A Story Of Units Lesson 3 Problem Set 4 2: Fill & Download for Free

I have been trying to analyze Modi for quite some time. Let me paste some of my other posts on Modi that reached ~100K viewsParag Paul's answer to What will be the future of India under our PM Modi?Parag Paul's answer to Has Modi really failed India in 3 years, as claimed by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee?Parag Paul's answer to Is India really changing under PM Modi?Staying in Seattle it is actually good that I am away from the constant noise of Television panelists.But the time for 2019 elections are near and this is the time to launch the offensive. I would request you to read this post with utmost sincerity. I will remain unbiased and not put the blame on 60 years of Congress rule which is one thing that I don’t like in politics. Educated people can see through that. I would request you to share this post via Whatsapp without asking me for permission. After a long time I think there is a hope for India and it is high time we realize that the hope could be diminished and years of progress could be taken away if people bring in a hung equation in the parliament in 2019.The biggest charge that the opposition has about Modi is demonetization. What will a Chaiwalla know about economy ! Politicians needs to be from the people, representative of the people and smart enough to have the vision on how to win elections as well as how to make the country win in the larger forum of the world. He should be the enabler and driver. Beyond the rhetorics from all the fresh/overnight economists in the nation after demonetization, let me tell you the view that I have. One thing that Modi once told in an interview with ‘Aap ki Adalat’[ "Narendra Modi in Aap Ki Adalat (Full Interview)"] - Pakistan needs to be taught a lesson in its own words. So lets see the valuation of Pakistani dollar reserves in a graphDo you see a pattern since Dec 2016. This is what happened in the past before demo. There were printing press for Indian money in Pakistan and through channels in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal, the money that was converted into dollars in UAE were Havala ed back into the Indian territory to finance the JEDs , JUDs and their wings in India. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/fake-currency-worth-rs-167-crore-seized-by-government-in-five-years-pakistan-a-big-contributor-to-it/articleshow/55355933.cms .Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly asked India to not shelter these anti socials but Mamata Banerjee cannot see beyond CPIM decimation and short term wins. The Rohingya crisis has the same problem that Europe has. There is a series in Netflix Collateral (miniseries) - Wikipedia , that clearly points out the demerits of unchartered immigration. The immigrants start at Bengal and you would then find them in small ghettoed hubs in Hyderabad, Delhi and all the way in Kutch . The money they carried was from this printing presses and overnight they had to be closed down.The second big thing that this has produced is the psychological impact inside and outside the country. The Uttar Pradesh elections were near and any other PM would not have taken such a bold step. Losing UP meant losing 2019 for Modi government but despite that he took the action. Most of the people I interviewed across the length and breadth simply appreciate the fact that here is a leader who does not want to be paralyzed by constant threat of elections. He took the risk of his life and almost got his career and PM hood on the line. While Kejriwal, [ the smart guy I thought ] kept trying to point out the loopholes of 2k note and the logic in that, I know of cab drivers in Kolkata mention that bags of cash were dumped in the streets of Salt Lake over night. Corrupt people got their warning. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/indians-money-in-swiss-banks-hit-record-low-of-676-mn-francs/articleshow/59373485.cms2. China right now is a real threat. They have a annual defense budget of 153 $ B. And India/Britain/Russia and Saudi are all close 3rd in terms of the budget. But the thing that with indigenous production in China, this 153 B is to be considered more of 300 B as per certain think tanks. China boosts military spending 8% amidst ambitious modernization drive . With such a high differential, we have to take into consideration the fact that Pakistan which is seriously funded by China in all instances needs to be put under check. India has been stealthily acting towards curbing Pakistan . How Will Being on the FATF Grey-List Actually Impact Pakistan?Pakistan is one of the few nations with tactical nuclear weapons. Tactical nuclear weapons are suicidal with short term range of 25 -50 km. Which means if needed they are ready to push it on their own army to bring destruction to a invading opponent. This makes them a dangerous element. All this technology was transferred by China over the years. Beware the China-Pakistan nuclear axis This unholy nexus is more dangerous given the Doklam context where China wants us to become busy on 2 fronts. China is not only up at arms for its dealings in South China sea. It has strategic investments in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Formally Hands Over Hambantota Port to Chinese Firms on 99-Year LeaseIs Abdulla Yameen Handing Over the Maldives to China? It is trying to engulf us and it is time we realize. Petty politics by Rahul Gandhi and congress does not even come into the actual picture of world events.Indian Navy is on the path to become a strong blue water navy with manning duties all over the Indian Ocean. When Indira Gandhi called Nixons bluff during the East West Pakistan conflict, beware that the Navy in India was very much a necessary weapon that India had. Ghazi submarine was almost a hit or miss. Real story of submarine PNS Ghazi and the mystery behind its sinking - Looking backSo the point is that we need to make strategic investments as soon as possible. In a country where every deal, whether F16, or Rafale becomes a political issue and common man wants to be opinionated about single engine or MMRCA then it no longer remains a purview of the security context. Do you need a war always to be prepared for the next century? China will invade if it thinks that is the only way to become the next centuries rulers. We need to allow the government to function smoothly and not shout foul at every thing it does. This could be disastrous. In the case of Bullet proof jackets , Congress in its entire 10 years could not buy any due to such fear of backlash. But this government worried for the warriors first.In a first, Indian Army to get Indian bullet-proof vests designed by Kolkata professorHow do you fight it? Do you think Rahul Gandhi or Mamata Banerjee or KCR stand a chance against the seasoned strategists. Even if they had the knowledge, do you think they have the guts to do it. They will be busy doing caste politics.3. Now let me come and tell you the story of guts ?Red Fort, Independence day speech by Modi. He completely changed the narrative for Pakistan.Pakistan for 60 years had pushed the narrative that Kashmir is a humanitarian crisis. Every time in the United Nations, India had to play back foot. We had to defend our army stance on Kashmir. That was so sad. With this single stance, Modi started changing the game. Today Eenam Gambhirs fitting reply to Maleeha Lodhi from Pakistan is about Balochistan. India raising