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

Volksgrenadier divisions (People’s Grenadiers) 64, 151, 222–3

Volkssturm (national militia) 86–8, 106–8, 113, 118, 138, 143, 180, 212, 219, 254, 393

casualty figures 107

command/administration of 107, 145

as deserters 259–60

as guards on death marches 333

as militarily useless 393

oaths of allegiance 147

von . . . see next element of personal name

Wächtler, Fritz (Gauleiter of Bayreuth) 317, 322

execution 322–3, 342

Waffen-SS 23, 31, 36, 37, 70, 72, 122, 211, 310, 314, 352

atrocities committed by 121

Wagner, Richard: Götterdämerung 6

Wahl, Kurt (Gauleiter of Swabia) 245, 278, 316

Wannsee Conference (January 1942) 359

war criminals, Allied definition of 362

warfare

blitzkrieg 26

exit strategies 27, 283–4, 286, 336

negotiated settlements 6–7, 12, 15, 18, 27, 55, 87, 280–86, 336, 352, 387, 396–7

‘peace at any price’ 148, 155

total war concept 23–4, 25–6, 38–44, 60, 61, 146; see also Goebbels, Joseph, as Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War

unconditional surrender 7–8, 10, 50–51, 71, 246, 271, 354, 361, 362, 369, 370–71, 386–7, 397; Churchill on 387; see also German capitulation

Warlimont, General Walter 8

Warsaw 96, 172

German bombing 236

Red Army invasion (January 1945) 174, 203

uprising (August 1944) 93; German destruction following 174, 251

water supplies see food/water supplies

weapons see armaments

Wegener, Paul (Gauleiter of Weser-Ems) 359

Wehrmacht 3, 5, 9, 17, 22, 186

arms supplies 11; see also armaments

command structure 169

fragmentation of 5, 20

local defence operations 85; see also local militia

Nazification of 45–51, 52, 70, 71, 90, 268, 394–5

de-Nazification (post-capitulation) 380

post-capitulation reputation 380

recruitment 23, 24–5, 40–41, 69, 75, 76–9, 85, 100, 146, 206, 242, 265, 276, 308, 353

transfers to: from Hitler Youth 310–11, 320, 357; from German Navy 206, 265, 267, 308, 353, 372; from Luftwaffe 206, 308; from SS 308

see also German Army; individual army groups

Wehrmacht High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) (OKW) 8, 9, 48, 200–206, 247, 249, 255–6, 323, 339–40, 394–5

Berchtesgaden, operations from (April 1945) 339, 342

Dönitz administration and 360

final report (May 1945) 376

Himmler and 35–7, 52–3

Hitler, relationship with/opinion of 27, 28, 29, 45, 133, 154, 266–7; on his death 348–9

Hitler, plot to assassinate (von Stauffenberg plot) (July 1944) 12, 13, 14, 29–35, 36, 43, 44, 46, 48–9, 53, 268, 387, 394, 396; effect of 379, 385, 388–9; public opinion on 31–3

Hitler’s relationship with his generals 200, 202, 203, 221, 251–2, 254, 284, 299, 304, 305–6, 338, 340, 342, 353, 366, 395–6, 397, 399

Keitel as head of 204, 218, 296, 360; see also Keitel

Krampnitz, operations from (April 1945) 339, 342

nationalism among 384–5

NSFO corps in 46–7, 50, 52, 90, 101, 205, 313, 394

officer corps code of honour 154, 254, 266–7, 309, 376

Operations Staff 27, 29, 44–5; see also Jodl, General Alfred

Plön, operations from (April 1945) 339, 342

post-capitulation 377, 385

responsibilities 169–70

suicide among (April 1945–on) 355, 356

war prospects, views on 27–9, 57, 159, 165–6l 202–3, 220–22, 260–73, 296, 302–10, 337–47, 385, 387, 395–6

see also German Army, leadership; individual officers

Weiglein, Karl 327

Weimar 297, 330

Weiß, General Walter 251

welfare provision 32, 74, 183, 192, 275

see also NSV

Wenck, General Walther 198, 339, 368

Werwolf groups/Freikorps ‘Adolf Hitler’ 279–80, 318, 320, 344, 369

Dönitz’s banning of 367

numbers killed by 280

Wesel 254, 255

western front see Allied invasion (1944–5), in the west

Westwall (Siegfried line) 62, 63, 65, 69, 88, 89, 131

Wiesbaden 260

Wilck, Colonel Gerhard 70

Wilhelm Gustloff (cruise ship) 183

Winter, Lieutenant-General August 206, 366

Wismar 366

Wöhler, General Otto 253

Wolf’s Lair, near Rastenburg 173

Wolff, SS-Obergruppenführer Karl 165, 284

in Italy 284–5, 292, 363

OSS, secret talks with 285, 363

women 18, 25, 31, 32, 61, 65, 108, 192–3, 218, 226, 317–18, 324–5

in concentration camps 228; as evacuees from 185, 231, 234; in Ravensbrück women’s camp 330, 334, 336

conscription into labour battalions 88, 89

as evacuees 177, 178–9, 180, 182, 183, 345

execution of, for defeatism 325–6

Red Army treatment of 112, 113, 114, 115, 181, 188, 357–8

women workers 25, 75–6, 88, 89, 101, 104

see also

labour supply

Women’s Battalions 310

Worms 255

Wriezen 302

Württemberg 299, 311

Murr as Gauleiter 278, 325

Würzburg 3, 236, 238

Hellmuth as Gauleiter 291

Yalta Conference (February 1945) 246

Yugoslavia 93, 94

Zeitzler, General Kurt (Chief of General Staff) 28–9, 45

Zellingen 327

Zhukov, Marshal Georgi 168, 176, 181

Berlin, advance on (April 1945) 301–2, 352

German surrender, signatory to 372

Zirkl, Joseph 343

Zossen 268, 302

Zurich 285

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