World: Ultimate Tribute

Last week a German military spokesman, Lieut. General Dietmar, broadcast over the Berlin Radio:

“It must be impressed on every one that decisions against such an enemy as Russia cannot be achieved in no time. The easiest and most complete victories are achieved when the moral resistance of the army—the will to fight—is hit quickly. Against Soviet soldiers there is no chance of weakening this moral resistance by bitter experiences—a process which in other armies spreads like wildfire.

“The Russians are unusually capable of both taking it and giving it. The war against the Soviet Union is a fight against the most powerful military organization in the world, and to bring it to its knees is a difficult task.

“Decisions in this war mature only slowly. There is no other enemy in the world with such artful skill in delaying decisions. The enemy confronting us is of a completely different cast of mind, a thing difficult for us to grasp. No enemy can postpone decisions like the Russians, and none can equal them in keeping the scales balanced by throwing in ever-fresh masses. Masses present a difficult problem both to the German High Command and to the German Army, which has to deal with them. On the other hand, the Soviet command lacks tactical consciousness and the feeling of responsibility.

“The German command and Army were sorely tried by the Russians’ unexpected and seemingly improbable tactics, especially at the beginning of the campaign. The Soviet soldier is far more strongly attached than any other soldier to the system in which he finds himself. The authority of the Soviet leadership is limitless. But the system which holds them together is not unshakable. Every defeat suffered by the Russians proves this anew.”