Hitler's Enforcers: Leaders of the German War Machine 1939-1945

by James Sidney Lucas

This is a study of Hitler's inner circle of commanders which aims to show how strategic decisions were carried through the ranks to the battlefield in World War II. It examines top-level characters - Kesselring, Manstein, Model, Student and Rommel, and also those of middle rank, who, often under duress, saw that instructions were carried out. Studying sixteen diverse characters, each with different responsibilities, the book provides an informative account of command, soldiering, military structure and dictatorial control.

Genres: Germany, Military History, History

240 pages, Hardcover

First published October 12, 1996

About the author

Author and historian. Imperial War Museum, London, England, deputy head of department of photographs.

Mr. Lucas was a WWII veteran. He served with the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, First Battalion, North Africa, infantryman, 1942; Queens' Own Royal West Surrey Regiment, Italy, 1943-44; Occupation Army, Austria, 1945; Foreign Office, Germany.

Most of James Lucas's professional life was associated with war. First, he served in the Queen's Own Royal Army as a British soldier in World War II, stationed in Africa, Italy, and later in Austria. In 1960 he joined the staff of the Imperial War Museum in London, eventually becoming the deputy head of the department of photographs. After retiring from this position, Lucas took up a third career, that of an author and historian. His favorite topic was World War II, a subject about which he became a respected authority—not only among scholars, but, through his work as an adviser on film and television productions about the war, among the general public as well. According to a London Times obituary, Lucas examined "almost every aspect of the Nazi war machine …combining technical information with first-hand testimony and so producing a body of work unequalled in its breadth. Having fought the Third Reich's best troops through North Africa and Italy, he knew their tenacity and resourcefulness."

Lucas's writing style was not considered typical of war histories. "Humour and enthusiasm, combined with rigorous attention to detail, were the hallmarks of his style," reported the Times obituary writer. Lucas was a prolific writer upon his topic of choice; and he covered many different aspects of the war, often concentrating on the German side of the conflicts.

As his Times obituarist declared, Lucas "saw himself as an archivist, searching for the ordinary men in the heat of battle, playing their part in the bigger picture." Lucas died on June 19, 2002, at the age of seventy-eight.

Reviews

[Alex Cotterill · Rating 4 out of 5]

15 accounts of various leaders of the German war machine - Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine; though this book focuses on accounts and statements mainly on the Wehrmacht, specifically on the Eastern front.

Some good accounts but obviously it’s just a series of similar stories of colonels etc and their military life pre-war and then into the trials after it ended.

[Le · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really a blow by blow account of many military strategies and not really about the people at all. The number of grammatical errors in this got on my nerves and shouldn’t really be the case with a published book. A nice idea that failed in its execution.

[Margaret]

I don't know who organized this book, but they didn't do a great job. As others have commented it is really a detailing of battle actions and not a study of individual commanders, and battles are divided up between different subjects and thus hard to follow. Terms are used but not defined until much later. The insistence on the use of German terms rather than English was really annoying - I was especially bothered by the use of the German word for operation. If you are writing in English, using German words does not make your work more scholarly. It just makes it more tedious and confusing. That being said, it was interesting to read about some lesser known commanders. And it makes you wonder. With what some of these
men accomplished, how did Germany lose the war?

[Maurice]

More an account of the individuals' military campaigns than an analysis of their characters or their inspirations and personal driving forces.The proof reading by the publisher leaves a lot to be desired and this sloppiness gives a suspicion that there may be factual inaccuracies also that have gone unchecked.

[Chris Russell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst book I’ve ever read. Bone dry prose, seemingly proofread by an eight year old, and definitely the least interesting possible version of the subject matter. No idea why I bothered finishing it. The Chapters “History $10 & Under” section has been bangin’ all summer, but this one was a big miss.