In Defense of the Red Army

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer

Had Hitler allowed the high command to permit a general retreat, the victory for the Soviets might have come much, much sooner.

(With that said I think that was more happenstance than any brilliance on Corporal Shicklegruber's part...)

It should be noted that this early success of Hitler's more "intuitive" style of military leadership simply reinforced Hitler's belief in his own infalibility and led to a long litany of operational and strategic blunders that utimately led to the annihilation of his Third Reich. Stalingrad is probably the best and most widely known example of the kind of military disaster that resulted from Hitler's antiquated understanding of warfare and his belief that willpower- not logistics or the correlation of forces- was the definitive key to wresting victory from the jaws of defeat.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Originally Posted by Raellus

It should be noted that this early success of Hitler's more "intuitive" style of military leadership simply reinforced Hitler's belief in his own infalibility and led to a long litany of operational and strategic blunders that utimately led to the annihilation of his Third Reich. Stalingrad is probably the best and most widely known example of the kind of military disaster that resulted from Hitler's antiquated understanding of warfare and his belief that willpower- not logistics or the correlation of forces- was the definitive key to wresting victory from the jaws of defeat.

Oh I'm completely in agreement with you (and I should have mentioned that was Shirer's thesis, too).