In his book "Tigers in the Mud", Otto Carius talks about his experiences in the western front (mostly spent inside the Ruhr Pocket) with great disdain. Some quotes:
We were used to an opponent the stature of the Russians; we were
amazed at the contrast. During the war, I have never saw soldiers
disperse head over heels even though virtually nothing was happening.
Tigers in the Mud, p214
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Five Russians were more dangerous than Thirty Americans. We already noticed that in our few days in the western front.
p210
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Again the pace of the war surprised me, the Russians would never have let us have so much time! The Americans took so long to close the pocket, especially given that nobody around wanted to fight anymore. A well organized German corps could have closed the pocket in a week.
There are other disparaging remarks on the effectiveness of the American troops as well, in addition to sarcastic quotations of how fearful the American troops were. My question is, is this assessment fair?
Was Otto's experience of Americans due to the fact that the units around the Ruhr pocket 1) did not expect much resistance due to the aforementioned "nobody was fighting anymore" and so was very casual with their pace, and 2) were of a lower quality as Bradley sent his crack units to race to the Elbe and Austria?