How well equipped were the Nazis during WWII? | AskHistorians Archive Observer

In your other replies you showed special interest in a comparison with the British forces so i try to focus on that. Should be noted that the equipment changed a lot during the war.

The Wehrmacht for the most part had excellent equipment but had difficulties to equip all divisions equally. This showed especially later during war. Different divisions had different amounts of equipment depending on their priority ( area, intended use ). British or American for example rarely had comparable issues, a division which was used for combat was often fully equiped as suggested by their organizational doctrine. A fully equiped German division was rare later in the war and mainly found before major offensives.

To show an example we will take the Normandy.

While German divisions varied greatly in their fighting capabilties Allied divisions were mostly on the same level simply because they were "fully" equiped. Maybe one had more green troops but in terms of vehicles, artillery or weapons in general there was rarely a difference. German divisions faced a different situation. Units recieved equipment depending on their priority and the availabiltiy of the equipment. A division filled with older soldiers or recruits from other countries will not get the same equipment as a SS Panzerdivision for example. One of the greatest differences between German and UK/US forces was motorisation of the troops. German divisions rarely were "fully" motorised and even if they were they had less vehicles than a standart US infantry division. Armored fighting vehicles and trucks were rare for Germans. Only special Divisions which were planned for offensive operations recieved enough vehicles to match a standart allied division. In Normandy for instance the Wehrmacht would field a variety of Divisions which were in different catagories, some were barely able to move troops they were intended for defensive only and therefore didn't have the capabilties to operate in mobil offensive. If the unit was filled with Osttruppen and had a low grade ( 4 for example) the division was merely expected to resist for a while until other divisions get moved and then these divisions were often just gone ( mostly surrendered ) .There was nothing comparable for the Allied troops. Every division was filled with men which were trained on the same level and fullfilled every neccessary criteria. For these low grade static divisions trucks were limited and guns et cetera were mostly horse drawn. Fuel was rationed and barely available for non essential tasks especially for such low grade divisions.

This is often overlooked when comparing Wehrmacht forces to Allied forces. Germany was not able to provide enough motorisation for their troops only the divisions which were planned to take the brunt of the battle and be spearhead were fully equiped.

With the motorisation example i tried to show that their is a big disparity within the Wehrmacht when it comes to equipment. This is true not only for motorisation but for everything else: artillery, assault guns, heavy guns and anti tank equipment. Keep that in mind for the comparasion of equipment.

In general the equipment of the Wehrmacht was either the best available or on par/slightly worse than what the allied fielded. There are obviously exceptions but for the most part the above holds true.

Army:

In terms of small fire arms the British and German guns were of comparable quality. Bolt actions rifles around the world were often roughly equal. Same for Sub machine guns. When the STG 44 entered service it was superior to what the British fielded but that was pretty late into the war. The standart weapon for a German Soldier was the Kar98 a very good solid weapon and often regarded the best bolt action but even if this is correct then this is not that relevant. Germany fielded some excellent weapons which were hardly relevant because of their limited numbers. The FG42 for example was a superb weapon but was expensive and limited.

The German light machine guns were superior. The MG42 is without a doubt one of the most effective weapons of the war. Devastating impact for every small unit.

Anti tank guns

Over the course of the war the Wehrmacht fielded a variety of powerfull guns which were the strongest in terms of penetration but how relevant this is hard to tell since smaller guns often did the job aswell. The British fielded guns which were capable of dealing with most German tanks ( 17 pounder for example ). In general the British had some problems dealing with German armor so i would give the edge to the Wehrmacht here. German guns like 12.8 pak 44 could literally deal with everything. But even before that the German anti tank guns were able to destroy what they targteted. The Wehrmacht had powerful ammunition for its gun with for instance pioneering HEAT ammunition. As mentioned in the opening example, Germany was not able to supply such equipment for every unit the same. In terms of pure equipment the Wehrmacht had "superior" anti tank guns.

