Strategy
Germany to the East II
Clockwise from top left: German soldiers advance through Northern Russia, German flamethrower team in the Soviet Union, Soviet planes flying over German positions near Moscow, Soviet prisoners of war on the way to German prison camps, Soviet soldiers fire at German positions. Just as worrisome was the growing realization of the serious materiel deficiencies facing the German armed forces. Following…
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Hitler and the Generals
Those who speak of “the Wehrmacht” and mean the power structure of the institution as a whole are referring mainly to the responsible group of military leaders. It cannot be doubted that the top level-that is, the ranking officers in the high commands and the troop commanders-were largely responsible for…
Hitler’s Strategic Options
In May 1940 Adolf Hitler stood at the apogee of his power. The self-styled artist and architect visited Paris as a tourist, gawked at the Eiffel Tower, and stood silently before the tomb of Napoleon I. But the conqueror of Poland and France had exhausted the strategic inheritance of the…
End of Barbarossa
In August 1941 Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, commander of Army Group Centre, was bitterly disappointed at the loss of the Moscow operation. Time remained for just one more major offensive, and none were optimistic that Hitler’s drive to seize the Ukraine and isolate Leningrad would be sufficient to force…
The Significance of Lepanto
Sembrose por la corte como negocio venido de la mano de Dios, y á todos nos parescia un sueño, por sir cosa que no se ha jamas visto oido esta batalla y victoria naval. There is no man at the court who does not discern in it the hand of…
Wingate’s Memorandum
Major General Orde Charles Wingate DSO & Two Bars (26 February 1903 – 24 March 1944) was an officer of the British Army known for his creation of the Chindits deep-penetration missions in Japanese held territory during World War II. Wingate was an exponent of unconventional military thinking and the…
The Master of the Battlefield Part I
“Battle of Moscow, 7th September 1812”, 1822 by Louis Lejeune Bonaparte was first and foremost a military man, a soldier, a general, a commander of armies, and a deadly destroyer of his opponents’ military capacity. His aim throughout his career was to move swiftly to a position where he obliged…