Summer 1942.
One year on from Hitler’s invasion. The USSR has suffered enormous losses
but Moscow and Leningrad have been saved. Now the Red Army faces
the war’s last great blitzkrieg, which will carry the enemy to the River
Volga… and the city of Stalingrad. Early on the morning of 19th June 1942, an unarmed German liaison plane
glided to earth near Red Army positions. There was no trail of smoke
or obvious reason for its crash-landing. When Soviet troops later
captured the aircraft, they found a single bullet hole
though its petrol tank. The pilot was killed in
the shoot-out that followed, before he could destroy his briefcase
which contained top secret documents. Red Army soldiers grabbed the prize
and brought it back to their trenches. The dead German was Major Reichel, Head of Operations
for the German 23rd Panzer Division. He was carrying plans for a forthcoming
operation codenamed "Case Blue". The offensive was part of Hitler’s plan to capture the Soviet oil fields
in the Caucasus region. Major Reichel’s documents revealed
just a small part of the operation. And there was always the risk
that they were planted by the Germans to deliberately mislead the enemy. After examining the captured papers,
Stalin advised caution: “It is safe to assume that similar
plans have been developed for all the other fronts
as well,” he wrote. But Case Blue was for real. It was launched
by the Wehrmacht on 28th June, 1942. Case Blue called for German Army
Group South to split into two parts. Army Group A was to attack the Caucasus
region and seize the Soviet oil fields. Army Group B, led by Paulus’s 6th Army,
was to advance eastwards, towards the Volga river and Stalingrad,
covering the advance into the Caucasus. The German columns dashed towards Voronezh,
Stalingrad, and Rostov-on-Don. Despite the warnings,
the Red Army’s southern sector hadn’t received nearly enough
reinforcements to withstand the impact. Soon the Soviets were in full retreat. During a meeting of the Stavka —
the Soviet High Command — Stalin turned to Front Commander
Timoshenko, and demanded: “Why does the Front Command not know
where its troops are? As far as I recall, there were 14 divisions in those armies —
that’s over 100,000 soldiers.” Timoshenko was removed
from command within days. Vasily Gordov became
the new Front Commander. But a new commander was not enough
to salvage the situation. The army’s retreat continued, as one population centre
after another fell to the Nazis. Soviet soldiers surrendered
in growing numbers. Many of them went across to the enemy,
becoming the so called “Hiwis”. The term Hiwi came from the German “Hilfswilliger” meaning
“those willing to help”. It referred to Soviet citizens,
including ex-soldiers, who volunteered to help
the German armed forces. They usually served in support roles, such
as drivers, medical orderlies, or cooks. As the Red Army retreat continued,
Stalin issued his famous Order №227. It gave birth to the famous slogan,
"Not a step back!" The order read, “All talk about us having
plenty of room in which to retreat endlessly, about our territory being vast,
our country being large and rich, our population numerous, and there
always being bread in abundance — all this talk must be eliminated.” “We will not tolerate
any commander or commissar who allows their unit to leave its
positions without authorisation. Panic-mongers and cowards
must be exterminated on the spot.” So-called "blocking detachments"
were created. These units had orders to fire on their
own men if they tried to retreat. Many approved of the order.
