3.28.2016
I, Claudius, Graves - B +
The sub title of this remarkable eighty -year -old novel is 'From The Autobiography Of Tiberius Claudius Born 10 BC Murdered And Deified AD 54'. This classic is best-known today as the source of a famous BBC production starring Derek Jacobi as Claudius. It appeared on Masterpiece in America. Claudius starts his tale well before his birth and recites the inside story of the reign of Caesar Augustus, husband of his grandmother, Livia. I'm certain that in the annals of literature there have been persons more evil than Livia. However, none come immediately to mind. She poisons, she destroys families and marriages, she manipulates the Emperor and when her grandson arrives on the scene, she mistreats him as well. On and on throughout the reign of Augustus, she plays with all causing the banishment of the worthy and the promotion of the evil. Although she despises Claudius, he manages to stay in the royal family's good graces by hiding his intelligence and emphasizing his physical disabilities and stammer. Upon the death of Augustus, Claudius' uncle, Tiberius succeeded to all of Augustus' powers. Tiberius combined personal debauchery with a governing style that allowed his mother Livia to continue to run the affairs of state. Late in Tiberius' reign, Livia invited Claudius to dinner and told him that the young and evil Caligula would succeed because Tiberius suffered from the same weakness Augustus had - he wanted to be succeeded by someone so lacking in skill, that everyone would remember his greatness. Caligula's succession was generally praised and there was hope that the tyranny of Tiberius would be replaced by a return to good government. and for a few months all was well. Then Caligula advised Claudius that that he, Caligula, was now a god, and Claudius hoped for a restoration of the Republic, as everyone would realize Caligula was mad. Unfortunately, in the topsy turvy world of Rome, Caligula's delusion was accepted and he pushed the outer limits on debauchery and treachery to the point that his name became synonymous with extreme evil. He murdered at will, stole wives and banished children, he bankrupted the state and stole from his subjects. Finally and thankfully, the guards assassinated him and declared Claudius Emperor.
Concorde, Glancey - B
I have taken over 3,000 plane rides; I don't have a bucket list. I have a few regrets and one is the fact that I never flew one of the 20 Concordes that once graced our skies. The idea of supersonic commercial passenger transport was conceived in London on Guy Fawkes Day in 1956. Considering that a decade after the war, the UK had just ended food rationing, the idea was quite ambitious. The technological and development challenges were such that the French were enlisted as partners. "The key to Concorde's success, indeed its very existence, was the design of its wing. This proved to be the greatest compromise in its design, a brilliant trade-off between low-speed lift and high-speed flight...But ultimately, Concorde's Anglo-French design team turned each and every necessary compromise into an opportunity to shape a supersonic airliner that performed exceptionally well in almost all circumstances." On Dec. 11, 1967, Concorde 001 rolled off the line. A decade of trials, assessments and 'noise' challenges followed. NY's Port Authority wouldn't allow the plane at JFK and it took a Supreme Court case to set aside that objection. Although the plane flew all around the world, it was the trans-Atlantic flights between London and Paris to JFK and back that became the consistent bread and butter route for the Concorde. It turned out to be a safe, predictable plane that was a joy to fly. On average, both BA and Air France had about 20 elite flight crews over the 26 years the plane flew. The cockpit and flight deck were old-fashioned analog and would have been familiar to a WW2 aviator. Meals and libations were of the highest quality; because the flights were short, there was no entertainment. The Concorde was a target of environmentalists throughout its life because of the sonic boom and its vast consumption of fuel. Its perfect safety record was marred by a fatal crash just after a Paris take-off in 2000. The cause had been debris on the ground and the plane was re-certified in Nov, 2001. The post-9/11 swoon in the economy and the rising costs and availability of replacement parts led to its retirement in 2003. "Concorde, at heart the most poetic of machines, was not destined to fly into this era of Airbuses and prosaic flight." There are three exhibited in America: in Seattle, in the Smithsonian Annex in Virginia, and in Manhattan with the Intrepid.
