Hitler's Panzer Generals: Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt and Schmidt Unguarded

by David Stahel

Germany's success in the Second World War was built upon its tank forces; however, many of its leading generals, with the notable exception of Heinz Guderian, are largely unknown. This biographical study of four German panzer army commanders serving on the Eastern Front is based upon their unpublished wartime letters to their wives. David Stahel offers a complete picture of the men conducting Hitler's war in the East, with an emphasis on the private fears and public pressures they operated under. He also illuminates their response to the criminal dimension of the war as well as their role as leading military commanders conducting large-scale operations. While the focus is on four of Germany's most important panzer generals - Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt and Schmidt - the evidence from their private correspondence sheds new light on the broader institutional norms and cultural ethos of the Wehrmacht's Panzertruppe.

Genres: World War II, History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Military History, Military Fiction

336 pages, Hardcover

Published May 4, 2023

About the author

David Stahel was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1975, but grew up in Melbourne, Australia. He completed an honours degree in history at Monash University (1998), an MA in War Studies at King's College London (2000) and a PhD at the Humboldt University in Berlin (2007). His research focus has centered primarily on the German military in World War II and particularly Hitler's war against the Soviet Union. Dr. Stahel's latest book Operation Typhoon was released by Cambridge University Press in March 2013 and will be followed by another book focusing on German operations on the eastern front in November and early December 1941.

David Stahel completed his undergraduate studies at Monash University and Boston College. He has an MA in War Studies from King's College London and a PhD in 2007 from the Humboldt University in Berlin. His dissertation has been published by Cambridge Military Histories as Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East. He joined the University of New South Wales Canberra in 2012.

Books:

Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East (Cambridge, 2009).

Kiev 1941. Hitler's Battle for Supremacy in the East (Cambridge, 2012).

(Together with Alex J. Kay and Jeff Rutherford) Nazi Policy on the Eastern Front, 1941. Total War, Genocide and Radicalization (Rochester, 2012).

Operation Typhoon. Hitler's March on Moscow (Cambridge, 2013).

Moscow 1941. Hitler's Battle for the Soviet Capital (forthcoming).

Reviews

[Boudewijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Myth of the ‘Honorable’ Panzer General

The history of the German panzer generals is often told as a story of brilliant militairy minds, strategic innovations and battlefield genius - mainly by the generals themselves but also willingly embraced by the Allies after the war.

This book dismantles that narrative. Not by a vengeful historian but by the generals themselves. Stahel quotes from the letters these men send to their wives and exposes the raw ambition, self-interest and opportunism that drove men like Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt, and Schmidt. Far from being reluctant participants swept along by the events, they eagerly pursued power, were not afraid to profit from Hitler's financial benefits and certainly did not operate in ignorance of the massacres of the jews and the systemic starvation of Soviet civilians. Something they would never emit in their post-war memoirs.

Stripped away from their myth of honorable soldiering this books shows how their really were. As someone who has read a fair deal about German strategy during World War II this book served as a necessary reality check.

[MacWithBooksonMountains Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a panzer general treatise of a refreshingly different kind. Instead of detailing their tactical and strategic maneuvers, it analyses their characters, their conduct and moral.

[Sean Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the research here and the attempt to portray to them men in a more 3D light. I however think that the days when German generals were portrayed as military gods and antagonistic towards Nazism has lead to an over correction where the generals are portrayed more negatively as commanders and their relationship with the Nazis. I will not say the truth is in the middle. I think Stahel's take is more accurate, only perhaps in military ability more over stated. Indeed, the criticism of the massive egos is particularly weak, as only with such egos could you find yourself leading panzers in Russia.

[Medusa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written and well researched debunking of the myth of the “clean Nazi general” that has attached to men like Guderian especially. Skilled, brave, intelligent they may have been - but self promoting anti semitic murderers and enablers of murder is also what they were. The discussion of toxicity and selfishness in the chain of command viewed strictly from a professional military point of view is also interesting. Recommended. I came across this book because of an interview with the author on the generally very good School of War podcast, which I also recommend if you are interested in books like this one.

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a strong admirer of Stahel's previous studies about the German operational history of 1941 in the Soviet Union, so it was a pleasure to get the opportunity to read this book. This is particularly since an analysis based on the private correspondence of the said "panzer generals" to their wives seemed to offer new insights.

Problem: The reality, as Stahel found, is that this correspondence obfuscates as much as it makes clear, leaving Stahel with the issue of whether absence was merely disinterest in the questions he is concerned with, or an exercise in white-washing.

In the end, Stahel uses the letters as a jumping-off point for a commentary on the self-serving mentalities of Guderian and his peers (and for that matter their wives), starting with the fact that these letters should not have existed in the first place, had the generals actually taken the regulations of the German Army seriously.

From there, the book turns into a character study of these men, or rather, lack of character. It's a truism that any flag-grade commander who insists that they're not a politician is not being totally honest, but the degree to which these men sought publicity so as to bolster their material and professional advancement is breathtaking. It's really not news, but the facts of the matter have arrived as a slow-drip over the years. What Stahel does is give you the full fire-hose blast of how these things really got done; it's a far from edifying picture.

