Don't forget the VT (variable-time) fuse! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VT_fuse) There's even a book about the engineering development: The Deadly Fuze: Secret Weapon of World War II (Baldwin, Ralph B.)
Yep, proximity fused anti-aircraft guns were essential in the Pacific.
I also think the concept of superior German technology is a tiresome and often unsupported one. At the outbreak of the war there tanks were outclassed by French tanks, they relied upon hundreds of thousands of horses, so on and so forth.
High tech was almost a curse for Germany; they could never build enough wonder weapons, and when one looks at the economic output of their opponents, the matter was really a foregone conclusion. Individually, the US, UK, USSR and even France before she capitulated had better economies than Germany. Now economics isn't the sole determinant when it comes to warfare, but when you're outproduced 3-1, and faced with opponents that are looking for unconditional surrender your chances are rather slim.
Finnish officer once said to me that when Finnish defense forces ceased to use horses at large,our mobility went greatly down. This happened somewhere around sixties. Only when Sisu Nasu came to use the situation was fixed.
I can understand, as horse needs no gasoline, can move in snow, is small enough to go between trees and is more silent than most engines.
