Reich: World War II Through German Eyes

by James Sidney Lucas

While Allied propaganda would have us believe that during World War II the German population were downtrodden workers, with no rights and under the power and influence of the all-controlling Gestapo, the truth is somewhat different. While the Allies saw Hitler as an evil to be removed from power, in 1933 the German people saw him as a saviour, able to rescue them from the humiliation the Treaty of Versailles imposed on them. In the early days of the Nazi regime, the German people widely felt that they had social benefits unmatched by its neighbouring states, and that its poverty had been eliminated while its economy had been stabilised. James Lucas presents a fascinating insight into the real Reich, a glimpse into the life on the German home front, from the role of women to the propaganda machine, assessing the German view of how the war would be fought, and how Hitler directly intervened in all level of party politics and decisions. Case studies of operations Barbarossa and Sealion provide an insight into military decisions of a wider scale. After many years' research and interviews with civilians and German soldiers, Reich offers a study of the social, economic and military phenomena of the Nazi regime.

Genres: History

310 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 1988

About the author

Author and historian. Imperial War Museum, London, England, deputy head of department of photographs.

Mr. Lucas was a WWII veteran. He served with the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, First Battalion, North Africa, infantryman, 1942; Queens' Own Royal West Surrey Regiment, Italy, 1943-44; Occupation Army, Austria, 1945; Foreign Office, Germany.

Most of James Lucas's professional life was associated with war. First, he served in the Queen's Own Royal Army as a British soldier in World War II, stationed in Africa, Italy, and later in Austria. In 1960 he joined the staff of the Imperial War Museum in London, eventually becoming the deputy head of the department of photographs. After retiring from this position, Lucas took up a third career, that of an author and historian. His favorite topic was World War II, a subject about which he became a respected authority—not only among scholars, but, through his work as an adviser on film and television productions about the war, among the general public as well. According to a London Times obituary, Lucas examined "almost every aspect of the Nazi war machine …combining technical information with first-hand testimony and so producing a body of work unequalled in its breadth. Having fought the Third Reich's best troops through North Africa and Italy, he knew their tenacity and resourcefulness."

Lucas's writing style was not considered typical of war histories. "Humour and enthusiasm, combined with rigorous attention to detail, were the hallmarks of his style," reported the Times obituary writer. Lucas was a prolific writer upon his topic of choice; and he covered many different aspects of the war, often concentrating on the German side of the conflicts.

As his Times obituarist declared, Lucas "saw himself as an archivist, searching for the ordinary men in the heat of battle, playing their part in the bigger picture." Lucas died on June 19, 2002, at the age of seventy-eight.

Reviews

[Scot · Rating 2 out of 5]

I see this book as two tales, pre war period and war period. The pre war material was interesting and seemed genuine to being recalled by a German source.

But the war period seemed to be written by a different person entirely. It read as academic and disconnected from the way the book felt in the first half. At times it had a viewpoint of being very critical and negative to communism and soviets in general. At one point it mentioned the allies as “we” and makes me feel that the promised German viewpoint was abandoned for one not true to the book.

Having said that there is some good material about civilian life if you don’t mind reading a strange pro nazi scrapbook that at least feels genuine.

[Nick121235 · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. A little dry and technical for my taste. I expected personal accounts from people who lived there but what I got was a whole lot of information about weapons and the particulars of the tactical side of invasions. That, coupled with the obvious anti-socialist sentiment, made this less than enjoyable. There was still, however, a lot of valuable information so it wasn't a complete waste. Maybe next time I'll read something written a little more recently, stuff published in the UK or US about the USSR in the 1980s is hardly likely to be reliable (though that took up only a small portion of the book itself).

[Grommit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting discussion of the mindset of Germans leading up to and during WWII. Author initially presents himself as ... a German? But clearly, he is not. Small detail, but important. Observations presented by the author:
Germans convinced their army never lost a battle in WWI. Rather, the Nazis claimed Germany was betrayed by ... the rich, elite, and...of course, the Jews. This is not a new observation.
Germans believed they were pure in thought and deed. Jews were lice-infested, Russians were dumb and germ-infested. Again, a common observation.
Germans feared the specter of communism. Not a new observation.
Germany experienced amazing social and economic resurrection under the Nazis, far surpassing the socio-economic status of England and Russia. Hard to debate these observations with slums being eliminated, full employment, promises of a car for everyone, and all those new roads! Of course, the re-distribution of vast estates never happened. And the promise of everyone getting a house and a car...Oh well.
There was general belief, even among the military, that Hitler really was a genius. And initial battle-field success supported that idea. Later chapters clearly point out the significant lack of military acumen...as defeats turned into disasters.
Curious references to Hitler's charm and blue eyes as convincing significant leaders that Hitler really was worth following.
The book delves into the failings of the senior military leaders: Goering especially. Not really new, but well presented.
Industrialists dragged their feet on changing their operational procedures to produce fighting equipment. Goering & Hitler fixed that right quick.

The photos are helpful.
But, once again, the book suffers from a lack of maps. So many historians believe that paragraphs describing troop movements are just fine without a few maps. Wrong!

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is apparently the book that was reworked into "Reich: .... and the rest of the title the same as this book" several years later, to capitalize on the fall of the Iron Curtain.

That book, per reviews and ratings there is probably no better than this one.

Lucas doesn't fully deliver on what I expected, namely, details of the home front for Germans. He doesn't come close, actually. There's a few snippets, some illustrations in German home front morale posters and that's that.

He also pretty much ignores Holocaust issues and how much or how little the average Hans or Heidi knew about them, and we have enough in the 1980s that he could have written more.

Finally, internationally, he gets things wrong. Above all, FDR did not spring "unconditional surrender" out of nowhere; he and Churchill had discussed it before. Churchill supported the general idea.

There's also a lot of stereotyping of Russians, and not much depth in general.

The plus side is detailing how, pre-Speer, just how bureaucratic the German military manufacturing of Goehring's Four Year Plan was, and related things. Anecdote: Pre-Barbarossa, by treaty, Red Army staff are inspecting a German factory where the Panzer IV is touted as THE German heavy tank. With Russia already having the T-34 under development, they think they're being lied to.

Anyway, while this is to the good, there are surely newer and better books on this.

[Osha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Misinformation mixed in with some nice Holocaust information. I recommend this book to Abe Foxman and Simon Weisenthal to review and weed out the blasphemy of this book.
Mr Lucas minimizes the tragedy of the Holocaust. Sadly, he is not aware what a bad job he does. Thousands of Jews wanted to work and were healthy but did not pass selection on arrival to aushwitz, I suggest he look up the Jews of Salonica. Jews were not murdered like everyone else and Mr Lucas misses the point of the Holocaust by stating such. Jews had a totally different experience than Christians. Mr Lucas you need to received an education .

If I could put this review with negative stars he would get a -10 out of 10. Does he work for the stormfront?

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Doesn't deliver on the promise of its title, sadly. This is a relatively old book and modern approaches to history have left it standing: there's no consideration of the ranges of opinion or experiences among the German population during the war, or of demographic issues. Instead, there is an outline run through some of the ways in which the Nazis pitched their popular appeal, and lazy assertions about their popularity. There's very little in the way of contemporary evidence about the popular experience of war, or first-hand accounts from ordinary Germans; instead, there's a focus on the Nazi party and military events of the war.