Hitler's Wehrmacht, 1935–1945

Hitler's Wehrmacht, 1935–1945 PDF Author: Rolf-Dieter Müller
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813168058
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
An “impressively comprehensive” study of the Nazi military and its culpability in war crimes by “one of the foremost historians of World War II” (Stephen G. Fritz, author of Ostkrieg). Since the end of World War II, Germans have struggled with the legacy of the Wehrmacht—the unified armed forces mobilized by Adolf Hitler in 1935. Historians have vigorously debated whether the Wehrmacht's atrocities represented a break with the past or a continuation of Germany's military traditions. Now available for the first time in English, this meticulously researched yet accessible overview by eminent historian Rolf-Dieter Müller provides a comprehensive analysis of the Wehrmacht, illuminating its role in the horrors of the Third Reich. Müller examines the Wehrmacht's leadership principles, organization, equipment, and training, as well as the front-line experiences of soldiers, airmen, Waffen SS, foreign legionnaires, and volunteers. He skillfully demonstrates how state-directed propaganda and terror influenced the extent to which the militarized citizenry—or Volksgemeinschaft—was transformed under the pressure of total mobilization. Finally, Müller evaluates the army's conduct during the war, from blitzkrieg to the final surrender and charges of war crimes. Brief acts of resistance, such as an officers' “rebellion of conscience” in July 1944, embody the repressed, principled humanity of Germany's soldiers. But ultimately, Müller concludes, the Wehrmacht became the “steel guarantor” of the criminal Nazi regime.

Hitler's Wehrmacht, 1935–1945

Hitler's Wehrmacht, 1935–1945 PDF Author: Rolf-Dieter Müller
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813168058
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Get Book Here

Book Description
An “impressively comprehensive” study of the Nazi military and its culpability in war crimes by “one of the foremost historians of World War II” (Stephen G. Fritz, author of Ostkrieg). Since the end of World War II, Germans have struggled with the legacy of the Wehrmacht—the unified armed forces mobilized by Adolf Hitler in 1935. Historians have vigorously debated whether the Wehrmacht's atrocities represented a break with the past or a continuation of Germany's military traditions. Now available for the first time in English, this meticulously researched yet accessible overview by eminent historian Rolf-Dieter Müller provides a comprehensive analysis of the Wehrmacht, illuminating its role in the horrors of the Third Reich. Müller examines the Wehrmacht's leadership principles, organization, equipment, and training, as well as the front-line experiences of soldiers, airmen, Waffen SS, foreign legionnaires, and volunteers. He skillfully demonstrates how state-directed propaganda and terror influenced the extent to which the militarized citizenry—or Volksgemeinschaft—was transformed under the pressure of total mobilization. Finally, Müller evaluates the army's conduct during the war, from blitzkrieg to the final surrender and charges of war crimes. Brief acts of resistance, such as an officers' “rebellion of conscience” in July 1944, embody the repressed, principled humanity of Germany's soldiers. But ultimately, Müller concludes, the Wehrmacht became the “steel guarantor” of the criminal Nazi regime.

The Wehrmacht, 1935-1945

The Wehrmacht, 1935-1945 PDF Author: Michael E. Haskew
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781907446955
Category : Germany
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Focusing on the German land forces, with chapters on the history of the German Army, pre-war development, command structures, infantry, armoured formations, artillery and support services. The book offers interesting facts and figures of every sort, from infantry tactical doctrine through the make-up of a Type 1944 infantry division to the number of operational panzers Rommel had at his disposal during the El Alamein campaign and the types of artillery employed in the Atlantic Wall fortifications before the D-Day landings. It also includes colour artworks of key equipment and weapons, reference tables, diagrams, maps and charts, presenting all the core data in easy-to-follow formats.

Soldiers to the Last Day

Soldiers to the Last Day PDF Author: Denis Havel
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
Soldiers to the Last Day: Rhineland- Westphalian 6th Infantry Division, 1935-1945 recounts the history of the German 6th Infantry Division from its formation in 1935 to its destruction at Babruysk in July 1944; then its resurrection and continued fighting until the end of the war. Among the first divisions established by the Wehrmacht, the 6th Infantry Division had one of the longest and bloodiest records of continuous combat of any division-Allied or Axis. Engaging in combat within weeks of the outbreak of WWII, the division fought to the last hour of the war. Based primarily on German sources, in particular the rare divisional and regimental histories and war diaries, and on personal accounts and letters of its soldiers, Soldiers to the Last Day presents the German view of the war from inside divisional headquarters and down to the individual Landser as the division marches across France in 1940, advances to the Volga during Operation Barbarossa, fights the brutal battles of Rzhev, Kursk, Babruysk; and makes last desperate attempts to defend the homeland in 1945. It is a tale of courage, determination, suffering, and in the end-betrayal.

