How can you make a book review controversial? - You’re about to find out.
I do highly recommend this book, and I’m going to tell you why. But this is also the
first book-review video where I’m going to use a star-rating system. And this is where
the controversy comes in, because this is a book that would - and probably should - get
the full 5 stars. But it doesn’t. And, just to point out, 99% of history books on this
topic won’t get 5 stars either, so it’s not alone. However, we’ll get to that. First,
let’s take a look at what this book has to offer, and explain why I still think you should
purchase it. This book is about the German way of war, and why this way of war - which
had worked for centuries - failed in 1942. And it’s also about a shift in mentalities,
with the death of the traditional Prussian officer mentality in 1942, and the bringing
in of a new type of German officer mentality by the time we get to 1943. For those of you
who love the term Blitzkrieg - or Bewegungskrieg, as Citino says is the actual term - you will
be wanting to know why Blitzkrieg failed to work in the East compared to Western and Central
Europe. You’ll also want to know why in the early war, the Germans fought a war of
movement, but why in the later war this was no longer something they could fight. Well
1942 was the transition from the war-of-movement style of war to the new static warfare of
the later war period. Citino’s book is all about this transition. Why it took place.
And why it had to happen. Blitzkrieg does fail in 1942, in both the East and in North
Africa. Citino does not like to use the term “Turning Point” and deliberately avoids
using it at all in this book. However, if you do subscribe to the view that there were
turning points at some point in the war, and that 1942 might have been the turning point, then you need
to look at what happened during Fall Blau (the German Summer offensive of 1942) as well as
Rommel’s failure in North Africa. Citino covers both of these campaigns in his book.
The book starts by very briefly covering German military history from Frederick the Great’s
time to the Blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union in 1941. Citino covers the Balkan Campaign
as an example of how well the German way of war worked in central Europe, and then contrasts
that with the German attack into Asia during Barbarossa. Once he’s explained this failure
of the German way of war, Citino moves onto the Crimean Campaign, the Second Battle of
Kharkov, and also Gazala and Tobruk in North Africa, where he explains why it appeared
that the Blitzkrieg was back on. Then Citino talks about the 1942 Summer Campaign - Fall
Blau - which, as he describes it, was a “Debacle”. And then a chapter each on why Rommel came
to a halt in North Africa, and why the Germans came to a halt at Stalingrad and in the Caucasus.
There's one final chapter entitled “The End: El Alamein and Stalingrad” which brings everything
to a head, before the final conclusion which rounds everything out. This is a narrative
account, not an operational battalion-by-battalion blow-by-blow account of what happened. And
Citino really weaves a compelling story. This is not a book that will send you to sleep.
Citino has great charisma, both, in his lectures, but also in his books, especially this one. And so, while
you obviously, I think you need to have an interest in military history of the Second World War, anyone
can pick this book up and start reading and know roughly where they’re up to. I would
recommend that you at least read a general history of WW2 before you pick this book up,
just to give you the full context. But having done that, dive right in, and you’ll be
fine. Throughout the book, there are maps that are easy to read - and that’s one of
my pet-peeves, when history books don’t provide maps anyone can make heads or tail
of - and in this case, they really support the narrative. Yes, they may seem a little
simple, but as I said - this isn’t an operational, battalion-by-battalion, account of the events.
We’re talking armies here, and these maps are fine for that. So, top marks for this.
The super-good news is that there is a bibliography at the end of the book, and an index. And
I’m only pointing this out because it’s surprising how many history books I come across
that don’t manage to provide an index or list their sources. Well, from now on, in
future book reviews, I will deduct 2 stars off any book that fails to provide them - because that’s
how fundamental they are. You wouldn’t buy a car with no engine - well I’m not going
to recommend a history book with no sources or a way to easily navigate the text. Luckily
Citino does provide an index and source list, so full marks for this. There are bad points
though - Citino does have this habit of referring to the philosophies of German generals from
previous eras in a way that, unless you know who they are and you’ve studied them a little
or read their works - it's just not not going to compute. And this to me is the only
downside of the book. Unless you know Prussian and German military history like the back
of your hand, and had read the works of the great generals like Moltke, then there will be the odd
paragraph you may have to skip over. But luckily these are few and far between, and so it’s
only a minor issue, therefore I’m not deducting any stars off.
However, I am deducting a full star off the book because of one big issue. And this is
the controversial bit. I can already imagine certain politically-biased people will be screaming
at me in the comment section below, and I 100% accept that this will hurt me as well
because I’m just as guilty with my videos. However, being completely objective, I will sacrifice
myself for the greater historical good. Because the reason is this: Citino has not used his Soviet sources,
And I get why. I get why. But it’s not acceptable. If we think about this objectively; it’s just
not acceptable. Citino might argue that the book is set up to be from the German perspective,
and I understand that. However, if you’ve used British sources for the North African Campaign
- so, both sides, German and British - but have not used Soviet sources for the Eastern Campaign.
Then it doesn't make any sense. If this was
purely from the German perspective, you wouldn’t be using British sources, which you are. Also,
I can see there’s one or two English-translated Russian sources in there, and you’ve used
David Glantz’s books (which is great because Glantz uses the Soviet sources), so it’s
not like you hasn’t tried. But thinking objectively, I’m not able to give you full
marks. Therefore, this book gets 4 stars. Now I know
this is the first time I’ve used a star system, but looking at my book collection,
I’m fairly certain 99% of the Eastern Front books will not be able to get the full 5 stars,
because they’ve not used the Soviet sources either. In fact, David Glantz may be the only
one that could get 5 stars, and he won’t because his maps are disgraceful. But, Citino’s
“Death of the Wehrmacht” (overall) is fantastic - possibly the best narrative history
of the 1942 Eastern Front Campaign.
Yes, it doesn’t use the Soviet sources, but it’s still one
of the best books out there on the Eastern Front. If you’re looking for a book that
explains why the German Blitzkrieg or Bewegungskrieg failed
then this is the book for you. Really, it's a necessary book for any World War Two fanatic.
We have in-fact just reached a Patreon milestone whereby I can now commit myself to learning
German - and I’ve got to go find a German tutor. I will, in the future and with
your support, be learning Russian as well so that I can give you the most unbiased account of
the Eastern Front as possible. Because that is the ultimate goal for anyone wanting to
know more about the Eastern Front - getting an unbiased perspective. But I can only do
this with your support. Please consider supporting me on Patreon and help make this goal become
a reality. Thank you to my Patreons, you guys as always are awesome. And thank you all for watching,
bye for now.