Who were the best soldiers in world war 2?

Answer 1

Every single blessed one of them that fought for freedom against Nazi leadership.

Objectively:

The Germans.

Leaving aside the odiousness of the cause for which they fought, German soldiers were, without question, the most consistently skilful, adaptable & effective troops of WW2.

Yes, in the end they lost - thankfully! In general, on average, however, they regularly outfought all opponents; often with the odds heavily stacked against them! Even when bested in combat, they almost always made their opponents pay very heavily, & generally were superb at withdrawing in good order; creating ad hoc formations from surviving personnel, and then counter-attacking immediately (often catching recently victorious opponents off-guard, & punishing them badly for their complacency!) or forming effective new lines of defence.

Junior leadership was usually outstanding, & German soldiers were generally far more adept than the Allies at reacting effectively to rapidly changing/ fluid tactical situations. Much of this was due to the excellence of their training: even by the later stages of the war, the average German soldier was far more thoroughly trained than his opponents.

Ultimately, they were defeated by overwhelming force, not more militarily skilled opponents. German generalship was not always great, & their higher command was crippled by Hitler's constant interference, which often resulted in suicidally stupid strategic decision making. The average German soldier, however, was "a perfect thing apart" - the outstanding soldier of WW2.