Armageddon

Thanks to some really great buys in a used bookstore, I've been on a Nazi Germany kick lately. It sounds like I may have to add Max Hastings' new book "Armageddon" to my reading list. A review in The New York Times sums things up quite well:

Sometimes outnumbered by as much as seven to one, usually without air support, German troops nevertheless fought with remarkable skill and intensity, inflicting proportionally more casualties than they suffered, forcing their enemies to pay dearly for every kilometer they eventually conquered.

I'd take issue with the comment, however, about how well Germany's war economy ran. From everything I've read, even the Soviet economy functioned better than that of Nazi Germany. The German Army was always reliant on horse-drawn vehicles for transportation. German tanks were perpetually short of spare parts and fuel.

I've often wondered if the problems we face today with so many people so willing to commit to using force across the world is due to the American myth of World War II. The myth that, as one World War II vet told me recently, the Brits had lost everything, so we had to go in there and take care of things. Of course, this completely overlooks the Eastern front, where the war was really decided. What would have happened if the Russians hadn't bled Germany dry?