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Volume VI of the 'Germany and the Second World War' series deals with the extension of a European war into a global one in the period from 1941 to 1943. It focuses on the politics, strategy, and operations of the belligerent powers as Germany lost the initiative to the Allies, and it represents, both in content and in composition, the climax and turning points of the war.
An account is given of the development of the war at sea in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean until the spring of 1943, of the changeable course of events in the North African theatre of war until the establishment of the bridgehead in Tunisia, and finally of Hitler's 'second campaign' against the Soviet Union until the stabilization of the front following the catastrophe at Stalingrad. Moreover, the United States' transition to open belligerence, after Pearl Harbor, calls for an account of the political developments leading up to that point on the Japanese and the American sides. The opening of new theatres of operations in the Pacific and over Germany, owing to the intensified strategic aerial warfare of the Allies, along with the organization of the Reich's air defences are also treated.
List of contents
- Introduction
- PART I: POLICY AND STRATEGY 1941-1943: FROM CONTINENTALATLANTIC TO GLOBAL WAR
- 1: The anti-Hitler coalition
- 2: The coalition of the Tripartite Pact states
- PART II: THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC
- 1: Potential sources of conflict
- 2: Japan's road to war
- 3: Pearl Harbor and the expansion of the Japanese sphere of control
- 4: The Pacific naval air battles in 1942 and their repercussions
- 5: Guadalcanal: The inception of the American counter-offensive in 1942
- Part III: The War in the Pacific 1943-1945
- 1: The Atlantic in German and Allied strategy
- 2: Allied sea transport capacity as a strategic problem of the German war effort
- 3: The conduct of the war in the Atlantic and the coastal area
- 4: Operations on the northern flank of Europe
- PART IV: THE ANGLO-AMERICAN STRATEGIC AIR WAR OVER EUROPE, AND GERMAN AIR DEFENCE
- 1: Doctrine and preparation of the strategic bombing war in Great Britain and the United States of America up to the beginning of the war
- 2: Air defence in the German air war doctrine and the build-up of the German air defences in peacetime
- 3: The beginnings of the strategic bombing war by the RAF, the German air defence, and American preparations for air war up to the end of 1941
- 4: Allied strategic bombing and German air defence in 1942
- 5: The situation of the Luftwaffe from 1942 to the beginning of 1943
- PART V: THE WAR IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA 1942-1943: OPERATIONS IN NORTH AFRICA AND THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN
- 1: The opening of the second German-Italian offensive in North Africa, and the Battle of Malta
- 2: The advance to El-Alamein (Operation Theseus)
- 3: El Alamein
- 4: The allied landing in North-West Africa and the German-Italian Panzer Armies' retreat to Tunisia
- 5: The German occupation of Vichy France and the seizure of Toulon (Operations Anton and Lila, 11-27 November 1942)
- 6: The war at sea and the supply situation, 1942-1943
- PART VI: THE WAR AGAINST THE SOVIET UNION, 1942-1943
- 1: Hitler's 'Second Campaign': military concept and strategic foundations
- 2: The mobilization of Germany's allies
- 3: The Spring battles of 1942
- 4: The beginning of the summer offensive
- 5: The offensive into the Caucasus
- 6: Stalingrad
- 7: The annihilation of the Sixth Army
- 8: The winter battles of 1943
- 9: The historical topos of the second campaign against the Soviet Union
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index of Persons
About the author
Project co-ordinated by the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Research Institute for Military History), Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Translated from the German by Derry Cook-Radmore, John Brownjohn, Patricia Crampton, and Louise Willmot
Summary
Volume VI of the 'Germany and the Second World War' series deals with the extension of a European war into a global one, during 1941 to 1943. It focuses on the politics, strategy, and operations of the belligerent powers as Germany lost the initiative to the Allies, and it represents the climax and turning points of the war.
Additional text
"A meticulous, scholarly perspective on the conflict from Germany's side"
Report
"Brilliant analysis of how Germany fought its war" Max Hastings, Evening Standard