This carries on over into the chapters dealing with actual criminal conduct, and the evasion of operational responsibility. The former should also not be news at this point, unless you've been very careful to avoid the documentary studies. The lack of personal discipline has also been in plain sight, but the cult of military genius particularly attached to Guderian has acted as a smokescreen. Over time, it's become clearer that the military leadership in pre-1945 Germany always had a strong element of "do as I say, not as I do," and the vultures came home to roost in the failure of Operation Typhoon.

So, what do I mark this book down for? I think a little more was promised than was delivered, though Stahel might also agree with that, as he does deliver a running commentary on what one can realistically do with this personal correspondence as a historical source.

I was also a little bit disturbed that Stahel seemed to be uncritically invoking Stanley Milgram's "Obedience to Authority" at one point, in as much as Milgram within his own discipline is now mostly seen as an example of how one SHOULD NOT conduct research using human volunteers. Stahel does acknowledge in the footnotes that Milgram is regarded as a problematic figure in some circles these days, but I would have preferred that Milgram had not been invoked at all.

Still well-worth reading; by the end you can feel the fury radiating off Stahel.

[David AL · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Stahel raya como siempre a un nivel altísimo y se postula sin ningún género de dudas como uno de los principales referentes globales de la historia socio-cultural de la guerra. Lo hace desde su ámbito de especialidad, que es el primer medio año largo de la campaña alemana en el Frente Oriental, por mucho que los intereses e implicaciones de su trabajo desbordan con mucho este reducido pero denso marco temporal de la Operación Barbarroja, de manera que la obra se fundamenta en un sólido conocimiento de la historia militar, política, social, cultural y económica de Alemania entre 1870 y 1989.

De primeras, el libro está pulcramente organizado en cuatro apartados distintos que abordan la experiencia de guerra y el papel decisivo de cuatro generales del arma blindada alemana entre junio de 1941 y enero de 1942, si bien tiende hilos adelante y atrás en el tiempo siempre que resulta necesario aportar contexto y una comprensión compleja de las trayectorias de los cuatro individuos escogidos: Heinz Guderian, Erich Hoepner, Georg-Hans Reinhardt y Rudolf Schmidt, todos ellos con mandos clave en el desarrollo de la Operación Barbarroja, sobre todo en primera instancia los dos primeros con sus grupos Panzer y más adelante los dos siguientes también al mando de un grupo Panzer y un ejército respectivamente. Los cuatro aspectos de su experiencia de guerra que aborda a través de la correspondencia privada con sus mujeres, cruzada puntualmente con otras fuentes y con el amplio conocimiento que el autor tiene de la campaña, son las lecturas e impacto íntimos de las operaciones y el curso de la invasión sobre los sujetos de estudio, donde las esposas aportaron una conexión constante con la vida cotidiana en la retaguardia que contribuyó a la normalización del proceder criminal de las tropas alemanas y de sus mandos en el Este, aparte de consuelo ante las frustraciones por las dificultades; la dimensión público-mediática de estos cuatro oficiales, demostrando que para ellos fue una prioridad construir carreras de prestigio, que se dejaron comprar por un Estado criminal cuyas políticas promovieron sin ningún atisbo de duda ni autocrítica, deseosos de reconocimientos, condecoraciones y otras recompensas; en tercer lugar, aborda la dimensión puramente criminal del desempeño de los cuatro oficiales en la guerra contra la Unión Soviética, atendiendo al modo en que hicieron suya la guerra de exterminio promovida por Hitler y el Alto Mando de la Wehrmacht desde la planificación de la invasión, pero también cómo intentaron negar y borrar su complicidad y participación activa en todo ello, lo que de paso lleva a Stahel a estudiar la cosmovisión político-cultural de los cuatro; en cuarto lugar, se aborda de manera crítica la manera en que dieron a conocer su visión de las operaciones de 1941 a sus mujeres en contraposición a lo que las fuentes y evidencias nos dicen sobre el marco estratégico global de la campaña y la responsabilidad de los cuatro oficiales en el fracaso final de la invasión, poniendo de manifiesto el egoísmo, la cortedad de miras y la lucha por conservar a toda costa su autonomía operativa, incluso si ello podía perjudicar el interés general del conjunto del Ejército del Este en las peores crisis del invierno.
El autor no renuncia a desnudar su propio quehacer con un primer capítulo de crítica y análisis de fuentes, donde pone sobre la mesa la metodología empleada y la pertinencia de este trabajo, que sin duda ofrece una mirada muy refrescante y novedosa de la guerra en el Este en 1941. La conclusión es más bien parte del epílogo final donde subraya las dificultades de Alemania occidental de la actual República Federal para lidiar con el pasado, por la capacidad que buena parte del generalato tuvo de reescribir sus historias como héroes de guerra que se limitaron a cumplir con su deber en condiciones pésimas y en algunos casos en contra de su voluntad, tal y como intentaron hacerlo pasar en sus propios relatos.

