Hitler's Panzers (60 page)
Authors: Dennis Showalter
Waffen SS
achievements of
concentration camp system and, distinction between
criminality of
enlisting racially-suitable non-Germans
identity of
as ideological soldiers of National Socialism
institutional improvement of
loyalty of
officers of
in Operation Citadel
origins of
racism of
rank structures
reputation of
standards
subdividing
upgrading
vitalism of
volunteer enlistment in
weapon allocations
War.
See also
Blitzkrieg;
specific Wars
See also
Blitzkrieg;
specific Wars
as art form
as Bildungserlebnis
British approach to
clean
critique of mass
exterminating
games
German approach to
managerial approach to
material
mechanized
mobile
National Socialist view of
panache in
racism and
scientific approach to
situational awareness in
Soviet approach to
as test of skill/virtue
total
United States approach to
War crimes.
See also specific War criminals
See also specific War criminals
discrepancies in judging
High Command Trial
pardoned by de Gaulle
Warsaw
Army Group South in
fall of
Hitler’s ordered destruction of
Wasp
Wehrmacht
basic training
as “clean-shield” force
demodernization
discipline
expectations for officers
facilities of
forced-draft expansion of
growth of
homogenization
institutional mentality of
mythology of
officer personalities
pragmatism
replacement pool
as rite of passage
success in reconfiguration
training casualties
waves
westwards deployment
Weichs, Maximillian von
Weinberg, Gerhard
Wespe
Weygand, Maxime
Wietersheim, Gustav von
Willkischken
Wittmann, Michael
Yelna
Yom Kippur War
Yugoslavia
coup in
ordered destruction of
Zaloga, Stephen
Zeitzler, Kurt
Zuckmayer, Carl
Zukhov, Georgi
appointed as deputy supreme commander
at Kursk
reputation of
1
Another element of the reorganization was Hitler’s creation of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Wehrmacht High Command), in theory superior to the Army High Command, and intended as its rival—a common pattern in the Nazi regime. In practice it functioned as his personal advisory board. After 1940, OKW was given responsibility for an increasing number of “secondary” war theaters; by 1942, only the Eastern Front remained under direct control of the Army High Command. Since that theater absorbed most of the panzers for most of the war, for the sake of clarity, “High Command” refers to the army authority in this text unless otherwise noted.
2
It was officially renamed II SS Panzer Corps in June, but the original designation remained common usage during Kursk.
3
Eventually some “Army Assault Artillery Brigades” would have 45 guns plus an “escort battery” of riflemen and pioneers. That upgrading, however, was in the future and too often on paper.
4
The “Sherman factor” is even larger if the Cromwell, which equipped a half-dozen British armored battalions, is understood as a Sherman counterpart, with higher speed but the same kind of medium-velocity 75mm gun and similar protection.
5
British armored divisions in 1944 had a force ratio based on the “ideal” panzer division of 1941-42: three tank battalions, one mechanized and three truck-borne infantry battalions, and an “armored reconnaissance” battalion, also tank-equipped. Their initial employment in separate armored and infantry brigades proved too rigid and usually gave way in practice to a battle group system pairing tank and infantry battalions, two pairs to each brigade. An interesting organizational footnote is the British experiment in 1942 with “mixed divisions” of two infantry and one tank brigades—the same combination initially advocated for postwar US armored divisions. However, based on infantry divisions with an infantry ethos, the experiment proved a failure.
6
The name was changed to Autumn Mist (
Herbstnebel
) in December, but to avoid confusion the original is used throughout.
Herbstnebel
) in December, but to avoid confusion the original is used throughout.
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