Chapter 67 Chapter 15 1943 | The Defensive War of 1944

When the Acropolis battle was called to a halt.The initiative on the Eastern Front was finally transferred to the hands of the Russians.Not only did we fail to encircle the enemy's strong forces on the Kursk salient, but we ended our operations hastily in the face of his mobile reserve before anything was decided.The numerical superiority of the enemy is destined to make it powerful.In fact, their attack on Arnell's prominence was just the prelude to a bigger offensive. Since then, Army Group South has found that its defensive battles are nothing more than a patchwork of coping methods.Because the force is too weak and the front is too wide, when facing a purely passive defense against an enemy many times stronger than itself, it must concentrate its efforts and even temporarily abandon the less threatening areas in order to defend itself. Intercept the breakthrough of the Russian army, or take the opportunity to strike the enemy.What it must avoid at all costs is that no unit of an army group should be cut off by a deep enemy breakthrough and suffer the same fate as Sixth Army did at Stalingrad.Trying to maintain our position on the battlefield while at the same time grinding down the enemy's offensive capabilities is the highest principle of this struggle.