[William Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have just finished my read of David Stahel's "Hitler's Panzer Generals: Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt and Schmidt Unguarded," graciously provided to me in the form of an ARC by Cambridge University Press. Frankly, it poses some challenges for me. I am not a trained psychologist, but I have read very extensively in the literature surrounding the Third Reich and its armed forces. In this well organized book, the author attempts, with varying degrees of success, to offer insights into the complex relationships between the High Command of Panzer forces on the Eastern Front and their loved ones, principally their wives, on the home front. Obviously, the idea is not without merit. The title might be a stretch since it seems to imply that this is a military history; it is not in any conventional sense. What the author is trying to do is to mine the wartime correspondence of these panzer generals (the best known of whom is Heinz Guderian) and see what kind of insights it might offer into the policies, military and political, which defined the context of their behavior and the ways in which they characterized it in their personal relations. One of the underlying premises with which I have some difficulty is the notion that, because of their relatively high rank, their correspondence might be expected to be more revealing than the heavily censored correspondence of the rank and file troops fighting under their command. I concur with the author that their correspondence was privileged in ways that men of lower rank might have envied, however, I think it somewhat more problematic to assert that these privileges were absolute in a totalitarian state like Nazi Germany. On the contrary, I suspect that they, in some ways. needed to practice more circumspection in what they put on paper than their troops. In the first of his five chapters, the author lays out his methodology with some precision. The second of the five chapters examines the four generals in question as they can be seen as private individuals and explores their personal biographies. Chapter three looks at them as public figures in the Reich and in the military. Chapter four examines complicity in implementation of criminal orders from the High Command and the Nazi party. Chapter five brings it altogether and focuses on them as military leaders functioning within the contextual features already laid out. These chapters are followed with a brief conclusion and then a very formidable Afterword, copious Notes, a Bibliography and an Index. All of that said, I think it to be, perhaps, a useful starting place for another avenue of approach into understanding the Nazi regime, particularly in its relation to the prosecution of the war on the Eastern Front. Much work remains to be done.

[Timothy James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall - an interesting and thorough analysis of the real men behind the Nazi propaganda darlings that the leading Panzer generals on the Eastern front were made out to be and their subsequent (partially successful) attempts to wash their hands of the military failures and unprecedented war crimes unleashed by Operation Barbarossa.

What most fascinated me about this book was how the correspondence between these men and their wives provided a far more accurate portrayal of these men than their own respective memoirs.

[Ron Baumer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look into the personal lives and correspondence of the four major German Panzer generals during the attack on the Soviet Union in WW2. The story is full of personal insights with colleagues and spouses and also the political infighting and intrigue during the campaign. I found it to be interesting, but it could drag at times. Overall a good read for the history enthusiast.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Philip Kuhn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was by far the worst book that Stahel had written, and I have read them all. Usually twice. It was a weak idea for a book. Very thin. I would have given it two stars but the last chapter saved it. The focus on operations and the Panzer general's inherent selfishness Stahel does not cover Guderians firing in late December 1941, although I thought that he should have done so. It was germaine to the topic. I mean, look at the title of the book!!
PHIL Kuhn

[Michael Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book

Based on personal letters from the Generals and reveals a better understanding of each man. Also explores their roles in Operation Barbarossa as previously unexplored.

[Dana Rudko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but limited in content

This book is solely based on written letters from the Barbarossa Camped pander generals and their correspondence with their wives.It is somewhat interesting but is very limited in scope and I would say not worth the cost.

[JerryDeanHalleck · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few nuggets of gold, here and there, and but overall dull and worthless. Its just another "Well, you thought those panzer leaders were Good Germans and Great Generals, well think again buster. "

The book focuses in on the Letters these generals wrote home during the first 6 months of Operation Barbarossa. There's little on military matters. And of the 250 pages, we get 50 pages on "the Criminal Generals" going over the same well-trodden ground. BTW, the crimes committed by the Red Army equaled or exceeded those of Das Heer, but I have never read a biography of Zhukov or any Soviet General with a chapter entitled "The criminal General".

The authors biased attitude is shown most clearly in his "afterword" where he rages about the refusal of the German Archives to let him to publish the 4 Panzer General's family letters. After implying the German Archivists are a bunch of Nazi-lovers, he states"...these letters no longer belong to the families but to a wider body of Nazi Documentation that charts not just the course of German History, but the course of violence, genocide, repression, and war".

This is nonsense. Authors don't get to use Personal family letters, defiance of copyright laws, just because they don't like the subject's politics.

[Chase Metcalf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at the view of Hitler’s top Panzer leaders through the lens of their personal correspondence. This book provides a look at the war from a different angle and highlights the complicity of those leaders in Nazi efforts.

[Robert Drumheller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting insight that one can obtain by reviewing the private letters of military leaders to their family members.

[Daniel Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, great historian. A bit repetitive in the later chapters.
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