"A John Macrae book."....t.p. Includes index. "A John Macrae book."

Introduction : truth and error -- 1. The German army in 1918 : secrets of success -- 2. The army before Hitler : hollow victories, shattered illusions -- 3. Breaking out of the cave : Hitler and the Wehrmacht's Jewish problem -- 4. Planes, personalities, and conflict in the Luftwaffe -- 5. Paper tigers : Hitler's tanks -- 6. Bloodless victories, or nearly so : toward a greater Germany, 1935-39 -- 7. The fall of the West, September 1939-June 1940 -- 8. A few distractions on the road to Armageddon -- 9. The Soviet collapse -- 10. The death ride : Russia, December 1941-December 1944 -- 11. Failure and philosophy : the end of the war -- 12. The criminals -- 13. Conclusion : myths, realities, and achievements.