I just feel like it might be the latter, because the idea that Germany only achieved limited success due to surprise, amphetamines, and Allied incompetence kind of takes away from the fact that the Soviets spent so much effort and so many lives in beating them back halfway to Berlin before the Allies even invaded on the Western front. With the idea that the German army was somehow more competent, professional, whatever, over the French/British/Etc, that adds to the achievement of the Soviets in blunting and then turning back their advance. But the criticisms of the Nazi army, idk, it seems to take away from all of that? Like "lol whatever they were all hopped up on adderall and would have been stopped anyway." idk y'all it just seems weird. I don't know how to take it.
edit: like say it's boxing and you got The Best Boxer and they're beaten by someone else, well, that'd make the latter the Boxer who beat The Best Boxer, but then people come out saying actually they weren't that great etc etc, it detracts from both of them, not just one, idk
I was under the impression that industrial wars are mostly a matter of industrial capacity and who fucks up the least. Like, it's not that the Germans or the Allies were overall incompetent, it's that there are many examples of them being incompetent, and in many cases that incompetence costing them battles.
For example, there are accounts of German tank crews having passed out on the side of the road due to amphetamine comedown, which has lead modern military scholars to speculate that if the French and British forces at Dunkirk had managed to reorganize and push back they would have been able to maintain a foothold. However, we won't know that ever because the French and the British command were too incompetent to do so. I suspect it probably wouldn't have mattered, because there are no accounts of entire battle groups being out of commission, but it's an interesting thought experiment at least.