Erwin Rommel Quotes
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In view of my services in Africa, I have the chance of dying by poison. Two generals have brought it with them. It is fatal in three seconds. If I take the poison, none of the usual steps will be taken against my family; that is, against you. They will also leave my staff alone.
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A risk is a chance you take; if it fails you can recover. A gamble is a chance taken; if it fails, recovery is impossible.
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It is often possible to decide the issue of a battle merely by making an unexpected shift of one's main weight.
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Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, but brains saves both.
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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.
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The enemy must be annihilated before he reaches our main battlefield. We must stop him in the water, destroying all his equipment while it is still afloat!
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Good soldiers, bad officers; however don't forget that without them we would not have any Civilization.
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There is one unalterable difference between a soldier and a civilian: the civilian never does more than he is paid to do.
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To every man of us, Tobruk was a symbol of British resistance and we were now going to finish with it for good.
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Winning the men's confidence requires much of a commander. He must exercise care and caution, look after his men, live under the same hardships, and-above all- apply self discipline. But once he has their confidence, his men will follow him through hell and high water.
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I would rather he had given me one more division.
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The best form of welfare for the troops is first-rate training.
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The future battle on the ground will be preceded by battle in the air. This will determine which of the contestants has to suffer operational and tactical disadvantages and be forced throughout the battle into adoption compromise solutions.
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When there's no clear option, it's better to do nothing.
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Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning.
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One of the most important factors, not only in military matters but in life as a whole, is ... the ability to direct one's whole energies towards the fulfillment of a particular task.
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The peril of the hour moved the British to tremendous exertions, just as always in a moment of extreme danger things can be done which had previously been thought impossible. Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.
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In a man-to-man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine.
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There are always times where the place of a commander isn't back with his Major State, but onward with his troops.
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He Hitler seemed very depressed and upset about the Stalingrad disaster. He said that one is always liable to look on the black side of things after a defeat, a tendency which can lead one into dangerous and false conclusions.