Since the end of World War II, Germans have struggled with the legacy of the Wehrmacht -- the unified armed forces mobilized by Adolf Hitler in 1935 to ensure the domination of the Third Reich in perpetuity. Historians have vigorously debated whether the Wehrmacht's atrocities represented a break with the past or a continuation of Germany's military traditions. Now available for the first time in English, this meticulously researched yet accessible overview by eminent historian Rolf-Dieter Muller provides the most comprehensive analysis of the organization to date, illuminating its role in a complex, horrific era. Muller examines the Wehrmacht's leadership principles, organization, equipment, and training, as well as the front-line experiences of soldiers, airmen, Waffen SS, foreign legionnaires, and volunteers. He skillfully demonstrates how state-directed propaganda and terror influenced the extent to which the militarized Volksgemeinschaft (national community) was transformed under the pressure of total mobilization. Finally, he evaluates the army's conduct of the war, from blitzkrieg to the final surrender and charges of war crimes. Brief acts of resistance, such as an officers' "rebellion of conscience" in July 1944, embody the repressed, principled humanity of Germany's soldiers, but ultimately, Muller concludes, the Wehrmacht became the "steel guarantor" of the criminal Nazi regime.

In late November 1942, Soviet forces surrounded General Friedrich Paulus’ Sixth Army in a pocket at the Russian city of Stalingrad. In response, the Germans planned a relief operation, Operation Winter Thunderstorm, intended to break through the Soviet forces and open the pocket, releasing the encircled units. The 6th Panzer Division was the spearhead of the German relief force. The attack started on 12 December 1942 and was aborted on 23 December after heavy Soviet counterattacks. This failure sealed the fate of the German Sixth Army in Stalingrad. This account of the operation was first published in German in 1956, written by the well-respected military historian and retired German officer, Horst Scheibert, who was a tank commander in 6th Panzer Division during the attempt. Utilising many excerpts from war diaries, and telegrams sent during operations, it is a unique account of the entire operation from the situation in mid-November through the two German offensives, the Soviet counteroffensive and ongoing fighting until early January. This book includes 16 maps from the original edition and is the first English translation of this important German account.