History of the German General Staff 1657-1945 Illustrated by Walter Goerlitz

Author:Walter Goerlitz [Goerlitz, Walter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-02-18T22:00:00+00:00

as remarkably sober and conservative. They were nevertheless based on clearly thought out principles. Beck knew as well as anybody else that he was living in an age when wars tended to be waged by coalitions, and the economic factor played a decisive part. When those facts were taken into account it was obvious that Germany's strategic position was not better than it had been in 1914, but a great deal worse. There was nothing now to cover her south-eastern flank, since little rump-Austria counted for nothing either as an enemy or an ally. Hungary had been subjected to disarmament provisions similar to those which had originally been imposed on Germany. As against this Czechoslovakia, which had been armed by France, thrust a wedge deep into Germany so that the industrial regions in the centre of Germany were under continual threat of attack from the air.

In 1914 German strategy had been successfully conducted on internal lines. It was on that possibility that Schlieffen had banked when he drew up his great plan. Beck saw clearly that aerial warfare had changed all that. Nor was much to be hoped from Italy and Japan whom, in 1935 and 1936, Hitler was winning over as potential allies. Beck considered them worthless. Worst of all, apart from one year-group numbering 250,000 to 300,000 men, he had no reserves. In 1914 the German Army had had twenty-five year-groups at its disposal. Now there were two possible policies to choose from in that situation. Beck decided that only one of them was right. His view was that, having regard to Germany's prevailing geographical situation, it was now the statesmen's duty to avoid any kind of armed conflict. Hitler thought otherwise. If the geographical situation presented difficulties, then the thing to do, according to Hitler, was to change the geographical situation. Hitler's policy, that is to say, was to push Germany's frontiers outwards to such a degree that a strategy of internal lines would again become practicable. Thus the champion of power politics and the champion of common sense and moral responsibility at last stood openly face to face.

In 1935, Ludendorff had published a book on total war which greatly strengthened Hitler's convictions. It pressed for the full application of the principles of a war of ruthless annihilation waged by one people against another and using up the last ounce of each people's strength; such a war would necessarily require a dictatorship to carry it on. This book was carefully read by the General Staff, for, despite his inanities on the subject of malevolent secret powers, Ludendorff still enjoyed great respect in military circles. Nevertheless, the General Staff rejected the book root and branch.

Beck's deployment plans argued a very different outlook from Ludendorff's. They were the plans of a commander using all the defensive possibilities of his position and restrained by a realistic estimate of his own resources. Till 1935, the only provision that had been made for the west were the plans for "Operation Schulung", which were to come into effect in the event of France applying sanctions.

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