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I knew, almost as soon as I hit "Send", that I should not have made such a quick statement as I did. Unfortunately, the damage has been done and I can now only hope to salvage some small amount of face. Let me spell out what I had really wanted to say yesterday, but did not. The strategic decision to leave Britain alive (and no I'm not saying that Britain could have been easily invaded, just that the Germans acted as if it suddenly didn't exist) after the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain was Hitler's, not the General Staff's. The strategic decision to waste vital resources in the Balkans and then in North Africa was Hitler's, not the General Staff's. The strategic decision to invade the Soviet Union was Hitler's, not the General Staff's. The strategic decision to declare war on the United States, when no treaty obligation compelled Germany to do so was Hitler's, not the General Staff's. The strategic decision to not bring Germany industry on a war footing until late in the war was Hitler's, not the General Staff's. Last, but not least, the decision to waste appalling amounts of resources on the "Final Solution" rather than on the German war effort was Hitler's, not the General Staff's. That is what I meant when I originally said, "Most of the German strategic weakness in World War II was due to the insanity and stupidity of Adolf Hitler, rather than to any weakness of the German General Staff." Alex ===== Alexander M. Bielakowski Ph.D. Candidate Kansas State University abielak@ksu.edu
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