The Stalingrad Front Strikes | Operation Uranus Part V

[Music] [Music] [Music] 20th of november 1942 the northern sector in the north west fifth tank army's advance resumed but proved once again to be unsettled caught in the heavy fighting in the pishonne area against the 22nd panzer division the first tank corps was slowly disengaging and leaving the sector to the eighth cavalry corps on the left flank the 26th tank core's 157th tank brigade captured perezovsky seizing the headquarters of the fifth romanian corps along with a considerable amount of material in the process the 19th tank brigade deflected a counter-attack attempt by the first romanian armor division from the zaritsa river the rear echelon and supply column of the latter was taken by surprise due to the red army's dramatic advance its fuel and ammunition trucks were simply incorporated into the soviet brigades their romanian drivers just turning back in the opposite direction flanked by russian soldiers meanwhile the 21st army was consolidating and expanding its offensive toward kudlek and their kravkayo rivers in the 65th army sector where the main fighting was occurring around the heavily fortified village of horakowski a breakthrough was finally obtained enabling the 91st tank brigade to make a deep raid into the rear of the german 11th corps reaching as far as the golabaya river by day's end surrounded by the fifth tank army on one side and the 21st army on the other the main body of the third romanian army was becoming isolated in the region a republicaia where general leskar took control of the remnants of the fourth and fifth corps whilst the neighbouring first armored division was still trying to break free and link with the 22nd panzer division on the western side of the penetration the remaining romanian first and second corps were slowly but surely pushed back to the chur river line and eventually subordinated to the german 17th corps coming from beyond the italian 8th army whilst the 48th panzer corps already damaged and overpowered was slowly retreating in the same direction without being allowed to fully disengage from the fighting reinforcements began to arrive from six army's front in a frenetic attempt to strengthen its rear and coincidentally the new western flank of paulus's entire group of forces elements of both 14th and 24th panzer divisions followed by anti-tank and assault gun battalions were deployed around workneb was in afc while separate regiments from the 44th and 384th infantry divisions were also dispatched to the threatened sector the task of setting up a whole new line of defense in the open region south of striker's endangered front was allocated to the 14th panzer corps with the mobile elements of the 14th 24th and 16th panzer divisions along with the third motorized division and composite detachments from rear service units however severely mauled as a result of months of fighting in stalingrad these armored groups had not only insufficient strength but were also bound to arrive too late on the ground where the soviet mobile corps had already torn enormous gaps and were about to achieve their objectives faced with such a deteriorating situation the okh decided to create army group don with field marshal von manstein as commander in chief to control this part of the front including the two german and two romanian armies at the same time hitler consulted with heads of the lufthaufer about the possibility for supplying the six army by air if it happened to be surrounded though categorically refuted by forth lufth flutters commanders it was decided at ghq level that a temporary air bridge was feasible for none even considered the eventuality of a durable encirclement the southern sector just as was the case for the northern offensive the day before fog and snowfalls laid their curtain across the stalingrad front's attacking sector prompting yaramenko to ask the stafka for a delay in the beginning of the 57th and 64th army's artillery preparations benefiting from better weather conditions over its area the 51st army began as planned at 0 7 30 hours but there again almost no aircraft could take off and artillery fire correction was greatly hindered at 0 8 30 hours attacking on the northern flank the 15th guard's rifle division quickly dispersed the weak romanian defenses and advanced over 10 kilometers on the southern flank soviet infantry with supporting tanks also easily overcame the romanian positions enabling the army's mobile formations to be introduced into the breach however the fourth mechanized corps experienced initial difficulties entering the battlefield mainly due to the congestion and scarcity of roads along with not fully cleared minefields the induced delay prompted khrushchev to come in person to one of the brigade's headquarters and press its commander to move on volsky's corps finally began its exploitation at 1300 hours and reached blood of vittoria by 2200 hours where heavy fighting developed meanwhile the 59th and 60th brigades were ordered to proceed by night to ab ganarova and inguta respectively which they seized by dawn the next day the armored brigade's overall advance was then close to 50 kilometers they were followed by the motorized infantry and fourth cavalry corps which were to protect their left flank delayed by the fog the 57th army began its assault at 11 15 hours its infantry was reinforced with over 80 tanks including some belonging to the army's mobile force and achieved a quick and decisive breakthrough in the romanian lines yet there too the main attack force could not be introduced as planned with one third of its troops still on the other side of the volga part of its armor and most of its vehicles supporting the events of the army's rifle divisions the 13th mechanized corps joined the assault late in the day and in a diminished state only 80 tanks out of 170 entered the penetration on the first day with the infantry lagging behind on foot instead of using over 2 000 trucks as initially expected furthermore due to the poor