The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943 (Modern War Studies) by Robert M. Citino (PDF)

Description

Throughout 1943, the German army, heirs to a military tradition that demanded and perfected relentless offensive operations, succumbed to the realities of its own overreach and the demands of twentieth-century industrialized warfare. In his new study, prizewinning author Robert Citino chronicles this weakening Wehrmacht, now fighting desperately on the defensive but still remarkably dangerous and lethal. Drawing on his impeccable command of German-language sources, Citino offers fresh, vivid, and detailed treatments of key campaigns during this fateful year: the Allied landings in North Africa, General von Manstein’s great counterstroke in front of Kharkov, the German attack at Kasserine Pass, the titanic engagement of tanks and men at Kursk, the Soviet counteroffensives at Orel and Belgorod, and the Allied landings in Sicily and Italy. Through these events, he reveals how a military establishment historically configured for violent aggression reacted when the tables were turned; how German commanders viewed their newest enemy, the U.S. Army, after brutal fighting against the British and Soviets; and why, despite their superiority in materiel and manpower, the Allies were unable to turn 1943 into a much more decisive year. Applying the keen operational analysis for which he is so highly regarded, Citino contends that virtually every flawed German decision—to defend Tunis, to attack at Kursk and then call off the offensive, to abandon Sicily, to defend Italy high up the boot and then down much closer to the toe—had strong supporters among the army’s officer corps. He looks at all of these engagements from the perspective of each combatant nation and also establishes beyond a shadow of a doubt the synergistic interplay between the fronts. Ultimately, Citino produces a grim portrait of the German officer corps, dispelling the longstanding tendency to blame every bad decision on Hitler. Filled with telling vignettes and sharp portraits and copiously documented, The Wehrmacht Retreats is a dramatic and fast-paced narrative that will engage military historians and general readers alike.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Like all of Citino’s work, this book brims with perceptive insights and clever observations.”–German Studies Review”A fine book, well written and relevant to professional military officers and academics alike. Furthermore, it is good history. Citino demonstrates the power of objective analysis to illuminate present challenges through a rigorous study of the past. . . . Even those who consider themselves well read on the topic will find new and interesting nuggets and will have their preconceived notions challenged. Perhaps the greatest merit of this book is the idea that ‘ways of war’ have a shelf-life.”–Army History”Skilfully performs the dual act of combining impeccable research with a cracking good read. Indeed far from the Wehrmacht’s lost war being the harbinger of a dry history, Citino’s study brings out the great importance of this period by highlighting the drama within the German command as well as the grueling events at the front. . . . In all aspects of his discussion of 1943 Citino’s trademark mastery of the vast literature is evident. . . . Like his many past works, The Wehrmacht Retreats deserves to be widely read.”–War in History”Essential reading for anyone interested in the military campaigns of the war. . . . Whether the reader is a serious military historian, a serving soldier, or the casual military history buff, the prose is perfect. Added benefits are excellent photos and maps. . . . Citino’s contribution stands as the definitive operational analysis of the Wehrmacht in 1943.”–Army”Like all of Citino’s work, this book is fairly brimming with perceptive insights and shrewd observations. . . . The writing is always lively and a good read. The Wehrmacht Retreats is a must for both the serious scholar to even the most casual student of World War II.”–New York Military Affairs Symposium”This splendidly detailed operational history recasts1943 as a year of stalemates, and examines how the Wehrmacht managed savage defensive moves despite hemorrhaging in an unwinnable two-front war.”–World War II Magazine”An expert on the ‘German way of war,’ Citino cites the German military tradition of emphasizing the offensive over defense as being a prime reason for the sapping of the Wehrmacht’s power in the pivotal year 1943. This is a well-written and very readable work that will interest those looking for more depth in their understanding of the military history of World War II. Recommended for readers with knowledge of World War II or an interest in military history.”–Library Journal”An outstanding book. Citino’s impeccably researched and superbly written study challenges standard notions and forces readers to think and reflect.”–Stephen G. Fritz, author of Frontsoldaten: The German Soldier in World War II”Citino has something interesting and original to say about every campaign. . . . A major contribution of great value for specialists but also highly attractive to the general reader.”–Evan Mawdsley, author of World War II: A New History and Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941-1945″An excellent sequel to Citino’s Death of the Wehrmacht. Together, they provide an essential and compelling reassessment of Hitler’s fighting machine in World War II.”–David M. Glantz, author of The Stalingrad Trilogy About the Author Robert M. Citino is professor of history at the University of North Texas and author of eight books, including Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns of 1942; The German Way of War: From the Thirty Years’ War to the Third Reich; Quest for Decisive Victory: From Stalemate to Blitzkrieg in Europe, 1899–1940; and Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm: The Evolution of Operational Warfare, which won both the Society for Military History’s Distinguished Book Award and the American Historical Association’s Paul Birdsall Prize.