(See all my Book Reviews and Author Interviews) – Lucky Hitler’s Big Mistakes was released in 2022 and is the first publication by historian Paul Ballard-Whyte https://luckyhitler.com. It is my 64th book to be completed in 2022.
I received an ARC of this book through https://www.netgalley.com with the expectation of delivering a fair and honest review. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! I categorize this book/novel as G.
The book reviews the principal Nazis and looks at the quarter of a century during which Hitler rose to power. During that time, luck seemed to be with him. Hitler was involved in several potential sex scandals with young women but was able to keep those affairs hidden. Likewise, his survival of more than 20 assassination attempts gave him a feeling of invincibility.
Under Hitler’s leadership, the Wehrmacht made rapid advances through Western Europe and into Russia. This led many, especially himself, to attribute the success to his tactical acumen.
Then, his major mistakes began. He allowed the British Army to escape from Dunkirk. He threatened but never invaded Britain. He failed to pursue the advantage in submarine warfare. The two greatest mistakes were his decision to invade Russia before eliminating Britain and declaring war against the US days after Perl Harbor.
While the Germans were able to develop many new and potent weapons over the war years, Hitler constantly ‘advised’ various improvements. His interference delayed deployment and often left them less effective.
I enjoyed the 9+ hours I spent reading this 330-page WWII history. I like the chosen cover art. I give this book a rating of 4 out of 5.
My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).
If you have an interest in the WWII era of history, you may find these three pages of interest.
- The “World War II Resources” page is a constantly growing collection of more than 590 links to museums, memorials, websites, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and other sources with information on the World War II era in history.
- The “World War II Timeline” page expands almost daily and shows events leading up to WWII, as well as during the war. Events are broken down into the Pacific and European Theaters by date.
- The About WWII page is a collection of links to posts that I have made over the years that are relevant to WWII. Included are links to many fiction and non-fiction books on WWII that I have read and reviewed. There are also links to WWII oriented podcasts.
John's Notes 