"How does one explain the mind set of the high command and the
strategic framework within which the Germans lost the war? How did
the high command reach and implement its decisions? No one has
answered these questions systematically before. This extraordinary
and fascinating book fills that gap in the literature on World War
II."--Williamson Murray, author of The Luftwaffe, 1933-45
"Comprehensive, well written, important. Megargee does a first-rate
job in describing the personalities of the high command and their
relationships."--James S. Corum, author of The Roots of Blitzkrieg
"Megargee permits us a fresh perspective on both the magnetic
figure of Adolf Hitler and his military advisers."--J�rgen F�rster,
Militargeschichtliches Forschungsamt "Hitler emerges from these
pages as an adept manipulator. He took full advantage of the
tensions in the command structure to divide it and focus it on
himself. But he took the officers nowhere they were not at least
ready, if not immediately willing, to go."--Dennis Showalter,
author of Tannenberg: Clash of Empire
"One of the most persistent myths to come out of WWII is that the
Third Reich failed because a militarily incompetent Adolf Hitler
and a small circle of yes-men consistently overrode the
professional judgment of the German General Staff. If Hitler had
left his commanders to their own devices, the story goes, we might
all be speaking German today. In this meticulously documented work,
Megargee does much to dispel this longstanding belief. . . .An
immensely illuminating work that casts plenty of blame all around,
this will surely provoke much discussion among historians and
readers with an interest in the Third Reich."--Publishers
Weekly"One of the most important recent books to appear on the
German army in some time."--World War II"Here, in the book's
broadest context, appears a window of insight into more recent
confrontations: the pursuit of war objectives that become
increasingly more irrational subverts and erodes the rationality of
the military charged with the attainment of those very aims."--Army
Ask a Question About this Product More... |