that i think is a complete lie, the German soldier was a extremely professional well diciplined and well trained individual
the way in which the german army was trained was revolutionary for its time, if a commanders died in battle the person below his rank was trained to take his place, the organisation of the Germans was second to none
the German soldier of WWII was probably amongst the best soldiers of a any army at the time or probably since
during the Galipoli Campaign in WWI the Ottoman Turks machine gunners who had German made machine guns were trained by German officers, when Anzac landed they thought Ottoman army was not going to be so tough and good tatics, instead Ottoman Turks fired thier shots in accurate short bursts waiting until the very last minute holding with nerves of steel, they were also very flexible, able to adopt to changing situation
Errrr. I was referring to Crete as the defending force was commanded by a NZ General
Anyway you can take a man and spend X amount of time training him to fight and think as a individual, to many NZ and Australian troops individulism was second nature and when they found themselves without officers or NCO's, they excelled.
It usually due to the surroundings one lived and was brought up in. Many Germans of the airbourne division paid tribute to this character of the Austalian and Nz fighting man who with the British and berefit of any decent weaponry of any kind,(left behind in Greece) gave the German airbourne divisions which were the elite such a mauling, they were never used to spear head any attack again.
Not bad for a miltary force mostly made up of partimers volunteers and conscripts eh. . Unlike the Germans many of these troops never had the same level of training.
You can read stories of Rommel praising the tenacity of the ANZACS in the middle east campaigns in such books by Australian historian Mark Johnston "
That Magnificent 9th: An illustrated history of the 9th Australian Division and Fighting the Enemy": "Australian Soldiers and their Adversaries in World War II".
"Australians were the best fighters. he added that the New Zealand Maori soldiers were probably the finest in the world but thank god there wasnt many of them. When asked would he have an army of Australians, Rommel replied no, you could only have a division as it would take the rest of the army to keep them under control.
He was aware that the 9th division was all volunteers, big men who were brawlers and thugs at home and liked to use the bayonet, which to the average German was a very frightening situation to be in. They were very unruly, the sort of men you put in prison in peacetime..
continue reading for other bits n piecesother bits n pieces
p58 The Desert Fox reportedly said he would have liked a division of Australian troops under him.... rated NZders as his finest opponents.........
A German infantry major described the Australians as incredibly tough fighters at Tobruk, superior to the Germans in the use of camouflage and individual weapons, particularly as snipers........(and so it goes on.
Or in Alamein - - War Without Hate" by John Bierman and Colin Smith. It has a few more quotes about the 9th Division, The 9th was considered by Allied commander Montgomery as his "secret weapon" and pinned his hopes of victory in the 2nd Battle of El Alamein on them. I believe he said "We could not have won the battle (El Alamein) in twelve days without the magnificent 9th Australian Division." (Denny Neave, Denny Neave and Craig Smith. Aussie soldier prisoners of war. Big Sky Publishing. p. 276.)
that is why they still remember that day, its called Anzac Day
