davidbfpo
04-25-2011, 12:10 PM
A short BBC report on a new book:
We all know the cliches of World War II - that the German military was ruthless and brutal, for example, and Italian soldiers gave up without a fight.
But sometimes cliches are true. New evidence published this month in Germany indicates that the stereotypes were not mere propaganda but accurate pictures of reality.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13141495
The COIN aspect:
German society had a special attitude to military behaviour which was, 'Never be weak'. You have to obey orders, so German counter- insurgency depended on extreme violence at the beginning in the belief that this would save German blood in the long term. Only winning matters.
A matter upon which SWC have debated before, IIRC after Edward Luttwak wrote something about German COIN in Russia.
Professor Neitzel, the co-author, has written before on German POWs (pub.2007):http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3667563/Secret-tapes-of-top-Nazis.html
According to Amazon.com the book is only in German to date.
We all know the cliches of World War II - that the German military was ruthless and brutal, for example, and Italian soldiers gave up without a fight.
But sometimes cliches are true. New evidence published this month in Germany indicates that the stereotypes were not mere propaganda but accurate pictures of reality.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13141495
The COIN aspect:
German society had a special attitude to military behaviour which was, 'Never be weak'. You have to obey orders, so German counter- insurgency depended on extreme violence at the beginning in the belief that this would save German blood in the long term. Only winning matters.
A matter upon which SWC have debated before, IIRC after Edward Luttwak wrote something about German COIN in Russia.
Professor Neitzel, the co-author, has written before on German POWs (pub.2007):http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3667563/Secret-tapes-of-top-Nazis.html
According to Amazon.com the book is only in German to date.