6 Quotes by Erich von Manstein

There are only four types of officers.First, there are the lazy, stupid ones. Leave them alone, they do no harm.Second, there are the hard-working intelligent ones. They make excellent staff officers, ensuring that every detail is properly considered.Third, there are the hard-working, stupid ones. These people are a menace, and must be fired at once. They create irrelevant work for everybody.Finally, there are the intelligent lazy ones. They are suited for the highest office.

No Senior military commander can for years on end expect his soldiers to lay down their lives for victory and then precipitate defeat by his own hand.

A war is not lost until you consider it lost.

Prussian Field Marshals do not mutiny.

Strength of character and inner fortitude, however, are decisive factors. The confidence of the man in the ranks rests upon a man’s strength of character.

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.