[Opening Moves] Excerpt from recorded interview between Colonel C. Lavalle of the Legion Etrangere and ex-SS Standartenfuhrer Ernst-August Knocke in WInzenheim Prison Camp on 1st July 1945, as spoken by the prisoner.
"I can assure you that the Russian front afforded
no room for ego, Herr Oberst."
[Opening Moves] Excerpt from tactical briefing given by Acting Major Deniken, 49th Guards Rifle Regiment to assault forces gathering east of Heiligenthal on 7th August 1945.
"These are good troops here. American
paratroopers who know how to fight. I have lost a
full company so far and they haven't moved a
bit. So don't believe everything you have been
told about walking easily over the Allies."
[Opening Moves] Excerpt from speech by Nikolai Bulganin given to Senior Red Army and Airforce officers, Kremlin, 18th June 1945.
"The German is defeated and cowed, half his
lands and cities are ours, and we will bleed all we
can from them in reparation for their bloody
unprovoked attack on our Motherland. That is
our right."
[Opening Moves] Excerpt from conversation between Major J. Ramsey VC, DSO, MC of 7th Battalion, The Black Watch and Major T.Llewellyn of 4th Battalion, Royal Welch Fusilers in the Rathaus, Hamburg on 12th August 1945.
"They came on and on; they didn't stop."
"No one said they aren't brave soldiers did they
Llewellyn?"
"No, and they are very brave; very, very brave."
"Valour knows no national boundaries."
[Opening Moves] Excerpt from interview between Senior Officers of the Legion Corps D'Assault and ex-SS Sturmbannfuhrer Rolf Uhlmann at Sassy on 12th August 1945.
"Sir, I am here to fight for Germany first and
Europe second. If I cannot fight as a German
soldier then I will fight in the costume of the
Folies Bergere if it provides me with the
opportunity to liberate my Fatherland."
[Stalemate] Excerpt from a conversation on the abilities of the Waffen-SS between Red Army Marshall G. Zhukov and NKVD Chief Marshall L. Beria in the Kremlin on 14th August 1945.
"The average Germanski reached the gates of
Moscow wearing a flimsy summer tunic and
holding a weapon too frozen to fire Comrade
Marshall. The average Germanski reached the
banks of the Volga. He is not to be
underestimated. And these men were not average
Germanski."
[Stalemate] Piece of poetry penned by RSM Murdo Robertson, 7th Battalion, The Black Watch on 24th October 1945, the eve of the Battle of Barnstorf.
Is that rain upon my face this day?
Or Angels tears from heaven to say.
We feel for you Oh sons of men.
Prepared to do your work again,
Though such a price was never asked,
Or so brave a group so heavy tasked,
So feel our tears upon your face, and know,
We care about you down below.
[Breakthrough] Arguement between Stelmakh's driver, Kaporal Stepanov, and Serzhant Chelpanov, a T34 tank commander in 44th mechanised Brigade.
"We are all scared, always scared. What is
important is that our courage overcomes and we
do what we can, for the Motherland and our
comrades, those we know by name and those we
have never heard of."
[Stalemate] The thoughts of Marshall G. Zhukov, 17th October 1945.
'Every time we break through, they plug
the gap. Every time! They are resilient,
this Army from a Hundred Lands.'
[Impasse] Captain Haines, 16th/5th Lancers, to the men of the 142nd R.A.C., in the Gail Valley, Austria, 28th November 1945.
?You?re not alone in this fight, lads, just as
you?re not alone in losing mates, We?ve all done our bit... and I wish we could
all just go home... but we can?t, not while the sodding Russians keep this
nonsense up. We?ve to stay here and do the job, otherwise it?ll be your son... or your grandson
who?ll have to do the business for us... and then what would we think of
ourselves, eh?
[Impasse] Brigadier General Pierce, 16th US Armored Brigade, to Captain Barkmann, 2nd Rangers, at Neuwiller-lès-Saverne, Alsace, on 7th December 1945.
?Son, I
travelled up that road aways. I saw what you and your boys went through to get
here. I don?t see how you coulda got here any sooner, really I don?t. Everyone
did their best by these poor boys,? he looked over at the dead bodies,
?But it just simply wasn?t enough, just not enough...,? somewhere in his words
he seemed to change from speaking to Barkmann to addressing himself, ?Especially
when faced with men who could do that... what sort of men do that??
[Impasse] Colonel Artem'yev to his men before the Battle of Strassfeld, Germany, on 11th December 1945.
?This will be the last
time. When this one is over I will march you to the rear myself, Comrades. With
or without orders!?
