[ASLML] Inside The Third Reich

[Jim McLeod]

Listerz;

I just finished reading this book last night.  Going on the assumption
that what Speer wrote is mostly true, I have the following observations;

[NOTE: many of you already know much of the following or will think that
I am engaging in a a little butt-speak but hey, everyone is entitled to
voice an opinion :) ]

- The nazi leadership (if one could call it leadership) was poor beyond
belief; a collection of losers, freaks, butt-kissers and misfits led by
a man who was able to fool all of the people some of the time.

- The nazi leadership played a huge role in the shortening of WWII
through their infighting, internal power struggles and Hitler's military
meddling; the fact that they also started the war notwithstanding.  I
also am of the opinion that deep down, Hitler knew he was screwed when
he failed to defeat the Soviets in 1941.

- Hitler was, in a way, "afraid" that the German people would turn
against him during the war and that the German people did not want war. 
For most of the war, luxury goods continued to be produced at the
expense of armament production.  IMO, this was to keep the people happy
during the war.

- Speer was one of the most dangerous men to the Allied cause.  Had been
able to do all he wished to do and when he wanted to do it, the war
would have dragged on much longer.

- I don't believe that Hitler expected the French and British to go to
war over Poland.  He thought he would still be able to ride the wave he
rode in the Rhineland, Austria, Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia.  Hitler
may have foreseen a war versus France (settling the WWI account) and
versus the Soviets (settling the ideological account) but not until at
least the mid '40's by which time he would have had his playing field
set up.  The Germans may have still kicked the French around but the
Russians would have crushed the Germans.

- Hitler had a soft spot for the English and his halt at Dunkirk may be
proof of this.  After the fall of France, Hitler wished for a peace deal
with England and figured that if he held back on them in France he could
cut such a deal.  Obviously Hitler forgot the "kickem' when their down"
rule of warfare.

- Hitler's dream of an economically united Europe is being realized
today, sort of.  He envisioned Germany and France being the major
players with Germany being the more major of the two.

- Allied strategic bombing was far more effective, according to Speer,
than I ever thought.  The Allies failed to succeed due to their not
following through on initial raids on chemical/fuel plants and factories
(especially ball bearing factories).  According to Speer, German
industry would have come to a halt if the Ruhr dams were destroyed and
bombing had continued against the armaments factories.

The bombing of civilian targets was wrong, morally as well as militarily
(generally speaking, German civilian resolve increased with the
bombings, as it did with the British civilian population during the
Blitz), and the strageic bombing effort should have concentrated on
industrial targets.  Especially interesting were Speer's comments on the
bombing of the Ruhr dams by the dam busters.  The Brits had the right
idea but, again, failed to follow through.  If one is conspiratorily
minded, the Allies were quite aware of the true effect of their
strategic bombing on industrial targets.  They switched targets from
industry to civilian in order to keep the Germans going against the
Russians prior to June '44.

- The similarities between Saddam Hussein's regime and that of Hitler's
is remarkable and both met their end in a hole in the ground.

Overall, I get the impression that Speer used his memoir to reform his
image from one of active participant in Hitler's regime to that of a
duped participant in that same regime.  I don't buy that personally as
Speer seems to have been one of the few intelligent people who walked
within Hitler's inner circle.  He could not not see what was going on
around him and yet he did nothing to stop it or at very least hinder
what was going on.  On the contrary, he was the man responsible for
Germany's increased armament production in the latter half of the war. 
He was lucky to get off with 20 years in Spandau.

Having said all that, and if you are still reading, consider this.

[conspiracy mode ON]

There are the Allies, plugging away through 1941 to early 1943.  The
desert war is a total sideshow in the big scheme of things.  The Allie's
deep stratigic thinkers know that Hitler can't win the war versus the
Soviets after Stalingrad.  The Allies now are looking at postwar Europe
and their enemy is the USSR as the nazis are done.  The Allies need the
Russians to grind down the Germans and they, the Allies, also need the
Germans to grind down the Russians.  IMHO, that is why the Allies
avoided the invasion of France until June '44.  Invading Italy was an
appeasement to the Russians and the Allies would have been farther ahead
to have not invaded Italy at all.

IMO, Ol' Eisenhower had his sights on the US presidency by the time of
WWII.  His hands off approach to the ground war in France after the
D-Day landings may indicate that he:

- knew without doubt that the Allies would win.

- knew that the families of dead American soldiers might not be so keen
to vote for candidate Ike'.  His broad front strategy hints in that
direction as do the antics of his "party all the time" HQ.  They knew
they would win so why push the issue.  Keep US losses low to help Ike's
image with voters but lets meet the Russians in mid-Germany for the next
war so France doesn't get trashed again.  The A-bomb's dropped in Japan
were in a way, the final test of that weapon for the benefit of the
Russians.

[conspiracy mode OFF]



			=Jim=