Maj. Gen. Henning von Tresckow, Chief of Staff, 6th Army, and major figure in the plot to kill Hitler and destroy National Socialism’s dictatorship.
Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, though promoted by Hitler, was determined to kill his benefactor for the sake of Germany’s soul.
Major Hans Ulrich Rudel, an ardent Nazi and the deadliest of all the Stuka pilots, left a long trail of destroyed Soviet tanks from the Caucasus to Stalingrad.
A Stuka of Luftflotte 4 hangs over Stalingrad, tormenting its defenders, until Chuikov’s close-combat tactics reduced the effectiveness of the German air support.
The brutal air raid on Stalingrad that killed thousands of civilians and opened the battle.
German 6th Army troops watching the air attack on Stalingrad as they approach the city.
Red Army men on the attack amid Stalingrad’s ruins. Chuikov’s superiors provided a steady stream of reinforcements to keep the battle going.
Soviet tanks and infantry in the encirclement of 6th Army.
One of many T-34s destroyed in the Totenritt bei Leninsk that cleared the way for the fall of Stalingrad.
The destruction of the Stalingrad Front by the German 11th Army.
The fighting in Stalingrad was so close and bitter that the German soldiers called it Der Rattenkrieg.
Warrant Officer Vassili Zaitsev with his Mosin-Nagant sniper’s rifle.
Oberjäger Heinz Pohl with his Kar 98k rifle. He took on the cover name of Major König to deceive the Soviets in the fighting in Stalingrad. He and Zaitsev combined to change the course of history.
‘Manstein is Coming!’ The LX Panzer Corps’ Grossdeutschland and 6th Panzer Divisions broke through, keeping Manstein’s promise to relieve the surrounded German armies.
Notes
Introduction, ‘The Dancing Floor of War’
1 Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., Lend-Lease: Weapon for Victory (New York: Macmillan, 1944), pp. 208, 215.
2 T. H. Vail Motter, The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia (Washington, DC: Center for Military History, 2000), p. 4.
3 ‘Khrushchev Remembers’, The Glasnost Tapes, 1990.
4 Homer, The Iliad, tr. Robert Fagles (New York: Penguin, 1990) p. 16.1001-5.
5 William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad (New York: Penguin, 2001), p. xi.
Chapter 1, Führer Directive 41
1 Paul Carell, Hitler Moves East 1941-1943 (New York: Bantam Books, 1967), p. 479.
2 Joel Hayward, ‘Too Little Too Late: An Analysis of Hitler’s Failure in 1942 to Damage Soviet Oil Production’, Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 18, No. 4, 1995, p. 2.
3 Carell, Hitler Moves East, pp. 479-80.
4 http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavka, accessed 7 June 2012. ‘Stavka was the term used to refer to a command element of the armed forces from the time of the Kievan Rus.’
5 Geoffey Jukes, Stalingrad to Kursk (Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2011), pp. 78-9.
6 Carell, Hitler Moves East, p. 480.
7 Anthony Beevor, Stalingrad (New York: Penguin, 1999), pp. 69-70.
8 ‘Annex 5 to Report by the C-in-C, Navy, to the Führer, 13 April 1942’, in 3 Fuehrer Conferences on Matters Dealing with the German Navy 1942, Office of Naval Intelligence, Washington, DC, 1946, pp. 65-6.
9 *Aaron T. Davis, Hitler and Directive 41: Decisive Decisions of World War II (Los Angeles: Ronald Reagan Center for Strategic Issues, 2004), p. 82.
10 Vail Motter, The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia, Appendix, Tables 2, 7, 10.
11 Zehra Onder, Die tiirkische Aussenpolitik im Zweiten Weltkrieg (Munich, 1977) p. 150.
12 John Gill, ‘Into the Caucasus: The Turkish Attack on Russia in 1942’, in Peter G. Tsouras, ed., Third Reich Victorious (London: Greenhill, 2002), p. 149.
13 Gill, ‘Into the Caucasus’. pp. 149-50.
14 *Franz Baron von Oldendorf, ‘Hitler’s Grand Turkish Gesture’, Journal of Second World War Studies, Vol. XXII, p. 832.
15 Adolf Hitler, Hitler’s Table Talk, 1941-1944, ed. H. R. Trevor-Roper (New York: Enigma Books, 2000), pp. 554-5.
16 Mathew Hughes & Chris Mann, Inside Hitler’s Germany: Life Under the Third Reich (New York: MJF Books, 2000), p. 184.
17 *Ivan Chonkin, The Life of Andrey Vlasov: Patriot and Liberator (New York: Hudson Press, 1982), pp. 119-22.
