Frankly I do not know anything about the actual Iranian Army.
Their performance during the first Gulf War was not very good, but Iran was under embargo and the Army was weakened because of cleansing in the revolution and so on.
The german Army in WW II is something different, of this I know more.
First and foremeost, the german military of this time was probably the best in the world.
Why ?
First is the special way of training and doctrine.
German soldiers were trained to think by themselves and to gain the initiative.
This was formulated as "Auftragstaktik" which meant, that the superior officer gives i.e. the platoon leader a specific objective, but does not specify how this is to be done. His platoon leader should know. There were no detailed orders, but general ones. h
German High Command was trained to leave the decision of what to do in detail to the officer in the field, as he knew better what the situation was.
Also, units were kept together after training and so the soldiers knew each other and formed a cohesive unit.
Every front unit had a reserve unit in Germany to keep unit cohesion. Front holiday was granted to upkeep the morale. (In the Red Army there was no holiday. When you started the war in June 41 and survived so far, you had your first holiday in May 45, if lucky)
Next factor was tactics: It is called "Gefecht der verbundenen Waffen" = Combined arms, meaning, that Air force, Infantry and Tanks were used in such a way, that they supported each other. And german commanders were superbly trained, especially the staff officers to act accordingly.
They also had a very strong elite sentiment, which helps to give you confidence.
Next is, that losing a war makes you generally thoughtful about your performance. So you start to think of new ways of fighting a war.
Other armys not necessarily support self-initiative from their commanders, Germans did so.
On the long run, higher industrial output wore down better training and tactics.
Notwithstanding, german units in mostly inflicted four times higher casualties than they had themselves. But this says more about better dooctrine and training, than about the political system of Nazi Germany.
Does not say anything about personal bravery as well.
regards
ze germanguy
And, starting a war also helped, because the attacker has the initiative.
