



When World War II just broke out, the Germans didn’t expect at all their enemy would resist so much. Their soldiers, brave, initiative and dedicated, faced the great endurance and incredible strength of the Russians. But not only these qualities helped the latter win the war….

Here’s what German soldiers said about their enemies.

“Russian troops have always fought bravely and sometimes made incredible sacrifices.”

/ Field Marshal Erich von Manstein /

“The Russians held themselves with unexpected firmness and perseverance, even when they were bypassed and surrounded. In this way they won more time and drew up more and more new reserves for the counter-attacks from the depths of the country, which by the way were stronger than anticipated… The enemy has shown an absolutely incredible ability to resist.”

/ General Kurt von Tippelskirch /

“The Russian remains a good soldier everywhere and in all circumstances…

Field kitchen, almost sacred in the eyes of the soldiers of other armies, is just a pleasant surprise for the Russians, and they can spend days and weeks without it. The Russian soldier is completely satisfied with a handful of millet or rice adding to it what nature gives him. The soldier of the Russian army is an unsurpassed master of disguise, self-entrenching and field fortifications… The strength of the Russian soldier is due to his extreme closeness to nature. For him, there are simply no natural barriers: in heavy forest, swamps and marshes, in roadless steppe – he feels like home everywhere. He crosses a wide river using the most elementary improvised means and can pave a road everywhere. It takes few days for the Russians to build a many-kilometer causeway through an impassable swamp.”

/ Major-General von Mellenthin /

“Widely and skillfully conceived operations of the Red Army led to numerous encirclements of the German units and destruction of those who resisted.”

/ General Otto von Lasch /