Combat and genocide on the Eastern Front : the German infantry's war, 1941-1944

By 1944, the overwhelming majority of the German Army had participated in the German war of annihilation in the Soviet Union and historians continue to debate the motivations behind the violence unleashed in the east. Jeff Rutherford offers an important new contribution to this debate through a study of combat and the occupation policies of three frontline infantry divisions. He shows that while Nazi racial ideology provided a legitimizing context in which violence was not only accepted but encouraged, it was the Wehrmacht's adherence to a doctrine of military necessity which is critical in explaining why German soldiers fought as they did. This meant that the German Army would do whatever was necessary to emerge victorious on the battlefield. Periods of brutality were intermixed with conciliation as the army's view and treatment of the civilian population evolved based on its appreciation of the larger context of war in the east..Features: --Major contribution to the continuing controversy surrounding the conduct of war on the Eastern Front. --In-depth study of the actions of three frontline infantry divisions reveals why German soldiers fought as they did highlighting the greater importance of doctrines of military necessity over racial ideology. --Examines the changing imperatives of German occupation policies right from Barbarossa until early 1944. Jeff Rutherford is Assistant Professor of History at Wheeling Jesuit University. Publisher's note. Includes bibliographical references (pages 389-414) and index. xv, 423 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.