After the
failure of Operation Barbarossa to
win a decisive victory, Adolf Hitler decided
to launch a new offensive in July 1942. General Friedrich
Paulus, the commander of the 6th Army, was ordered to capture
Stalingrad, a city that controlled the rail and waterway communications
of southern Russia.
In the
summer of 1942 Paulus advanced toward Stalingrad
with 250,000 men, 500 tanks, 7,000 guns and mortars, and 25,000 horses.
Progress was slow because fuel was rationed and Army Group A were
given priority. At the end of July 1942, a lack of fuel brought Paulus
to a halt at Kalach. It was not until 7th August that he had received
the supplies needed to continue with his advance. Over the next few
weeks his troops killed or captured 50,000 Soviet troops but on 18th
August, Paulus, now only thirty-five miles from Stalingrad, ran out
of fuel again.
When fresh
supplies reached him, Paulus decided to preserve fuel by move forward
with only his XIV Panzer corps. The Red Army
now attacked the advance party and they were brought to a halt just
short of Stalingrad. The rest of his forces were brought up and Paulus
now circled the city. As his northern flank came under attack Paulus
decided to delay the attack on the city until 7th September. While
he was waiting the Luftwaffe bombed
the city killing thousands of civilians.
Stalingrad
was Stalin's city. It had been named after him as a result of his
defence of the city during the Russian Civil
War. Stalin insisted that it should be held at all costs. One
historian has claimed that he saw Stalingrad "as the symbol of
his own authority." Stalin also knew that if Stalingrad was taken,
the way would be open for Moscow to be attacked from the east. If
Moscow was cut off in this way, the defeat of the Soviet Union was
virtually inevitable.
A million
Soviet soldiers were drafted into the Stalingrad area. They were supported
from an increasing flow of tanks, aircraft and rocket batteries from
the factories built east of the Urals, during the Five
Year Plans. Stalin's claim that rapid industrialization would
save the Soviet Union from defeat by western invaders was beginning
to come true.
General
Georgi Zhukov, the military leader who
had yet to be defeated in a battle, was put in charge of the defence
of Stalingrad. As the German
Army advanced into the city the Soviets fought for every
building. The deeper the troops got into the city, the more difficult
the street fighting became and casualties increased dramatically.
The German tanks were less effective in a fortified urban area as
it involved house-to-house fighting with rifles, pistols, machine-guns
and hand grenades. The Germans had particularly problems with cleverly
camouflaged artillery positions and machine-gun nests. The Soviets
also made good use of sniper detachments deployed in the bombed out
buildings in the city. On the 26th September the 6th Army was able
to raise the swastika flag over the government buildings in Red Square
but the street fighting continued.
Adolf
Hitler now ordered General Friedrich Paulus
to take Stalingrad whatever the cost to German forces. General Kurt
Zeitzler, Chief of General Staff, was totally opposed to the idea
urging Hitler to permit the Sixth Army to withdraw from Stalingrad
to the Don bend, where the broken front could be restored. Hitler
refused and on the radio Hitler told the German people: "You
may rest assured that nobody will ever drive us out of Stalingrad."
When General
Gustav von Wietersheim, commander of the XIV Panzer Corps, complained
about the high casualty rates, Paulus replaced him with General Hans
Hube. However, Paulus, who had lost 40,000 soldiers since entering
the city, was running out of fighting men and on 4th October he made
a desperate plea to Hitler for reinforcements.
A few days
later five engineer battalions and a panzer division arrived in Stalingrad.
Fighting a war of attrition, Joseph Stalin
responded by ordering three more armies to the city. Soviet losses
were much higher than those of the Germans, but Stalin had more men
at his disposal than Paulus.
The heavy
rains of October turned the roads into seas of mud and the 6th Army's
supply conveys began to get bogged down. On 19th October the rain
turned to snow. Paulus continued to make progress and by the beginning
of November he controlled 90 per cent of the city. However, his men
were now running short of ammunition and food. Despite these problems
Paulus decided to order another major offensive on 10th November.
