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If Paulus's army had capitulated before the end, the Russians would have had the advantage of withdrawing forces against Paulus and against the southern front, where I had only two Romanian armies. Therefore, the resistance of the Sixth German Army, even to the death of the last man, was necessary.

— Erich von Manstein

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More quotes by Erich von Manstein

A war is not lost until you consider it lost.

But it is a well-known maxim of war that whoever tries to hold on to everything at once, finishes up by holding nothing at all.

It has always been the particular forte of German leadership to grant wide scope to the self-dependence of subordinate commanders - to allot them tasks which leave the method of execution to the discretion of the individual. From time immemorial - certainly since the elder Moltke's day - this principle has distinguished Germany's military leadership from that of other armies.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Erich von Manstein (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.