Erwin Rommel Quotes

Good soldiers, bad officers; however don't forget that without them we would not have any Civilization.

Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, but brains saves both.

Better too much spade work than too little! This work saves blood.

Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.

No plan survives contact with the enemy

Anyone who has to fight, even with the most modern weapons, against an enemy in complete command of the air, fights like a savage against modern European troops, under the same handicaps and with the same chances of success.

The art of concentrating strength at one point, forcing a breakthrough, rolling up and securing the flanks on either side, and then penetrating like lightning, before the enemy has time to react, deep into his rear.

I would rather be the hammer than the anvil

Give me the Maori Battalion and I will conquer the world

Thus the British lost the very able and adaptable commander <nowiki/>David Stirling of the desert group <nowiki/>SAS which had caused us more damage than any other British unit of equal strength.

Im Osten, Westen und Süden liegen die letzten Ruhestätten jener deutschen Soldaten, die für Heimat und Land den Weg der Pflicht bis zum bitteren Ende beschritten haben. Sie sind eine ständige Mahnung an unsere Zurückgebliebenen und unsere zukünftigen Generationen, dass wir sie nicht im Stich lassen dürfen, wenn es darum geht, Opfer für Deutschland zu bringen.

The German soldier has astonished the world; the Italian Bersagliere has astonished the German soldier.

The military career of most of the people who aimed these accusations at us was notable for a consistent absence from the front, on the principle of "weit vom Schuss gibt alte Kreiger" - "far from the battle makes old soldiers."

The Italian command was, for the most part, not equal to the task of carrying on war in the desert, where the requirement was lightning decision followed by immediate action. The training of the Italian infantryman fell far short of the standard required by modern warfare. ... Particularly harmful was the all pervading differentiation between officer and man. While the men had to make shift without field-kitchens, the officers, or many of them, refused adamantly to forgo their several course meals. Many officers, again, considered it unnecessary to put in an appearance during battle and thus set the men an example. All in all, therefore, it was small wonder that the Italian soldier, who incidentally was extraordinarily modest in his needs, developed a feeling of inferiority which accounted for his occasional failure and moments of crisis. There was no foreseeable hope of a change for the better in any of these matters, although many of the bigger men among the Italian officers were making sincere efforts in that direction.

Den Kampf Mann gegen Mann gewinnt bei gleichwertigen Gegnern, wer eine Patrone mehr im Lauf hat.