“It should have been issued earlier”, one Red Army soldier wrote. ”If it had, we wouldn’t have given up
our winter positions.” Many thought the Order
would prove impossible to enforce. The blocking detachments were rarely
more than a few hundred strong and often made up of the
worst soldiers in the unit. The 4 blocking detachments
of the 62nd Army totalled 650 men. They were expected to enforce a "no retreat"
order on an army of 56,000 men. In reality, blocking detachments
were only good for rounding up malingerers and sending them back to the front. But new slogans and blocking detachments
were not going to stop the Wehrmacht. In crowded railway stations
across the Soviet empire, new recruits were ordered
aboard their railway transports. From all corners of the land,
troop trains rolled towards the river Don. Meanwhile German troops were
continuing their advance on Stalingrad. The 6th Army had almost reached the Don,
but its commander was uneasy. Friedrich Paulus had served as Chief of
Staff in various army divisions since 1935. He’d helped to plan Operation Barbarossa,
the German invasion of the USSR. When Field Marshal von Reichenau,
Commander of the 6th Army, died of natural causes,
Paulus was given command. Paulus’s superiors described him
as clever and talented, but questions remained
about his decisiveness. With his staff officer background, Paulus had more the air of a civil
servant than a general. He was not lionised by his men,
as his predecessor von Reichenau had been. It was Paulus’s lot to be constantly
compared to von Reichenau, much to his irritation. The Sixth Army consisted of 270.000 men, 3.400 guns and mortars, and 350 tanks,
supported by 1,100 aircraft. The Soviet Stalingrad Front
could muster 300.000 troops, 5.500 guns, 230 tanks and 1.000 aircraft. Although the Red Army
had a numerical superiority, its forces had to cover
a front of more than 500 km. Paulus, in contrast,
could gather his forces into a single fist, ready to smash east towards
Stalingrad and the Volga. The Germans began their advance
across the Don steppe. Here the Don river, running north to south,
comes very close to the river Volga, before turning south-west
to form a long bend. Within that bend, the Soviet armies dug in. The steep Don river bank, between 25
and 30 metres high, made retreat difficult. A German breakthrough
here could leave Soviet troops trapped on the wrong side of the river.
For the Red Army, to stand and fight was the only option. The German offensive at the Don bend
began on 17th July 1942. The Germans anticipated a rapid victory, against an enemy they had
defeated many times already. But stubborn resistance caused the fighting
to drag on for many more days than expected. This hold up threatened the success of
the entire German summer offensive. If Paulus’s army didn’t reach Stalingrad,
Army Group A moving into the Caucasus could easily become cut off
by Soviet counter-attacks. Fourth Panzer Army, under General Hoth, now swung around to threaten
Stalingrad from the south. The city named after Stalin
was becoming the centre of attention. Soon all the eyes of the world
would be upon it. By the end of August 1942,
the German 6th Army had wiped out Soviet
resistance west of the Don. Red Army survivors were retreating
to the eastern bank of the great river. The Germans were only 60 km
from Stalingrad. Meanwhile General Hoth’s tanks
were approaching from the south. Hoth’s 150 kilometre
drive across the steppe allowed him to unexpectedly
burst onto the enemy’s flank. Soviet troops in this area were part
of the South-Eastern Front, commanded by General Yeryomenko. Near a small railway station
south-west of Stalingrad, they greeted advancing German tanks with
volley-fire from Katyusha rocket launchers. Yeryomenko reported
to the Stavka High Command: “Pilots whom I sent
to reconnoitre the battlefield reported that the whole area is on fire —
every bit of it was burning. I conclude that the Katyushas
made a lot of trouble there…” Hoth’s offensive was stopped in its tracks. This success led to Yeryomenko’s promotion.
Soon he was co-ordinating the actions of the South-Eastern and Stalingrad
Fronts in the defence of the city. Meanwhile General Paulus’s 6th Army
was preparing to cross the river Don. Early on the morning of 21st August, more than 200 German assault boats
were launched onto the waters of the Don. But the soldiers of the Stalingrad
Front were ready. The Germans were met with heavy fire.
