Customer Reviews

Crumbling Empire: The German Defeat in the East, 1944

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

September 7, 2002
Crumbling Empire:
The German Defeat in the East 1944
By: Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr.

By its very title, this book is a detailed account of the changing tide of the war in the east.
Written mainly from a German intermediate corps and divisional perspective, the author intersects both graphic tactical details and a strategic explanation into a coherent discussion of the actual battles.
The book also includes biographies and accounts of lesser known but historically valuable leaders and units which served in this area. From the flanked, preempted commands of Field Marshal Ernest Busch to the largely unknown and less than honorable actions of the Kamensky and Direlwanger battalions; in addition to the vitally important role of famous and elite units like the 3rd SS panzer division "Totenkopf" and the 5th SS panzer division "Viking"--assigned missions of futility and impossibility (and almost achieved them).
At appropriate times, the author overlays with a description of the strategic military and diplomatic situation in the region or sector, and its impact on the vital control of natural resources--copper, bauxite, grain and petrol. It is not mentioned, but also needed foreign currency and gold reserves. Aspects in the war in the east that argueably caused the defeat of the German Reich faster than tactical bloodshead on the battlefield.
Supporting material includes substantive photographs and well documented, detailed footnotes and order of battle diagrams. And some front line situation maps which are lacking. In appearance, it looks as if the maps are hand drawn templates that have been photocoped. The information is compressed, cluttered and difficult to discern against the textual material referenced.
Beyond this, the book is well written and detailed towards the issue. The reader can both imagine and understand the inexorable situation facing the Germans, the ferocity and desperation of the battles themselves and an accurate survey of the strategic situation in the east in 1944 during declining months of the great patriotic war.

Sean Marche

Mitcham does a far better job on the obvious areas of the Ostfront, and actually covers some issues that carry into 1945. His sources are far more German oriented than Russian, and that always brings balance issues into the picture. He pays little attention to Hitler's dismissal of von Manstein and teh underlying reasons for that strange decision. The real annoyance is that a book about East Front that was published in 2001 used mostly German sources when more and more Soviet era sources are available.

By 1944 the direction of world war two is moving inexorably against Germany and evidence of this is seen on every military situation map.
Crumbling Empire: The German defeat in the east 1944 is written from a German divisional and corps perspective and follows the last desperate attempts of the German Wehrmacht to wedge the crushing Soviet offensive against Germany and her axis allies, particularly Romania and Hungary. The detailed text includes unit assignments and aggressive tactical warfare, including accounts of the lesser-known atrocities of SS units like the Kaminsky and Direlwanger battalions.
The well-written text includes a survey of the German diplomatic mission developing in the face of exponential military losses. Despite last-ditch espionage and effective rearguard actions, the German military position remains difficult throughout the entire campaign as there is literally no effective response against a vengeful Soviet onslaught that is determined to make the final moves in the great patriotic war.

The rating of 4 stars is conditional. If you're a newcomer or have a casual need this book is a quick read and will give you a basic understanding of the Soviet offensive from June 1944 to Feb 1945 from a German perspective. If you have greater demands the rating falls to 3 stars for as an overview it doesn't drill down tactically sufficiently for your needs and there are gaps in the action. I bought the book with a specific intention in mind. I just recently read "Soviet Blitzkrieg" the fine book by Walter Dunn which has a Russian perspective of Operation Bagration and wanted to compare the two books for similarlities and accuracy but it will be difficult to do for the two books have two different levels of detail. Some comparisons will be made but not to the degree needed. The Dunn book spends nearly 250 pages on just the first phase of Operation Bagration while Mr Mitcham's book also covers the offensive against AGN being pushed back into the Baltics (Courtland Pocket) while AGNU, in the south, is pushed back into Rumania and Hungary in about the same number of pages.
It seems a little strange to end the book in Feb but there is a lot to cover in the last 2 months of the war and it was probably beyond the publisher's page limits or maybe they both wanted to milk another book. If reading a predominately German perspective is disagreeable for being onesided, then let me suggest reading Walter Dunn, David Glantz or John Erickson to see the Russian side.
There are a number of positive attributes of the book that makes it worth 4 stars. Though the tactical coverage is an overview and doesn't have the detail of the Dunn book or especially a Glantz book, the information is creditable and informative. You can learn from it. There are bios of Model and Busch, the two commanders of AGC. I knew both generals were loyal Nazis but didn't realize Busch was such a devoted lapdog of Hitler and would mindlessly follow all orders regardless of the consequences. There are also many other lesser ranks discussed throughout the narrative which was interesting. Many of them you just don't read about in other books and I applaud the author for including them in the story. There were photos of some of these less known German soldiers as well. The author is very succinct in desrcibing the huge superiority of men, tanks and guns the Soviets had against the Germans by this time. The author frequently gives statistics with his narrative.
The author also provides Orders of Battle for each front discussed. I also learned about the Kaminsky Brigade which General Schmidt insituted in the Orel district to help police the civilians. There is also brief coverage of the Warsaw Uprising.
The coverage did have some background info on Rumania and Hungary which for the casual reader means not necessarily having to buy another book on this secondary front.
There were many maps, and though they're simple, did help to explain the narrative. Besides the photos of the German soldiers, there are other photos to peruse.
There is a useful Appendix that displays Rank Equivalents, Unit Strengths, Tank Characterstics and Staff Abbreviations. There is also a useful Index that will help you find any of the many army units that were discussed.

