The World War II Chronicles

by William Craig

  PAVLOV’S HOUSE

  From I. F. Afanasyev’s House of The Soldier’s Fame, and his article in Krasnaya Zvedza, Feb. 2, 1963. Also I. Gummer and Y. Harin’s Heroes of The Big Battle; V. Gurkin’s “The Pavlov House,” V.I.Z., no. 2, 1963. L. Savelyev’s “I Am From the House of Pavlov,” Sovetskaya Rossiya, Feb. 2, 1963. Also Ronald Seth’s Stalingrad: Point of Return.

  SNIPING AND ZAITSEV’S DUEL WITH MAJOR KONINGS

  From an interview with Tania Chernova. Also V. Zaitsev’s Notes of a Sniper and V. Yuriev’s The Great Victory of Stalingrad; V.I.Z., no. 8, 1966; Chuikov’s The Battle for Stalingrad.

  GERMAN BUILDUP AND ATTACK ON FACTORY DISTRICT

  From interviews with Wilhelm Alter, Eugen Bäumann, Karl Binder, Franz Deifel, Heinz Giessel, Heinrich Klotz, Ottmar Kohler, Heinz Neist, Arthur Schmidt, and Rudolf Taufer. Also Sixth Army records, October 6–30 (see Documents).

  SOVIET INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS AND AIR STRENGTH

  From Chuikov’s The Battle for Stalingrad; N. Denisov’s “On Airports Near the Volga,” Aviatska I. Kosmonavtika, no. 1, 1968. I. Dynin’s “Smoky Sky,” Krasnaya Zvezda, Feb. 2, 1968; N. E. Lentchevsky’s Trial by Fire; A. Vladimirov’s “Air Force in the Battle of Stalingrad” in Vestnik Vozduzknoge Flota, May 1943.

  RUSSIAN DEFENSE OF THE FACTORIES

  From interviews with Alexander Akimov, Pyotr Deriabin, Hersch Gurewicz, Alexei Petrov, and Pyotr Zabavkiksh. Also Boris Filimonov’s The Immortals; V. Gartchinko’s “Tempered in the Fire,” Krasnaya Zvezda, Feb. 2, 1968; Genkina’s Heroic Stalingrad; Gerasimov’s The Stalingradians; A. Kolesnik’s The Great Battle on the Volga; I. Lyudnikov’s “Soldiers on the Barricades,” Ogonyok, no. 5, 1968; I. Paderin’s In the Main Direction; E. T. Siserov in The Fight for Stalingrad; I. Semin’s Stalingrad Tales.

  Chapter Twelve

  FIGHTING AROUND THE BARRIKADY AND RED OCTOBER PLANT

  From interviews with Ignacy Changar, Tania Chernova, Hersch Gurewicz, Heinz Neist, Alexei Petrov, Ernst Wohlfahrt and from diaries of Karl Binder and Wilhelm Kreiser. Also German Seventy-ninth Division History—The Way of the Seventy-ninth Infantry Division, 1939–1945, and a series of orders to German 305th Division regiments on seizing the factory district, plus K. S. Belov’s From the Volga to Prague; N. I. Biryukov’s Two Hundred Days in Battle; A. D. Kolesnik’s The Great Victory on the Volga; A. D. Stupov’s The Sixty-second Army in the Stalingrad Battles; and Samsonov’s The Stalingrad Battle and Stalingrad Epopeya.

  Chapter Thirteen

  RUSSIAN BUILDUP AND GERMAN REACTION

  From interviews with Winrich Behr, Gregori Denisov, Hersch Gurewicz, Alexei Petrov, Emil Metzger, Arthur Schmidt, Wolf Pelikan; a statement by Karl Ostarhild (see Second Television Company, Wiesbaden, Germany, documentary film on twenty-fifth anniversary of Battle of Stalingrad); and a report by German Intelligence East, September–November, 1942. Also Reinhard Gehlen’s The Service and Goerlitz’s Paulus and Stalingrad. For statements by Batov, Kazakov, Lelyushenko, Popov, Rokossovsky, Telegin, Vasilevsky, Zheltov, Zhukov, etc., see Samsonov’s Stalingrad Epopeya and The Stalingrad Battle, as well as Freiherr von Richthofen’s diary.

  Chapter Fourteen

  HITLER’S SPEECH IN MUNICH

  From Speer’s Inside the Third Reich. The author also visited the Löwenbräukeller and inspected the stage where Hitler accepted his cronies’ applause.

