GERMAN DRIVERS (6 FIGURES)

Germany (first as the Weimar Republic, and later as the Third Reich), although it was one of the largest economies in interwar Europe, did not have a stunning degree of motorization in its society. The famous project of a people's car (German: Volkswagen) started shortly before the outbreak of World War II and in fact - for civilian purposes - began to function only after 1945. The German industry as a whole was also clearly inferior to its American competitor in terms of efficiency or the production techniques used. One should also remember about the necessity to import significant amounts of crude oil by the then Germany. All this, of course, influenced the degree of motorization of the Wehrmacht. On the one hand, it had fully mechanized and motorized armored and light divisions. Also, several types of support units in infantry divisions (especially artillery and communications) were fully or mostly motorized, but horse traction was still the main means of transport for supplies in the Wehrmacht. Moreover, despite attempts to unify the German car fleet and introduce successful trucks (eg Opel Blitz) and off-road vehicles (eg Schiwamwagen or Kübelwagen), the number of types of cars used in the Wehrmacht was significant. Of course, it influenced the pace of repairs, transport, etc. Contrary to popular beliefs, it is difficult to call the entire Wehrmacht during World War II a fully motorized or mechanized army. In this field, it clearly gave way to the British Army and the US Army.