The German Army
took heavy casualties for the next two days and then the Red
Army launched a counterattack Paulus was forced to retreat southward
but when he reached Gumrak Airfield, Adolf
Hitler ordered him to stop and stand fast despite the danger of
encirclement. Hitler told him that Hermann
Goering had promised that the Luftwaffe
would provide the necessary supplies by air.
Senior
officers under Paulus argued that they doubted if the scale of the
airlift required could be achieved during a Russian winter. All of
the corps commanders argued for a breakout before the Red
Army were able to consolidate its positions. General Hans
Hube told Paulus: "A breakout is our only chance." Paulus
responded by saying that he had to obey Hitler's orders.
Throughout
December the Luftwaffe dropped an average
of 70 tons of supplies a day. The encircled German
Army needed a minimum of 300 tons a day. The soldiers were
put on one-third rations and began to kill and eat their horses. By
7th December the 6th Army were living on one loaf of bread for every
five men.
Now aware
that the 6th Army was in danger of being starved into surrender, Adolf
Hitler ordered Field Marshal Erich von
Manstein and the 4th Panzer Army to launch a rescue attempt. Manstein
managed to get within thirty miles of Stalingrad but was then brought
to a halt by the Red Army. On 27th December, 1942, Manstein decided
to withdraw as he was also in danger of being encircled by Soviet
troops.
In Stalingrad
over 28,000 German soldiers had died in just over a month. With little
food left General Friedrich Paulus gave
the order that the 12,000 wounded men could no longer be fed. Only
those who could fight would be given their rations. Erich
von Manstein now gave the order for Paulus to make a mass breakout.
Paulus rejected the order arguing that his men were too weak to make
such a move.
On 30th
January, 1943, Adolf Hitler promoted to
Paulus to field marshal and sent him a message reminding him that
no German field marshal had ever been captured. Hitler was clearly
suggesting to Paulus to commit suicide but he declined and the following
day surrendered to the Red Army. The last
of the Germans surrendered on 2nd February.
The battle
for Stalingrad was over. Over 91,000
men were captured and a further 150,000 had died during the siege.
The German prisoners were forced marched to Siberia. About 45,000
died during the march to the prisoner of war camps and only about
7,000 survived the war.
Georgi
Zelma, Stalingrad (1942)
(1)
William L. Shirer,
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1959)
A change in General Staff chiefs did not change the situation of the
German Army, whose twin drives on Stalingrad and the Caucasus had
now been halted by stiffening Soviet resistance itself. All through
October bitter street fighting continued in Stalingrad itself. The
Germans made some progress, from building to building, but with staggering
losses, for the rubble of a great city, as everyone who has experienced
modern warfare knows, gives many opportunities for stubborn and prolonged
defence and the Russians, disputing desperately every foot of the
debris, made the most of them. Though Halder and then his successor
warned Hitler that the troops in Stalingrad were becoming exhausted,
the Supreme Commander insisted that they push on. Fresh divisions
were thrown in and were soon ground to pieces in the inferno.
Instead
of a means to an end - the end had already been achieved when German
formations reached the western banks
of the Volga north and south of the city and cut off the river's traffic
- Stalingrad had become an end in itself. To Hitler its
capture was now a question of personal prestige. When even Zeitzler
got up enough nerve to suggest to the Fuehrer that in view of the
danger to the long northern flank along the Don the Sixth Army should
be withdrawn from Stalingrad to the
elbow of the Don, Hitler flew into a fury. 'Where the German soldier
sets foot, there he remains!' he stormed.
(2)
Walter Warlimont was interviewed by
Basil Liddell Hart about the invasion
of the Soviet Union in his book The Other
Side of the Hill (1948)
Hitler's operational plan for 1943 still showed traces of his
original idea, namely to push forward on both wings and to keep back
the central part of the front. In contrast to (the previous year he
now shifted the centre of gravity to the southern wing. Plans of advancing
on the northern front were shelved until the necessary forces became
available.
