Untold suffering

Nemmersdorf is a village in East Prussia that was overrun by the Soviets in the autumn of 1944. After seizing the village, the Russkies raped all the women, regardless of age, and then crucified them. All of them. Men and children were clubbed to death or run over with tanks. Not a single person survived. It was payback for three years of Nazi atrocities during their invasion of Russia. German units counter-attacked and retook Nemmersdorf, and then invited reporters from three neutral countries — Sweden, Switzerland and Spain — to see what our Allies had done. German newsreels showed the horror non-stop.

Which brings me to General George Patton, my favourite warrior after Robert E. Lee and Hasso von Manteuffel. Patton understood far more about strategy than Montgomery, Bradley and Eisenhower combined. He was a great tactician as well as a global thinker. He showed his superior insight when he disagreed with the so-called ‘endgame’ in Europe as designed by the Big Four — Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin and Chiang Kai-shek.