Dozens of boats were sunk. But the Germans got ashore, and established
a beachhead on the east bank of the Don. Soon a pontoon bridge was up
and reinforcements flooded across. The next stop was Stalingrad. Stalingrad, known
as Tsaristsyn before the Revolution, was one of the most beautiful
and well-planned cities in pre-war Russia. New factories attracted
many young people to the city. In 15 years its population grew
from 85,000 to 450,000 people. The Embankment, with its cafés,
cinemas and public gardens, was considered the most elegant
along the whole of the Volga. The population of Stalingrad
had not been evacuated promptly. Only about 100,000 — a fifth —
had been evacuated by August. At noon on 23rd August, panzers
of the 6th Army rolled towards Stalingrad. Above them roared the might of Air Fleet 4,
saluting the soldiers with their sirens. They were en route to Stalingrad, to unleash the heaviest bombing
campaign yet seen on the Eastern Front. When the air raid sirens sounded,
Many people assumed it was a test. Only when the sky became dark with planes
and anti-aircraft batteries opened fire, did people rush to the shelters. Bombs rained down on the city. Approximately 80% of buildings
were destroyed in the first day of bombing. Most of Stalingrad’s suburbs
were built of wood. Inside the city itself, there were oil
storage facilities and timber yards. The city was parched by the August sun. German incendiary bombs caused
the whole city to flare up like gunpowder. Rivers of burning oil
and petrol flowed towards the Volga. First the surface of the water
and then the ships caught fire. German Air Fleet 4, commanded
by General von Richthofen, flew 1,500 missions on 23rd August. Its aircraft dropped 1,000 tonnes of bombs,
and lost only 3 aircraft. On that single day, an estimated
40,000 people died in Stalingrad. Most of the survivors fled the city. But some choose to stay,
and share the city’s fate. At about 4 pm Paulus’s tanks
reached the Volga. Approaching Stalingrad from the north, all the Germans could see through their
binoculars was fire and smoke. It seemed nothing could prevent the Germans
from entering the burning city. And yet, their attempt to take Stalingrad
in one swift assault was bloodily repulsed. What’s more, infantry
and tanks of the Stalingrad Front launched a series of counterattacks
from the north. Two reserve armies
had also reached Stalingrad. They were joined
by the two foremost strategists of the Red Army, Marshall Zhukov
and Marshal Vasilevsky. Zhukov told Stalin: “Our swift strike caused
the enemy troops to turn their forces away from Stalingrad and direct them
against our grouping. This eased the situation at Stalingrad, which otherwise
would have fallen to the enemy.” A lull of several days
followed the initial attack. Stalingrad was half-encircled. The 62nd and 64th Armies inside the city
were cut off from the Stalingrad Front. They could only be reinforced
and supplied across the Volga river. But the German position
was also far from ideal, having to fend off counterattacks from the
north, and from within Stalingrad itself. It had become clear that the Red Army could
never be forced out of the ruins of the city, as long as they
received reinforcements and supplies. The original plan for Case Blue had paid little attention
to the capture of Stalingrad. Paulus’s new orders were to capture
the city, destroy the river crossings, and then take up a defensive position.
From Stalingrad he would protect the flank of German forces
advancing into the Caucasus. The taking of Stalingrad was regarded
as a matter of a few weeks by the German general staff. But Paulus was less gung-ho
when he arrived to meet Hitler in his headquarters
near Vinnitsa in Ukraine. His 6th Army was far from the force it
had been just two months before. It had suffered heavy casualties
in the struggle at the Don. And Paulus now had to send
his best divisions to defend a left flank that stretched all the way
from the Don to the Volga. When Hitler asked him when he would
take Stalingrad, Paulus answered: “I cannot predict the final date
in view of the state of our troops, as well as the strength of Russian
resistance. On the contrary, I must ask for reinforcement
by at least three good divisions.” Paulus’s army got its reinforcements. Now Hitler expected Stalingrad
to be taken without delay. The 62nd Army was the only defence
and hope for the city. It had already been reduced to about
one sixth of its normal strength. There were only about fifty tanks left. Damaged tanks,
immobilised but still able to fire, were dug in and turned
into fixed gun emplacements. But the city would not hold out
for long without substantial reinforcement. On 9th September General Rodimtsev’s
13th Guards Rifle Division was despatched to the city. Three days later,
General Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov was put in command of the 62nd Army. At the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, Chuikov was a 17 year old naval
cadet at Kronstadt. By 19, he was commanding a regiment
in the Russian Civil War, and was twice decorated
with the Order of the Red Banner. Chuikov arrived at the 62nd Army’s
Headquarters on 14th September. The same day the Germans began
an all-out assault on the city. The German assault on Stalingrad found
a weak point in the Soviet defences, where the 112th Soviet Rifle Division
had once stood. Its regiments had been reduced
from 2,500 soldiers each, to less than 100. Its artillery consisted of one howitzer,
and one gun, of 1902 vintage. The Germans broke
through the decimated division and captured the high ground
of Mamayev Kurgan. Then they reached the Volga,
hoping to seize the central river crossing. If they had succeeded, Stalingrad’s fate
would have been sealed that same day. Chuikov threw every
available man into the battle. He had to buy time for Rodimtsev’s
division to cross the river. Every man able to fire a gun was
despatched to the front line. With the river at their backs,