The Power Of The Dog, Winslow - B +
Thanks to Wendell Erwin for this recommendation. This novel is a powerful, page-turning read about the drug cartels, featuring DEA Agent Art Keller, a man of talent and character, a Hell's Kitchen crew trying to sneak crack onto the streets of NY, multiple Mexican families in the business and the hypocrisy and corruption of both the US and Mexican governments. The story starts in the 1970's when Tio Barrera tricks Art into helping Tio eliminate his competition, simultaneously advancing Art's career. Ten years later, Art brilliantly traps Tio, but loses out when Tio kidnaps and kills Art's partner, scares Art's family back to America and embarrasses Art to his employers. Even when Art next catches up to Tio, he learns that Tio is protected by either the CIA/DOD/DOJ/State Dept./DEA/NSC, or all of them, because the global war on drugs is a Rubik's cube and an Alice in Wonderland cacophony of confusion, misdirection and deceit that somehow supports the drug trade as part of fighting communism. That however, does not stop Art in his Ahab-like pursuit of Tio and everyone else involved in the torture and murder of Ernie Hidalgo. On and on the pursuit goes, with never-ending over-the-top violence and betrayal. After Tio is gone, Keller continues his pursuit of Tio's nephews, Adan and Raul. As the book heads to its conclusion in the late 1990's, only Adan is left and Keller is still after him. The US has put a $2m bonus on Adan's head and he has responded with a $2.1m on Art's. Round and round the story goes until a 3 A.M. meet in a San Diego park ends in gunshots and a modicum of justice.
3.15.2016
The Conquering Tide: The War In The Pacific Islands, 1942-1944, Toll - A*
This is the second volume of Toll's planned trilogy on the war in the Pacific. The first volume finished at Midway in June, 1942. The US was looking for a place to start the rollback of the Japanese conquests. Washington chose the furthest of the Solomon Islands, a place few Americans had ever heard of - Guadalcanal.
On the morning of August 7, US Marines waded ashore, unopposed. The US was taking the offensive for the first time in the war. A major problem existed in the minds of the Navy, Marine and Army commanders on site - the Yanks weren't ready, were not adequately supplied and had been rushed into the invasion by Admiral Ernest King. Within a week, the Marines had more or less finished 'Henderson Field' and 31 airplanes landed to provide air cover for the expected Japanese attacks. The Japanese sent a major carrier task force south from Truk and the third carrier battle of the war ensued. In the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the US prevailed. The tentative hold that the Marines had at the 'Canal' was safe until the next attempt to unseat them. Matters escalated as the Japanese attacked daily from the air and slowly built up their troops on the ground. The Americans were reinforced in Sept. by both air and ground forces. A month later, the Japanese made their biggest push of the campaign, sending 2 battleships to bombard the airfield. October and November saw almost daily major naval engagements. Because the US planes from Henderson Field could protect the seaward approaches during the day, the Japanese brought troop and supply ships in at night. Destroyers and cruisers accompanied them to shell the US position. Even though the Americans won the naval battles north of the Canal, the Japanese managed to achieve numerical superiority. By mid-November, they had 30,000 troops on the ground. However, the Imperial navy could not supply their needs and slowly they wasted away to starvation, malaria and beri-beri. In early February, the Japanese were able to evacuate about 10,000 men. The Battle of Guadalcanal* was over.
The next objective was the large Japanese naval base at Rabaul, New Britain. Halsey would head north up the Solomon's; MacArthur would head up the north coast of New Guinea. Neither responded affirmatively to King's suggestion that they bypass Rabaul completely. It took from February, 1943 to February, 1944 for the two forces to advance past Rabaul and occupy the Admiralties. Once they had decimated and eliminated Rabaul as a naval air base, Halsey and MacArthur concurred and bypassed the 100,000 man garrison, letting it sit there unengaged and totally forlorn. By the end of 1943, it was obvious the war in the Pacific was won. The Japanese aviators who had conquered the region were almost all dead and the replacements were not nearly as skilled. Her navy had lost all but a few of its carriers. As Yamamoto had predicted before the war, Japan could not engage in a war of attrition with the larger US. The only question was how long it would take and how many lives would it cost.
