View the H-War Discussion Logs by month
View the Prior Message in H-War's February 2010 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] View the Next Message in H-War's February 2010 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] Visit the H-War home page.
Anyone who has read much about fighting on the Eastern Front in World War II will be familiar with Hitler's repeated interventions in his generals' decision-making. The most commonly mentioned cases were Hitler's refusals to allow tactical retreats that might have saved his forces, with Stalingrad being the most famous example. Similar incidents occurred in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge in the West. That is why this passage in a review of a book on Hitler's library jumped out at me. "Military matters, for instance, dominated in his private library, and his keen reading of the biographies of great generals and contemporary almanacs of military equipment helped to give him a confidence by 1939 that he had lacked 20 years earlier. Now, he was not afraid to stand up to his own advisers, and the result was a war that tore Europe apart." It comes near the end of this review. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/30/hitlers-private-library-timothy-ryback Does anyone know if this is actually documented? Did Hitler cite examples from military history when arguing with his generals? -- Jonathan Beard jbeard@panix.com ----- For subscription help, go to: http://www.h-net.org/lists/help/ To change your subscription settings, go to http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=h-war -----
|