So who's watching the flanks when they attack? [The Romanians are!] They are, huh? Are they as good as the opposition? [Not really...] Not really? Well, they better get it over quick then,
huh? [Huh-huh!] Alright! [Bye!] See ya! October 9, 1942 You did not want to do this offensive, you
said so many times; your war games showed that the whole thing was risky, and all summer
long you've been plagued by shortages of men and machines, and now, now the offensive is
at its peak in terms of blood and carnage- how do you feel now? Does it matter that you've been promised great
things in future when you win? It sure does, and this week you're singing
a different tune. I'm Indy Neidell; this is World War Two. Last week the Axis offensive in the Caucasus
stalled, needing reinforcements and supplies to continue. The fighting in Stalingrad grew ever more
intense, though, as the focus turned to the factory district and the Mamayev Kurgan. Vasily Chuikov's Soviet 62nd Army is in a
pretty bad position. "At the beginning of October, Chuikov's 62nd
held a 12 mile front in Stalingrad with a depth varying from 250m to 2,500m; all movement
in this dangerously comprised area was confined to the hours of darkness, regrouping was a
hazardous affair now that the ferry traffic was so constricted, since the German seizure
of parts of Stalingrad to the south from Tsaritsa to Kuporosnoe and northwards to Mamayev Kurgan
enabled them to look out over large stretches of the city and direct their guns against
the ferries. One thousand yards of water, the Volga crossing,
was raked by German gunfire and became the daily hunting ground for German aircraft. Considerable sections of the northern and
central parts of Stalingrad were in German hands." The Volga is actually on fire as the week
begins, and yet, this actually turns out to be a good thing for the Soviet defenders. The streams of blazing oil from the bombed-out
oil tanks bypass Chuikov's command post, leaving huge clouds of black smoke. The smoke also clings to the riverbanks, enormous
clouds of clinging smoke that give the Soviets excellent camouflage, for the Germans- the
German dive bomber pilots- do not think that anything can live within that smoke, and yet
the Soviets are using that cover to bring men across the river and reinforce their positions. From September 25-October 5 over 160,000 Soviet
soldiers cross the Volga into Stalingrad. On October 4th, Paulus begins his fourth and
biggest series of attacks so far- now against the three gigantic factory fortresses, Krasnyi
Oktyabr, Barrikady, and the Tractor Plant. Adolf Hitler has set a deadline of October
14th for taking the city. But you know, the first assault in mid September
was repulsed, bigger ones on the 22nd and 27th had done a lot of damage, and gained
a lot of ground, but still had not won the battle. So now? "In broader strategic terms, the Germans were
now forced to take a considerable risk. By pulling so many of their troops out of
the flanking positions on the Don and Kalmyk Steppe they left themselves vulnerable to
counterattack… Manstein highlighted the dangers of their
position- they were relying too much on the weaker armies of their allies… It's true, the 6th army and the 4th panzer
army are the main strike force of Army Group B. They're tied down in the city. Their whole northern flank on the Don is protected
by a Romanian, a Hungarian, and an Italian army. Who in German Command thinks they can fight
off a large and determined Soviet attack? The same is true with the Romanian army on
the souther flank. "Time was now of the essence… an attempt
to take Stalingrad in a set battle- with such weak, overextended flanks- was only admissible
on a very short term basis. Paulus had to finish things off fast… all
now hinged on whether the defenders could continue to hold out." The attacks starting the 4th are indeed from
Barrikady to the Tractor Plant, and the 37th guards and 308th division fight to block them
using T-70 tanks as stationary firing stations. On just October 5th, German dive bombers make
over 2,000 attacks on the factory area, the Germans occupy the Silikat factory, and many
Soviet defenders are cut off. Stalingrad Front Commander Andrey Yeremenko
orders Chuikov to counterattack the 5th to clear Barrikady and the Tractor Plant, but
y'know, that's not possible. That evening, though, Filip Golikov, Yeremenko's
Deputy, crosses the river to see the city first hand, since Josef Stalin has ordered
the city held and liberated. Golikov can see straight off that Chuikov
cannot launch any sort of counterattack right now, but he can have 62nd army's artillery-
which Chuikov persuaded Yeremenko in September to leave on the east bank since it can't really
be deployed in the city- do as much as it can to disrupt the German attack, so on the
5th, "…more than 300 guns and heavy mortars fired for 40 minutes, the artillery of five
divisions and two brigades, the northern subgroup of front artillery and five regiments of Katyusha
rocket launchers fired over a three kilometer sector. The opening salvoes lasted 10 minutes, followed
by 20 minutes of fire directed by observers on both banks, and closing with ten minutes
of final smothering salvoes from all available guns. The weight of this massed fire fell on German
