The Eastern Front, 1941вђ“45, German Troops And T... File

A new generation of leaders, raised and educated entirely under National Socialism, served as the ideological backbone that enforced these brutal policies.

In his ground-breaking study, , historian Omer Bartov challenges the long-held myth that the German Wehrmacht remained "untarnished" by the crimes of the Nazi regime. By looking at three specific front-line divisions—the 12th Infantry, 18th Panzer, and Grossdeutschland—Bartov reveals a process he calls the "barbarisation of warfare" .

How does a professional military force transform into a machine of ideological slaughter? The Eastern Front, 1941–45, German Troops and t...

The physical misery of the Russian winter, constant supply shortages, and massive casualties turned soldiers into survivors indifferent to human life.

Heavy Nazi propaganda within the ranks convinced troops they were fighting a "racial war" against "sub-human" Bolshevism. A new generation of leaders, raised and educated

Bartov identifies three key factors that fueled this descent into brutality:

Draft Post

This post draft focuses on Omer Bartov’s seminal historical work, The Eastern Front, 1941–45: German Troops and the Barbarisation of Warfare . The book is a critical study of how the German army (Heer) became complicit in atrocities and a "war of annihilation" during the invasion of the Soviet Union.