Pakistan's 'internal matter' Balochistan is violation of norms: Lodhi - FirstpostPakistan is fighting tooth and nail trying to save face with Baloch. Balochis have always loved India and wanted to be part of India. Nehru did not want it to happen and left them with Pakistan. There is a Hinglaj Mata Hindu temple in Balochistan Hinglaj Mata - Wikipedia that is preserved pristinely unlike the Katash Raj (Shivas tear drop ) temple in side mainland Pakistan that LK Advani made famous in early 2000’s. Pakistan is on the back foot. Who is responsible for Katas Raj fiasco? - The Express TribuneNow, see the beauty of this. Ever since Modis speech, you will see Baloch freedom movement flags on Buses in London and Times Square After London, 'Free Balochistan' posters appear in New York City's Times Square - Times of IndiaAmazing isn’t it !!. This is how you deal in international politics. Teach them the lessons that they can learn.4. Duqm naval command.India Gains Access to Oman's Duqm Port, Putting the Indian Ocean Geopolitical Contest in the SpotlightDo you see the strategic position of Chabahar and Duqm. This is brilliant. 1000 years of Indian history has changed. Can someone tell me that such a great strategic move done in entire Indian history? We are taking control !! Gulf of Oman has our naval bases. Gone are the days, when you see Hollywood movies with strategic SEALS from United States reaching across to Africa or South Korea. This is Indias time to build command controls world over.5. Lets look at another great win.Lets see from the view of Pakistani media. Pakistani media has been showering praises on Modi because of his diplomatic capabilities. He is honored with the highest civilian award in Saudi.They don’t have any idea how Modi is thriving in making breakthroughs in relationships between India and Islamic nations. Despite what the liberals think, this is outright brilliant. The intellectuals have some stances to take. Their identity depends on that. So I forgive them their political correctness. They are busy with RSS issue.Look at CNN covering Air India completes historic first flight to Israel over Saudi skies. This is historic. Saudi and Israel, years of fighting. Yasser Arafat, Yelsteins tried it and it did not work. Do you see the historic breakthrough this has done !!!6. Now comes my center point of the discourse. Imagine you are working on a large project. Imagine you are the minister who and his team has to implement Aadhar like UID. Now, you are given a timeslot of 4 years, and you know you cannot complete the project in 4 years. But to keep your bosses or masses happy, you will now cook up some stories of grand success and in a trigger happy media you will make the mistake of not even handing off some projects nearly done to the next minister as he will take the credit for the project. Since progress or on track work items that are not complete don’t fly well with the people who only read the summaries.See how Putins long term stay in Russia or the Chinese looking for Xis long term stay in office is the new norm. China clears way for Xi Jinping to rule for life . Once you have a great leader after trial and error, you have to give him time. Hyderabad lost CB Naidu and only Hyderabadis know what a loss it was. KCR is riding on the success of the pillars built by CBN. Constant threat of an election is the biggest threat to the progress of the nation. That is one of the reasons why US did not have a immigration reform in the last couple of decades. India is a proper democracy. Left parties rule, Right wingers rule, People vote and agree to the mandate. Goons in UP win. This is a true democracy and the only way you can get Modi to complete his ideas and projects is by allowing him another term at least. Learn from the other governments at this moment. How America fell behind the world on immigration7. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto right after, Mukti Bahini crushed the Pakistanis in Bangladesh had a secret meeting. There he decided that he wanted to take revenge from India as a response to Bangladesh. Kashmir is not their focus. Via Drugs and ISI assistance all over the world including London and Quebec and Calgary and Vancouver Canada https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/interview/story/19931215-you-cant-get-khalistan-through-military-movement-says-jagat-singh-chouhan-811922-1993-12-15 Pakistan following Bhutto’s mandate has been funding support for Khalistanis for 40 years now. Sikhs despite all their gurus being tortured by the Mughals took the ISI support since it came in different forms across the world. Printed money was another such source. Do you think the equations are this simple? Modi completely snubbed Justin Trudeau for his support of Atwal. In the past, no First world country has ever been insulted the way Modi did to Trudeau. Jaspal Atwal apologises for embarrassing Canadian PM Justin Trudeau in India Trudeau’s father was the PM of Canada in the past and was the same guy whose father used to think that Dhaka was part of India while he visited Dhaka. The world is wondering whether Justin Trudeau just got snubbed in IndiaNever before this kind of guts were shown by India. You need to be capable, confident and charismatic at the same time.8. International Solar Alliance.Gone are the days, where all major reforms, world bodies were made in the west. ISA was inaugurated by India. USA is not even in the picture. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/international-solar-alliance-indias-place-under-the-sun/articleshow/63290304.cmsYou are looking at history in the making today.We are targeting 275 GW of Solar energy by 2030. This kind of initiatives are similar to the what the US did with the national highway and interstate initiative that US did in the first half of the 20th century.Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century Same with the railroads in the US. Nitin Gadkari is aggressively moving towards those goals that are all set for 2022, or 2023. The next term if that lasts till 2024, will be the true start of the Indian economy. Congress and us would do ourselves more good by not destroying the momentum and let this growth wheels run till 2024.9. Now lets look internally for some time. With Aadhar linking so many ration shop frauds are now under check. The REGA schemes now get the money tracked. For a country to provide for better facilities, digitization and wider tax nets are the only way in the 20th century to wade through. [ just imagine ] Aadhaar linking weeds out 2.75 cr bogus ration cards - Times of India 2.75 croer Ration cards were weeded out just by this scheme. Again, Aadhar was mainly a Congress time initiative and they should rightfully take credit for it and not fight against it. This is the problem with 5 years terms where no one wants to give the due credit to the other. Innocent tax payers money has been swindled over the years. Aadhaar Scheme Uncovers 440,000 Fake Students In Just Three States Without digitization and Aadhar linking you are more insecure as a nation than before. Liberals are still busy with cow urine and beef ban.10. Ayushman Bharat Yojana | Complete Details | Apply | Notification 2018This is the biggest health care scheme the world has ever scene. Please try and think about it. All our childhood we heard about western nations providing free or low cost medical services and we were envious. But now we can be proud in home. If this succeeds, 40% of the nation will be covered. Obama spent his career in the Oval office trying to get something of this stature with Obamacare but for 6 times less number of people and could not get it done. If India achieves it , it will be a true masterpiece . One thing that the government is not able to do well is provide the people of India with a clear view of what the status of all these projects are and where they stand. The other reason might be that there are too many things happening in parallel. 29 different internal projects have been running in full steam. Read my other posts and you will see their details. The other great thing is it is not named after a Gandhi or a Nehru. It does not create legacies. Legacies is what created the monstrosity called Rahul Gandhi.I have to rush now but there are so many other things that I want to write about but I have a family to take care of.