assault units preparing to break through to the Volga between the Tractor Plant and Barrikady." And because of this, the 6th is comparatively
quiet, since they deal the Germans out some pretty serious punishment. "Comparatively quiet" still means a lot of
attacks by air, though, but this convinces Yeremenko that maybe the German attack is
out of gas and they should NOW immediately counterattack. Chuikov is against this idea and wants to
use any and all respite time to reinforce his units, but he eventually and reluctantly
agrees to a counterattack the 7th. He also moves his HQ further up the Volga
near the Tractor Plant, since all the German shelling has been piling up the bodies in
and around the old one. The counterattack the 7th does not go off,
though, since two German divisions backed by tanks assault the Tractor Plant that day,
and by the day's end they've taken a block of the workers' apartments and moved toward
the stadium- it's a big complex, it has a stadium. The 37th Guards Division has been receiving
and blunting the factory district attacks, and just this day wipe out four German battalions
and some 20 panzers. 120 men of the 500 trapped last week in the
Orlovka Gully manage to break free as the Orlovka Salient finally falls for good on
the 7th after being bombarded for five days. They fall back and joint the defense of the
Tractor Plant. The fighting eases again today- the 9th- and
Paulus prepares for his once and for all final assault on the city that will be launched
next week. But this battle, a set piece city block by
block battle, goes against everything the Wehrmacht trains for. Remember Franz Halder lost his job as Chief
of Staff a few weeks ago? He noted in his diary that the 6th army and
armor are in a street fighting battle of attrition for which they are completely unsuited, and
Kurt Zeitzler, who replaced him, recommended straight off the bat that they call off the
Stalingrad offensive. Paulus' own war games that he conducted in
December 1940 had negative conclusions about the entire enterprise of attacking the USSR,
and he's been complaining about shortages of men since early July. What does he think now in October? Well, "…a far from subtle hint to Paulus
that great things awaited him- after the capture of Stalingrad- conveyed by the newly appointed
(Personnel Chief Rudolf) Schmundt worked wonders on Paulus' flagging initiative." Here's David Glantz's summary of the situation,
"Paulus' 6th army solidified its grip on the upper sections of Krasnyi Oktyabr and Barrakady
villages, totally eliminated the Soviet forces encircled at Orlovka, and drove a menacing
wedge into Chuikov's 62nd army in the western section of the Tractor Factory village on
the Southwestern approaches to the Tractor Factory. At the same time, the forces on 6th army's
left wing fended off the Don Front's repeated assaults… 4th Panzer Army did the same in
the lake region south of Stalingrad. However, elsewhere along Paulus' Front, combat
had degenerated into a virtual stalemate." Paulus has no choice but to delay his assault
on the factories until next week, and this seems like his whole summer in microcosm. We saw in July, in August, and in September
that at important times in his advance, he just plain did not have the necessary force
to defeat the enemy without reinforcements. "In previous battles, Paulus had received
the necessary reinforcements and recorded meaningful victories. In the wake of each of those victories, however,
the strength of his army ebbed, especially when it began assaulting Stalingrad city. 6th Army's periodic strength and combat capability
reports vividly described the army's steady deterioration." And what about Chuikov? He's by now only got like 55,000 men, 950
artillery pieces and 500 mortars, and only around 80 tanks. The 8th Air Army has 188 planes- 101 bombers,
63 dive bombers, and 24 fighters, and that is not in any way going to chase off the over
1,000 planes of Luftflotte 4 that the Germans have. They also have some 90,000 men and 300 tanks,
and as many as 2,000 artillery pieces and mortars. So what is his defense plan? He holds a line from Rynok in the north through
the factory district, the northeastern slope of Mamayev Kurgan, and a few positions around
the central station. He's only a few kilometers from the Volga
max in the north, and recon points to the big attack being again against the factory
complexes. So he moves the 95th rifle division off Mamayev
Kurgan's slopes and between the 37th Guards and 308th Rifle Divisions defending Krasnyi
Oktyabr. Will Paulus reinforcements once again be strong
enough for the job? The job of destroying Chuikov's army once
and for all? Down in the Caucasus, it turns out that Ewald
von Kleist's forces are not up to the task of destroying their enemy. The SS Wiking Division finally does take Malgobek
on the 6th after ten days of fighting to get there. After that, though, they shift to defense. The rest of Kleist's forces are still at the
Mozdok Bridgehead, large though it may be, opposite a solid Soviet front. By early October, it was obvious that Kleist's
offensive had stalled and that his army would not get to Grozny anytime soon. Stavka also realized that the defenses on
the Terek were sufficient to keep the Germans out of Grozny and sent its remaining reserves
