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June 4 - August 18, 2015
“It is quite remarkable,” Balck once noted, “that most people believe that attack costs more casualties. Do not even think about it; attack is the less costly operation. . . . Nothing incurs higher casualties than an unsuccessful defense. Therefore, attack wherever it is possible.”
“Despite all my conscious efforts to evaluate Hitler with complete objectivity, I cannot escape the final verdict—he was our downfall. Beware of strong men who do not know the limits of their power.”
As so often when an incompetent government is facing internal problems it cannot resolve, it seeks to overcome domestic failures through foreign policy successes.
Personalities like Hentsch are militarily dangerous. Highly accomplished as a support player, they find themselves in a position sooner or later where they have to take responsibility and make decisions—and then they fail.
“Just wait until you have a real bureaucrat as a chancellor; you will have some real problems then.”
He wanted to play it safe and postpone the decisive breakthrough for later. These were, perhaps, the first indicators of an impending crisis. One only wins through boldness, especially if everything is on the razor’s edge.
Ignorance and carelessness of our ruling circles, holding on to their privileges, and the stubborn trust in the authoritarian state and the discipline of the army made the Stab-in-the-Back possible. And thus, the murder victim himself can be blamed.
Strong personalities should be put in charge of a country’s armed forces, even if they are rough and gruff and call a spade a spade. A highly educated, smart, but spineless personality, Gamelin did not belong at the top.
Historical writing should be truthful above all. When it is written with an agenda, it can cause real havoc.
The French fought extremely poorly. Whenever we asked prisoners why they were fighting against us, the common reply was, “Because England wants us to; the rich want us to. We are not waging war; war is being waged with us.” Their eyes would light up with hatred whenever England was mentioned.
The great lesson of Dunkirk was that a victory on the ground can only be won by ground troops, as valuable and indispensable as the air force might be. Also confirmed were Clausewitz’s theses, “I do not want to hear about field commanders who think they can win without shedding blood,” and “Humans are more valuable than materiel. Materiel can be replaced, human beings cannot.”
A Russian proverb says that one should watch people’s hands, not their mouths.
