The best generals of WW II were German. Too bad they had the worst leader who thought he was smarter. Then again if Germany had Obama as their leader, we would all be speaking Russian today. Take the best military men you have, and remove them. Its like the USSR during the 30’s without the final solution as to what to do with those high ranking military types. We had a few great commanders, but nothing like the Prussian types who served in the German Army. Their biggest down fall was they couldn’t replace their lost equipment as fast as we could produce ours. They were over whelmed by the numbers. When Hitler asked Von Rundsted, “What do you suggest?” Von Rundstead replied; “Make peace you fool.” The Wehrmacht was no longer fighting for Hitler, it was fighting for Germany, even though they saw the end coming. I love Gen. Heinrici, I could just imagine him saying after given command of the defense of Berlin, “At this point in time, WTF do you really think I can do?
The German military just had a different style; while they are portrayed as rigid, they in fact gave junior officers and noncoms much more leeway to improvise - and it paid off. In terms of the generals themselves, what Erich Manstein accomplished on the Eastern Front was brilliant (in fending off numerically superior Soviet forces). He was relieved due to his many disagreements with Hitler, but during the Cold War served in an advisory capacity in West Germany specifically to deal with massed Warsaw Pact armor to the east. They had some brilliant minds, accustomed to Spartan conditions from the lean times they faced during WWI and afterwards, and as you say, were outdone by our manufacturing.