Submarines played an integral part in the success of the US Navy. After tossing the rulebook out and taking a more aggressive stance, they sunk more of Japan's naval and merchant shipping than the carriers and the surface fleet. However, they were thwarted by defective torpedoes, a problem that the Ordnance Dept. in Washington refused to address. Toll quotes the leading historian of the sub service stating, "The torpedo scandal of the US submarine force in WWII was one of the worst in any kind of warfare." By the last two years of the war, the torpedo problem was resolved and the submariners swept the seas of all merchant shipping. The home islands were isolated. The price in men and material was heavy - a 22% fatality rate was the highest of any American endeavor in the war.
For the Navy, victory over Japan was not supposed to be a charge north from the Solomons or New Guinea. Every war game for the last forty years had planned on a cross-Pacific attack that captured the Marshals, Gilbert's, and further west, the Mariana's. In 1943, Nimitz began to plan for that which every Navy officer had trained. In an operation called Galvanic, 116 combatant ships sailed west headed for Tarawa#, the Marines first contested landing in a series whose names resound through history. The Marines were slaughtered on the first day on Tarawa. Day 2 "was the proudest and most terrible day in the history of the Marine Corps." By the third day, 4,000 Japanese were dead, at a cost of 1,000 Marines. The US would learn and do better the next time. Kwajalein and Eniwetok fell in early 1944. The Japanese positions in the central Pacific no longer existed. The Gilbert's and Marshals were now forward American bases.
In Tokyo, the strategy (hope) was to bring about a 'decisive fleet battle' in the western Pacific and deliver the coup de grace with the country's two leviathans, the battleships Yamoto and Mushashi. US strategists weighed MacArthur's demands to return to the Philippines as opposed to pursuing Nimitz's central Pacific approach. The decision was made to let both proceed, but it became clear that taking the Mariana's would allow the new B-29 to raid the home islands. Taking Guam, Saipan and Tinian would allow the US to punish the Japanese and close out the war. Chester Nimitz had the inside track. While the Marines battled on Guam, most of the combat ships in the fleet sailed west into the Philippine Sea. Japan's First Mobile Fleet sailed out to meet them. "On any terms other than direct comparison with the resources of the Fifth Fleet, the Japanese fleet was an awesome force. It was the largest concentration of carrier air power the Imperial Navy had ever amassed." The June 19, 1944 Battle of the Philippine Sea has become known as the 'Mariana's Turkey Shoot'. Japan lost 293 planes to an American tally of 25. The next day the Americans further pursued and demolished what was left of the air power of the Japanese Fleet. They fled north having lost over 400 planes and three carriers. Back in the Mariana's, first Saipan and then Guam and Tinian fell. The Japanese fought to the last man^. Saipan was also the first time the US had fought in the Pacific on an island with civilians present. Convinced that they would be tortured and eaten by the Americans, many of the civilians threw themselves off the cliffs of the island. The victories in the Mariana's and the seas to the west were very significant and laid the ground for the recapture of the Philippines and the assault on the home islands. Guam became Pearl Harbor west. Eventually, over 200,000 men were stationed there. Even Nimitz moved CINCPAC HQ to Guam. They were still 1,000 miles from Tokyo with a great deal yet to accomplish. I suspect none of them dreamed it would all be over in a little more than year.
Throughout this book, Toll sets forth a lot of statistics. The only campaign where we were shorthanded was Guadalcanal. Thereafter, the numbers were compelling. We always had more ships, planes, ammunition, men and supplies. During the sail to the Mariana's, a fighter pilot, while observing the fleet in motion, wrote, "I looked down on this power and wondered what kind of fools the Japanese were. They had made one of the greatest miscalculations of all time and boy, were they going to pay for it." By the end of the war, the US had 119 aircraft carriers in the Pacific. We had four when the war began. I was surprised to read throughout the book of Hirohito's involvement. Toll depicts him as very, very involved with all aspects of naval strategy, receiving reports and making demands upon his government. This is a long, long way from the naive marine biologist who is depicted so often as uninvolved and distracted. Another theme throughout this book is inter-service rivalries and even rivalry between the Navy's brown and black-shoe officers. The brown-shoe officers were they aviators; the black were the old guard battleship officers. In addition, the Marine Corps felt that neither set of Admirals understood them. The submariners felt misunderstood. The man who calmed the waters, quieted the tensions and resolved the problems was Nimitz, who clearly is depicted as the Pacific iteration of Ike.
