Last edited Tue Feb 5, 2013, 08:35 PM - Edit history (1)
During the American Revolution the Americans often had better or as good weapons as the British, but it was the British Regular Discipline that won most of the battles (The British lost the Revolution for they had little support among the people of New England or the Middle Colonies, and while they had superior weapons technology, they did not have the support of the masses and thus loss the war, just like the US did in Vietnam and is doing in Afghanistan),
Side Note: Iraq is unique, the War to defeat Saddam was a complete success, but the subsequent war over who was to rule Iraq, the US lost to Iran, due to the Shiites of Iraq preferring Iran over the US. Superior technology could NOT overcome the fact who the Iraqi people wanted to rule them.
In any fight, the winner is almost always to the side with the better training. This can be seen in the German Invasion of France in 1940 and the German Invasion of Russia in 1941. Both times the side OPPOSING the Germans had better weapons. The Russian T-34 was so superior to anything the Germans had, the Germans copied it and then realized they did not have the welding ability to make it, thus re-designed it to be become the Panther of the later War Years. By 1942 the Russian Army had been reformed enough that it could prevent a taking of Moscow, but it took to 1943 for the Russian army to be good enough to go on the Offensive (and this was helped by the lack of Fuel the German Army had after 1941, its fuel supply before 1941 had been Russia, when Hitler attacked Russia he attacked his own fuel supply, when German Forces failed to take Moscow, the war was over, Germany had lost and even the German High Command knew this and thus did no long term plans after 1941, the only question such a plan would have answered is who took Berlin. the British, the Americans or the Russian. .
A similar situation occurred on the Western Front in 1944, the Germans this time had the superior weapon technology, but due to being tied up in Russia, the Germans ran out of men, fuel and supplies and lost the war.
A similar situation occurred in Korea in 1950, the North Koreans had Superior tanks, the T-34-85 (This was the same T-34 the Germans had run unto in 1941, but upguned with new three man turret with an 85mm gun instead of the original two man turret with a 76mm gun, T-34-85s are still in use throughout the world, last seen in Combat during the Kosovo Conflict of the 1990s).
These T-34-85s were capable of defeating anything in South Korea, until the US shipped in some M4 Shermans and M26 Pershings. After the US sent in the M4 Shermans and M26 Pershings and thier well trained crews, the tide turned and the US went on the offensive. Toward the end of the Korean War the M46 Pershing and the M47 Patton tanks were sent to Korea (and Britain sent its Centenion tanks). These later tanks were clearly Superior to the T-34-85s of the North Koreans and Chinese but the topic is better training over better weapons and the later years of the Korean War is more two sides getting around to signing some sort of truce more then anything else.
On the other hand, in the early part of the War, the T-34-85 was superior to the M-4 Shermans and the M26 Pershings. The T-34-85, 85mm gun was superior to the 76 mm gun of the Sherman and it had better cross country ability then the 90mm armed M26 Pershings (and in Korea this superiority was important, so much that Tank Crews preferred the Sherman to the Pershings due to the Sherman's better ability to go cross country. The reason for this was simple, the M26 Pershing was 10 tons heavier then the M4 Sherman, but had the same engine and transmission). Once the Shermans and Pershings had landed with their Crew they quickly out did the T-34-85 of the North Koreans.
Side note: When Hitler attacked Russia, Russia was on its way to replace its Bolt Action Rifles with a semi-Automatic rifle like the American M1. The Germans were still relying on the M1898 Bolt Action Mauser as they main weapon. Stalin, put a stop to the conversion, more in an effort to get the most weapons to the troops then any other reason (Stalin also increased Sub-Machine Production for the same reason, to get more weapons into the hands of his soldiers as opposed to the best weapon into the hands of his soldiers).
The Germans were as shocked about the Russia Semi-Automatic Rifle as they were about the T-34 (and when the US invaded North African in November 1942, the American M1 Rifle). By 1942 the Germans had decided it was time to adopt a new Rifle, the first real Assault Rifle the MP-42. Its use increased as the war went along (Through never replacing the M1898 bolt action rifle in German Service) and the Germans viewed it as superior to the American and Russian Semi-Automatic Rifles (During the Cold War, it was believed that the Russian then copied the German Assault Rifle concept when it adopted the AK-47, but data released since the end of the Cold War indicate the Russians had adopted the AK-47's 7.62x39 round in 1939 through final adoption in its final form took till 1943. The Russians first used the 7.62x39 round in their then new SKS-45 starting in 1945 (Still a debate, the Russians said the SKS was used in the last months of the War, Western Writers still claim that is wrong, it was issued to late).
Just comments where Superior Training overcame Superior Weapons, all else being equal.
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