Download or read book Hitler s Volkssturm written by David K. Yelton and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2002-10-29 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pressed by advancing enemy armies on both fronts, Adolf Hitler played his final card in World War II by mobilizing all German civilian males between sixteen and sixty and indoctrinating them for a final apocalyptic defense of the Reich. The Volkssturm, created as much to boost national morale as to bolster sagging defenses, has been viewed as a negligible factor in the war. David Yelton counters that view with new insights into why the German high command sought this means to prolong an unwinnable war-and why so many civilians chose to fight to the bitter end. Hitler's Volkssturm is the only book in English-and the most comprehensive in any language-on the German militia, illuminating its role and contributions to the Nazi war effort and shedding new light on the last days of the Third Reich. It examines the militia's strategic purpose, organization, training, and combat performance on both war fronts and explores factors contributing to its sporadic tactical successes and its overall failure. Yelton reveals why the Nazi leadership chose to assemble such last-ditch units rather than negotiating for peace and also why civilians in these units were more than willing to serve. The Volkssturm was, in fact, part of a broader, ideologically based strategy intended to turn the tide of the war. Yelton tracks the impact of this ideology on Nazi decision-making throughout the war's final year and illustrates how ideological assumptions were often a major reason for the failure of Nazi policies and strategies. In an unprecedented examination of the Volkssturm at the local level, Yelton also shows the negative impact of national power struggles and demonstrates how the Wehrmacht, industry, and public opinion exerted influence on the militia in ways often contrary to its official objectives. His extensive and insightful analysis illuminates German mobilization priorities, reveals that a substantial number of its commanders had experience in both the military and the Nazi Party, and clarifies the impact of Volkssturm mobilizations on the overall German war economy. Pathbreaking in both scope and depth, Hitler's Volkssturm stresses the factional lines and conflicting centers of power within the Nazi bureaucracy, clarifies policy formulation and implementation in the late Third Reich, and assesses the shifting power relationships among various groups and individuals. Ultimately, it gives us a more complete portrait of the Third Reich during the final phase of a devastating war and conveys important lessons about the use of militia forces in modern warfare.
Download or read book Hitler s Last Levy written by Hans Kissel and published by Helion and Company. This book was released on 2005-06-19 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth account of the formation Nazi Germany’s militia army as a desperate attempt to delay its defeat during the waning days of WWII. A companion volume to the very successful In a Raging Inferno—Combat Units of the Hitler Youth, Hans Kissel’s study offers a highly detailed account of the German Volkssturm, or Home Guard. Formed from men unfit for military service, the young, and the old, this ad-hoc formation saw extensive combat during the desperate defense of the Reich, 1944–45. The author describes the Volkssturm’s training, leadership, organization, armament, and equipment, in addition to its active service on both the Eastern and Western fronts. The text is supported by an extensive selection of appendices, including translations of documents and many fascinating eyewitness combat reports. This edition also includes over 150 previously unpublished black-and-white photos, and four pages of specially commissioned color uniform plates by Stephen Andrew.
Download or read book Hitler s Last Levy in East Prussia written by Bruno Just and published by Helion. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 16 October, 1944, the 3rd White Russian Front launched its massive offensive against Heeresgruppe Mitte. The German 4th Armee, whose line of defense stretched from Nowograd on the Narew to Memel, was quickly broken through. This is the very personal war-diary of the adjutant of Volkssturm Einsatz Bataillon Goldap (25/235), which was activated, with a strength of 400 men, on 17 October, 1944. Inadequately armed with Russian infantry rifles lacking slings, light machine guns and Panzerfäuste, with no uniforms, entrenching tools, identity discs, blankets or medical packets, the battalion was hastily thrown into action three days later, on October 20, in the Goldap sector of the 4th Armee front, losing 76 killed and wounded in its first action. Withdrawn on 23 October for urgently needed training and better armament, the battalion went back into action on 18 January in the Eichwald northeast of Insterburg, near Stobingen, and fought on, with hardly a break, falling back to the city of Königsberg and taking a valiant part in the bitter defense that enabled the escape of refugees and most of the surviving military units by sea. The 70 survivors of the battalion owed their personal survival to an order forged by their last battalion commander that led to their relief by a Wehrmacht division and enshipment for Denmark. The author chronicles daily life dominated by desperate military action, interspersed with brief glimpses of his family, as he crosses paths with his wife and daughter, caught up in the mass of refugees fleeing before the advancing Russians. There are very few personal accounts of Hitler's last levy, the Volkssturm. For years, the handwritten diary and a copy typed by the author, remained in the files of the Bundesarchiv (L) in Bayreuth. The author's granddaughter approved publication for distribution, in photocopied form, to survivors and family members of the battalion. Such copies, in German, are hard to find. Now at last, this precious document from the closing days of World War II in East Prussia has become available in English translation, with careful footnotes filling in details regarding the Volkssturm, a unique force called into being by the Nazi Party in the closing months of the war, conceived as a party-led alternative to the Wehrmacht. Ill-equipped, pitifully armed (when armed at all) and poorly led, nevertheless on the Eastern Front - where the youngsters and older men comprising its battalions were highly motivated in a desperate attempt to delay the onrushing Russian hordes so that their wives and children could escape rape, torture, mutilation and murder at Russian hands - the Volkssturm sometimes achieved their goal.