and Chuikov’s declaration that “There is no land for us across the Volga!” every man knew this was
a fight to the death. By now the Germans had gained
control of the southern part of the city, and had split Chuikov’s 62nd Army
from General Shumilov’s 64th Army. The German capture of the city’s huge grain
elevator was seen as a turning point. Paulus personally chose the grain elevator as the emblem
for his soldiers’ victory badge. But German victory plans
were a little premature. The Rodimtsev division prepared
to cross the river by night. They had equipped themselves
for street fighting, ditching long rifles in favour of
Submachine guns and anti-tank rifles. When German observers
spotted movement on the river, they called in artillery fire,
smashing boats and men, and causing many to drown. The soldiers who reached the shore
were instantly plunged into battle. The Germans occupied the high bank, and had a perfect view of Soviet soldiers
as they landed. The fighting was soon hand-to-hand. Men used bayonets,
rifle butts and entrenching tools. In brutal, bloody fighting the Soviets
recaptured the embankment and Mill 4, which overlooked the river crossings. With the capture of this position, the river
crossings were finally secure once more. Rodimtsev succeeded in forcing the Germans
back and recapturing the railway station. His men regained Mamayev Kurgan
on 19th September. The same day the Stavka High Command
ordered an attack by the Stalingrad Front to link up with the city’s defenders.
It was repulsed by the Germans. But much needed German manpower was
drawn away from the fighting in the city. Fighting in the city raged
for two weeks with hardly any respite. On 27th September Paulu’s
launched another assault. Chuikov’s task was to hold the city
and its industrial centres. But the city was consuming his men
at a terrifying rate. Those who survived for any length
of time learned new tactics for this ruined urban landscape.
Ironically it was the Germans, by bombing the city to rubble that had
done most to undermine their own tactics. Tanks, the German army’s shock weapon, quickly got stuck in the mountains
of broken bricks. While from around every corner
they were pelted with Molotov cocktails. German bomb-aimers were finding it more and
more difficult to spot targets in the city. From the air, it was almost impossible to
distinguish between Germans and Russians. Nor were the Heinkel’s very accurate, scattering their bombs over a path
of several hundred metres. To further negate German air superiority, Chuikov ordered his men to advance
as close as possible to the enemy lines. The distance between Red Army
and German positions was reduced to as little as 10 metres. This made it impossible
for Heinkels to bomb the enemy without also hitting their own troops. The Germans turned to their
Junkers 87 dive bombers. These aircraft were far more accurate
than the level bombers. In the Battle of Stalingrad,
German dive bombers and their crews operated at the very limit
of their endurance. One German pilot flew 228 missions
in just 3 month at Stalingrad – the same number he’d flown
in his previous 3 years of service. On Chuikov’s orders, the powerful
long-range artillery of the 62nd Army remained on the east bank of the Volga, where it was less exposed
to German air raids. Artillery spotters remained in the city, often working from
the top floors of buildings. When they found a good target, such
as German troops massing for an assault, the spotter would use radio or telephone to
direct artillery fire onto their position. The city became an ideal landscape
for snipers from both sides. It became almost impossible to move
around the city except on all fours. Chuikov had ordered all commanding officers
to join their men on the frontline, in order to boost morale. He also ordered the formation of assault
teams from the infantry companies. These were much
more efficient tactical units for the savage street fighting
that had developed. An assault team consisted of 20 to 30
of the most experienced soldiers. Their prime weapons were
submachine guns, grenades, knives and Sharpened entrenching tools. Where possible the group was supported
by a light, mobile antitank gun, a tank, antitank riflemen,
or flame thrower teams. It was up to the assault teams to take
on the most hazardous of all operations — storming enemy-held buildings. A favourite tactic was to blow a hole
in a side wall with the anti-tank gun. Several grenades were thrown in, the soldiers charging in
in the wake of the blasts. Basements were cleared with flame
throwers and more grenades. Before entering a room,
a soldier would throw a grenade in first, then come in spraying
from his submachine gun. Some buildings were contested
floor by floor. Soviet assault teams could be
on the ground floor, with Germans defenders above them, and more Soviet troops fighting their way
down from the upper floors. Hand-to-hand fighting
became common in these battles. It was an arena in which
Red Army soldiers seemed to hold a psychological edge over the Germans. The Russian preference for sharp-edged
entrenching tools terrified them. Individual buildings
turned into fortresses, with covering fire from
the surrounding buildings and streets. On the evening of 27th September,
Sergeant Yakov Pavlov was ordered to lead a patrol
to the Consumer Union building, a hundred meters in front
of the Red Army lines. The building was
an ideal observation point. Pavlov’s men fought their way
through the building. When the Germans realized their loss
they launched a furious counterattack, and were met with heavy fire. The shattered wreck of the Consumer Union
building soon had a new name. Official reports and orders began
to call it “Pavlov’s House”. Underground passages were dug, connecting the house with a neighbouring
factory and block of flats. This allowed reinforcements to reach
the house under cover. Loopholes were made
to provide firing positions. And the approaches were sewn with mines. In one of the flats, Russian soldiers
found a gramophone that had been left behind.
