Hitler’s orders or ‘no retreat’ were still in operation and the almost immediate effect of the Russian advance was the isolation of an entire army in the Baltic as Hitler refused permission for the Army Group North to come to the aid of Army Group Centre. The offensive opened an enormous gap in the German line, about 200 miles from Ostrov to Kovel, itself less than 200 miles from Warsaw, and to the direct loss of some 350,000 men taken prisoner. It is staggering to the imagination that, even with losses of this order, the German armies could still defend in strength and even counter-attack. The scale and savagery of the fighting on the Eastern Front has never had the publicity to match the accounts of the fighting following the D-Day landings, because of the Communist rule, but the damage to Germany was enormous, especially the loss of the Romanian Ploesti oilfields which were captured in September. Thereafter, the question of fuel became critical for the German forces who came to rely more and more on supplies of synthetic fuel made inside Germany. Romania defected, and Finland declared war on Germany, mainly to keep the Russians out. Bulgaria fell, while resources had to be expended on Hungary to support the new pro-Nazi government brought in after the Regent Horthy had announced a ceasefire. The whole of the Balkans and the Baltic, whose countries had been either subjugated or supported Hitler from the start, fell like a pack of cards, with retreats from Yugoslavia, and Greece, and whatever units could be extracted from Estonia and Lithuania.
With such writing on the wall, it was inevitable that those generals still capable of talking to Hitler, should do so, and do so in no uncertain terms. Rundstedt and Rommel, the former now somewhat old but still of the Army tradition, spent hours with Hitler after the French landings attempting to get him to see that a negotiated peace was far better than forcing the Allies to fight to the bitter end. Two meetings, on 17th and 29th June, proved fruitless. Hitler, as observed by Speidel, Rommel’s Chief of Staff, was loud in complaint about the Allied landings and suggested that his visitors were somehow responsible. Rommel pointed out that, with Allied superiority in the air and on land and sea, advances were not surprising, and that the position was hopeless unless Hitler agreed to allow the armies to withdraw out of range of the naval guns, which were causing the biggest problem. With the Panzers held out for reinforcement, a way could be found to contain the Allies and even inflict some defeats. Hitler would have none of this, and pointed out that the V-bombs and rockets would soon make the British listen. On emphasizing that the Luftwaffe was virtually non-existent at the front line, Hitler said that the new ‘jet’ fighters would soon change all that. Living in such an imaginary world was of no use to the Field Marshalls and the meeting of 29th only repeated the reliance on the new miracle weapons.
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