- Self - German High Command: Hitler wanted to attack Russia already in the fall of 1940, and let himself, for once, be persuaded that it would be impossible to go to war at that late time on account of the weather in Russia, and for the reason that it would urgent and necessary to enforce the German army as well as the German air force, before entering into this new campaign.
- Self - Narrator: Doubts about the Red Army's strength had been raised inside Russia. The purges of the '30s had decimated its leadership. 90% of its generals, 80% of its colonels and well over half its corps commanders had been put to death at Stalin's whim.
- Self - Stalin Critic: Every single commander of a military district was eliminated. Every single commander of an army division has been eliminated. Every single commander of a regiment, with some exceptions here, also eliminated. Now, you see, this is a little more than political weakness. The army was beheaded, so to speak.
- Self - Narrator: Hitler, that same month, further strengthened the Axis. He signed a new military alliance with Italy and with Japan the Tripartite Pact. lt was aimed, allegedly, at only the United States and Britain. The Russians thought otherwise. They protested angrily. Hitler invited Stalin's closest adviser, Molotov, to Berlin that November 1940, to help, as he put it, "clarify the situation. lt was a disastrous visit for Soviet-German relations.
- Self - Narrator: Even while Molotov was still in Berlin Hitler ordered his generals to plan an attack on Russia for May 15, 1941 . They responded with a detailed scheme which he named "Operation Barbarossa" after the red-bearded Prussian emperor who, centuries earlier, had crusaded against the Slavs.
- Albert Speer: ln August '39, when Hitler had signed the pact with Russia, in the evening, there was a movie, and this movie showed the parade of the Russian troops before the Kremlin. He was very much impressed and was relieved that now, with the pact, this army is neutralized. But afterwards, when the German troops met the Russian ones in occupying Poland, officers reported to Hitler that the equipment of those Russian units were very poor. He first didn't believe it so much, but then when the Russians attacked the Finns and they didn't have any progress, he was convinced that this was really the truth and he was now considering the Russian army no more as strong as before.
- Self - Hitler's Interpreter: He was blunt in his remarks and he didn't spare Hitler at all. Very uncompromising, hardly smiling at all, reminding me of my mathematics teacher, with the spectacles - hostile spectacles looking at his pupil, Hitler, and saying, "ls our agreement last year's agreement - still valid?" Hitler thought it was a mistranslation. He said, "Of course. Why not?" And Molotov said, "Yes, l ask this question because of the Finns. You're on very friendly relations with the Finns. You invite people from Finland to Germany and send the missions there. The Finns are very dangerous people. They undermine our security. We'll have to do something about that, and we are going to do something about that." Whereupon Hitler exploded and said, "l understand you very well. You want to wage war against Finland, and that is quite out of the question, do you hear me? Impossible. Because my supplies of iron and of nickel and of other important raw materials would be cut." lt was a very tough, almost a heavyweight championship in political discussion.