it was way quieter and lasted way longer.
We also tend to ignore that German logistics were absolutely bonkers. While American’s were unloading pallets with forklifts and putting them on trucks Germans were unloading loose bags / boxes by hand and putting them on pack animals (because they didn’t have trucks). Even worse the same dudes unloading the cargo were often combat units!
One thing they absolutely nailed was the Jerry can. Some fella on YouTube did a deep dive on them, and apparently the SAS desert rats were raiding German equipment to scavenge as many Jerry cans as they could get because the British fuel cans were so shit by comparison.
It was about resource management. The Germans didn’t have a lot of oil to use on massive amounts of tanks, so they built really strong tanks that could devastate the enemy and then resupply. This also ties into why they didn’t have as many trucks and forklifts. What the Germans were able to accomplish was impressive given the resources they had.
What the US could produce was on an entirely different level though once they switched to a wartime economy. They also had different constraints, it had to be lighter to be loaded into a ship in one piece. It had to be reliable or easily serviceable because it wasn’t going to be able to get back to the US easily. A lot of things the US produced were more disposable because they weren’t limited by oil or steel, but by the size of ship cranes and ocean transport.
It is my understanding that German vehicles were designed as advanced, high performance machines with impressive capabilities…but that meant they required intensive maintenance by specialized technicians and thus not easily replaced. A German truck, new or well maintained, would kick a Jeep’s ass. Except the US made and transported 1.73 frillion of them plus parts and tools.
Because the US was isolated from the war damage in Europe, due to distance and waiting it out, and even their early war ability was going to be greater than what an island nation could pull together. I know there are alternate histories where Japan doesn’t poke the tiger, and things go a lot differently because the US stalls longer or just avoids the war.
Still, fighting against Japan on their terms was hardly easy. It was ugly. It was horrible.
Japan woulda lost to China eventually IMO.
Also Soviets to the North preparing a full scale invasion. Japan watched Germany being sliced up and knew it was over. Better to be ruled by one superpower than be divided by two of them.
Ironically, that was one of the reasons we dropped the bombs when we did. Stalin was already being difficult when the Allies were trying to split up Germany. Truman knew that if one drop of Russian blood was spilled invading Japan, Stalin would demand territory in return. Truman didn’t want to deal with that, so we didn’t even give Russia a vague notification beforehand.