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war and social upheaval: World War II -- Germany military campaigns
World War II Germany: The Turning Point (1942)
Figure 1.--Here we see Bertran in 1942. He was from Wiesbaden. We suspect his father was on home leave from the front. Few Germans were aware of the dimensions of the German defeat before Moscow (December 1941). Even after the Soviet offensive, the Wehrmacht was still implanted deep in the Soviet Union. The front was still far from the Reich. And further victories in 1942 seemed to confirm that Germany was still winning the War. This began to change in 1942 as more death notices and especially in 1943 when the Americans entered the air war against Germany. Every important German city in effectb became part of the front. Wiesbaden was attacked by Allied bombers on 66 different days. In the attacks, about 18 percent of the city's homes were destroyed. Only about 1,700 people were killed, however, a testimony to the effectiveness of German civil defense. But as the death notices kept coming and the bombs began falling, Germans despite Goebbels relentless propaganda began noticing that the battles were now being fought closer and closer to the Reich.
The German Wehrmacht until the Soviet offensive before Moscow (December 1941) experienced one stunning victory after another leving Hitler and the NAZIs in control of most of Europe. The Battle of Britain (July-September 1940) was a rather exception, the importance of which was not fully understood at the time. The German people other than the committed NAZIs entered the War with considerable trepedation. Most adults recalled World War I and the massive loss of life and other adverse consequences. But then Hitler achieved one victory after another with very limted consequences. More and more Germans began to believe in him. The Soviet offensive before Moscow was a stunning victory. The dimensions of the defeat in terms of casualties and equipment were irreplaceable. It was now virtually impossible or the Germans to win the War, especially because the Japanese militarists and Hitler added the United States to the beligerant forces. The extent of the disaster in the Soviet Union was hidden from the German people. And new victories in 1942 in both the East, North Africa, and the North Atlantic seemed to show that the NAZIs could still prevail. Japanese successes in the Pacific seemed to cofirm this. Thus for most of 1942, the German people lived in a bubble formed by food and consumer goods flowing into the Reich from France and other occupied countries and the drum beat of Gobbels'propaganda. The only real change for kmost Germand was that for the first time, substantial casualties were sustained as the death notices went out and the casualties began to fill up hiodpitals and convalesent facilities. The American victory at Midway was little noticed (June 1942). The air of invincibility came to a sjocking end only at the end of the year. The first shock was El Alemaine and the Afrika Corps retreat west (October 1942). Only Montgomery's caution prevented the destruction of the Afrika Corps. Yhis was followed by the Anglo-American Torch Landings in North Africa (November 1942). Here Hitler turned a relstively minor defeat into a major one by sending major German reinforcemdnts to Tunisia. The major turn came in the East. The Red Army's Operation Uranus surrounded the German 6th Army in Stalingrad. This initself was not, however, a disaster. The Red Army had cut off other German units before. What made Stalingrad different was har Hitler ordered 6th Army commander General Pulis not to break out, but to stand and fight hilr a relief column was aseembled. This turned Stalingrad into a disaster. The Christmas of 1942 was a very bleak one as the shrinking Stalingrad garison fought it out with the Soviets. Increasing numbers of Germans now realized that Germay despite its power and still in possession of much of Europe was non longer winning the War. Most still did not believe that Germany faced defeat, but the opptimism of the early years was now gone. Christmas is the most important of all German holidays. And many German families spent Christmas with family members in Stalingrad. And even thise who did not spent the holiday knowing that an entire Germany Army was being destroyed deep in the Soviet Union.
War Background (1939-41)
German Victories (1939-41)
The German Wehrmacht perfecting Blitzkrieg tactics conquered most of Western and Central Europe. Until the Soviet offensive before Moscow (December 1941), the Wehrmacht experienced one stunning victory after another agfainst small or unprepared contries. The defeat of the French Arny was the Wehrmacht's crowning achievement. Defeating Poland was not unexpected. The German victory in the Battle of France was (May-June 1940). Hitler and the NAZIs in control of most of Europe began to think that they were invincible, even many Wehrmacht commanders began to think that way. The victories in the Balkans only confirmed this.