Though I was disappointed in some respects - there were gaps in the action and there wasn't enough tactical detail or analysis, I get the impression the author knows his subject matter and for the right person whose needs are small, this overview would be satisfactory.

I found Mitcham's account of the German defeat in the East to be thought provoking and interesting from a Western European viewpoint. He obviously favors the Germans and is almost disappointed that they lost. The author reminds the reader over and over again how the German soldier fought the Russian horde with unbelievable bravery and against the greatest of odds. It is an OK read from the German perspective but just about completely ignores the Russian view. I got the impression that Mitcham believes the Germans still could have stopped the Soviets in 1944 except for the meddling of Hitler and I think history shows us this is just not true and that by 1944 the Russians were all but unstoppable. The profiles of German commanders and their fate during or after the war is of particular interest for anyone who is really interested in the Eastern Front, otherwise, the book doesn't break any new ground.

This is a not terribly well written, derivative narrative of the German defense of the East from June 1944 to February 1945. The author introduces not a single original thought or analysis, merely rehashing and citing better written secondary sources. People would be better off seeking out and reading that which he cites rather than this derivation. The author's bias is on display, but not exactly as some other reviewers allege; his lack of citing Erickson, while disturbing, is not all that decisive when you consider that the author is explicitly writing an account of the defense and Erickson wrote an account of the offense. Further, I see no particular 'anti-German' bias as alleged and I am rather quick to pick up on that as my earlier criticisms of Weinberg, et.al. attest. This author's biases are in other directions, i.e. identifying Stauffenberg as a Christian hero supporting a place where all can pray rather than the equally accurate identification of him as a murderous traitor ignorant of impending Soviet reality. The author appears to be a right wing leaning man who rather anachronistically imposes his 21st Century weltanschauung upon the realities and mores of 1944 Europe. Further, from a physical point of view, Amazon should be ashamed. The edition sent to me is a digital reprint of decidedly inferior quality, yet sold at full price. They ought to identify when they are selling these digital reprints. On the bright side, the book appeared well-edited and well proof-read, an increasingly rare thing these days. I reccomend Buchner's 'Ostfront' or Carrell's 'Scorched Earth' or Seaton or Ziemke as alternatives...Mitcham cites them often enough!!

Although I enjoyed reading Professor Mitcham's book .I couldn't get rid of the assmution that Pr.Mitcham actually favors German Army while I was reading the book . There aren't any doubt that German Army was one of the most effctive war machines in Entire military history and German Landser's bravery was undoubtable but Final victors were Russian's and I doubt that Russians victory was completey derived from their babarity,ruthlessness and sheer numbers.moreover Pr Mitcham didn't even use Pr. Erickson's"Road to Berlin "as his book's sources ..there aren't any resources about soviet side in Bibilography.
It's quite dissapointing to read the book which is biased

but a perspective from the pro-German side in no way offsets the 99% anti-German bias of all other accounts of WWII, not to mention the absolutely ridiculous accounts given by the Russians of this conflict, good grief, they treated their soldiers like drunken cattle.

Mr Mitcham omits facts and misleads his readers.One example is the number of soldiers in a Russian Division in 1944 and their quality. Crumbling Empire is almost a carbon copy of the title put out by former Nazi's who assert that they would have won except the Russians out-numbered us and we had Hitler. To Simplistic and biased. The author is not a Nazi, but a serious Russian Hater, "The Reds". Mr Mitcham says that a large number of German POWs were were turned over to the Partisans and put to death in horrible ways. Paul Adair says something of the same thing except he says it was German officers who said this. There is no mention of the Germam Army's complicity in millions of deaths of Jews, Russian POWs, alledged partisans, men women & children, deliberately murdered directly in the case of the Jews and indirectly buy the German Army stealing their food, and putting them out of their houses in the dead of Winter. Misleading,and Biased, not good history

If you are looking for a book that goes into any detail at all of the German East Front disasters of 1944, look elsewhere. This book is primarily a series of long slams of the German commanders of various sections of the front, followed by the briefest of sketchy descriptions of the fighting in their areas.