Operation Barbarossa: The History of a Cataclysm

by Jonathan Dimbleby

Wilhelm Prüller was among those listening intently. He was entranced. ‘No one knows what this beloved voice means to us,’ he noted that evening, ‘how our cheeks glow, our eyes sparkle . . . What a lift his words give us, as we crowd round the wireless set, not wanting to miss a single word! Is there a finer reward after a day of battle than to hear the Führer? Never, we thank him!’

To the great torment of humankind, his megalomania was boundless.