German firepower

[Dan Caviness]

nikoda:

Your post makes some excellent points. Alfons knows well what he is doing so I "advise" him at my own risk...(:O)...but you may be on the right track with the morale issue.

I only know of one instance where young and extremely green troops were "coached up" to a fever pitch and fought like their forefathers...and that was the 12th SS "Hitlerjugend" at Caen. Of course, the 12th SS had a tradition of utilizing extremely young Hitler Youth...hence the name...and you can bet they were coached well be a cadre of Liebstandarten SS veterans.

Kurt Meyer had them so well motivated at Caen they gave the Canadian 3rd Armored all they could handle. Yet for all that...they were kids...and even though fanatical...they fought like kids....and are at least partially responsible for the eventual demise of the Carpiquet Airfield and Caen due to their zealous yet dismal frontal assaults against well prepared units of the Cameron Highlanders and the Regina Rifles. The flanks were there...and exposed...had they thought to change their tactics...

Kids, no matter how motivated, don't know stuff.

Veterans, no matter how "un"motivated....know stuff that you don't want to know...

Still...if I had a bunch of snot nosed pimple poppers...I'd put them behind an MG42...

Regards and welcome to the debate...

Dan