This thesis looks at the motivation of soldiers and the leadership of the German army commiting war crimes during the first half of the Second World War. Nazi ideology provided and enabled the...Show moreThis thesis looks at the motivation of soldiers and the leadership of the German army commiting war crimes during the first half of the Second World War. Nazi ideology provided and enabled the willingness to commit war crimes. Even if the majority of soldiers and generals did not agree with Nazi ideology, they did participate in the actions that were committed in the name of National Socialist ideology.Show less
This research focuses on the German tactical defensive doctrine and its application within the defensive systems used in the Maas-Rurstellung during the Second World War. The Maas-Rurstellung is a...Show moreThis research focuses on the German tactical defensive doctrine and its application within the defensive systems used in the Maas-Rurstellung during the Second World War. The Maas-Rurstellung is a expansion of the Westwall, Germany’s main defensive line at the Western Front and is build at the end of 1944. In the research a map is drawn which shows the locations that are likely to have been used within the German defensive system, and thus the locations that can contain remains from this period. The map is based on both the height and relief of the landscape, as well as local infrastructure and the general German tactical doctrine. After this the locations chosen for the map were visited in the field to confirm or reject the presence of defensive structures, such as trenches or dugouts. The results show us that the expectations were correct in most cases and thus it is plausible and very effective to combine landscape and theory to form a predictive model for defensive structures from World War Two.Show less