Hey, great question, Peter Kruger. I’m glad you asked it, especially after that hit answer to What is your cynical take on US politics? We need ourselves a bit of a pick-me-up after that cheery bit, don’t we?If you’re going through hell, keep going. - Winston ChurchillThere’s something called the Stockdale Paradox. It’s named after Admiral James Stockdale, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He survived, relatively unbroken. He was later asked about his optimism despite repeated torture.Stockdale noted that the optimists were actually the first to break. They would set deadlines for when they would get out, which would come and go. In trying to be optimistic, they would end up denying the brutal facts of their present existence, until they were overwhelmed by them and broke.When asked how he made it when the optimists didn’t, Stockdale sagely stated: “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”It’s pretty grim out there right now, honestly.As I write this, the impeachment trial of Donald John Trump, 45th President of the United States, is getting underway.The facts themselves are not in dispute, not really. And they are brutal.The President illegally withheld foreign aid appropriated by Congress.[1] He did so to coerce Ukraine — a nation fighting a war against another nation, which is openly hostile to the United States and attempting to annex territory — into announcing a sham investigation into a political opponent.[2] The barest fig leaves of a defense against this have been continually stripped away by the steady dripping of evidence from career State Department and national security civil servants,[3] the President’s hand-picked ambassador,[4] and now associates of his personal attorney[5] — the one tasked with coordinating this corrupt scheme.[6]And Republicans… just kind of don’t care.[7]It’s been assumed that there is a virtual certainty that Trump will not be removed from office through this route. And twenty party defections has a very, very low probability of occurring at this point.The is the key part of the Stockdale paradox, though, is the firm belief that you will prevail in the end.That last piece is crucial. In the end.Not today, not tomorrow. Not in a definite time frame. But eventually.My optimism is not that the current dysfunction in U.S. politics will be defeated in 2020, or 2022, or in any definite time frame.Rather, it is to remember that the arc of history is long, but does bend toward justice.We have come a long way, the people of this nation of ours.Sure, we have.230 years ago, life was a lot more unjust for a lot more people than it is today, and that injustice was enshrined in law.Progress is never linear, certainly not in this country. It’s not even two steps forward, one step back.Progress in the United States has been one drunken pratfall forward, some rolling around in the dirt for a bit, shakily regaining our feet backwards, staggering sideways for a moment, squinting crosseyed at the horizon trying to find our balance, taking a swipe at the air for insulting us, and taking another drunken lurch forward again.We’ve managed to come forward through that, though. Not prettily, not easily, not without lasting scars. But forward.At various times, we have been global leaders and the envy of the world for our freedoms and inclusiveness. We have been a land of opportunity, and while that sometimes depended on the color of your skin and your place of birth, people have fought and won battles to expand that opportunity to more and more people.And at times, we’ve stagnated, abandoned our role as the shining city on the hill that other nations looked up to as a model. And at times, we’ve acted downright shamefully, discrediting and humiliating ourselves in the international community and even here domestically.But our darkest days have always been followed by our finest hours, and when we get it right, we have accomplished some of the most incredible feats in the history of mankind.We have put men on the moon, explored the solar system. We have developed miracles of modern medicine and technologies that were inconceivable two generations ago. We have cultivated some of the world’s greatest artists and musicians. We have fostered some of the greatest prosperity in the history of the world.When the United States is at its best, we are some of the finest, most generous, most welcoming people in the world.We are not always at our best. We are not at our best right now, without question.But I have optimism about the hearts of the American people. I have faith that what you see amplified and twisted right now is not our genuine selves.Those who voted Trump into office are not, by and large, evil people, though some are. Many of them are simply desperate. They’ve been humiliated. They voted for hope and change with the last guy, and some of them, in fact a lot of them, never got it.Many of them are afraid. Some of that is fear that is pumped into them by those who would profit off that fear, such as gun manufacturers who pay vast sums of advertising money to convince people that they need to arm themselves for protection, despite falling rates of violent crime.Bringing the people of this country back to their best selves will take some leadership, and some tremendous effort by peacebuilders to bridge the gaps. It will require rebuilding trust among our countrymen. It will mean checking our biases and prejudices at the door and having serious conversations with people who are very different from us.It can be done.Some argue that technology, especially social media, has reached a critical point where we can’t overcome it. The disinformation and ability to incite, they argue, means the end of civilization.I disagree.Disinformation is new, of course. Purely a modern invention.In fact, let me tell you of a recent story of disinformation. A toddler went missing on Easter Sunday, and a local minister made up a story out of whole cloth about who was responsible. His narrative went viral in the community, who formed a mob that rounded up over a dozen innocent people, tortured, and killed them. The Pope tried to intervene, but the preacher refused to even meet with him, and he eventually caved to popular pressure to canonize the boy and ascribe over a hundred miracles to him.Except this wasn’t recent. This was from 1475, in Italy. The people blamed were Jews, who were accused of murdering the boy, draining his blood, and drinking it to celebrate Passover. The boy is known today as Saint Simon.All based on a lie.After the invention of the printing press, it was common to find forged government documents meant to bring down local authorities in scandal, fictional accounts of natural disasters, published as true, meant to swindle sympathetic donations, disinformation about the Catholic Church widely published to drum up support for the Protestant Revolution across Europe, and more.The sinking of the Maine in the Havana harbor was whipped by “yellow journalism” into a nationwide frenzy that dragged the United States into the Spanish-American War. All to help Pulitzer and Hearst fight a newspaper circulation war.Benjamin Franklin, one of the great Founders himself, used his newspaper to print false propaganda stories about murderous Indians scalping colonists in league with King George III.Author Arthur Brooks was interviewed recently about his new book, Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America.