Needless to say, I think it's great book. As the son of an Army sergeant, who I believe saw action in the Marshall's, Gilbert's, Mariana's and Okinowa, and as someone who grew up in the 50's where the 'sneak attack on Pearl Harbor' was a frequent reference, I guess I've always considered the Pacific personal. I suspect I will always find the successes of the 'Greatest Generation' inspiring.
*Time and again throughout the sections on the Canal, the author references Richard Tregaskis of the International News Service and his 1943 classic 'Guadalcanal Diary'. Over 55 years later, I can still see the book in my local Queens Borough Public Library. It had a hard green cover and gold lettering.
#Tarawa, along with Marianas, Iwo Jima and Okinowa are memorialized on the facade of the Navy Marine Corps Stadium at Annapolis.
^A sergeant, Soichi Yokoi, held out in the woods of Guam until 1972.
On the morning of August 7, US Marines waded ashore, unopposed. The US was taking the offensive for the first time in the war. A major problem existed in the minds of the Navy, Marine and Army commanders on site - the Yanks weren't ready, were not adequately supplied and had been rushed into the invasion by Admiral Ernest King. Within a week, the Marines had more or less finished 'Henderson Field' and 31 airplanes landed to provide air cover for the expected Japanese attacks. The Japanese sent a major carrier task force south from Truk and the third carrier battle of the war ensued. In the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the US prevailed. The tentative hold that the Marines had at the 'Canal' was safe until the next attempt to unseat them. Matters escalated as the Japanese attacked daily from the air and slowly built up their troops on the ground. The Americans were reinforced in Sept. by both air and ground forces. A month later, the Japanese made their biggest push of the campaign, sending 2 battleships to bombard the airfield. October and November saw almost daily major naval engagements. Because the US planes from Henderson Field could protect the seaward approaches during the day, the Japanese brought troop and supply ships in at night. Destroyers and cruisers accompanied them to shell the US position. Even though the Americans won the naval battles north of the Canal, the Japanese managed to achieve numerical superiority. By mid-November, they had 30,000 troops on the ground. However, the Imperial navy could not supply their needs and slowly they wasted away to starvation, malaria and beri-beri. In early February, the Japanese were able to evacuate about 10,000 men. The Battle of Guadalcanal* was over.
The next objective was the large Japanese naval base at Rabaul, New Britain. Halsey would head north up the Solomon's; MacArthur would head up the north coast of New Guinea. Neither responded affirmatively to King's suggestion that they bypass Rabaul completely. It took from February, 1943 to February, 1944 for the two forces to advance past Rabaul and occupy the Admiralties. Once they had decimated and eliminated Rabaul as a naval air base, Halsey and MacArthur concurred and bypassed the 100,000 man garrison, letting it sit there unengaged and totally forlorn. By the end of 1943, it was obvious the war in the Pacific was won. The Japanese aviators who had conquered the region were almost all dead and the replacements were not nearly as skilled. Her navy had lost all but a few of its carriers. As Yamamoto had predicted before the war, Japan could not engage in a war of attrition with the larger US. The only question was how long it would take and how many lives would it cost.
Submarines played an integral part in the success of the US Navy. After tossing the rulebook out and taking a more aggressive stance, they sunk more of Japan's naval and merchant shipping than the carriers and the surface fleet. However, they were thwarted by defective torpedoes, a problem that the Ordnance Dept. in Washington refused to address. Toll quotes the leading historian of the sub service stating, "The torpedo scandal of the US submarine force in WWII was one of the worst in any kind of warfare." By the last two years of the war, the torpedo problem was resolved and the submariners swept the seas of all merchant shipping. The home islands were isolated. The price in men and material was heavy - a 22% fatality rate was the highest of any American endeavor in the war.
