Although Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a non-aggression pact in 1939, both countries still held a distrust of one another. In 1941, World War II was in full swing, Germany had swept through most of Europe, and with the Channel blocking their advance into England, the only way left to go was east, turning on their one-time ally, the Soviet Union.Īs early as July of 1940, Hitler had been thinking about invading the Soviet Union he was counting on their obsolete and disorganized military to quickly fall to the blitzkrieg as the rest of Europe already had. This should have been the first warning sign to the Germans that the Soviet Red Army was not as far behind technologically as they had believed. – General Heinz Guderian, Erinnerung eines Soldaten/Panzer Leader The commission’s insistence was so great that our manufacturers and officials in the Waffenamt finally concluded that the Russians had heavier and better types than we did…” ![]() They repeatedly claimed that we were keeping our newest design from them, which Hitler had promised to demonstrate. ![]() During this visit, the Russians, when shown our Panzer IV, simply refused to believe that this vehicle was our heaviest tank. In the spring of 1941, Hitler had given his express permission that a Russian officer’s commission be permitted to visit our tank training schools and armor production facilities, and had ordered that the Russians be allowed to see everything. ![]() “…I was quite startled, however, by an unusual event in connection with the tank in question.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |