Did Hitler really save the german army in dec 1941?

[Sebastian Pye]

In many books Hitler is acredited with saving the retreat in dec-jan 1941 from turning into a route, by ordering the troops to hold their ground.
Is there really any basis for that argument? What would have been so awful in preparing some kind of defence line further back and withdrawing to it? How many times did german retreats turn into routes during ww2?
I want to hear your opinions on this.

[sid guttridge]

I won't tackle this one directly. However, I would like to advance the case of General Fromm, the head of the German Replacement Army back in Germany. He had doubted from very early on that the German Army had the reserves to finish off the Russians in 1941. On his own initiative he therefore did some precautionary planning under the codeword "Walkure" to create four emergency divisions from troops in the advanced stages of training back in the Reich. These he activated in the winter of 1941-42 and they had a significant role in making Hitler's "Stand Fast" order a practical reality.

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Hi Sid! Hi Sebastion! This is a very interesting question. Like Sid, I won't tackle it head-on. I think the fact of the matter is that the German Army, despite some individual doubts, honestly believed that, but for Hitler's order, the Army would have suffered a Napoleonic retreat that winter. So, in a way, regardless of whether or not he was right, the order itself served to strengthen his hand when dealing with the Army.
Professionals that they were, even skeptics in the Army had only to look at their actual losses that winter and breathe a sigh of relief that "something" prevented its dissolution. Best Regards, David