[8] (And as a side note, I wholeheartedly recommend it, as it is a truly fantastic read.)He notes that communications technologies tend to have three phases to them.First, there’s the promise phase: all the ways this technology is going to make our lives better, and encourage greater connectivity between people. This encourages early adoption.The second phase is the dystopia phase. The technology ends up driving wedges between people, bringing out our worst instincts, taking away from human interaction and instead leading to hysteria and mob mentality, because it substitutes for human interaction.But eventually we progress to the third phase where we figure out how to use the technology to complement our human relationships rather than to substitute for them. We begin to develop etiquette and ethics and protocols around the technology as the technology becomes commonplace and ubiquitous.In the late 50’s, when the telephone began to become ubiquitous, there were problems with people who would literally spend all day on the telephone and never leave the house, sometimes for weeks at a time.When was the last time you made an actual phone call on your smartphone? When was the last time one of those calls lasted more than fifteen minutes?Young adults are actually using Facebook less than their older peers, and typically use it and other social media to coordinate face-to-face meetups, rather than interact solely online. They’re on these sites, but they spend surprisingly less time actually interacting with others on them. Social media instead has become more of a journalism tool for them, a way to document their life, rather than a substitute for it entirely.Younger people are starting to become better consumers of information, as well, than their older peers.[9] They’re better at separating fact from opinion, and considerably better at spotting disinformation.Technology never really lives up to the initial promise. But eventually, we find an equilibrium again.It may take some time. But I have faith that we’ll get there, just as we did with the printing press and every other previous communications technology.Careful the things you say, children will listenCareful the things you do, children will seeAnd learnChildren may not obey, but children will listenChildren will look to you for which way to turnTo learn what to beCareful before you say "Listen to me"Children will listen…Stephen Sondheim, Into the Woods, “Children Will Listen”Where I am most optimistic is in our youth.Someday, whether today or tomorrow or years from now, adults will need to explain to their children, and grandchildren, why Donald Trump remained in office. How he was elected in the first place. How Brexit happened. How all of the many ways that the world is falling apart right now happened. How they could let it happen.They will have to face the questions of their children as to why they let the world continue to burn, both literally and figuratively.Just as they themselves had to ask their parents why Vietnam was left to burn. Why black people shouldn’t have civil rights and why there were race riots. Why Nixon was elected and stayed in office as long as he did when the public knew about Watergate.There’s a saying, that we don’t inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. And that bill always comes due.I think the lesson our children are learning right now from watching us is the consequences of institutionalized selfishness. There’s an irony here, that the eldest generation believes that kids today are more selfish than ever, more self-centered, because of their use of technology.But my time in education showed me the opposite. Kids use technology most often to help each other. They are more informed than ever, and more diverse than ever. And honestly, I think they really have more empathy than I see in those who came before me. They share more than ever. They collaborate more than ever, using tools like Slack, Discord, Twitch, and others.I see young people interested in peacebuilding and community building and social justice. They’re heavily engaged. They want to learn these things. They’re hungry for real interaction, and for a more equitable world.Our children are listening right now. And they’re angry about what they hear.They’re pissed that those in charge can be so callous, so focused on the next quarter that they completely disregard the next generation. They’re angry about the older people in charge who climbed up a publicly provided ladder to success and then yanked it up after them, only to admonish the younger generation that they would be successful if only they made the same choices.I believe in our upcoming generations. I really do.We’ve been through hell before as a nation, multiple times.We’ve been through many situations where it looked like the country wasn’t going to make it. We’ve been through civil war and racial strife and cultural upheavals. We’ve been through technological revolutions that threatened to destroy us all, literally. We’ve been through times when the nation burned around us.All of these situations have been the result of the last gasp of desperate reactionaries trying with all their might to cling to what they have. Slavery. Unmitigated greed. Segregation. Patriarchy. Class hierarchy.And every time, we’ve grown back just a little stronger. A little more resilient. A little more inclusive. A little more equitable.We will get better, eventually.It’s brutal right now. It’s ugly. We’re seeing the worst sides of this nation. We’re scared. All of us, even the people who are causing this disaster. They’re scared, too.We’re going through hell right now.We just have to keep going.Together.Footnotes[1] https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/703909.pdf[2] Key Moments From Sondland, Cooper and Hale Testimony[3] 6 things we learned from Fiona Hill and David Holmes’ impeachment testimony[4] 'Everyone was in the loop.' Sondland confirms quid pro quo[5] Rudy Giuliani’s Bagman Lev Parnas Blows Up Trump’s Ukraine Defense[6] https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf[7] White House violated the law by freezing Ukraine aid, GAO says[8] IQ2 Interview: Should You Love Your Enemies?[9] Younger Americans are better than older Americans at telling factual news statements from opinions

