23 May 2006

Goebbels, delusion, and the reality of war

Some time back I wrote a post quoting George Orwell about how you can only spin things so far until reality pushes back. He added that this was especially true in war. Here is a fascinating entry from Joseph Goebbels' diary the day after D-Day. What's fascinating about it is that this is not the public b.s of the designated liar, like 'Baghdad Bob'. This is Goebbels writing only for himself.


June 7, 1944
Yesterday: During the night, the first reports started arriving about the Allied invasion in the West. The Führer was in an exceptionally lively mood. The invasion is taking place exactly where we had anticipated it. Unless absolutely everything goes wrong, we should be able to cope. Unfortunately the enemy has already sent some tank units into action; but we will be mobilizing our reserves. Two top-rate tank divisions have already left. The Führer is convinced that we will expel the enemy units that have landed, and wipe out their paratroops

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