Was Hitler good as Darius Tay
a military strategist and commander? Understanding the strategy and decisions Hitler made throughout WWII
Adolf Hitler studies a Russian war map with General Field Marshal Walter Von Brauchitsch, left, German commander in chief, and Chief of Staff Col. General Franz Halder, on August 7, 1941.
Hitler: Military Strategist and Commander?
Sudetenland –1938, Britain and France gave the Sudetenland away to Germany, Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler. Austria – 1938, Anschluss, annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany
Operation Barbarossa – Germany’s invasion of Soviet Union in 1941
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It has often been argued whether Hitler was a good commander and strategist. At the beginning of World War II, Hitler could definitely be considered a good military strategist and commander. He knew what his opponents feared and exploited their weakness. This can be seen where he knew of Britain and France’s unwillingness to go to war and strategized to take a huge part of Europe for free, namely Sudetenland and Austria. But why and how did Germany lose World
War II when Hitler was the one commanding the army, which can be seen when he had the whole army under his control in 1941? Was he a good military strategist and commander, making smart decisions during different battles?
Strategy: Blitzkrieg The strategy adopted by Germany early in World War II, used in some of the key historic battles such as Operation Barbarossa, Invasion of Poland. This strategy was suggested to Hitler by Heinz
been training in the Soviet Union since 1922 under different situations (as the Treaty of Versailles prevented the Germans from training their troops in Germany), and hence had plenty of experience to make Blitzkrieg work. Hence Hitler was a genius in this aspect and could be said to be a great strategist by taking advantage of these factors, knowing his army is better trained and armed, and fighting the Allies with superior military strategies, troops and technology.
| Why do you think Germany was able to train her troops in Soviet Union? |
Treaty of Versailles – 1919. a peace treaty at the end of WWI which imposed very harsh punishments on Germany
Source A: A diagram of how Blitzkrieg was carried out in Russia, 1942
Guderian and it was based on coordination, movement and speed. Although Hitler was not the one who came up with this strategy, he did see the potential in the strategy and used it many times in succession in the early periods on World War II. In fact, Blitzkrieg was so effective to the extent that the Allies could not respond fast enough to the attacks and Germany had conquered many parts of Europe in the matter of weeks. Now why was this strategy so successful? There are several reasons. Firstly, the Allies was not prepared for this kind of warfare in the early periods of World War II as they still were fighting like how they did in World War I, using outdated strategies and technology, such as fighting using trench warfare. Hence the Allies had no prior experience to Blitzkrieg and had no ways to counter this perfectly coordinated attack. Another reason is that Germany’s troops were more well-trained and had better coordination than the Allied troops which made the strategy work. The German troops had
Commander: Illogical Decision However, Hitler could make illogical decisions as well. An example would be probably one of Hitler’s most famous blunders of all time, the “stop” order issued at Dunkirk, which allowed about 338 000 men from the Allied force to be rescued (see Source B). Now why did Hitler do this? It does not make any sense. There are many different explanations for this but all of them are just speculations. Whatever the reason, the implications it had brought are definitely serious and helped the Allied forces to find a way to defeat him. After the evacuation, British propaganda had begun to spread about the successful evacuation at Dunkirk and this greatly boosted the morale of the Allied forces, which was the best gift Hitler could ever give to the Allies. These soldiers that were rescued also formed a basis for Britain and France to form their new armies as veteran soldiers, armed with the knowledge of German strategies and
Trench Warfare – a form of land warfare using occupied fighting lines consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are significantly protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery.
Propaganda - a form of communication aimed towards influencing the attitude of the community toward some cause or position.
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either starving or dying from diseases. Even after being faced with these problems, Hitler was still insistent on fighting. He foolishly decided to send supplies by air transport but most were shot down before reaching the German soldiers. This also
| Why do you think the Battle of Stalingrad dragged from summer to winter and why Hitler was so insistent on fighting? |
Source B: Allied troops evacuating from Dunkirk in a fishing boat, 1940
technology after experiencing them. Through this mistake, Hitler had given the Allies a fighting chance and he increased his chances of losing the war. Hence Hitler’s decision was foolish and his capabilities as a military strategist and commander are lacking.
Commander: Stubbornness
German Sixth Army - known for fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad, during which it became the first entire German field army to be completely destroyed. After the battle of Stalingrad, approximately 107,800 soldiers of the 6th Army entered Soviet captivity; only about 6,000 survived the captivity.