I am going to assume that by ‘tougher’ you mean better at fighting, more resilient in the face of combat conditions and capable of accomplishing missions. Since you specify ‘elite’ German troops, I will assume you mean something on the order of Fallschirmjaeger, SS-Jagdverbande or the very best Waffen SS divisions like the 2nd Das Reich or 5th Wiking. Given that, no, not at all. On the contrary, such a German unit could be expected to outperform US Marine infantry by a significant margin.Fallschirmjaeger resting during a lull in Italy. These elite troops were part of the Luftwaffe rather than the Army during WWII. The one in the foreground carries an FG.42, the first assault rifle used in combat.Otto Skorzeny (centre) and other members of unit that rescued Mussolini from Gran Sasso, photographed with the Italian leader in the aftermath of the raid. Though credited as an SS commando operation, only Skorzeny and 26 other members of the unit were SS Jaeger from SS-Sonderverband z.b.V. Freidenthal. The other 82, including the men who commanded the operation on the ground, Major Otto-Harald Mors (foreground, left) and Oberleutnant Georg Freiherr von Berlepsch (left of Mors), were members of I.Fallschirmjaeger-Lehr-Bataillon, 7.Fallschirmjaeger-Regiment, demonstrating the longstanding commando traditions of the Fallschirmjaeger.Hauptsturmfuehrer (Captain) Karl Ullrich of the highly decorated 5th SS Panzer-Division Wiking. Awarded the knight’s Cross with Oak leaves, he would later be the division’s last commander.Aside from a few Marines crewing shipboard weapons during landings, the Marines did not face German forces during WWII, so we cannot make a direct comparison. However, we can compare the performance of Marines to US Army units in the Pacific and then US Army units against German ones. In the Pacific, US Marines tended to demonstrate a 70% greater casualty exchange rate per man than US Army units fighting against the Japanese in comparable circumstances. The key phrase here is ‘in comparable circumstances.’ The Marines participated in a number of unnecessary and badly supported head-on beach assaults that resulted in high losses. The Army tended to avoid such showy operations.Meanwhile, in late 1943 through 1944, the Germans tended to enjoy a roughly 100% superiority in casualties inflicted per man against the US Army. So, looked at like that, average German units were actually slightly better than US Marine infantry by about 17%, while elite units like the Hermann-Goering Panzer-Fallschirmjaeger Division enjoyed casualty exchange rates twice as good as the average German unit.Looking back famous battle of Belleau Woods in WWI, where US Marines did face the Germans, at the end of the first day, Marine losses were 2.5 times as high as German losses. Using T.N. Dupuy’s numbers for the advantages of a defensive position, and considering the Germans were somewhat outnumbered, this would tend to corroborate the numbers above, suggesting a slight German advantage amongst their average troops.Why? Well, let’s look at how they were trained and selected:The US Marines had a more comprehensive marksmanship program than the US Army, one which placed much greater emphasis on fire discipline and accuracy. This is born out in combat footage. In a US military study of combat footage from WWII through Vietnam it was observed that Marines, 90% of the time are seen to aim carefully, to fire predominately on semi-automatic when armed with automatic weapons, and to fire off shots on semi-auto more slowly and with greater deliberation. By contrast, Army soldiers are seen to rapidly fire off shots, often emptying their magazine, with less time taken to acquire their a target or assess range. Where the US Army relied on volume of fire, and many officers had little faith in marksmanship under combat conditions, the Marines valued precision shooting.However, the Germans were known for having a similarly superior marksmanship program which, as far back as WWI and before, placed great emphasis on teaching soldiers to evaluate ranges under combat conditions, to prize accuracy over speed, encouraged concentration of fire to suppress or destroy targets, and taught that one should withhold fire until within effective range to cause significant damage, and preferably until the minimum possible range, to achieve the most decisive effect.As early as the turn-of-the-century, the Germans had devised pop-up targets and moving targets for marksmanship practice to improve realism. Soldiers who identified a target and evaluated the range were taught to immediately call out this information, so that other soldiers nearby could quickly adjust their sights and engage the target. Every platoon and squad had a designated observer, generally a more senior soldier picked for proven ability to accurately identify range and target, who would report this information to their commander to allow them to assess how best to allocate fire and make sure everyone’s sights were correctly set. In the infantry squad, this individual was typically placed with the machingunner, who was seen as the major source of firepower.Unlike the US system, where recruits learned on rifles, followed by only cursory familiarisation with their other weapons, unless they were designated a BAR gunner, Germans were trained from the start on rifles, submachineguns, pistols and machineguns, learning how to fire the latter from the bipod, from the very stable four-legged mount made for it, which could be fitted with a scope for accurate fire to 2000m, and even from the hip in “assault fire.” (And yes, this can be done effectively in real life, provided the weapon is braced properly and the range is short. There are a number of accounts of German machinegunners using this technique to good effect against enemy squads caught in the open at 50–75m during assaults.) Those demonstrating the best marksmanship with the weapon were made the machinegunners, but everyone was effectively trained in it’s use to 1000m and could quickly take over the weapon. Every Marine was a rifleman, but every German soldier was both rifleman and machinegunner.The US Marine Corps had developed a strong tradition and unique sense of espirit d’corps that the Army, outside of a few individual units, lacked. Despite civilian jokes about the narrow-minded, quaint, stubborn ways of the Marines, they had and have the reputation of an elite service, which attracted higher quality volunteers than the Army got. However, Marine training was built on the same psychologically backwards, counterproductive “break them down and build them up” approach the Army used, only with greater intensity and brutality. Random beatings, sadistic hazing and petty harassment were a regular feature of training. This tended to stifle some of the very initiative that would later be encouraged, alienate more intelligent recruits, and leave Marines with mixed, conflicted feelings about the service, something of a love-hate relationship. The Marines also tried to buttress this tradition by wasting a lot of training time on an obsession with such militarily useless matters as Napoleonic marching drill, something they are still famous for their skill at. On top of that, the Marines, like the US Amy, had a centralised depot training system, which meant that initial training was conducted by instructors who would not form part of the recruits’ unit, giving the whole thing a more distant, impersonal, factory assembly line feel.Drill and ceremony training took up a significant portion of a US Marine recruit’s time.The Germans, in contrast, had largely discarded hazing as a training methodology, recognising it to be out-dated and counterproductive. Instead of mindless sadism, the Germans tried to make training tough in realistic, combat-orientated ways that soldiers could appreciate as actually teaching