"The Wehrmacht Retreats" Topic

I highly recommend The Wehrmacht Retreats, by Robert Citino.

It is an excellent book about the operational level of war in 1943, how the Germans, Americans, Russians, and Brits thought about warfare and conceived operations, and the ways that history, habit, and prejudices affected German military decision making. It also considers the gazillion factors that high level commanders had to take into account when making major decisions.

Also just really well written--lively,clear, and sometimes even funny.

link

Sounds very interesting. Just added it to my Wish List. Evidently there's a prequel or 2?

Yes, Death of the Wehrmacht (1942 campaigns) and his book about the German way of War and their historical emphasis on the battle of annihilation and maneuver rather than positional warfare. The latter is very good; I haven't read Death of the Wehrmacht.

Just remember to read the one-star review for balance.

The end of that 1 star review gets…. interesting.

Seems the sort that has a few too many SS reproduction uniforms hanging in the back closet.

Must agree to an extent with your analysis Weasel. Suddenly the German Army in 43 is portrayed by the reviewer as noble seeking only to defend their homeland. Lets simply forget the 39-41 period which got them in the circumstances of having to defend that homeland in the first place. And as to the gratuitous comments about allied aircraft killing women and children and the fact that the allied armies would do far worse once they entered Germany lets not forget the "noble" German aims of attempting to eliminate an enter race and culture as a matter of policy.

"We defended ourselves all the way to Paris, Greece and then to Stalingrad"

Also, that review misrepresents several of the book's arguments and ends with the phrase "academic twaddle".