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Hitler's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich Omer Bartov

Published in print: 1994 Published Online: Publisher: Oxford University Press October 2011 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195079036 eISBN: 9780199854455 acprof:oso/9780195079036.001.0001 Item type: book

This study shows that the Wehrmacht was systematically involved in atrocities against the civilian population on the Eastern Front. Including quotes from letters, diaries, and military reports, this book aims to challenge the notion that the German army during World War II was apolitical and to reveal how thoroughly permeated it was by Nazi ideology. Focusing on ordinary German soldiers on the Eastern front, the book shows how government propaganda and indoctrination motivated the troops not only to fight well but to commit unprecedented crimes against humanity. This institutionalized brainwashing revolved around two interrelated elements: the radical demonization of the Soviet enemy and the deification of the führer. Consequently, most of the troops believed the war in the Eastern theater was a struggle to dam the Jewish/ Bolshevik/Asiatic flood that threatened Western civilization. This book demonstrates how Germany's soldiers were transformed into brutal instruments of a barbarous policy.

The Distortion of Reality Omer Bartov

in Hitler's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich Published in print: 1994 Published Online: Publisher: Oxford University Press October 2011 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195079036 eISBN: 9780199854455 acprof:oso/9780195079036.003.0005 Item type: chapter

This chapter presents how the troops' perception of reality and understanding of their actions was distorted by the conditions and circumstances of their existence. The extent to which Nazi ideology shaped the Wehrmacht into Hitler's army is illustrated. The chapter also highlights that it was the years of premilitary and army indoctrination which molded the soldiers' state of mind, prepared them for the horrors Page 1 of 5

of war, and instilled into them such determination and ruthlessness. The chapter displays how Wehrmacht's propaganda relied on a radical demonization of the enemy and on a similarly extreme deification of the Führer. The astonishing efficacy of these images is shown by reference to a wide array of evidence presented and these played an important role in the distorted reconstruction of the memory and history of the war.

Renouncing War Konrad H. Jarausch

in After Hitler: Recivilizing Germans, 1945-1995 Published in print: 2006 Published Online: Publisher: Oxford University Press January 2010 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195127799 eISBN: 9780199869503 acprof:oso/9780195127799.003.01 Item type: chapter

This chapter deals with the Potsdam policy of demilitarization, which went beyond disarming the Wehrmacht and eventually led to a distancing from militarism.

The German Surrender of 1945 Richard Bessel

in How Fighting Ends: A History of Surrender Published in print: 2012 Published Online: Publisher: Oxford University Press September 2012 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780199693627 eISBN: 9780191741258 acprof:oso/9780199693627.003.0026 Item type: chapter

This chapter discusses how in 1945 Nazi Germany did not surrender when defeat became likely, or even when it became inevitable, but fought literally to the bitter end. Nazi ideology, allegiance to Hitler, guilt and fear of retribution, regime terror, and determination not to repeat what had happened in 1918 contributed to this hugely destructive outcome. However, surrender at local level did not occur uniformly: in some places there was dogged resistance to the end and the terror unleashed by the regime kept the population wedded to its strategy of self-destruction; in others German soldiers melted away, and German civilians hung out white sheets from their homes and tried to negotiate local surrenders when Allied soldiers approached. In the end, uncompromising Nazi ideology evaporated with the collapse of the Nazi regime, and the population finally embraced defeat and life after surrender.

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The Liberation of the South-West David Wingeate Pike

in In the Service of Stalin: The Spanish Communists in Exile, 1939-1945 Published in print: 1993 Published Online: Publisher: Oxford University Press October 2011 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780198203155 eISBN: 9780191675751 acprof:oso/9780198203155.003.0011 Item type: chapter

This chapter discusses the strategic importance of the Atlantic– Mediterranean land-bridge; the Germans intensifying their anti-guerrilla activities; the Todt Organization and its defaulters; escape from the camps and prisons; the ‘ghost train’ to Dachau; the effect of D-Day on the southwest; the Wehrmacht’s problem with morale; Allied aid to the Resistance; effect of the July Plot on the Wehrmacht; the Franco– American landing at Saint-Tropez and its effect on the land-bridge; Hitler ordering the retreat of Army Group G: the liberation of Toulouse; retreat of the last German forces from the south; and the liberation of Paris.

