Missing a vital chapter
I found this book both illuminating and frustrating. I have always had a deep interest in what was the most decisive theatre of the Second World War ? the Eastern Front. Irrespective of the brutal realities of Stalin and communism, the world owes an incalculable debt to the Russian people, who suffered unimaginable hardships and grief in helping to rid the world of Hitler and his grotesque system. As the authors of this book remind us, that debt was largely forgotten because of the exigencies of the Cold War. Just as important was the cynical and self-serving rewriting of history undertaken by the German generals, who tried to pretend that the Wehrmacht fought a ?clean? war in the East, and that it was other specialist units behind the lines ? such as the Einsatzgruppen ? who were solely responsible for carrying out Hitler?s obscene war of extermination.
The first few chapters of this book give a clear picture of how the German generals proceeded with their task of deception, and how the Western powers actively colluded with them. By revealing this process so authoritatively, the authors are to be applauded. However, as the book progresses, the authors begin to quote from numerous works, both factual and fictional, which describe the suffering of the ordinary German soldier. Now, the authors? purpose in doing so is to reveal the extent to which Wehrmacht soldiers are now being portrayed as victims, confronting overwhelming odds in the form of the Red Army hordes. The irony is that, because there is no counter-balancing description of the depredations and horrors inflicted by these same Wehrmacht soldiers, any humane person can only begin to feel a deep sympathy for them.
To my mind, therefore, this book is missing a vital chapter, one which is just as graphic in its description of Wehrmacht atrocities as it is about their own suffering. Take just one quote, from Antony Beevor?s ?The Second World War?, when he talks about the battle of Warsaw in 1944: ?[The SS soldiers] appeared to enjoy their work. The wounded in Polish field hospitals were burned alive with flamethrowers. Children were massacred for fun. Home Army nurses were whipped, raped and then murdered. ? Some 30,000 non-combatants were slaughtered in the Old Town alone.?
A chapter comprising such descriptions, while horrific to read, would at least give the reader something to set against the descriptions of cold, tired, frightened Wehrmacht soldiers. After what the German army had inflicted on the civilian populations in the East, no wonder they were frightened!
All war is brutal, and I hold humane feelings for ordinary soldiers ? of every nationality ? but these latter chapters are in danger of actually adding to the very process of presenting the Wehrmacht as victims that the authors originally set out to undermine.
Given these major reservations I would still recommend this book to those with an interest in either the Eastern Front or the Wehrmacht. However, as with most books published by university presses, it is on the market at a ridiculous price. I waited for almost a year ? watching Amazon, Abe and Alibris ? until I saw it available at a good price (on Alibris). If you can find it at a reasonable price, then I would certainly recommend obtaining it.