18 *Ibrahim Sayyid, Nazi Propaganda in the Muslim World (New York: International Press, 1987), pp. 121-23. Nazi propaganda was finding a receptive audience, especially in the Arab world which was becoming more and more agitated by the increasing Jewish settlement in the British Mandate of Palestine.
19 Gill, ‘Into the Caucasus’, p. 149.
20 Vozhd is a Russian term that means great war leader. In the movie Enemy at the Gates, the English wording used by the character representing Khrushchev to convey the emotional meaning of the term is ‘the boss’, with all the connotations of a Mob boss.
21 This figure of 2.5 million irrecoverable losses was provided by Russian military historians to the author in a symposium at the Moscow Military History Institute in July 1992.
22 This statement was made by Russian military historians to the author in a symposium at the Moscow Military History Institute in July 1992.
23 Richard Woodman, Arctic Convoys 1941-1945 (Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2011), pp. 13-14.
24 Woodman, Arctic Convoys, p. 14.
25 Albert L. Weeks, Russia’s Life-Saver: Lend-Lease Aid to the USSR in World War II (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010), p. 142.
26 Alyona Sokolova, ‘American Aid to the Soviet Union’, Vladivostok News, 17 April 2005, www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1385548/posts, accessed 15 February 2012.
27 Beevor, Stalingrad, p. 223.
28 Weeks, Russia’s Life-Saver, p. 122.
29 Weeks, Russia’s Life-Saver, p. 43.
30 Woodman, Arctic Convoys, p. 345.
Chapter 2, A Timely Death
1 Grossadmiral (Grand Admiral) was the German naval rank equivalent of a British admiral of the fleet or a United States fleet admiral.
2 Under the Weimar Republic, the German Navy was called the Reichsmarine; Hitler renamed it the Kriegsmarine.
3 Peter G. Tsouras, The Book of Military Quotations (St Paul: Zenith, 2005), p. 396.
4 German Naval History, www.german-navy.de, accessed 17 April 2012.
5 Erich Raeder, Grand Admiral (New York: Da Capo, 2001), p. 374.
6 David Irving, The Destruction of Convoy PQ-17 (New York: Simon et Schuster, 1968), pp. 4, 10.
7 Woodman, Arctic Convoys, p. 65.
8 Alan E. Steinweiss and Daniel E. Rogers, The Impact of Nazism: New Perspectives on the Third Reich and its Legacy (Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2003), pp. 186-8.
9 Raeder, Grand Admiral, pp. 255-65.
10 Jägers were elite light infantry trained to operate in difficult terrain.
11 Tsouras, Book of Military Quotations, p. 229.
12 Vasili Ivanovich Chuikov, The Battle for Stalingrad (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964), p. 14.
13 Michael K. Jones, Stalingrad (Barnsley: Pen Ɛt Sword, 2007), p. 76.
14 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henning_von_Tresckow.
15 Peter Hoffmann, The History of German Resistance 1933-1945 (Macdonald and Janes, 1977), p. 265
16 Peter Hoffmann, Stauffenberg: A Family History 1905-1944 (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University, 2008), pp. 163, 168.
17 Peter Hoffmann, Carl Goerdeler and the Jewish Question, 1933-1942 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 115.
18 *Friedrich von Heinzen, Hoch! Hoch! Dreimal Hoch! Ludwig I, Ein Leben (Frankfurt: Rolf Martin, 1996), p. 109.
19 Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, Enigma: The Battle for the Code (New York: John Wiley, 2000), p. 218.
20 http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine, accessed 18 February 2012. ‘Enigma was the codename for a system of electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Although Enigma had some cryptographic weaknesses, in practice
it was only in combination with procedural flaws, operator mistakes, captured key tables and hardware, that Allied cryptanalysts were able to be so successful.’
21 Sebag-Montefiore, Enigma, p. 218.
22 Irving, The Destruction of PQ-17, p. 1.
23 Winston Churchill, The Second World War (New York: Penguin, 1985), Vol. IV, p. 98.
24 Raeder, Grand Admiral, p. 359.
25 www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/ships/destroyer/zerstorer1936a/z24/history.html, accessed 21 Feb 2012. Destroyer Flotilla 8 consisted of Z-24, Z-25 and Hermann Schoemann.
26 Horvitz, Leslie Alan; Catherwood, Christopher, Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide (New York: Facts On File, 2006), p. 200; Bryant, Chad Carl, Prague in Black: Nazi Rule and Czech Nationalism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 2007), p. 140.
