Ostkrieg

by Stephen G. Fritz

  17. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1137–40, 1148; Hayward, Stopped at Stalingrad, 243, 259–60; Kehrig, “Die 6. Armee im Kessel von Stalingrad,” 89–92; Beevor, Stalingrad, 276–77; Roberts, Victory at Stalingrad, 125. Kehrig claims that the talks between Manstein and Richthofen took place on 26 November, but both Wegner and Hayward (who relies on Richthofen’s diary) place the discussion on the twenty-seventh.

  18. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1140–41; Kehrig, “Die 6. Armee im Kessel von Stalingrad,” 92–93, and Stalingrad, 308, 313–15; Beevor, Stalingrad, 293–96.

  19. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1143–45, 1153; Kehrig, “Die 6. Armee im Kessel von Stalingrad,” 93–94, 100, and Stalingrad, 324–30; Beevor, Stalingrad, 296–97.

  20. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1145–48; Kehrig, “Die 6. Armee im Kessel von Stalingrad,” 95–99, and Stalingrad, 354–69; Beevor, Stalingrad, 297–99.

  21. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1153–58; Kehrig, “Die 6. Armee im Kessel von Stalingrad,” 99–102, and Stalingrad, 408–10; Beevor, Stalingrad, 293, 299–310; Roberts, Victory at Stalingrad, 127.

  22. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1153–58; Kehrig, “Die 6. Armee im Kessel von Stalingrad,” 99–102, and Stalingrad, 408–10; Beevor, Stalingrad, 293, 299–310; Zeitzler, “Stalingrad,” 155; Hayward, Stopped at Stalingrad, 275–76.

  23. Müller, “ ‘Was wir an Hunger ausstehen müssen,’ ” 131–33.

  24. Ibid., 133–34; Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1090–95.

  25. Müller, “ ‘Was wir an Hunger ausstehen müssen,’ ” 134–38; Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1151–53, 1158–59.

  It was not unusual, however, for many of those supplies to be worthless: candy, contraceptives, herbs and spices, unusable engineering equipment, and propaganda leaflets. In all, between 24 November 1942 and 2 February 1943, the Luftwaffe delivered an average of 117.6 tons of supplies daily and evacuated some thirty thousand wounded soldiers, at a cost of almost five hundred aircraft (including a third of the Luftwaffe’s total complement of Ju-52 transports). For a detailed account of the effort to supply Stalingrad by air, see Hayward, Stopped at Stalingrad, 247–310.

  26. Müller, “ ‘Was wir an Hunger ausstehen müssen,’ ” 138–45; Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, 325; Letter from Panzer soldier, 19 December 1942, in Dollinger, ed., Kain, wo ist dein Bruder? 169; Letter from corporal, 31 January 1942, cited in Sauer, ed., Stalingrad—Feldpost, 32; Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1158–60; Beevor, Stalingrad, 311–30, 338–47; Hayward, Stopped at Stalingrad, 286–92.

  27. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1161–62; Roberts, Victory at Stalingrad, 131; Beevor, Stalingrad, 352–64; Kehrig, “Die 6. Armee im Kessel von Stalingrad,” 105–7; Hayward, Stopped at Stalingrad, 290–96.

  28. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1162–69; Beevor, Stalingrad, 364–80; Kehrig, “Die 6. Armee im Kessel von Stalingrad,” 107–9; Ziemke and Bauer, Moscow to Stalingrad, 499–500. For a good fictional account of the battle and the final agony based on interviews with survivors, see Plievier, Stalingrad.

  29. Beevor, Stalingrad, 380–83, 387–96; Ziemke and Bauer, Moscow to Stalingrad, 501–2; Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1163–65; Roberts, Victory at Stalingrad, 133–34; Kershaw, Hitler: Nemesis, 549–51; Hayward, Stopped at Stalingrad, 308–10.

  30. Beevor, Stalingrad, 281, 398, 413–15, 439–40; Overmans, “Das andere Gesicht des Krieges,” 442, and Deutsche militärische Verluste, 277–78; Ziemke and Bauer, Moscow to Stalingrad, 501; Roberts, Victory at Stalingrad, 134–36; Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, 150; Glantz and House, When Titans Clashed, 142; Erickson, “Soviet War Losses,” 264. Total German and Axis (Rumanian, Hungarian, and Italian) casualties resulting from the Stalingrad campaign were probably in the vicinity of 1.25 million, while the comparable Soviet figures are estimated to be over 1.11 million.

  31. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1169–72; Beevor, Stalingrad, 404–5; Roberts, Victory at Stalingrad, 136.

  32. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1171–81; Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, 81–88.

