(1) Wilhelm von Tippelskirch was interviewed by Basil Liddell Hart after the war for his book The Other Side of the Hill (1948)

Frontal defence was much stronger in this war even than in 1914-18. The Russians always failed to break our front, and although they pushed far round our flanks, they had not yet the skill nor sufficient supplies to drive home their advantage. We concentrated on holding the towns that were rail and road centres, rolling up round them like 'hedgehogs' - that was Hitler's idea - and succeeded in holding them firmly. The situation was saved. It was his one great achievement. At that critical moment the troops were remembering what they had heard about Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, and living under the shadow of it. If they had once begun a retreat, it might have turned into a panic flight.