240. Koeppen, Fol. 72 (26 October 1941).
241. Below, 294.
242. TBJG, II/2, 215 (1 November 1941).
243. Halder KTB, iii.58 (9 July 1941), 142 (2 August 1941); E. Wagner, 206–7 (letters of 12 and 20 October). Trains with winter equipment had been standing in sidings near Breslau and Cracow since the end of August, but frozen engines and shortage of wagons were among the reasons why supplies to the front could not be sustained. (E. Wagner, 206n., 266–7. See also Irving, HW, 333, 851; Leach, 212.)
244. TBJG, II/2, 213 (1 November 1941).
245. TBJG, II/2, 214–18 (1 November 1941).
246. DRZW, iv.578 for military optimism in mid-October, 584–5 for unrealistic expectations. See also Irving, HW, 339.
247. DRZW, iv.585.
248. Domarus, 1771–81 for the text of the speech. The Bürgerbräukeller had still not been repaired since the attack on Hitler’s life there two years earlier (Domarus, 1771 n.446).
249. TBJG, II/2, 259 (10 November 1941).
250. Domarus, 1775.
251. Domarus, 1776.
252. Domarus, 1778.
253. TBJG, II/2, 261–2 (10 November 1941); Orlow, ii.270–71; Johannes Volker Wagner, Hakenkreuz über Bochum, Bochum, 1983, 206.
254. Hitler had declared in his speech the previous day that ‘a November 1918 will never repeat itself in Germany! It cannot repeat itself. Everything is possible except one thing: that Germany will ever capitulate!’ (Domarus, 1778).
255. TBJG, II/2, 262 (10 November 1941).
256. TBJG, II/2, 262–3 (10 November 1941), quotation 263.
257. The journey took so long because the Special Train did not travel at night (Koeppen, Fol. 80 (6 November 1941)).
258. Guderian, 245–8.
259. DRZW, iv.586, gives losses of 277,000 men by 16 October, with a replacement available of 151,000 men.
260. Guderian, 247.
261. DRZW, iv.586–7, 591–2.
262. DRZW, iv.587–8. See also Hartmann, 292–3.
263. See Engel, 113–16 (12 November 1941, 16 November 1941, 22 November 1941, 24 November 1941) for Hitler’s uncertainty.
264. DRZW, iv.590–91.
265. Engel, 116 (25 November 1941).
266. TBJG, II/2, 336–7 (22 November 1941). The British Army had begun its counter-offensive on 18 November.
267. TBJG, II/2, 337 (22 November 1941).
268. TBJG, II/2, 338 (22 November 1941).
269. TBJG, II/2, 364 (25 November 1941).
270. MadR, ix.3120 (5 January 1942).
271. TBJG, II/2, 403 (30 November 1941).
272. Halder KTB, iii.315 (28 November 1941); KTB OKW, i.781 (28 November 1941); Irving, HW, 342.
273. TBJG, II/2, 398–9 (30 November 1941).
274. TBJG, II/2, 399–401 (30 November 1941).
275. TBJG, II/2, 401 (30 November 1941).
276. TBJG, II/2, 403 (30 November 1941).
277. Seidler, Fritz Todt, 356. This contrasted with Hitler’s view, as expressed to Goebbels on 21 November, that the entry of the USA into the war posed no acute threat and could not alter the situation on the Continent (TBJG, II/2, 339 (22 November 1941)).
278. Walter Rohland, Bewegte Zeiten. Erinnerungen eines Eisenhüttenmannes, Stuttgart, 1978, 78; Seidler, 356–7.
279. TBJG, II/2, 404 (30 November 1941). By this time, the casualties — dead, wounded, missing — on the eastern front had risen sharply, now amounting since the starting of ‘Barbarossa’ to 743,112 persons, or 23 per cent of the eastern army (Halder KTB, iii.318 (30 November 1941)).
280. Halder KTB, iii.319 (30 November 1941).
281. Halder KTB, iii.322 (1 December 1941).
282. Halder KTB, iii.322 (1 December 1941).
283. Halder KTB, iii.325 (3 December 1941); Domarus, 1787.
284. Irving, HW, 349–50.
285. Guderian, 258–60.
286. Irving, HW, 350.
287. Irving, HW, 352, has (without source) Heinz Lorenz, a press officer in FHQ, bursting in with the news — just announced on an American radio station — towards midnight. The Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor took place in the early morning of Sunday, 7 December, local time, and was over by 9.45a.m. — evening in central Europe. Churchill heard of the attack shortly after 9p.m. (Churchill, iii.537). A junior officer in FHQ at the time stated from memory many years later that an orderly had brought a telegram from Berlin with the news during the evening meal, shortly before 8p.m. (though the date given, 9 December, is plainly erroneous). (Unpublished notes (25 April 1997) and taped interview with Hans Mommsen of Wolfgang Brocke, a Leutnant in the Technischer Kriegsverwaltungsrat who had served on the staff of the Führer-Begleitbataillon in FHQ since 22 June 1941. I am grateful to Hans Mommsen for giving me access to this material.
