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Germany's success in the Second World War was built upon its tank forces; however, many of its leading generals, with the notable exception of Heinz Guderian, are largely unknown. This biographical study of four German panzer army commanders serving on the Eastern Front is based upon their unpublished wartime letters to their wives. David Stahel offers a complete picture of the men conducting Hitler's war in the East, with an emphasis on the private fears and public pressures they operated under. He also illuminates their response to the criminal dimension of the war as well as their role as leading military commanders conducting large-scale operations. While the focus is on four of Germany's most important panzer generals - Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt and Schmidt - the evidence from their private correspondence sheds new light on the broader institutional norms and cultural ethos of the Wehrmacht's Panzertruppe.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. The letters of the Panzer generals: validity, veracity and verification; 2. The private generals: embracing family and war; body, mind and soul; Burdens of the heart; Burdens of command; 3. The public generals: military celebrity; Charm offensives; Status symbols; The power of privilege; 4. The criminal generals: enemy in the East; Criminal orders; The war behind the front; War of annihilation; 5. The military generals: Delusion and disclosure; Discord and dysfunction; Operational silences; Narcissistic command; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
David Stahel is a leading authority on German military history in the Second World War. He is a senior lecturer in history at the University of New South Wales in Australia. His previous publications include Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East (2009), Kiev 1941 (2012), The Battle for Moscow (2015) and Retreat from Moscow (2019).
Summary
A comparative biographical study of four leading German panzer generals in the Second World War. Using the private wartime correspondence of Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt and Schmidt, Stahel sheds new light on their private lives and public personas, their leadership at the front and their culpability in Nazi criminality.
Foreword
A comparative biography of four of Germany's leading panzer commanders on the eastern front based on their private wartime letters.
