?Lewis's book is not another sentimental treatment of doomed
soldiers and megalomaniacal generals but a hardheaded, sure-handed
analysis of developments in the German Army from the end of WW I to
1941. Lewis details changes in weaponry, training, and organization
of troops. He discusses the debate within the German General Staff
on the proper place of armored vehicles and mobile infantry, the
effects of Hitler's increasingly direct intrusion into military
planning, and other subjects great and small. Along the way he
passes a few harsh but well-considered judgments on Basil Liddell
Hart and Heinz Guderian, for too long the unquestioned authorities
on several of the above topics. Lewis also defends the General
Staff against charges of stodgy conservatism, attributing the
Wehrmacht's lack of preparedness of WW II to Hitler's reckess
expansion of the army and his confused economic priorities. In
purely military matters the book is well grounded in the German and
English source materials, It is less reliable, but by no means
shoddy, when dealing with the intricate larger context of military
developments. In its major concerns the work is excellent, free
from military jargon, and accessible to the nonexpert reader.
Libraries at all levels.?-Choice
"Lewis's book is not another sentimental treatment of doomed
soldiers and megalomaniacal generals but a hardheaded, sure-handed
analysis of developments in the German Army from the end of WW I to
1941. Lewis details changes in weaponry, training, and organization
of troops. He discusses the debate within the German General Staff
on the proper place of armored vehicles and mobile infantry, the
effects of Hitler's increasingly direct intrusion into military
planning, and other subjects great and small. Along the way he
passes a few harsh but well-considered judgments on Basil Liddell
Hart and Heinz Guderian, for too long the unquestioned authorities
on several of the above topics. Lewis also defends the General
Staff against charges of stodgy conservatism, attributing the
Wehrmacht's lack of preparedness of WW II to Hitler's reckess
expansion of the army and his confused economic priorities. In
purely military matters the book is well grounded in the German and
English source materials, It is less reliable, but by no means
shoddy, when dealing with the intricate larger context of military
developments. In its major concerns the work is excellent, free
from military jargon, and accessible to the nonexpert reader.
Libraries at all levels."-Choice
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