Reposting on old comment of mine with some more quotes, cos why not
Edit: This is the article I go the quotes from. There are more good ones in there too, where Hitler is essentially forced to admit that Soviet central planning was more efficient than market economies lol
I was reading through this article about German hubris whilst fighting the Soviets and modern day hubris when fighting the Russians the other day, and came across something interesting:
October 17, 1941. Hitler speaking to Reich Minister Dr. Todt and Gauleiter Sauckel:
“We shall have to settle down to the task of rebuilding the Russian track, to restore it to the normal gauge. There’s only one road that, throughout all these last months of campaigning, was of any use to the armies on the central front—and for that I’ll set up a monument to Stalin. Apart from that, he preferred to manufacture chains of mud rather than to build roads!..”
Initially I thought he was talking metaphorically, but is he actually talking about train track gauges? Did the Wermacht move supplies by train?
There’s a load of other funny bits in there too:
Hitler, July 19, 1942:
“Just when the difficulties of the eastern winter campaign in the East had reached their height, some imbecile pointed out that Napoleon, like ourselves, had started his Russian campaign on 22nd June. Thank God, I was able to counter that drive with the authoritative statement of historians of repute that Napoleon’s campaign did not, in fact, begin until 23rd June!”
Nice one Hitler, you really showed that guy
Hitler, August 26, 1942:
“If Stalin had been given another ten or fifteen years, Russia would have become the mightiest State in the world, and two or three centuries would have been required to bring about a change. It is a unique phenomenon! He has raised the standard of living—of that there is no doubt; no one in Russia goes hungry any more. They have built factories where a couple of years ago only unknown villages existed—and factories, mark you, as big as the Hermann Goring Works. They have built railways that are not yet even on our maps. In Germany we start quarrelling about fares before we start building the line !”
It’s as if markets are inefficient or something
Hitler, August 28, 1942:
“As regards the Russians, their powers of resistance are inimitable, as they proved in the Russo-Japanese War. This is no new characteristic which they have suddenly developed.”
Oh yeah, it’s hilarious stuff. He even mentions how Stalin successfully eliminated monopolies, and how the lack of a profit motive makes industry more efficient. I’ll see if I can find the link to the article and edit it into my comment.
Yeah the USSR had train tracks of a slightly different gauge as the tracks in Germany, wider if I am not mistaken. Lots of their Nazi equipment was shipped by the rails after the Wehrmacht engineers had refitted the tracks. For example: Tanks usually have a pretty short length of time you can reliably drive them before needing maintenance, which in the case of the overengineered German tanks, could sometimes mean an entire engine rebuild. It was simply practical to ship the tanks by rail until they were close to the front at which point they could be unloaded and driven the remaining distance.
If you look up a lot of the early objectives of Operation Barbarossa they were often rail hubs. Not only were these important to capture for Nazi war ambitions - they also wanted to deprive the Soviets of key infrastructure that could be used to efficiently resupply the Red Army. The Red Army had a lot of trucks provided through Lend-Lease but aside from the rails they also used a lot of animal-driven wagons given the necessities of warfare. Better to ship supplies on the back of a mule than nothing at all when the roads turned to mud in the spring rain. The history of the logistics on the Eastern Front is mind boggling.
The Soviets were very rail dependent and as other have mentioned had wide gauge. The extensive rail transport meant that roads were lower priority. By contrast, the Germans largely Horse-drawn logistics were reliant on roads, especially once they hit Soviet rail networks where their trains were inoperable (the Soviets were pretty good at preventing rail stock capture.) The soviets also used animals but more mules with saddlebags/sleds and not heavy carts.
“Just when the difficulties of the eastern winter campaign in the East had reached their height, some imbecile pointed out that Napoleon, like ourselves, had started his Russian campaign on 22nd June. Thank God, I was able to counter that drive with the authoritative statement of historians of repute that Napoleon’s campaign did not, in fact, begin until 23rd June!”
"This statement has been fact checked by Adolf Hitler and rated: "
Reposting on old comment of mine with some more quotes, cos why not
Edit: This is the article I go the quotes from. There are more good ones in there too, where Hitler is essentially forced to admit that Soviet central planning was more efficient than market economies lol
I was reading through this article about German hubris whilst fighting the Soviets and modern day hubris when fighting the Russians the other day, and came across something interesting:
Initially I thought he was talking metaphorically, but is he actually talking about train track gauges? Did the Wermacht move supplies by train?
There’s a load of other funny bits in there too:
It’s as if markets are inefficient or something
So much for that rotten structure then, lmfao
Am I wrong to say this sounds like it would fit right at home in a 1940’s /r/SelfAwareWolves? This is uncanny valley stuff.
Oh yeah, it’s hilarious stuff. He even mentions how Stalin successfully eliminated monopolies, and how the lack of a profit motive makes industry more efficient. I’ll see if I can find the link to the article and edit it into my comment.
Yeah the USSR had train tracks of a slightly different gauge as the tracks in Germany, wider if I am not mistaken. Lots of their Nazi equipment was shipped by the rails after the Wehrmacht engineers had refitted the tracks. For example: Tanks usually have a pretty short length of time you can reliably drive them before needing maintenance, which in the case of the overengineered German tanks, could sometimes mean an entire engine rebuild. It was simply practical to ship the tanks by rail until they were close to the front at which point they could be unloaded and driven the remaining distance.
If you look up a lot of the early objectives of Operation Barbarossa they were often rail hubs. Not only were these important to capture for Nazi war ambitions - they also wanted to deprive the Soviets of key infrastructure that could be used to efficiently resupply the Red Army. The Red Army had a lot of trucks provided through Lend-Lease but aside from the rails they also used a lot of animal-driven wagons given the necessities of warfare. Better to ship supplies on the back of a mule than nothing at all when the roads turned to mud in the spring rain. The history of the logistics on the Eastern Front is mind boggling.
For all the Untermenschen talk the Germans sure got owned a lot
The Soviets were very rail dependent and as other have mentioned had wide gauge. The extensive rail transport meant that roads were lower priority. By contrast, the Germans largely Horse-drawn logistics were reliant on roads, especially once they hit Soviet rail networks where their trains were inoperable (the Soviets were pretty good at preventing rail stock capture.) The soviets also used animals but more mules with saddlebags/sleds and not heavy carts.
"This statement has been fact checked by Adolf Hitler and rated:
"