important battlefield lessons. Breaking the individual personality of the recruit was frowned on in favour of trying to find and build on strong points in their character. Off duty time in training was far more relaxed, and relations between all ranks considerably more congenial than what was found in the very stratified, class-conscious US services. Officers led the training most of the time, rather than farming it out to NCOs as was the US practice. The Germans created a degree of camaraderie across all ranks that was the envy of every other fighting force.Contrary to the popular stereotype of the precise German formation doing the Prussian Slow March (“Goose Step”) down the Unter der Linden, as far back as WWI the German Army had begun to discard such drill and ceremony training as useless. Only a few specially selected units such as the Leibstandarte and the Grossdeutschland’s demonstration battalion trained for such displays. Most German soldiers learned only a few rudimentary movements like Present Arms, and instead of marching about in formation, they were drilled in practical combat movement, such as taking cover rapidly under sudden fire, and rushing from cover to cover.The Germans placed great emphasis on combat movement and fieldcraft, and this proved to be one of the greatest differences between German and Allied units on the battlefield. Much of the fire and movement tactics and fieldcraft practiced by armies today was adapted from the Germans, and where the soldiers of our time might find their Allied counterparts’ battlefield behavior old-fashioned, most of what German soldiers did back then would seem quite familiar and modern.The Germans retained greater combat mobility by never going into combat with the kind of ridiculous loads many Marines were forced to lug ashore, as they knew that was suicidal. Germans were trained to leave non-essential equipment behind (in their platoon carts in land operations) and were taught to never go into battle with more than 22kg on them. All the other stuff would have be brought ashore by follow-on troops once the beach was taken, in amphibious landings.Training was conducted by each regiment, so that some of the NCOs and officers conducting training would be going to the front with the new troops, ensuring that they had leaders who were familiar to them, and who were likewise acquinted with them, knowing their strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, German troops were rarely put straight into combat when they reached the front. Instead, frontline units organised their own training courses, so that newly arriving troops could be taught all the latest tactics by the very officers and NCOs who would lead them in battle.A short anecdote from the training of the SS-Verfungstruppe that would later become 2nd SS “Das Reich” will serve to illustrate a number of German training principles:‘One of our platoon leaders loved that piece of ground, so we were often “in Paradise.” One Autumn day we marched out through a steady drizzle of rain to “Paradise.” We arrived just as the farmer had finished spreading the area with manure. There was a terrible stink of cows and pigs in the air. The prayer, “Lord let this cup pass from me”, was not granted and on our officer’s lips was a satisfied smile as he explained the tactical situation. He waved his hand across the dung-covered “Paradise” and pointed to a small wood. There, he explained, were the enemy trenches and went on to say that it was our task to carry out an attack and to drive him from those positions.‘The machineguns opened up and we fired our blanks at the imaginary enemy. Then we had to rush forward and fling ourselves flat. Some recruits tried to find a nice place on which to lie down. This caused our officer to order a new movement. “The enemy barrage is too heavy. As we cannot pas through it we will roll over and over on the ground in order to reach a new assault position. Follow me”, and he flung himself on to that dung covered field and rolled over and over. With rifles pressed between our knees and tight to out chests we, too, rolled over and over, cursing and swearing.‘We returned to barracks stinking from the filth which encrusted our uniforms. But our officer marched at out head as proud as a Spaniard, as if we had just won a battle. Before he dismissed us he spoke a few words. “Lads, think of this. If we were under fire you would not have time to find a nice place to fling yourself down You would hit the deck quickly, irrespective of whether it was a field of flowers or a pile of shit.” He was right, of course.’I would draw your attention to the following points from this story:1.) The officer leads the training personally, and specifically participates in the most unpleasant aspect of it, demonstrating leadership by example.2.) He explains the tactical situation the exercise takes place in beforehand, and he further explains the specific necessity of the exercise afterwards; the German armed forces made great effort to get recruits to understand the purpose of everything they did, and encourage active, thinking obedience, rather than mindless automaton behavior.3.) The officer speaks to his troops in a friendly, comradely manner; he is their teacher, and they are his worthy students. He does not treat them with disdain or belittle them.4.)The officer does not care that the recruits voice dissatisfaction in the form of cursing, so long as they do what is ordered. No special punishment follows for them having the insolence to do this. German soldiers were expected to be willful individuals who had opinions of their own and were free to voice them to a much greater degree than most Allied troops were.5.) The story shows the great degree to which the German ground forces trained to reflexively and instantly throw themselves flat under fire. Many Allied soldiers hesitated to do so, or preferred to only kneel in place, exposing themselves to fire in the process.6.) The Germans made great use of lateral movement while prone to confuse the enemy about their location, and frequently altered the exact axis of their attack to find the best place to infiltrate close to enemy positions safely.Contrary to stereotype, the Germans had long ago abandoned their own mania for precision marching drill in favour of practical combat skills. Note that no NCO is wasting the time to correct these 5th SS-Division soldiers on their casual attitude to Shoulder Arms.The US Marine Corps’ background as a shipborne, expeditionary service meant the Marines were often deployed in small landing parties, and at one time, in boarding actions that tended to be much more fluid and individualistic than massed field battles on land, leaving them with a much greater tradition of initiative at the small unit level than the Army. To this day the Marines show more comfort with “Mission-type Orders” than the US Army, though the latter has narrowed that gap a fair amount since the 1940s. NCOs typically enjoyed greater autonomy and responsibility than their Army counterparts.Germans, on the other hand, invented “Mission-type Orders” or Auftragstaktik. Encouraging initiative down to the lowest soldier, stressing wide latitude in executing orders, rapid and flexible reaction to changing events, and thriving in chaos were the hallmarks of the German military. Of all the combatants in WWII, only the Finnish made comparable demands on the tactical thinking and active participation of their lowest-ranking soldiers, and