Andy,
The German military had a long tradition of professionalism and a high place of honor in German society.
After WWI, this place of honor was stripped from them by the Treaty of Versailles and the resulting limitations on the size of their army (100,000 men and no tanks.. etc.). Hitler chose to ignore and violate the limits and when no one opposed him, the Army provided its loyalty to his govt. (Give me men and tanks and a mission to carry out that suits my sense of honor and avenges Germany's defeat in WWI, and I will pledge my loyalty to you.... that kinda thing).
As for the German industrial base, the German war production effort was actually producing MORE and better armaments at the END of the war (after being bombed by the Allies), than they had been at the beginning. Strategic bombing never fully disrupted Speer's factories. He just went undergroud or decentralized them.
Where we did really hurt the Nazi's was in the realm of oil. The german's invented the Fischer-Trousch method of turning coal into diesel and gasoline as a result of their dependence on imported fuel. Neat technology that is again being looked at seriously.
As for weapons of mass destruction, just how do we know what he has or doesn't have?? They don't have to be Nuclear weapons. Yugoslavia certainly has a chemical capability and perhaps a biological one as well.
Regards,
Ron |