The underlying
idea was certainly fostered by the prospect of economic gains in the
South, especially of wheat, manganese and oil. But to Hitler's mind
it was still more important to cut off the Russians from these goods,
allegedly
indispensable for their continuation in the war, including coal from
the Donetz area. Thus he believed he could
bring the Russian machine of war to a stand-still. No resistance against
Hitler's plans ever came to my ears, though I firmly believe that
the general trend of opinion was opposed to resuming the offensive,
at least on such a large scale as foreseen by Hitler.
(3)
In the winter of 1942 General Guenther
Blumentritt was asked to visit the Eastern Front.
His report suggesting a stepback from Stalingrad
was rejected by Adolf Hitler.
I spent
ten days in that sector and after returning made a written report
to the effect that it would not be safe to hold such a long defensive
flank during the winter. The railheads were as much as 200 kilometres
behind the front, and the bare nature of the country meant that there
was little timber available for constructing defences. Such German
divisions as were available were holding frontages of 50 to 60 kilometres.
There were no proper trenches or fixed positions.
General
Halder endorsed this report and urged that our offensive should be
halted, in view of the increasing resistance that it was meeting,
and the increasing signs of danger to the long-stretched flank. But
Hitler would not listen. During September the tension between the
Fuhrer and Halder increased, and their arguments became sharper. To
see the Fuhrer discussing plans with Halder was an illuminating experience.
The Fuhrer used to move his hands in big sweeps over the map - 'Push
here, push there'. It was all vague and regardless of practical difficulties.
There was no doubt he would have liked to remove the whole General
Staff, if he could, by a similar sweep. He felt that they were half-hearted
about his ideas
Finally,
General Halder made it clear that he refused to take the responsibility
of continuing the advance with winter approaching. He was dismissed,
at the end of September, and replaced by General Zeitzler - who was
then Chief of Staff to Field-Marshal von Rundstedt in the West. I
was sent to the West to take Zeitzler's place.
(4)
After the war Albert Speer reported what
Adolf Hitler said when he was told of
the Red Army offensive at Stalingrad in November
1942.
Our generals
are making their old mistakes again. They always over-estimate the
strength of the Russians. According to all the front-line reports,
the enemy's human material is no longer sufficient. They are weakened;
they have lost far too much blood. But of course nobody wants to accept
such reports. Besides, how badly Russian officers are trained! No
offensive can be organized with such officers. We know what it takes!
In the short or long run the Russians will simply come to a halt.
They'll run down. Meanwhile we shall throw in a few fresh divisions;
that will put things right.
(5)
George Orwell, BBC radio broadcast (3rd
October 1942)
The battle for Stalingrad continues. Since last week the Germans
have made a little progress in their direct attacks on the city and
savage house-to-house fighting is still going on. Meanwhile the Russians
have launched a counter-attack to the north-west of Stalingrad which
has made progress and must have the effect of drawing off some of
the German reserves.
It is
still uncertain whether or not Stalingrad can hold out. In a recent
speech the notorious Ribbentrop, onetime ambassador to Britain and
signatory to the Russo-German pact, was allowed to state that Stalingrad
would soon be in German hands. Hitler made the same boast in his speech
which was broadcast on September 10th.
Elsewhere, however, there has been a marked note of pessimism in German
pronouncements and a constant emphasis on the need for the German
people to prepare themselves for a hard winter and for an indefinite
continuation of the war.
Hitler's
latest speech was broadcast on September 30th. Although it mostly
consisted of wild boasting and threats, it made a surprising contrast
with the speeches of a year ago. Gone were the promises of an early
victory, and gone also the claims, made more than a year ago, to have
annihilated the Russian armies. Instead all the emphasis was on Germany's
ability to withstand a long war. Here for example are some of Hitler's
earlier broadcast statements: On the 3rd September 1941: "Russia
is already broken and will never rise again." On the 3rd October
1941: "The Russians have lost at least 8 to 10 million men. No
army can recover from such losses." He also boasted at the same
time of the imminent fall of Moscow. That was a year ago. And now,
on 30th September, the final boast upon which Hitler ended his speech
was: "Germany will never capitulate." It seems strange to
look back and remember how short a while ago the Germans were declaring,
not that they would never capitulate, but that they would make everyone
else capitulate. Hitler also uttered threats against
saboteurs, a tacit admission that the German home front is no longer
entirely reliable.
