Operation Werwolf was the Nazi plan, conceived sometime in
1944 as the war began going very badly for Germany, to train commando units to operate
behind Allied lines and conduct a long term guerrilla resistance. Suffice it to say,
the operation never got off the ground, and in military terms, was singularly
unsuccessful.
On the other hand, it was very successful
psychologically. The Allies did not realize that the plan was never really followed
through on and did not receive anywhere near the resources it would have taken to
succeed. Rather than being part of an organized campaign, isolated SS units of
fanatical Germans fought on in the Bavarian Alps, at least as a delaying action.
Mistaking this for the larger effort they had heard about, the Allies dedicated
considerable military strength towards occupying and destroying any resistance in
southern Germany before a guerrilla campaign could take
place.
Some historians (though this is difficult to prove)
argue that the distraction of the Allies for this purpose effectively allowed the Red
army to take Berlin without competition from their western
counterparts.
No comments:
Post a Comment