What the Germans Knew | Operation Uranus Part I

the attitude of the army's high command is simply incomprehensible to me they imagine they could better assess the situation from over 2 000 kilometers than we can at the front that's absurd such a disregard of the enemy is unique if the army high command doesn't take measures to protect our flank soon it could cause the whole of the sixth army then you too regard as insufficient the defensive strengths that you have placed directly behind our left flank if hitler whistles out our proposals again in this dangerous situation the catastrophe is complete i regard it as more than superfluous if anyone believes that heim can prevent a breakthrough by the russians with his two half divisions when will army high command finally learn to gauge the strength of the enemy correctly our bombers have blasted the village umpteen times but no sooner do the first signs of dusk appear on the river than the boats are loaded with men and supplies the wrestlers try to cross over to the west bank in the darkness of the night [Music] [Music] so november 1942 for three long months the fighting for stalingrad had raged on the banks of the volga by now the vowel map occupied 90 of the city while the red army held on desperately to small patches of ground along the west bank of the great river the battle of stalingrad was not only a tactical one its outcome was also decided far beyond the city in the don river steps where heavy engagements continued through the summer and were about to be renewed as autumn was turning into winter operation blau has carried the german troops into the caucasus mountains and as far as the vulgar the frontier between europe and asia now operation iran russian for uranus was about to be unleashed avenging the dreadful price the soviets had paid defending stalingrad and suddenly giving sense to endless days of desperate resistance in this new series of many episodes we'll detail how the counter-offensive was planned prepared and implemented with the full course of operations from the 19th to the 30th of november we'll extensively cover both the soviet and german perspectives we'll run this in parallel to tick's outstanding youtube series battlestorm stalingrad which certainly many of you already follow and we urge you to do so if not yet the case this way we can mutually benefit from our studies cross-check events share and confirm interpretations perhaps confront some of them to provide our viewers an information level not seen before in this first episode we'll see what situation the german sixth army was in when the soviet offensive was preparing on its flanks what was the state of mind of its leaders what did they know about their peril and what they did to try and prevent it this should answer the many recurring questions people usually ask how is it possible the germans didn't see it coming and why didn't they prepare for it at the beginning of november the commander of 11th corps general strecker came to speak to paulus personally all divisions on six armies knows and from report concentrations of enemy forces in front of them it's also the case in front of romanian third army in the dawn river full sponsor army also identified attack preparations by soviet forces in the south urgent controversies are necessary at the headquarters there was no doubt about the soviet intentions to surround six army and fourth panzer army the commander-in-chief of army group b field marshall von vikes and his chief of staff general fons shodenstein shared the fears of the six army headquarters but hitler and the army high command could not accept this they did not take six army's reports seriously doubting that the red army could even think of another counter-offensive to counter the threatening encirclement paulus had proposed retaking an observation post behind the dawn lacking any sense of responsibility for the hundreds of thousands of soldiers over there the army high command rejected the request the chief of the army general staff general zeitzler called paulus in person and forwarded hitler's order the red army is defeated it has no more worthwhile reserves so it is in no condition to engage in large attacks any assessment of the enemy must be taken from this basic point of view paulus was shattered by so false and appraisal the crude reprimand injured him after the call he told general schmidt and colonel adam the general staff must know what's about to happen are there only yes men in hitler's entourage approving every nonsense but then he felt quiet the commander in chief of the six army did not want to confine himself to an independent decision military obedience won over reason the army had to use its own mega forces to form a reserve this was to consist of a mixed band of regimental strength structured around a tank hunting unit from the 14th panzer division the attitude of the army's high command is simply incomprehensible to me they imagine they could better assess the situation from over 2 000 kilometers than we can at the front that's absurd such a disregard of the enemy is unique if the army high command doesn't take measures to protect our flanks soon it could cost the whole of the sixth army it's not just us signaling ever more clear indications of a counter-attack fourth panzer army is seeing the same thing on its front that should alarm the people at fewer headquarters why doesn't the army chief of staff come and see us himself here the threatening danger cannot be turned away with speeches i think so too adam but this journey seems to put everyone off zeitzler would hardly dare to contradict hitler he delivered the proof of this yesterday how can a chief of the general staff pass on such orders and that was personal too hitler booted halder out of his company the last general who at least had his own opinions on military matters in relation to the political aim setting there's no difference between hitler and his generals apparently hitler only wanted collaborators who said yes to everything [Music] the future will show whether