to the Stalingrad Front. Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to set the oilfields
in Grozny ablaze and Fliegerkorps IV mounted two large scale raids… although these inflicted
serious damage, the effort was suspended." There are a lot of other troops movements
going on this week in the South Pacific, at Guadalcanal. All week long the "Tokyo Express" has been
bringing loads of Japanese troops by the hundreds in to Tassafaronga. These are hard hit by the American planes
of the Cactus Air Force, so by the 6th, reinforcement Commander Shintaro Hashimoto thinks they're
going to have a shortfall of 3,000 men for their next big attack. They push back X Day for the attack to October
15th. But even for the men already there, "Lieutenant
General Maruyama came ashore at 2000 on October 3 at Tassafaronga and the next day established
his battle headquarters on the Mamura River. There he learned that of the 9,000 men who
had reached the island before him, 2,000 were already dead and 5,000 were too weak to conduct
offensive warfare. The survivors of whole units… lacked any
equipment." Still, 17th Army has ordered Kiyotake Kawaguchi
to occupy the east bank of the Matanikau River, so on the 4th Maruyama gets busy planning
and moving units into position. The US Marines have a plan to advance along
the coast to the Matanikau and then head down it and attack their enemy from the west, hopefully
trapping substantial numbers of them. On the morning of the 7th, the attack force
sets out, and there are skirmishes that day. By the afternoon of the 8th, the 7th Marines
are on the west bank about a mile south of Point Cruz, but are forced to postpone their
main attack. The Marine battalions hit the Japanese in
the flank this morning, the 9th, and they do a heck of a job. For the three day operation, the marines lose
65 dead and 125 wounded, but the Japanese are not just driven from their positions,
they are mauled to the tune of 690 men lost and the 4th Infantry Regiment pretty much
ceases to exist. Also today, the convoy carrying the 164th
infantry regiment leaves Noumea. That regiment is part of the Americal Division-
short for American, New Caledonia Division- the first US army troops to head for Guadalcanal. Admiral Richmond Turner's command ship McCawley,
an attack transport, leads it, escorted by carrier Hornet's task force, with the addition
of the battleship Washington. Sent ahead of them to reconnoiter the approaches
to Lunga Point is Norman Scott's task force 64, 4 cruisers and 6 destroyers strong, who
are on a search and destroy mission of enemy ships and landing craft. The convoy is scheduled to land the 13th. Scott arrives in Ironbottom Sound already
today looking for action, but retires when aerial recon finds no enemy activity. And here are some notes to end the week. On the 3rd is first successful launch of an
A4 rocket at Peenemunde, Germany. It reaches an altitude of 84 km, and is thus
he first man made object launched past the stratosphere. The 12 ton rocket can carry a one ton warhead
320 km away. This is Werner von Braun's brainchild. Adolf Hitler has been skeptical, but now he
authorizes mass production. On the 4th comes a British commando raid on
Sark in the Channel Islands. Three German engineers are killed. Five more struggle to escape their bonds when
they realize how few their captors are- three of them are shot. When Hitler gets word of this he issues the
commando order on the 7th: all commandos are to be killed upon capture. On the 7th, Britain and the US announce that
a UN Commission will be established to investigate Axis war crimes. Conditions for any armistice must include
that war criminals will be handed over and tried. On the 8th, since Germany's manpower crisis
is deepening, in Belgium, all males 18-50 and all unmarried women 21-35 must register
for war work. And that brings me to the end of another week
of the war. A week of Japanese losses on Guadalcanal,
Axis failure to advance in the Caucasus, and a whole lot of people dying on both sides
in the bloody and brutal fight for Stalingrad. Oh, Martin Gilbert points out that there has
actually been an American contribution at Stalingrad: between May and October the US
sent, mainly up through Iran, 56,445 field telephones, 381,431 miles of telephone cable,
and 81,287 Thompson machine guns. Well, the Soviets there need all the help
they can get just to hold out. For that is the plan, as we saw weeks ago-
just to hold out. Zhukov says he can mount a counterattack and
defeat the enemy, but it will take until November to get it together, and can 62nd army hold
out that long? The Germans are taking the factories one little
building at a time, taking the city one little block at a time, and destroying the Soviet
ability to reinforce one little boat at a time- the question is, how many little buildings,
blocks, and boats can they take before November? Speaking of those Paulus War Games, we did
a special on them a while back which is super interesting. You should go and check it out right here. And our TimeGhost Army member of the week
is Robert J. Carbon. Something that is super interesting is that
the TimeGhost Army finances our productions and makes all this possible, so join the army
at TimeGhost.tv or patreon.com. Don’t forget to subscribe; see you next
time.
