Death of the Wehrmacht

The German Campaigns of 1942

By: Robert M. Citino

Narrated by: Tom Beyer

For Hitler and the German military, 1942 was a key turning point of World War II, as an overstretched but still lethal Wehrmacht replaced brilliant victories and huge territorial gains with stalemates and strategic retreats. In this major reevaluation of that crucial year, Robert Citino shows that the German army's emerging woes were rooted as much in its addiction to the "war of movement"-attempts to smash the enemy in "short and lively" campaigns-as they were in Hitler's deeply flawed management of the war.

From the overwhelming operational victories at Kerch and Kharkov in May to the catastrophic defeats at El Alamein and Stalingrad, Death of the Wehrmacht offers an eye-opening new view of that decisive year. Building upon his widely respected critique in The German Way of War, Citino shows how the campaigns of 1942 fit within the centuries-old patterns of Prussian/German warmaking and ultimately doomed Hitler's expansionist ambitions. He examines every major campaign and battle in the Russian and North African theaters throughout the year to assess how a military geared to quick and decisive victories coped when the tide turned against it. More than the turning point of a war, 1942 marked the death of a very old and traditional pattern of warmaking, with the classic "German way of war" unable to meet the challenges of the twentieth century.

©2007 The University Press of Kansas (P)2024 Tantor

Best of the best

One of the most engaging and thought provoking in the entire topic of german perspective of WWII. Objective and comprehensive. Draws upon a rich body of evidence of tradition in the German and Prussian Army as the root of various decisions in 1942. The delivery is also super fun.

Awful narrator

Citino is a gripping and brilliant author. Unfortunately the narrator destroys any engagement with his god awful affected accents.

Excellent summary handicapped by it's narration.

Outstanding and insightful summary of the end of the German way of war. Presents how the very things that made German armies successful since the time of Fredrick became at times a liability and was no longer practical. The history and research are spot on, but the narration left something to be desired. The narrator probably would be superb reading a novel, but is inflection and cadence does not work with a historical account. It felt like he was reading a spooky story to grade schoolers.

Very detailed account, maybe too much for some.

This is a well researched book with lots of detailed operational information of the German in 1942. Maybe too much detail for folks like me, who are not as interested in the military details and more on the historical context. I did not care for the frequent German phrases, I think the book could have done without many of them and not diminished its value. Good book overall.

Novel view of the Wehrmacht and their fights against their enemies.

Very well written but there was too much detail at times. Having said that, I couldn’t put it down.