Ukraine is Losing with German Tanks

From a Yahoo news op-ed:

German tanks are failing in Ukraine for the same reasons they lost the Second World War

The leaked report from the German Defence Ministry about the shortcomings of the Leopard 2 tank in the Ukraine should come as no surprise to anybody who even has a cursory understanding of German tank history, or even western tank history in general. ...

The first issue identified is how difficult it is for Ukraine soldiers to mend these tanks and keep them battle worthy. If the engine breaks down it must be taken hundreds of miles for repair in a specialist facility, whereas the old, simple engines of the Russian tanks can be easily fixed by any automotive mechanic, in situ if necessary. ...

We must avoid the same old German tank story from WW2. We must avoid the temptation to make our tanks too complex, too easy to hit, too difficult to maintain and too few.

German cars have this reputation today. Over-engineered, and hard to repair. People praise German engineering, but only if you ignore maintenance as an essential part of good engineering.