I keep getting all those German agencies mixed up -- the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo, the SS, the Oberkommando, the Abwehr, the Bierstube, the Wursthaus, and so on. There's a fine documentary available on YouTube that deconstructs the SS for you. I'm not sure about this one yet. I thought the Wehrmacht was the regular German Army, and so far that's the subject. It's curious that when Hitler became Chancellor he appointed a chief of the Army but soon dismissed the guy, deciding instead that he himself would be the only person whose loyalty to Hitler's army could be counted upon. Well, maybe not so curious.
The program consists mainly of documentary footage and the usual comments from experts and from participants, some of whom are unusually candid. They LOVED those snazzy uniforms and they had the best seats in restaurants. Officers were treated even better. An old story -- later transposed into film -- drifts into my memory from some German roommate in college, "Der Hauptmann von Köpenick", that's a good illustration of the social arrangement. They didn't like the casualties quite as much, not even after they invaded Poland, an unprepared nation quickly disposed of. The stereotype of the Poles was widespread: "Dirty, lazy, and ugly," as one ex-soldier describes them.
The German generals captured during and after the war were first put through ordinary (and humiliating) interrogation then sent to a comfortable country estate where they had nothing to do except chat. They chatted. And it was all recorded by the British who had thoroughly bugged the rooms. I'd heard about this before but the excerpts were nothing much about strategy and so forth but rather gossip and a little dull. Maybe there will be more chipper excerpts in this series.
On the whole, they were in favor of retaking the land that had belonged to Germany before the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. Every nation had spent itself into poverty and Germany was blamed for the whole tangled mess of the war. The reparation were brutal and some of Germany's territory carved up and given away. But few of the generals realized that Hitler's plans went far beyond reoccupation of German territory, nor did they feel the armed forces were prepared for such a massive undertaking.
The general who conquered Poland, Blaskovitz, was given the Knight's Cross and made Commander of the Army in the East. He enjoyed the post but, like some other officers, was surprised and disturbed to see that the SS were carrying out anti-Semitic orders from higher up, and they were formally under his command. Orders were orders and the officers and men carried them out, but the viewer can wonder about the enthusiasm behind the effort. German Jews -- unlike the Russian Jews of the Stetl -- were integrated into much of German life, frequently at high stations. Many had fought in the trenches of World War I, just as Hitler had, and their national identity was German.
I don't mean to suggest that German soldiers were not anti-Semitic because some of them were, mainly the younger who had been raised during a period when scapegoats seemed necessary, and of course members of the Nazi Party and Hitlerjugend. The atrocities in Poland extended beyond the Jews to include students, professors, and aristocrats. My anthropology professor, John Milton Roberts, opined that no one had studied the decapitation of Poland's social structure because they were afraid to touch the subject. He called it "Black Anthropology," the academic study of evil. General Blaskovitz formally protested the "frenzy of violence" and was dismissed.
The invasion of France (which I won't get into too much) was developed by Generals Guderian and Mannstein -- a swift concentration of armor through the weakest point of the Allied lines, then up to the English Channel to cut off most of the French, British, and Dutch forces. Hitler thought it was crazy. He fired Mannstein. Then he adopted the idea, promoted it as his own, and put Guderian in charge of the attack, which succeeded completely and left the Brits holding the beach at Dunkirk.
Some surprising details are revealed. The generals had succeeded too well and Hitler ordered them to stop before Dunkirk to show them who was boss. French civilians are seen hugging the German soldiers in Paris and giving them flowers.
The program consists mainly of documentary footage and the usual comments from experts and from participants, some of whom are unusually candid. They LOVED those snazzy uniforms and they had the best seats in restaurants. Officers were treated even better. An old story -- later transposed into film -- drifts into my memory from some German roommate in college, "Der Hauptmann von Köpenick", that's a good illustration of the social arrangement. They didn't like the casualties quite as much, not even after they invaded Poland, an unprepared nation quickly disposed of. The stereotype of the Poles was widespread: "Dirty, lazy, and ugly," as one ex-soldier describes them.
The German generals captured during and after the war were first put through ordinary (and humiliating) interrogation then sent to a comfortable country estate where they had nothing to do except chat. They chatted. And it was all recorded by the British who had thoroughly bugged the rooms. I'd heard about this before but the excerpts were nothing much about strategy and so forth but rather gossip and a little dull. Maybe there will be more chipper excerpts in this series.
On the whole, they were in favor of retaking the land that had belonged to Germany before the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. Every nation had spent itself into poverty and Germany was blamed for the whole tangled mess of the war. The reparation were brutal and some of Germany's territory carved up and given away. But few of the generals realized that Hitler's plans went far beyond reoccupation of German territory, nor did they feel the armed forces were prepared for such a massive undertaking.
The general who conquered Poland, Blaskovitz, was given the Knight's Cross and made Commander of the Army in the East. He enjoyed the post but, like some other officers, was surprised and disturbed to see that the SS were carrying out anti-Semitic orders from higher up, and they were formally under his command. Orders were orders and the officers and men carried them out, but the viewer can wonder about the enthusiasm behind the effort. German Jews -- unlike the Russian Jews of the Stetl -- were integrated into much of German life, frequently at high stations. Many had fought in the trenches of World War I, just as Hitler had, and their national identity was German.
I don't mean to suggest that German soldiers were not anti-Semitic because some of them were, mainly the younger who had been raised during a period when scapegoats seemed necessary, and of course members of the Nazi Party and Hitlerjugend. The atrocities in Poland extended beyond the Jews to include students, professors, and aristocrats. My anthropology professor, John Milton Roberts, opined that no one had studied the decapitation of Poland's social structure because they were afraid to touch the subject. He called it "Black Anthropology," the academic study of evil. General Blaskovitz formally protested the "frenzy of violence" and was dismissed.
The invasion of France (which I won't get into too much) was developed by Generals Guderian and Mannstein -- a swift concentration of armor through the weakest point of the Allied lines, then up to the English Channel to cut off most of the French, British, and Dutch forces. Hitler thought it was crazy. He fired Mannstein. Then he adopted the idea, promoted it as his own, and put Guderian in charge of the attack, which succeeded completely and left the Brits holding the beach at Dunkirk.
Some surprising details are revealed. The generals had succeeded too well and Hitler ordered them to stop before Dunkirk to show them who was boss. French civilians are seen hugging the German soldiers in Paris and giving them flowers.