German attrition myth

World War II General WWII Discussion
#1

on the ef during 43 the ger inflited 4x as many total personal cas on the rus as they suffered themselves yet at no point during ww 2 did the rus pop exceed ger by 4 times. also during 43 the ger des 4x as many tanks as did the rus. yet at point during the war did the rus tank prod exceed ger by 4x also at no point during the war did the rus prod exceed ger. in fact during 43 the ger produced 2,600 more tanks than were des on all fronts enough extra tanks to form 13 new pz div.

Partial translation: During 1943, the Germans inflicted four times the casualties on the Soviet military as were suffered by they themselves. Yet, at no point during WW II did the Soviet Population exceed that of Germany by four times.
Also during 1943 the German military destroyed 4 times as many tanks (assumed to be soviet tanks alone, and not including those of the Allies, Poland, or Czechoslovakia ) as were destroyed by the Soviets. Yet at no point during the war did Soviet tank production exceed that of Germany (not sure if this means Germany alone, or adds in the production of poland and Czechoslovakia) By four times.Also at no point during the war did the Soviet tank production exceed that of Germany. (again no idea if its Germany alone, or includes its stolen production from those aforementioned two Countries)
In fact , during (there’s that word again) 1943 the Germans produced 2,600 more tanks than were destroyed on all fronts, providing sufficient extra tanks to equip 13 additional Panzer divisions.

#2

Could you re-word the paragraph using actual words and correct punctuation, since your country of origin states you are from Canada I would expect you to have some form of better grasp of English than many of our members to whom English is a second or third language.

There is no penalty for using full words (you don’t have a character limit or a cost per letter). It makes your post infinitely more legible and enables us to fully understand what you wish to discuss instead of having to guess.

#3

I must agree member Darringm, The site operates in the English language, and text speak confuses both English, and non English speakers alike. In all future postings you’ll need to use only proper English, as staff will otherwise edit, or delete posts that are difficult to understand. You are welcome to join in the boards, but do everyone a favor, and post properly.

#4

I can somewhat read ‘text’ language, and that wasn’t it… Thank goodness for the translation…

#5

Several reasons:

  1. Battlefield recovery - many tanks got destroyed several times. Usually the attacking side could recover theirs while the retreating side could not.
  2. Acceptance of casualties - the Soviets were willing to take higher casualties per capita than the Germans.
  3. Artillery/combined arms doctrine - the Soviets placed less reliance on tanks than the Germans. If they lost a lot, they could still advance.
  4. Assault guns - both sides used a lot, are they counted as tanks?
  5. Imports - the Soviets imported an awful lot of tanks from the US/UK.
#6

I have several rude pic’s for the grammar, but I’ll refrain… :slight_smile:

As for the content, there is a thread around here somewhere where a knowledgeable poster (who’s long gone) disputes the typical 5-to-1 Allied tanks vs. panzers attrition myth, and came to the conclusion that it was more like 2-o-1…