Verlorene Siege - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Verlorene Siege is the personal narrative of Erich von Manstein

Erich von Manstein

Erich von Manstein was a field marshal in World War II. He became one of the most prominent commanders of Germany's World War II armed forces...

, a German Field Marshal during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The book was first published in West Germany in 1955 and the translated English edition was released in 1958 for UK and USA distribution.

In the book, Manstein presented his own experiences, ideas and decisions as they appeared to him at the time during the 1930s and 1940s. He wrote his book not as a historical investigator, but as one who played an active part in the story he was relating. The book ends with Manstein’s dismissal from military service by Hitler in March 1944.

Situation on the eve of war

Manstein writes that on the eve of World War II

World War II

, Hitler's unprecedented successes in the pre-war period, which included the remilitarization of the Rhineland

Remilitarization of the Rhineland

The Remilitarization of the Rhineland by the German Army took place on 7 March 1936 when German military forces entered the Rhineland. This was significant because it violated the terms of the Locarno Treaties and was the first time since the end of World War I that German troops had been in this...

, the Anschluss

Anschluss

The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....

of Austria, and the peaceful conquest of the Czech Republic

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

, meant that the generals of the general staff had begun to trust him, believing that he would never lead the country into a war on two fronts, as the German leaders of 1914 had done.

Successful campaigns in Poland and France

Manstein started the war as Rundstedt's

Gerd von Rundstedt

Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt was a Generalfeldmarschall of the German Army during World War II. He held some of the highest field commands in all phases of the war....

Chief of Staff during the 1939 invasion of Poland. According to Manstein, Rundstedt was "[a brilliant] exponent of grand tactics ... a talented soldier who grasped the essentials of any problem in an instant ... a type of old-guard soldier ... a man from the past." From the very first day Poland could only fight for time. He alleged lack of a clear military doctrine:

The Polish General Staff did not possess its own tradition of generalship shaped by long experience. On the one hand the Polish temperament was more disposed towards attack than defence. It is fair to assume that the mind of the Polish soldier was still coloured, at lest subconsciously, by romantic notions from bygone days. I am reminded here of a portrait I once saw of Marshal Rydz–Śmigły painted against a background of charging Polish cavalry squadrons. On the other hand the newly founded Polish Army was French-taught.

Manstein prepared the plan

Manstein Plan

The Manstein Plan was the primary war plan of the German Army during the Battle of France in 1940.-Overview of the Plan:Developed by German Generalleutnant Erich von Manstein, the plan greatly modified the original 1939 versions by Franz Halder of the invasion plan known as Fall Gelb...

to invade France (Operation Order Yellow, or Fall Gelb) through the Ardennes

Ardennes

The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...

. This plan was rejected by the German High Command

Oberkommando der Wehrmacht

The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht was part of the command structure of the armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.- Genesis :...

(OKH), but Manstein brought it to the personal attention of Hitler, who enthusiastically adopted it as his own plan. Operation Order Yellow according to Manstein was – after it had conducted – "one of the most brilliant campaigns in German history". Manstein's 38 Army corps was involved in the second phase of the Battle for France

Battle of France

In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...

, and conducted an exhausting but successful drive into southern France. Manstein did not always follow Hitler's orders.

Operation Sea Lion

After the collapse of France in June 1940, Hitler had hoped that Britain would make peace, but when he became disappointed that the British refused to negotiate any cease fire, he began to make preparations for a cross-channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

invasion. Manstein was entrusted with the task of leading the initial landing with his corps, which was moved to the Boulogne-Calais area for the purpose (Operation Sea Lion). British policy was the traditional striving for a European balance of power, the restoration of which had been Britain's ultimate motive for entering the war, since it demanded the defeat of a Germany which had become too powerful on the continent. "British eyes were blind to the fact that the big need in a changed world would be to create a world balance of power in view of the might which the Soviet Union had attained and the dangers inherent in its dedication to the idea of world revolution. (...) In addition to all this, Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

was probably too much of a fighter."

While the aerial Battle of Britain

Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...

raged, Manstein's XXXVIII Corps was prepared on the French Channel coast for the invasion of Britain, which never came. According to von Manstein, Hitler had two reasons for dropping the Sea Lion plan. One was the fact that the preparations took so long that the first wave could not have crossed until 24 September at the earliest. The second was the fact that even by this date the Luftwaffe had not attained the requisite air supremacy over British territory. The Luftwaffe had to operate under unfavourable conditions.

At the end of September, the XXXVIII Corps went back to Germany for normal training. At the end of February 1941, Manstein handed over command of XXXVIII Corps in order to take over XLVI Panzer Corps.

