My favorite quote came from Berdnt von Kleist, at the beginning of Barbarossa, when it looked like the Nazis would win in a rout:
“The German Army in fighting Russia will be like an elephant attacking an army of ants. The elephant will kill thousands, even millions of ants, but he will in the end be overcome by their numbers and be eaten to the bone.”
Decidedly apropos.
“” “” “The German Army in fighting Russia will be like an elephant attacking an army of ants. The elephant will kill thousands, even millions of ants, but he will in the end be overcome by their numbers and be eaten to the bone.””” “”
Nazi supremacism talking. The Germans did better in terms of loss ratio mostly due to Stalin’s incompetence and micromanagement and a Germans brutality to POWs early at war. Since about 1943 it was Russians who were the elephant and the Germans were ants. And the elephant crushed ants really well.