Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942–1943 Read online

  Paulus, in East Germany, tried vainly to defend himself from accusations of having been subservient to Hitler and indecisive. After his release from captivity in the autumn of 1953, he lived in the Soviet zone, where he wrote paper after paper explaining the situation he had faced. A long, painful illness led to his death in Dresden in 1957. His body was brought to the west, and buried next to that of his wife, in Baden-Baden.

  His opponent at Stalingrad, General Chuikov, whose 62nd Army had followed the long road to Berlin as the 8th Guards Army, became commander of the occupation forces, a Marshal of the Soviet Union and deputy minister of defence under Khrushchev, who had appointed him on that September night of crisis by the Volga. The thousands of Soviet soldiers executed at Stalingrad on his orders never received a marked grave. As statistics, they were lost among the other battle casualties, which has a certain unintended justice.

  1. (Previous page) Autumn 1941. Soviet prisoners of war being herded to the rear.

  2. July 1942. German infantry marching towards Stalingrad.

  3. A village destroyed in the advance.

  4. German tanks on the Don steppe.

  5. August 1942. German artillery outside Stalingrad.

  6. Dr Alois Beck, chaplain of the 297th Infantry Division, writing letters for the wounded.

  7. Paulus, Hitler, Keitel, Haider and Brauchitsch at the Wolfsschanze, near Rastenburg.

  8. September 1942. Tanks of the 24th Panzer Division advancing into the outskirts of Stalingrad.

  9. September 1942. Red Army tank troops listening to a speech from Khrushchev before going into battle.

  10. The view which greeted Russian reinforcements about to cross the Volga into battle.

  11. German officer and soldiers attacking factory buildings in northern Stalingrad.

  12. Russian infantry defending.

  13. October 1942. Round-up of Stalingrad civilians.

  14. 62nd Army HQ. Krylov, Chuikov, Gurov and Rodimtsev.

  15. (Overleaf) Red Army assault squad in the ‘Stalingrad Academy of street-fighting’.

  16. (Previous page) One of Chuikov’s divisional commanders during the battle, with a young woman signaller.

  17. October 1942. German infantry occupying a destroyed workshop in the factory district.

  18. ‘Noble Sniper’ Zaitsev (left) from the Siberian 284th Rifle Division explains the doctrine of ‘sniperism’.

  19 and 20. November 1942. Operation Uranus: the encirclement of the Sixth Army.

  21. Junkers 52 transport taking off.

  22. December 1942. German artillery from Hoth’s Fourth Panzer Army after the failure of Operation Winter Storm to relieve the Sixth Army.

  23. Trapped Sixth Army soldiers retrieve parachute canisters.

  24. 10 January 1943. General Rokossovsky awaits the opening barrage for Operation Ring to crush the Kessel.

  25. 11 January 1943. German infantry retreating through a blizzard.

  26. 28 January 1943. General Edler von Daniels marches into captivity past the body of one of his soldiers.

  27. 30 January 1943. Goering on the tenth anniversary of Hitler’s assumption of power, having just broadcast ‘the funeral oration’ of the Sixth Army.

  28. 31 January 1943. Field Marshal Paulus and General Schmidt at 64th Army HQ after surrendering.

  29. A German soldier booted and prodded out of a bunker.

  30. Remnants of the Sixth Army marched off to captivity.

  31. German and Romanian prisoners.

  APPENDIX A

  German and Soviet Orders of Battle, 19 November 1942

  WEHRMACHT

  SIXTH ARMY

  General of Panzer Troops Paulus Major-General Schmidt

  Ia Operations:

  Colonel Elchlepp†

  Ib Quartermaster:

  Major von Kunowski

  Ic Intelligence:

  Lieutenant-Colonel Niemeyer†

  IIa Adjutant:

  Colonel W. Adam

  Chief of Artillery:

  Major-General Vassoll

  Chief of Signals:

  Colonel Arnold* (replaced by Colonel van Hooven‡)

