Reading Hitler's Mind - The Intelligence Failure that led to WW2

Reading Hitler's Mind - The Intelligence Failure that led to WW2 written by

Norman Ridley and published by Frontline Books - £20 - Hardback - Pages 240

Most strongly associated with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, it is often stated that

Britain’s policy of appeasement was instituted in the 1930s in the hope of avoiding war

with Hitler’s Nazi Germany. At the time, appeasement was viewed by many as a popular

and seemingly pragmatic policy.

In this book the author sets out to show how appeasement was not a naïve attempt to secure a lasting peace by resolving German grievances, but a means of buying time for rearmament. By the middle of the 1930s, British policy was based on the presumption that the balance of power had already dramatically shifted in Germany’s favour. It was felt that Britain, chiefly for economic reasons, was unable to restore the balance, and that extensive concessions to Germany would not satisfy Hitler, whose aggressive policies intensified the already high risk of war..

The only realistic option, and one that was clearly adopted by Neville Chamberlain, was to try to influence the timing of the inevitable military confrontation and, in the meantime, pursue a steady and economically sustainable programme of rearmament. Appeasement would ‘buy’ that time for the British government.

Crucially this strategy required continuously updated and accurate information about the strength, current and future, of the German armed forces, especially the Luftwaffe, and an understanding of their military strategy. Piercing the Nazis’ veil of secrecy was vital if the intelligence services were to build up a true picture of the extent of German rearmament and the purposes to which it might be put.

The many agents, codebreakers, and counter-espionage personnel played a vital role in maximising the benefits that appeasement provided – even as war clouds continued to gather. These individuals were increasingly handed greater responsibility in a bid to inform British statesmen now scrambling to prepare for a catastrophic confrontation with Germany.

In Reading Hitler’s Mind, Norman Ridley reveals the remarkable efforts made by the tiny, underfunded and often side-lined British intelligence services as they sought to inform those whose role it was to make decisions upon which the wheels of history turned.

This was quite a fascinating read in that it looks at the outbreak of World War Two from a diplomatic viewpoint with regard to the diplomatic services. A department that was in reality underfunded at this time sought to give advice and set the boundaries and aims to the then prime minister Chamberlain. The book also looks at the German intelligence side of things as well as the British role in the run-up to war, and what is good is that we see information about the various conferences and what came about from them. But at the end of the day, Hitler would do what he wanted, so it is intriguing to see how some people were fooled. An excellent book and quite thought-provoking, and certainly a book I would recommend.

Save the Last Bullet - Memoir of a Boy Soldier in Hitler's Army

Save the Last Bullet - Memoir of a Boy Soldier in Hitler's Army written by

Wilhelm Langbein & Heidi Langbein-Allen and published by Pen & Sword Books

- £20 - Hardback - Pages 192

Willi Langbein was just thirteen when the Nazis took him away from his parents under

the pretence of protecting him. Their real reason was to turn him into cannon-fodder for

use against Hitler’s enemies. Deployed to the collapsing Eastern Front in the last days

of the war, Willi, now aged fourteen, and his schoolmates were ordered to stave off the

relentless Russian advance. None were expected to return alive from the final battles

of the Third Reich.

Yet, against all odds, Willi does survive but his ordeal is far from over. He returns home to find everything he knows destroyed. Numb and confused, he is mandated to serve one year of forced farm labour. After his release, he gradually realizes that all he was taught to believe in was a lie and he sinks into depression. Eventually, thanks to his friendship with a kind British soldier, he begins to heal. It begins to dawn on him that he can play a part to ensure that the evil he witnessed is never repeated. Ultimately, he succeeds by earning the Medal of European Merit in 1979 for his contribution to the advancement of European democracy.

Willi’s graphic and moving story, told from a Nazi child soldier’s perspective, is an inspiring memoir of lost innocence and despair, but also of determination and hope restored.

