Befehlshaber's New Year

It was an uneasy New Year for Adolf Hitler. Something was rotten in the German Army. The Fuehrer had just relieved Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch from his command (TIME, Dec. 29) and was now, in fact as well as title, the Oberste Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht (Supreme Commander of the Army). But the Oberste Befehlshaber could scarcely have felt as magnificent as his title.

The wildest rumor, soon exposed, claimed that Field Marshal von Brauchitsch had flown like a Hess to Ireland. But other rumors came in a persistent, persuasive flood from the listening posts of Europe.

They arranged themselves into a roughly consistent story:

Last fall Field Marshal von Brauchitsch had advised digging in for the Russian winter. Adolf Hitler had insisted on maintaining a double offensive against Moscow and the Caucasus. More recently, since the failure of his Russian designs, Hitler had proposed a turnabout invasion of Britain. This had been opposed by all his top commanders, all proud veterans of Germany's aristocratic military caste--Field Marshals von Brauchitsch, Fedor von Bock, Ritter Wilhelm von Leeb, Gerd von Rundstedt. They had now been dismissed or had "resigned" or were "gravely ill." The self-proclaimed Oberste Befehlshaber was left to carry on with the support of such latecomers to the military aristocracy as Chief of Operations General Alfred Jodl, Inspector General of the Air Force General Erhard Milch.

For years Adolf Hitler had imagined that he could see behind the eyes of certain rigidly respectful generals the proud insistence that while they were military patricians, he was only a pretentious upstart. It was impossible to be sure which of them harbored such outrageous thoughts.

He had done what he could about it. He had promoted those who seemed loyal. He had sidetracked those who seemed especially treacherous. He had made the Army as big and strong as any generals could have wished. He had given the Army as much opportunity for fighting and glory as any Army ever had. But he had often demanded that the fighting be according to his, rather than the Army's strategy. This had led to several open breaks between Adolf Hitler and the Army High Command. Adolf Hitler was protected by the presence of his Gestapo and Elite Guardsmen scattered throughout the Army. But his feud with the Army had become widespread gossip, not only in Germany, but elsewhere.

Adolf Hitler once said: "Generals have sterile minds. . . . They remain encrusted in their professional technique. . . . They want to go on comporting themselves as medieval knights. ... I don't want knights." But this New Year the Oberste Befehlshaber had reason to reflect that he was surrounded by knights. It was an uneasy season.

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