“If Paulus's army had capitulated before the end, the Russians would have had the advantage of withdrawing forces against Paulus and against the southern front, where I had only two Romanian armies. Therefore, the resistance of the Sixth German Army, even to the death of the last man, was necessary.”

— Erich von Manstein

To Leon Goldensohn (14 June 1946). Quoted in "The Nuremberg Interviews" - by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Dec. 15, 2022. History

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Erich von Manstein 8

German general 1887–1973

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“I tried at that time to relieve the Sixth Army, of which I was supreme commander, above Paulus, by counterattacks - but it was not possible. I gave the order finally for the Sixth Army to break out, but then Paulus said it was too late and not possible. Hitler did not want the Sixth Army to break out at any time, but to fight to the last man. I believe that Hitler said if the Sixth Army tried to break out, it would be their death.”

Erich von Manstein (1887–1973) German general

To Leon Goldensohn (14 June 1946). Quoted in "The Nuremberg Interviews" - by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004

“These men volunteered to fight against the German Kaiser's armies - not against Russian workers and peasants.”

Tim Buck (1891–1973) Canadian politician

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“I have left the obvious, essential fact till this point, namely, that it is the Russian Armies who have done the main work in tearing the guts out of the German army. In the air and on the oceans we could maintain our place, but there was no force in the world which could have been called into being, except after several more years, that would have been able to maul and break the German army unless it had been subjected to the terrible slaughter and manhandling that has fallen to it through the strength of the Russian Soviet Armies.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

Speech in the House of Commons, August 2, 1944.
The Second World War (1939–1945)
Source: [Churchill, Winston, The Dawn of Liberation, 1945, Rosetta Books, 2013, 9780795329494]

“If England had not resisted German militarism, in my view the German hegemony of Europe would have been established and our island would have had to face a united Continental army. It is the same old story from the days of Marlborough and Napoleon.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The 1930s
Source: Letter to G. M. Trevelyan (3 January 1935), quoted in Martin Gilbert, Prophet of Truth: Winston S. Churchill, 1922–1939 (London: Minerva, 1990), p. 623

“The Sixth Army, true to their oath and conscious of the lofty importance of their mission, have held their position to the last man and the last round for Führer and Fatherland unto the end.”

Friedrich Paulus (1890–1957) German general

Radio message to Adolf Hitler, January 31, 1943. Quoted in "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany" - Page 931 - by William Lawrence Shirer - Germany - 1990

“Surrender is forbidden. Sixth Army will hold their positions to the last man and the last round and by their heroic endurance will make an unforgettable contribution toward the establishment of a defensive front and the salvation of the Western world.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

In a message to General Paulus https://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/defeat/catastrophe-stalingrad.htm, 24 January 1943
1940s

Ernesto Che Guevara book Guerrilla Warfare

Guerrilla Warfare (1960)

“It was the Hitler Offensive. It was brilliantly planned by Hitler but poorly executed by the generals. It was not Rundstedt who was at fault so much as Dietrich and his Sixth Army, which was not capable. Dietrich was no army commander and should never have been made one. This Sixth Army was an all-motorized panzer force.”

Sepp Dietrich (1892–1966) German SS commander

Hermann Göring, to Leon Goldensohn, May 24, 1946

“I have always believed that successes would be the inevitable result if the two services, the army and the navy, had fair play, and if we sent the right man to fill the right place.”

Austen Henry Layard (1817–1894) British politician (1817–1894)

Speech in Parliament (January 15, 1855), reported in Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, Third Series, vol. cxxxviii. p. 2077; this can be contrasted witho Sydney Smith's statement "The officer and the office, the doer and the thing done, seldom fit so exactly that we can say they were almost made for each other" in Sketches of Moral Philosophy (1806).

“Two armies at death-grips — that is one great army committing suicide.”

Henri Barbusse book Under Fire

Variant translation: Two armies that fight each other is like one large army that commits suicide.
Under Fire (1916), Ch. 1 - The Vision

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