Jaap Jan Brouwer, The German Way of War (Pen & Sword, 2021)
In The German Way of War, Jaap Jan Brouwer examines how World War II was fought by the German army and compares that to the two main Allied armies in the West: Britain and the United States. The Germans, Brouwer finds, adopted a command concept known as Auftragstaktik that diffused decision-making and initiative down through the ranks. That system compared favourably with the Americans and British in all the important aspects of infantry fighting, including army structure, leadership, training, and morale. Brouwer tests his thesis using examples mostly from the Italian, North African, and Western Fronts, with the Germans attempting to stave off Allied onslaughts in all three. In the end, he argues that the Allied victory was principally one of quantity over quality.
To make his case, Brouwer compares the strengths of the Germans to his perceived weaknesses of the Allies. Although based on the evidence, it is a selective approach open to counter-examples and contextual argument. In addition, Brouwer gives the Eastern Front little attention, and his argument that the German rank-and-file displayed little ideological motive is questionable. Thus, Brouwer’s thesis is not as strong as it first appears, but it is an interesting one to consider.
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