  Chief of Engineers:

  Colonel H. Selle* (replaced by Colonel Stiotta*)

  Chief of Medical Corps:

  General Renoldi

  OKH liaison officer:

  Lieutenant-Colonel von Zitzewitz*

  ARMY TROOPS: MAJOR UNITS

  Mortar regiments: 51st, 53rd

  Nebelwerfer regiments: 2nd, 30th

  Artillery regiments: 4th, 46th, 64th, 70th

  Artillery battalions: 54th, 616th, 627th, 849th

  Heavy-artillery battalions: 49th, 101st, 733rd

  Pioneer battalions: 6th, 41st

  IV CORPS

  General of ioneers Jaenecke*

  Colonel Crome

  29th Motorized Infantry Division

  Major-General Leyser

  297th Infantry Division

  Lieutenant-General Pfeffer

  371st Infantry Division

  Lieutenant-General Stempel†

  VIII CORPS

  General of Artillery Heitz Colonel Schildknecht

  76th Infantry Division

  Lieutenant-General Rodenburg

  113th Infantry Division

  Lieutenant-General Sixt von Arnim

  XI CORPS

  Lieutenant-General Strecker Colonel Groscurth‡

  44th Infantry Division

  Lieutenant-General Deboi

  376th Infantry Division

  Lieutenant-General Freiherr Edler von Daniels

  384th Infantry Division

  Lieutenant-General Freiherr von Gablenz*

  XIV PANZER CORPS

  General of Panzer Troops Hube*

  Colonel Thunert*

  3rd Motorized Infantry division

  Lieutenant-General Schlömer

  60th Motorized Infantry Division

  Major-General Kohlermann*

  16th Panzer Division

  Lieutenant-General Angern†

  LI CORPS

  General of Artillery von Seydlitz-Kurzbach Colonel Clausius

  71st Infantry Division

  Lieutenant-General von Hartmann†

  79th Infantry Division

  Lieutenant-General Graf von Schwerin*

  94th Infantry Division

  Lieutenant-General Pfeiffer*

  100th Jäger Division

  Lieutenant-General Sanne

  295th Infantry Division

  Major-General Doctor Korfes

  305th Infantry Division

  Major-General Steinmetz*

  389th Infantry Division

  Major-General Magnus

  14th Panzer Division

  Major-General Lattmann

  24th Panzer Division

  Lieutenant-General von Lenski

  LUFTWAFFE GROUND TROOPS

  9th Flak Division

  Major-General Pickert*

  luftwaffe air support

  4th Air Fleet

  Colonel-General Freiherr von Richthofen

  VIII AIR CORPS

  General Fiebig

  * flown out of the Kessel before the final surrender

  † died before or just after the final surrender

  ‡died in captivity

  RED ARMY ON THE ‘STALINGRAD AXIS’

  REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STAVKA:

  Army General G. K. Zhukov

  Colonel-General of Artillery Ν. N. Voronov

  Colonel-General A. M. Vasilevsky

  Stalingrad Front

  Colonel-General A. I. Yeremenko N. S. Khrushchev

  62ND ARMY

  General V. I. Chuikov

  Rifle Divisions: 13th Guards (A. I. Rodimtsev), 37th Guards (V. G. Zholudev), 39th Guards (S. S. Guriev), 45th, 95th (V. A. Gorishny), 112th, 138th (I. I. Lyudnikov), 193th (F. N. Smekhotvorov), 196th, 244th, 284th (N. F. Batyuk), 308th (L. N. Gurtiev); 10th NKVD Rifle Division (Rogatin)

  Marine Infantry Brigade: 92nd<
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  Special Brigades: 42nd, 115th, 124th, 149th, 160th