Download or read book Hitler s Home Guard Volkssturmmann written by David Yelton and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2006-09-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Osprey's study of Germany's Home Guard during the latter part of World War II (1939-1945). The creation of the German Home Guard or Volkssturm on 18 October 1944 was a desperate measure by the Nazi regime to utilize every available manpower resource in their last-ditch attempts to delay their inevitable defeat. All able-bodied males between the ages of 16 and 60 who were not already members of the German Armed Forces were conscripted into one organization. The aim of the Volkssturm was to shore up the defense of the Reich, but also to restrict any possible revolt or dissent by exercising military discipline over the entire male population of fighting age. This Nazi fantasy was the creation of a new force of highly-motivated Aryans dedicated to the heroic defense of their fatherland. However, the Volkssturm failed due to poor equipment, lack of training, and low morale. Men who had no experience of combat and little or no inclination to fight, and who had little interest in the Nazi regime found themselves sent into battle against impossible odds and achieving little or nothing. The focus of the book is the section of Germany's western front where the Volkssturm fought in vain to slow the advance of Canadian forces and where the desertion rate was very high. David K. Yelton follows the experience of a Volkssturm conscript from his call-to-arms, into action and through to his capture and time as a POW, examining his personal reaction to the creation of the German Home Guard and his response to the fighting into which he was thrust.
Download or read book The German Defense Of Berlin written by Oberst a.D. Wilhem Willemar and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Often written during imprisonment in Allied War camps by former German officers, with their memories of the World War fresh in their minds, The Foreign Military Studies series offers rare glimpses into the Third Reich. In this study Oberst a.D. Wilhem Willemar discusses his recollections of the climatic battle for Berlin from within the Wehrmacht. “No cohesive, over-all plan for the defense of Berlin was ever actually prepared. All that existed was the stubborn determination of Hitler to defend the capital of the Reich. Circumstances were such that he gave no thought to defending the city until it was much too late for any kind of advance planning. Thus the city’s defense was characterized only by a mass of improvisations. These reveal a state of total confusion in which the pressure of the enemy, the organizational chaos on the German side, and the catastrophic shortage of human and material resources for the defense combined with disastrous effect. “The author describes these conditions in a clear, accurate report which I rate very highly. He goes beyond the more narrow concept of planning and offers the first German account of the defense of Berlin to be based upon thorough research. I attach great importance to this study from the standpoint of military history and concur with the military opinions expressed by the author.”-Foreword by Generaloberst a.D. Franz Halder.
Download or read book The Hitler Youth Gristle for the Reich s Mill written by David G Williams and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2014-11-21 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How was it an entire cultured nation allowed their children to be raised by a political party with an ideology of hate? Stories of the fanatical bravery of the young men and children of the Reich on the battlefields of Europe are abundant.It is easy to admire the courage of the Hitler Youth as they battled relentlessly against the Allied and Soviet armies. But when one looks at it in the cold light of day, one cannot fail to be overwhelmed with the senseless loss of life. Millions butchered for an old man's nightmare vision of a world he hated and wanted to see burn. His failure to face the facts, combined with the Allies demand for unconditional surrender resulted in an entire generation consumed to the abyss. The Wehrmacht, the Hitler Youth, the Volkssturm and the children were all in the end just gristle for the Reich's mill. This book covers the whole story of a generation of young Germans, from the rebirth of a Nation to its consignment to the abyss and their role in this calamity.Includes many photos.
Download or read book My Memories of Berlin written by Herbert R. Vogt and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2008-02-08 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vivid description of the author s first seventeen years of life encompassing Hitler s twelve-year regime. His Hitler Youth experience is typical for the average German boy of that time. His personal endurances are blended in with reports from the battlefield and the home front. Some of the Hitler Youth were chosen to be indoctrinated in the regime s elite schools and lived a privileged life of state-sponsored higher education. As war brings more hardships and the nation finds itself defeated and exposed to Soviet barbarism, the Hitler Youth force keeps on fighting with tenacious fanaticism to self destruction. Those of them that survived the war felt utterly betrayed and disillusioned. Their fallen comrades being Hitler s Last Victims.