zeitler went along with this illusionary strategy or whether he correctly assessed the strengths and capabilities of the red army let us hope that everything will go well for once the month before chief quartermaster lieutenant general wagner visited six army headquarters he wanted to see for himself how the supplies were organized and how the whole supply system could be improved back in the summer wagner had the opportunity to discuss the army's conditions at fiora headquarters he informed hitler about the lack of fuel and requested the supply situation to be bought into consideration but it was no use hitler knew better and no one dared to contradict him if german generals complained about him they still went on playing his game they could be contemptuous of the bohemian corporal but they continued working on his war among six army's supply problems was fodder for thousands of horses polis decided that all dispensable horses should be moved to the rear area west of the dawn only those absolutely necessary would remain the division lost their essential transport but it was a logical decision most of the tanks were also brought to the rear it had been shown that they were not suitable for urban fighting within the city and almost all of those tanks that had not been destroyed needed major repairs the workshop companies had already taken up their assigned winter quarters at the end of october the land between the don and the volga lay under thick fog all day long at last came a few clear days offering good visibility the first flights over six armies northern flank confirmed what the divisions had reported from their observations the red army had strongly extended their bridgeheads over the dawn especially in the area of sarafemovic several new bridges had been erected some of them under water bridges where the surface lay just beneath the water level so as to reduce their visibility the run over the front south of stalingrad looked no calmer facing the six army's left flank romanian third army and fourth panzer army the map showed many soviet units as recalled by colonel adam paulus put one hand on the northern group of soviet forces the other on the southern and then he pushed his hands together as if shutting a trap what lay inside the trap was his own army adam commented if hitler whistles at our proposals again in this dangerous situation the catastrophe is complete the nervous tension among the army staff increased after supper adam escorted paulus to his headquarters both of them hardly noticed they had left the village a little later they were standing on the bank of the dawn looking at the water polis broke the silence you know my request adam hitler has rejected everything the suspension of the fighting in stalingrad and the release of the 14th panzer corps from the city he went through the orders given to me at venensa on 12 september and determined the speeding up of the taking of the city at all costs which bled us dry but that's not all stalingrad could become the sixth army's canny let us concern ourselves with what we can do when will the first young officers be available you know how urgently we need them dozens of companies are being led by ncos i was in suverovsky yesterday at first the young cadets were not happy about being transferred to the infantry but now they have accepted it captain global reported that they were making good progress i can confirm that from my own impressions unfortunately the course is late we can finish it at the end of the month at the earliest i regret today that i agreed to a later ending of this course see to it that whatever happens that they're ready by the 30th of november for several minutes palace stood deep in thought as they headed back to the village it was becoming frosty adam wondered if this was only the cool of the evening or a terrible warning a few days before he had visited the 71st infantry division on the volga front in the ruins of stalingrad one of its regimental commanders colonel rosca was an old acquaintance until the outbreak of the war they had both been teachers of tactics at the war school in dresden now regiment was right on the bank of the vulgar adams saw nothing but horrible ruins bomb craters and heaps of rubble made the once smooth streets virtually impassable glass splinters window casemates wrecked cars remains of furniture cooking utensils an inconceivable jumble of destroyed and damaged objects of all kinds no one could say exactly where the front line ran in this rubble but roskin knew his way after about half an hour the view opened up they were standing in a covered trench on the western steeply falling bank of the volga the mighty river was here more than two kilometers wide it looked almost like a lake adam stood astounded at the enormous dimensions of the landscape after the broad expanse of the step came the width of the river and the city was stretched out too with its giant factories and its large residential areas adam wondered what it looked like just a few months before machine gun fire cut short his thoughts grenades exploded to the left and then with dull thuds the artillery joined in suddenly all was quiet again roska commented it is often like this short exchange of fire mostly in connection with some troop activity or other complete science reigns over the vocal by day but it becomes much animated as dusk approaches with the field glasses you see crazy support over there our bombers have blasted the village umpteen times but no sooner do the first signs of dusk appear on the river then the boats are loaded with men and supplies the russians try to cross over to the west bank in the darkness of the night then comes a tremendous spectacle players throw their magical light over the water and searchlights slide their beams over the surface of the river should a shipper boat be discovered is bathed in light and shot at by machine guns and guns of all kinds aircraft appear drop their bombs and dive down firing their guns nevertheless most boats reached the bank in october a whole rifle division