Dietrich von Choltitz Quotes

He was trembling all over and the desk on which he was leaning shook. He was bathed in perspiration and became more agitated.

French officer: Do you speak German?
Choltitz: Probably better than you.

Ich habe den Feldmarschall von Manstein gefragt, ob er an der Aktion gegen Hitler teilnehmen würde. Manstein sitzt in einem Sessel und liest in der Bibel. Schnell, fast verlegen, legt er sie zur Seite und deckt sie mit Papieren zu.

Even today, I can not say with certainty whether he himself believed in his words or whether he was knowingly deceiving those around him to urge him to keep to the end.

I stood in front of him and I saw an old, stooped, bloated man with gray, slick hair, barely standing on his legs.

If for the first time I had disobeyed, it was because I knew that Hitler was insane.

Have you read Churchill's speech? Appalling beyond all words! A Jewish brigade to go to Germany! Then the French will take the west and the Poles the east. The hate in that speech! I am completely shattered.

I asked the Field Marshal von Manstein if he would take part in the actions against Hitler. Manstein was sitting in a chair and reading the Bible. Quick, almost embarrassed, he put it aside and covered it with some papers.

Ever since our enemies have refused to listen to and obey our Führer, the whole war has gone badly.

I am a soldier. I get orders. I execute them.

Gentlemen, you are the leaders of the best soldiers in the world. I will give you five or six of my own men; we will cover your back with sustained barrage fire to protect you while you cross the rue de Rivoli. All you need to do is force open a door to fight your way to the tapestry.

Since Sevastopol, it has been my fate to cover the retreat of our armies and destroy the cities behind them.

Paris is like a pretty woman; when she gives you a smack, you don't smack back.

I was at Stalingrad, you know... And from that time onwards I have done nothing but manoeuvre to escape encirclement by the enemy: retreat on retreat, defeat upon defeat. And here I am in marvellous Paris. What do you think is going to happen now?

Oh, Field Marshal, so far it would have been a funeral without military honors, maybe now it can become one with military honors.