Germany and the Second World War: Volume VI: The Global War

1352 Pages·2001·21.88 MB·English

by  Horst Boog

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41
GERMANY AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR
VI
TheGlobalWar
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Germany
and the
Second World War
Edited by the
Milita•rgeschichtliches Forschungsamt
(Research Institute for Military History)
Potsdam, Germany
volume vi
The Global War
Widening of the Conflict into a World War
and the Shift of the Initiative 1941–1943
HORST BOOG
WERNER RAHN
REINHARD STUMPF
BERND WEGNER
Translatedby
EWALD OSERS
JOHN BROWNJOHN
PATRICIA CRAMPTON
LOUISE WILLMOT
Translationeditor
EWALD OSERS
CLARENDON PRESS · OXFORD
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p.cm.—(GermanyandtheSecondWorldWar;v.6)
IncludesBibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.WorldWar,1939–1945—Germany.2.WorldWar,1939–1945.I.Boog,Horst,
1928–II.Title.III.DeutscheReichundderZweiteWeltkrieg.English;v.6.
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Preface
It wasduring1942–3—thespancoveredbyvolumevioftheseriesGermany
and the Second World War—that the war unleashed on 1 September 1939
reacheditsclimax.
Japan’sattackonPearlHarborinDecember1941andherpenetrationinto
EastandSouth-EastAsia,as well asthe subsequentGermanandItalian de-
clarationofwarontheUnitedStatesofAmerica,broadenedwhathadbeena
Europeanwarintoaworldwarproper.Withtheatresofoperationsintheeast,
in the Atlantic, and in the Mediterranean area in North Africa, the German
operationsreachedtheirgreatestgeographicalextentand,simultaneously,their
culmination: the Blitzkrieg concept, successful against Poland, Scandinavia,
France,andintheBalkans,hadfinally,withOperationBarbarossaagainstthe
SovietUnion,collapsedbeforeMoscowinthelateautumnof1941.Similarly,
GermanhopesthatJapanwouldopenasecondfrontintherearoftheSoviet
Union,therebyrelievingGermany,weredisappointed.
FromtheGermanpointofviewthewarhadreachedaturning-point.Carl
vonClausewitz’s dictumthat anystrategicattackwhich didnotimmediately
resultinpeacemustendindefencewasprovedcorrect.
The discrepancyobvious to any realistic observerat any of the fronts be-
tweenintentionandmeans,betweenwishandability,gaverise,forHitlerand
thesuprememilitarycommand,tothecrucialquestionoftheobjectiveandof
themannerin whichthe war should,orcould,be continued.A decisionhad
to be made abouto·ensive or defensive action, about a peace of deadlockor
negotiation,aboutvictoryordefeat.
These alternatives, however, did not exist for Hitler. With his ideological
and power-political fixation on his programme, continuation of the war for
‘all or nothing’, for ‘victoryor ruin’, was the only, and hence the inevitable,
conclusion.
Thismixtureofideologicalandracialmotivations,alongwiththehubrisof
power-thinking,ledHitlertostakeeverythingonasinglecard.TheCasablanca
ConferenceinJanuary1943,atwhichtheAllies—withouttheSovietUnion—
agreed on the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers, enabled Ger-
man propaganda to proclaim ‘total war’. This formulation of the war aims
of Germany’s opponents, moreover, was probably a major factor in keep-
ingintact the bridgebetween Hitler and broadcircles of Germany’s e‹lites—
despitesomemoralscruples—until1945.Afterthesummero·ensiveof1942
it became clear at Stalingrad that the military operations in the principal
theatre of war in the east, and also in the Atlantic and in Africa, had all
passed their culmination-points. Beyond—as Clausewitz had described this
vi Preface
phenomenon of an attack—came a turn of events and reverse: ‘the force
of such a reverse is usually much greater than had been the force of the
thrust’.
This, then, outlines the spectrum of subjects and problems treated in the
presentvolume.
Incontrasttovolumesv/1andv/2,which,as‘cross-sectionvolumes’,con-
cerned themselves with the war economy and occupation policy,the present
volumefocusesonpolitics,strategy,andoperationsofthebelligerentpowers.
It links up with the strategic and operationaltopics discussedin volumes ii,
iii, andivof thisseriesasfarasearly1943.Volumesvii/1,vii/2, andviii will
present the military operations (now globally extended) until the beginning
of 1945. Volume ix will again deal with developments in state and society,
administration and Wehrmacht. The final volume, volume x, will present a
chronologicalandsystematicaccountoftheagonyandcollapseoftheGerman
Reich,drawabalancesheetoftheSecondWorldWar,andrevealperspectives
pointingbeyondtheendofhostilities.
Within the overall spectrum of the series Germany and the Second World
Warvolumevioccupiesacentralposition.Dealingasitdoes,ontheonehand,
with the extension of a European into a global war and, on the other, with
Germany’slossofinitiativetotheAllies,itrepresents,bothincontentandin
composition,theclimaxandturning-pointofthewar.
The authorshave compiled an exceedingly multi-layered set of events for
the scholarly reader, basing themselves on an extensive body of sources and
publishedworks,aswellaspresentingtheirfindingsinanaccessibleandcon-
vincing form for the interested lay reader. I would like to thank them for
this.
The Research Institute for Military Historyand the authorsregard it not
only as a duty but as a genuine pleasure to express their gratitude to all the
archiveswhichhavemadeavailabletothemtheitemslistedinthebibliography
ofarchivalsources.Thanksaredueprimarilytothearchivistsandthesta·of
theFederalMilitaryArchivesinFreiburg.Theirgratitudeextendsequallyto
thelibrariesandlibrarianswhohaverenderedindispensableassistanceinpro-
vidingthepublishedsources.Workonthepresentvolume,moreover,profited
from advice and assistance from numerous quarters. Valuable perspectives
wereprovidedbyRainerDirbach,DrGerhardKrebs,ProfessorBerndMar-
tin, Captain Hans Meckel, and Professor Ju•rgenRohwer in the areas of the
warinthePacificandthewaratseagenerally,byProfessorAlexanderFischer
and Professor Hans-Ulrich Thamer with regard to the policy of the anti-
Hitleritecoalition.CopiousmaterialonthehistoryoftheGerman–Sovietwar
was contributedbyColonel(retd.)Hellmut Dittrich,DrJu•rgenFo•rster,and
Colonel(Gen.Sta·)FriedhelmKlein,MA.General(retd.)JohannA.Count
KielmanseggandDrHeinzNitschkemadetheirextensiveexperienceonthe
Preface vii
samesubjectfreelyavailable.Toallofthemtheauthorsexpresstheirspecial
thanks.
Dr Gu(cid:2)nter Roth
BrigadierGeneral,Director,
ResearchInstituteforMilitaryHistory
(1985–95)