“There’s absolutely no reason for us to assume that the Germans are mounting a major offense. The weather is awful and their supplies are low. The Germans haven’t mounted a winter attack since Frederick the Great. Therefore I believe that’s exactly what they’re going to do.”
- Quote from the movie Patton. Not sure how historically accurate Patton was but my guess is, if Patton actually said this, that it was probably pretty accurate.
According to the bit in today’s news, the Germans counterattacked in Russia during the two previous Decembers. It’s not likely that Patton would have had these episodes in mind. In particular, the December 1943 attack seems to have been minor