The German generals ingratiated themselves with Liddell Hart and thoroughly duped him with self-serving accounts of the war and German operational virtuosity. yet still an occasionally useful book.
Liddell Hart’s conversations with many of the German generals of WW2. This is a classic if you’re interested in the military history of the Second World War, but it requires good pre-existing knowledge of the battles that took place. There’s always the question of how “reliable” the generals’ memories could be, and to what extent they managed to blame Hitler for some of their own failures. The book is also glaringly missing a discussion about the unspeakable crimes that were being committed by units attached to the very armies those generals were commanding. Nevertheless, Hart did a great work of primary research, and the book has been referred to by many historians of WW2 (including Beevor, Allen Clark and Andrew Roberts).
Basil Liddell-Hart recounts his interviews with German generals who were in Allied custody after Germany’s surrender in World War II. The interviews are carefully recorded and annotated, with lengthy verbatim passages. The author describes an atmosphere of mutual respect—many of the Germans were familiar with his earlier publications—that contrasts with the caricatures spun by the propaganda machines on both sides. With his meticulous thoroughness, Liddell-Hart created a valuable historical document, which has served as a reference to many historians of World War II.
The book is a tour de force; it covers the period from Germany’s first reactions against the impositions of the Treaty of Versailles to the Wehrmacht’s last gasps in Kharkiv and the Ardennes. This includes not only famous events such as the blitzkrieg in France and the epic battles in Russia, but also less well known theaters such as the Balkans, which may have impacted the course of the war much more than is commonly thought. To make this broth even richer, the author and his interlocutors add their own insights about the character of the opposing nations and different schools of military thought and the sometimes tense interplay between them.
The sheer variety of reviewed events is impressive—from deadly intrigues in the Reich’s corridors of power to titanic battles where the outcome sometimes hinged on seemingly trivial details. Much of the book shows how first-rate soldiers tried to make the best out of impossibly long odds. Even with such rich material, the sum is greater than its many parts.
Another bonus is that the interviewees provide insights into many protagonists who weren’t interviewed themselves or didn’t survive the war such as Heinz Guderian, Erwin Rommel, Günther von Kluge and Adolf Hitler.
In summary, Basil Liddell-Hart’s book has earned its place among the classics of World War II history.
Much of the information discussed here has seeped into other histories I've read however it is amazing that so soon after the war Liddell Hart was able to create such a window into the from the other side of the hill.
I still lack such information on many other conflicts that have occurred since then. Especially not with the level of strategic insight given by Liddel Hart.
As the title indicates, this distinguished military historian and tactician examines the events of the War from the perspective of the opposing side. A fascinating read.
"Actions speak louder than words, as it is said, and Hitler on numerous occasions offered his hand of friendship, while still in a position of strength, indeed winning the war. One of the most notable occasions is that involving the British invasion of Dunkirk, around which much nonsense about British heroism continues to be spoken. Ramsay cites the pre-eminent official British military historian Captain Liddell Hart. This nonsense continues despite Hart’s book on World War II, The Other Side of the Hill, having been published in 1948, with chapter 10 entitled ‘How Hitler beat France and saved Britain’. Ramsay comments that the chapter would ‘astound all propaganda-blinded people… for the author therein proves that not only did Hitler save this country; but that this was not the result of some unforeseen factor, or indecision or folly, but was of set purpose, based on his long enunciated and faithfully maintained principle’. Hart details how Hitler halted the Panzer Corps on 22 May 1940, allowing the British troops to escape back to Britain. Hitler had cabled Von Kleist that the armoured divisions were not to advance or fire. Von Kleist ignored the order, and then came an ‘emphatic order’, according to Von Kleist, that he was to ‘withdraw behind the canal. My tanks were kept halted there for three days’.[45] Hart records a conversation between Hitler and Marshall Von Runstedt two days later (24 May):
‘He [Hitler] then astonished us by speaking with admiration of the British Empire, of the necessity for its existence, and of the civilisation that Britain had brought into the world… He compared the British Empire with the Catholic Church – saying they were both essential elements of stability in the world. He said that all he wanted from Britain was that she should acknowledge Germany’s position on the Continent. The return of Germany’s lost colonies would be desirable but not essential, and he would even offer to support Britain with troops, if she should be involved with any difficulties anywhere. He concluded by saying that his aim was to make peace with Britain, on a basis that she would regard compatible with her honour to accept’. [46]
Captain Hart comments on the above: ‘If the British army had been captured at Dunkirk, the British people might have felt that their honour had suffered a stain, which they must wipe out. By letting it escape, Hitler hoped to conciliate them’.[47] Hart alluded to the pro-British sentiments in Mein Kampf and the manner by which Hitler did not deviate from his desire for an alliance with Britain. As we now know, so far from the British people being cognisant of the equanimity of Hitler towards them, the propaganda machine merely used this to further inflame them toward war, and Dunkirk had ever since been portrayed as a great feat of British moral courage."
La storia viene scritta dai vincitori, in questo caso con la collaborazione degli sconfitti e quello che ne esce è un quadro molto interessante. Come "amici" che riesaminano una partita a Risiko, i generali tedeschi intervistati da Liddell Hart rivelano retroscena che mostrano come e in quanti casi la guerra avrebbe potuto andare anche molto diversamente. Parlano delle occasioni perse dagli alleati, parlano delle intuizioni di Hitler ma anche dei problemi che creavano le sue continue ingerenze, parlano dei tanti errori commessi da entrambi gli schieramenti. Un modo sicuramente diverso di vedere la Seconda Guerra Mondiale.