Hitler's Soldiers

Hitler's Soldiers PDF Author: Ben H. Shepherd
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300219520
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 681

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Book Description
For decades after 1945, it was generally believed that the German army, professional and morally decent, had largely stood apart from the SS, Gestapo, and other corps of the Nazi machine. Ben Shepherd draws on a wealth of primary sources and recent scholarship to convey a much darker, more complex picture. For the first time, the German army is examined throughout the Second World War, across all combat theaters and occupied regions, and from multiple perspectives: its battle performance, social composition, relationship with the Nazi state, and involvement in war crimes and military occupation. This was a true people’s army, drawn from across German society and reflecting that society as it existed under the Nazis. Without the army and its conquests abroad, Shepherd explains, the Nazi regime could not have perpetrated its crimes against Jews, prisoners of war, and civilians in occupied countries. The author examines how the army was complicit in these crimes and why some soldiers, units, and higher commands were more complicit than others. Shepherd also reveals the reasons for the army’s early battlefield successes and its mounting defeats up to 1945, the latter due not only to Allied superiority and Hitler’s mismanagement as commander-in-chief, but also to the failings—moral, political, economic, strategic, and operational—of the army’s own leadership.

Deutsche Soldaten

Deutsche Soldaten PDF Author: Agustin Saiz
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1932033963
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
Deutsche Soldaten is a stunning visual history of the German soldier and provides a unique reflection of how the men lived, ate, and washed themselves on the front, or behaved when at rest, what were their pastimes, ambitions, worries and how they spent their leave, through the collections of personal items and other artifacts they left behind.

The German Assault Rifle

The German Assault Rifle PDF Author: Peter R. Senich
Publisher: Paladin Press
ISBN: 9780873644006
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This comprehensive volume details the circumstances surrounding the development and fielding of the machine carbine, machine pistol and assault rifles employed by Hitler's Wehrmacht. It also includes a complete review of the ammo, field accessories and special equipment intended for the short cartridge weapon.

The Spielberger German Armor and Military Vehicle Series

The Spielberger German Armor and Military Vehicle Series PDF Author: Walter J. Spielberger
Publisher: Schiffer Military History
ISBN: 9780764337567
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book is the final documentation on the Panzerkampfwagen IV series, the most often-built German tank of World War II and presents the exact chronology of the vehicle's development from 1935-45, plus many hitherto unknown and pioneering test vehicles. The authors discuss the origin of the "Large Tractor", the so-called Neubau (New-Built) Vehicle and the attempts in 1944 to install the 7.5 cm Kampfwagenkanone 42 L/70 of the "Panther" onto the Panzer IV. The authors have dedicated an entire chapter to armament, and action in all wat theaters.

German Military Motorcycles in the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht, 1934-1945

German Military Motorcycles in the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht, 1934-1945 PDF Author: Horst Hinrichsen
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780764301926
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
This volume of photographs provides a documentation of the many motorcycle riders and their various cycles between 1934 and 1945, including requisitioned machines.

The German Defense Of Berlin

The German Defense Of Berlin PDF Author: Oberst a.D. Wilhem Willemar
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1786251469
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Book Description
Often written during imprisonment in Allied War camps by former German officers, with their memories of the World War fresh in their minds, The Foreign Military Studies series offers rare glimpses into the Third Reich. In this study Oberst a.D. Wilhem Willemar discusses his recollections of the climatic battle for Berlin from within the Wehrmacht. “No cohesive, over-all plan for the defense of Berlin was ever actually prepared. All that existed was the stubborn determination of Hitler to defend the capital of the Reich. Circumstances were such that he gave no thought to defending the city until it was much too late for any kind of advance planning. Thus the city’s defense was characterized only by a mass of improvisations. These reveal a state of total confusion in which the pressure of the enemy, the organizational chaos on the German side, and the catastrophic shortage of human and material resources for the defense combined with disastrous effect. “The author describes these conditions in a clear, accurate report which I rate very highly. He goes beyond the more narrow concept of planning and offers the first German account of the defense of Berlin to be based upon thorough research. I attach great importance to this study from the standpoint of military history and concur with the military opinions expressed by the author.”-Foreword by Generaloberst a.D. Franz Halder.

Shattered Genius

Shattered Genius PDF Author: David J. A. Stone
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 9781612000985
Category : Germany
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"A new and authoritative study of Hitler's relationship with the German Army general staff in the period leading up to and during World War II. Examines the general staff's struggle to work effectively under Hitler, despite facing many challenges--not least the F'uhrer's own divisive policies and directives. Illuminates the fractured nature of the German army command in the latter stages of the war as the general staff was marginalized by the Nazis. Dispels many widely held myths concerning the key staff officers that served the Third Reich, while also identifying their personal and collective failures and oversights. Analyzes and evaluates the army's involvement in the German resistance movement, the repercussions of the abortive assassination attempt against Hitler in the von Stauffenberg plot of 1944, and the unsuccessful bid to initiate Operation Valkyrie."--P. [4] of jacket.