The New Stuermer 2006 Editions

GERMAN ARMY 'INDISPUTABLY THE BEST IN THE WAR'

"For a good many years after the Second World War, the British public – with a lot of encouragement from jingoistic film-makers – basked in victory, and the conviction that one British Tommy was worth any number of German square heads. On screen, the stupid German sentry always turned his back in time to be stabbed by the British commando and Our Boys proved that British pluck was infinitely superior to the mindless Jerry war machine.

Then a generation of historians got down to studying the facts more objectively, assisted by the honesty of some thoughtful British veterans who knew just how good the German soldier was. The unmistakable conclusion of their research in the 1970s and 1980s was that Hitler's army was indisputably the best in the war.

Man for man, the Germans performed significantly better that their British, American ad Russian adversaries in victory and in defeat.

The German soldier was better trained, better armed and enjoyed better tactical communications than his foes, almost until the end. The British failed to develop a convincing tactical doctrine for the whole army until the last year of the war, choosing to leave this in the hands of individual battlefield commanders, who often proved wanting.

Hitler's troops were trained to think for themselves, to display an initiative and speed of action on the battlefield, which their British counterparts seldom matched. The British were accustomed to wait for orders – German advice to their own infantry was that if they could kill British officers and NCOs other ranks were usually left at a loss.

The Germans, especially with their backs to the wall in 1944-45, fought with a desperation it would have been grotesque to expect from the armies of the democracies. The British Army played a relatively minor role in overthrowing the Axis compared with the Red Army. – Yorkshire Post July 6th 2000 reviewing Raising Churchill's Army, David French (Oxford)

LOOTING

There was little mention of military looting, largely because the correspondents themselves were equally adept at it. Alan Moorehead, one of the most renowned war correspondents wrote: "We looted Parmesan cheeses as big as cartwheels and tins of strawberries, barrels of wine and cases of chocolate, binoculars and typewriters, ceremonial swords and Italian money galore."