  33. Frieser, “Schlagen aus der Nachhand,” 101–2; Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1181–84; Roberts, Victory at Stalingrad, 139; Erickson, The Road to Berlin, 45.

  34. Frieser, “Schlagen aus der Nachhand,” 104–6; Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1184–89; Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, 90–96; Erickson, The Road to Berlin, 45–53. For Manstein’s assessment of the winter operations, see Manstein, Lost Victories, 368–442.

  35. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1190–91; Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, 96–97; Erickson, The Road to Berlin, 453–55.

  36. Frieser, “Schlagen aus der Nachhand,” 107; Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1192–93, and “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 6, 51–60; Roberts, Victory at Stalingrad, 139–40, 183–87.

  37. Weinberg, A World at Arms, 609–11, and “Zur Frage eines Sonderfriedens im Osten”; Fleischhauer, Die Chance des Sonderfriedens, 81–82, 285–86, and passim; Magenheimer, Hitler’s War, 192–96. See also Koch, “The Specter of a Separate Peace,” 531–49.

  38. Boberach, ed., Meldungen aus dem Reich, 31 August, 3 September, 9 November 1942, 28 January, 1, 8, 11, 15, 22 February, 8 March, 5, 12 April 1943; “Stimmungsumschwung in der deutschen Bevölkerung,” in Wette and Ueberschär, eds., Stalingrad, 61–66; Kershaw, The “Hitler Myth,” 192; Steinert, “Stalingrad,” 174–76, and Hitler’s War, 184–86; Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1212–13, and “Die Aporie des Krieges,” 211.

  39. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1213–15, and “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 3–8, 35–36; Roberts, Victory at Stalingrad, 189–94.

  40. Kershaw, Hitler: Nemesis, 561–62; Evans, The Third Reich at War, 423–25; Moltmann, “Goebbels’ Speech on Total War, February 18, 1943,” 319–22; Boelcke, “Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg?” 445–46; Herf, The Jewish Enemy, 192–95; Fritzsche, Life and Death in the Third Reich, 283–84.

  41. Steinert, Hitler’s War, 188–89; Boberach, ed., Meldungen, 22 February 1943; Kroener, “ ‘Nun, Volk, steh auf . . . !’ ” 152–62; Evans, The Third Reich at War, 424; Boelcke, “Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg?” 414.

  42. Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 14–15; Kroener, “ ‘Nun, Volk, steh auf . . .!’ ” 152–62.

  43. Kroener, “ ‘Nun, Volk, steh auf . . .!’ ” 164–66.

  44. Kershaw, Hitler: Nemesis, 562–64, 566–72; Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 15–16; Speer, Inside the Third Reich, 258; TBJG, 2 March 1943.

  45. Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 19–21; Tooze, The Wages of Destruction, 593–95.

  46. Overy, Why the Allies Won, 114–22, 331–32; Tooze, The Wages of Destruction, 596–98, 600, 688 table A6; Speer, Inside the Third Reich, 280–87; Evans, The Third Reich at War, 441–42; Blank, “Kriegsalltag,” 366–70; Boog, “The Strategic Air War,” 22–29; TBJG, 7 March 1943.

  47. Evans, The Third Reich at War, 442–50; Tooze, The Wages of Destruction, 601–5; Boog, “The Strategic Air War,” 43–51; Middlebrook, The Battle of Hamburg, 252–327; Friedrich, The Fire, 165–68, 329–30; Boberach, ed., Meldungen aus dem Reich, 19 August 1943; Steinert, Hitler’s War, 202–4, 213–15, 228–33; Kershaw, The “Hitler Myth,” 202–3; Speer, Inside the Third Reich, 283–84.

  48. Overy, War and Economy in the Third Reich, 303–11; Stibbe, Women in the Third Reich, 91–96; Evans, The Third Reich at War, 358–61.

  49. Herbert, “Labour and Extermination,” 179–81, and Hitler’s Foreign Workers, 189, 265–68; Müller, “Die Zwangsrekrutierung von ‘Ostarbeitern,’ ” 100–101; Fings, “Slaves for the ‘Home Front,’ ” 233–57, 265–71; Mazower, Hitler’s Empire, 300–303; Evans, The Third Reich at War, 351–57, 361–63, 370–71; Tooze, The Wages of Dest
ruction, 517–19.

  50. Shepherd, “Hawks, Doves and ‘Tote Zonen,’ ” 349–52, “ ‘Wehrmacht’ Security Regiments,” 492–98, and “The Continuum of Brutality,” 49–59; Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1005–10.