  Tank Brigades: 84th, 137th, 189th

  64TH ARMY

  General M. S. Shumilov

  Rifle Divisions: 36th Guards, 29th, 38th, 157th, 204th

  Marine Infantry Brigade: 154th

  Special Brigades: 66th, 93rd, 96th, 97th

  Tank Brigades: 13th, 56th

  57TH ARMY

  General F. I. Tolbukhin

  Rifle Divisions: 169th, 422nd

  Special Brigade: 143nd

  Tank Brigades: 90th, 235th

  *13th Mechanized Corps (T. I. Tanashchishin)

  51ST ARMY

  General Ν. I. Trufanov

  Rifle Divisions: 15th Guards, 91st, 126th, 302nd

  Special Brigade: 38th

  Tank Brigade: 254th

  *4th Mechanized Corps (V. T. Volsky)

  *4th Cavalry Corps (Shapkin)

  28TH ARMY

  Rifle Divisions: 34th Guards, 248th

  Special Brigades: 52, 152, 159

  Tank Brigade: 6th Guards

  Stalingrad Front Reserve: 330th Rifle Division; 85th Tank Brigade

  8ΤΗ AIR ARMY

  General T. T. Khryukin

  Don Front

  Colonel-General Κ. K. Rokossovsky

  66TH ARMY

  Major-General A. S. Zhadov

  Rifle Divisions: 64th, 99th, 116th, 226th, 299th, 343nd

  Tank Brigade: 58th

  24TH ARMY

  General I. V. Galanin

  Rifle Divisions: 49th, 84th, 120th, 173rd, 233rd, 260th, 273rd

  Tank Brigade: 10th

  16th Tank Corps

  65TH army

  Lieutenant-General P. I. Batov

  Rifle Divisions: 4th Guards, 27th Guards, 40th Guards, 23rd, 24th, 252nd, 258th, 304th, 321st

  Tank Brigade: 121st

  16th AIR ARMY

  Major-General S. I. Rudenko

  South-West Front

  General N. F. Vatutin

  21ST ARMY

  General I. M. Chistyakov

  Rifle Divisions: 63rd, 76th, 96th, 277th, 293rd, 333nd

  Tank Regiments: 1st, 2nd, 4th Guards

  *4th Tank Corps (A. G. Kravchenko)

  *3rd Guards Cavalry Corps (P. A. Pliev)

  5TH TANK ARMY

  General P. L. Romanenko

  Rifle Divisions: 14th Guards, 47th Guards, 50th Guards, 119th, 159th, 346th

  *Ist Tank Corps (V. V. Butkov)

  *26th Tank Corps (A. G. Rodin)

  *8th Cavalry Corps

  1ST GUARDS ARMY

  General D. D. Lelyushenko

  Rifle Divisions: 1st, 153rd, 197th, 203rd, 266th, 278th

  Front Reserve: 1st Guards Mechanized Corps

  2nd AIR ARMY

  17TH AIR ARMY

  Major-General S. A. Krasovsky

  * First-wave breakthrough formations for Operation Uranus

  APPENDIX B

  The Statistical Debate: Sixth Army Strength in the Kessel

  The variety of figures cited for the strength of the encircled Sixth Army requires at least an attempt at clarification. Estimates of the strength of the Sixth Army within the Kessel on 19 November 1942 range widely, mainly it seems because there were so many Russians incorporated in the ranks of the Sixth Army that they had been included on the German ration strength and not cited separately. Some of the figures of Manfred Kehrig, the author of Stalingrad: Analyse und Dokumentation einer Schlacht, the magisterial volume published in 1974 under the auspices of the Militärgeschichtlichen Forschung-samt, have recently been challenged by Rüdiger Overmans. Overmans, working mainly from Wehrmacht retrospective estimates (basically an attempt later to calculate from personnel records who had been trapped inside the Kessel), puts the figure of surrounded Germans as low as 195,000, the Hiwis at 50,000 and the Romanians at 5,000, a total of approximately 250,000. Kehrig had estimated 232,000 Germans, 52,000 Hiwis and 10,000 Romanians, a total of approximately 294,000. Another more recent study estimates a total on 18 December of 268,900, of which 13,000 were Romanians and Italians, and 19,300 Hiwis.