For the Navy, victory over Japan was not supposed to be a charge north from the Solomons or New Guinea. Every war game for the last forty years had planned on a cross-Pacific attack that captured the Marshals, Gilbert's, and further west, the Mariana's. In 1943, Nimitz began to plan for that which every Navy officer had trained. In an operation called Galvanic, 116 combatant ships sailed west headed for Tarawa#, the Marines first contested landing in a series whose names resound through history. The Marines were slaughtered on the first day on Tarawa. Day 2 "was the proudest and most terrible day in the history of the Marine Corps." By the third day, 4,000 Japanese were dead, at a cost of 1,000 Marines. The US would learn and do better the next time. Kwajalein and Eniwetok fell in early 1944. The Japanese positions in the central Pacific no longer existed. The Gilbert's and Marshals were now forward American bases.
In Tokyo, the strategy (hope) was to bring about a 'decisive fleet battle' in the western Pacific and deliver the coup de grace with the country's two leviathans, the battleships Yamoto and Mushashi. US strategists weighed MacArthur's demands to return to the Philippines as opposed to pursuing Nimitz's central Pacific approach. The decision was made to let both proceed, but it became clear that taking the Mariana's would allow the new B-29 to raid the home islands. Taking Guam, Saipan and Tinian would allow the US to punish the Japanese and close out the war. Chester Nimitz had the inside track. While the Marines battled on Guam, most of the combat ships in the fleet sailed west into the Philippine Sea. Japan's First Mobile Fleet sailed out to meet them. "On any terms other than direct comparison with the resources of the Fifth Fleet, the Japanese fleet was an awesome force. It was the largest concentration of carrier air power the Imperial Navy had ever amassed." The June 19, 1944 Battle of the Philippine Sea has become known as the 'Mariana's Turkey Shoot'. Japan lost 293 planes to an American tally of 25. The next day the Americans further pursued and demolished what was left of the air power of the Japanese Fleet. They fled north having lost over 400 planes and three carriers. Back in the Mariana's, first Saipan and then Guam and Tinian fell. The Japanese fought to the last man^. Saipan was also the first time the US had fought in the Pacific on an island with civilians present. Convinced that they would be tortured and eaten by the Americans, many of the civilians threw themselves off the cliffs of the island. The victories in the Mariana's and the seas to the west were very significant and laid the ground for the recapture of the Philippines and the assault on the home islands. Guam became Pearl Harbor west. Eventually, over 200,000 men were stationed there. Even Nimitz moved CINCPAC HQ to Guam. They were still 1,000 miles from Tokyo with a great deal yet to accomplish. I suspect none of them dreamed it would all be over in a little more than year.
Throughout this book, Toll sets forth a lot of statistics. The only campaign where we were shorthanded was Guadalcanal. Thereafter, the numbers were compelling. We always had more ships, planes, ammunition, men and supplies. During the sail to the Mariana's, a fighter pilot, while observing the fleet in motion, wrote, "I looked down on this power and wondered what kind of fools the Japanese were. They had made one of the greatest miscalculations of all time and boy, were they going to pay for it." By the end of the war, the US had 119 aircraft carriers in the Pacific. We had four when the war began. I was surprised to read throughout the book of Hirohito's involvement. Toll depicts him as very, very involved with all aspects of naval strategy, receiving reports and making demands upon his government. This is a long, long way from the naive marine biologist who is depicted so often as uninvolved and distracted. Another theme throughout this book is inter-service rivalries and even rivalry between the Navy's brown and black-shoe officers. The brown-shoe officers were they aviators; the black were the old guard battleship officers. In addition, the Marine Corps felt that neither set of Admirals understood them. The submariners felt misunderstood. The man who calmed the waters, quieted the tensions and resolved the problems was Nimitz, who clearly is depicted as the Pacific iteration of Ike.