  On the partisan war generally, see Mulligan, “Reckoning the Cost of People’s War”; Klinkhammer, “Der Partisanenkrieg der Wehrmacht”; Richter, “Die Wehrmacht und der Partisanenkrieg”; Chiari, “Die Büchse der Pandora”; Umbreit, “Das unbewältigte Problem”; Anderson, “Germans, Ukrainians and Jews,” “Incident at Baranivka,” and “Die 62. Infanterie-Division”; Schulte, German Army; Shepherd, War in the Wild East; Slepyan, Stalin’s Guerrillas; and Musial, Sowjetische Partisanen.

  51. Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union,” 1011–13, 1017; Gerlach, Kalkulierte Morde, 946–73; Mulligan, “Reckoning the Cost of People’s War,” 45–47; Shepherd, “Hawks, Doves and ‘Tote Zonen,’ ” 352–53, “ ‘Wehrmacht’ Security Regiments,” 498–520, and “The Continuum of Brutality,” 59–81; Schramm, ed., Kriegstagebuch, 14 August 1942, 2, pt. 3:587–89.

  52. Shepherd, “Hawks, Doves and ‘Tote Zonen,’ ” 353–54, 362–64, and “ ‘Wehrmacht’ Security Regiments,” 494–96; Richter, “Die Wehrmacht und der Partisanenkrieg,” 855–57; Gerlach, Kalkulierte Morde, 975–1036.

  53. Evans, The Third Reich at War, 363–69; Mazower, Hitler’s Empire, 307–16; Tooze, The Wages of Destruction, 445–46, 531–33; Herbert, “Labour and Extermination,” 181–89; Hayes, Industry and Ideology, 361–65, 439–67.

  54. Evans, The Third Reich at War, 363–69, 663–65; Mazower, Hitler’s Empire, 307–16; Tooze, The Wages of Destruction, 531–33, 627–31; Herbert, “Labour and Extermination,” 181–89; Wachsmann, Hitler’s Prisons, 394–95; Speer, Inside the Third Reich, 372–74; Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich, 197–238.

  55. Tooze, The Wages of Destruction, 605–11; Sereny, Albert Speer, 420–21.

  56. Evans, The Third Reich at War, 371–72; Mazower, Hitler’s Empire, 317–18; Speer, Inside the Third Reich, 323–45; Wegner, “Defensive ohne Strategie,” 197; Overmans, Deutsche militärische Verluste, 238.

  57. Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 33, and “Defensive ohne Strategie,” 198–99.

  58. Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 11–14, 19–28, 65, 74, “Defensive ohne Strategie,” 199–200, and “Das Ende der Strategie,” 212–19.

  59. Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 28–41, “Defensive ohne Strategie,” 202–5, and “Das Ende der Strategie,” 221–26.

  60. Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 61–66, and “Defensive ohne Strategie,” 200–201; Frieser, “Schlagen aus der Nachhand,” 107–10; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 375; Mulligan, “Spies, Ciphers, and ‘Zitadelle.’ ”

  61. Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 62, 68–69, and “Defensive ohne Strategie,” 200–201; TBJG, 25 June, 5 July 1943; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 372–73.

  62. Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 68–70; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 376–78; Klink, Das Gesetz des Handelns, 60; “Operationsbefehl Nr. 6,” in Schramm, ed., Kriegstagebuch, 15 April 1943, 3, pt. 6:1425–27.

  63. Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 70–76; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 376–78.

  64. Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 70–76; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 376–78; Frieser, “Schlagen aus der Nachhand,” 111–13; Guderian, Panzer Leader, 306–7. As early as 2 March, Goebbels declared in his diary that the difficult relations between Hitler and his generals were the result of the fact that they no longer believed in him.

  65. Guderian, Panzer Leader, 307–10; Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 76–77, and “Defensive ohne Strategie,” 201; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 378; TBJG, 7 May 1943; Klink, Das Gesetz des Handelns, 163–64; Schramm, ed., Kriegstagebuch, 5 July 1943, 3, pt. 6:749; Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 139–40.

  66. Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 378–81; Klink, Das Gesetz des Handelns, 165–66; Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 72–73, 77–79.

  67. Guderian, Panzer Leader, 308–11; Wegner, “Von Stalingrad nach Kursk,” 77–79; Schramm, ed., Kriegstagebuch, 5 July 1943, 3, pt. 6:750; TBJG, 25 June 1943; Warlimont, Inside Hitler’s Headquarters, 333–34; Kershaw, Hitler: Nemesis, 591; Manstein, Lost Victories, 447.

  68. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 82–103.

  69. Ibid.; Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, 133–35. See, as well, the statistical assessment in Zetterling and Frankson, Kursk 1943, 58–67, in which the total number of Tigers taking part in the offensive is put at 146. Zetterling and Frankson concur with the figure of 200 Panthers, most under the control of the Grossdeutschland Division; thus, the Second SS Panzer Corps had no Panthers. The overwhelming majority of German AFVs, over 85 percent of the total, were Panzer IIIs and IVs and the Sturmgeschütz (assault gun) III.

