Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. - Hitlers Commanders: Officers of the Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe, the Kriegsmarine, and the Waffen-SS

Preface and Acknowledgments

When I was growing up in America in the 1950s, evaluating Hitlers commanders was all very simple: all Germans were Nazis, and all Nazis were evil. The higher in rank a Nazi rose, the lower he sank as a human being. A German general would, then, logically be a horrible human being. A typical Nazi (i.e., German) general would be brutal, absolutely regimented, totally insensitive to human suffering, and completely ignorant of anything outside the immediate sphere of his profession. Other than a certain amount of skill in military science (and an unsurpassed talent for destruction and disorganization), he had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He undoubtedly ate with his hands, wiped his mouth on his coat, burped loudly, interrupted people anytime he felt like it, screamed, threw things, pitched fits, and was really happy only when he was launching unprovoked invasions of innocent countries. His favorite hobbies were mass murder, bombing undefended villages, and eating small babies for breakfast.

After I became an adult, the picture I perceived became much more complex. I was somewhat shocked to discover that not all Germans were Nazis, and not all Nazis were German; furthermore, the men who came closest to doing away with Hitler (prior to 1945) were none other than German officers. Eventually my interest in military history led me to study the Wehrmacht in depth, and I discovered that there were all types of people in the German armed forces: heroes, cowards, Nazis, anti-Nazis, non-Nazis (as opposed to anti-Nazis), Christians, atheists, professionals, well-educated men, high school dropouts, backroom politicians, chameleons, innovators, dissenters, geniuses, the obtuse, men who looked to the future, and men who lived mainly in the past. They came from many social classes, with varied backgrounds, varied educations, and varied levels of skill and intelligence. Also, they had many different types of careers and various kinds of luck.

Dr. Mueller and I would like to express our appreciation to a number of people for their assistance in the completion of this work. First, we would like to thank our wives, Donna Mitcham and Kay Mueller, for their long-suffering patience and assistance in proofreading. Thanks also go to Paula Leming, professor of foreign languages, for help in translating; to Colonel Jack Angolia and Dr. Waldo Dalstead, for the loan of certain photographs; to Valerie Newborn and the staffs of Huie Library, Henderson State University, and Professor Melissa Matthews of the University of Louisiana at Monroe, for their assistance in acquiring interlibrary loans; and to the staffs of the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Army War College, the Defense Audiovisual Agency, the Air University, and the Bundesarchiv, for their help in securing documents and photos used in this book. Also, thanks go to Colonel Edmond D. Marino and the late Theodor-Friedrich von Stauffenberg for their invaluable advice.

introduction

The purpose of Hitlers Commanders is to describe the lives and careers of selected German officers from all three branches of the Wehrmacht, as well as from the Waffen-SS (armed SS). These officers were picked by Dr. Mueller and me on the basis of the diversity of their characters and careers, the availability of information, and our own interests. Some readers may take issue with certain of these selections, but since there were 3,663 general officers in the German Army alone during World War II, it is natural that our selections should differ from those of others; in fact, it would be quite remarkable if any author or sets of authors would choose exactly the same cast of characters we selected.

Naturally, we begin this book with the generals of the High Command, since Dr. Mueller knew the Keitel, Jodl, and Warlimont families; wrote a biography of Wilhelm Keitel; and had significant insight into the leaders of the headquarters of the armed forces. Bernhard Lossberg was selected as a subject because he is an excellent example of the kind of independent-minded, far-sighted military expert who could not be tolerated in the toxic environment around Hitler, and whose career was subsequently ruined as a result. Walter Buhle is an example of a true believer. He was competent within his own sphere of interest but a Nazi to the core. Wilhelm Burgdorf and Hermann Reinecke are more typical of the senior officers at Fuehrer Headquartersmore Nazi than Buhle but less competent.

Friedrich Fromm is another type altogether, and the kind of man found all too frequently in the highest military echelons of the Third Reich: the opportunistic chameleon. He was more than willing to lend his considerable abilities to Hitler and his cronies when they were winning, in exchange for profession, prestige, promotions, and decorations; when they were losing, however, he wanted to be on the side of the resistance, but only if they succeeded in killing Hitler. If they failed, he wanted it to appear that he was against them all along. He was perfectly willing to commit murder to maintain this illusion.

Only two officers in Fuehrer Headquarters stand tall: Lossberg and Georg Thomas. As a member of the anti-Hitler conspiracy, Thomas was more fortunate than most: he only ended up in a concentration camp, rather than in a shallow grave with a bullet in the back of his neck.

Our second chapter deals with the commanders on the Eastern Front and discusses an entirely different cast of character types with varying degrees of competence, skill, luck, and moral clarity. They were generally very good at their profession and have only one thing in common: all were sacked by Hitler. In addition, two died in action and one faced the firing squad.

The generals of Stalingrad chapter deals with the men who directed Hitlers legions in the decisive battle of the war. Here, the blind obedience of Friedrich Paulus and Arthur Schmidt to Hitlers orders had a devastating effect on operations and even determined the final outcome of the war. How each commander dealt with this situation after the 6th Army was surrounded is an interesting character study of each individual, all of whom were under tremendous pressure. They also make an interesting case study of one of the Third Reichs major strengths: superb commanders at the corps level and below.