A quote from Hitler..

[Dan W.]

Recently I watched "T-34: Russian Victory" on the History Channel.

In it they quoted Hitler as saying this about the T-34. "If I had known of the production capacity of their T-34 I would of thought twice about invading."

It did not state when he said this, or to whom he said it. I have never heard of him stating this before, or even of expressing doubts about Operation Barbarossa.

Just wondering if anyone else had heard of this.....

Regards,
--D.W.

[subskipper]

Dan,


http://thirdreichforum.com/phpBB2/viewt ... mannerheim


~HEnric Edwards

[Dan W.]

Very good Henric, that answers my question. He was much more frank with Mannerheim than most others, as they had faced the Soviets first and had soldiers who could actually contribute to the fighting in Russia.

Regards,
--D.W.

[subskipper]

Dan,

It is indeed a very interesting read.


~Henric Edwards

[Pumpkin]

Anyone know of "protocols" from Hitler's conversations that have been taken down with such high detail? (in German or English) It would be interesting to study the way he spoke informally.

What I've noticed thus far is:
- He seems to like numbers, big numbers.
- He seems to be quite frank and direct. Not that he phrases himself with few words, but he doesn't give the impression to withhold the truth or being careful with what he says. Here he admits own misjudgements and openly criticize Mussolino.
- He seems to put great weight on anecdotes, isolated incidents.
- His conversations are almost monologes.

I also get the impression that he is quite spontaneous, actually. I really get the feeling that, for example, if he would talk to Mannerheim again on the same topics, he would emphasize quite different things. The monologe doesn't seem to have a preplanned ending. I don't think this conversation with Mannerheim was manipulative from Hitler. Rather he talked about things he had on his mind which could be entertaining to Mannerheim.

[Raf]

For me a prove Hitler underestimated his enemies.

[Dora]

Raf,
The underestimation of the enemy, especially the eastern enemy was the key to Germany's downfall. Hitler always considered the Slav the Untermench of the world incapable of worthy fighting abilities. This was the major flaw in the planning of the Barbarossa campaign from the begining: underestimation of their abilities, determination and resources.
Dora

[ChristopherPerrien]

Recently I watched "T-34: Russian Victory" on the History Channel.

In it they quoted Hitler as saying this about the T-34. "If I had known of the production capacity of their T-34 I would of thought twice about invading."

It did not state when he said this, or to whom he said it. I have never heard of him stating this before, or even of expressing doubts about Operation Barbarossa.

Just wondering if anyone else had heard of this.....

Regards,
--D.W.

That may be out of Heinz Guderian's book "Panzer Leader",
Hitler may have said it specifically to him on some occaision too. I would look it up but I don't know exactly where my copy is at the moment.