Manstein · Hitler's Greatest General

The first proper biography of Germany's most controversial military hero. The story of this military genius is the story of a generation: the generals who claimed they fought for Germany, not for Hitler. This was how his defender at Nuremberg (and so far only biographer) Lord Paget regarded Erich von Manstein. Like Albert Speer, the polished, urbane von Manstein was no uncouth Nazi. He spoke good English and persuaded the British historian Liddell Hart to assist his defence in the war crimes trials. Sentenced to 18 years, he was released after three and advised NATO on the reconstructed West German army. Manstein was the military genius who created the plan for the 1940 blitzkrieg that overran France, Belgium and the Netherlands in six weeks. Catapulted to high command, he played a key role in the invasion of Russia, the conquest of the Crimea and it was his task to rescue the Sixth Army at Stalingrad: his most controversial campaign. Three months after Stalingrad, he inflicted a massive defeat on the Russians at Kharkov: a battle that has been studied in military academies ever since. Major General Mungo Melvin speaks perfect German and has been in contact with von Manstein's son and the families of other leading army commanders. This is much more than a biography of a great commander, but the story of the moral dilemmas of a generation. In Germany today, von Manstein has become a symbol fo the moral corruption of the army: the generals who claimed to be above politics, yet whose action (or inaction) enabled Hitler to prosecute a war of conquest and to perpetrate the holocaust. This book will reveal the true story of Hitler and his generals.