Horse Sense

World War II was, in part, an equine struggle.

When the German Army invaded Russia seventy-five years ago this day, it took with it 625,000 horses.

These were big German horses.

As one historian quips: The horses had a contract with the army. The terms: We pull hard six days a week. We get fed rich German fodder and have Sundays off.

The army couldn't hold up its end of the contract. Logistical difficulties precluded fodder delivery. The campaign timetable precluded time off.

The horses said: You've broken the contract. We're dying.

Die they did. They had to be replaced by scrawny Russian horses that could live off the land.

But these couldn't pull very hard.

The success of the German invasion depended on speed. Equine problems helped slow it down.

The revolt of the German horses made sense. Pulling a load on muddy unsealed Russian roads in the late summer and fall was a fate worse than death.

The Germans were actually happy when an early frost banished the mud.

But their elation was brief, as they faced the problems of driving or pulling vehicles on frozen rutted roads.

The German Army was a spent force long before the freeze set in.  As early as August, many panzer divisions were reporting that half their vehicles were out of service.

Only the stupidity of Stalin in launching one ill-prepared counter-offensive after another kept German hopes alive.

These hopes finally perished when Zhukov mounted a spirited defense of Moscow in November and December.

Hitler needed a quick victory in Russia because he did not have the production capability to sustain a protracted conflict.

He didn't get it. Nor could he ever have gotten it, given the vastness of the terrain, the bad roads and railway system, and the formidable logistical problems these entailed.

Logistics win wars, but Hitler believed that German will would sweep aside all obstacles.

He lacked old-fashioned horse sense.