But only one record was still intact. They played it constantly,
music floating eerily across the ruins during lulls in the fighting,
heard by friend and foe alike, as the desperate struggle
for Pavlov’s house went on. Chuikov’s 62nd Army headquarters
had moved to an open area near some huge oil storage tanks. When German spotters found it,
the shells began to fall. Both sides had assumed
the storage tanks were empty. When they began
to explode into enormous fireballs, it was a nasty shock for everyone. Rivers of burning oil gushed
towards Chuikov’s headquarters. By a miracle they escaped,
but their telephone lines were incinerated. Chuikov was cut off in this hellish trap
for three days. General Yeryomenko,
on the east bank of the Volga, did not know where Chuikov’s
headquarters were, or whether the general was alive or dead. At last, a message arrived
from Chuikov. It read, “We are at the spot where the fire
and smoke are thickest.” While 62nd Army Headquarters
looked for a new home, the Germans were building the pressure
on the city’s defenders. Into the cauldron was thrown Major General
Viktor Zholudev’s airborne division. On 14th October the Germans
launched yet another offensive. This time the goal was the Tractor Factory. Zholudev’s division was tasked
to hold the position against an attack by three German infantry
divisions and two panzer divisions. The Division Commander fought
with a submachine gun in his hands, side by side with his paratroopers. A fresh division was arriving
at the river crossing to reinforce them, but Zholudev’s men had to hold out
until they got there. The Germans next attacked
the “Barrikady” gun factory. Only volley firing from Katyushas
on the far bank stopped their advance. But elsewhere on the front the Germans
had already reached the Volga, splitting the 62nd Army in half. Nobody, not even Chuikov, believed
Stalingrad could be held for much longer. On 16th October, with the battle raging
just 300 metres from his command post, Liudnikov’s 138th Rifle Division
crossed the river and went straight into action
near the “Barrikady” factory. At huge cost, the Germans
were repulsed once more. From his own headquarters, Adolf Hitler
raged at the failure to take Stalingrad. The BBC said that Stalingrad
had swallowed up Hitler’s Army. “Poland”, it continued,
“was occupied in 28 days. During this same time period
the Germans only managed to occupy a few buildings in Stalingrad. France was occupied in 38 days.
But in the same time period the Germans have only managed
to cross the street in Stalingrad”. The Germans called the fighting
in Stalingrad the “rat war”. Soldiers fought
at ranges of 10 or 20 metres. The soldier who was fiercest,
most cunning, courageous, determined to win at any cost, this was
the soldier that would win this fight. 11th November. The Germans reached
the Volga near the “Barrikady” factory, encircled Liudnikov’s division,
and split the 62nd Army into three parts. The 138th Division, or as it
became known, "Liudnikov’s Island", clung onto an isolated position
200 metres from the Volga. The river crossings used
to ferry Soviet troops and supplies into the city were
under constant fire. Now the Volga began to freeze,
and boats could no longer reach the city. The Red Army Air Force was called in.
