172. LB Darmstadt, 273. Irving, HW, 696 and n.6, 889–90, notes to 687 and 696, regards Hitler’s suspicions as justified, and is followed in this by Richard Lamb, ‘Kluge’, in Correlli Barnett (ed.), Hitler’s Generals, London, 1990, 394–409, here 407. The evidence assembled seems, however, tenuous. And it seems doubtful whether Kluge would have had the courage for such a step. Colonel von Gersdorff, who had been deeply involved in the attempts at Army Group Centre to kill Hitler, claimed he had pleaded in vain with Kluge at this time to enter into negotiations with the enemy. Gersdorff had said the decision was the sort which had faced ‘all great men in world history’. Kluge’s answer was: ‘Gersdorff, Field-Marshal v. Kluge is not a great man.’ (Cit. Gersdorff, 151–2. For Hitler’s awareness of Kluge’s connections with the resistance group, see Guderian, 341; TBJG II/13, 208, 210 (3 August 1944).)
173. LB Darmstadt, 273.
174. Gene Mueller, ‘Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge’, in Ueberschär, Hitlers militärische Elite, 1, 130–57, here 134; Peter Steinbach, ‘Hans Günther von Kluge — Ein Zauderer im Zwielicht’, in Smelser and Syring, Die Militärelite des Dritten Reiches, 288–324, here 318–19. For Montgomery’s errors, see Weinberg III, 689–90, 693–4, 725.
175. Hitler remarked in a military briefing on 31 August that the suspicions were such that, had he not committed suicide, Kluge would have been immediately arrested (LB Darmstadt, 272).
176. Dieter Ose, Entscheidung im Westen. Der Oberbefehlshaber West und die Abwehr der allierten Invasion, Stuttgart, 2nd edn, 1985, 340, Anlage 18.
177. Despite the doubts of Steinbach, ‘Kluge’, 320, and Mueller, ‘Kluge’, 135, it is clear that Hitler did receive Kluge’s letter. See TBJG, II/13, 372 (31 August 1944), and Irving, HW, 696.
178. LB Darmstadt, 279 and n.383.
179. LB Darmstadt, 280. See also Irving, HW, 696.
180. See Weinberg III, 761; Oxford Companion, 418–22.
181. Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, 299.
182. Domarus, 2143; DZW, vi.424–5; KTB OKW, iv/1, 358–60.
183. Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkreig, 297–9; Weinberg III, 694–5.
184. Ronald Heifermann, World War 11, London, 1973, 229.
185. Weinberg III, 700.
186. The military aspects are assessed in Phil Kosnett and Stephen B. Patrick, ‘Highway to the Reich: Operation Market-Garden, 17–26 September 1944’, in Nofi, 156–77.
187. DZW, vi.112–18; Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, 302–5; Weinberg III, 701–2; Parker, Struggle for Survival, 206–8; Heifermann, 229–30. Around 17,000 men were lost by the western Allies in the fighting in the second half of September. German losses were 3,300 troops. British losses alone numbered between 12,000 and 13,000 (DZW, vi.116).
188. Weinberg III, 752.
189. See TBJG, II/13, 204, 209 (3 August 1944). Turkey did not, in fact, declare war on Germany until 1 March 1945 (Domarus, 2136).
190. Guderian, 364–5; Irving, HW, 681.
191. Weinberg III, 713.
192. Guderian, 367.
193. Weinberg III, 714.
194. Weinberg III, 714–15.
195. Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, 274–5; Weinberg III, 716–17; DZW, vi.90–95.
196. Erickson, Road to Berlin, 290–307; Weinberg III, 712; DZW, vi.86–90.
197. Weinberg III, 715.
198. TBJG, II/13, 204 (3 August 1944).
199. Domarus, 2142–3; Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, 258.
200. Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, 258–9.
201. Gruchmann, Der Zweite Weltkrieg, 254–6; Weinberg III, 710–11.
202. Guderian, 355.
203. Himmler’s speech to Wehrkreis Commanders of 21 September 1944, in Smith/Petersen, Himmler. Geheimreden, 246; trans. (slightly amended), Padfield, Himmler, 524. In the handwritten notes he made for his speech to Wehrkreis commanders in Jägerhöhe on 21 September 1944, Himmler jotted: ‘General Bor in Warsaw rejects surrender. Then the population dies with him.’ (‘General Bor in Warschau lehnt Übergabe ab, dann stirbt Bevölkerung mit.’) (IfZ, MA 315, frames 2584103ff. (quotation, frame 2584105).)
204. Himmler stated this in his address to the Wehrkreis commanders on 21 September (see Padfield, Himmler, 524). For the order to raze Warsaw by Hitler on 11 October, see IMG, xii.88, cit. Dok. USSR-128 (=PS-3305); also Padfield, Himmler, 524–5; and Guderian, 358.
