The first contacts of our troops with prisoners were extremely pleasant.  So pleasant in fact that American officers got to worrying because the men found the Germans so likable.  But if the Americans talked to them long enough they found in them the very thing we were fighting this war about—their superior-race complex, their smug belief in their divine right to run this part of the world.  A little association with a German prisoner, like a little knowledge, was a bad thing, but I think those of our troops who had an opportunity to talk at length with the Germans, came out of it madder than ever at their enemy.

Captured supplies showed that the Germans used excellent materials in all their stuff.  However, it seemed to us that there was some room for improvement in their vaunted efficiency.  They had more of a hodgepodge and more overlapping designs than we did.  They had big ten-wheeler troop carriers with seats running crosswise, but it was far too much vehicle for the service it performed.  It couldn’t possibly have been used for any other work than troop carrying, and even for that it was an easy target, with men sitting up there in the open.  And it was slow.

They also had a gadget that resembled a motorcycle except that the back end ran on two small caterpillar tracks instead of wheels.  It was a novel idea but, as somebody said, it could carry only three men and there was enough material wasted to make a young tank.