Survival and Liberation at Mauthausen David Wingeate Pike

in In the Service of Stalin: The Spanish Communists in Exile, 1939-1945 Published in print: 1993 Published Online: Publisher: Oxford University Press October 2011 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780198203155 eISBN: 9780191675751 acprof:oso/9780198203155.003.0012 Item type: chapter

This chapter discusses the Spanish communists taking charge of organizing resistance; the SS need of artisans and clerks; Juan de Diego becoming Lagerschreiber III; the arrival of the first guerrilleros; creation of a Spanish national committee and an international committee; the prisoners offering their freedom in exchange for service in the Wehrmacht; the Reds replacing the Greens and Blacks; Himmler’s instructions of May 1944 and April 1945; Mauthausen’s Kommandos converge on Mauthausen; the flight of the SS; the dawn of liberation; the arrival of the first Allied unit, and reactions of the inmates; Gusen and Ebensee liberated; revenge on the Kapos; and the hunt for the SS.

Introduction Omer Bartov

in Hitler's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich Published in print: 1994 Published Online: October 2011 Page 3 of 5

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 9780195079036 eISBN: 9780199854455 DOI: 10.1093/ Item type: chapter acprof:oso/9780195079036.003.0001

This chapter proposes that the only way to approach the issues surrounding the Wehrmacht in the Third Reich is through a careful analysis of the anatomy of the German army. Four theses are given which focus on the war experience, social organization, motivation, and perception of reality of Germany's soldiers. The chapter also asserts that by examining the attitudes of both the higher and the lower echelons of the army, the degree to which the Wehrmacht constituted an integral part of state and society in the Third Reich will be able to be gauged. This chapter concludes with an outline of the topics to be discussed on the succeeding chapters.

The Demodernization of the Front Omer Bartov

in Hitler's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich Published in print: 1994 Published Online: Publisher: Oxford University Press October 2011 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195079036 eISBN: 9780199854455 acprof:oso/9780195079036.003.0002 Item type: chapter

Between the year 1941 and 1942, the Wehrmacht's combat units underwent a radical process of demodernization, just as the Third Reich's economy was being mobilized for a total industrial war. This chapter examines the contradiction between the Wehrmacht's image as the most modern army of its time, and the profound process of demodernization it underwent particularly on the Eastern Front. Through a detailed reconstruction of life at the front, the chapter demonstrates the effects of the immense material attrition on the troops' physical condition and state of mind. Strong emphasis is given on the winter of 1941–2, when the majority of Germany's soldiers were forced into trench warfare highly reminiscent of the Western Front of 1914–18, while facing, however, an increasingly modernized enemy. Several consequences of the demodernization of the front are also presented in this chapter.

The Destruction of the Primary Group Omer Bartov

in Hitler's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich Published in print: 1994 Published Online: Publisher: Oxford University Press October 2011 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195079036 eISBN: 9780199854455 acprof:oso/9780195079036.003.0003 Item type: chapter

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Cohesion in the German army was to a large extent maintained by a conscious and systematic nurturing of what has come to be termed as “primary groups”, a social organization with its roots tracing back to military tradition that expected soldiers to feel a special kind of bond and loyalty to their unit. This chapter explores the destruction of the “primary group,” the social unit which had traditionally constituted the backbone of the German army. The chapter explores how the tremendous losses in the fighting, the lack of replacements, and the rapid manpower turnover among combat units, diminished the Wehrmacht reliance on the “primary group” as the key for its cohesion. Further, the chapter displays how the widely accepted sociological theory of Shils and Janowitz, which states that the Wehrmacht avoided disintegration due to its social organization, is irrelevant in Eastern Front conditions.

The Perversion of Discipline Omer Bartov

in Hitler's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich Published in print: 1994 Published Online: Publisher: Oxford University Press October 2011 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195079036 eISBN: 9780199854455 acprof:oso/9780195079036.003.0004 Item type: chapter

While the intellectual combination of the old military tradition with modern fighting techniques can be regarded as one of the keys to the Wehrmacht's astounding military successes, the strict compliance required from the troops, and the draconian punishments meted to offenders, as this chapter proposes, played a major role in maintaining unit cohesion under the most adverse combat conditions. However, the chapter also emphasizes that in the Third Reich, especially during the war, the soldiers' submission to a disciplinary system, led to their profound brutalization because they were unpunished for such atrocious actions. This in turn, created a convenient safety valve for the army which made it possible to demand strict combat discipline, and cohesion came to depend on a perversion of the moral and legal basis of martial law.

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