| ID | 139430 |
| Title Proper | Defiant breakwaters or desperate blunders? a revision of the German late-war fortress strategy |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Willems , Bastiaan |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This article analyzes the impact of Germany’s late-war fortress strategy on both the German defensive conduct and Soviet offensive considerations. The strategy remains shrouded in obscurity, as most historians merely employ the — predominantly negative — opinions of German generals. Therefore, it has been dismissed as yet another example of the inadequacy of Hitler and the German High Command (OKH) to form a suitable defensive strategy. The purpose of this article is to balance this view and bring to light some of the lesser-known characteristics of the strategy. Festung Königsberg, present-day Kaliningrad, will be used as a case study. The developments in and around the city during the period between November 1944 and April 1945 contradict most of the prevailing assumptions about the strategy. |
| `In' analytical Note | Journal of Slavic Military Studies Vol. 28, No.2; Apr/Jun 2015: p.353-378 |
| Journal Source | Journal of Slavic Military Studies Vol: 28 No 2 |
| Key Words | Defiant Breakwaters ; Desperate Blunders ; German Late – War ; Fortress Strategy ; German High Command ; German Defensive Strategy ; German Propaganda |