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Read "Lost Victories" by Feldmarschall Eric von Manstein. If you read nothing else he comes across as a German Eisenhower, firm but fair.
Then "Manstein: A Portrait" by Marcel Stein - in this book we see him as a German Eisenhower until they implement the Commisar Order. The Commissar Order aimed to kill off all Communist Party cadres with the Soviet Army in the field or wherever they were found by the German Army. It lasted about a year until it was abandoned as it ratcheted up resistance to the Germans exponentially. We also see the unwritten rules of cooperation to liquidate Jews and "undesirables" essentially anyone targeted by the Nazi ideology. There are repeated quotes of undesirables = Communists = Jews.
The trouble with all this is it was fiction. The Jews were at the bottom of Soviet society vs. the top. You could say the German attack had fallen on "air" to paraphrase Basil Liddell Hart.
Until the front hardened after the fall of Stalingrad in 1942 it was the fashion to see the end of the Russian Empire as just a matter of time and this is reflected in numerous orders of the day where by we see endless repetitions of any threat to Rear Area Security is best met by liquidating the Jews. It is shown that this engendered very close coordination by all units of the Wehrmacht with the SS who ran the liquidation squads.
From the clearing of the Crimea to the push into Stalingrad and down to Rostov on the approaches to the Caucuses one man has his finger on the Army Group South orders and that is Von Manstein.
This all comes out in his trial where they find the most complete records of his 11th Army which cleared the Crimea.
Manstein was sent up the river but only served 4 years. He was treated this way the author suggests because he had been captured by the British who, after the Allies fell out with the Russians - had to be seen as cleaning house in their side of Germany, but their hands weren't so clean in particular the French who had sent thousands of French Jews east to their fate in the Concentration Camps.
Throughout the 60s and early 70s Manstein was regularly brought up on charges as new evidence came to light but he could not be prosecuted twice. So he walked and ended his days as a Grand Old Man of what could have been.
Both books are well worth reading and highlight the infighting of the 2 main HQs of the Germany Army, the OKH and the OKW. OKH was the Berlin based politicised Army HQ - OKW being the senior HQ of the fighting Armies. The Armies might recommend but the Army HQ held sway as the voice on the Corporal.
The question is constantly brought up - why didn't they revolt? Political corruption and co-option is the answer. In general the view seems to have been, for at least the first 29 months of the war that "we can handle the Russians." By the summer of 1943 that had all turned around, the Germans had lost North Africa and they were about to start losing Italy. The one man band in Berlin couldn't focus on two fronts and so the East became a long retreat. By the time the realisation set in that there was no way out - the exit door had slammed shut.
Despite this the Wehrmacht, in a conventional battle executed a withdrawal that saw incredible casualties on their side but far worse on the Russian side. The only problem was that the Russians had bottomless manpower and an ever increasing pool of equipment.
In the post war world Manstein was re-habilitated after a fashion and was a military advisor to the Willi Brandt government as the Bundeswehr was brought into NATO. As an old soldier he had the ear of the veterans but time had passed him by and the reality of fighting on a nuclear battlefield had left the son of those who served with von Schlieffen standing on the platform as the train of modern warfare left the station.
Both books are well worth the read.
Lost Victories LINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_Manstein
Manstein - A Portrait LINK http://ezinearticles.com/?Book-Review-Of-Field-Marshal-Von-Manstein,-The-Janus-Head,-A-Portrait&id=1885679
The Commissar Order http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissar_Order
Then "Manstein: A Portrait" by Marcel Stein - in this book we see him as a German Eisenhower until they implement the Commisar Order. The Commissar Order aimed to kill off all Communist Party cadres with the Soviet Army in the field or wherever they were found by the German Army. It lasted about a year until it was abandoned as it ratcheted up resistance to the Germans exponentially. We also see the unwritten rules of cooperation to liquidate Jews and "undesirables" essentially anyone targeted by the Nazi ideology. There are repeated quotes of undesirables = Communists = Jews.
The trouble with all this is it was fiction. The Jews were at the bottom of Soviet society vs. the top. You could say the German attack had fallen on "air" to paraphrase Basil Liddell Hart.
Until the front hardened after the fall of Stalingrad in 1942 it was the fashion to see the end of the Russian Empire as just a matter of time and this is reflected in numerous orders of the day where by we see endless repetitions of any threat to Rear Area Security is best met by liquidating the Jews. It is shown that this engendered very close coordination by all units of the Wehrmacht with the SS who ran the liquidation squads.
From the clearing of the Crimea to the push into Stalingrad and down to Rostov on the approaches to the Caucuses one man has his finger on the Army Group South orders and that is Von Manstein.
This all comes out in his trial where they find the most complete records of his 11th Army which cleared the Crimea.
Manstein was sent up the river but only served 4 years. He was treated this way the author suggests because he had been captured by the British who, after the Allies fell out with the Russians - had to be seen as cleaning house in their side of Germany, but their hands weren't so clean in particular the French who had sent thousands of French Jews east to their fate in the Concentration Camps.
Throughout the 60s and early 70s Manstein was regularly brought up on charges as new evidence came to light but he could not be prosecuted twice. So he walked and ended his days as a Grand Old Man of what could have been.
Both books are well worth reading and highlight the infighting of the 2 main HQs of the Germany Army, the OKH and the OKW. OKH was the Berlin based politicised Army HQ - OKW being the senior HQ of the fighting Armies. The Armies might recommend but the Army HQ held sway as the voice on the Corporal.
The question is constantly brought up - why didn't they revolt? Political corruption and co-option is the answer. In general the view seems to have been, for at least the first 29 months of the war that "we can handle the Russians." By the summer of 1943 that had all turned around, the Germans had lost North Africa and they were about to start losing Italy. The one man band in Berlin couldn't focus on two fronts and so the East became a long retreat. By the time the realisation set in that there was no way out - the exit door had slammed shut.
Despite this the Wehrmacht, in a conventional battle executed a withdrawal that saw incredible casualties on their side but far worse on the Russian side. The only problem was that the Russians had bottomless manpower and an ever increasing pool of equipment.
In the post war world Manstein was re-habilitated after a fashion and was a military advisor to the Willi Brandt government as the Bundeswehr was brought into NATO. As an old soldier he had the ear of the veterans but time had passed him by and the reality of fighting on a nuclear battlefield had left the son of those who served with von Schlieffen standing on the platform as the train of modern warfare left the station.
Both books are well worth the read.
Lost Victories LINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_Manstein
Manstein - A Portrait LINK http://ezinearticles.com/?Book-Review-Of-Field-Marshal-Von-Manstein,-The-Janus-Head,-A-Portrait&id=1885679
The Commissar Order http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissar_Order