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xv A Note on the English Edition The German federal government’s translation service, Bundessprachenamt , initially translated this book into English. I edited the entire work, ensuring that the English translations flowed smoothly and that specialized military terms and concepts were properly translated. Dr. Ludewig then reviewed and approved the edited version. One example of technical military terminology is the difference between what the Germans called a Heeresgruppe and an Armeegruppe. The former is what the Allies designated an “army group.” The latter was something short of a full army group, for which the Allies had no equivalent. In this volume Armeegruppe is translated as “army task group.” Military rank titles have been translated directly from the German, without any attempt to correlate the differences between German and Allied ranks. Hence Generalleutnant is translated as “lieutenant general,” although a German lieutenant general of World War II was really the equivalent of an American or British major general. A table on page ix provides a complete comparison between German and American army officer ranks. I have made every effort to ensure that the citations in the endnotes are as full and accurate as possible; however, the bibliography remains in the original German. D. T. Z. ...

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