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Hitler’s own stubbornness to change his mind has led him to his downfall. A prime example of this is another one of Hitler’s greatest mistake which could have been the most impactful one which caused him to have lost World War II, The Battle of Stalingrad. The entire German Sixth Army was lost in the battle and everyone believed that Hitler would eventually lose World War II. This time, Hitler had made a huge error in judgement throughout the whole Battle of Stalingrad and was very stubborn throughout. He did not manage to take over Soviet Union in time and dragged the war to winter. He had underestimated the harsh Russian winter and thus his troops were illequipped for the winter. This caused most of the German soldiers to suffer greatly from frostbite and the cold, and this allowed the Soviets to launch counter-offensives. Food, medical supply and ammunition are also in shortage, and the soldiers are
caused Hitler to lose a lot of his aircraft and supplies. Hitler also did not allow his army to surrender but fight to the last man standing, due to his belief that the morale of the soldiers could win any battle. Hence, his lack of foresight and stubbornness was what ultimately caused Hitler to lose the entire Sixth Army and a "My hands for, and have large part are of done Germany’s army, been ever since the beginning of contributing a lot to the reason he December. The little finger of my lost leftWWII. hand is missing and - what's even worse - the three middle fingers of my right one are frozen. I can only hold my mug with my thumb and little finger. I'm pretty helpless; only when a man has lost any fingers does he see how much he needs then for the smallest jobs. The best thing I can do with the little finger is to shoot with it. My hands are finished." Anonymous German soldier
lose the entire Sixth Army and a large part of Germany’s army, contributing a lot to the reason he lost WWII.
Distrust of Subordinates Hitler made himself Führer of the German state in 1934, and became Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces in 1938, Commander-in-Chief of the army in 1941, essentially making him in charge of the
whole of Germany’s military. Hitler distrusted his generals as they would normally disagree with his decisions and hence he wanted full control of the German army. This can be seen where his commanders disagreed Hitler’s decision for the German troops to stay in Russia in the Battle of Stalingrad and wanted the troops to retreat, calling the delusional commander that it was foolish to continue the war in Russia. This was what caused most of his failures as he does not listen to his military commanders’ advice and continued on with his plans. In fact he would be the one who would come up with a grand strategy and no one was allowed to come up with one, or had to inform him, seen where in 1945, 21st January, Hitler orders all of his commanders to inform in advance of any operation that their units are going to execute. He also did not make sensible and logical decisions, as seen in the Battle of Stalingrad, where he believed the will of the soldiers would win the battle, rather than letting them retreat. Due to this, most of his commanders hated him and tried to assassinate him, as they believed this lunatic was leading Germany to her doom. There have been about 26 assassination attempts (see source C) on Hitler. Towards the end of World War II, his military commanders had given up and are prepared for Germany’s defeat and blamed the downfall of Germany on Hitler, describing him as a fool and criticising him.
Source C - The attempt on July 1944 came close to succeeding, Hitler was saved as the bomb was deflected away and the blast shielded by the conference table leg. This attempt was done by senior German Army officers.
Source C: The Wolf’s Lair conference room right after the explosion
Conclusion Hitler could be considered a good military strategist and commander at the beginning through his use of Blitzkrieg but not at the end of World War II, and even then he did not come up with blitzkrieg. At first he did manage to conquer a large part of Europe, using manipulative strategies before the war and many successful victories during the early parts of World War II, and it would seem that he would win World War II. However, as the war progresses, we see that he was just lucky with all his other victories. As the war continued, he was not as lucky anymore, and made a lot of major mistakes, illogical and rash decisions, did not listen to his commanders and Germany paid a very heavy price. A good military strategist and commander would listen to the advice of those around him, and earn support and trust from them. Early on, Hitler did listen to his commanders, which can be seen where he saw the potential and adopted the Blitzkrieg strategy and succeeded. Hitler never was a great military strategist and commander and he should just stay as a politician and give speeches.
Bibliography 1. “Blitzkrieg”, History Learning Site, http://www.historylearningsite.co. uk/blitzkrieg.htm 2. “Blitzkrieg”, History Learning Site, http://www.historylearningsite.co. uk/blitzkrieg.htm 3. “The Battle of Stalingrad”, History Learning Site, http://www.historylearningsite.co. uk/battle_of_stalingrad.htm 4. “Hitler’s Leadership Style”, BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worl dwars/wwtwo/hitler_commander _01.shtml
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