(6)
Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich
(1970)
Hitler now commanded units to be detached from all other
sectors of the front and from the occupied territories and dispatched
in all haste to the southern sector. No operational reserve was available,
although General Zeitzler had pointed out long before the emergency
that each of the divisions in southern Russia had to defend a frontal
sector of unusual length and would not be able to cope with a vigorous
assault by Soviet troops.
Stalingrad
was encircled. Zeitzler, his face flushed and haggard from lack of
sleep, insisted that the Sixth Army must break out to the west. He
deluged Hitler with data on all that the army lacked, both as regards
to rations and fuel, so that it had become impossible to provide warm
meals for the soldiers exposed to fierce cold in the snow-swept fields
or the scanty shelter of rums. Hitler remained calm, unmoved and deliberate,
as if bent on showing that Zeitzler's agitation was a psychotic reaction
in the face of danger. 'The counterattack from the south that I have
ordered will soon relieve Stalingrad. That will recoup the situation.
We have been in such positions often before, you know. In the end
we always had the problem in hand again." He gave orders for
supply trains to be dispatched right behind the troops deploying for
the counteroffensive, so that as soon as Stalingrad was relieved something
could at once be done about alleviating the plight of the soldiers.
Zeitzler disagreed, and Hitler let him talk without interrupting.
The forces provided for the counterattack were too weak, Zeitzler
said. But if they could unite successfully with a Sixth Army that
had broken out to the west, they would then be able to establish new
positions farther to the south. Hitler offered counter arguments,
but Zeitzler held to his view. Finally, after the discussion had gone
on for more than half an hour. Hitler's patience snapped: "Stalingrad
simply must be held. It must be; it is a key position. By breaking
traffic on the Volga at that spot, we cause the Russians the greatest
difficulties."
(7)
Wilhelm Hoffmann, 267th Infantry Regiment, 94th Infantry Division,
diary entry in Stalingrad on 26th
December 1942.
The horses have already been eaten. I would eat a cat; they say its
meat is tasty. The soldiers look like corpses or lunatics. They no
longer take cover from Russian shells; they haven't the strength to
walk, run away and hide.
(8)
William
Joyce,
Germany Calling (16th January, 1943)
The extent of the enemy's
sacrifices has been colossal and cannot be maintained. In the Stalingrad
Sector, above all, the Soviets have been employing heavy forces and
their losses have been proportionately high. Day after day, more Soviet
tank losses have been reported and at the same time, the ratio between
the German and Soviet air losses is incomparably in favour of the
Luftwaffe. For example, it was reported yesterday that sixty-seven
Soviet aircraft had been shot down as against four German losses;
on Tuesday, the ratio was fifty-two to one in our favour. As might
be expected, the Luftwaffe's superiority has dealt a hard blow at
the enemy and it is now reported that the Soviets are being compelled
to use untrained personnel in their larger bombers.
(9)
Friedrich Paulus, radio message to Adolf
Hitler (24th January 1943)
Troops
without ammunition or food. Effective command no longer possible.
18,000 wounded without any supplies or dressings or drugs. Further
defence senseless. Collapse inevitable. Army requests immediate permission
to surrender in order to save lives of remaining troops.
(10)
Adolf Hitler, radio
message to Friedrich Paulus
(24th January 1943)
Surrender is forbidden. Sixth Army will hold their positions to the
last man and the last round and by their heroic endurance will make
an unforgettable contribution toward the establishment of a defensive
front and the salvation of the Western world.
(11)
Hermann Goering,
radio broadcast on Stalingrad (24th January 1943)
A thousand
years hence Germans will speak of this battle with reverence and awe,
and will remember that in spite of everything Germany's ultimate victory
was decided there. In years to come it will be said of the heroic
battle on the
Volga. When you come to Germany, say that you have seen us lying at
Stalingrad, as our honour and our leaders ordained that we should,
for the greater glory of Germany.
