Some quotes..

Julian Barnes remarking that life was like invading Russia. "A blitz start, massed shakos, plumes dancing like a flustered henhouse; a period of svelte progress recorded in ebullient despatches as the enemy falls back; then the beginning of a long morale-sapping trudge with rations getting shorter and the first snowflakes on your face. Ultimately, you fall beneath a boy-gunner's grapeshot while crossing some Polish river not even marked on your general's map".

Amazing quote, though slightly pessimistic, no? :-)