The Battle of Britain (July-September 1940) was a rare exception to the string of German victories, the importance of which was not fully understood at the time. The Germany that Hitler decided to take to war in 1938 when he orchestrated the Munich Crisis was not a country with the capability of waging another world warr. It had neither the resources or the indistrial power to support a massive war effort. Allies incompetence allowed Hitler to signifuicantly improve Hitler strategic position, but even so, the Germans from the beginning palaned to overcome the greater resources of its advesaries with sperior technology providing superior weapons. The Germans lost the Battle of Britain not becaise of superior British numbers and resources, but because of superior British technology (the Spitfire and the Chain Home Radar System). And the RAF victory meant that Britain had bought time to mashall the rsources of the Emoire and to bring America into the War. This appears to be something that Hitler and OKW simply ignored as they olanned new conquests. And the new targets were very different than the nostly small countries Hitle overwealmed--the Sovirt Uniion and ultimately the United states, opponents even Germany's lead in armaments and tacctical doctrine would unable to overcome.
German Attitudes toward the War
The German people other than the committed NAZIs entered the War with considerable trepedation. Most adults recalled World War I and the massive loss of life and other adverse consequences. But then Hitler chieved one victory after another with very limted consequences. More and more Germans began to believe in him. Defeating France was certainly a turning point in the German popular psyche. And exploiting the occupied territories enabled the NAZIs to maintain licing standards. The enormous early successes with the Barbarossa invasion of the Soviet Union only seemed to confirm this. OKW and many German commanders as the Panzers rolled further and further east and long klines of dispirited Red Army POWs streamed into German captivity began to believe that they had won the War.
December 1941 was undoubtedly the most critical month of the War. The Soviet offensive before Moscow was a stunning victory. The dimensions of the defeat in terms of casualties and equipment were irreplaceable. It is commonly thought that Stalingrad was the turnning point of the War. It is orobably more accurate to say that the Red Army offensive before Moscow was. It was now, as a result of the enornmous losses in the East, virtually impossible for the Germans to win the War. They had failed to destroy the Red Army and the Brigtish wee still unfeated in the West. And if that was not bad enough, the Japanese militarists almost simulataneously with the Red Army offensive, attacked the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor (December 7). The Japanese made the decesion to go to war earlier while it still looked klike the Germans had defeated the Soviets. This added the United States with it enormous resources an industrial capacity to the beligerant forces. Hitler still incintrol of most of Europe, almost inexplicably decalared war on the United States (December 11). Reverses in the East only seems to have escalted Hitler's desire to kill Jews, as many as posible and in as large enough numbers as possible.
German Bubble
The extent of the disaster in the Soviet Union was hidden from the German people. And new victories in 1942 in both the East, North Africa, and the North Atlantic seemed to show that the NAZIs could still prevail. Japanese successes in the Pacific seemed to cofirm this. Thus for most of 1942, the German people lived in a bubble formed by food and consumer goods flowing into the Reich from France and other occupied countries and the drum beat of Gobbels'propaganda. The British strategic bombing campaign was still having little impact on the Reich. The only real change for most Germand was that for the first time, substantial casualties were sustained as the death notices went out and the casualties began to fill up hospitals and convalesent facilities. The death notices were something Goebbels propaganda could not hide.
More Victories
The Germans after sustaining huge losses managed to stabalize the line in the East. And Stalin in both the north and south order a seies of ill-conceived attacks, losing the opportunities of continued gains. In the Ukraine, Army Group South mastermind Vom manstein achieved enormous victories in the south, both kin the Crimea and around Krakov. The Russians evaded huge encirclements as in 1941, but susgtained sibstantial losses. The losses helped conceal the growing competency of the Red Army. Than Hitler launched Operation Blue to seize the critical oil resources of the Caucauses. Again ghjee were imporyangt victories, but no mass encirclements. This meant that the Grmans were moving East, but not achieving the only real critical goal--destroying the Red Army. The lack of encirclenmebs was noted by Hitkler and OKW, but was ignored in the face of battlefield victories.
