The treaty of Versailles was actually a blessing in disguise for the Army. It allowed them to create a small but professional and elite force which made possible the theories they created. This was interrupted when Hitler came to power and with Bloomberg's motto of "Victory goes to the big battalions". The army enjoyed independence until 1938 when they marched into Austria. In that time period the tactics were further reformed into the Vernichtungsgedanke doctrine but the equipment did not often measure up to par.

The Initial Success - Poland & France

The Polish really had no chance of victory considering they were going to fight a two front war. German forces had a large mobile advantage over the polish army which led them to their victories. The Germans had 2 army groups (North and South) which were headed by Fedor Von Bock and Gerd Von Rundstedt. The Mobility allowed them to create Kessels around polish forces so they could muster there firepower to force a surrender. In France they faced a more dangerous foe. The German soldier was trained better and treated better than his French counterpart. And when they faced each other, the results were all too predictable. The Germans used a plan drawn by Manstein to trap the French forces by striking hard through the Ardennes. The Manstein plan was a modified version of the original Schlieffen plan. Manstein's plan was an alternative only and was chosen after the original plans for Fall Gelb had been captured by the Belgians due to a navigation error of the pilot who flew the courier plane. The plan worked and created a large trapped Kessel of French forces, even though the British evacuated over 300,000 men at Dunkirk. Again, it was superior German mobility and tactics which prevailed over a larger force.

The Failure - Russia

"The world will hold its breath" were the words Hitler used to symbolize what would happen when they launched Operation Barbarossa. The way operation Barbarossa was drawn up it had no chance of success. The Germans depended on deep penetrations, which went sharply against the Vernichtungsgedanke concept which they reformed their army to mirror. One of the plans of Barbarossa (which was rejected) was to have a double pincer movement which would close well to the west of Moscow. That plan followed their Vernichtsgungdanke concept, and was there best chance of winning in the East. Instead they over stretched there supply lines, didn't close encirclements in time and tried to go against time by trying everything to push East. When they lost during Barbarossa, they lost all chance of obtaining a final victory. The logistics were the main problem. In mid-42 Hitler realized that it would be a long war and Albert Speer became R¸stungminister. Since then the economy was a full war economy. The highest production output was in 43-44, but only because Speer converted the economy from mid-1942 on into a full war economy, and because of the concentration on a few reliable types of tanks, planes, etc. Russia was much aided by the other allies via the Murmansk route (the radios, water proof wire and trucks were the main help).

The End - 1942-1945

During Spring of 1942 the Germans made one last desperate push to capture the oil supplies in the Caucuses. They reached the Volga and Caucuses Mountains, but the Russians were retreating faster than the Germans could encircle them. The Russian doctrine was to retreat and use the vastness of the country to prevent encirclements, after the first year and the first months of 1942. Stalingrad is a symbolic turning point, but its importance is nothing of what it is made out to be. The turning point was long before Stalingrad and the events to the South were more important. When Stalingrad fell, Manstein performed a miracle to stabilize the lines and retake Kharkov. The failure occurred at Kursk when the German forces withdrew just as they were about to have another great victory. Das Afrika Korps (DAK) did not have much luck when the supplies ran out, which is largely the fault of not taking Malta, the RAF's unsinkable aircraft carrier. From Malta the RAF could attack the convoys heading towards Africa. The Germans were on the retreat everywhere after Kursk, but performed remarkable defensive feats in Italy and even in Russia. The largest handicap the army faced was Hitler, whose constant meddling with plans led to horrible results. On June 6th the 2nd front was created, but more important for the German army was June 22, 1944. On that date huge Russian offensives pushed the Germans back to Warsaw. The Germans were now clawing for survival, but it was in a futile attempt. To sum it up, Cicero once said "A army in the field is of little value, unless there are wise councils at home".