Chapter 3 discusses the war from the attack on Poland in 1939 to the invasion of Norway, the Low Countries, and France in 1940, and Yugoslavia and Greece in 1941. Chaplains accompanied Wehrmacht units wherever they went, and this period of Blitzkrieg, rapid German victories, proved formative for them. Germany’s conquests opened up new territory for chaplains, who seized the opportunities to assert their loyalty and prove their worth. They gained an enormous audience of soldiers and also ministered to Christian populations in conquered and occupied territories. Chaplains witnessed and got used to German attacks on civilians, such as terror bombings in the Netherlands, shooting of prisoners in Norway, and rampant abuse of Jews and destruction of Jewish sites in Poland. This chapter makes extensive use of chaplains’ periodic reports, submitted up the chain of command. A surprising number of reports refer to chaplains ministering to German soldiers condemned to death by military authorities. The Wehrmacht chaplains projected an image as heroic, battle-hardened men who strengthened the resolve of the troops and built bridges to the homefront, for instance by providing Christian burials.

The Introduction opens by establishing a central point of the book: that German military chaplains were physically present at sites of mass killing of Jews and other victims of the Holocaust and World War II. The 1941 massacre of Jewish children at Bila Tserkva in occupied Ukraine is described and analyzed using German and Jewish sources. The theme of power and legitimation, which runs throughout the entire book, is presented. Building from the killing at Bila Tserkva and the role of chaplains there, the chapter shows how the Wehrmacht chaplains had considerable power. They served to legitimize Hitler’s regime and its genocidal war and played a key role in creating a reassuring narrative of events for German soldiers, their families, and the chaplains themselves. Other themes introduced include systems and dynamics (the importance of the chaplaincy as an institution), the forces of war and the confusion it generates, and habit: chaplains’ actions and decisions even before the war set patterns that became entrenched. The sources and methodology are explained, with emphasis on integrating Jewish sources.

Chapter 6 examines the period from 1944 to May 1945. How did chaplains deal with impending defeat? The chaos of retreat brought many challenges. Chaplains witnessed the death throes and killing frenzies of Hitler’s Germany, as atrocities continued to the bitter end. Chaplains ministered to the Wehrmacht amid the destruction of the Jews of Hungary, assault on civilians in the name of anti-partisan warfare, and death marches as concentration camps were shut and guards forced prisoners out onto the road. The physical demands of the chaplains’ work increased as their numbers dwindled and those left lacked supplies of all kinds. Newly created NSFOs, Nazi leadership officers, competed with them for soldiers’ hearts and minds. Yet chaplains found they were more valued in times of defeat. At the front they reminded soldiers of their oath of obedience, while they comforted bereaved families at home. Some Greek Orthodox chaplains were allowed to minister to Ukrainian Waffen-SS men in the Galicia Division. Yet even as chaplains continued to serve, they began quietly to disregard the regime’s will when it conflicted with institutional self-interest, e.g. in appointing new base chaplains.

Chapter 5 deals with the years 1942 and 1943, as the Germans reached the peak of their military success and then began to decline. Chaplains were part of the brutal regimes of occupation that characterized Nazi German domination of territories and people. The chapter uses the concept of "genocidal culture" to analyze how Christianity, embodied in the chaplains and symbolized by the cross, helped the Germans construct a story of justification that erased their victims and presented themselves as suffering heroes. Examples from France, Greece, North Africa, and the Soviet Union are presented, and personal accounts from Jewish survivors reverse the gaze, to provide a look at the Germans and their religious practices from outside the group. Amidst the extreme yet everyday brutality of German occupation, the Wehrmacht chaplains turned inward to focus on providing comfort to the men they served and interpreting the war and their role as the ultimate sacrifice. They faced disinterest and at times hostility from soldiers and officers but insisted they were effective “handmaids of the troop leadership.” Chaplains who died or were killed became important figures in a redemptive story of the war.