An obsolete biplane bomber, the U-2, was called on
to attempt resupply by air. Sacks of food and ammunition
were strapped on to the aircraft’s wing. The ropes could be quickly untied
to let the cargo crash to earth. One pilot recalled,
"The navigator had a sort of “reins”; he pulled them and the load fell
to earth rather randomly. However vodka was parachuted. We used to slow down and shout:
“Ivan! Vodka’s coming!” But such basic methods of resupply could never meet all the needs
of the city’s defenders. Winter was coming.
The Germans believed that their frontline, stretching from the Baltic to the Volga,
was secure. Their allies – the Hungarians, Romanians and Italians – were responsible
for holding the line in the Don region. The German Army High Command did not seriously consider the possibility
of a Soviet offensive in this region. The Red Army was thought
to be on the brink of collapse. But as early as September, Red Army
generals had been working on a plan that’s goal was nothing less
than the complete destruction of the German Sixth Army. Soviet forces were to attack
towards the town of Kalach. Armies of the Stalingrad Front
were to attack simultaneously to complete the encirclement
of the Germans. The operation was codenamed “Uranus”. Three separate Fronts were involved —
the Don, the South-Eastern and Stalingrad. The operation was planned
in complete secrecy. It was time to turn the tables
on the German army. On the night of 18th November,
the eve of the assault, a snowstorm dramatically
reduced visibility. Stalin himself had noted, “If the bombing
preparation is insufficient, the operation will fail.” It was completely impossible
to fly in these conditions. The bombing raids were cancelled.
But it was too late to postpone Uranus. In the southern zone, troops
had already crossed the Volga. On the morning of 19th November,
at ten minutes to nine, the roar of thousands of guns
was only eclipsed by the screams of Katyusha rocket fire. The shelling was done almost
blindly through the snowstorm. But the Romanian troops scattered
under the first blows of the Red Army. The German 48th Panzer Corps
tried to launch a counter-attack. They met the attacking Soviet forces head
on near the village of Ust-Medveditsky. An enormous tank battle raged
for more than a day. At its end,
the German panzer corps lay crushed. One of its divisions had been
hindered by an unlikely foe. While the division had been in reserve
with its vehicles standing idle, field mice had got inside the vehicles
and gnawed through the electrical wiring. This humble ally of the Red Army
had put dozens of tanks out of action. The Red Army assault south
of Stalingrad began the next day. The poorly-trained
and ill-equipped Romanian 4th Army scattered in the face of
a massed Soviet tank assault. Troops from two Soviet fronts
were approaching from north and south to meet at the River Don. The severe weather slowed their advance. No local guides could be found in the
villages, all of which lay abandoned. At dusk on 22nd November, a detachment of
2 motorized infantry companies, five tanks and one armoured vehicle approached
the bridge near the town of Kalach. The capture of this bridge was critical
to the success of the whole Operation. The German guards on the bridge
couldn’t believe enemy tanks could be so far behind the frontline. By the time they realised their mistake,
it was too late. The capture of the bridge allowed the
Red Army to move large numbers of troops across the Don, to link up with Yeriomenko’s
tanks coming from the south. On the fourth day of Operation Uranus, units of the Stalingrad Front met
troops of the South-Eastern Front near the town of Sovetskiy.
The trap was sprung — Paulus’s Sixth Army was surrounded. But the act of encirclement alone
wasn’t enough to guarantee victory. There was no panic amongst
the German forces that were now cut-off. Hitler told Paulus:
“The army can rely on my taking every step to provide it with everything it needs,
and to end its blockade.” The surrounded German troops were ordered
to hold their positions and wait for rescue. But when a meeting was convened
of the Sixth Army corps commanders, most wanted to attempt a breakout. It was General Erwin Jaenecke
who gave vent to what many were thinking — “Reichenau wouldn’t have hung about."
