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.
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.