Albert Speer, the outspoken Minister for Armament and War Production, had anticipated the barbarous directive from previous meetings with Hitler and on March 15 had drawn up a memorandum in which he strenuously opposed such a criminal step and reiterated his contention that the war was already lost. He presented it to the Fuehrer personally on the evening of March 18. In four to eight weeks [Speer wrote] the final collapse of the German economy must be expected with certainty… After that collapse the war cannot be continued even militarily… We must do everything to maintain, even if only in a
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