The German General Staff launched Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 assuming the eastern campaign would last only three months. However, within six months after the initiation of hostilities the Red Army blunted the Wehrmacht’s attack outside the...
The purpose of this study is to identify relationships between Nazi Macroeconomic policy and its ability to enable genocide. This study uses primary source documentation from newspapers, historical documents and published works to examine Nazi...
Headquarters XXI Corps, Office of the Assistant Army Chief of Staff, G-2
Ever since news of Adolph Hitler's mountain refuge, his Eagle's Nest, on the 6,000-foot summit of the Kehlstein, came out of Nazi Germany, the world has been curious about Der Fuhrer's lonely mountain perch. This curiosity, deliberately stimulated...
Italy's invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 irrevocably changed the European geopolitical framework. After 1935, Mussolini would come increasingly under Hitler's influence. Hitler would also begin to free Germany from the restrictions imposed by the...
This monograph examines the historic attack by Adolph Hitler's Germany against the Soviet defenses in 1941. It examines actions of both armed forces to analyze what went wrong and what went right for each side. It focuses on Soviet defenses to...
This paper examines the contradiction between the use of depth as envisioned in U.S. Army doctrine and NATO's strategy of forward defense. The Eastern Front campaigns of World War II provide a relevant historical setting for the study of the...
This narrative recounts the operational history of XIXth Panzer Corps' advance from 10 to 15 May 1940. Its primary focus is directed at the breakthrough at Sedan. The political and military situations influencing the decision makers of the German...
General Marshall has stated that a knowledge of the causes and the events leading up to the present war and of the principles for which we are fighting "is an indispensable part of military training and merits the thoughtful consideration of every...
As Adolf Hitler conquered most of the European continent in 1939-1941, the small island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea became vital to future operations in the Mediterranean region for both the Axis and Allied powers. If the Allies controlled...
The purpose of this study was to examine technological strategic resource dependence, its potential for conflict in the twenty-first century, and subsequent influences on United States (U.S.) national security policy. In particular, the study...
One of the most complex challenges facing the U.S. military today is the problem of imposing stability over the chaos that follows major combat operations. Despite the U.S. military’s predilection to distill warfare into the linear, Newtonian...
This monograph examines the practice of operational art from the perspective of the Kursk Campaign of July-October, 1943. The study begins by presenting the German and Russian campaign plans as examples of two different methods of achieving a...
The purpose of this study is to describe the German campaigns in the Balkans and the seizure of Crete within the framework of Hitler's military policy during the second year of World War II. Sections include: the military-political situation in the...
Daniel J. Kessinger Jr.; Henry T. Williams III; Miroslav Jelcha; Angelia Brody; Maurice Thorpe
Although some people see the battle of Dunkirk as a type of victory, more men would have been saved with proper planning and communication. The operation was one of the biggest surprises of World War II and for Hitler it proved to be one of his...
The purpose of this monograph is to determine the significant lessons that the German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941 offers for modern campaign planners when considering operations in that part of the world. The monograph first reviews the history...
This study examines the main effort concept to determine if it is a necessary element for the design of a campaign plan. Current joint operational doctrine fails to address the main effort concept. This study examines service tactical doctrine,...
Hartig, Larry A.
Harn, Robert P.
Linville, Ronald W.
Wilkins, Hartman
Thesis Statement: The German Army lost its October-December 1941 campaign against Moscow because of three factors.
Discussion: Hitler and his military staff overestimated the ability of the German Army and underestimated the ability of the Soviet...
Department of the Army pamphlet 20-255. The German attack on Poland precipitated World War II, making the Polish campaign one of particular significance to the student of the 1939-45 conflict. The lessons learned by the German Army in its...