I imagine that what is starting to be done in Russia at the moment, is what happened to Wilhelm Langbein, in that he was taken away from his parents by the state and indoctrinated and taught to believe in the military way. A process by which groups of children are taken forcibly by the state and ‘educated’ to believe what the state wants them to believe, for you then to become a soldier declaring undying obedience to that country. Wilhelm would end up being taken and thrown into the war aged 14, where lucky for him, he survived. He would then be forced into working hard labour where he would strike up a friendship with a British soldier who would in a way give him a chance to see the realities of live and people. Wilhelm would go on to campaign for peace and be rewarded. This is a book about courage, strength and perceverance, an excellent book written by Heidi Langbein-Allen who has done her father proud.

Sniper on the Ypres Salient

Sniper on the Ypres Salient written by Sue Boase and published by

Pen & Sword Books - £22 - Hardback - Pages 224

Just after midnight on 22 April 1916 on the Western Front, a sergeant from the 15th

(1st London) Royal Welsh Fusiliers came sliding and stumbling along the dark, mud-filled

trench towards the four men, huddled together and soaked-through, in the shallow dugout.

He was clutching his postbag in which there were four parcels for one of them, William

McCrae, whose twentieth birthday fell on this day.

A hand-written account by William, my grandfather, was found in my mother’s papers, long after his death. This book describes a year of his time fighting in the First World War, from December 1915 to December 1916.

Two months after his birthday, he was marching towards the Somme, where he was to act as a runner during the key Welsh engagement in the Battle of Mametz Wood. Later, he went on to volunteer and train as a sniper. He continued in this role for over a year, becoming a lance corporal in the 38th Divisional Sniping Company while fighting on the Ypres Salient. His words emphasise the key role snipers played in the collecting of intelligence about the enemy, through close observation and careful reporting.

His account stops abruptly in mid-sentence, just at the point where he indicates he is about to reveal more to us about ‘a new, interesting part of the line to be manned by us Snipers’.

Piecing together clues from his sketches, maps and photos, and this book paints a picture of Williams’ time during the rest of the war. In 1917 he returned to England to train as a temporary officer in the 18th Officer Cadet Battalion at Prior Park, Bath. He came back to the Western Front as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment, where he was seconded to the 1/5 Lancashire Fusiliers until the end of the war. During this time, it is likely that his interest and experience as a sniper continued, with evidence that he may have taught at one of the Sniping Schools set up across France.

Sniper on the Ypres Salient is a very admirable, fascinating and decent book,

impressive that the author Sue Boase, granddaughter of William McCrae, who

started his story/WWI as a runner at The Somme, he would then go on to

become a sniper and this book follows a year in his life. Being a sniper he

would have been a well-trained, patient and observant person and this comes

out in the book as there is lots of detail and the book clearly shows how

observant he was as the great detail comes out as he has a lot of say and

needed too as his intelligence would help support future plans and attacks.

The book is written in little chunks like you would get in a diary, but the

information is always of interest, and you really do get an idea of what life

was like as a sniper in those conditions. Excellent work by Sue Boase, and a

thoroughly good read. I also loved the glossary at the back of the book along

with the huge links of websites in the sources section too.

Warships of the Soviet Fleet 1939-1945 Vol I Major Combatants

Warships of the Soviet Fleet 1939-1945 Vol I Major Combatants written by

Przemyslaw Budzbon , Jan Radziemski, Marek Twardowski and published

by Seaforth Publishing - £45.00 - Hardback - Pages 352

Seventy-five years after the end of the Second World War the details of Soviet ships, their activities and fates remain an enigma to the West. In wartime such information was classified and after a brief period of glasnost (‘openness’) the Russian state has again restricted access to historical archives. Therefore, the value – and originality – of this work is difficult to exaggerate. It sees the first publication of reliable data on both the seagoing fleets and riverine flotillas of the Soviet Navy, listing over 6200 vessels from battleships to river gunboats, and mercantile conversions as well as purpose-built warships. Divided into three volumes, this first covers major surface warships down to MTBs and armoured gunboats, as well as submarines.

