The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler’s Germany, 1944–1945

Allied bombing, effect on 79–80, 135

aviation fuel 135

Führerprinzip see leadership concept

Gardelegen, massacre of concentration camp prisoners at (April 1945) 333

Gauleiter (provincial/regional governors) 11, 13, 22, 25, 40, 64, 65–6, 84, 89–90, 111, 118, 125, 138, 142–4, 163, 182, 185, 216, 256, 278–9, 287, 296, 399

central control of 77, 78, 81, 83, 88

in the final phase (March/April 1945) 316–17, 318–21, 342–4, 392

Hitler and 244–5, 318, 320

local troops recruited by 85–6

power held by 392

as Reich Defence Commissars (RVKs) 22, 41–2, 43, 88, 89, 101, 102, 103, 224–5, 290–91

Speer and 290–91

suicide among (post-April 1945) 356

see also individual Gauleiter

Gebhardt, Karl 62, 113

Gehlen, Colonel Reinhard 170

Geisler, Hermann 243, 294

Geneva Convention, Hitler considers scrapping of 259

Gerland, Karl (Gauleiter of Kurhessen) 319

German Army

armaments for see armaments

casualties see casualty figures

civilian population’s hostility towards 261, 262

compulsory military service/conscription 71, 100, 138

courts martial 205, 212, 219–20, 252, 263, 390–91

deserters 155, 196, 211, 212, 218–20, 243, 259–60, 262–4, 272, 297, 305, 313, 314–15, 342, numbers of 220, 390, 391; under a white flag 320; see also execution of below

disintegration of 68, 211, 218–20, 314–15, 367–8

on eastern front 368–71; troop numbers 368; see also Red Army

evacuation 66–7, 68, 177; from eastern front 372–5

execution, of deserters/disaffected troops 69, 120, 155, 203, 204, 216–17, 219, 220, 243, 262, 263, 320, 360–61, 390, 391

Guderian as Chief of General Staff 45–6, 48, 49, 85–6, 102, 106, 127, 165, 170–71, 197–200, 205, 252, 253, 256, 259, 284, 288; dismissal 251–2, 284, 305–6; see also leadership below

Himmler’s reorganization of 36–8

Hitler, allegiance to 32–4, 44–5, 71, 153–4; decline in 66, 212; on his death 248–9

Hitler as C-in-C 169–72, 201, 202, 395–6, 398

Hungarian troops in 93

in Italy 165, 254, 256, 266–7, 284–5; troop numbers 364

Krebs as Chief of General Staff 252, 306, 308; see also

leadership below

leadership 11, 12, 33–4, 36–7, 44–6, 48–52, 53, 154, 169, 171, 196–206, 211–12, 218, 263–73, 296, 302–10, 340, 394–5; criticism of 64–5, 44–7, 68, 70; disaffection among 220–21; generals, number of 266; numbers killed 394; OKH 169–70, 197, 198, 199–200; surrender by 297, 300–301, 304, 368, 369, 373, 376; see also Guderian above; individual officers; Krebs above; Wehrmacht High Command

looting by 212, 259, 315, 342

militia see militia units

morale see morale

mutiny among 259; viewed as impossible 272–3

Nazi Party’s unpopularity with 214, 261, 312

new divisions planned (1944) see Replacement Army

organizational structure 250, 253

rear echelon (Etappe) 67–8, 81

refugees, treatment of 201–2

troops numbers 132, 165, 168, 170, 174, 206, 247, 250, 251, 252, 253, 255, 256, 266, 285, 301, 308–9, 310, 353; in Berlin 308–9; on eastern front 368; in Italy 364; in Norway 367

troops, quality/standard of 137–8, 247, 253, 255, 270, 301, 307, 308, 310–11

Volksgrenadier divisions 64, 151, 222–3

Volkssturm see Volkssturm

Women’s Battalions 310

see also individual units; Waffen-SS; Wehrmacht

German Army atrocities 98, 107, 112

German capitulation (May 1945) 6, 11–12, 14–15, 18, 348–85

Act of Military Surrender (7 May 1945) 371; Soviet version (8 May 1945) 371–2; events following 371–9

Allied demands 370–71; see also Allied strategy, unconditional surrender . . .

Dönitz’s peace negotiations 351, 354–5, 362, 366–77; for partial capitulation 351, 362, 376; von Ribbentrop on 361

Eisenhower, negotiations with 368, 369, 370–71, 375, 376

German-controlled areas at time of 366–7; map 365

in Italy 267, 285–6, 363, 364, 366

Montgomery, negotiations with 366–7

post-war trials 328; at Nuremberg 354

German Navy 205, 265

Dönitz as C-in-C 39, 48, 169, 204, 264, 265, 306, 308, 395

evacuation of civilians by 179, 265, 367, 368, 372

von Friedeburg as C-in-C 360

morale 265, 360–61

transfers from, to Wehrmacht 206, 265, 267, 308, 353, 372

welfare provision in 265

German prisoners of war 32, 56, 70, 71, 154, 160, 196, 211, 226, 254, 255, 260–61, 267–9, 270, 306, 315, 369

in Australia 306

in Soviet hands 94, 254, 368, 369, 371; from Army Group Centre 375; deaths among 375

German Red Cross 183, 192

German–Soviet Treaty of Friendship (September 1939) 99

Germany

administration see administrative systems; Gauleiter

border provinces 72, 85, 86; see also East Prussia

civilians see civilian population

collapse of 207–25, 240–46, 247–92; maps showing 248, 249

radicalization of 51–3

as a totalitarian regime 8–10, 84, 207–8

war aims/objectives 37

see also Hitler, Adolf; Nazi Party

Germany (pre-war) 8, 13, 98, 208, 384

see also First World War

Germany, occupation of (1945–on) 7, 12, 71, 379–85

Allied-appointed mayors 279

as a legal state 378

reconstruction phase 377

by Soviet Union 379

Yalta Conference communiqué on 246

Gerngroß, Captain Rupprecht 343

Gestapo 149, 208