was transported across a single night the russians only reduced their river traffic in bright moonlight your regiment has been in the close quarter fighting in this part of the city since september yes here's an example of what it was like assault troops forced their way into a building and threw the russians out of the ground floor the enemy is still sitting in the floor above today for days now our people have been pursuing the fighting with all their might but have been unable to drive ivan out it's puzzling how he supplied he should have been starved out to surrender long ago but no that handful of russians have no interest in surrendering the taking of the city was postponed indefinitely but paulus's repeated requests obtained one result from the army high command which at last approved some defensive measures on six army's northern flank general heim's 48th panzer corps became the reserve for army group b since his three current divisions were now fighting inside the city its headquarters were moved to the rear of the romanian third army where 22nd panzer division and first romanian tank division were placed under its command as shown by his discussion with adam and schmidt on the 15th of november paulus did not expect much from this the romanian division is equipped only with light french and czech tanks the men are not fully trained and have never seen actual fighting the 22nd panzer division was badly disseminated heim can only have part of the remainder half of the panzer regiment have been deployed elsewhere by the army group i regard it as more than superfluous if anyone believes that heim can prevent a breakthrough by the russians with his two half divisions when will army high command finally learn to gauge the strength of the enemy correctly then you too regard as insufficient the defensive strengths that you general have placed directly behind our left flank of course they're insufficient that is why i sought permission to extract the 14th panzer corps from the stalingrad front the army high command also turned that down even though the tanks in the city are virtually unused i simply don't get it general such false decisions are already provoking a catastrophe don't condemn so harshly adam the 14th panzer corps has received orders from me to pull back the panzer regiment and anti-attack battalions of the 16th and the 14th panzer divisions so that on demand they can immediately go to the left flank west of the dawn and what is going to happen in the south would the fourth panzer army hold if the russians break out apparently there is hardly anything left of the panzer army it had to give up all its tanks in its infantry division it still has the romanian infantry divisions which have fought bravely several times but they are poorly armed and equipped everything depends on the strength of the enemy should he attack with large strong units it could also be catastrophic in the south i too fear the worst if the high command does not produce capable divisions as soon as possible but we cannot let the panic break out i fully understand that but are we going to look on while doing nothing general our divisions simply cannot do anymore many of them do not even have half their fighting strength all these statements are of no help to us adam think of the many different situations we have already been through this year above all you know the orders of the high command they are binding for me as a soldier from my subordinates i too demand that they carry out their orders unconditionally paulus worked relentlessly checking visiting speaking but the fate of the six army was decided at hitler's headquarters and palace had accepted his orders the first snow fell on the 16th of november the wind whistled icely over the step the light field grey coats and forage caps were hardly protecting against the cold there was no lesson learned from the previous winter when german troops attacking moscow had some times to dress in looted women's clothes one year later the troops fighting at stalingrad still had no adequate winter clothing palace had already ordered it as he had known that operating within the city would not be complete before the cold set in the army's quartermaster shared his view but on the other hand hitler believed normal winter clothing would suffice since the national socialist people's welfare was ready with a grandiose collection of winter items to be sent through to the soldiers on the eastern front in fact the population was prepared to contribute anything against the cold and icy wind enormous crates were filled with articles of clothing but the cold period had come to stalingrad so suddenly that hardly any of the collection had reached the front and not much got to the rear areas either the army quartermaster general tried to get the delivery expedited but with little success so limited were the transport facilities and so great the distances then from the first deliveries that did reach the army it was found that instead of the requisite woolen and knitted items there were hundreds of ladies coats persian capes and other fur items including some very expensive ones they were however completely useless at the front apparently the items of clothing handed in by the civilian population had not been checked but dispatched without evaluation schmidt exploded over this mess up but he could not change anything those responsible were somewhere warm at home two thousand kilometers away from stalingrad the divisional quartermasters received instructions to issue the few good items available to the trident troops this barely sufficed to clothe even a fifth of the soldiers huddling in the shelter trenches and bunkers of the northern front without stoves without fuel in the middle of the snow-covered step swept by the northeasterly winds [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Armageddon

Views: 231,227

Keywords: Stalingrad, Paulus, 1942, 1943, Uranus, Operation Uranus

Id: RVr3HfBbVuI

Length: 20min 7sec (1207 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 01 2022