visibility in the gathering darkness and the lack of terrain features for orientation part of these forces either headed into minefields or wandered off their assigned course as a result the cause columns stretched out and its lead elements were just approaching nuttiman by nightfall when they came under heavy fire from the german 29th motorized division this unit with 60 tanks and a respectable amount of motorized infantry was actually deployed for a field exercise when ordered to move against the advancing soviet formations the fight which ensued slowed tennessians advance even more the panzer grenadiers damaging two tank brigades and another two rifle divisions this engagement lasted all night with the 29th motorized division finally forced to back up as further elements of the 13th mechanized corps arrived in the area and the german command becoming more and more concerned about the six army's entire southern flank decided to pull back and redeploy the division along with the other defending forces southwest of stalingrad as a result the mega forces of the seventh romanian corps were now the only theoretical defense left in the 100 kilometer wide region between the town of aksai and the don river it was not long before the telephone ring again come quickly to the chief of staff general police is already here colonel adam hurried back to the command section the wind was cutting in his face snowflakes settled on the field grey uniform inadequate for winter in schmidt's room the temperature was more pleasant the commander in chief was standing with the chief of staff ia and ic before the map on the wall the depiction of the latest situation had begun adam stared bewitched at the entries in fourth panzer aramis area was a thick red arrow going through its forward positions the soviet army had also attacked from a southerly direction powerless pulled it all together early this morning the enemy after a strong artillery preparation attacked the positions of fourth panzer army and the romanian fourth army the situation there at this moment is not clear the red army is pursuing its attack from the north its left hand group is going in a south easterly direction on virgn busanovka we must therefore reckon that the 11th corps route to the south will be blocked within a few hours the greatest danger lies here with the railway line from morozovsk to shear station the soviet high command was pressing both fangs together for 6th army the situation was becoming extremely precarious it tried to prevent this with a counter-attack by the 14th corps and the 48th panzer corps but what if this failed what if their armored forces proof too weak then sixth army would be caught in a cauldron the germans experienced hours of unrest and uncertainty rumors of all kinds were circulating no one knew where they came from no one knew what was really happening had the enemy really cut off the don high road to chia station was it correct that he had reached the railway line from morozovsk to the don and that the fourth panzer army had been defeated what measures had the army high command initiated to fight to free up the six army's rear had the 48th panzer corps attacked yet with what results nerves were at breaking point at last on the evening of the 20th of november six army's command had some information about the situation with his right-hand neighbour the fourth panzer army the soviets had broken through its defensive line from the south and were thrusting westward toward the dawn the counter-attacks by the weakened 48th panzer corps had been easily checked the luftwaffe which perhaps could have relieved the situation had been rendered inoperable by snowfalls how could the situation be handled requested permission from the army high command to abandon stalingrad and break through to the south west with the army and so avoid the threatened encirclement army group b supported this request at the fiora headquarters in waiting for the reply the minutes seemed like hours meanwhile the red army progressed some of the german rear service units had fled in wild panic to the east as the tanks with the five-pointed stars approached the commanders of the sixth army and army group b waited obediently for the supreme commander's decision this finally arrived that evening the breakout was refused polish schmidt and all the high-ranking officers who knew the catastrophic situation the six army was in were bitterly disappointed but all obeyed as you will know we're running this series in parallel with text series on battlestorm stalingrad since it is such an excellent series it was hard to find any points we might disagree on only one small point could be found so far and that deals with the fourth romanian army which was not fully formed when the soviet offensive began was this really the case let's explain as tick rightly pointed out the fourth romanian army didn't have a proper headquarters at the beginning of operation iran it was deformed the following day okay that's a fact but this doesn't mean that the fourth romanian army didn't exist it didn't for the romanian command yes but it did for the german command since general hoth took over and as his own fourth panzer army was cut off and its units subordinated to polis hot ended up with only romanian troops remaining outside the cauldron so from his point of view there was a fourth romanian army proof of this is that everyone in the german command was constantly referring to this army so there was indeed a fourth romanian army even though it didn't have a romanian commander however we must take this opportunity to say that tick has already produced the ultimate documentary on stalingrad with an incredibly detailed series that extends over several years of hard work there is no doubt it will become a long time reference [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Armageddon

Views: 24,543

Keywords: Stalingrad, Paulus, 1942, 1943

Id: Jgjo8bZOpZI

Length: 14min 34sec (874 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 26 2022