Portable anti tank weapons

The Wehrmacht fielded the Panzerfaust which was the best anti tank device produced in significant numbers. The Panzerschreck also was a superb weapon but more specialized. It was a upgraded copy of the bazooka and worked very well. The Panzerfaust had the edge above everything else simply because it was extremly easy to handle and make. When the Panzerfaust hit the frontline every house every tree now could be the destruction of a tank. The British troops fielded a comparable weapon the PIAT which was less effectiv AFAIK but obviously had to deal with higher armor numbers. The Panzerschreck was the only weapon which was able to defeat armor on long ranges ( for a man portable weapon ) and the Panzerfaust was very powerful and enabled everybody with minimal training to knock out an IS-3

Tanks:

This post only compares the equipment regardless of strategic implications. The German tanks were superior to the british tanks fieled. In general the German tanks did their job very well if they hit the front line. As mentioned above the Wehrmacht was not able to fully equip Panzerdivisions with the best equipment. If we take production issues out of the picture the Wehrmacht fielded the best tanks during the war. This doesn't mean the choosen path quality>quantity was correct. A fully equiped 200 Panther Panzerdivision was obviously very powerful but not often in action.

"Troop carriers"

The SD KFZ 251 was a very good equipment providing troops with motorisation, some protection and fire support. Such vehicles were the beginning of the armored personnell carrier. The British had the universall carrier, i don't know which vehicle was "better" i guess they are roughly equal. The Sd KFZ 251 is a good example for the aforementioned dilemma, while the Wehrmacht had such vehicles developed not many divisions were ever fully equiped with such vehicles. A Panzergrenadierdivision with full complement of Sd KFZ 251 was a highlight. Interestingly the Panzergrenadierdivisions were created to field powerfull divisions which were able to operate very mobile in contrast to normal Infanteriedivisionen. There is no such distinction in the Allied armies simply because all of them were fully motorized.

Artillery:

Limited knowledge about this. Maybe somebody else can fill in here

Miscellaneous:

The German army had a variety of top notch equipment. The German mines like the S mine were superb. The Wehrmacht in general had many well functioning anti personnel and anti tank mines. Iam not so sure about the British forces but i think the Germans were leading in the mine department. Since the Wehrmacht was defensive most of the time it makes sense. The Wehrmacht had the best helmet AFAIK. I have read the major reason the UK did not adapt a similar helm was that they looked too alike. While not really "equipment" per se the German army was leading when it came to camouflage. German mortars were very good and outperformed british mortars.

Overall the German Heer ( Army ) had excellent equipment but was rarely able to fill divisions up to strenght.

Airforce:

Fighter ( air superiority ):

The Luftwaffe over the war had a race with the Allied ( for most part the Royal Airforce ) in terms of superiority. Technical superiorty in fighter planes changed quite often so its hard to say who had the "best" equipment. When the war started the BF109 was a superb fighter and arguably the best ( or at least one of the best ). The Royal had the Spitfire for example. All the aircraft were upgraded over and over to get small edges. When the FW 190 was introduced it was the best fighter aircraft but like said before the aircraft designs were in constant flux. The me 262 was the "best" fighter aircraft of the war. While the list of disadvantages is long it mostly boils down to "the me262 was on the wrong side". The me262 required long airfield to start and had pretty low flight time but these were problems which were only relevant since Allied aircrafts were swarming the German skies. In terms of pure combat power the me262 was unmatched. The speed alone enable to Me262 to dictate a dog fight. When the pilot found itself in an unfavorable position he just left. The me262 was hardly relevant since the numbers of sortiers was low. There were other good designs rolling in but they had even less impact so no need to name them. Overall the British and German Forces were toe to toe in regards to fighter aircraft but i guess here are different opinions possible

Multi role:

Iam no expert here but i guess the British had the edge with the Havilland Mosquito

Bombers:

Again limited knowledge here. The Germans had good designs but overall the entire branch of the Luftwaffe was a clusterfuck. Edge to the british