their system had been created by a German officer.The Germans possessed one final advantage that added to both their initiative and morale: the selection and training of leaders. In the US, a college degree guaranteed (as today) an officer rank, despite the lack of correlation between either the affluence to pay for college or academic success with combat leadership. The Marines did happen to have a much tougher training course for their infantry officers than the Army (modern Marine Infantry Officer’s Course is of similar difficulty to Army Ranger School), however, the difficulty was mostly in the physical intensity, rather than in tactics and leadership. Marine officers could (and still can) often outrun their whole platoon with ease, but typically lacked the degree of practical job knowledge their platoon NCO possessed. Training for a US Marine officer was also much shorter than what his German counterpart received. Marine officer training was around 6.5 months, which is actually less than what a German NCO had to go through.Additionally, the US has tended towards a ‘management’ style of command that focuses on choreographing what everyone else is doing, but leaving most of the physical leadership to NCOs. Many US officers have chosen to ignore this and lead from the front, but they were the exceptions, rather then the rule, and the system has tended to discourage this behaviour. This command-post leadership creates to a sterile, brittle, and uninspiring command style, which can’t react to events on the spot.In Germany, merely having an Abitur and an awesome physique wouldn’t guarantee you the coveted silver shoulder straps. First, you had to submit to a detailed psychological examination conducted by a team of officers and psychologists which sought to test your willpower and determination in adversity, your decisiveness and quick-thinking under stress, and your ability to communicate clearly and teach soldiers, with the latter being tested by literally having the candidate try to teach something they knew to some random soldiers loaned to the psychological board. Assuming you got passable marks, you then had to apply to individual regiments. It was up to the colonel of each regiment to interview you, look over your test results and accept you or not. The German Army couldn’t force any colonel to take a given candidate, and there was no quota system. Having gotten this far, the officer-candidate now attended training as a common soldier in the regiment that accepted them, where they were expected to demonstrate exceptional initiative, decisiveness, determination and integrity. They were tested in their squad command abilities repeatedly. If they didn’t really shine in basic training, they simply became a private soldier.If they passed, then before 1942, they received a promotion to Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier (Officer Cadet holding the rank of Corporal/Squad Leader) and went on to a 9 month leadership course, the Kriegschule. From 1942, they had to undertake a six week combat tour first. If they did well in battle as a squad leader, they went on to the leadership course. At any point, they could fail and be stuck as a squad leader. Throughout the course, their leadership qualities, particularly their tactical ability was continually scrutinised and tested, and also heavily mentored by the officers running the course. It was a far more intellectually demanding course and mentally focused course. Where a US Marine officer candidate engaged in intense athletics every day, and the most common cause of failure in training was injury or physical inability, a German officer cadet spent 1 hour a week on athletics, but 6 hours a week on tactics, 6 on military history, 3 on weapons technology, 3 on combat engineering, 2 on topography, map reading and navigation, and at least an hour each week on each of air defence, communications and automotive engineering. By far the most common cause of failure at Kriegschule was lack of mental ability. German NCOs had to pass a similar course.If they passed, then before 1942 they got another promotion to Fähnrich (Ensign, equal to Unterfeldwebel/Sergeant) and went on to a much more difficult 9 month Waffenschule, where they learned how to command troops in thweir arm of service. From 1942, they again had to undertake a six week combat tour before proceeding to the advanced course. At the advanced course, the same screening, selection and mentoring was repeated more intensely. Many simply stayed NCOs. But even this course only made them Oberfähnrich (Senior Ensign, equal to Overfeldwebel/Sergeant Major). They the returned to their regiment for an 8 week ‘field probation’ where their officers would scrutinise them to see of they really had what it took to be an officer. Those that finally made it to leutnant rank (which required a final vote by the officers of the regiment) tended to truly be the most gifted soldiers and ablest leaders in their units, in contrast to the ‘Butterbars’ and ‘Shiny Privates’ US enlisted people still joke about.German officers were expected to know their soldiers to a much greater degree than their US counterparts as well. A company commander would be expected to remember to congratulate a soldier not only on his own birthday, but on those of his parents’ as well. German officers at company level were expected to keep up on any problems a soldier was having at home, and to sit down and have a one-on-one talk with every soldier under their command at least once a month, talking about whatever concerned them and trying to address any problems they had. Unless interrupted by sustained combat, a German company would sit down every day while their commander read out current events, which they were given the opportunity to ask questions about. While the National Socialist system encouraged this as a time to disseminate propaganda, in actual practice it was a time when the company would discuss as a unit whatever was on their mind.Perhaps most importantly, German officers were taught to lead from the front always. Even Field Marshals led attacks in person on many occasions, belt full of grenades and submachinegun in hand. This attitude of always doing more themselves than they asked of their subordinates won a degree of respect and devotion from German soldiers that US officers simply couldn’t compete with. Even the most cynical and fatigued German soldier found it hard to shirk battle when they ran across their 72 year old corps commander digging a fighting hole and preparing to form the rearguard with just himself and his staff. (Which is how Paul Hausser re-established the defensive line that held the Falaise-Argentan gap open long enough for most of Army Group West to escape encirclement.) Individual US officers sometimes displayed this attitude, but in the German Army, it was expected as a matter of course. This is perhaps best illustrated by the story of a request for the award of the Iron Cross 1st Class which reached the desk of Field Marshal Schoerner in late 1944. The citation described how, during an attack, a certain regimental commander had taken up an MG.42 and led the foremost assault platoon in the attack, staying at the very point of the advance throughout the day of fighting, despite being wounded. As a consequence, their division commander recommended they be given the medal. Schoerner, however, angrily scrawled across the citation document: “Every German regimental commander is expected to