Hitler's Commanders

October 29, 2012
Mitcham and Mueller, retired history professors who both taught at Henderson State University, have put together an encyclopedic collection of brief profiles of the careers of the lesser-known German military menâtrue Nazis, skeptics, and patriotic soldiers who tried to focus on the battlefield and ignore the horrors that Hitler unleashed on Europe. This new edition adds a chapter on the men who led the panzer (tank) troops. Every branch of the German military eventually confronted what one officer called the "unholy disorder of Hitler's leadership." The Fuehrer constantly micromanaged his commanders' tactics, leaving them hamstrung in pivotal confrontations, like the battle of Stalingrad, one of the most ignominious defeats in military history. Some men followed his dubious commands to the letter; others knew that defying Hitler could cost a man his career if not his life. A sterling introduction for anyone interested in how the men who fought for Hitler ticked.

January 1, 1992
The authors take a brief but probing look into the lives and careers of little-known officers of the Third Reich. The emphasis is more on personalities than on battlefield accomplishments, and Mitcham and Mueller go deeper than the usual Prussian-gentleman-or-Nazi-beast categorization. Friedrich Paulus is cited as an example of the Wehrmacht general who followed Hitler's orders blindly. Hans Hube, on the other hand, exemplifies the rare general who stood up to the Fuhrer. Not all of the officers discussed are of the higher echelon. The authors pay detailed tribute to Hans Marseilles, a lieutenant who shot down 158 Allied aircraft from his Messerschmitt fighter plane, and Michael Wittmann, also a lieutenant, who destroyed 138 enemy tanks with his 88-mm gun. Mitcham is the author of Rommel's Last Battle ; Mueller wrote The Forgotten Field Marshal: Wilhelm Keitel. Photos.