A Brief History of the Most Important
(19 August 1942 - 2 February 1943)
By
Aaron McSherry
On 22 June 1941, “A
perfect summer’s morning,” [1] Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the
Planning for Operation
Barbarossa had started on 18 December 1940; the secret preparations for the military
operation lasting almost a year, from spring 1940 to winter 1941. Barbarossa's
operational goal was the rapid conquest of the European part of the Soviet
Union west of a line connecting the cities of Arkhangelsk and Astrakhan, often called
the A-A line.
During December 1941,
after suffering multiple defeats in the summer and autumn, Soviet forces
counter-attacked during the Battle
of Moscow and successfully drove the German Army from the
outskirts of Moscow, however, by spring 1942, the Germans had
stabilized their new front in a line running roughly from Leningrad in the north to
Rostov in the south.
“And while more than a million besieged Russian civilians had starved to death
during the nightmarish winter of 1941,
The Germans were
confident they could master the Red Army when winter weather
no longer stopped their mobility. There was some substance to this belief:
while the German Army Group Centre had suffered heavy
punishment, 65% of its infantry had not been engaged during the winter
fighting, and had been rested and reequipped. Army Groups north and south had
not been particularly hard pressed over the winter.
In 1942 the
Germans turned their attention to
The 6 Army attack began on 19 August 1942 they were supported by the 4th Panzer
army. From the very first battles in the western suburbs of
On September 3, German troops were established on the
western side of the River Volga and the city was now under siege. Marshal
Zhukov the Russian commander was ordered to attack the north and north-west of
the city. The following day saw one thousand German bombers fly missions over
September 18 saw Soviet marines attack the western bank of
the
On October 11th, “nearly two months of continuous fighting, the Germans were preparing one final assault.” This came 3 days later, supported by 300 tanks. But the key areas and factories still did not fall. ” Fighting took place in every attic, on every floor, on the ruins of floors and in the cellars.” That night three thousand five hundred Russian wounded were evacuated. The Soviets were, bombed from the air, overrun by wave after wave of German troops, yet they were still defending by October 15th.
The German attack had failed, yet it was renewed by them
three days later. By October 20th the Russians had no more than one thousand
yards of
With the German 6th Army in control of 90 percent of
With the launching of the Soviet counter-offensive, Gen. Halder's worst fears
about the vulnerable left flank were about to be realized. But no one had
anticipated the size and scope of the operation which was about to encircle
Paulus's 6th Army as well as one half of Gen. Hermann Hoth's 4th Panzer Army.
While Chuikov fought the Wehrmacht to a bloody draw in the ruins of
With his army trapped inside a ring of Soviet armor, Paulus informed Hitler
that he only had 6 days of food for his troops. Similar shortages of fuel,
ammunition, clothing and all other materiel needed to sustain an army in the
field were now building to a crisis. Morale remained fairly high among the
Germans, and they nick-named their position "Der Kessel" - The
Kettle. What the world would soon know as "The Stalingrad Cauldron"
was no laughing matter. One of the finest armies in history was about to die
from starvation, disease and exposure.
As the attempt at resupply by air gradually faded away, the proud army that
Paulus had marched to the edge of the
.
“On the first day of 1943, Adolph Hitler
remembered Paulus at Stalingrad: “To you
and your brave army I send, also in the name of the whole German population, my
warmest New Year’s wishes”6 The Germans inside the pocket retreated from the suburbs of
7 The third and last
serviceable runway was at the Stalingradskaja flight school, which reportedly
had the last landings and takeoffs on the night of 22-23 January. After
daybreak on 23 January, there were no more reported landings except for
continuous air drops of ammunition and food until the end.
The Germans were now not
only starving, but running out of ammunition. Nevertheless, they continued to
resist stubbornly, in part because they believed the Soviets would execute any
who surrendered. In particular, the so-called "HiWis", Soviet
citizens fighting for the Germans, had no illusions about their fate if
captured. The Soviets were initially surprised by the number of Germans they
had trapped, and had to reinforce their encircling troops.
“On 27th January, Yeremenko transmitted a special report to
Koniev on the state of fuel and ammunition in 4th Shock; the report
also described the shortage of signaling equipment.” 10
On 30 January 1943, the 10th anniversary of
his coming to power, Hitler promoted Paulus to General Field marshall. Since [2]no
German Field Marshal had ever been taken
prisoner, Hitler assumed that Paulus would fight on or take his own life.
However, when Soviet forces closed in on his headquarters in the ruined GUM department store the next day, Paulus surrendered. The
remnants of the Axis forces in
“On February 1, at the wolf’s
lair in East Prussia, Adolf Hitler had not taken the news of surrender calmly”
“Two days after organized resistance ended, on february 4, A.S. Chuyanov of the
city soviet committee phoned across the volga to a foreman from the tractor
factory.”11 On 18 February Minister of Propaganda Joseph
Goebbels” If we are attacked we can only
defend ourselves with guns not with butter.”12 gave his
famous Sportpalast
speech in
According to the German documentary film