  THE PIONEERS AND LYUDNIKOV

  From interviews with Karl Binder, Wilhelm Giebeler, Josef Linden, Ernst Wohlfahrt; also Linden monograph, Eugen Rettenmaier’s diary and Herbert Selle’s The Tragedy of Stalingrad; Lyudnikov’s “There Is A Cliff on The Volga” from Druzhinin’s Two Hundred Fiery Days; Lyudnikov’s article in Ogonyok, no. 5, Jan. 1968; S. Glukhovsky’s Lyudnikov’s Island.

  SOVIET BUILDUP

  The D papers (previously mentioned).

  Chapter Fifteen

  CONDITIONS IN THE STEPPE

  From interviews with Friedrich Breining, Karl Binder, Ekkehart Brunnert, Karl Englehardt, Herbert Rentsch, Gottlieb Slotta; also Herbert Selle’s The Tragedy of Stalingrad.

  SOVIET SOLDIERS LIFE BEHIND THE FRONT LINES

  From interviews with Alexander Akimov, Ignacy Changar, Tania Chernova, Pyotr Deriabin, Hersch Gurewicz, and Alexei Petrov. Also Genkina’s Heroic Stalingrad and Gerasimov’s The Stalingradians; Grossman’s Stalingrad Hits Back.

  STALIN–VOLSKY

  From Vasilevsky and Zhukov in Stalingrad Epopeya. Also Zhukov’s own memoirs (previously mentioned), and V. T. Volsky’s story in V.I.Z., no. 10, 1965.

  THE APPROACH TO ZERO HOUR

  Interviews with Winrich Behr, Hermann Kästle, Wolf Pelikan, Alexei Petrov, and Abraham Spitkovsky. Also Werthen’s History of the Sixteenth Panzer Division.

  Chapter Sixteen

  RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE (November 19–27, Chapters Sixteen and Seventeen.)

  From interviews with Wilhelm Altar, Winrich Behr, Karl Binder, Horst Caspari, Franz Deifel, Pyotr Deriabin, Gerhard Dietzel, Isabella Feige, Karl Geist, Heinz Giessel, Gerhard Hässler, Herman Kästle, Dionys Kaiser, Leah Kalei, Heinz Lieber, Josef Linden, Xaver Marx, Wolf Pelikan, Albert Pflüger, Wilhelm Plass, Carl Rodenburg, Arthur Schmidt, Abraham Spitkovsky, Eugen Steinhilber, Siegfried Wendt, and statements by Karl Ostarhild (television documentary mentioned previously). Also, Heinz Schröter’s Stalingrad; Herbert Selle’s The Tragedy of Stalingrad; German Motorized Twenty-ninth Division history; Gram’s The Fourteenth Panzer Division; Werthen’s History of the Sixteenth Panzer Division; and The 384th Infantry Division (privately published); and Alex Buchner’s Combat Report of Second Battalion, Sixty-fourth Armored Infantry Regiment. Also, the War Diary of the Seventy-sixth Infantry Division and Karl Binder diary; Rumanian Army Records (see Documents for this period); plus Goerlitz’s Paulus and Stalingrad; Carell’s Hitler Moves East, and Philippi and Heim’s The Campaign Against Soviet Russia 1941–1945. Also, P. I. Batov’s In Campaigns and Battles; Michael Bragin’s “Stalingrad—Uranus, Saturn and Tanks,” Moscva, no. 2, 1968; M. Popov’s “South of Stalingrad,” V.I.Z., no. 2, 1961; Rokossovsky’s “Victory on The Volga,” V.I.Z., no. 2, 1968; A. Telegin’s “Between Volga and Don,” Voyenny Vestnik, no. 2, 1963; A. Zheltov’s “The Southwest Front of the Counterattack of Stalingrad,” V.I.Z., no. 11, 1967; P. Zhidkov’s “How the Ring Around the German Sixth Army Was Closed,” V.I.Z., no. 3, 1962; also A. P. Bachurin’s Front Memoirs; Chuikov’s The Battle for Stalingrad; Khrushchev’s memoir; Koroteev’s Stalingrad Miracle; K. Morozov’s The Regiments Fought Like Guards and The Fight for the Volga; and various participants’ recollections in Samsonov’s Stalingrad Epopeya; and Yeremenko and Zhukov books previously cited.