The Conclusion starts by pointing to the surprising extent to which the Wehrmacht chaplains have faded into oblivion. It summarizes some of the findings from the project of bringing the chaplains into focus. Throughout the Nazi years, chaplains proved to be reliable partners. They assembled a record of loyalty to the Nazi German state and its military before the war, and in the six years of conflict, they did not deviate from that pattern. The reason was less ideological fervor than institutional self-interest. The interests of the churches and the chaplains dovetailed with those of the Nazi leadership, at least until the last year of the war. It closes by drawing connections with chaplains in other contexts, where they also function as part of systems, with conflicting demands. Yet hope can be held out for the possibility of solidarity between people.

Chapter 7 considers the Wehrmacht chaplains after World War II. Defeat and occupation created barriers but also possibilities. Christianity provided common ground with the Allies, including US, French, and British chaplains. Former Wehrmacht chaplains, like Werthmann, became spokesmen for German soldiers and mediators with the victors. Defeat opened roles, like ministering to POWs and imprisoned Nazis. In the Cold War context, chaplains presented themselves as having been a Christian bulwark against Nazi paganism and now against Communism. Thus chaplains who had legitimated the Nazi German war effort found ways to legitimate themselves. The chapter contrasts the Wehrmacht chaplains’ postwar roles with US Jewish chaplains, who became strong advocates for Jewish displaced persons. Popular culture continued to present the Wehrmacht chaplains as tragic heroes who had tried to uphold Christian ethics in the face of evil, but at the level of policy, the old model of military chaplaincy was repudiated. East Germany did not permit chaplains, and in West Germany, the new chaplaincy created in the 1950s was tasked not with boosting morale but with being a voice of conscience in the military.

In Nazi Germany advancing to the highest ranks of the army was not simply a mark of professional achievement; it brought personal enrichment (through Hitler’s private payments) as well as public celebrity. No other arm of the Wehrmacht provided a better springboard for such advancement than the dynamic Panzertruppe. As we have seen, such career inducements were not immaterial factors in motivating the generals and, to no small extent, served to pervert their priorities and conduct as military men. Professional duties and service to the army clashed with the yearning for individual recognition and reward. The same pressures also shaped their reporting of events, with problems typically leveraged to denounce others in the high command, while serious issues presented by the Red Army, the Eastern climate or the poor infrastructure were ignored or underappreciated. Hitler, as the ultimate patron, was typically spared criticism and, when the occasion presented itself, the culture of embracing ‘can-do’ personalities, over pessimists and naysayers, prefaced what information was provided and how it was presented. Hence, when Guderian visited Hitler in August 1941, ostensibly to challenge the dictator’s decision to attack into Ukraine, he instead disavowed his previous commitments to the other generals and abruptly adopted Hitler’s view.

This chapter considers the private lives of the German generals. As men who are typically studied exclusively for their military roles, this chapter uses their letters to ask questions about how they expressed themselves in the ‘private’ sphere. Not surprisingly, their wives, to varying degrees, served as confidants as well as sources of strength. The role of the prominent military wife is also directly discussed with reference to letters by Margarete Guderian – the only available collection from one of the generals’ wives. The role of family is discussed, including the presence of military-age sons who were serving on the Eastern Front in 1941. The demands of senior command took a serious toll on each of the men and the letters over the course of 1941 chart their exposure to physical danger as well as psychological pressure. Coping mechanisms employed by the generals, such as free-time hobbies or spiritual beliefs are also evaluated from their writings. Overall, the value of the correspondence in illuminating a much more rounded view of the panzer generals charged with leading Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union is highlighted.

Although a lot has been written (mainly in German) about field post in the German army during the Second World War and the many historiographical issues concerned with it, very little study has been devoted to the letter collections of the German generals. This chapter attempts first to consider this unique collection of sources and discuss where they have been used before and to what end. There is also a discussion about why they have not been used more generally in past operational histories. The problems with Kurrentschrift, and even the standardised Sütterlinschrift, are explained to make readers aware of the complexity inherent in tackling letters from a generation of men educated in the late nineteenth century. Another major focus of the chapter are issues concerned with veracity and verification of the correspondence. A statical analysis of each collection provides a remarkable insight into anomalies, which reveals that letters are missing (or were withheld) from the publicly available collection. This is an important qualification of the study and already points to an attempt by the generals to present a selective post-war image.