What single weapon was the most crucial to Germany?

[5RANGLIAN]

I reckon Germany's best weapon was Goebbel's propaganda machine. How else could they have kept fighting so long, especially after Stalingrad and the bombing of Hamburg?

[seewolf]

MG 42 is such a great design that variations of this machine gun are still used on battlefields today.I have spoken to soldiers who have actually used it in combat and they only have words of praise for it.
But it´s hard to determine which weapon was crucial in german successes so you can´t be far off if yo say it´s Pz III,Pz IV,Acht-Acht or MG 42.Truth is that Germans have produced many top quality weapons..And I also think that soldiers should not be placed in the category of weapons.Weapons are howitzers,rifles,revolvers,guns,swords etc.

The shorthandled spade [entrenching tool]. Very versatile, especially in hand to hand combat.

Wehrmachts shorthandled spade,for instance,was of unsurpassed quality.It happens that I have two of these tools at home.My father found them when he was a kid and he didn´t even know they were german so he used them later while he worked on building a house.Only a few years after that I realized that these were Wehrmacht entrenching tools.Wooden handles are intact and good as new!Amazing.

[PaulW]

Disaggree Seewolf. Even today the USMC says their best weapon is the rifleman! So its the Jager, Landser, the Feldgrau the Grunt the PBI ...what ever you call him

[nebelwerferXXX]

What single weapon was the most crucial to Germany?
The 2,000,000 Machine Pistols.

[Helmut]

Disaggree Seewolf. Even today the USMC says their best weapon is the rifleman! So its the Jager, Landser, the Feldgrau the Grunt the PBI ...what ever you call him

Paul, I have to agee with you. The best weapon in the world in the hands of lousy troops will not win any battles. German Infantry was their best weapon.

regards,

Helmut

[nebelwerferXXX]

For me...It should be...'What multiple Weapons, Units & Leaders were the most crucial to Germany?'
1) The 35,000 ME-109 fighters & the 200 'Gigant' giant gliders.
2) The 7,500 'Goliath' demolition tanks.
3) The 1,350 Tiger I tanks, 9,000 Panzer Mark IV tanks & 15,000 APCs.
4) The 5-million pistols, 100,000 assault rifles, 1,250,000 MP machine pistols, several millions of standard rifles & 750,000 MG-42 machine guns.
5) The 'Bismarck', the 'Scharnhorst', the 'Raiders' & the 'U-boats'.
6) The 'Robot' Bombardment against England 1944.
7) The Assault Regiment at Crete 1941, the Gross Deutschland at Kursk 1943 & the Panzer Lehr Division in Normandy 1944.
The DAK in North Africa 1941-43.
9) Manstein, Guderian & Rommel.

[nebelwerferXXX]

Operation Sea Lion: The Plan Invasion of Britain 1940

Airborne Forces:
The 200 'Gigant' giant gliders, If used in the strangulation of London 1940. These units were sufficiently enough.
100 gliders...20,000 glider-infantrymen
50 gliders...50 small tank
50 gliders...50 75-mm guns

Amphibious Forces:
2,500 barges & 70 ferry boats carrying...260,000 men in 13 divisions, 120 amph tanks, 7 amph APCs, 40,000 vehicles & 60,000 horses.

Kriegsmarine:
2 carriers & 10 battleships

[lwd]

???
Are you saying the most critical weapons were ones that never existed? Why not go for the A-bomb in 40 then?

[nebelwerferXXX]

German Secret Weapons?
Amerika Bomber
New York Bomber carrying the A-Bomb...?
Mammut giant gliders. to be used in the Invasion of the USA via Quebec, Canada...?

[lwd]

Let's not forget the alien space bats.

[Ricardo Silva]

While being a simple a direct question, no answer can be simple or direct. In my opinion, there can be multiple answers, and all have it's good reasons.
I served on the portuguese army, not many years ago, first at EPI, the Infantry School at Mafra, where i got my military training, and where among other weapons, i had the pleasure of using the MG3. I can tell you one thing, despite her age, it continues to be one great and deadly weapon, it can wipe out a squad or a platoon in seconds, and it continues to be one very reliable weapon on the battlefield.
Nonetheless, she only served during part of the war, and i think that the MG34, despite being inferior, could well do the job.
Now, th 88 cannon, specially in th flak version, was vital for the german war effort. It was the basis of the Flak branch, how many planes were shot down by it?...and tanks? Remember France, even Rommel had to rely on it to stop a dangerous tank attack against his 7th Pz div., in the desert it wiped out entire british regiments while mantaining its air defense mission and even giving fire support like a field howitzer. In the russian steppes, when nothing could stop the T-34, the 88 solved the problem, time and again, and without it, how bad could it be before the german army got the tiger? (which was armed with...an 88), it can be said, that what the 88 did, could be done with other weapons, true, but the 88 and its dual use was that kind of weapon that had no equal on the german army, and it was vital in several ocasions. So, if had to choose one crucial weapon to germany, it would be it.
But this is if we are speaking about the land forces. Can you imagine the Luftwaffe in 1939, 40 and 41 without the Me-109?!
Th Fw-190 only appeared in 41, until then, there was just no other modern fighter (I think we all agree that the Me-110 is not a modern fighter, at least, not against the spitfire). And what about the Kriegsmarine? Without the Type VII how would it fight in the longest battle of the war? The battle of the atlantic was the decisive naval battle for germany, and without the type had the pleasure of using the MG3. I can tell you one thing, despite her age, it continues to be one great and deadly weapon, it can wipe out a squad or platoon in seconds, and VII, it wouldn't even happen. And on has to think about all the materiel that wen't to the bottom of the ocean, and could instead have reached the frontline. And...think about the thousands of ships and planes that were built just to counter the u-boats and replace what they destroyed and could instead be used to build tanks, fighters,...it could surely had made the war shorter, and in the case of the type VII, it was also one of those weapons whose job couldn't be done by other available during most of the conflict (the type IX was not intended to do the job it did, it should be mainly used in faraway waters, not the middle atlantic. It did a good job on american waters...). So, the answer gets complicated. 88 gun (in it's multiple versions), Me-109 and Type VII. These are my weapons of choice, and i just can see the war lasting up until 1945 without all of them.

[Ricardo Silva]

Note: MG3, being the modern version of the MG42. The diference is mainly in the caliber, that was NATO 7,62 ont the MG3 version.