Historians often describe the desperate German defensive forces as 'scraping the bottom of the barrel'. In fact after the huge losses before Moscow (1941-42), the Wehrmmact was already doing this in 1942. Operation Blue, the German Summer Offensive in 1942, had to be limited to one sector of the front. Offensives of the scale of Barbarossa were no longer possible. Hitler chose the south because of the resources the German war economy needed, especially oil. This surprised the Soviets who were expecting another assault on Moscow. The 1942 Summer Offensive was largely fought by rushing the current year class of 18-year old conscripts to the front. These inexperienced youths would comprise a major proprtion of the rebuilt Ostheer (Eastern Army). Compared to Barbarossa, Operation Blue was an offensive on a shoe-string. Even so, it was surely the most complex Wehrmacht operation of the War. And because of the limited resources and complexity, there was a narrow margin of victory. With America now in the War, 1942 would be Germany's final opportunity to win the War before the United Staytes could mobilize its resources and bring them to bear on Germany. One of the several weaknesses of Blue was the large number of young, inexperienced troops. Hitler was well aware of this, he told his generals, "The operation must begin with success; young troops mustn't suffer any setbacks. Young troops need special support. Thevoperation must proceed in such a way that our young divisions get used to the enemy." (March 28, 1942). [Hadler, p. 3:420.] The resulting disaster at Stalingrad (January 1943), further weakened the Wehrmnacht and creating a massive manpower shortage, not only because of the rebuilding Red Army, but because the growing Allied strength in the West.
Midway (June 1942)
The Japanese achieved the same enormous victories that the Germans did in the first half of 1942, carving out it Southern Resource Zin, the German equivalent of the East. Unlike the East, however, the SRZ was separated from the war industries of the Home Islands by vast expanses of ocean. The American naval victory at Midway (June 1941). It was little noticed by the Germans, in part because the Japanese hid the extent of their losses and the Pacific seemed remote from the life and death fighting raging in the East. It was, however, tghe first major Allied vicgtory of the war and significantkly increased the American ability to fullfil its 'Europe First' pledge to Britain. It was, however, hushed up, the first of a series of Acis defeats that would transform World War II.
German Advances Stall (June-September 1942)
Axis efforts to seized the vital island Malta failed when Anglo-American convoys got a few sharrred vessels through. Malta helped prevent supplies from reacjing the Afrika Korps. OKW after Rommel's decisive victories in Libya, ordered him not to continue into Egypt, largely because of the supplhy situation. Romml ignired gthem and plunged into Egypt. The British in the Western Desert were finally getting a handle on how to fight the Germans, The first shock was at El Alemaine, a vurtually unknown railway stop, the last one before Alexandria. General Montgomery, the newly appointed 8th Army Cimmander with help from Ultra, stopped Rommel's offensive drive (July 1942). The Geramn advances in the East continued, but gradually stalled. The move into the Causes to get at oil resources were the first to stall in the Moubtains where German Blitzkrieg tactics were inoperable. A mountaineering team raise the German battle flag in Mount Ebrus (August 21). This is as far as the Germans advanced. Hitler fumed at the the lack of real advamces, but they stopped because he had sent forces north to seize Lenningrad and diverted other forces into the Stalingrad caulldron. As Bljue evolved, Hitler changed his priority from Cacauses oil to Stalin's mamesake city. The Luftwaffe virtually leveled Stalingarad (August 1942). The 6th Army commanded by General Paulis reahed the Volga and Stalingrad (September). The Sixth Armhy manage to occupy most of the city, but make no important advances. The desperate fighting in the city cause paulus to divert his German unuts to the city. Axix allies who would not have fought with the same zeal are used to guard the flanks.
The German air of invincibility finally came to a shocking end only at the end of the year. The German \s were beginning to thaink again gthat they had win the War. This ended precipitously at the end of the year. Within a month, Hitler and OKW which seemed posed on the verge of massive victories saw their forces crunle in the face of massive Allied superority in both resources and industrial production. Hitler's incompetence as a war leader played a major role in these defeats. The Red Army offensive before Moscow had meant that Germany could no longer win the War, the devestaing defats at the end of 1942 meant that Germany was going to be defeated. The badly damaged Wehrmct would have to face tghe growing strength of Allied amies on the wide-spread battlefields of Hitler's own creation.
British and Italin/Germany armies launched offensives which swung back and forth between Egypt and Libya. It looked like Rommel's Africa Corps might reach Suez in 1942, but the British stopped him at El Alamein. Here the two armies prepared for a massive battle. The Africa Corps supply lines crossed the Mediterranan where with the help of Ultra, the British destroyed large quantities of supplies. The British in turn had longer supply lines, but their new American allies delivered vast quantities of weapons and supplies. This enabled Montgomery's 8th Army to smash the Africa Corps (October 1942). While this made headlines, the more decisive action occurred to the west in French North africa. Amercan and British landings in North Africa known as Operation Torch sealed the fate of the Axis desert campaign. Even if Rommel had broken through to Suez, he would have been forced to turn west to deal with the Allied landings in French North Africa. The Allies driving east from their Moroccan and Algerian beachheads linked up with the Brish advancing west (November 1942). While generally given less attention than other campigns, the Anglo American offensive, joined by the French French played an important role in assisting the hard-pressed Soviets on the Eastern Front.
