The nazis lived in a fantasy world. Economically and militarily.
The pre-war nazis economy was an illusion built on ideology and internal debit financing of military spending and public works. A ginormous Ponzi scheme. it was nothing like the civilian, consumer driven economies of Great Britain and particularly the US. German POWs were amazed how well Brits lived, even with a war across the channel. The US blew their minds. Simple things like ice cream. A luxury rarely seen even in pre-war Germany. It was as ubiquitous in1940's US as the Hersey bar, even in POW camps. We went above and beyond the Geneva Convention. To the point a lot of German prisoners didn't want to go home after the war. Lucky for them they weren't Black or Japanese. We had our own sins.
And then there's the horses. Dad was amazed at how many horses they saw, usually dead, that were drafted into the Wehrmacht. Roughly 80% of German military logistics was moved by horse and wagon from pre-war to '45. Something not seen in the US since WW1. We were fully motorized, thanks to GM, Ford, Chrysler and the Studebaker "duce and a half". The Studebaker founders were German. More than a little ironic.
= new reply since forum marked as read