Hilter and German Winter Uniforms: A Myth Refuted

Here is an excerpt from a blog post I wrote about the myth that Hitler refused to order winter uniforms for his soldiers. You can find the rest of the blog post on my website Charles McCain


"I read a lot about the Eastern Front as you can probably tell. The Germans attacked the Soviet Union on 21 June 1941. Their plan was to knock the Soviets out the war within a few months. (And they came very close.)
I often read that Hitler refused to allow the German army to order winter uniforms. His reasoning: that would be an admission that neither he nor the army believed the Germans could knock the Soviets out of the war before the Russian winter came."

 

i thought this was the original winter uniform for the german army on the east front.
there was also a grey version.

 

How would these be delivered to all the troops? They were practically in massive trouble trying to get them the weapons and ammo so somebody was lying if they said it can be done. Well, so did Göring when it was a guestion of sending supplies to Stalingrad a year later.

 

the stocks were in place the rearguard lines were too long from Germany deep into the Ost. Ask any former German Landser serving from 41-43. they made due with what they had and captured Russian stocks. There were never orders issued not to have winter gear

 

Found this:

On the subject why Luftwaffe had winter clothing for 1941-42:

" OKH decreed that the army would not require winter clothing. Some cold weather gear was ordered, but only for the 60 or so divisions earmarked for occupation duties. Only one top commander demurred-Field Marshal Milch quietly ignored a direct order from Hitler and set about organising winter uniforms for all 800 000 Luftwaffe personnel he suspected would still be needed in Russia as the snow started to fall."

From "Ostfront" by Charles Winchester 2000 Osprey Publishing Ltd

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Weird?!!

 

I'm Kinda new in WW2 History (one of the reasons why i joined this Forum)
so i can learn alot from these little details.

This sounds very logic.

 

The winter coats weren't that great. Albert Speer approved the manufacture of them, and when he was in Spandau, was given one to wear and about froze. They were useless.

 

I do believe the Hitler´s order of the winter clothing matter might have changed during time, as he certainly believed that he just needed a little push further and he´d win. I am sure the Ostfront Generals were talking about winter in August-September already, which definitely would be a shock to AH. Later on he was forced to choose between supplies, clothes,ammo, and decided that ammo would be sent of those three. So he could not really decide what they´d do with winter clothing anyway. They had not choice. So they informed the army to get their clothing from the enemy, as well as their food. The Waffen-SS and Luftwaffe had separate means to get their supplies, I recall.

 

Seems Kai is spot-on here. Not really that Hitler "refused" winter uniforms and clothing for the German troops, but more a matter of said winter uniforms and gear were lowest on the priority list. Ammo and weapons were seen as the first priority.

Due to the logistical nightmare that Russia presented in any season, let alone winter- by the time the need for winter uniforms became clear, there simply wasn't the ability to get the gear where it needed to go in any sort of timely manner. With the supposition that the campaign wouldn't last through the winter on the part of Hitler, the logistics of getting cold weather gear to the German soldiers would have been last on his priority list.

Winter may well be cold in Germany as well, but I don't think the German winter compares to the Russian one, and hence the German army just wasn't was prepared for the Russian winter.

 

well guys as I said earlier winter gear was in place but was not getting through to the front line units for variety of reasons. Hitler in vague did not have precedence whether the Wehrmacht machine was to be equipped with winter styles this was beneath him same can be said for arms.

 

Theres a few good photos on this site that show German winter uniforms in wear. Skipper posted them for me in the photos forum.