Erich von Manstein famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

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.
-- Erich von Manstein

#Army #Men #Two
There are only four types of officer. First, there are the lazy, stupid ones. Leave them alone, they do no harmâ€¦Second, there are the hard- working, intelligent ones. They make excellent staff officers, ensuring that every detail is properly considered. Third, there are the hard- working, stupid ones. These people are a menace and must be fired at once. They create irrelevant work for everybody. Finally, there are the intelligent, lazy ones. They are suited for the highest office.
-- Erich von Manstein

#Stupid #Hard Work #Intelligent
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.
-- Erich von Manstein

#Men #Ideas #Long
The general verdict among the German generals I interrogated in 1945 was that Field-Marshal von Manstein had proved the ablest commander in their Army, and the man they had most desired to become its Commander-in-Chief. It is very clear that he had a superb sense of operational possibilities and equal mastery in the conduct of operations, together with a greater grasp of the potentialities of mechanized forces than any other commander who had not been trained in the tank arm. In sum, he had military genius.
-- Erich von Manstein

#Military #Army #Men
A war is not lost until you consider it lost.
-- Erich von Manstein

#War #Lost
Strength of character and inner fortitude, however, are decisive factors. The confidence of the man in the ranks rests upon a man's strength of character.
-- Erich von Manstein

#Character #Men #Fortitude
Prussian Field Marshals do not mutiny.
-- Erich von Manstein

#Mutiny #Fields
Hitler overestimated the importance of [technology]. As a result, he would count on a mere handful of assault-gun detachment or the new Tiger tanks to restore situations where only large bodies of troops could have any prospect of success.
-- Erich von Manstein

#Gun #Technology #Tanks
The [chief] characteristic of Hitler's leadership [was] his over-estimation of the power of the will. [To win the war] this will had only to be translated into faith down to the youngest private soldier.
-- Erich von Manstein

#War #Winning #Soldier

It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.
Besides the progress of industry and technique, we see a growing discontent among the masses; we see, besides the expansion ("expansion,", Fr.) of instruction, distrust and hatred expanding among nations ("s'Ã©tendre la mÃ©fiance et la haine entre," Fr.), that vie with one another ("qui rivalisent Ã l'envi," Fr.), by the increase of their armies and the improvement of their engines of murder ("engins meurtriers", Fr.).
So I had to be the doctor to these wounded men until we could remove them to the hospital. There were fifty-four women and forty little boys with the Red Army prisoners, and I went daily to take care of them also.
No one man is superior to the game.
A devotee should be fixed in the conclusion that, the spiritual master cannot be subject to criticism and should never be considered equal to a common man.
The soul of the slave, the soul of the "little man," is as dear to me as the soul of the great.
Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink for fellows whom it hurts to think.
Therefore, since the world has still Much good, but much less good than ill, And while the sun and moon endure Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure, I'd face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good.
There are two types of people in the world, and I'm one of them.
I think there are two ways to depict a family. One is what it's really like, and one is what the audience would like it to be. Between you and me, I think the second one is what I would prefer.

Erich von Manstein famous quotes

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