be at the forefront of their men in attack and defence. This action in no way merits a special award!”Leadership from the front:Hauptmann (Captain) Peter Kiesgen, recipient of the Knight’s Cross, with 5 Tank Destruction Badges for the personal destruction of a tank by means of infantry weapons in close combat, instructs Hitlerjugend in the art of tank hunting.Oberleutnant (Senior Lieutenant) Günther Viezenz, wearing 7 Tank Destruction Badges and his Knight’s Cross. He would eventually win 5 Tank Destruction Badges in Gold and 1 in Silver for destruction of 21 enemy tanks.Hauptmann Ferdinand Frech, holder of the Knight’s Cross, 4 Tank Destruction Badges in Silver, and the Close Combat Clasp in Bronze for 15–24 days in hand-to-hand combat.Major Goerg Wenzelburger, holder of the Knight’s Cross, and the Close Combat Clasp in Gold for 78 days of hand-to-hand combat.This Sturmbannfuehrer (Major) of SS-Standarte Germania wears the Knight’s Cross and Close Combat Clasp in Silver for 25–49 days in hand-to-hand combat.SS-Brigadefuehrer and Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Sylvester Stadler, holder of the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and Close Combat Claps in Gold for 50+ days of hand-to-hand combat.Oberst (Colonel) Erich Lorenz, commander of 85.Infanterie-Division, holder of the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, 2 Tank Destruction Badges in Silver, and the Close Combat Claps in Gold for 50+ days of hand-to-hand combat.Generalmajor Otto-Ernst Remer, holder of the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and Close Combat Clasp in Silver for 25–49 days of hand-to-hand combat.Consequently, though the German Army and USMC possessed many similarities, the Germans held the edge in initiative, leadership and morale. And that is just regular units.Felix Steiner, the man who set up the main Waffen-SS training program, had joined the SS merely in order to put his training ideas into effect, having been ignored as an Army major. (He was actually so disinterested in the Nazi Party that, despite repeated admonishments from Himmler, he could never be bothered, even as an SS general to give more than a disinterested wave and lukewarm “Heil” rather than the resounding, crisp “Heil Hitler!” salute expected of him, finding the idea of actually saying “Heil Hitler” simply too ridiculous.) He created a program that aspired to be even more modern than the already avant-garde German Army program, with more combat-oriented physical training, more time using weapons, night movement and night combat training, and even greater emphasis on fieldcraft. All the most renowned Waffen SS divisions like the Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Wiking, Hohenstaufen, and Hitlerjugend divisions went through a version of his school, and the two divisions he personally trained and commanded, 2.SS Das Reich and 5.SS Wiking, were respectively the second and fourth most highly decorated divisions, in terms of awards won by members, in the entire German order of battle. (The first was the famous 7.Flieger/1.Fallschirmjaeger and the third the Army’s 4.Panzer).(It’s worth noting that, contrary to what modern people might think, membership in the NSDAP was not a requirement of joining the Waffen-SS, even for officers. Joachim Pieper, a highly decorated officer of the Leibstandarte, despite being Heinrich’s Himmler’s adjutant for a time, avoided ever joining the party, and only ended up on the membership rolls because Himmler, in exasperation, finally signed a card on his behalf, without his knowledge or permission, and filed it in 1943. Likewise, political education, even in units like the Leibstandarte, Hitler’s bodyguard regiment, was met with derision and hostility by the troops and mockery and biting sarcasm from most of the officers. To most such soldiers, being a good soldier was the pinnacle of being German, and all the rest was just the theoretical babbling of a bunch of behind-the-lines political academics. Many of Himmler’s letters of complaint have survived, concerning lack of cooperation with political officers from the SS Main Office, as well ignoring various SS structures on things like minimum height or geneological purity. Thus, the diminutive Sepp Deitrich, the Leibstandarte’s commanding officer, not only allowed people to join who were, like himself, under the official height requirement of 178cm, he also accepted 3 Armenians as soldiers, before the outbreak of the war and the personnel shortage, and freely let his troops marry Ukrainian and Russian women on the Eastern Front, both in complete contravention of the SS’s racial purity standards.)The Fallschirmjaeger held even more stringent standards than Steiner’s Waffen-SS school, in terms of required minimums of physical ability. They originated out of the Polizei Abteilung z.b.V (zu besonderen Verwendung, or ‘for special use’) Wecke, later Landespolizeigruppe z.B.V. Wecke and Landespolizeigruppe General Goering, a special unit of the Prussian State Police picked members of which had been trained by Hermann Goering (who had been a parachute enthusiast and parachute salesman in the 20s) to parachute onto the roofs of buildings in the middle of cities and conduct rapid surprise assaults similar to what modern special forces like GSG9, the SAS and Delta Force do when storming buildings. (The modern units don’t typically engage in anything as dangerous as urban paradrops, preferring helicopters. However, some of the LPG’s techniques have survived amongst their modern equivalent, the German anti-terrorist commando unit Grenzschuetzegruppen 9, who do still train in the use of parachutes in urban settings, such as to rapidly descend from rooftops to ground level). This background led to the original Fallschirmjaeger receiving a degree of commando-type training not present in German army infantry, as they demonstrated at places like Eben Emael. The original battalion, expanded into the Fallschirmjaeger-Regiment Hermann Goering, itself persisted as the most elite of the elite Fallschirmjaeger, eventuality forming the nucleus of the bizarrely successfully Panzer-Fallschirmjaeger Division Hermann Goering, the best division of the Italian front. The original Fallschirmjaeger division, the 7.Flieger/1.Fallschirmjaeger, also built around elements of the original Regiment-Hermann Goering/Luftlande-Sturmregiment.1, collected more decorations amongst it’s members than any other division in the German armed forces.The Waffen-SS created it’s own special operations troops, SS-Sonderverband z.b.V. Freidenthal, members of which, under former Liebstandarte officer Otto Skorzeny, joined with Fallschirmjaeger to rescue the imprisoned Benito Mussolini from the Gran Sasso Resort. An originally company-sized force, it would expand into SS-Fallschirmjaeger-Bataillon 500, SS-Jaeger-Bataillon 501, SS-Jaeger-Bataillon 502, and SS-Fallschirmjaeger-Bataillon 600, all of which also operated under titles such as SS-Jagdverbande-Mitte, SS-Jagdverbande-Dora II, etc. These were made up of specially selected troops from the best Waffen SS units, trained to conduct direct action raids and operate behind enemy lines, and eventually became their own Amt (department), Amt VI, of the Reichsicherheitshauptamt, under Skorzeny’s command.These units could be expected to be two to three times as good, in casualty efficiency, as US Marine infantry, and somewhat better than the Marine Raider battalions, which HQMC never showed much love for.