"I know how much you have done for the front, I know your commitment, but it just made you look at things that are too close in perspective."

                                               >> THE END <<

On December 20 Guderian visited Hitler requesting that the line be withdrawn to better positions.Hitler refused on the grounds that any retreat would lead to general panic.Guderian forced the issue,saying: 'Positional warfare in this unsuitable terrain will lead to battles of material as in WWI.We shall lose the flower of our officer and N.C.O. corps.We shall suffer huge losses without gaining any advantage and these losses will be irreplaceable,there seems no justification for sacrificing my soldiers lives.' Hitler replied: 'I know all about your personal effort and how you lead your troops from in front but for this reason you are in danger of seeing things too much at close quarters.You are hamstrung by too much compassion for your men.Things look clearer from a greater distance.In order to hold the front no sacrifice can be too great.For if we do not hold it then Army Group Center will be lost.' On December 24 von Kluge accused Guderian of evacuating Chern without authority,creating a dangerous gap of twenty-five miles.Hitler dismissed him from his command,already angered at the talk of withdrawal.Furious at Guderian's comments about him von Kluge challenged him to a duel which Hitler forbade. Guderian went on to become Inspector-General of the Armoured Troops and later Chief of Staff of the Army. After the war he spent 3 years in US custody and died in 1954 aged 65, his son Heinz became a prominent General in the post-war German Bundeswehr and NATO.