Hitler's War Directives, 1939-1945

by Hugh Trevor-Roper

The Second World War was Hitler's personal war in many senses. He intended it, prepared for it, chose the moment for launching it, planned its course, and, on several occasions between 1939 and 1942, claimed to have won it.

Although the aims he sought to achieve were old nationalist aspirations, the fact that the policy and strategy for their realization were imposed so completely by Hitler meant that if victory had come, it would have been very much a personal the ultimate failure was thus a personal one too.

This book presents all of Hitler's directives, from preparations for the invasion of Poland (31 August 1939) to his last desperate order to his troops on the Eastern Front (15 April 1945), whom he urges to choke the Bolshevik assault 'in a bath of blood'. They provide a fascinating insight into Hitler's mind and how he interpreted and reacted to events as they unfolded. The book also has detailed notes which link the Fuhrer's orders and explain the consequences of his directives and how the Allies responded to them.

Genres: History, World War II, War, Germany, Military History

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford.
Trevor-Roper was a polemicist and essayist on a range of historical topics, but particularly England in the 16th and 17th centuries and Nazi Germany. In the view of John Philipps Kenyon, "some of [Trevor-Roper's] short essays have affected the way we think about the past more than other men's books". This is echoed by Richard Davenport-Hines and Adam Sisman in the introduction to One Hundred Letters from Hugh Trevor-Roper (2014): "The bulk of his publications is formidable ... Some of his essays are of Victorian length. All of them reduce large subjects to their essence. Many of them ... have lastingly transformed their fields." On the other hand, his biographer Adam Sisman also writes that "the mark of a great historian is that he writes great books, on the subject which he has made his own. By this exacting standard Hugh failed."
Trevor-Roper's most commercially successful book was titled The Last Days of Hitler (1947). It emerged from his assignment as a British intelligence officer in 1945 to discover what happened in the last days of Hitler's bunker. From interviews with a range of witnesses and study of surviving documents, he demonstrated that Hitler was dead and had not escaped from Berlin. He also showed that Hitler's dictatorship was not an efficient unified machine but a hodge-podge of overlapping rivalries.
Trevor-Roper's reputation was "severely damaged" in 1983 when he authenticated the Hitler Diaries shortly before they were shown to be forgeries.

Reviews

[Dimitri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Take it 1 directive at a time, whenever they're mentioned in another WWII book.
It's just not a back-to-cover thing, even if diagonally (thanks to the editorial bits by Trevor Roper) you see Hitler's options shrink in tandem with the front line.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent primary resource relating to Hitler's orders during WW2 with a good commentary from Hugh Trevor Roper.

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a very dry read. Not enjoyable but interesting from a historical point of view.

[Shaun Appleby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A comprehensive English translation of Hitler's war directives to the OKW from Dr. Walther Hubatsch's original work in German.