For every class there is a design history analysing strategic, tactical and technical considerations, and individual ship detail includes construction yard, key building dates, commissioning, fleet designations, relocations and ultimate fate. Once a closely guarded secret, the wartime loss of every ship and boat (over 1000) is described. Furthermore, the confusion caused by frequent name changes is clarified by indexes that run to 16,000 items.

By following the ships through both their wartime and earlier history, the book reveals many aspects of Russian history that remain highly sensitive: clandestine co-operation with Weimar Germany and fascist Italy, the NKVD-enforced closure of Soviet borders, the ‘Gulag Fleet’, the faked Metallist sinking that excused the military occupation of Estonia, and the ill-conceived pact with Nazi Germany. Restrictions recently imposed on historical publications in Russia mean this book could certainly not have been published there – as proven by the fact that most of the authors' Russian collaborators preferred not to disclose their identities.

This book has been a really informative and comprehensive read, a lot of time has been taken to present great detail for the reader, like what had been said detail has not often been made available to the west for secretive reasons. For a start I should just say that for some reason I just love a book with a map on the inside cover and this book does, I don’t know why, maybe it reminds me of old history books of the past. 

The book starts off with a great chapter that emphasises Organisation, Ship Types, Fleets, Ship Constructors, Ship Building Programmes, Quality and Performance. This was all really good to read because they set the scene for what was to come about the various ships. The book then goes into the individual types of ships and classes such as Cruisers, Torpedo Boats, Submarines, Monitors and Gunboats. Each ship gets a little history, pictures, plans, diagrams, specifications and any outstanding details that make that ships stand out. This is a fascinating and detailed book that kept me hooked and there is a big realisation as to how big the Russian Navy was and how the Navy was greatly built in reaction to what was going on in WW2. I would highly recommend this book and a brilliant encyclopedic read. In fact, I want to give it 5 Stars.

Operation Hoss - The Deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, May–July 1944

Operation Hoss - The Deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz,

May–July 1944 written by Ian Baxter and published by Pen & Sword

Books - £14.99 - Softcover - Pages 144

Operation Höss or Aktion Höss was the codename for the mass deportation of Hungarian Jews and their murder in the gas chambers of Birkenau extermination camp. Between 14 May and 9 July 1944, 420,000 Jews were sent to Auschwitz from Hungary, or about 12,000 per day. On arrival some twenty-five percent were selected for forced labour while the remainder were immediately gassed. The name of this atrocity came from Rudolf Höss, who returned as the commandant of Auschwitz to increase the killing capacity and ensure the smooth running of the operation. The specially built railway line into Birkenau from Auschwitz made transports to the camp more efficient enabling the SS to increase the daily killing capacity. After the war, SS Adolf Eichmann, who had organised the deportations from Hungary, boasted that Operation Höss was an achievement never matched before or since.

This shocking book tells the story of this inhuman venture from its conception and planning, and though to the bitter, tragic end.

This book is insane as it shows the utter depravity of Nazi Germany attempting to destroy a huge number of Hungarian Jews at the german concentration camps of Auschwitz & Birkenau in a two-month period (420.000). What makes it even worse is the Germans wanted to concentrate on how to make the whole process quicker and more efficient. The pictures throughout the book not only show the people being lined up to be gassed but being separated into groups where those ‘lucky’ enough could be sectioned off to perform slave labour whilst the rest were killed. Whilst the book is well written, in quite a few cases there is no need for words, a picture tells the story, which I guess is the point of the book. Another great book for the series.

Cardinal Wolsey - For King & Country

Cardinal Wolsey - For King & Country written by Phil Roberts and published

by Pen & Sword Books - £20 - Hardback - Pages 208

The Wolseys of Suffolk date to Anglo-Saxon times. The earliest notice of a Wolsey as

an inhabitant of Ipswich is Thomas Wolsey’s father, Robert. He was a successful small

businessman and married Joan Daundy. Thomas was probably born in 1471 in an inn,

and was almost certainly baptised in St Mary at the Elms church, Ipswich.