American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided that the Allies needed to open a Second Front to take pressure off the hard-pressed Red Army reeling under the German summer offensive driving toward Stalingrad and the oil-rich Caucauses (July 1942). Joseph Stalin demanded an invasion of Europe. Wisely Roosevelt and Churchill targetted French North Africa. American General George Marshall, in many ways the architect of the American victory, was opposed to Totch, considering it a diversion. Roosevelt insisted. While Montgomery's victory at El Alemain often receives more attentiin, it was the Torch landings that were the decisive action. The Amercan and British landings in North Africa sealed the fate of the Axis desert campaign. Even if Rommel had broken through to Suez, he would have been forced to turn west to deal with the Allied landings in French North Africa. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed Allied commander to oversee the Torch Landings. The Allies driving east from their Moroccan and Algerian beachheads linked up with the Brish advancing west (November 1942). Although Hitler rushed reinforcements to Tunisia, the end result was the first major defeat of a German Army by the Western Allies. Here Hitler turned a relstively minor defeat into a major one by sending major German reinforcemdnts to Tunisia. The Wehrmacht's strategic reserve had not yet been committed in November 1942. All rational calculations argued for it to be committed against the Soviets in the struggle over Stalingrad. Hitler instead used major components to hold Tunisia. The Luftwaffe was ordered to launch a massive operation to transport troops to Tunisia and support them. More than 1,000 Junkers transport planes were loss in the effort, planes and crews which could have been used to supply the 6th Army at Stalingrad. The Axis lost 200,000 soldiers at Stalingrad, but 250,000 in Tunisia--about Half Germans. These were losses of such magnitudes that the Germans could not replace them. [Atkinson] North Africa was also notable because the Anglo-American military operation was worked out and the Allied armies first learned the techniques of modern war needed to defeat the Blitkrieg tatctics of the German military machine. The American army obtained its first combat experience in North Africa.
The major turn came in the East. The Red Army's Operation Uranus(November 17) surrounded the German 6th Army in Stalingrad. This initself was not, however, a disaster. The Red Army had cut off other German units before. What made Stalingrad different was that Hitler backed by G�ring rejcted his generals advise and ordered the 6th Army commander General Frederich Paulis not to break out, but to stand and fight until a relief column was assembled.
This turned Stalingrad into a disaster. The Christmas of 1942 was a very bleak one as the shrinking Stalingrad garison fought it out with the Soviets. Increasing numbers of Germans now realized that Germay despite its power and still in possession of much of Europe was non longer winning the War. Most still did not believe that Germany faced defeat, but the optimism of the early years was now gone. Christmas is the most important of all German holidays. And many German families spent Christmas with family members in Stalingrad. And even those who did not spent the holiday knowing that an entire Germany Army was being destroyed deep in the Soviet Union.
Hitler's desperation as Wehermacht advances first begin to stall and then fail in catgroohic defeat can be seen in his change of mind toward the Kriegsmarine. The Germany Navy had been the poor sister of the German rearmanent program. And the Kreigsmarine entered in the War as Admifral Raedser predicted only able to show how to die bravely. Bklitzkreieg had been based ion the Herr and Luftwaffe. As these forces failed to gain the stunning victories iof 1939-41, Hitler whose pride had been his army and panzers tuned to Admiral D�ntiz who was reporing great success with huis U-boats in the North Atlantic. Hitler begins telling his intiamates that, "The U-boat will determine the outcome of the War." And fofr a while it looked like this might be the case. Hitler ordered Armaments Munister Speer to change priorities. Productron priorities were changed to U-boats so that Admiral D�nitz would have the 300 U-boat he claimed he needed the achieve victory in the North Atlantic and f rce Britain out of the War. Give Hitler's focus on land war, this sea change in his war planning can only be seen as his increasing desperatiion after the failure opf the Wehrmacht before Moscow and all that followed in 1942.