Needless to say, I think it's great book. As the son of an Army sergeant, who I believe saw action in the Marshall's, Gilbert's, Mariana's and Okinowa, and as someone who grew up in the 50's where the 'sneak attack on Pearl Harbor' was a frequent reference, I guess I've always considered the Pacific personal. I suspect I will always find the successes of the 'Greatest Generation' inspiring.
*Time and again throughout the sections on the Canal, the author references Richard Tregaskis of the International News Service and his 1943 classic 'Guadalcanal Diary'. Over 55 years later, I can still see the book in my local Queens Borough Public Library. It had a hard green cover and gold lettering.
#Tarawa, along with Marianas, Iwo Jima and Okinowa are memorialized on the facade of the Navy Marine Corps Stadium at Annapolis.
^A sergeant, Soichi Yokoi, held out in the woods of Guam until 1972.
3.09.2016
The German War: A Nation Under Arms, 1939-1945, Stargardt - B +
"This book is about how the German people experienced and sustained the war." The author, a 54-year-old professor at Oxford, attempts to find a middle ground between the Germans as perpetrators and the Germans as victims. His goal is to learn how the Germans were capable of fighting until the Armageddon had totally destroyed their country. This book has been well reviewed and acclaimed.
"When the war broke out in September, 1939, it was deeply unpopular in Germany." "The fear that the disasters of the First World War were about to be repeated was palpable." Food rationing was immediately imposed, as well as limits on leather, shoes and all items of clothing. The expectation was that it would be a short war. The first winter saw a coal shortage. Juvenile delinquency, sexual promiscuity and venereal disease spiked. The Nazi killing machine began at home. Conscientious objectors, many of whom were Jehovah's Witnesses, were sent to the guillotine. Young and old in psychiatry asylums were eliminated. Thousands were killed, and their deaths were withheld from family and the general public. Surprisingly, one group that feared the outbreak of war was spared. No action was taken against the Reich's remaining Jews, because presumably Hitler still hoped for a settlement with the western powers.
The amazingly quick victory in the west transformed the public's view of the war. The result of the first World War had been stunningly reversed. The 'blood enemy' had been defeated and occupied. However, the immediate RAF bombings of German cities was a significant shock to the system. Shelters were constructed and in the course of the next twelve months, 619,000 children were evacuated to rural safety. The home front was buoyed by all of the goods the soldiers were allowed to carry and ship home. The Netherlands, Denmark and in particular, France, were the source of a phenomenal amount of consumer goods that headed home.
The initiation of Barbarossa on June 22, 1941 saw a massive increase in anti-Soviet propaganda. The Germans were now fighting against barbarians, Asiatics and of course, Jews. Both the Catholic and Protestant hierarchies were pleased to be fighting godless communism. The war in the east proceeded with a ferocity unimaginable in enlightened Europe. And here the author establishes one of his major points. There was no ignorance on the home front about what was happening to the Jews and communists. Numerous letters home are quoted at length spelling out the magnitude of the holocaust in the east. Amidst the carnage in the first year of the war, the Germans allowed 2 million Soviet POWs to die of starvation. When the advance on Moscow was pushed back, the men of the Wehrmacht began to write home of their losses and the difficulty of fighting without the proper equipment. The regime realized the crisis of faith it was facing and organized a major civic effort to support the boys. Two million volunteers organized the shipping to the front of 67 million items, ranging from boots to furs to food.
"At the beginning of 1942, most of Europe's Jews were still alive; by the end of the year, most of them were not. The killing of the Jews began in the east, and there principally it stayed..." A vast amount of information, letters, and photographs of the unfolding holocaust were sent home, where Jews were forced to wear yellow stars on their outer clothing. Hitler used the word exterminate four times in 1942, and Jewish goods and apartments were offered at public auction by the SS, after the most of Germany's Jews were sent east. The elimination of the Jews was justified by the fact that they had started the war.