Wolsey graduated from university and then his climb to power was extremely fast. He entered the royal household as the chaplain to King Henry VII. When Henry VIII ascended to the throne, Wolsey became his almoner, which gave him access to the king’s council. Henry was very impressed with Wolsey’s work, and Thomas gained many important clerical positions. In 1515, Wolsey became Lord Chancellor of England. Thomas Wolsey’s most famous peace treaty was signed between Henry VIII and Francis I of France at the glorious Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520.

Henry had not produced a male heir. A woman called Anne Boleyn came on the scene. Henry began to think that she could mother him a son. The king asked Wolsey to seek a divorce from his first wife. He tried his outmost, as always, but the Pope kept delaying the matter. Wolsey failed and fell out of favour with Henry. He was charged with treason and escorted to the Tower of London. On his way, Thomas became very frail and sadly, on 29 November 1530 he died at Leicester Abbey.

This book about Cardinal Wolsey was an interesting one in that it was a lot more balanced book about the Cardinal, a man who was quite an intelligent man who held big roles of power within the land. He is usually saddled with failing to get a divorce for Henry VIII, but he was quite an accomplished man. The book was very well written and nicely balanced, if you're a fan of the Tudor period, I would think you would enjoy this a lot.

Hitler’s Father - Hidden Letters: Why the Son Became a Dictator

Hitler’s Father - Hidden Letters: Why the Son Became a Dictator written by

Roman Sandgruber and published by Frontline Books - £25 - Hardback - Pages 272

The bundle of 31 letters, the pages of which had long yellowed with age, had lain

hidden in the attic where they were found for over a century. Only when the razor-

sharp script was examined further did historians discover just who had written them

– and that person, Alois, was Adolf Hitler’s father.

Born Alois Schicklgruber on 7 June 1837, the identity of his biological father still undisclosed, Alois eventually became a civil servant in the Austrian customs service. At around the age of 40, Alois changed his family name from Schicklgruber to Hitler – his infamous son being born some eleven years later.

The contents of the re-discovered letters have allowed the renowned historian and author Roman Sandgruber to reassess the image that we have of Alois, offering the world a completely new and authentic impression of the man. In Hitler’s Father, Sandgruber re-examines Alois’ personality and how he significantly shaped the young Adolf.

The letters also shed further light onto the everyday life of the Hitler family as whole, a story which is often characterized by myths, inventions and assumptions. They have given the author the opportunity to recount the childhood and youth of the future dictator, painting a dramatic picture of the ‘Führer’ growing up.

These letters also help answer the question that is so often asked: How could a child from an Upper Austrian province, seemingly a failure and self-taught, rise to a position of such power? Indeed, Adolf Hitler’s father and ‘the province’ seemingly lay heavily on him until his suicide in the Führerbunker in 1945. The author examines how the young Hitler’s lowly upbringing may have affected him in the years that followed – years which shaped the history of the whole world. 

I reviewed another book recently called Lucky Hitler’s Big Mistakes, a really good book that looks at the rise and fall of Hitler and how much of it was his own fault. This book has similar aims in that it wants to look at the background of Hitler and how he became the person he was by looking at how he grew up mainly through the guidance of his father, Alois Hitler. This is often a question asked in the circles of history buffs, trying to find out why Hitler became who he was, and in many ways, by looking at this father this can be seen and answers a few questions and dispels a few myths too. It was a fascinating and interesting read, or I certainly thought so, and I have my own opinions about this subject but then maybe I should write a book about it. This is certainly a really good book and if you are interested in finding out about what’s behind the mask, this book will help. The notes and bibliography at the back of this book are excellent, I didn’t realise so many books had been written on this subject previously.