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Blitzkrieg: In Their Own Words: First-Hand Accounts from German Soldiers 1939-1940

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Based on a German book published during World War II and never before translated into English, Blitzkrieg In Their Own Words: First-Hand Accounts From German Soldiers 1939-1940 is an anthology of short, firsthand accounts by Wehrmacht German soldiers who took part in Blitzkrieg ("lightning war") style of fighting - a methodology developed by Hitler's generals that applied fast-moving tank attacks to gouge holes in the enemy's front lines. Blitzkrieg In Their Own Words includes a foreword by Heinz Guderian, one of the leading architects of Blitzkrieg armored warfare tactics. Because it was originally published during the Nazi regime, Blitzkrieg In Their Own Words is neither balanced nor restrained, as it describes the merciless devastation of Polish and French armies with vicious zeal. A handful of black-and-white photographic plates describing events in the book illustrate this biased yet nonetheless valuable primary source of military and human history.

Published in Germany in 1942, these short stories are informative propaganda. Each is a first hand account of a soldier in various branches of the Wehrmacht of his experiences in the Polish and especially the French campaigns. It suffers to the extent that it has been heavily edited and the style is similar throughout almost as if it was all the product of the same writer.

This it certainly is not, but it is heavily edited. During the Polish campaign, most of the writers show a conviction that the Poles have committed a criminal act of folly. They don't describe the act but it surely means that they themselves are writing of the Hitler propaganda that the Poles stupidly attacked Germany. We now know that this 'attack' was by German soldiers uniformed as Poles who attack a German border outpost to justify Hitler's invasion. The soldiers writing here can't know that and have obviously swallowed the propaganda ministry's information whole.

The accounts of the French invasion are perhaps more interesting and, though edited for their propaganda value, there is little hatred for the enemy. At the worst there is contempt for the disoriented French who throw down their weapons and flee or go into captivity. Then again, this contempt for the French is identical to contempt many English and Americans feel for the French efforts. At the same time we see an attitude towards war and the enemy quite different than the Western allies. Enemy soldiers who resist manfully are respected even though they produce significant German casualties.

At one point the German writer gushes his respect for shot down English fighter pilots who spray bullets at German antiaircraft positions even as they are falling from the sky. We know, from English sources, that this actually happened. England's most successful ace was shot down over German lines and sprayed a German antiaircraft battery on the way down, inflicting casualties. Expecting the worst, he was shocked when the Germans pulled him out of the cockpit, grinned at him and slapped him on the back. Like I said, a different attitude toward war and enemy courage.

Also, the Germans aren't nearly as leery about reporting casualties as are the Americans. They not only report them but name names. Frequently, however, they claim that the deaths were 'worth it,' in order to achieve the military objective. This is not necessarily an American type attitude towards war and objectives. It isn't necessarily even German and may be due to selection of 'favorable' reports.

Still, the overall tenor is one of tremendous morale and elan. There is remarkable courage and natural fear of death is subordinated to the overall effort and the desire that, should they go down, they go down well both 'fur Volk und Vaterland.' I suspect this high level of morale, and military organization and excellence was indeed a major factor in German success at this time of the war. Later things changed. Maybe they didn't change that much, though. The French totally collapsed at a stage that they still had the capacity for war. The Germans, towards the end of the war, when they had little capacity for continuing conflict, fought viciously in the streets of Berlin. Is this a difference in the character of peoples or only the fact that French defeat was so sudden and confusing?

Ron Braithwaite author of novels...'Skull Rack' and 'Hummingbird God'...on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico