The History of Crimean Conflicts: Sevastopol; von Manstein’s Triumph & Hitler’s Last Great Victory, Part I.
Under the command of Generaloberst Erich von Manstein, Hitler’s armies prepared for what would be the final assault on the great fortress city of Sevastopol, whilst Hitler himself held court at the Berghof in an ebullient mood, convinced his conquest of the Soviet Union was all but done…
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“We stand in this phase of the struggle, which is of exceptional importance for the war and for the Eastern campaign. The whole world looks at the troops of Stalingrad and besides, the quick and victorious conclusion of the battle with the reaching of the Volga also means a conclusion for the regiment. The troops are to be informed of this. I expect the whole regiment to exert a great deal of strength, which will be worthy of achievements of IR 194 so far.”
Lieutenant Colonel Roske (1).
The Wehrmacht, convinced of their indomitable spirit and inherent superiority remained adamant that victory at Stalingrad was an inevitability. The need to forge ahead, over the wounded if need be, not waiting for the support of other units would guarantee the quick victory the officers told the men of the Wehrmacht was possible.
The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union was to save us all…
That Hitler’s Nazi Germany would invade the Soviet Union was never a given, except perhaps for Hitler, and his innermost circle of confidente’s.
Just a few years before Hitler began his war on the world, the Kaiser indulged the idea of a close knit relationship with Russia, and not the West as some would have had it, when he said, “Western culture has reduced itself to mere utilitarianism, but the pendulum of civilisation is switching to Eastern Europe and its way of life. We are not Westerners. . . . We cling with all our roots to the East.”
For some, like the Kaiser, the relation between the two, between Germany, and between Russia, was of blood-kin, not blood enemies. The Russian revolution, after all, was made in…