Chapter 3, The Second Wannsee Conference
1 Chuikov, The Battle for Stalingrad, p. 14.
2 Carell, Hitler Moves East, p. 483.
3 With the annexation of Austria to the Reich, its army of eight divisions was incorporated directly into the German Army bringing with them the lineages and traditions of the old Imperial Austrian Army.
4 Peter G. Tsouras, The Great Patriotic War : An Illustrated History of Total War: Soviet Union and Germany, 1941-1945 (London: Greenhill, 1992), p. 79.
5 David Glantz, Armageddon in Stalingrad, September-November 1942, The Stalingrad Trilogy, Vol. 2 (Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, 2009), p. 14.
6 Friedrich Paulus, http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Paulus, accessed 18 February 2012.
7 *Edward M. Williams, ‘Soviet Equipment Employed by the Germans in WWII’, US Army Magazine, Vol. XX, No. 3, 25 February 1966.
8 Paul Carell, Stalingrad: The Defeat of the German 6th Army (Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1993), p. 36.
9 Beevor, Stalingrad, pp. 67-8.
10 Jukes, Stalingrad to Kursk, p. 81.
11 Sebag-Montefiore, Enigma, pp. 269-70.
12 Robert Gerwarth, Hitler’s Hangman: The Life of Heydrich (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2011), p. 50. Heydrich and Himmler’s ‘relationship was one of deep trust, complementary talents and shared political convictions’. Heydrich was fundamentally loyal to Himmler.
13 British television documentary, Edward VIII: The Traitor King, first aired by Channel 4 in 1995.
14 1940-1944 insurgency in Chechnya, http://wikipedia.org/wiki/1940-1944_Chechnya_insurgency#cite_note-history.neu.edu-4, accessed 13 March 2012.
Chapter 4, Race to the Don
1 *Henning von Tresckow, Manstein und Hitler: Entscheidung 1942 (Frankfurt: Ernst Janning, 1962), p. 87.
2 Beevor, Stalingrad, pp. 69-70.
3 http://wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U-boat_flotillas, accessed 20 Feb 2011. The German U-boat flotillas in France were: Brest: 1st and 9th; Lorient: 2nd and 10th; St-Nazaire: 7th and 6th; La Rochelle: 3rd Flotilla; Bordeaux: 12th (+ Italian submarines). The German U-boat flotillas in Norway were: Bergen: 11th; Trondheim: 13th; Narvik: 14th.
4 Dudley Pope, 73 North: The Defeat of Hitler’s Navy (New York: Berkeley Books, 1958), pp. 98-9.
5 *Jason Colletti, The Führer Naval Conferences (Annapolis, MD: Naval Association Press, 1988), p. 199.
6 Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, pp. 24-31.
7 *Albert Adlinger, The Devil’s Twins: Heydrich and Dönitz (London: Mayfair et Sons, 1973), p. 121.
8 Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, p. 24.
9 Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, p. 31.
10 Sebag-Montefiore, Enigma, pp. 203-4.
11 *Alistair Williams, Former Naval Person: Churchill and the Naval War (London: Blackstone, 1955), p. 129
12 *Desmond Richardson, Decision of Ill-Omen: The Wasp in the Battle for the Arctic Convoy (New York: D. H. Dutton Press, 1949), p. 32.
13 Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, p. 300.
14 Signal from C-in-C Home Fleet to Admiralty and Rear-Admiral Hamilton, originating at 11:55 a.m. GMT, 22 June 1942, cited in Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, p. 35.
15 Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, pp. 31-2.
16 David Wraag, Sacrifice for Stalin: The Cost and Value of the Artic Convoys Re-Assessed (Barnsley: Pen Ɛt Sword, 2005), p. 216.
17 Carell, Stalingrad, pp. 58-9.
18 Vail Motter, The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia, Appendix, Tables 4, 7, 10.
19 http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight‘s_Cross_of_the_Iron_Cross, accessed 1 Mar 2012. ‘The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, often simply Ritterkreuz) was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813-created Iron Cross (Eisernes Kreuz). The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II. It was second only to the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross (Großkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) in the military order of the Third Reich.’
20 Adolf Galland, http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Galland#High_command_.281941.E2. 80.931945.29, accessed 1 March 2012.
Chapter 5, The Battle of Bear Island
1 Woodman, Arctic Convoys, p. 200.
2 Woodman, Arctic Convoys, pp. 200-1.
3 Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, pp. 37-8.
4 Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, pp. 50-1, taken from Lieutenant Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., USNR: ‘Cruiser Covering Force June 25 to July 8, 1942’.
