William Craig > Quotes

“John McCloy, Assistant Secretary of War, to add his comments before leaving. McCloy said that all the talk of invading Japan struck him as rather “fantastic.” The secretary asked, “Why not use the atomic bomb?” The meeting was once more called to order and McCloy’s remark was discussed. Truman listened intently as the men at the table argued the merits of first warning the Japanese to surrender and then using the new weapon if the enemy ignored the ultimatum. The dialogue broke down because of one basic truth. No one in the room knew whether the device being readied in New Mexico would actually work. Without that knowledge, strategy was pointless.”
― William Craig, The Fall of Japan: The Final Weeks of World War II in the Pacific

“The B-29 itself was an awesome weapon, capable of nearly twice the performance of the time-tested B-17 being used in Europe. Built by Boeing, the silver-painted four-engine aircraft was 99 feet long, 27 feet 9 inches high, with a wing span of slightly over 141 feet. Its armament included twelve 50-caliber machine guns and a 20-millimeter cannon in the tail. The B-29 could operate at 38,000 feet and cruise at over 350 miles per hour. It could fly 3,500 miles with four tons of bombs.”
― William Craig, The Fall of Japan: The Final Weeks of World War II in the Pacific

“The battle of Okinawa had ended. Over 12,000 Americans and more than 100,000 Japanese were dead. The American flag flew only 350 miles from Japan.”
― William Craig, The Fall of Japan: The Final Weeks of World War II in the Pacific

“Reichmarshal Hermann Goering shook his head in disbelief. “It is impossible that any German officer could be responsible for defeatist messages of this sort,” he declared. “The only possible explanation is that the enemy has captured his transmitter and has sent them himself.”
― William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

“Stalin never forgot or forgave. He once told a Russian writer that Ivan the Terrible had not been ruthless enough because he left too many enemies alive.”
― William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

“One of his storm groups concentrated on the potato cellar that Lt. Wilhelm Kreiser had held since late October.”
― William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

“Stand fast—the Führer will get you out!”
― William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

“For Sugiyama and his wife, it was a last meal together after a long and mutually enjoyable life. He planned to die the next day by his own hand. She was pleased. Though she loved him deeply, she felt that her husband, a senior member of the Imperial Army, owed it to the nation to atone for the defeat of Japan. She”
― William Craig, The Fall of Japan: The Final Weeks of World War II in the Pacific

“Most appalling was the growing realization, formed by statistics I uncovered, that the battle was the greatest military bloodbath in recorded history. Well over a million men and women died because of Stalingrad, a number far surpassing the previous records of dead at the first battle of the Somme and Verdun in 1916. The toll breaks down as follows: Conversations with official Russian sources on a not-for-attribution basis (and it must be remembered that the Russians have never officially admitted their losses in World War II) put the loss of Red Army soldiers at Stalingrad at 750,000 killed, wounded, or missing in action. The Germans lost almost 400,000 men. The Italians lost more than 130,000 men out of their 200,000-man army. The Hungarians lost approximately 120,000 men. The Rumanians also lost approximately 200,000 men around Stalingrad.”
― William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

“The Italians not only had been given the job of containing any Russian threat from across the river, they also served as a buffer between the Hungarians and the Rumanian Third Army, which was to hold the territory from Serafimovich to Kletskaya deep in the steppe. The German High Command had inserted the Italians between the other two armies to avoid conflict between ancient enemies, who might forget the Russians and go at each other’s throats.”
― William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

“Contrary to popular belief at the time, German armies were far from total mechanization. In Sixth Army alone, more than twenty-five thousand horses moved guns and supplies.”
― William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

“Paulus continued, “We already speak from a different world than yours, for you are talking to dead men. From now on our only existence will be in the history books.…”
― William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

“Man aspires to greatness, but all too often his hopes are submerged by the primitive instinct to survive at any cost.”
― William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

“series”
― William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

“Ernst von Paulus,”
― William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

“He’ll be given everything he’s entitled to under the Geneva Convention. We don’t want to be accused of doing to him what they did to you.”
― William Craig, The Fall of Japan: The Final Weeks of World War II in the Pacific