"Has everything been done to justify our actions in the light of history? What can there be left for a commander in defeat? In antiquity they took poison."
Otto Moritz Walter Model was a German Generalfeldmarschall during World War II. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, Model became best known as a practitioner of defensive warfare. His relative success as commander of the Ninth Army in the battles of 1941–1942 determined his future career path.
"Behr, I cannot imagine that I, as a Field Marshal, the one who out of conviction in victory for my country am responsible for the deaths of hundreds of my soldiers, should now emerge from these woods to approach Montgomery, or the Americans, with my hands in the air and say Here I am. Field Marshal Model, I Surrender."
"It should be prefaced by quotation from Goethe in which a special impression of Models personality is given, "I love those who yearn for the impossible. (Faust)"
"I sincerely believe that I have served a criminal. I led my soldiers in good conscience... but for a criminal government."
"Every minute that we lose will cost us great losses later that we will not be able to afford. We must push forward now, otherwise we risk everything. Hurry yourself with the technical aspects, a lot of time has already been lost."
"The best Kamerad inside the pocket will be the Kamerad outside the pocket. (Der beste K.I.K wird K.A.K)"
"My Soldiers are My Children. (Meine Soldaten sind Meine Kinder)"