Franz Halder

“The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness.”

“We have underestimated the Russian colossus.”

“The front is a cage in which we are trapped.”

“The Führer's statements are accounted for by his megalomania and his habitual underestimation of the enemy.”

“The whole situation makes it increasingly plain that we have grievously underestimated the strength of the Russian.”

“In the first eight to fourteen days, the main body of the Russian army will be destroyed.”

“He [Hitler] has no idea of the scale of things and of the proper relation between his own forces and those of the enemy.”

“The individual soldier is an excellent fighting man. But the army lacks good senior commanders. The army is, so to speak, a body without a head.”