  Contrary to many Western accounts, the vital bridge at Kalach fell on November 22, not November 21.

  Chapter Seventeen

  COLLAPSE OF RUMANIAN ARMIES AND REPERCUSSIONS

  From Winrich Behr diary; records of German military mission to Rumania (see Documents); Frank Capra’s documentary movie The Battle for Russia; Henry Cassidy’s Moscow Dateline; Erich von Manstein’s Lost Victories; General Platon Chirnoaga’s monograph on unfairness of Germans to their Rumanian allies.

  EAST PRUSSIAN CONFERENCES

  From interview with Adolf Heusinger; Kurt Zeitzler’s remarks in The Fatal Decisions; Cajus Bekker’s The Luftwaffe War Diaries; also Carell’s Hitler Moves East, 1941–1943.

  NEWLY FORMED KESSEL

  From interviews with Karl Binder, Hermann Kästle, Emil Metzger, Heinz Neist, Hans Oettl, Albert Pflüger, Arthur Schmidt; Schüler diaries; Günter Toepke’s book; also Wilhelm Kreiser diary.

  Chapter Eighteen

  THE AIRLIFT

  From Paulus’ private papers and Richthofen diary; Cajus Bekker’s The Luftwaffe War Diaries; Goerlitz’s Paulus and Stalingrad; Fritz Morjik’s The German Transport Command in the Second World War; H. von Rohden’s The Luftwaffe Struggle for Stalingrad; also Carell’s Hitler Moves East 1941–1943.

  THE KESSEL AND RUSSIAN ATTACKS

  From inter
views with Karl Binder, plus Binder diary; Franz Deifel, Hersch Gurewicz, Anton Kappler, Heinrich Klotz, Heinz Lieber, Albert Pflüger, Friedrich Syndicus, Hubert Wirkner; also statements by Wilhelm Plass and Rudi Pothmann; Eugen Rettenmaier diary. Also von Dieckhoff’s The Twenty-ninth Motorized Division History; A. D. Kolesnik’s The Great Victory on the Volga and V. Koroteev’s, Stalingrad Miracle, Stalingrad Sketches and I Saw it.

  Chapter Nineteen

  OPERATION WINTER STORM

  From interview with Alexei Petrov. From War Diary Tank Regiment Eleven, Sixth Panzer Division (see Horst Schiebert’s Relief Operation—Stalingrad); also Manstein’s Lost Victories; Ms. number P-060g; Sixth Panzer Division, en route to Stalingrad, December 1942 (see Documents); A. M. Vasilevsky’s “Unforgettable Days” V.I.Z., no. 3, 1966; also Felix Gilbert’s Hitler Directs His War. Also Manstein’s Lost Victories, Paulus’ private papers; Arthur Schmidt’s critique (unpublished).

  KESSEL

  From interviews with Ekkehart Brunnert, Tania Chernova, Ignacy Changar, and Heinz Neist; plus diary of Wilhelm Kreiser and Eugen Rettenmaier; also Koroteev’s Stalingrad Miracle; I. Paderin’s In the Main Direction.

  Chapter Twenty

  RELIEF ATTEMPT

  From interviews with Josef Linden, Gerhard Meunch, Alexei Petrov, and Arthur Schmidt; also Schmidt’s unpublished manuscript on details of relief operations through December 25 (see next two chapters). From Goerlitz’s Paulus and Stalingrad; and Manstein’s Lost Victories; also Friedrich Paulus’s private papers.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  ARMY GROUP DON—SIXTH ARMY CONVERSATIONS

  From interviews with Winrich Behr and Arthur Schmidt; Schmidt manuscript and communications log between both groups (see Documents for appropriate dates). Also Sixth Panzer Division manuscript referred to in previous chapter notes and Horst Scheibert’s Relief Operation-Stalingrad; plus Carell’s Hitler Moves East; Goerlitz’s Paulus and Stalingrad and Schröter’s Stalingrad.

  THE ITALIAN EIGHTH ARMY

  From interviews with Giuseppe Aleandri, Felice Bracci, Cristoforo Capone, Stelio Sansone. Also Umberto Salvatore’s Bersaglieri on the Don.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  THE CONTINUING ROUT OF THE ITALIAN EIGHTH ARMY

  From interviews as noted in preceding chapter. German communications between Gumrak and Novocherkassk (see Documents as noted in previous chapters).

  SIXTH PANZER DIVISION ADVANCE

  (see previous citations.)

