<P> Adolf Hitler exercised a tight control over the German war - effort, spending much of his time in his command bunkers (most notably at Rastenburg in East Prussia, at Vinnitsa in Ukraine, and under the garden of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin). At crucial periods in the war he held daily situation conferences at which he used his remarkable talent for public speaking to overwhelm opposition from his generals and the OKW staff with rhetoric . </P> <P> In part because of the unexpected success of the Battle of France (despite the warnings of the professional military) Hitler believed himself a military genius, with a grasp of the total war - effort that eluded his generals . In August 1941 when Walther von Brauchitsch (commander - in - chief of the Wehrmacht) and Fedor von Bock were appealing for an attack on Moscow, Hitler instead ordered the encirclement and capture of Ukraine, in order to acquire the farmland, industry, and natural resources of that country . Some historians like Bevin Alexander in How Hitler Could Have Won regard this decision as a missed opportunity to win the war . </P> <P> In the winter of 1941--1942 Hitler believed that his obstinate refusal to allow the German armies to retreat had saved Army Group Centre from collapse . He later told Erhard Milch: </P> <P> I had to act ruthlessly . I had to send even my closest generals packing, two army generals, for example...I could only tell these gentlemen,' Get yourself back to Germany as rapidly as you can--but leave the army in my charge . And the army is staying at the front .' </P>

After ww2 the soviet union designated many of the countries of eastern europe as