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5 - The Military Generals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2023

David Stahel
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Canberra
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Summary

For lowly German soldiers there were highly restrictive rules about what information could be included in their letters home, but the correspondence of the leading panzer generals were not subject to any form of censorship and they felt themselves at liberty to discuss all manner of military operations. This may have been militarily reckless, but it provides an unfiltered view of German operations and the personal relations among the high command. More specifically, one sees how the generals account for their successes and failures, with the former being routinely embraced, while the latter are typically blamed on individuals failing to support them. What is notable about these explanations are the relative absence of geographic, topographical or environmental factors in slowing their advance. Likewise, the countermeasures of the Red Army scarcely rate a mention and the same is true of German organisational or logistic difficulties. The letters offer an insight into a world view that suggests the army command alone will decide the outcome, if only the correct decisions are made.

Type
Chapter
Information
Hitler's Panzer Generals
Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt and Schmidt Unguarded
, pp. 183 - 238
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • The Military Generals
  • David Stahel, University of New South Wales, Canberra
  • Book: Hitler's Panzer Generals
  • Online publication: 04 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009282802.006
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  • The Military Generals
  • David Stahel, University of New South Wales, Canberra
  • Book: Hitler's Panzer Generals
  • Online publication: 04 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009282802.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Military Generals
  • David Stahel, University of New South Wales, Canberra
  • Book: Hitler's Panzer Generals
  • Online publication: 04 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009282802.006
Available formats
×