chapotraphouse

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."

So much for that rotten structure then, lmfao