(12)
Friedrich Paulus,
radio message to Adolf Hitler
(31st January 1943)
The Sixth
Army, true to their oath and conscious of the lofty importance of
their mission, have held their position to the last man and the last
round for Führer and Fatherland unto the end.
(13)
German stenographic record of what Adolf
Hitler said at a meeting with his generals on
1st February 1943.
He'll be
brought to Moscow - and imagine that rat-trap there. There he will
sign anything. He'll make confessions, make proclamations - you'll
see. They will now walk down the slope of spiritual bankruptcy to
its lowest depths. You'll see - it won't be a week before Seydlitz
and Schmidt and even Paulus are talking over the radio.
They are
going to be put into the Liublanka, and there the rats will eat them.
How can they be so cowardly? I don't understand it. What is life?
Life is the Nation. The individual must die anyway. Beyond the life
of the individual is the Nation. But how can anyone be afraid of this
moment of death, with which he can free himself from this misery,
if his duty doesn't chain him to this Vale of Tears.
So many
people have to die, and then a man like that besmirches the heroism
of so many others at the last minute. He could have freed himself
from all sorrow and ascended into eternity and national immortality,
but he prefers to go to Moscow!
What hurts
me most, personally, is that I still promoted him to field-marshal.
I wanted to give him this final satisfaction. That's the last field-marshal
I shall appoint in this war.
(14)
Official German radio broadcast on 3rd February 1943.
The battle
of Stalingrad has ended. True to their oath to fight to the last breath,
the Sixth Army under the exemplary leadership of Field-Marshal Paulus
has been overcome by the superiority of the enemy and by the unfavourable
circumstances confronting our forces.
(15)
William
Joyce,
Germany Calling (3rd February, 1943)
It would be a profound,
a cardinal error to suppose that the German nation does not know how
to take one defeat after so many victories. Nor, if the truth must
be told, am I convinced that Stalingrad was, in the worst sense of
the word, in the most essential, in the psychological sense, a defeat.
Let us look at the facts. I think it was Napoleon who said, 'In warfare
the moral is to the physical as three to one'. So far as divisions,
brigades and battalions are concerned, Stalingrad was a German defeat.
But when a Great Power like the National Socialist Reich is waging
a total war, divisions and battalions can be replaced. If we review
the position in sober and cold calculations, all sentiment apart,
we must realise that the fall of Stalingrad cannot impair the German
defensive system as a whole. Whatever individuals have lost, whatever
they may have sacrificed, there is nothing in the position as a whole
to controvert the view that the main objectives of the enemy offensives
have been frustrated. Stalingrad was a part of the price which had
to be paid for the salvation of Europe from the, Bolshevik hordes.
(16)
Studs
Terkel interviewed Robert
Rasnus about his experiences in the US Army
in Germany for his book, The Good War
(1985)
We were aware that the Russians had taken enormous losses on the
eastern front, that they really had broken the back of the German
army. We would have
been in for infinitely worse casualties and misery
had it not been for them. We were well disposed toward them. I
remember saying if we happen to link up with 'em, I wouldn't hesitate
to kiss 'em.
I didn't hear any anti-Russian
talk. I think we were realistic enough to know that if we were going
to fight them, we would come out second best. We hadn't even heard
of the atomic bomb yet. We'd just have to assume that it would be
masses of armies, and their willingness to sacrifice millions of troops.
We were aware that our leaders
were sparing our lives. Even though somebody would have to do the
dirty work in the infantry, our leaders would try to pummel the enemy
with artillery and tanks and overpower them before sending the infantry
in. If that was possible.
In the final campaign
down through Bavaria, we were in Patton's army. Patton said we ought
to keep going. To me, that was an unthinkable idea. The Russians would
have slaughtered us, because of their willingness to give up so many
lives. I don't think the rank of the GIs had any stomach for fighting
the Russians. We were informed enough through press and newsreels
to know about Stalingrad. I saw the actual evidence in those black-bordered
pictures in every German household I visited. Black border, eastern
front, nine out of ten.
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