On 20th December 1941, at the Wolfschanze, the 5 hour meeting between Hitler and Guderian began. The belief at all times in the Third Reich, when things were going badly, was almost always put down to decisions or actions taken by people surrounding Hitler. If only Hitler knew truth he would put things right.

Guderian in his memoirs repeats this view, while taking a dig at the creature comforts enjoyed at Hitler’s headquarters, compared to life at the front of Army Group Centre. Guderian wrote: 

At that time, however, I still believed that our Supreme Command would listen to sensible propositions when they were laid before it by a general who knew the front. This belief I retained while making the long flight from the ice-bound battle area north of Orel to the well-appointed and well-heated Supreme Headquarters far away in East Prussia.

If only Hitler knew.

Tag words: David Stahel; Retreat from Moscow; Wolfschanze; Adolf Hitler; Heinz Guderian; Third Reich; Army Group Centre; Field Marhsall von Brauchitsch; Friederich Nietzsche; Nazi ideology; Thus Sprake Zarathustra; Übermensch; The Will to Power; Mein Kampf; 'Lords of the Earth; Erich von Manstein; Lost Victories; General von Kluge; National Socialist; Ostheer;