[41]:154–68 Richard Overy addresses the question of just how important the Red Army's coercive methods were to the Soviet war effort compared with other motivational factors such as hatred for the enemy. The two German army groups were too far apart to support one another. [47] Deserters and presumed malingerers were captured or executed after fighting. Fighting within the ruined city was fierce and desperate. The battle of Stalingrad was another difficult period in Vasilevsky's life. Beginning in late August, continuing in September and into October, the Soviets committed between two and four armies in hastily coordinated and poorly controlled attacks against the Germans' northern flank. Artillery spotters were an especially prized target for snipers. 17 Jul 1942 - 2 Feb 1943. Stalin rushed all available troops to the east bank of the Volga, some from as far away as Siberia. In response, Hitler issued a tranche of field promotions to the Sixth Army's officers. [139][140] Since then, military parades have always commemorated the victory in the city. "Исторические документы. Glantz, David (2011), 'After Stalingrad: The Red Army's Winter Offensive 1942–1943', Helion and Company, This page was last edited on 12 March 2021, at 00:48. 227 of 27 July 1942 decreed that all commanders who ordered unauthorised retreats would be subject to a military tribunal. ", harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCraig1973 (, {{cite web These tanks, unpainted and lacking gun-sights, were driven directly from the factory floor to the front line. Sources differ on the number flown out: at least 25,000 to at most 35,000. [31]:98 The third and last serviceable runway was at the Stalingradskaya flight school, which reportedly had the last landings and takeoffs on 23 January. The attempt to break through to Stalingrad was abandoned and Army Group A was ordered to pull back from the Caucasus. According to Zhukov, "German operational blunders were aggravated by poor intelligence: they failed to spot preparations for the major counter-offensive near Stalingrad where there were 10 field, 1 tank and 4 air armies. In the region of location of the 38th Motorised Rifle Brigade in a basement eighteen armed SS-men (sic) were found, who refused to surrender, the Germans found were destroyed.[123]. The Germans lost 900 aircraft (including 274 transports and 165 bombers used as transports), 500 tanks and 6,000 artillery pieces. Manstein, however, who knew that Sixth Army could not survive the winter there, instructed his headquarters to draw up a further plan in the event of Hitler's seeing sense. Ivan's War (New York: 2006), 156. [54] Fighting on and around Mamayev Kurgan, a prominent hill above the city, was particularly merciless; indeed, the position changed hands many times.[33]:67–68[40]:?[56]. [21] After their defeat at Stalingrad, the German High Command had to withdraw considerable military forces from other theaters of war to replace their losses.[22]. The 6th Army slowly starved. [132], Regardless of the strategic implications, there is little doubt about Stalingrad's symbolism. Hitler told Goebbels that the plight of the 6th Army was a "heroic drama of German history. Combat raged for three days at the giant grain elevator in the south of the city. [83], Recognising that German troops were ill-prepared for offensive operations during the winter of 1942, and that most of them were redeployed elsewhere on the southern sector of the Eastern Front, the Stavka decided to conduct a number of offensive operations between 19 November 1942 and 2 February 1943. On 22 January, Rokossovsky once again offered Paulus a chance to surrender. [41] The soldiers found about ten Soviet civilians hiding in the basement. From the Soviet bridgehead at Mamon, 15 divisions – supported by at least 100 tanks – attacked the Italian Cosseria and Ravenna Divisions, and although outnumbered 9 to 1, the Italians initially fought well, with the Germans praising the quality of the Italian defenders,[97] but on 19 December, with the Italian lines disintegrating, ARMIR headquarters ordered the battered divisions to withdraw to new lines. He argues that, though it is "easy to argue that from the summer of 1942 the Soviet army fought because it was forced to fight," to concentrate solely on coercion is nonetheless to "distort our view of the Soviet war effort. Russia's War (New York: 1997), 201. The events of the Battle for Stalingrad have been covered in numerous media works of British, American, German, and Russian origin,[141] for its significance as a turning point in the Second World War and for the loss of life associated with the battle. The forces under the 6th Army were almost twice as large as a regular German army unit, plus there was also a corps of the 4th Panzer Army trapped in the pocket. The Soviet Air Force, the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (VVS), was swept aside by the Luftwaffe. Introduction. Battle of Stalingrad, (July 17, 1942–February 2, 1943), successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russia, U.S.S.R., during World War II. Paulus requested that he be granted permission to accept the terms. The Axis suffered 647,300 – 968,374 total casu… [40]:25, 48 Beyond the Volga River on the eastern boundary of Stalingrad, additional Soviet units were formed into the 62nd Army under Lieutenant General Vasiliy Chuikov on 11 September 1942. [108], The central pocket, under the command of Heitz, surrendered the same day, while the northern pocket, under the command of General Karl Strecker, held out for two more days. The Soviets built up a large number of artillery batteries on the east bank of the Volga. There was an overwhelming surge in confidence and belief in victory. Marked by fierce close-quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in air raids, it is one of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare, with an estimated 2 million total casualties. From 16 to 25 September, it carried out 9,746 missions (975 per day). Hrvatska pukovnija 369. na Istočnom bojištu 1941–1943. It consisted of two Romanian cavalry divisions and the 23rd Panzer Division, which mustered no more than thirty serviceable tanks. The German offensive to capture Stalingrad, a major industrial and transport hub on the Volga River that ensured Soviet access to the Caucasus oil wells, began in August 1942, using the 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army. The German offensive started well. We all