Paulus instantly retorted, “I’m not Reichenau!” Paulus prevailed. Sixth Army would take up
defensive positions, and await a relief attempt
from the outside. Field Marshall Von Manstein
was given the job of rescuing Sixth Army from its predicament. He quickly gathered
all available forces for the offensive, which was to be led
by four panzer divisions. The operation was codenamed “Winter Storm”. Not for nothing was Von Manstein regarded as the best operational mind
in the Third Reich. He won the first round of the fight,
launching his attack not in the obvious place where
the German lines were closest together, but from the south-west. Von Manstein’s panzers burst through
the perimeter of the Soviet encirclement. The Red Army had been caught off-guard. Stalin, alarmed that the prey
might be about to escape the trap, immediately ordered Soviet reserves
to counter this new threat. But troop movements across this frozen,
devastated landscape were no simple task. One unit reported that the trains
could not keep up steam. Motor transport was useless
for lack of fuel. Communications with units
moving on foot was difficult. For the time being, Von Mantstein’s attack
would have to be resisted by whatever troops lay in its path. These scattered
and often isolated Red Army units fought desperately to keep
the Germans at bay. The whole course of the Battle
of Stalingrad lay in the balance. General Schulz, Von Manstein’s
Chief of Staff, tried to persuade Paulus to fight his way out of Stalingrad,
towards von Manstein’s forces. “The earlier your attack starts,
the better”, Schulz told him. “We cannot wait…” But Paulus was no longer sure his troops
were capable of fighting their way out. He grew increasingly pessimistic, as Von
Mansterin’s troops were first stopped, and then forced into retreat. Hitler had hoped that the Luftwaffe could
keep Paulus’s men resupplied from the air. But it was unfeasible.
Paulus and Sixth Army were doomed. The operation to eradicate German resistance
in Stalingrad was codenamed “Ring”. Before it began, Paulus received
an ultimatum demanding his surrender. It was declined on Hitler’s orders. The Red Army also appealed directly
to ordinary German soldiers to surrender. Red Army Air Force Pilot Liashenko
had the unenviable job of flying his U-2 at low altitude over the
front lines, while his navigator Ovsishcher read an ultimatum to the German soldiers
through a loudspeaker. They often came under heavy fire
from the ground. Lee-shenko would climb out of range
and repeat the whole process somewhere else fifteen minutes later. Some German soldiers believed they would
get food and warmth if they surrendered. Others feared reprisals.
Many were scared to disobey orders. Military discipline was maintained
within Stalingrad. Deserters and thieves were still shot
wherever they were caught. Operation Ring began on the 10th January
with an intense artillery bombardment. The German pocket was
about 60 by 40 kilometers. Now the Germans were driven east –
to the Volga, and into Stalingrad. Four days into the operation,
the Germans were forced to abandon their main airfield at Pitomnik.
This was a disaster. Fights broke out over places
on the last German aircraft to leave. The wounded were forgotten.
The most deserving were elbowed aside. The only supplies that reached Paulus’s
army now arrived by parachute. Many soldiers had fallen into complete
apathy, numbed by cold and hunger, only brought to life by the sound
of a transport aircraft overhead. Food had become their only concern. On 24th January, Paulus sent a radio message
to Hitler, which ended with the words: “The Army requests permission
to surrender immediately in order to save the lives
of the remaining troops.” The Fuehrer was adamant:
“I forbid capitulation”. He replied. “The Army will hold its positions
until the last soldier and the last ditch.” The Soviet advance had split
the German pocket into two parts: the southern part was trapped
in the heart of the city — the northern lay in the factory district. Paulus’s headquarters was
in the southern pocket. The suffering of his men finally
forced him to act. He surrendered on the morning
of 31st January with his staff. The northern group under Lieutenant
General Karl Strecker fought on, briefly. After a massive Soviet artillery pounding they too laid down their arms
on the 2nd February, 1943. The final surrender at Stalingrad resulted in 91,000 German soldiers
being taken prisoner. They had destroyed 6,000 guns
and mortars, 1,000 German tanks, and more than 60,000 assorted vehicles. The disaster that had overtaken Paulus’s
army and 2 Romanian armies stunned Germany. It was their first major defeat
at Soviet hands. On the Eastern Front, the Stavka High
Command launched a full-scale offensive that routed Italian and Hungarian
armies along the Don River. German forces began a headlong retreat
from the Caucasus to avoid being cut-off. Hitler would never reach
the oilfields of Baku. All of Germany’s conquests in the south
that summer were reversed. The Soviet winter offensive
stopped only in March 1943. Amongst the many towns and cities liberated
by the Red Army was the city of Kursk. It was there that the war’s next great
battle would be fought.