  70. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 82–103.

  71. Ibid., 104–16.

  72. Ibid., 98, 106–8; Glantz and House, The Battle of Kursk, 64.

  73. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 108–9; Glantz and House, The Battle of Kursk, 93; Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, 135–36.

  74. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 109–11; Glantz and House, The Battle of Kursk, 115–17; Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, 136.

  75. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 111–12; Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, 136–37.

  76. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 87, 93, 100, 112–14; Guderian, Panzer Leader, 310–11. See also Sydnor, Soldiers of Destruction, 281–90.

  77. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 114–16; Glantz and House, The Battle of Kursk, 102–3, and When Titans Clashed, 165–66.

  78. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 117–19; Glantz and House, The Battle of Kursk, 147, 152, 336; Manstein, Lost Victories, 448.

  79. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 119–20, and “Schlagen aus der Nachhand,” 124–25; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 381–82.

  80. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 120–22, 132–33, and “Schlagen aus der Nachhand,” 120–22; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 381–82. Even the careful calculations of historians such as Frieser and Töppel have resulted in some confusion. In his earlier work (“Schlagen aus der Nachhand”), Frieser suggests that the Second SS Panzer Corps had 273 operational tanks on 12 July, while, in his later work (“Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” “Der Rückschlag des Pendels,” and “Der Zusammenbruch im Osten”), taking into account tanks in maintenance, he has corrected the figure to 211 operational tanks. Töppel, meanwhile, claims 236 operational tanks while agreeing with Frieser’s total of 58 assault guns and 43 tank destroyers. See, as well, Zetterling and Frankson, Kursk 1943, 102–10.

  81. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 123–25, 134, and “Schlagen aus der Nachhand,” 125–26; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 383.

  82. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 125–27; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 383.

  83. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 121, 129–39; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 384–87, 393–95; Zetterling and Frankson, Kursk 1943, 134. The elite Grossdeutschland Division possessed the great majority of Army Group South’s Panthers.

  84. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 139–42; Wegner, “Das Ende der Strategie,” 226, and “Defensive ohne Strategie,” 201; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 387–89; Manstein, Lost Victories, 448–49.

  85. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 142–47, and “Schlage aus der Nachhand,” 132; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 387–92.

  86. TBJG, 19 July 1943; Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 148–72; Magenheimer, Hitler’s War, 192; Töppel, “Die Schlacht bei Kursk,” 393–97; Glantz and House, The Battle of Kursk, 135, 274; Sokolov, “The Battle for Kurs
k,” 278 (on the entire Eastern Front the Germans lost 71,231 men killed in July). See also Sokolov, “The Cost of War”; and Zetterling and Frankson, Kursk 1943, 111–31, 145–52. As Frieser notes, in all of World War II, the Germans produced 25,000 battle tanks, exclusive of assault guns and tank destroyers, while the Allies churned out more than 200,000 (“Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 171).

  87. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 158–72; Zetterling and Frankson, “Eastern Front Battles,” 190–92, and Kursk 1943, 132–44.

  88. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 173–85.

  89. Ibid., 185–86; Wegner, “Die Aporie des Krieges,” 219–20; Glantz and House, The Battle of Kursk, 232; Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, 138–39.

  90. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 187–90; Schramm, ed., Kriegstagebuch, 4 August 1943, 3, pt. 6:891; Slepyan, Stalin’s Guerrillas, 91–101; Erickson, The Road to Berlin, 114–15; Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, 141; Glantz and House, The Battle of Kursk, 237, 273; Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, 250, 268–69; Sokolov, “The Battle for Kursk,” 82–83 (where some 860,000 Soviet casualties are claimed).

  91. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 190–93; Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, 143–51; Schramm, ed., Kriegstagebuch, 5–8 August 1943, 3, pt. 6:895, 904–5, 910–11, 915; Glantz and House, The Battle of Kursk, 225–26, 241, 247.

  92. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 193–96; Schramm, ed., Kriegstagebuch, 18, 20, 22, 24 August 1943, 3, pt. 6:963, 975–76, 986, 996–97; Glantz and House, The Battle of Kursk, 251, 426.

  93. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 197–98; Manstein, Lost Victories, 454–58.

  94. Frieser, “Die Schlacht im Kursker Bogen,” 199–204; Mawdsley, Thunder in the East, 250; Sokolov, “The Battle for Kursk,” 81–84; Zetterling and Frankson, Kursk 1943, 116–17, 129; Glantz and House, The Battle of Kursk, 252, 425. On the Eastern Front as a whole in July and August, the Red Army lost almost ninety-three hundred tanks to slightly more than thirteen hundred for the Wehrmacht.