knew where we stood after we had heard it. [81], After three months of slow advance, the Germans finally reached the river banks, capturing 90% of the ruined city and splitting the remaining Soviet forces into two narrow pockets. Only forty dead Soviet fighters were found, though the Germans had thought there were many more due to the intensity of resistance. As General Chuikov acknowledged, "Remembering the defence of Stalingrad, I can't overlook the very important question ... about the role of women in war, in the rear, but also at the front. [24]:909[27][28]:88, On 23 July 1942, Hitler personally rewrote the operational objectives for the 1942 campaign, greatly expanding them to include the occupation of the city of Stalingrad. Operation Fridericus I by the Germans against the "Isium bulge", pinched off the Soviet salient in the Second Battle of Kharkov, and resulted in the envelopment of a large Soviet force between 17 May and 29 May. Гриф секретности снят: Потери Вооружённых Сил СССР в войнах, боевых действиях и военных конфликтах: Стат. Kleist later said after the war:[43], The capture of Stalingrad was subsidiary to the main aim. [33]:28, 30, 40, 48, 57. The battle of Stalingrad has also inspired two sharply contrasting films in recent years that are both available in home video. Several Soviet regiments were wiped out; the entire staff of the Soviet 339th Infantry Regiment was killed the following morning during an air raid.[1]:83. The delay is thought to have delayed the advance at least one week. German military doctrine was based on the principle of combined-arms teams and close cooperation between tanks, infantry, engineers, artillery and ground-attack aircraft. The Soviets did not bother employing tanks in areas where the urban destruction restricted their mobility. Battle of Stalingrad. "[61], Many women fought on the Soviet side, or were under fire. "[60] Infantryman Lev Lvovich's explanation, for example, is typical for these interviews; as he recalls, "[i]t was a necessary and important step. Soviet forces reached the entrance to the German headquarters in the ruined GUM department store. 3. The Luftwaffe also lost close to 1,000 highly experienced bomber crew personnel. Germany's Sixth Army had ceased to exist, and the forces of Germany's European allies, except Finland, had been shattered. VIII. Beyond that army, a single German division, the 16th Motorised Infantry, covered 400 km. We did not go into the basement itself – what was the use? There were no more decisive victories for the Wehrmacht in the east. Snipers on both sides used the ruins to inflict casualties. Regular river ferries were quickly destroyed by the Luftwaffe, which then targeted troop barges being towed slowly across by tugs. Having slowly advanced over 10 days against strong Soviet resistance, the 51st Army Corps was finally in front of the three giant factories of Stalingrad: the Red October Steel Factory, the Barrikady Arms Factory and Stalingrad Tractor Factory. "We haven't had time to deal with them yet," one of the Russians said. Paulus testified for the prosecution during the Nuremberg Trials and assured families in Germany that those soldiers taken prisoner at Stalingrad were safe. [82] From 21 August to 20 November, the German 6th Army lost 60,548 men, including 12,782 killed, 45,545 wounded and 2,221 missing. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Two major pockets were formed and destroyed: the first, northeast of Kharkov, on 2 July, and a second, around Millerovo, Rostov Oblast, a week later. But as he passed, I caught a glimpse of the wretch's face – with its mixture of suffering and idiot-like incomprehension. The battle began with the heavy bombing of the city by Generaloberst Wolfram von Richthofen's Luftflotte 4, which in the summer and autumn of 1942 was the single most powerful air formation in the world. The encirclement of the German Sixth Army in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942 is a typical example. Despite this, and with no support available from other units, the AA gunners stayed at their posts and took on the advancing panzers. How three million Germans died after VE Day. The attack was supported by intense Luftwaffe bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble.  |title=Secrets of The Dead: Deadliest Battle Contributor: C. Peter Chen ww2dbase The southern Russian city of Stalingrad was a major industrial city, producing tanks, among other equipment, for the Soviet war effort. [33]:153 As Zhukov states, "The military and political leadership of Nazi Germany sought not to relieve them, but to get them to fight on for as long possible so as to tie up the Soviet forces. [29] It was assumed that the fall of the city would also firmly secure the northern and western flanks of the German armies as they advanced on Baku, with the aim of securing its strategic petroleum resources for Germany. This slowed the German advance and reduced the effectiveness of the German advantage in supporting fire.[54]. The Luftwaffe retained air superiority into November, and Soviet daytime aerial resistance was nonexistent. a city in the SW Russian Federation, on the Volga River: battles in World War II, 1942–1943. The battle for the German-Romanian airfield at Karpova lasted two days, with Romanian gunners destroying numerous Soviet tanks. "[59] After conducting hundreds of interviews with Soviet veterans on the subject of terror on the Eastern Front – and specifically about Order No. [136] Britain's conservative The Daily Telegraph proclaimed that the victory had saved European civilisation. Beevor, Antony (1999). These operations opened the Winter Campaign of 1942–1943 (19 November 1942 – 3 March 1943), which involved some fifteen Armies operating on several fronts. "[33]:193, On 26 January 1943, the German forces inside Stalingrad were split into two pockets north and south of Mamayev-Kurgan. Nevertheless, they continued to resist, in part because they believed the Soviets would execute any who surrendered. In that basement [...] there were still two hundred Germans—dying of hunger and frostbite. Based on Soviet records, over 10,000 German soldiers continued to resist in isolated groups within the city for the next month. [33]:132–33, 138–143, 150, 155, 165, On 16 December, the Soviets launched Operation Little Saturn, which attempted to punch through the Axis army (mainly Italians) on the Don and take Rostov-on-Don.
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