The Soviet Invasion of Europe, 1945...

You hit the nail on the head right there. And the important thing to remember when looking at stuff on a tactical and operational level is that talking about the usefulness of Army Group Commanders is pretty much nil.

It's Corps and Division commanders who are going to make the difference in that kind of fight, especially on the Allied side. So for that we're looking to delve into the minds of people like Simonds, Hoffmeister, Foulkes, Horrocks, Adair, etc.

The Soviets also had very good corps and divisional level commanders who shouldn't be forgotten; indeed, overall I'd rank most as better than Allied ones due to having more experience engaging an opponent which was tactically equal or superior to his own forces. Allied commanders never fought a battle where air power, armor, artillery, supplies, and numbers weren't decisively tilted in their favor. Even the Bulge was only temporarily a Germany success; within days Allied forces had seized the initiative and halted German advances. Now naturally I'm not saying that Allied commanders are crap, just that Soviet ones are generally more experienced with the tactical situation than their Allied counterparts.

So what's your verdict on tactics?

It's a fairly mixed situation. Artillery is evenly matched, the Soviets have superiority in tactical air power, Allied squad tactics are generally better and their troops are well trained and armed, but the Soviets are much more experienced, Soviet armor is generally qualitatively and quantitatively superior, but the Allies have squad anti-tank weapons which the Soviets lack (Being forced to rely on captured German or Allied weapons, or obsolete anti-tank rifles and grenades), and Allied units are better organized and up to full strength while some Soviet divisions have been reduced to reinforced battalions which resemble ad hoc Kampfgruppes.
 
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