despite the grim news, Stuart, like millions of Germans, still hoped for a miracle. ‘While things are certainly bad,’ he wrote on 17 August, ‘they are not, I think, so bad for Germany as they look. There is still a plan, which may be something like this – an offensive against Russia with a new anti-panzer weapon and when, and if, this achieves a limited success then a settlement there and a turning of all forces south and west.’