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Choosing to read analysis of military history can be a difficult decision to say the least. This choice can be even more difficult in the genre of WWII history. There is no end to the offerings currently available or about to become so. Traditional divisions in the historiography amongst aviation, ground, and naval can be further subdivided by campaigns, weapons design, unit histories, individual offensives in some instances, and even synthesis of the political and racial goals of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. What has come to the fore, then, is typically the decision of the reader to choose either analysis of the quantitative advantages (weapons production and economic issues for example) of a particular army at a particular moment or that army’s qualitative advantages (leadership and planning vs that of an opponent). The result has been primarily, books that either read more like a straight chronological narrative geared towards the WWII history enthusiast or scholarly works meant for specialists and perhaps history graduate students. Col David Glantz massive works on the Eastern front certainly fit this mold and although certainly great additions to the existing literature, they can be ponderous, to say the least, for the layperson to wade through. On the other hand, Robert Citino has specialized in the former type of historical analysis. Although he does not shy away from delving into weapon’s development he has for the most part focused his analysis of Nazi Germany’s war effort on the style, planning and leadership of that country and its opponents. In `The Wehrmacht Retreats’ Prof Citino has produced a masterpiece which not only focuses on these topics but expands upon them and analyzes their own limitations in explaining why 1943 was the year of the Wehrmacht’s retreat in all theaters. He writes in the introduction that the detailed operational analysis of this work “will attempt to place these modern events in the context of certain longstanding traditions of German military history and culture”(xxiv).This book of moderate size(428 pp including notes and bibliography) is chronologically organized and divided into chapters shifting between the fight against the western Allies (North Africa, Sicily and Italy) and the USSR as the year progressed. Significant historical background is provided for each new chapter, which facilitates understanding of various factors involved in the various campaigns of 1943. Furthermore, the notes and bibliography are a treasure trove of further information for the enthusiast who wishes to delve deeper into particular campaigns or even individual aspects of the campaigns. This is truly one of the greatest strengths of this particular work. Although there are bound to be detractors who dislike this or that area of analysis, it is supported in the vast majority of analysis with the original source documents. In other words Prof Citino never expects the reader to merely take his word for it and constantly backs up what he asserts. In all honesty, it would be fair to write that one could create a comprehensive reading list of the European theaters operations from the primary sources cited alone. The chapter on the Kursk offensive is a great case in point with the author pointing out dozens of primary German language documents, English translations of the German and Russian sources, English secondary sources in books, military journals and scholarly journals just in endnot 13…truly impressive!Although the narrative flows as well as any work of fiction a reader could find, another great strength of this book is the aforementioned analysis. It is thorough without being dull and is exceptional in its ability to challenge previous ways of determining the outcome of the war. For example, Prof Citino continues to develop his analysis of the `German way of war’-one of operational movement and maneuver-which was first presented years ago in a book by that title. In his chapter covering Gen Manstein’s famous Kharkov counter offensive in February-March 1943 there is a magnificent short essay included on the limitations of Operational genius in determining battlefield outcome. In short, the point of this essay, as well as much of the later portions of the book, is that irrespective of any general’s genius there are myriad circumstances that affect the course of the battle that are completely beyond his control. As such, narratives that heap effusive praise on this or that battlefield commander are to a large extent missing a huge part of the story. Manstein is the example of this in that despite re-taking Kharkov he was unable to finish the job. The Kursk bulge remained due to weather and manpower factors that he had could not affect despite his expertise in `war of movement’ (73). Citino concludes the chapter with the assessment that rather than the Soviets or the Germans being masters of their way of war they were “trapped in the talons of their own doctrines”(74).In conclusion, `The Wehrmacht Retreats’ is a phenomenal work and should have a prominent place in any WWII enthusiast’s library. The narrative is masterfully written, the sources cited are comprehensive and the analysis is as cutting edge as anything a reader is likely to find in the coming year. It should be an absolute first choice if one is trying to decide which book to purchase right now. Citino is a master of the genre and sits alongside Glantz and Kershaw as the best of the best in WWII history.

