How Hitler Could Have Won World War II (45 page)

Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe, who said “Nuts!” to a German demand that he surrender the American 101st Airborne Division he commanded at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.
(Topham/The Image Works)

General George S. Patton Jr., the most aggressive and imaginative Allied commander in the west, who led the American 7th Army into Sicily and the 3rd Army through France after the breakout from Normandy in late July 1944.
(Topham/The
Image Works)

Leaders of Overlord, the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Seated
(from left):
RAF Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, deputy commander; General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander; British field marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, ground forces commander. Standing
(from left):
General Omar Bradley, American ground commander; Royal Navy Admiral Sir Bertram H. Ramsey, naval commander; RAF Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, air support commander; and Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith, Eisenhower's chief of staff.
(Topham/The Image Works)

Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt awards Iron Cross decorations to German soldiers who distinguished themselves in combat. Rundstedt commanded Army Group A, which struck through the Ardennes in May 1940 and led quickly to the defeat of France and the eviction of the British from the Continent. Rundstedt commanded an army group in Russia and was commander in chief in the west when the Allies invaded Normandy in June 1944.
(Topham/
The Image Works)

The senior Allied commanders in Normandy in June 1944
(from left):
Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, chief of all ground forces; General Miles C. Dempsey, commander of the British 2nd Army; and General Omar Bradley, commander of the American 1st Army.
(Topham/The Image Works)

General George C. Marshall, chief of staff of the U.S. Army and President Roosevelt's principal military adviser. Marshall was slated to become commander of the invasion of Normandy in 1944, but Roosevelt decided that he could not dispense with his advice and gave the command to Dwight D. Eisenhower.
(Topham/The Image Works)

General Hasso von Manteuffel
(second from right)
discusses defense plans in France just prior to the Allied invasion on June 6, 1944. Manteuffel conducted a brilliant defense in Tunisia in 1943 against Allied forces and commanded the 5th Panzer Army in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.
(AP/Wide World Photo)

Marshal Georgy K. Zhukov, who led the Soviet drive into Germany in 1945, makes a toast at Frankfurt shortly after the German surrender. With him is American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, western Allied supreme commander.
(Topham/The Image Works)

Albert Speer
(left)
, Nazi armaments chief; Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz (center), German U-boat chief and last chancellor of the German Reich; and General Alfred Jodl, operations chief of the high command, at their arrest at Flensburg, Germany, on May 24, 1945.
(Topham/The Image Works)

Other Books by Bevin Alexander

Korea: The First War We Lost

The Strange Connection: U.S. Intervention in China 1944–1972

Lost Victories: The Military Genius of Stonewall Jackson

How Great Generals Win

The Future of Warfare

Robert E. Lee's Civil War

Photograph on title page: Adolf Hitler
(right)
and Field Marshall Walther von Brauchtisch, German army commander. (
Topham/The
Image Works
)

Photograph: Adolf Hitler walks up stairs at a Nazi rally in Germany prior to the war. (
Topham/The
Image Works
)

Copyright © 2000 by Bevin Alexander

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

 

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Maps by JEFFREY L. WARD

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Alexander, Bevin.

How Hitler could have won World War II: the fatal errors that led to Nazi defeat / by Bevin Alexander; maps drawn by Jeffrey L. Ward.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Hitler, Adolf, 1889–1945—Military leadership. 2. World War, 1939–1945—Germany. 3.

Strategy—History—20th century. I. Title.

DD247.H5 A7487 2000
943.086'092—dc21 00-029429

 

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