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April 10, 2026
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"[sees wisdom of deploying the invasion fleet in bad weather] I don't like it, but there it is."
"Lt-Col Benjamin Vandervoort: [addressing soldiers before embarkation] You can't give the enemy a break. Send him to hell."
"Father Louis Rolland: [addressing congregation] In the heart of the darkness, in the deepest of the night, we must never lose hope. Let us keep our faith intact, steadfast! For each of us, deliverance is coming."
"Gen. Günther Blumentritt: [to aide about a lack of response on the release of panzer reserves to counter the impending invasion] We are living an historical moment. We are going to lose the war because the glorious Fuhrer has taken a sleeping pill... [smirks and raises a finger]... and is not to be awakened. It's unbelievable. Think of it Kurt, don't ever forget it. We are witnessing something which historians will always say is completely improbable... and yet it is true. [fumes] The Fuhrer is not to be awakened!!! I sometimes wonder which side God is on."
"Flight Officer David Campbell: He's dead. I'm crippled. You're lost. Suppose it's always like that? I mean war."
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.