There were serious flaws in Germany's military leadership especially the command exercised by Hitler.German dictator more and more relied on intuition while taking decisions which impinged upon the security of the Reich.Most of his decisions were devoid of sound military logic.Success of his initial moves -annexation of Rhineland, Austria,Sudentenland; conquest of Poland ,France and Low countries- made Hitler think himself infallible. His initial triumphs laid the seeds for Third Reich's defeat.Other reasons given for Germany's defeat :Hitler's interference which had a stultifying effect on military operations at every level.Ethics of Prussian military caste represented by the officer corps which blindly followed orders was exploited by the wily German dictator.They meekly executed Hitler's orders even at a time when it brought only military ruin to the country.All this does not mean German General Staff was free from blame.They consistently sought scapegoats for some of the major reverses suffered by the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front.Infact I do not find any difference between the General Staff and Hitler. Both represent two faces of the same coin. General Staff ,like the leader of the Reich, wanted to reverse the outcome of the First world war and sought military glory. However unlike the leader it showed more restraint in aiming to attain those objectives.The situation was further compounded by the poor quality of the German intelligence.As postwar revelations show miserable failure of German intelligence.The author has correctly put it "German victories were won disregarding intelligence rather than heeding it".

Further author elaborates on the blunders committed by Hitler and his Generals while prosecuting war.The escape of BEF from Dunkirk ,for this senior officers of the German GroupA should share the blame with Hitler.Hitler was wrong in assuming that British were finished,for the German leader thought the French holding out below river Somme posed more serious menace.A serious student of military history of the western world knows that key to the domination of Europe lay in conquest and subjugation of Britain.Because London formed the 'centre of gravity of the war as the German military philospher Von Clausewitz would have put it.Hitler ought to have realised this ,had he done so there would not have been 'miracle at Dunkirk'Fuehrer and his Generals thought Soviet Union could be conquered in one rapier-like thrust.On the contrary the immense reserves at the disposal of the Soviets wore down the German onslaught.This along with poor quality of roads with huge distances to be covered in Russia impeded German invasion.Hitler's obsession with Russia prevented Germany from coming to grips with the British Empire.Possibly a fraction of the forces earmarked for Barbarossa would have sufficed to smash British Empire .As a result a golden opportunity which comes rarely in the history of the country ,according to author, was botched.Perhaps the biggest blunder committed by Third Reich was when it declared war on UnitedStates.Hitler's assurances that he will come to the aid of his Japanese ally emboldened Tokyo to attack PearlHarbor.Under the mutually defensive Tripartite Pact [signed by Axis powers on Sep 27,1940] Germany could have stopped shot of declaring war on US.But the German dictator succumbed to the demands of Kriegsmarine,which fed up by constant American provocations ,wanted to initiate attacks on US shipping in the Atlantic. Second part of the book the author expatiates on the reasons for German failure to repel Allied landings in Normandy and finally defeat of Wehrmacht in the west.Here I feel Schulman is partial in the interpretation of events.The author makes reader believe Germans were on the run the day the Allies landed in Normandy.Author has ignored Montgomery's botched attempt to seize Caen as the Anglo-Americans were prevented every where from attaining D-day objectives.For more than a month outgunned outnumbered German units were able to pin down Allied armies.Confined to Normandy lodgements the Allies resorted to tremendous firepower to bludgeon through German defences.Notwithstanding the fact they were doped by Goebbel 's propaganda,German soldiers put up a fanatical resistance.Even Hitler's Mortain counter-attack could have been fatal if the Anglo-Americans not had the benefit of Ultra. There are a few factual errors in the book.In the chapter narrating German invasion of the Wes tauthor says Von Manstein personally approached Hitler to discuss the plan of campaign.We now know that it was Hitler's personal adjutant Rudolf Schmundt who brought about their meeting after Manstein was unceremoniously removed from the post of chief- of -staff of Army Group A due jealousy and backbiting of senior officers of Army General staff.Another mistake is author's argument that Hitler was responsible for halting German armour before Dunkirk.Research done by reputed historians -Shirer ,Liddell Hart,Bullock-blame Von Runstedt for the halt order.Fact goes that rapidity of German advance through northern France stunned even some of their commanders who felt tanks had moved far ahead of supporting infantry consquently flanks were exposed.Von Kluge ,the commander of 4th army phoned Von Runstedt at Army Group A HQ who issued halt order.Equally erroneous is author's argument that Moscow instigated resistance against Axis domination in the Balkans Actually it was British secret services along with American OSS which fomented trouble.Churchill wanted to create Balkan Front against Germany involving Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia.Also preposterous is the notion had there not been Balkan mess Germany would have launched its attack on Soviet Union on May 1941,Wehrmact would have escaped Russian winter seized Moscow.