Summary of Max Hastings's Das Reich

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The 2,500 survivors of Battle Group Lammerding were ordered to move to France and form part of the Das Reich division. They were leaving behind their few remaining tanks, vehicles, and guns, as well as the memory of thousands of their dead in frozen graves.

#2 The 2nd SS Das Reich Armored Division was not a shadow of its former self when it arrived in Bordeaux from the East in April 1944. The High Command in the East had stripped its surviving teeth formations to strengthen the sagging line on the Dnieper.

#3 The SS was the fire brigade of Hitler’s empire, rushed to every crisis. They had become the backbone of the German military, and were at the forefront of Hitler’s operational plans until the end of the war.

#4 The Das Reich was a new division, made up of conscripts. The Allied forces expected that the 2nd SS and its 209 tanks and assault guns would be playing a prominent role in the Normandy battle by 9 or 10 June. But the soldiers lacked the passion of the pre-war SS.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822527188

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Max Hastings's Das Reich

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The 2,500 survivors of Battle Group Lammerding were ordered to move to France and form part of the Das Reich division. They were leaving behind their few remaining tanks, vehicles, and guns, as well as the memory of thousands of their dead in frozen graves.

#2

The 2nd SS Das Reich Armored Division was not a shadow of its former self when it arrived in Bordeaux from the East in April 1944. The High Command in the East had stripped its surviving teeth formations to strengthen the sagging line on the Dnieper.

#3

The SS was the fire brigade of Hitler’s empire, rushed to every crisis. They had become the backbone of the German military, and were at the forefront of Hitler’s operational plans until the end of the war.

#4

The Das Reich was a new division, made up of conscripts. The Allied forces expected that the 2nd SS and its 209 tanks and assault guns would be playing a prominent role in the Normandy battle by 9 or 10 June. But the soldiers lacked the passion of the pre-war SS.

#5

The German army was the greatest fighting force of World War II, and the SS divisions performed miracles. The Das Reich Division was no exception. The majority of the division’s officers and NCOs were lower middle-class or working-class origins, men whom the old German Army would never have considered commissioning.

#6

The conditions of war in the East were far worse than those in Europe. In winter, weapons, vehicle bearings, engines, horses, and men were relentlessly destroyed by the cold.

#7

The German and Russian armies were extremely brutal to each other. The Russians were masters of night-fighting, and they had no German tank to match the Russian T-34. The Germans were awed by the huge artillery barrages laid down by the Russians before their attacks.

#8

The German Army was sent to France in 1944 to prepare for an Allied invasion, but many were not prepared for the political changes that they would face. Some were shocked by the cold treatment they received from French civilians, and many were not prepared for the harsh reality of