  SITUATION INSIDE KESSEL

  From interviews with Ekkehart Brunnert, Albert Pflüger, Ernst Wohlfahrt; Karl Binder diary.

  AIRLIFT BREAKDOWN

  From Bekker’s The Luftwaffe War Diaries; Carell’s Hitler Moves East; and Morzik’s The German Transport Command in the Second World War.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  THE CHRISTMAS SEASON (also in next chapter)

  From interviews with Hans Bräunlein, Karl Binder, Ekkehart Brunnert, Mikhail Goldstein, Emil Metzger, Gerhard Meunch, Hans Oettl and Albert Pflüger. Also Sacha Fillipov in The Great Victory in Stalingrad, Moscow: 1950; plus previously mentioned works by Gerasimov and Koroteev. Also Koroteev’s I Saw It; Schröter’s Stalingrad; and Werthen’s History of the Sixteenth Panzer Division. The author listened to the Ring Broadcast, played during the twenty-fifth anniversary documentary on German television.

  TELETYPE

  See previous chapter notes.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  TEDDY–KLAUS EXCHANGE

  From von Below family papers (microfilm in National Archives, Washington, D.C.).

  KREMLIN MEETING

  From Yeremenko’s Stalingrad; Zhukov’s memoirs; and Khrushchev’s memoir.

  ITALIANS

  From interview with Felice Bracci and his unpublished manuscript, a harrowing story.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  MAIL

  From unpublished letters on file in German archives at Freiburg. Also Karl Binder’s letters to his wife.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  DETERIORATION OF GERMAN TROOPS

  From interviews with Günter von Below, Ekkehart Brunnert, Ignacy Changar, Hermann Kästle, Heinrich Klotz, Ottmar Kohler, Gerhard Meunch, Hans Oettl, Alexei Petrov.

  ITALIANS

  From interviews with Felice Bracci, Cristoforo Capone, and Veniero Marsan. Also Bracci’s manuscript and Enrico Reginato’s Twelve Years of Prison in the USSR.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  THE COLLAPSE OF THE POCKET (January 10–20)

  From interviews with Eugen Baumann, Winrich Behr, Karl Binder, Hans Bräunlein, Franz Bröder, Horst Caspari, Pyotr Deriabin, Fritz Dieckman, Georg Frey, Werner Gerlach, Anton Kappler, Emil Metzger, Albert Pflüger, Carl Rodenburg, Gottlieb Slotta, and Hubert Wirkner. Also statements by Wilhelm Plass and Rudi Pothmann; Selle’s The Tragedy of Stalingrad; and Third Motorized; Twenty-ninth Motorized, and 384th Division histories. Also Ninth Flak Division war diaries; and Valeriu Campianu’s The Stalingrad Siege, written in Bucharest in 1945; N. N. Voronov article in Krasnaya Zvezda, Feb. 1, 1963.

  MALINOVSKY

  From The New York Times dispatch. Also The Red Army by Walter Kerr and Alexander Werth’s The Year of Stalingrad.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  EAST PRUSSIA MEETINGS

  From interview with Winrich Behr and statement by Coelestin von Zitzewitz. Also Carell’s Hitler Moves East, and Goerlitz’ Paulus and Stalingrad.

  LOSS OF PITOMNIK AND GUMRAK

  From interviews with Wilhelm Alter, Franz Deifel, Ottmar Kohler, Emil Metzger, Josef Metzler, Gerhard Meunch, Heinz Neist, Albert Pflüger, Gottlieb Slotta, and Hubert Wirkner. Also Selle’s The Tragedy of Stalingrad; Joachim Wieder’s Stalingrad: How It Really Was. Sixth Army radio traffic (see Documents for appropriate dates).

  The Luftwaffe lost 488 planes on the shuttle to the Kessel. A pilot named Wieser was the last to fly from the pocket (January 25).

  In his book, Colonel Adam mentions the wide-spread rumor among Sixth Army officers that General Schmidt kept a light plane at the airport for an escape from the Kessel. In my conversations with Schmidt, he admits that he planned to fly out, but only long enough to plead for more help from Hitler.

