Originally Posted by KC72

I know that both sides would use captured artillary, and i've seen pictures of Shermans and Churchill tanks repainted and used by the Nazi's, i've also read about allied soldiers swapping the personal weapons for german MP40's and keeping any MG44's they could find, but what other things would they use? did Nazi soldiers use the M1 garrand for example or was it just down to individuals preferences?

I dont like the phrase "Nazi Soldiers" .

Nazi (German National Socialist Party, NSDAP) was a political formation. The German Army (and I mean the "Wehrmacht", not the Waffen-SS, SD or other Formations) was a regular Army, that respected the rules of war.

My grandpa was a farmer. In August '39 he got a mail from the war departement and 6 years later he returned as a completely different man....

He was not a member of the NSDAP, was not a war fanatic .... just a man
that cares about his familiy and was driven by the goverment into the hell...

Dont like the phrase "Nazi Soldier" ....

sorry about that macoy, the reason i used that term was to try to differentiate between the Nazi's and normal soldiers, but i got a bvit muddled up.

Originally Posted by KC72

An American Spitfire squadron

Somehow I have the feeling that this doesn't come under the heading 'captured' equipment.

Originally Posted by Macoy

I dont like the phrase "Nazi Soldiers" .

Nazi (German National Socialist Party, NSDAP) was a political formation. The German Army (and I mean the "Wehrmacht", not the Waffen-SS, SD or other Formations) was a regular Army, that respected the rules of war.

My grandpa was a farmer. In August '39 he got a mail from the war departement and 6 years later he returned as a completely different man....

He was not a member of the NSDAP, was not a war fanatic .... just a man
that cares about his familiy and was driven by the goverment into the hell...

Dont like the phrase "Nazi Soldier" ....

Good point. I don't really care for the term either. However, don't lump the Waffen SS along with the SD or General SS. The Waffen SS fought everywhere the Heer did and were commanded by Heer commanders at sometimes the operational and always at the strategic level. For example, 'Das Reich' was under the command of Heinz Guderian for the first 6 months of 'Barbarossa'. For all extents and purposes, the Waffen SS were really just another branch of the Heer, despite them being part of a seperate organisation. The Waffen SS were proper soldiers and the Heer committed just as many 'war crimes', although the smaller size and 'notierity' of the Waffen SS meant that historians have focused more on the latter.

The Wehrmacht did become politicized. An example of this that springs to mind is in the documentary Nazis a Warning from History when wehrmact poltical officer is interviewed.

the problem with using captured equipment is that you would have to capture more ammo whenever you ran out. you wouldn't be able to go to the supply dump and get some ammo, both sides used different ammo, which probably discouraged them from capturing weapons to use.

Originally Posted by Macoy

I dont like the phrase "Nazi Soldiers" .

I can well understand why, however the sad truth is that the armed services of Germany were under the direct control of the Nazi party, so the term 'Nazi soldiers' is factually correct

Nazi (German National Socialist Party, NSDAP) was a political formation. The German Army (and I mean the "Wehrmacht", not the Waffen-SS, SD or other Formations) was a regular Army, that respected the rules of war.

The claim that the regular German army somehow evaded taking part in the Nazi mass killings is a myth, for while the regular German army may have on the whole obeyed the rules of war while facing the Western Allies whom they considered racial equals, on the Eastern front the regular German army took full part in the murder of millions of Soviet POW's and civilians.

The Germans also used a lot of captured French aircraft after the fall of France. Mostly for transport and such.

The SVT-40 was not only a highly sought after trophy, but was even reissued by the Germans.

The first country outside the Soviet Union to employ the SVT was Finland, which captured some 4,000 SVT-38's during the Winter War, and over 15,000 SVT's during the Continuation War. The SVT saw extensive use in Finnish hands, though malfunctions and breakages were common due to different Finnish ammunition and often an incorrectly adjusted gas recoil system. Germany and other Axis countries captured hundreds of thousands of SVT's during the Great Patriotic War. As the Germans were short of self-loading rifles themselves, the SVT (designated as SIG.259(r) by Wehrmacht) saw widespread use in German hands against their former owners. The Germans even issued their own operating manual for the SVT.