Description
Object description
German officer served as Deputy Chief of Operations Staff with German Army High Command in Germany, 1939-1944
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as Deputy Chief of Operations Staff with German Army High Command in Germany, 1939-1944: origins of plan to attack France, 1940; General Alfred Jodl's reaction to plan to attack France; extent of Adolf Hitler's involvement in planning process; background to choice of Ardennes, France as main thrust of German attack; degree of awareness of vulnerability of French forces; reaction of German High Command to successes of French campaign, 1940.
REEL 2 Continues: Adolf Hitler's fear of French attack on southern flank of German advance; question of Adolf Hitler's reasons for halting of German armour and allowing British Expeditionary Force to escape; visit to Paris, France on capture, 6/1940; question of importance of campaign in North Africa.
REEL 3 Continues: reiteration of origins of plan to attack France, 1940; reiteration of reasons for Sedan and Ardennes, France being chosen for main thrust of German attack, 1940; reiteration of degree of awareness of vulnerability of French forces; reaction to visit to Paris, France on day of capture, 6/1940; reiteration of question of importance of campaign in North Africa; hearing for first time of Adolf Hitler's intentions to attack Soviet Union, 7/1940.
REEL 4 Continues: question of effect of Vyacheslav Molotov's visit to Berlin, 11/1940; reasons for first halting of German forces in Soviet Union, 7/1941; delays to advance on Moscow, Soviet Union after first onset of winter.
REEL 5 Continues: situation for German forces, 8/1944; supply problems, 9/1944; strategy employed by Adolf Hitler during retreats of 1944; question of effects of July Bomb Plot on Adolf Hitler's strategic ideas and relations with General Staff; Adolf Hitler's belief that Warlimont was involved in July Bomb Plot; relations between Adolf Hitler and General Staff after July Bomb Plot, 7/1944.
REEL 6 Continues: situation on Eastern Front after Soviet breakthrough, 1944; reasons for lack of awareness of morale of German people, 1944; retreat of German forces from Balkans and Finland, autumn 1944.
REEL 7 Continues: strategic effects of withdrawal from Finland, 1944; origins of plan to attack American forces in Ardennes, Belgium, winter 1944; degree of involvement of Adolf Hitler in strategic planning during war and specifically in Ardennes offensive; question of implementation of 'big solution' and 'little solution' during late 1944; conviction that Germany would face defeat in Second World War.
REEL 8 Continues: question of motivation of Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel to continue serving Nazis regime; reaction to Adolf Hitler's two day delay in ordering attack on Poland, 9/1939 and situation at Narvik, Norway, 4/1940; impressions of Adolf Hitler's behaviour, 1945; impressions of life in Germany, 1944-1945.