Death of the Wehrmacht

The German Campaigns of 1942

De: Robert M. Citino

Narrado por: Tom Beyer

For Hitler and the German military, 1942 was a key turning point of World War II, as an overstretched but still lethal Wehrmacht replaced brilliant victories and huge territorial gains with stalemates and strategic retreats. In this major reevaluation of that crucial year, Robert Citino shows that the German army's emerging woes were rooted as much in its addiction to the "war of movement"-attempts to smash the enemy in "short and lively" campaigns-as they were in Hitler's deeply flawed management of the war.

From the overwhelming operational victories at Kerch and Kharkov in May to the catastrophic defeats at El Alamein and Stalingrad, Death of the Wehrmacht offers an eye-opening new view of that decisive year. Building upon his widely respected critique in The German Way of War, Citino shows how the campaigns of 1942 fit within the centuries-old patterns of Prussian/German warmaking and ultimately doomed Hitler's expansionist ambitions. He examines every major campaign and battle in the Russian and North African theaters throughout the year to assess how a military geared to quick and decisive victories coped when the tide turned against it. More than the turning point of a war, 1942 marked the death of a very old and traditional pattern of warmaking, with the classic "German way of war" unable to meet the challenges of the twentieth century.

©2007 The University Press of Kansas (P)2024 Tantor

Best of the best

One of the most engaging and thought provoking in the entire topic of german perspective of WWII. Objective and comprehensive. Draws upon a rich body of evidence of tradition in the German and Prussian Army as the root of various decisions in 1942. The delivery is also super fun.

The reader detracts from this great story

I love the story, but the reader detracts from it through several errors, including:
1) Putting on accent voices for quotes - just read them in your normal voice!
2) Mispronouncing names and place names - ask a local to pronounce them so you don’t butcher the name!
3) Misnaming divisions, corps, and armies - it’s “fifty-second corps” not “fifty-two corps”

Difficult Listening

Intolerable fake German accents. Rather like fingernails on a chalkboard. Maybe others will find it ok.

Lucidity!

I am a history buff, but seldom take the time to review books. Now I am making an exception, because I love every bit of this work. The best was probably the deep knowledge of general world history, not just of the period depicted. I mean, who refers to the 1912 siege of Edrine in the context of 1941 Wehrmacht! Amazing context and depth!
And the logical and structured approach was great too. The death of the art of war.
One could draw analogies with the current situation in the exact same geographical areas actually, as the areas of this book’s concern.
The essentially colonial policing war making thinking of the West with its aircraft carriers,, made useless in a war of attrition, long range rockets and cheap drones.
Fascinating

Terrible cartoonish and childish accents

Robert Citino is the very definition of a subject matter expert on the German Army in World War II. His piece is masterful and insightful. The narration of the work, however, is so poor as to ruin the experience. The narration theatrically over-ennunciates any German names or nouns in a normal sentence. whenever the text quotes a non-english speaker, the reader adopts a borderline insultingly hammy accent, which is as obnoxious as it is distracting. The tone is completely unbecoming of a serious work on the second World War.

Flat and dull

As a history buff of WWI and II I was disappointed in the flat academic to these important periods in world history. 👀