⭐I liked this book

⭐The Wehrmacht Retreats is Robert M. Citino’s sequel to The Death of the Wehrmacht. In the earlier book, he wrote of the operations on the Eastern Front and North Africa. He revisits those theaters and expands the newer book to cover Sicily and Italy. A major point of the book is that operations on all these theaters were intertwined and cannot be understood in isolation. Succinctly put, the three primary takeaways from this book are:1. The Russians learned to retreat strategical, leaving German encirclements hitting open air. More importantly, they revived and practiced “Deep Battle”. Developed by Stalin victim Tukhachevskii, this doctrine advocated a crushing all-arms blow on a narrow front followed by equally large follow-up forces. Frequently confused with human waves, the Red Army initially overextending the first attack, leaving it vulnerable to a “back-hand” blow like Manstein delivered at Kharkov. The Soviets learned.2. The American army was green early on with brittle infantry and questionable corps commanders. However, they were fast learners with incredibly good artillery and mobility. The Italian terrain hampered the assets.3. Citino, of course, concentrates on the Germans and wanders into psychology. The officers who were so successful early in the war were so wedded to the traditions of Bewegungskrieg that they couldn’t grasp they no longer had the means for operational mobility. Hitler, for all his stupid micromanagement, understood this and replaced the mobility-obsessed with men who had no problem going onto the defensive. Indicative of this switch is that a Luftwaffe general, Kesselring, proved the best defensive general, not the dashing Rommel.Citino also emphasizes how fronts, seemingly separate, were intertwined. The best example of this was how the Sicily landings halted the over-rated Battle of Kursk. He uses a nice literary convention, “Nine Days That Shook the World” to make this point, using short paragraphs to describe daily events on different fronts to show their connections. He also excoriates post-1946 historiography for white-washing the German military.Despite a small propensity for repetition, Citino’s prose continues to be lucid and accessible. We hope he writes about 1944-45 in the same vein.

⭐This is a superb book that deals with the German army campaigns of 1943 – Tunisia, Kursk etc. As ever, Citino shows how the traditional German way of war hindered the German High Command, as they found themselves unable to adjust to the changing shape of warfare and, especially, the response of the Allies to their style of fighting. Unlike previous books, The Wehrmacht Retreats spends quite a bit of time and space looking at the state of play in the armies of all the combatants, be they Russian, American or British. I like the way that the authors naturally combative style adds to the original analysis of the years crucial campaigns. Unusually, for an American, he even had a few relatively nice words for Montgomery! I recommend this book to any who are looking for a new slant on WW2, as Citino manages to add depth and clarity to a subject matter that has rarely been dissected in such a clear manner. I eagerly look forward to his next book.

⭐I’ve been reading about books on the German Army/Eastern front for years, and this is definitely one of the best books on the subject I have ever read. It is very scholarly and well referenced for those of a more academic orientation. But at the same time, Mr Citino’s writing style is approachable and, at times, amusing, with its frank style and interesting analogies. It really got me thinking at a deeper level about the war as an interdependent global conflict with many shades of grey. Specifically, I really admired the way Citino used this approach to refrain from making harsh judgements about the decision makers at the time, and encourages the reader to do the same, and give more thought to what a difficult position the decision makers were in. I really look forward to his next book and hope it is available in Kindle.

⭐Robert M Citino has become one of my favorite authors of late his clean style get to his point right away and has just enough humour to add a smile to what otherwise could be a very intense subject.His mastery of German /Prussian military history is extensive as proved by his other books but each new book expands your knowledge and his veiw is still refreshing and different from the ideas that have grown up about the German military machine.Buy it its worth every penny.

⭐Citino’s trilogy is a very valuable addition to any historian’s WW2 library.

⭐halfway through this book very readable easy to follow I would recommend this author to any one I will buy the other books in this seriesA+++++++++++++

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