  This latest breakdown, allowing for the difference in dates and consequent casualty figures, tallies fairly closely with the total compiled on 6 December by the Sixth Army’s Oberquartiermeister. This ‘Sixth Army ration strength in the Kessel’ gave a total of 275,000 men, including 20,300 Hiwis and 11,000 Romanians. (Romanian army sources assert that they had 12,600 men in the Kessel. There were also several hundred Italians.) If one adds to these figures the 15,000 men lost ‘only inside the Kessel’ between 21 November and 6 December, that would mean that almost 290,000 men had been surrounded on 22 November.

  All writers are agreed that around 25,000 wounded and specialists were flown out, but there is little certainty over the numbers killed or taken prisoner. The truth will never be known in the chaos after the Soviet offensive of 10 January 1943 to crush the Kessel. All that we can be fairly sure of is that just under 52,000 members of the Sixth Army had died between 22 November and 7 January, but it is not stated how many of these were Hiwis. The Soviet figure of prisoners taken between 19 November and 31 January – 111,465 as well as 8,928 in hospitals – does not specify how many were German nor, more important, how many belonged to the encircled troops, as opposed to those captured during Operations Winter Storm and Little Saturn.

  The Soviet onslaught of Operation Ring on 10 January 1943, added to the effects of disease, cold, starvation, exhaustion and summary execution, suggests that losses soared – they may well have doubled to around 100,000, including Hiwis. Both Kehrig and Overmans estimate German losses from 22 November until the surrender at close to 60,000. They naturally make no attempt to estimate the number of Hiwis who died during the fighting. One can only assume that very few got away with their lives afterwards.

  References

  ARCHIVAL SOURCES

  AMPSB

  Arkhiv Muzeya Panorami Stalingradskoy Bitvi (Archive of the Panoramic Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad), Volgograd

  APRF

  Arkhiv Prezidiuma Rossiyskoy Federatsii (Archive of the Presidium of the Russian Federation), Moscow

  BA-MA

  Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv, Freiburg im Breisgau

  BZG-S

  Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte – Sammlung Sterz, Stuttgart

  GARF

  Gosudarstvennyy Arkhiv Rossiyskoy Federatsii (State Archive of the Russian Federation), Moscow

  MGFA-P

  Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt library, Potsdam

  ÖStA-AdR

  Österreichisches Staatsarchiv – Archiv der Republik, Vienna

  ÖStA-KA

  Österreichisches Staatsarchiv – Kriegsarchiv, Vienna

  PRO

  Public Record Office, Kew (UK)

  RGALI

  Rossiyskiy Gosudarstvennyy Arkhiv Literaturi i Iskusstva (Russian State Archive of Literature and the Arts), Moscow

  RGVA

  Rossiyskiy Gosudarstvennyy Voennyy Arkhiv (Russian State Military Archive), Moscow

  RTsKhIDNI

  Rossiyskiy Tsentr Khraneniya i Izucheniya Dokumentov Noveyshey Istorii (Russian Centre for the Conservation and Study of Documents of Contemporary History), Moscow

  TsAMO

  Tsentralnyy Arkhiv Ministerstva Oborony (Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence), Podolsk

  ΤsKhIDΚ

  Tsentr Khraneniya i Izucheniya Dokumentalnikh Kollektsiy (Centre for the Conservation and Study of Historic Document Collections), Moscow

  TsMVS

  Tsentralnyy Muzey Vooruzhyonnykh Sil (Central Museum of the Armed Forces), Moscow

  VOTsDNI

  Volgograd Oblast, Tsentr Dokumentov Noveyshey Istorii (Volgograd Regional Centre for Documents of Contemporary History)

  (NB. German documents cited from Russian archives are, unless otherwise stated, Russian translations of captured papers.)