Download or read book Hitler s Armed Forces Auxiliaries written by Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-01-26 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Hitler’s Wehrmachtsgefolge (armed forces auxiliaries) is less well known than that of Germany’s other armed forces in World War II, such as the panzer divisions, the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine. The Organization Todt (construction company), Reichsarbeitsdienst (labor service), Nationalsozialistische Kraftfahrer Korps (driver’s corp) and Volkssturm (people’s militia) were given the status of armed forces auxiliaries to protect their members under the Geneva Conventions should they be taken prisoner. By 1944, the Wehrmachtsgefolge comprised 40 percent of the German armed forces, and their contribution to the war effort was far from negligible. This illustrated history documents the development, structure and organization, uniforms, regalia and technical data of these units and discusses their role in the war and during the prewar period.
Download or read book Desperate Measures written by W. Darrin Weaver and published by Collector Grade Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Hitler s Last Victims written by Herbert R. Vogt Ph.D and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Child of Hitler written by Alfons Heck and published by American Traveler Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author's story of his rise to power in the Hitler Youth under the spell of Adolf Hitler.
Download or read book Hitler s Last Courier written by Armin Dieter Lehmann and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Promise Me You ll Shoot Yourself written by Florian Huber and published by Little, Brown Spark. This book was released on 2020-03-10 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named a Best History Book of 2019 by The Times (UK) The astounding true story of how thousands of ordinary Germans, overcome by shame, guilt, and fear, killed themselves after the fall of the Third Reich and the end of World War II. By the end of April 1945 in Germany, the Third Reich had fallen and invasion was underway. As the Red Army advanced, horrifying stories spread about the depravity of its soldiers. For many German people, there seemed to be nothing left but disgrace and despair. For tens of thousands of them, the only option was to choose death -- for themselves and for their children. "Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself" recounts this little-known mass event. Using diaries, letters, and memoirs, historian Florian Huber traces the euphoria of many ordinary Germans as Hitler restored national pride; their indifference as the Führer's political enemies, Jews, and other minorities began to suffer; and the descent into despair as the war took its terrible toll, especially after the invasion of the Soviet Union. Above all, he investigates how suicide became a contagious epidemic as the country collapsed. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and other primary sources, "Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself" presents a riveting portrait of a nation in crisis, and sheds light on a dramatic yet largely unknown episode of postwar Germany.
Download or read book Germany in Defeat written by Percy Knauth and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2019-12-06 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Germany in Defeat, first published in 1946, is the first hand, detailed account of Germany at the end of World War Two by Time correspondent Percy Knauth. The book details Knauth's travels across the war-ravaged country: from Berlin to concentration camps including Buchenwald and Salispilz, from Hitler's bunker to his mountain retreat (the Berghof at Berchtesgaden), and his interviews with German, American, and Russian military officials and German civilians. His visit to Hitler's underground bunker in Berlin just days after Hitler committed suicide is a fascinating story, and his description of Buchenwald provides a unique, chilling look at the conditions and workings of the Nazi death camp. Percy Knauth, an American who attended school in Germany, worked first for the Chicago Tribune in Berlin, then for the New York Times. In 1942, he was the Paris Bureau Chief for Time magazine, and spent the next 28 years working for Time-Life publications in Paris, Berlin and New York. He retired as European editor in 1970 to devote his time to writing. Knauth died in 1995 at the age of 80.
Download or read book Stormtroopers written by Daniel Siemens and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-24 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first full history of the Nazi Stormtroopers whose muscle brought Hitler to power, with revelations concerning their longevity and their contributions to the Holocaust Germany’s Stormtroopers engaged in a vicious siege of violence that propelled the National Socialists to power in the 1930s. Known also as the SA or Brownshirts, these “ordinary” men waged a loosely structured campaign of intimidation and savagery across the nation from the 1920s to the “Night of the Long Knives” in 1934, when Chief of Staff Ernst Röhm and many other SA leaders were assassinated on Hitler’s orders. In this deeply researched history, Daniel Siemens explores not only the roots of the SA and its swift decapitation but also its previously unrecognized transformation into a million-member Nazi organization, its activities in German-occupied territories during World War II, and its particular contributions to the Holocaust. The author provides portraits of individual members and their victims and examines their milieu, culture, and ideology. His book tells the long-overdue story of the SA and its devastating impact on German citizens and the fate of their country.
Download or read book Hitler s War and the Germans written by Marlis G. Steinert and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Violence in Defeat written by Bastiaan Willems and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-18 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores how the Wehrmacht's defensive conduct contributed to the radicalisation of behavioural patterns in Germany during the war's final months.
