(no subject)
I've been doing a lot of reading since the semester started and I thought I might share what has caught my interest.
One book called Death Of A Nazi Army is about a little known battle called the "Falaise Pocket" Where the American and British forces had the opportunity to encircle the bulk of the Nazi's western defenses, but through some ego's, arguing amongst each other, and military ineptitude the entire german force was not encircled, but no organized force escaped. And it talks about the German side as well. It talks about how Hitler's military ineptitude and stupidity, in some cases, wasted thousands of soldiers lives. It's written like the story line to a movie and has all kinds of interesting and even funny stories in it. It's a fantastic read if you are looking for something exciting and educational.
The other book is called Hitler's Generals. This is a collection of short biographies on several well known and lesser known German generals form WWII. Notice I don't say Nazi generals, because a significant number of them did not engage in the politics or even follow orders to murder innocent people. For example, in Russia Field Marshal Ewald von Kleist summoned the SS and Gestapo officers that were in charge in his area and told them "there are to be No excesses in my territory!" And not only did they not murder anyone he had the ability to create partisan unites of Ukrainians to help fight the Russians. No they were not brainwashed, the Ukrainians hated the Soviets as much as anyone and greeted the Nazis as liberators until Hitler started ordering executions.
The book is filled with interesting facts like that and most of the commanders are fascinating to read about. I say most because a few are not exciting such as, Wilhelm Keitel. Overall it's a fantastic book and an excellent read.
One book called Death Of A Nazi Army is about a little known battle called the "Falaise Pocket" Where the American and British forces had the opportunity to encircle the bulk of the Nazi's western defenses, but through some ego's, arguing amongst each other, and military ineptitude the entire german force was not encircled, but no organized force escaped. And it talks about the German side as well. It talks about how Hitler's military ineptitude and stupidity, in some cases, wasted thousands of soldiers lives. It's written like the story line to a movie and has all kinds of interesting and even funny stories in it. It's a fantastic read if you are looking for something exciting and educational.
The other book is called Hitler's Generals. This is a collection of short biographies on several well known and lesser known German generals form WWII. Notice I don't say Nazi generals, because a significant number of them did not engage in the politics or even follow orders to murder innocent people. For example, in Russia Field Marshal Ewald von Kleist summoned the SS and Gestapo officers that were in charge in his area and told them "there are to be No excesses in my territory!" And not only did they not murder anyone he had the ability to create partisan unites of Ukrainians to help fight the Russians. No they were not brainwashed, the Ukrainians hated the Soviets as much as anyone and greeted the Nazis as liberators until Hitler started ordering executions.
The book is filled with interesting facts like that and most of the commanders are fascinating to read about. I say most because a few are not exciting such as, Wilhelm Keitel. Overall it's a fantastic book and an excellent read.