April of 1942 saw the most shocking and demoralizing event up to that point - further cuts in civilian rations. Reductions in food and coal demoralized the nation and brought back fear of the 'turnip winter' of 1916-17. Black market activity increased. Feeding the populace, whether at home, or at the front became an increasing challenge. Ten months later, defeat at Stalingrad further demoralized the Reich. The leadership told the people that the 6th Army fought to the last man. When word leaked out that almost 100,000 had been captured, the families at home entered an endless purgatory that would last another decade.*
In 1943, the RAF rained hell upon western and northern Germany. The Rhineland, in particular the the Ruhr Valley, was pounded. Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin were relentlessly attacked. Goebbels again preached it was because of the Jews that they were being terrorized and tried to focus the nation on the fact that it was a war to the death with Bolshevism and Jewry. When the Katyn massacre was discovered, he warned that this is what would happen to Germans if the Jews won. For the first time in the war, the public began to hear and to use the phrase 'final solution'. Many people began to believe the ferocity of the Allied air attacks were retribution for what Germany did to the Jews. The author addresses the issue of why strategic bombing effectively ran Italy out of the war, but not Germany. The answer is that German society was equipped to fight back and to help those displaced and injured. Germany recruited thousands of teenagers (including a future Foreign Minister and Pope) to effectively man the anti-aircraft guns. There was an active civil defense effort with bunkers and warnings. Of the 6 million displaced civilians, 80% were settled with the help of Nazi social agencies.
As the Allies approached from the east and the west, the people rallied around the Fuhrer, particularly after the attempt on his life. All men from 16-60 were called upon to help and thousands of women contributed to the defense of the Reich. The leadership wanted to avoid at all costs a repeat of the 1918 'stab in the back' and the revolution that followed. The people still believed the propaganda that the war could end well for Germany. And most importantly, they were now defending the homeland and in particular, were defending it from the eastern horde. They fought to the bitter end. When Goebbels and Hitler committed suicide, the people turned on them and began the process of laying it all at the feet of their dictators. Germans shared a collective guilt for their defeat and for what they had done to the Jews. Very quickly though, the war, although not forgotten, was no longer spoken of. The German people suffered from death, starvation , and homelessness. The immediate post-war years were harder than the war itself for the majority of the population. By the time the successor states were set up in 1949, "a sense of victimhood came to overshadow any sense of shared responsibility for the suffering of Germany's victims." "It was clear that most Germans thought they had fought a war of national defense."
This is not an easy book to read. It is 571 pages long, not a narrative but a series of quotes from letters and diaries. That said, it is unique in that it focuses on the German civilian experience and I've learned a great deal, as it covers material I have not seen before.
*Approximately 5,000 men came home in the mid-50's.
"When the war broke out in September, 1939, it was deeply unpopular in Germany." "The fear that the disasters of the First World War were about to be repeated was palpable." Food rationing was immediately imposed, as well as limits on leather, shoes and all items of clothing. The expectation was that it would be a short war. The first winter saw a coal shortage. Juvenile delinquency, sexual promiscuity and venereal disease spiked. The Nazi killing machine began at home. Conscientious objectors, many of whom were Jehovah's Witnesses, were sent to the guillotine. Young and old in psychiatry asylums were eliminated. Thousands were killed, and their deaths were withheld from family and the general public. Surprisingly, one group that feared the outbreak of war was spared. No action was taken against the Reich's remaining Jews, because presumably Hitler still hoped for a settlement with the western powers.
The amazingly quick victory in the west transformed the public's view of the war. The result of the first World War had been stunningly reversed. The 'blood enemy' had been defeated and occupied. However, the immediate RAF bombings of German cities was a significant shock to the system. Shelters were constructed and in the course of the next twelve months, 619,000 children were evacuated to rural safety. The home front was buoyed by all of the goods the soldiers were allowed to carry and ship home. The Netherlands, Denmark and in particular, France, were the source of a phenomenal amount of consumer goods that headed home.
