Hitler's Commanders

This book looks at Hitler's commanders who, imbued with the spirit of German militarism, compiled an impressive record of conquest in a remarkably short period of time. Poland fell to them in 38 days, France in 6 weeks, and Denmark in 6 hours. They pushed through Norway to the Arctic Ocean, drove to the English Channel, overran the Balkans and much of North Africa, and smashed to within sight of the Kremlin itself. Despite huge odds against them, Hitler's commanders - the elite of the Wehrmacht - almost succeeded in conquering the world for Adolf Hitler. In this book, Doctors Mitcham and Mueller go beyond the stereotyped images to examine the true nature of the military commanders of the Third Reich.
Here you will meet: Theodor Eicke, who went directly from being an inmate of a mental institution to commandant of the concentration camp at Dachau; Ernst Udet, a drug abuser and womanizer whose ineptitude ruined the German bomber forces; Fedor von Bock, the humourless embodiment of ruthless ambition; Walter Wever, the strategic genius; Michael Wittmann, the quiet farm worker who became the most successful tank commander of the Second World War; Hans-Joachim Marseille, playboy and perhaps the greatest lady-killer in Europe; Helmut Becker, commander of the "Death's Head" SS Panzer Division and a killer of an entirely different order; Rudolf Stegmann, a hero whose insubordination saved his command, although he could not save himself; and Erhard Milch, the son of a Jewish pharmacist who became the number two man in the Luftwaffe. Their stories, and those of dozens of others, are told in this book.