That is true the Russians did use similar forms of transport but the logistic system was different. The logistic tail of a Russian formation was small by Western standards. In their advance Westwards the Russians did not need to change the gauge of the railway or modify their locomotives and rolling stock. The Russian advance westwards was carried out in several bounds over three yearscartfc wrote: ↑10 Jun 2018, 17:58Well the Russians used the same system for logistics, train and then horse or truck and no one seems to belittle their logistic efforts. As for the Germany economy I would have to disagree. Was watching an episode of the World at War the other day and a number of German industrialists were talking about the slow down in the economy and the cut backs in production and that was 1940 after the campaign in France. But you are right the Germans were slow in mobilising their full economy for war unlike the democracies.
I saw that episode too, the reference was to the scaling back of war production after the fall of France despite the preparations for the invasion of Russia. The Germans had access at virtually no cost raw materials and agriculture from Austria, Poland, Norway, the Low Countries, Czechoslovakia, France and other captured territories as well as the plundered fortunes of the Jews and other persecuted groups. Sweden and Switzerland were still trading. Romania was providing oil at no cost from October 1940 and even Russia until Barbarossa was providing grain and oil in vast quantities. German income tax in 1940 was about 13% while in Britain it was 23%.