The initiation of Barbarossa on June 22, 1941 saw a massive increase in anti-Soviet propaganda. The Germans were now fighting against barbarians, Asiatics and of course, Jews. Both the Catholic and Protestant hierarchies were pleased to be fighting godless communism. The war in the east proceeded with a ferocity unimaginable in enlightened Europe. And here the author establishes one of his major points. There was no ignorance on the home front about what was happening to the Jews and communists. Numerous letters home are quoted at length spelling out the magnitude of the holocaust in the east. Amidst the carnage in the first year of the war, the Germans allowed 2 million Soviet POWs to die of starvation. When the advance on Moscow was pushed back, the men of the Wehrmacht began to write home of their losses and the difficulty of fighting without the proper equipment. The regime realized the crisis of faith it was facing and organized a major civic effort to support the boys. Two million volunteers organized the shipping to the front of 67 million items, ranging from boots to furs to food.
"At the beginning of 1942, most of Europe's Jews were still alive; by the end of the year, most of them were not. The killing of the Jews began in the east, and there principally it stayed..." A vast amount of information, letters, and photographs of the unfolding holocaust were sent home, where Jews were forced to wear yellow stars on their outer clothing. Hitler used the word exterminate four times in 1942, and Jewish goods and apartments were offered at public auction by the SS, after the most of Germany's Jews were sent east. The elimination of the Jews was justified by the fact that they had started the war.
April of 1942 saw the most shocking and demoralizing event up to that point - further cuts in civilian rations. Reductions in food and coal demoralized the nation and brought back fear of the 'turnip winter' of 1916-17. Black market activity increased. Feeding the populace, whether at home, or at the front became an increasing challenge. Ten months later, defeat at Stalingrad further demoralized the Reich. The leadership told the people that the 6th Army fought to the last man. When word leaked out that almost 100,000 had been captured, the families at home entered an endless purgatory that would last another decade.*
In 1943, the RAF rained hell upon western and northern Germany. The Rhineland, in particular the the Ruhr Valley, was pounded. Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin were relentlessly attacked. Goebbels again preached it was because of the Jews that they were being terrorized and tried to focus the nation on the fact that it was a war to the death with Bolshevism and Jewry. When the Katyn massacre was discovered, he warned that this is what would happen to Germans if the Jews won. For the first time in the war, the public began to hear and to use the phrase 'final solution'. Many people began to believe the ferocity of the Allied air attacks were retribution for what Germany did to the Jews. The author addresses the issue of why strategic bombing effectively ran Italy out of the war, but not Germany. The answer is that German society was equipped to fight back and to help those displaced and injured. Germany recruited thousands of teenagers (including a future Foreign Minister and Pope) to effectively man the anti-aircraft guns. There was an active civil defense effort with bunkers and warnings. Of the 6 million displaced civilians, 80% were settled with the help of Nazi social agencies.
As the Allies approached from the east and the west, the people rallied around the Fuhrer, particularly after the attempt on his life. All men from 16-60 were called upon to help and thousands of women contributed to the defense of the Reich. The leadership wanted to avoid at all costs a repeat of the 1918 'stab in the back' and the revolution that followed. The people still believed the propaganda that the war could end well for Germany. And most importantly, they were now defending the homeland and in particular, were defending it from the eastern horde. They fought to the bitter end. When Goebbels and Hitler committed suicide, the people turned on them and began the process of laying it all at the feet of their dictators. Germans shared a collective guilt for their defeat and for what they had done to the Jews. Very quickly though, the war, although not forgotten, was no longer spoken of. The German people suffered from death, starvation , and homelessness. The immediate post-war years were harder than the war itself for the majority of the population. By the time the successor states were set up in 1949, "a sense of victimhood came to overshadow any sense of shared responsibility for the suffering of Germany's victims." "It was clear that most Germans thought they had fought a war of national defense."
This is not an easy book to read. It is 571 pages long, not a narrative but a series of quotes from letters and diaries. That said, it is unique in that it focuses on the German civilian experience and I've learned a great deal, as it covers material I have not seen before.
*Approximately 5,000 men came home in the mid-50's.
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