Hitler's Table Talk

WHEN TO ORDER ATTACKS 55
36 13th October 1941, evening
Opportunities for all in the Eastern Territories.
I've been wondering lately whether it wouldn't be best to
collect the men responsible for the control of the economics of
the following countries : Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium,
Sweden and Finland. We'd give them a notion of the vistas
that present themselves nowadays. The majority of them are
not at all aware of the immense field that opens up before us.
And yet these are the men who have a positive interest in seeing
to it that something should be done on behalf of their countries
! If they clearly realise that an outlet can be found in
Russia for their surplus population, and that their country
can henceforward obtain all it requires, I think it not impossible
that they may come over into our camp, with banners
waving. It would be a first step in a direction that would
remind us of what the creation of the Zollverein once meant
to us.
To-day I laid my financial ideas before the Minister of
Economic Affairs. He's enthusiastic. He foresees that in ten
years Germany will have freed itself from the burden of the war
without letting our purchasing-power at home be shaken.
37 13th October 1941, night
Decisions in lower military formations—Folly of the great
offensives of 1914-18—A people of artists and soldiers.
The other day I called off an attack that was to procure us a
territorial gain of four kilometres, because the practical benefit
of the operation didn't seem to me to be worth the price it
would have cost
I realise, in this connection, that it's more difficult to take
a decision on a lower level than on the level of the High Command.
How could the man who carries out the orders, and has
no comprehensive view of the situation, how could he make up
his mind with full knowledge of the pros and cons? Is he to
demand a sacrifice from his men, or is he to spare them this
sacrifice?