From interviews with Wilhelm Alter, Karl Binder, Friedrich Breining, Emil Metzger, Josef Metzler, Hans Oettl, Herbert Rentsch, Carl Rodenburg; also Paul Epple, Georg Frey, Karl Geist, Anton Kappler, Oskar Stange.
OPERATION URANUS TALKS
Zhukov’s memoirs previously cited. Vasilevsky’s “Unforgettable Days,” V.I.Z., 1965. Also Samsonov’s The Stalingrad Battle and Stalingrad Epopeya. Chapter Eleven
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 Chapter Notes / 427 of The Big Battle; V. Gurkin’s “The Pavlov House,” 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.1.Z., no. 8, 1966; Chuikov’s The Battle for Stalingrad.
GERMAN BUILDUP AND ATTACK ON FACTORY DISTRICT
From interviews with Wilhelm Alter, Eugen Baumann, 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 Chemova, 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 Lowenbraukeller 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 SeIle’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 Kastle, 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 Hassler, Herman Kastle, Dionys Kaiser, Leah Kalei, Heinz Lieber, Josef Linden, Xaver Marx, Wolf Pelikan, Albert Hager, Wilhelm Plass, Carl Rodenburg, Arthur Schmidt, Abraham Spitkovsky, Eugen Steinhilber, Siegfried Wendt, and statements by Karl Ostarhild (television documentary mentioned previously). Also, Heinz Schroter’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 Buchrier’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 Chimoaga’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 Castle, Emil Metzger, Heinz Neist, Hans Oettl, Albert Pfliiger, Arthur Schmidt; Schiller diaries; Giinter 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 interviews with Karl Binder, plus Binder diary; Franz Deifel, Hersch Gurewicz, Anton Kappler, Heinrich Klotz, Heinz Lieber, Albert Pfliiger, Friedrich Syndicus, Hubert Widmer; 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 chapers). 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 SchrOter’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 Pfliiger, Ernst Wohlfahrt; Karl Binder diary.
AIRLIFT BREAKDOWN
From Bekker’s The Luftwaffe War Diaries; Care11’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 Braunlein, Karl Binder, Ekkehart Brunnert, Mikhail Goldstein, Emil Metzger, Gerhard Meunch, Hans Oettl and Albert Pflilger. 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; Schroter’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 Giinter von Below, Ekkehart Brunnert, Ignacy Changar, Hermann Kastle, 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 Braunlein, Franz Broder, Horst Caspari, Pyotr Deriabin, Fritz Dieckman, Georg Frey, Werner Gerlach, Anton Kappler, Emil Metzger, Albert Pfliiger, 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 Pfliiger, Gottlieb Slotta, and Hubert Widmer. Also SeIle’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, Ginter von Below, Karl Binder, Hans Braunlein, Friedrich Breining, Franz Brkider, 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 Mich, Dionys Kaiser, Anton Kappler, Hermann Kastle, Herbert Kreiner, Heinrich Klotz, Ottmar Kohler, Heinz Lieber, Josef Linden, Emil Metzger, Josef Metzler, Heinz Neist, Hans Oettl, Alexei Petrov, Ernst Paulus, Albert Pfliiger, Mesten Pover, Herbert Rentsch, Carl Rodenburg, Arthur Schmidt, Albert Schon, 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 Kronmiiller, Xaver Marx, Hans Schiller 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 a
ffidavit). 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 Chemova, 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.
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