And now for a little bit of Goebbels

[Richard Hargreaves]

Das hat er augenblicklich in Nordafrika gemacht. Das hat er gemacht an der El-Alamein-Front, und das hat er jetzt versucht durch die amerikanisch-britische Landungsoperation in Französisch-Nordafrika. Daß eine solche Entwicklung natürlich momentan gewisse Schwankungen des Kriegsglücks mit sich bringen kann, ist selbstverständlich, aber nicht kriegsentscheidend. Kriegsentscheidend ist nur, ob es dem Gegner gelingt, an einer für uns lebenswichtigen Stelle unsere Front zum Einsturz zu bringen. Und das möchte ich bestreiten, und zwar aus bester Kenntnis der Dinge.

It's the final sentence which I can't quite translate - I know what he's saying: The Allies won't succeed in scoring a decisive success - I know because I've got all the facts at my disposal.

He is doing this now in North. He has done this on the El Alamein front and he has tried it with the Anglo-American landing in French North Africa. It is obvious that such developments can bring about certain temporary ups and downs in the fortunes of war - but they are not decisive for the outcome of the war. The only thing which is decisive is whether the enemy succeeds in causing one of the critical parts of our front to collapse.

This is an excerpt from his speech in Wuppertal on Nov 17 1942 - a bugger to translate (like all his speeches...) and one that's overlooked probably because of Hitler's speech in Munich a week or so earlier. It's full of just as much hubris and ignorance of the facts (e.g. the brief excerpt above...).

[pak]

... Und das möchte ich bestreiten, und zwar aus bester Kenntnis der Dinge.

I know what he's saying: The Allies won't succeed in scoring a decisive success - I know because I've got all the facts at my disposal.

You're right, of course, about the meaning of the sentence. I would translate it something like this:
And I want to contest that, and only out of the best knowledge of the things.