History 06/03/20 Why Hitler believed his army invincible
According to military experts, by 1941 the German army was the strongest in the world. Battle-hardened and experienced the taste of victory, German troops approached the Soviet border with a sense of superiority. The soldiers of the Wehrmacht considered themselves invincible.
a System approach
the German historian Werner Firs believed that the Treaty of Versailles, under which Germany had no right to have an army numbering more than 100 thousand people, forced Berlin to find a new General principles of formation of the armed forces. And they were found.
And although Hitler came to power in 1933, refused to “norms of Versailles”, the ideology of the military mobility of the new army has already won the minds of German military leaders.
Later, the redeployment of German soldiers to Spain for the protection of the Franco regime allowed to test in real conditions of 88-mm anti-aircraft guns, fighters Me-109 and dive-bombers of Stuka-87.
There’s also the young Hitler’s air force created the school conduct air combat. The Balkan campaign of 1941 showed how important it is to coordinate a large number of equipment. In the end, the German officers before the Russian company had successful experience in the use of mobile connections, enhanced aircraft. All this allowed them to create a new military organization and most importantly – system type that are optimally configured for combat missions.
Special training
In 1935, the idea of special training of soldiers of the Wehrmacht, in order to make the fighter a kind of “motorized weapons”. To do this, young people chose the most capable young men. They were prepared in training camps. To understand what were the German military circa 1941, you should read the book of Walter Kempowski “Sounder”. The books provides abundant evidence that explains the defeat in Stalingrhell of the Battle, including soldiers ‘ correspondence. For example, tells about a certain corporal Hans, which is at a distance of 40-50 meters I could hit a grenade in a small window.
“It was an unsurpassed master of urban combat, – says the participant of the Stalingrad Battle Hannes, to destroy machine-gun nest he was not difficult, even if shot from the other side of the street. If he were alive, we would have easily taken the damn house, because of which killed half the platoon. But in August the 41st shot in the back killed him captive Russian Lieutenant. It was ridiculous, because there were so many surrendering that we don’t even have time to search them. Dying, he shouted that it was unfair.”
According to official figures, in 1941 the Wehrmacht lost in killed 162799 soldiers, 32484 missing and 579795 wounded, most of whom died in hospitals or disabled. Hitler called these losses are monstrous not so much because of numbers but because the lost quality of the German army.
In Berlin were forced to admit that the war would be another war with all available means. Russian soldiers in the summer and autumn of 1941 had active resistance. Usually, this attack was a desperate and doomed soldiers, single shots of burning buildings, suicide bombing. In the first year of the war killed 3138 of thousands of Soviet soldiers, often in captivity or in the “pot”. But they bled the elite of the Wehrmacht which the Germans so carefully prepared six years.
Mass military experience
Any commander will tell you how important it is to have subordinate fire fighters. Attacked the Soviet Union, the German army had the invaluable experience of military victories.
In September 1939, Wehrmacht soldiers, easily defeating the 39 Polish divisions Edward rydz-smigly, for the first time felt the taste of victory. Then there was the “Maginot Line”, the seizure of Yugoslavia and Greece – all this only increased the self-awareness of their invincibility. No country in the world then was not so much motivated for the success of raked men.
General the infantry in the resignation of Kurt von Tippelskirch believed that this factor was important in the early victories over the red Army. Describing the concept of the lightning war, it emphasized that in contrast to the anxious hours of waiting, the war with Poland, on the territory of Soviet Russia came self-confident the German conquerors. By the way, a multi-day defense of the Brest fortress is largely due to the fact that on its territory were placed 42nd infantry division of the red army, with combat experience of the Finnish war.
the Concept of precise destruction
the Germans also made emphasis on the prompt destruction of pockets of resistance, no matter how strongly they were protected. In the opinion of the German generals, in this case the adversary is the sense of doom and futility of resistance.
As a rule, used the exact, almost sniper shelling. This was achieved through the successful use posts visual optical observations, which on the distance of 7-10 km from our positions was carried out adjustment of fire. Only at the end of 1941, the Red Army has found the antidote to the all-seeing Nazi artillery, when I started to build fortifications on the reverse slopes of the hills, beyond the reach of German optics.
the Quality of the connection
but the Most important advantage of the Wehrmacht to the red Army was the quality of the connection. Guderian believed that tanks without reliable radio will not show a tenth of what he’s capable of.
In the Third Reich since the beginning of 1935 intensified the development of a reliable VHF transceivers. Thanks to the advent in the German communication service of innovative instruments design of Dr. Grube, the generals of the Wehrmacht were able to quickly manage a huge theater of military operations.
for Example, high-frequency telephone equipment was served by a German Panzer headquarters without any interference at distances of up to a thousand kilometers. Thus, on 27 June 1941 in the Dubno district group Kleist total of 700 tanks were able to break mechanized corps of the red Army, which numbered 4000 fighting machines. Later, in 1944, analyzing the battle, Soviet generals bitterly acknowledged that if, then, our tanks had radio contact, the Soviet Army turned the tide of the war at its beginning.
Russian Seven
Source:
© Russian Seven
Recommended statesalaska… Share: Comments Comments on the article “Why Hitler believed his army invincible”
comments closed.
Please log in to leave a comment! br>
Share on Tumblr
