INSIDE HITLER'S HEADQUARTERS 1939-45 by Warlimont, Gen. Walter

Novato 1991, Presidio, reprint US edition, hard bound in dust jacket. VG/VG- light wear to dj extremities & several small chips on dj, ), 6x9, xi., 658 pages, appendices, notes, index. ....................................................... This is the story of World War II, as seen from Germany's Supreme Headquarters by General Walter Warlimont, who was at the center of power during one of history's most shattering periods. It is the story of men whom the fates tempted and then destroyed.It is doubtful that ever before in a great war had the supreme headquarters of a major participant been such a microcosm of that country's leadership and society. The German Armed Forces Supreme Headquarters during World War II was a stage of truly Wagnerian dimensions, with Hitler the all-powerful, totally evil, almost godlike arbiter of life and death over untold millions of combatants and noncombatants. Bold and brilliant one day, cowering in fear the next, Adolf Hitler displayed uncanny military intuition but was incapable of carrying out professional military operations. Greedy for praise, he carefully picked the most spineless and sycophantic general officers as Chief of Staff and Chief of Operations, who were little more than his servants, ever intent on carrying out even his most illogical and contemptible commands. Lusting for power, he finally ran the war almost single handed, racing from mistake to mistake, from catastrophe to catastrophe, surrounded by his retinue of "yes men."..................................................... It was from such a stage that the most gigantic, complex, and monstrous war in history was conducted-in an atmosphere of total confusion, with lines of authority divided between Supreme Headquarters and the service commands, with deep suspicion between the party men and Hitler's handpicked generals on the one hand and the Army traditionalists on the other. It was here that Hitler, with incredible success, managed to impose his will on the cream of the German General Staff officers, practically all of whom despised the man and opposed his military concepts. And here one could observe the fearful conflict of conscience when the tradition of the German Officers Corps, military honor, and human qualities bred into these men apparently dictated a psychological resistance to Hitler and the Nazis, and at the same time a flawless professional performance in conducting military operations.......................................................................... It is one of those quirks of history that General Warlimont lived to tell this story. Since the war, he has spent many years in reflection and research-and has held hundreds of probing discussions with other participants-in aneffort to reconstruct uncompromisingly' those war years. Quotations from general orders, command decisions, stenographic protocols of briefings and other high-level conferences, extracts from memoirs, extensive excerpts from diaries and logs of commanders lend additional dimension and drama to General Warlimont's cool, analytical, and deeply disturbing story.