Eastern Front

After the invasion of Russia

Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

Manstein, with his XLVI Panzer Corps, made one of the quickest and deepest thrusts of the opening stage, from East Prussia to the Dvina

Northern Dvina

The Northern Dvina is a river in Northern Russia flowing through the Vologda Oblast and Arkhangelsk Oblast into the Dvina Bay of the White Sea. Along with the Pechora River to the east, it drains most of Northwest Russia into the Arctic Ocean...

river, over 320 km, within four days. In 26 July he suggested to Paulus

Friedrich Paulus

Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus was an officer in the German military from 1910 to 1945. He attained the rank of Generalfeldmarschall during World War II, and is best known for having commanded the Sixth Army's assault on Stalingrad during Operation Blue in 1942...

that he use the entire Panzer Group in offensive against Moscow, but not use it in an offensive against Leningrad because of wooded area. The armoured forces would reach Leningrad after the infantry. Paulus initially agreed with Manstein but things turned out quite differently. He nearly captured Leningrad, but was instead sent to the south. In July 1942 he captured Sevastopol

Sevastopol

Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....

. In December 1942 he almost succeeded in relieving the encircled 6th Army in and around Stalingrad. Manstein suggested to Paulus

Friedrich Paulus

that he make a breakout, but Paulus followed Hitler's orders to hold Stalingrad under all circumstances. Manstein was stopped 48 km before Stalingrad. In February 1943 his forces succeeded in recapturing Kharkov.

According to Manstein, who was commander of the forces in the south German sector at that time, the Operation Citadel

Battle of Kursk

The Battle of Kursk took place when German and Soviet forces confronted each other on the Eastern Front during World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk, in the Soviet Union in July and August 1943. It remains both the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka,...

(the offensive against Kursk) was left too late, and German forces were unable to break through. He also stated that Hitler had stopped the attack too soon, a decision he described as "tantamount to throwing away a victory". From then until his relief in March 1944, Manstein conducted a fighting retreat behind the various river lines in southern Russia such as the (Dnieper

Dnieper River

The Dnieper River is one of the major rivers of Europe that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea.The total length is and has a drainage basin of .The river is noted for its dams and hydroelectric stations...

and the Dniester). Hitler had forbidden his armed forces to fortify river lines.

In March 1944, Manstein was dismissed from the military when he asked for permission for the retreat of Army Group South

Army Group South

Army Group South was the name of a number of German Army Groups during World War II.- Poland campaign :Germany used two army groups to invade Poland in 1939: Army Group North and Army Group South...

(immediate withdrawal behind the Dniester), which he commanded.

Hitler as supreme commander

Manstein had a different conception of the war from Hitler. When the tide of the war on the Eastern Front turned against Germany, Manstein wanted to retreat from a seemingly linear front defence. Hitler did not want to accept this, however, because any retreat would associate him with defeatism. Manstein was one of the very few high-ranking German field commanders who had the courage to confront Hitler about military strategy by putting his views into perspective, spoke objectively, and refused to be browbeaten. According to Manstein, any low or high ranking Wehrmacht field commander or Nazi party member who dared to openly argue or criticize Hitler right to his face resulted in an immediate dismissal and probably a court martial for insubordination or treason. The reason why Manstein was able to get away with arguing with Hitler for so long remains ambiguous, but Manstein speculated that Hitler held him in high regards at a brilliant, but troublesome, field commander who was a valuable asset to the Wehrmacht.

The book covers the lack of a war plan in detail. Manstein argues in the book that Hitler, whom he both praises and criticizes and occasionally refers to him as "that dictator", did not allow detailed planning of large-scale military operations.

According to Manstein, in 1943 a draw could have been achieved on the Eastern Front by bleeding the red army if the generals had been allowed to operate properly.

Reception

After Verlorene Siege was published, the West German newspaper Die Zeit
Die Zeit
Die Zeit is a German nationwide weekly newspaper that is highly respected for its quality journalism.With a circulation of 488,036 and an estimated readership of slightly above 2 million, it is the most widely read German weekly newspaper...

commented on the book and asked the question: "What would it have signified for the world and for Germany, what would it have signified for a Christian and gentleman like Manstein if these victories had not been lost?"

According to Martin Blumenson

Martin Blumenson

Martin Blumenson was an American military historian who served as a historical officer with the U.S. Third and Seventh Armies in World War II and later became a prolific author whose works included an authoritative biography of General George S...

(1981), Verlorene Siege is “the best book of memoirs on the German side and it is indispensable for understanding the conditions and circumstances of Hitler’s war.”

External links

Lost Victories
Revisiting a "Lost Victory" at Kursk
Karl-Heinz Frieser, John T. Greenwood, The Blitzkrieg legend: the 1940 campaign in the West

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