Bloody Stalingrad

by Andrew McGregor

  Historians debate continuously as to why the battle was won or lost. Hitler’s quest for the oilfields in southern Russia and then his blind determination to take the city that held Stalin’s name resulted in the splitting of German forces and objectives. General, then Field Marshall Paulus, the commander of the German Sixth Army was by accounts a brilliant administrator and networker, but was unable to adapt to the sheer bitterness of the street fighting and perhaps the decisiveness required when the situation became more desperate for the defenders.

  It seems Von Paulus lacked the experience on the ground to accomplish a successful victory. In August 1942, the Sixth Army could have taken the city in days, however, Von Paulus hesitated…allowing the Red Army units to escape a situation where they were almost surrounded and establish defences within the city.

  The German notion of invincibility continually underestimated their Russian opponent, undervaluing opposing forces and their tactical ability. The Russian offensive was simply a masterpiece of strategic planning, with the follow up operations nearly equally as dazzling.

  The relief effort by air appears to have been an ‘on the spot’ whim by Goering, the head of the German Air-force, the Luftwaffe. The unrealistic pledge was apparently made in a meeting after successfully supplying a similar yet far smaller…and closer situation the winter before.

  The minimum supply requirements were not met on a single day of the encirclement, despite the Luftwaffe desperately converting bombers to fly supplies in. The pilots and crews worked feverishly and without respite to supply their trapped countrymen, flying over 30,000 wounded men from the pocket. But the situation slowly became hopeless, there were simply not enough planes, the weather too bad and the distance too great to provide the supplies required by such a large isolated army.

  This forced the stranded army into a situation of virtual slow starvation….the first fatal casualties from lack of food appearing around the middle of December 1942, over six weeks before the remaining city defenders surrendered. The Red Army’s successful raid on the main supply airfield of Tatsinskaya destroyed over 72 vitally needed aircraft on the ground, mortally damaging the already inadequate supply drops to Stalingrad.

  The Russian Army initially believed they had only encircled about one third of the actual forces they had actually trapped in the freezing city. Allowing the isolated defenders to freeze and starve may seem barbaric, but this tactic ensured Russian casualties when the final attacks on the isolated city defenders commenced were reduced.

  The German options on relieving the city could probably only have been accomplished had the Sixth Army broken out towards the advancing forces, some 30 miles away. The hastily assembled attacking German forces were simply not strong enough to break through to the city in such terrible weather, especially with ongoing Russian offensives to the north threatening their flanks. The initial assault by the relief effort caught the Russians completely by surprise, the main distance of the advance covered in the first twenty four hours. With inadequate fuel to cover the full distance, Von Paulus would not attempt the breakout towards the relief effort, fearful of losing the entire army stranded in the middle of hostile Russian forces…in the end this was probably the last chance to save his troops, but he did know this at the time.

  The German successful extraction of Army Group A from the south of Stalingrad, preventing the Russian Army from also cutting these formations off, was also a demonstration of superior military planning, mostly accountable to Field Marshall Von Manstein. Had these forces been captured or destroyed along with Stalingrad then there is a high possibility the German southern front in Russia would have collapsed completely in late 1942-early 1943, perhaps even ending the war then.

  It is only from reading countless personal accounts and historical information is it clear that from the moment the army was encircled, the German Army lost the initiative on the Eastern Front and probably across the rest of the European War. There would be future offensives and attacks made by the Germans, but none of the scale of 1941 and 1942…there were simply not enough experienced soldiers left with a war stretching from the depths of Russia and out across the Mediterranean. A war now fought against the industrial might and combined forces of Russia, America and Britain. At Stalingrad the Germans lost the equivalent of between four to six months of their entire military production, an irreplaceable removal of material coupled with the loss of so many experienced soldiers.

  The outcome then perhaps only became a matter of bloodied time.

  There are many fascinating and informative books on the battle, of which I would personally recommend, all of which I have read a number of times.

  Antony Beevor ‘Stalingrad’

  Edwin P. Hoyt‘199 Days, The Battle for Stalingrad’

  Joachim Weider & Heinrich Graf von Einsiedel‘Stalingrad Memories and Reassessments’

  Mansur Abdulin‘Red Road from Stalingrad’

  Erich Von Manstein (Field Marshal, German Forces)‘Lost Victories’

  The German Field Marshal’s book is an interesting read, but it should be considered that he would have had to comply with what he stated historically at the Nuremberg trials. There are also many reviews stating that the reality portrayed favours the author in his accounts.

  Sequel Outline: Bloody Kharkov

  Leutnant Hausser and the remains of his squad return in the next book in the series. As the Russian Red Army begins to strengthen further, buoyant from its victory at Stalingrad, the remaining German forces struggle to sustain an extended front line stretching from Leningrad in the north to the Black Sea in the south.

  With the war continuing relentlessly, the next phase moves just north of the front at Stalingrad. With a multi-lingual and charismatic unit commander required, Bloody Kharkov will commence shortly after the period this work ends. The battle for survival has just begun.

  Although the basic story of Stalingrad has been portrayed in this book, I am keen to display some of the side stories that occurred in the pocket and more of the surrounding fronts in the bitter struggle. A further work, Bloody Kessel II is planned for the future, adding additional personalities and covering the missing dates for the main characters. This will cover the fighting and assaults across the city including the final surrender of both southern and northern pockets of the frozen Kessel.

  The Blitzkrieg Ost series, the story (prequels) portraying the battle for the Crimea and drive on Stalingrad and how the first few characters met is also planned for the future.

  Thank you for reading what I have written, I hope you enjoy the stories as much as I do writing them. A truly fascinating time in historical warfare.