Аннотация: Hitler. Leeb. Pol Pot. A note on Yu. Lebedev's book "On both sides of the siege ring"
Hitler. Leeb. Pol Pot. A note on Yu. Lebedev's book "On both sides of the siege ring"
In the electronic library next to the book of Yuri Lebedev "Turgenev" is a book by Yu.M. Lebedev "On both sides of the siege ring."
What is this book? The book is based on a comparison of the diaries of a number of participants in the siege of Leningrad in 1941.
One of the central places in the book is occupied by "Diary Notes" by Generalfeldmarschall von Leeb, commander of the German Army Group North, advancing on Leningrad.
In the "Diary Notes" there are concise mentions of Hitler. What can be understood from these references?
For example, the fact that Hitler appointed von Leeb to command the Army Group North, that Hitler had his own, different from Leeb, vision of a war plan and individual military operations, that a number of Hitler's orders met Leeb's disagreement.
The author of the book, Yu. Lebedev, presents quotes from von Leeb, in which von Leeb (after the end of the war) expresses doubt on Hitler's competence in the broadest sense.
What about von Leeb, personally?
He is a military man. He could not but be well acquainted with military (and general) history, with the victory at Sedan (1870), with the victory on the Eastern Front, diplomatically framed by the peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918).
Armistice of 22 June 1940 resembled earlier victories.
In an extremely simplified form, the events corresponded to the scheme: a military victory - a peace treaty - the winner received the material benefits from the defeated - everyone continues to live in comfortable Europe ...
The military operations in Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland made adjustments to the concept of 1870-1871 ...
Military operations led by Hitler against the USSR developed on a new ideological basis.
Suppose (and this assumption does not look fantastic) that von Leeb tried to find analogues in the previous military (and general) history - analogues for the actions, plan and intentions of the fascist army acting against the USSR in 1941.
If the fate of the civilian population of European cities in 1870-1871, 1918, 1940 was more or less clear and this fate determined in accordance with the foundations of international law, then the question of the civilian population of Leningrad arose completely differently. Several times in the book by Yu. Lebedev, in connection with the "Diary Notes" by von Leeb, the attention is focusing on the fate of the civilian population.
Although in 1941 von Leeb could not have known about the emergence of the Pol Pot regime [in Cambodia - Democratic Kampuchea], nevertheless, thoughts about the prospects of the cadre (German) officer corps, about the fate of the broad layers of the educated and cultural (German) population in the state under the leadership of the Nazi top, - such thoughts could came to von Leeb.
The results of the confrontation between Soviet and fascist troops led to the resignation of von Leeb on January 16, 1942.
Yu. Lebedev does not mention the historical essay by Mark Aldanov 'Moltke the Younger'. (In 1914, there were plans to declare Paris an open city, that is, to surrender the city to the advancing German troops without fighting. The German troops on their own initiative changed the direction of their movement. The Paris commander, French General Gallieni hit them on the flank. The defeat of the German troops in the Battle of the Marne led to the failure of the German strategic plan of the war.The chief of the German General Staff Moltke the Younger was dismissed after the failure of the German offensive on Paris).
The book by Yu. Lebedev is based on a comparison of diary entries (notes) and this book seems rather unusual.
May 28, 2020 17:01
Translation from Russian into English: June 1, 2020 18:57.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Гитлер. Лееб. Пол Пот. Заметка о книге Ю.М. Лебедева 'По обе стороны блокадного кольца''.