Frases de Erich von Manstein

“Siempre ha sido el fuerte particular de los líderes alemanes el otorgar un amplio alcance a la autodependencia de los comandantes subordinados, asignándoles tareas que dejan el método de ejecución a la discreción del individuo. Desde tiempos inmemoriales, desde el pasado día de Moltke, este principio ha distinguido el liderazgo militar de Alemania del de otros ejércitos.”

“He had utter disdain for the Nazis and had no time for their racial purity agenda.”

“The will for victory which gives a commander the strength to see a grave crisis through is something very different from Hitler's will, which in the last analysis stemmed from a belief in his own 'mission'.  Such a belief makes a man impervious to reason and leads him to think that his own will can operate even beyond the limits of hard reality - whether these consist in the presence of far superior enemy forces, in the conditions of space and time, or merely in the fact that the enemy also happens to have a will of his own.”

“If Paulus's army had capitulated before the end, the Russians would have had the advantage of withdrawing forces against Paulus and against the southern front, where I had only two Romanian armies. Therefore, the resistance of the Sixth German Army, even to the death of the last man, was necessary.”

“It has always been the particular forte of German leadership to grant wide scope to the self-dependence of subordinate commanders - to allot them tasks which leave the method of execution to the discretion of the individual.  From time immemorial - certainly since the elder Moltke's day - this principle has distinguished Germany's military leadership from that of other armies.”

“I tried at that time to relieve the Sixth Army, of which I was supreme commander, above Paulus, by counterattacks - but it was not possible. I gave the order finally for the Sixth Army to break out, but then Paulus said it was too late and not possible. Hitler did not want the Sixth Army to break out at any time, but to fight to the last man. I believe that Hitler said if the Sixth Army tried to break out, it would be their death.”

“He is the best tactician and combat commander we have.”

“He was not only the most brilliant strategist of all our generals, but he had a good political sense. A man of that quality was too difficult for Hitler to swallow for long. At conferences Manstein often differed from Hitler, in front of others, and would go so far as to declare that some of the ideas which Hitler put forward were nonsense.”