HITLER'S MISTAKES by Ronald Lewin. (New York: William Morrow & Company, 1984), 174 pages. $14.95 Reading Hitler's Mistakes will probably not improve your wargaming technique but as an insightful, analytical look at Hitler's military and political shortcomings, this book is without peer. Much of the material in Lewin's work -- the rampant infighting amongst Hitler's (supposedly monolithic) subordinates, mismanagement of the economy, the lack of strategic foresight -- is available from other sources and undoubtedly already familiar to many wargamers and military history buffs. However, Lewin has admirably synthesized all this material to depict the inner tensions, power struggles and fragmentation which was the real foundation upon which the Thousand Year Reich was being constructed. But this is not a mere psychoanalytic history; although Hitler possessed an essentially shallow mind, his was not one without purpose. Far from being the inspired opportunist depicted by some historians, Lewin argues that Hitler had a more concrete vision and worked methodically towards two goals -- the reunification of the German Volk into a single nation and the elimination of "International Jewry." It's the how and why of his methods to achieve these goals that constitute Hitler's mistakes. Over the years, Hitler has been regarded by historians as ranging from the Satanic (as the ultimate personification of Evil) to the slavish revisionism of the right wing, where Hitler neither knows of, nor sanctions the "Final Solution." Lewin places Hitler --the man, the Fuhrer, and the warlord -- in the proper perspective. A man who turned his continent into a wilderness to match his own private desolation. In doing so, Hitler transformed Germany into a despotic anarchy that precluded any coherent organization for a sustained war. His rantings against "Jewish science" self-destructively deprived Germany of its most brilliant minds. As a result, war production and weapons procurement remained chaotic and fragmented. Finally, the author's telling comment on Hitler's capacity as the country's Supreme Warlord summarizes Hitler's military mistakes: "He was too prone to wavering, and too easily ran away from the really big but risky command decisions." Wargamers are already familiar with many of those big, and risky, command decisions: the inexplicable halt at Dunkirk; the squandering of opportunities in North Africa; and the lack of strategic focus for the attack on the Soviet Union. Operation Felix -- the subjugation of the Iberian peninsula, and Operation Sealion -- the invasion of Britain, are two of the most interesting lost opportunities Lewin's addresses. Both have been the subject of wargames -- 3W's Operation Condor and Game Designers Workshop's Spain and Portugal simulated Felix, while SPI's Seelowe and 3W's Fight for the Beaches examined the aborted invasion of Britain. In his meticulous analysis of Hitler's mistakes, Lewin is careful to avoid writing alternative or "fantasy" history. His views of the Nazi era should be of interest to all wargamers and military history buffs as we remember and reenact the agony of Europe a half century ago. This book should cause us to think, if only briefly, about what sort of world would have been created had there been fewer of Hitler's mistakes. Earl Toops is a retired Air Force officer who lives in Bahrain. His work has appeared in among other places, the Canadian Wargamer Journal. [Ed's note: The last paragraph reminded me of a small book, peripherally related to this review. The subject of a world in which the Axis wins World War II has always been a favorite for science fiction writers. Those with a bent to "alternative" history might want to get a hold of Hitler Victorious (Gregory Benford & Martin H. Greenberg eds.) (London: Grafton Books, 1988)]. Zones of Conflict Back to Cry Havoc #3 Table of Contents Back to Cry Havoc List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by David W. Tschanz. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com