  Paulus refused to let him go.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  SURRENDER AND AFTERMATH

  From interviews with Wilhelm Alter, Helmut Bangert, Eugen Baumann, Günter von Below, Karl Binder, Hans Bräunlein, Friedrich Breining, Franz Bröder, Horst Caspari, Franz Deifel, Gregori Denisov, Pyotr Deriabin, Fritz Dieckmann, Gerhard Dietzel, Karl Englehardt, Paul Epple, Isabella Feige, Karl Floeck, George Frey, Karl Geist, Wilhelm Giebeler, Werner Gerlach, Heinz Giessel, Adolf Heusinger, Hans Jülich, Dionys Kaiser, Anton Kappler, Hermann Kästle, Herbert Kreiner, Heinrich Klotz, Ottmar Kohler, Heinz Lieber, Josef Linden, Emil Metzger, Josef Metzler, Heinz Neist, Hans Oettl, Alexei Petrov, Ernst Paulus, Albert Pflüger, Mesten Pover, Herbert Rentsch, Carl Rodenburg, Arthur Schmidt, Albert Schön, Kurt Siol, Gottlieb Slotta, Oscar Stange, Eugen Steinhilber, Friedrich Syndicus, Rudolf Taufer, Siegfried Wendt, Hubert Wirkner, Ernst Wohlfahrt, and Pyotr Zabavskikh. Also statements by Franz Brendgen, Berthold Englert, August Kronmüller, Xaver Marx, Hans Schüler and unpublished monograph by Arthur Schmidt on last days. Also Professor Jay Baird’s “The Myth of Stalingrad” in Institute of Contemporary History, vol. 4, no. 3, July 1969.

  German works dealing extensively with the end of the battle include: Wilhelm Adam’s The Hard Decision; Hans Dibold’s Doctor at Stalingrad; Philip Humbert’s article in Der Spiegel, no. 5, 1949; Theodor Plievier’s Stalingrad and Wieder’s Stalingrad. (see Ludwig affidavit). Among many Russian books and periodicals on the surrender are P. Batov’s In Campaigns and Battles; V. Grinevsky’s “The Last Days,” Krasnaya Zvezda, Feb. 2, 1963; I. Laskin’s “Once More on the Capture of General Field Marshal Paulus,” V.I.Z. 1961; I. Morozov’s The Fight for the Volga; K. K. Rokossovsky’s “The Morning of Our Victory,” Izvestia, Feb. 1, 1968; M. S. Shumilov in Komsomolskaya Pravda, Feb. 1,
1963; L. A. Vinokur’s “In Those Days,” Sovetskaya Rossiya, Feb. 2, 1958; P. Vladimirov’s “The Encounter,” Krasnaya Zvezda, Feb. 2, 1963. Also: Rokossovsky, Shumilov and Voronov in Samsonov’s Stalingrad Epopeya.

  Others: Agapov’s After the Battle; Chuikov’s The Battle for Stalingrad; Druzhinin’s Two Hundred Fiery Days; A. Werth’s Russia At War, 1941–1945.

  Chapter Thirty

  THE WRECKAGE OF WAR

  From interviews with Ignacy Changar, Tania Chernova, Hersch Gurewicz. Also A. S. Chuyanov’s Stalingrad Is Reviving, written in 1944; and A. M. Samsonov’s The Stalingrad Battle, the best analysis of destruction in the city.

  PRISON CAMPS AND CANNIBALISM

  From interviews with Germans listed in preceding chapter and with Felice Bracci and Cristoforo Capone. Also Bracci’s diary; Reginato’s Twelve Years of Prison in the USSR; Don Guido Turla’s Seven Rubles to the Chaplain; and a report by Guiseppe Aleandri on the treatment accorded the Axis POWs in Russia.

  After Twelve Years

  In September 1955, Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of the new West German government, flew to Moscow to meet the leaders of the USSR. During their discussions, Adenauer broached a sensitive topic:

  “… Let me start with the question of the release of those Germans who are still imprisoned within the area or sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, or who are otherwise prevented from leaving this area. It is on purpose that I put this problem at the beginning, as this is a question that leaves no German family unconcerned. I wish, with all my heart that you do understand in which spirit I want to treat this problem. For me only the human point is at stake. The thought is unbearable that—more than ten years after the end of the war—there are still men who are separated from their families, homeland, and their normal, peaceful work—men who were involved—in whatever way—in the maelstrom of war. You must not find any provocation in my saying: It is out of the question to establish ‘normal’ relations between our states as long as this question is unsolved. It is normalization itself of which I am talking. Let us make a clean break with a matter which is a daily source of remembrance of sorrowful and separating past.”