Prussian Socialism Episode 17: Lost Victories by Erich von Manstein
Who was Germany's greatest WWII general? According to Field Marschall Erich von Manstein, it was himself. In his 1955 classic Lost Victories, Manstein argues that if Hitler had only listened to him more, Germany could have won the war.
He might have had a point. In 1940, Manstein masterminded the invasion of France through the Ardennes. In early 1943, he ingeniously fought off a series of titanic Soviet offensives after the battle of Stalingrad, saving tens of thousands of Axis troops from almost certain capture or death. He even argued that Germany could have won at Kursk, and that the proposed invasion of England (Sealion) was not as crazy as it seemed.
Was Manstein smarter than his Führer? Or was he a braggadocious know-it-all? Gregory Conte and Hans discuss the life and legacy of one of Germany's top leaders and strategists.
I just listened to Episode 1. Lots of good content; but when it comes to the War of Northern Aggression launched by the tyrant Lincoln, who was a notorious philo-Semite, & who actually sent his Jewish podiatrist on a secret mission to sabotage negotiations with the Confederacy, William doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Both sides of that unnecessary conflict were manipulated by Jews; but the men who formed the Confederacy were staunch opponents of a federal bank precisely because it would allow Jews to further cement their influence. Of course, there’s also Judah Benjamin, along with the Jewish Quartermaster-General… Read more »
Generalfeldmarschall Model was The Fuhrer’s Fireman. He owned the nickname “Feuerwehrmann”
Model was the master in defensive maneuvers …he also looks like my late grandfather
Model was a very cool dude. He also committed honour suicide near the end. Heroic general.
There was only one nation that had the resources and capacity to produce an atomic bomb – the USA. The Germans were doomed from the start because of Jewish control within the Roosevelt Administration. If the Germans had won a conventional war, they would have soon thereafter lost a one-sided nuclear war with 5 x the loss of German lives.
I’m not that sure about that. If “by winning a conventional war” we mean conquering the Soviet Union there would have been vast resources available for the Reich and Germans had enough brilliant nuclear physicists and engineers to construct A-bombs. Plus They were far ahead in rocketry, not to mention the first jet engine. Germany had the potential so they would have developed ways to deliver atomic weapons… even as far as Jew York.
Atomics is a meme, it would not have won America the war vs Germany if they had taken out Soviet and Britain.
Is there a reason other than morality that they didn’t just enslave at least part of the populations that they conquered, to send them into the eastern front?
Mp3 gang rise up.
How am I a pleb for actually downloading the file, that I may turn into physical media and thus save it for me and my people.
RSS is for plebs!!!
Downloaders are the Patricians.
Thanks for the mp3
t. pleb
Downloading Patrician > RSS pleb.
These episodes keep getting better and better.
Completely agree with Hans on attacking Britain immediately after capturing France. The entire focus of the war should have been directed at leveling every square inch of Britain. This would have completely cut off all supplies and intelligence to the Soviet Union and prevented America from attacking from the Atlantic ocean.
The entire world loathed the British empire. Germany would have been viewed as the liberators of all oppressed nations.
I would like to make a musical request. Morgen Marschieren Wir.
For future episodes if you plan to cover the Plains Indians wars I highly recommend Son of the Morning Star by Evan S Connell. It’s main focus is on Custer and the battle of the Little Bighorn but it covers much of the history, politics and factions that led up to it. The audio book version is good too.
The problem with Operation Sea Lion was that the Royal Navy was planning on flooding the English Channel and cutting off the German invasion forces. In order to counter this Germany needed complete air superiority over the channel. But, the Me 109 fighters lacked the drop fuel tanks needed to cover British airspace and defeat the RAF’s fighter defenses. The time needed to build up the airpower needed to gain supremacy over Britain would require the U-Boats cutting off the massive amounts of aircraft, fuel and other resources that the RAF was receiving from the USA and the destruction of… Read more »
Just no dude. So much wrong here. 1/ As the guys said, the Home Fleet’s main base is at Scapa Flow. It’s a fair way from the Channel. You can’t flood the Channel with ships, it’s impractical. Those ships would lack air cover as for obvious reason the vast majority of Fighter Command’s strength would be over the invasion force. Their route is also predictable so U-boats would lay in wait. It’s 600+ nautical miles from Scapa to the Channel, so it would take time.Days probably. Way too late. 2/ 109’s had fuel for 30 min over London, depending on… Read more »
Ultimately the greatest mistake Adolf Hitler ever made was in declaring war on the USA. Germany could have fought the Soviets until the cows came home except that the USA enabled his enemies to invade North Africa, Italy, France and anywhere else they wanted to.
Japans biggest mistake was in not declaring war on the Soviet Union. General Yamashita, Japans best General, told them that they should.
They had to by treaty or their reputation would have been ruined on the international stage. From their perspective, not doing so would have been a stupid move.
No, the reason Germany declared war was simple. They were already in a hot war with America. The US Navy in particular, but they were fighting with one arm tied behind their backs. The formal declaration allowed them to fight to their full potential. FWIW.
The Russians made a fairly decent Documentary about Operation Barbarossa called “Soviet Storm” https://youtu.be/QbS56uDdDHo
Not entirely perfect but generally better than anything that the History Channel made.
If you haven’t read about Hans Ulrich Rudel, you absolutely must. His story was absolutely amazing! Erich Hartmann Also had an amazing story with a very touching end.
You should read “Panzer operations” by General Erhard Raus!
Adolf Hitler essentially commanded the conquest of Germany as head of the NSDAP. Hitler relied on his Gauleiters as essentially Army Commanders to make decisions on the ground as they saw best. However, with the German Army, Hitler had to deal with Generals who always made excuses for why they should fall back to Germany’s borders.
The biggest problem is that Germany allowed her allies to go into battle with their own division organizations. The Italian, Romanian, Hungarian and Slovakian divisions were organized and equipped with approximately half the firepower of an equivalent German division. Germany should have used the many thousands of good French Artillery, Mortars, Tanks, Armored Cars, Aircraft, Trucks and Tractors to fully equip their allies to German standards. Germany should have also dedicated French military industry to deliver up to date equipment to her allies throughout the war. Vichy France desired to continue development of their weaponry and even secretly developed a… Read more »
Great episode. Have you all read deathride by John nosier. Really goes into the details of the eastern front and how the Germans were destroying the Russian throughout Only the u limited supply from zog and using Russians as cannon fodder ground them down.