Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front: The German Infantry's War, 1941-1944

646 Pages·2014·6.26 MB·English

by  Rutherford

Combat and Genocide on the Eastern
Front
By 1944, the overwhelming majority of the German Army had participated in
the German war of annihilation in the Soviet Union and historians continue to
debate the motivations behind the violence unleashed in the east. Jeff Rutherford
offers an important new contribution to this debate through a study of combat
and the occupation policies of three frontline infantry divisions. He shows that
while Nazi racial ideology provided a legitimizing context in which violence
was not only accepted but encouraged, it was the Wehrmacht’s adherence to a
doctrine of military necessity which is critical in explaining why German
soldiers fought as they did. This meant that the German Army would do
whatever was necessary to emerge victorious on the battlefield. Periods of
brutality were intermixed with conciliation as the army’s view and treatment of
the civilian population evolved based on its appreciation of the larger context of
war in the east.
JEFF RUTHERFORD is Assistant Professor of History at Wheeling Jesuit
University.
Cambridge Military Histories
Edited by:
Hew Strachan
Chichele Professor of the History of War University of Oxford, and Fellow of
All Souls College
Oxford
Geoffrey Wawro
Professor of Military History, and Director of the Military History Center
University of North Texas
The aim of this series is to publish outstanding works of research on warfare
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Cultural History of Modern Warfare by focusing on the ‘hard’ military history of
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For a list of titles published in the series, please see end of book.
Combat and Genocide on the Eastern
Front
The German Infantry’s War, 1941–1944
Jeff Rutherford
Wheeling Jesuit University
University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom
Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.
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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107055711
© Jeff Rutherford 2014
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any
part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University
Press.
First published 2014
Printing in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd. Padstow Cornwall
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Rutherford, Jeff.
Combat and genocide on the Eastern Front / Jeff Rutherford.
pages cm. – (Cambridge military histories)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-10705571-1 (Hardback)
1. World War, 1939–1945–Campaigns–Eastern Front. 2. World War,
1939–1945–Atrocities–Eastern Front. 3. Germany. Heer–History–World
War, 1939–1945. I. Title.
D764.R9558 2014
940.54′217–dc23 2014006668
ISBN 978-1-10705571-1 Hardback
ISBN 978-1-107-65273-6 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this
publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will
remain, accurate or appropriate.
Table of contents
List of illustrations
List of figures
List of maps
List of tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The Wehrmacht and German society
2 Preparations for war
3 “Attack with a ruthless offensive spirit and … a firestorm of destruction”:
the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa
4 “Will the continuation of this attack be worth it?” The drive on Leningrad
5 “It is only a question of where, not if, civilians will starve”: the 121st
Infantry Division and the occupation of Pavlovsk
6 The failure of Operation Barbarossa: the fusion of ideology and military
culture
7 The Soviet winter offensive, 1942: Demiansk and the Volkhov river
8 “The population … shouted out to the interpreter that one would rather be
shot instead of being left to starve”: the evolution of military necessity
9 “From one mess to another”: war of attrition in northwest Russia
10 “We need to fight to the end, so oder so”: combat and the reconstruction of
Army Group North
11 A more rational occupation? The contradictions of military necessity
12 “As miserable representatives of the miserable twentieth century, we
burned all of the villages”: the scorched-earth retreat to the Panther Line
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
Illustration 3.1
German troops confidently advance towards Leningrad in the summer of
1941.
Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-209-0090-31. Photographer: Zoll
Illustration 4.1
German infantry units fight north of the Luga Line during the advance.
Granger 0322603
Illustration 4.2
The radicalization of German anti-partisan policy led to the increasing use
of public hangings in the fall of 1941.
bpk, Berlin/Art Resource, NY 467884
Illustration 5.1
In September 1941, the local population was forced to register with German
authorities at Pavlovsk Palace.
bpk, Berlin/Hans Hubmann/Art Resource, NY 467883
Illustration 5.2
The ravages of battle and German occupation policies doomed thousands of
Soviet civilians to starvation.
bpk, Berlin/Hans Hubmann/Art Resource, NY 467882
Illustration 6.1
German military cemeteries in northwest Russia testified to the intensity of
combat in 1941.
Bundesarchiv, Bild 121-1470. Photographer: unknown
Illustration 7.1
After the establishment of the Demiansk pocket, supplies could only be
delivered to the encircled German troops by air.
Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-003-3445-33. Photographer: Ullrich
Illustration 7.2
During the 1941–2 winter crisis, the German Army increasingly utilized
civilians for labor.
bpk, Berlin/Bayerische Staatsbibliothek/Heinrich Hoffman/Art Resource,
NY 467881
Illustration 8.1