Quote:
Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk
Didn't Manstein raise concerns about the entire Operation Citadel? The confidence and the pessimism is factor we have discussed much, not to my knowledge anyway. When did the Germans lose the confidence? Before Barbarossa or after Moscow. There were Germans apprehensive about attacking Soviet Union.
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The problem I have with German Generals is that for the most part the information we have about their beliefs and opinions is from material written post-war and by 1946 every surviving German commander was an avid Hitler hating, anti-Nazi so I am dubious about those views.
As to when they lost confidence it is hard to say, I get the impression that it depends on who you talk to as to when it happened.
A personal guess is that by the end of 1941 there must have been an inkling that things were not going to go smoothly and certainly by the end of 1943 it had to be obvious that it was not going to be a positive outcome.
That being said some time ago I spoke to my wife's grandfather who was 1942 called up and although he never fought in Russia he claimed that he never really felt like it lost until Jan 1945.