Hitler: Military Commander

This is a fascinating concept, and one which few historians have awarded credence: that an Austrian-born WWI infantry corporal, commanded - in Germany's Wehrmacht - possibly the finest military machine of the 20th century. We read of his understanding of the needs of the infantryman. Every technological innovation was eagerly embraced to ease the task of the foot soldier: Armour, Artillery, Combat Engineers, Paratroops, Close Air Support, General-Purpose Machine Gun, Sub-Machine Gun ... the list goes on. His recruitment of industrial leaders to warlike production, was serendipitous - and contrasts with Britain's problems in gearing-up for mass production of tanks, for instance. Hitler knew that any upgrades to military equipment would be supplied more-or-less on demand. Which greatly eased his burden as a military commander. Inevitably, his major weakness was his inability to understand strategy beyond the land war. His reliance on Goering to finish-off the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk - then the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain - proved costly. Then we confront his self-admitted ignorance of maritime warfare. Britain was saved by the Royal Navy at Dunkirk. Hitler declared war on a major naval power - the USA - in support of Japan. The Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union, gave a huge land army the wherewithal to face down Hitler's technologically-superior land forces. Inevitably, Hitler's major weakness goes back to his WWI experience. He saw mistakes being made in major HQs (he had to carry those orders back to his unit). He distrusted his generals, and they despised him: the Prussian aristocracy hated taking orders from an Austrian corporal. All of these themes are analysed in this excellent book. I recommend it.

This book is important not only for understanding of what is possibly the gravest disaster to be precipitated by a single person, but also for understanding of some of the fundamental forces that drive human society. Until I read this book, I was unable to understand how some of Hitler’s military decisions were so brilliant, aside from their abhorrent aims, and others seemingly so stupid. Matthews explains Hitler’s reasoning clearly. Much is explained by Hitler’s military experience as a messenger, which gave him knowledge of war from the point of view both of the command and of the front line, but left important gaps in his knowledge. Thus, mostly his decisions made sense, given Matthews’s explanation of the circumstances and Hitler’s reasoning. Only during the last few months did Hitler actually become delusional.

The author has written an authoritive and well researched book about Hitler, but I don't think it goes far enough.