5 Douglas TBD Devastator, http://wikipedia.org/wiki/TBD_Devastator, accessed 6 March 2012.
6 Characteristics of aircraft aboard HMS Victorious and USS Wasp:
7 Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, p. 19.
8 Woodman, Arctic Convoys, p. 201.
9 Irving, Destruction of PQ-17, pp. 65-6.
10 The caution of P.614’s captain may have due to the fact that his boat was one of four built for the Turkish Navy but retained by the Royal Navy when the war started.
11 Wragg, Sacrifice for Stalin, p. 144.
12 *Joseph P. Hartwell, Aerial Predator: The Life of Josef ‘Pips’ Priller (Boulder, CO: Air Force Academy Press, 1992), p. 129.
13 Woodman, Arctic Convoys, pp. 204-5.
14 Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, p. 105; Woodman, Arctic Convoys, p. 207.
15 Woodman, Arctic Convoys, pp. 208-9.
16 Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, p. 107.
17 *William H. Crowdon, Brave Cruisers: The Cruiser Covering Force at the Battle of Bear Island (London: Collins, 1958), p. 90.
18 *Franklin R. Miller, Treason on the Troubador: Mutiny in the Face of the Enemy (Annapolis: Naval Society Press, 1980), p. 138. The mutineers were returned to the United States at the conclusion of the Treaty of Dublin and the American citizens among them successfully prosecuted for treasonously aiding and abetting an enemy in wartime.
19 *Alexander Stuart, Convoy Disaster (Aberdeen: Highland University, 1963), p. 221.
20 Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, p. 214.
21 Irving, Destruction of Convoy PQ-17, pp. 184-6.
22 Wragg, Sacrifice for Stalin, pp. 148-9.
23 Tsouras, Book of Military Quotations, p. 27.
24 A comparison of armour on the German and American cruisers at the Battle of Bear Island:
25 *Crowdon, Brave Cruisers, pp. 83-4.
26 wikipedia.org ‘Battle of Drøbak Sound’, accessed 3 March 2012.
27 *Edwin Markham, On HMS London at the Battle of Bear Island (London: Charing Cross Publishers, 1983), p. 93.
28 *Hartwell, Aerial Predator, pp. 153-6.
Chapter 6, The Battle of 20° East
1 *Rudolf Schumdt, In the Wolfsschanze with Hitler: As Told by his Chief Adjutant (New York: Harper et Doubleday, 1956), p. 232.
2 *Yelena Markova, Hard as Men: Soviet Women in the War with Germany (Moscow: Progress, 1978), p. 265.
3 *Schumdt, Wolfsschanze, p. 233.
4 10th U-Boat Flotilla, http://wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_U-boat_Flotilla, accessed 5 March 2012.
5 *Samuel Morison, The Battle That Won the War for Germany (Annapolis: Nava
l Society Press, 1955), p. 299.
6 *Morison, The Battle That Won the War for Germany, p. 370.
7 *Richard Sullivan, USS Wainwright: Hero of the Battle of Bear Island (Annapolis: Naval Association Press, 1963), p. 189.
8 *Steven J. Yablonsky, The Cruiser Action at The Battle of 20° East (Philadelphia: Appleton, 1986), p. 157.
9 *James R. Edison, Rolf Carls: The Knightly Admiral (London: Castlemere Publishers Ltd), p. 311. Carls’s rescue of so many British and American sailors made him the object of professional admiration in both countries to which he was welcomed after the war as a guest of their naval societies.
10 *Bruce W. Watson, The Intelligence Duel at the Battles of Bear Island and Twenty East (Washington, DC: Defence Intelligence University Press, 2010), p. 245.
11 *Robert C. Giffen, The Battle of 20° East (Boston: Liber Scriptus, 1952), p. 233.
12 Pope, 73 North, p. 184.
13 *Dudley Patterson, The Big George: The Story of the Battleship, USS Washington (Norfolk, VA: Warships Press, 1955), p. 93. The Washington was the only battleship in WWII to sink two enemy battleships, one in each theatre of war. Off Guadalcanal in 1943 it sank the IJN Kirishima without taking a single hit.
14 *Hartwell, Aerial Predator, p. 142.
15 Morison, The Battle That Won the War for Germany, p. 290.
16 Lieutenant David McCampbell would go on to become the US Navy’s top-scoring ace of World War II.
17 *Wilson J. Johnson, Duel of the Titans: Washington versus Tirpitz (New York: Gotham Publishers, 1960), p. 322.
18 *Morison, The Battle That Won the War for Germany, p. 376.
19 *Gerhardt von Kitzengen, Der Schalcht bei 20° Ost (Frankurt: Markbreit, 1976), p. 299.
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