Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
Just as a matter of record, the German 3d through the 7th FJD were Parachute in name only for prestige purposes; the troops were not parachutists, training was abbreviated and the divisions were not light infantry, they were effectively normal or heavy infantry divisions with a different TOE from the true FJD -- including more artillery, heavy weapons and vehicles -- and they were poorly trained Divisions at that.

The more experienced US 82d and 101st held their own against the dispersed attacks including Armor , the 5th FJD could not against a precisely focussed attack.
Given the casualties and reorganization of the Wehrmacht, I doubt that I would call any late 1944 regular German division (I am not including Waffen SS in this discussion, but I would include the Luftwaffe's gound forces--Fallschirmjaeger, and Luft Divisions), other than some few of the Panzer and Panzer Grenadier divisions, a match for any American division in troop strength or equipment. Volks Grenadier divisions ostensibly had greater armor defeating capabilities in terms of their weapons mix, but the troops manning them tended not to be quite up to the task of using them effectively.
In late 1944, many US divisions had trained and operated together for almost 3 years before being commited in France. German forces on the other hand had devolved into rag tag bands thrown together with only a few months collective training. And, as in later WWI, the Germans had lost almost all of their veteran, effective small unit leadership.