expenditure could not go on, the Russians must be
bluffing, in a matter of days they would exhaust themselves. Then, a
certain haunting disquiet: the endless, aimless succession of
counterattacks, the eagerness to trade ten Russian lives for one
German, the vastness of the territory, and its bleak horizon.
A German Colonel Bernd von Kleist, wrote:
The German Army in fighting Russia is like an elephant
attacking a host of ants. The elephant will kill thousands, perhaps
even millions, of ants, but in the end their numbers will overcome
him, and he will be eaten to the bone.
There were differences, too, in the manner of the fighting.
Manstein has described how, on the very first day, he was shown the
bodies of a German patrol which had been cut off, and "gruesomely
mutilated," and the Soviets' practice of "throwing up their
hands as if to surrender and reaching for their arms as soon as our
infantry came near enough, or ... feigning death and then firing on
our troops when their backs were turned." As early as 23rd June,
Halder had been complaining of the "absence of any large take of
prisoners," on the 24th that "the stubborn resistance of
individual Russian units is remarkable," on the 27th, again,
dissatisfaction at "the singularly small number of prisoners."
The fissures in Russian morale which were to open that autumn (and as
suddenly to be closed by German brutality and miscalculation) were
still far below the surface.
All this had been immediately apparent to the German infantry,
which was fighting at close quarters. But on the Panzer crews, riding
out on the armoured decks of their vehicles, the sun shone. For the
first few days it seemed almost like the summer campaign in the West,
as the undamaged villages slid beneath their tracks, the bewildered
population peering from windows and doorways. Soon, though, this
similarity began to fade. The first effects of the distance they were
travelling began to be felt. Many of the motorised divisions had been
re-equipped with captured French trucks, and these were starting to
break down on the poor roads. Spare parts had to be flown in as the
long trails that stretched west behind the armoured spearheads were
dangerously vulnerable to wandering bodies of "surrounded"
Russians. "In spite of the distances we were advancing,"
wrote a captain in the 18th Panzer Division, ". . . there was no
feeling, as there had been in France, of entry into a defeated
nation. Instead there was resistance, always resistance, however
hopeless. A single gun, a group of men with rifles . . . once a chap
ran out of a cottage by the roadside with a grenade in each hand . .
."
On 29th June, Halder, after summarising the day's progress in his
diary, concluded:
Now, for once, our troops are compelled to fight according to
their combat manuals. In Poland and in the West they could take
liberties, but here they cannot get away with it.
There is a note almost of smugness about this entry. It is as if
the dedicated graduate of the General Staff College was gratified to
see the rules of war beginning to assert themselves. But, "for
once . . ." For always. Had the Germans but known it, the first
(and, for their arms, the most spectacular) phase of the Eastern
campaign was already fading into memory.
The 30th of June was Halder's birthday, and at OKH the anniversary
was a happy occasion. On coming down to the breakfast room the Chief
of the General Staff found that it had been specially decorated. The
junior officers stood in a line and presented their compliments,
preceded by "the H.Q. Commandant, accompanied by a man from the
guard unit who brings a bunch of wild flowers." Halder read the
teleprints from army group headquarters and pronounced the news
satisfactory. The Russians were in full retreat, and Luftwaffe
reports from the southern front told of disorganised columns three
and four abreast. Of the total of two hundred aircraft shot down the
day before, the majority had been old types, TB 3 highwing
bluffing, in a matter of days they would exhaust themselves. Then, a
certain haunting disquiet: the endless, aimless succession of
counterattacks, the eagerness to trade ten Russian lives for one
German, the vastness of the territory, and its bleak horizon.
A German Colonel Bernd von Kleist, wrote:
The German Army in fighting Russia is like an elephant
attacking a host of ants. The elephant will kill thousands, perhaps
even millions, of ants, but in the end their numbers will overcome
him, and he will be eaten to the bone.
There were differences, too, in the manner of the fighting.
Manstein has described how, on the very first day, he was shown the
bodies of a German patrol which had been cut off, and "gruesomely
mutilated," and the Soviets' practice of "throwing up their
hands as if to surrender and reaching for their arms as soon as our
infantry came near enough, or ... feigning death and then firing on
our troops when their backs were turned." As early as 23rd June,
Halder had been complaining of the "absence of any large take of
prisoners," on the 24th that "the stubborn resistance of
individual Russian units is remarkable," on the 27th, again,
dissatisfaction at "the singularly small number of prisoners."
The fissures in Russian morale which were to open that autumn (and as
suddenly to be closed by German brutality and miscalculation) were
still far below the surface.
All this had been immediately apparent to the German infantry,
which was fighting at close quarters. But on the Panzer crews, riding
out on the armoured decks of their vehicles, the sun shone. For the
first few days it seemed almost like the summer campaign in the West,
as the undamaged villages slid beneath their tracks, the bewildered
population peering from windows and doorways. Soon, though, this
similarity began to fade. The first effects of the distance they were
travelling began to be felt. Many of the motorised divisions had been
re-equipped with captured French trucks, and these were starting to
break down on the poor roads. Spare parts had to be flown in as the
long trails that stretched west behind the armoured spearheads were
dangerously vulnerable to wandering bodies of "surrounded"
Russians. "In spite of the distances we were advancing,"
wrote a captain in the 18th Panzer Division, ". . . there was no
feeling, as there had been in France, of entry into a defeated
nation. Instead there was resistance, always resistance, however
hopeless. A single gun, a group of men with rifles . . . once a chap
ran out of a cottage by the roadside with a grenade in each hand . .
."
On 29th June, Halder, after summarising the day's progress in his
diary, concluded:
Now, for once, our troops are compelled to fight according to
their combat manuals. In Poland and in the West they could take
liberties, but here they cannot get away with it.
There is a note almost of smugness about this entry. It is as if
the dedicated graduate of the General Staff College was gratified to
see the rules of war beginning to assert themselves. But, "for
once . . ." For always. Had the Germans but known it, the first
(and, for their arms, the most spectacular) phase of the Eastern
campaign was already fading into memory.
The 30th of June was Halder's birthday, and at OKH the anniversary
was a happy occasion. On coming down to the breakfast room the Chief
of the General Staff found that it had been specially decorated. The
junior officers stood in a line and presented their compliments,
preceded by "the H.Q. Commandant, accompanied by a man from the
guard unit who brings a bunch of wild flowers." Halder read the
teleprints from army group headquarters and pronounced the news
satisfactory. The Russians were in full retreat, and Luftwaffe
reports from the southern front told of disorganised columns three
and four abreast. Of the total of two hundred aircraft shot down the
day before, the majority had been old types, TB 3 highwing
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