Hitler and his generals - Helmut Heiber

'Verbatim, unvarnished and contemporary, this is the pure raw material of history. It is a fascinating and invaluable source for anyone interested in the workings of the mind of the most evil man in history.' - Andrew Roberts, Evening Standard, 20 January 2003'. . . provides us with unprecedented insight . . . into . . . little-known and little-appreciated aspects of the dictator's personality. As we read this extraordinary volume we are left immeasurably richer in knowledge.'- Gitta Sereny The Times, 16 April 2003New dramatic insights into Hitler's conduct of World War IIOne of the most important documents from the periodProvides new clues to the role of key individuals in the German
military and political hierarchyIn the late summer of 1942 Hitler ordered that stenographers take down every word that was uttered during the twice-daily military conferences. Of the more than 103,000 pages recorded less than 1,000 survived destruction in May 1945, and it is these that make up the material of this book. A truly definitive work, it also contains conferences discovered after the original 1962 German publication that are included here for the first time.
As the tide turned dramatically after Stalingrad and following D-Day, the Fhrer never wavered, pulling Germany down with him, step by step, into the abyss. The total effect of these pages goes far beyond adding powerfully to the military record. The human tragedy also takes on gigantic proportions when countless thousands of victims were often the result of each day of decision-making. Several of these conferences were introduced at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal as evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and they also contain some of the very rare references to the Holocaust in Hitler's own words.