Tapping Hitler's Generals

When the war had not been brought to a successful conclusion by the autumn of 1941, I used every opportunity at conferences to make known my opinion that the whole situation for Germany was becoming extremely critical since time was against us and America would certainly come in on the other side once the USA had made the necessary economic preparations. When we had successes but still no victory in the East in 1942, I knew then that the war was unwinnable.[101]

Apparently the preparations to attack the Soviet Union ignited in Thoma a process of reflection which culminated over the next two years in the certainty that the war was lost. Captivity played no part in his ‘awakening’. The notes in his diary made at Trent Park coincide precisely with the CSDIC protocols. Thoma noted on 17 January 1943:

…It is, when one considers the war potential of all those in the world against us, only a postponement, no prevention of the outcome. A long war is–measured against the war situation–impossible for little Germany, and since we have already been fighting for several years, it cannot end happily for us. I felt that when America entered the war, and the situation is very similar to when they came in during World War I.[102]

Three days later he wrote,

The spectre of this war must be exorcised from the world once and for all. The State-philosophy of the Axis Powers is based principally on contempt for the individual, freedom and free speech. If we ever make this philosophy our own, our victory would become a defeat for all people… I cannot predict when the war will end, but I can say one thing: the year 1943 will bring us a good way back along the road to Berlin, Rome and Tokyo.[103]

Crüwell’s military career began in the Prussian Army, and at first sight it is similar to that of von Thoma. Crüwell also ended World War I as an Oberleutnant, but from then until September 1939 ascended more speedily. Both in the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht it had been his ambition to become a Staff Officer, but he was only at OKH in 1936 and 1939, and then never more than a few months. From October 1939 he was Senior Quartermaster, 16 Armee, in August 1940 he took command of 11 Panzer Division, with which he experienced the conquest of Belgrade and penetrated deep into the Ukraine in the first seven weeks of the Russian campaign. He arrived in North Africa on 15 August 1941 and was captured there on 29 May 1942. Unlike Thoma he was never long a senior military commander. After fighting at the front in Russia only during the lightning advances of the opening weeks, he was then part of the North African ‘sideshow’ from August 1941. When captured, German and Italian troops were on the verge of overrunning the British defences at Gazala near Tobruk and ejecting the British 8th Army from Libya.

Crüwell’s war was a war of German victories, favourable promotions and high decorations (Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves). He had had no experiences resembling those of Thoma at OKH, neither the ‘Napoleon Winter’ at the gates of Moscow, nor the struggle for supplies at El Alamein. Although reports from the front gave him worries and doubts, he did not infer from them that the war was lost (Document 8).[104] Even after Stalingrad he believed in a German victory and comforted himself in the face of Thoma’s many complaints with observations such as ‘The German Army is still the best in the world.’[105]