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0 pointsmissedthecue4y ago0 comments

Captured german defenders on D-Day famously asked their American captors where all their horses were.

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4 comments · 3 top-level

rjsw4y ago· 1 in thread

Why? The British Army that they had been fighting since 1940 didn't use horses either so the Germans knew that it was possible.

p_l4y ago

For a lot of the soldiers who were fighting on D-Day would not have a lot of experience fighting british units, especially well supplied british units. The defeat in France was pretty swift and not a great place to observe superior logistics.

Meanwhile Nazis were heavily dependant on horses in their logistics - things like the Red Ball Express were pretty much inconceivable.

helloworld114y ago

Not sure about specific German soldiers asking that specific question, but I've heard the anecdote from a couple books about the post-D Day U.S military operations towards Germany. It's plausible though; the U.S Army was by far the most mechanized of the war in Europe. Germany's massive "mobile army" during Barbarossa and during the Polish and French campaigns before that was something like 80% literal cavalry and only 15 or 20% mechanized (taking aside marching infantry). These percentages never changed much during the war for the Germans.

andi9994y ago

Source?

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