[niteowl77]

—and , while not generally mentioned , from the time of Bismarck on , there was apparently much feeling in the British right-wing of politics , that the new “Germany” should be reduced to a nation of agricultural serfdom-—naturally enough, the Krauts didn’t agree-

The German awareness of the Morgenthau Plan - the "agrarian serfdom" plan championed by FDR's Sec'y of the Treasury - stiffened the resolve of many individual German soldiers in 1944 and '45, even ones that were no longer particularly enamored of the National Socialist German Workers Party. Words do have consequences, although not necessarily for the political hacks and government weenies that spout them.

As far as blame for WWI goes, there is plenty to be ladled out, and everyone gets their share. I'll have to see if the local bookstore has a copy of "Catastrophe," but I've gotten weary of books full of politicians, generals and grand overviews to the point where books like "A Rifleman Went to War" or "Storm of Steel" are more welcome here than "the latest great scholarly view of the subject."

Mr. niteowl77

[bravo whiskey]

hey niteowl try the books by lyn macdonald. believe there is one for every year of the war and focuses on the BEF with a lot of personal references. also keegan’s THE FACE OF BATTLE has a chapter on the somme.