The final conclusion drawn by the a

The final conclusion drawn by the authors of the report took the form of a prediction. Although rail facilities had proven barely adequate in the first six months of the invasion, the supply system operated successfully only by virtue of the enormous stores that had been amassed in advance. These had been seriously depleted in the course of the campaign; and although the relative condition of the Soviet armies lay beyond their powers of prediction, in terms of absolute strength, at any rate, the conclusion is "almost inescapable" that the Germans would be much weaker when the Russian winter finally lifted its own siege.