Jeff Rutherford

In this dense monograph the author seeks to plumb the foundations of criminality in the German army in the Second World War and finds that while, yes, socialization into the Nazi worldview did contribute to the violence, the real catalyst was the German military's attitude that "military necessity" was the consideration that superseded all others; this being a polite term for how any extremity in the pursuit of victory was justified. As such, most of the damage done by German soldiers had less to do with field massacres, and more to do with the systematic looting of the Soviet civilian population for food, clothing and shelter. This is an important point to make, the only issue being that having read the works of David Stahel this is not exactly a fresh insight for me at this point.

Apart from this Rutherford also does a service by backing up the higher analysis with case studies of a number of German infantry divisions; the East Prussian 121st, the Berliners of the 123rd and the mostly Catholic Rhinelanders of 126th. Units that could be called "ordinary" if you will. The main point here being that Germany was still sufficiently variegated that Nazi calls for racial violence did have different degrees of traction depending on a unit's recruitment region.

On the whole, highly recommended.… (more)