Stalingrad

It was a dark time for Europe as Hitler and his armies conquered and destroyed all in their path. Before attack Stalingrad, German rule in Europe had reached its greatest extent late in 1942 when the Germans were beginning to bear down on Stalingrad. The Germans had gone far into Soviet Russia by June of 1941, yet had suffered a defeat in the Battle of Moscow, and were not able to stabilize by spring 1942.

Hitler knew it would be predictable, and foolish to attack the same place again, and he also knew that if he could defeat the Russians at Stalingrad, he would gain a very strategic piece of land to mount his operations from. It was at this time that the Germans began Operation Blau, the operation that would be meant for the attack on Stalingrad. (Yoder, “Barbarossa”)

Yet, for the Russians in Stalingrad, the third largest city in the Soviet Union, the Russian people thought that war was far off. However, in the middle of August 1942, The Stalingrad City Soviet began to consider evacuating civilians of the city, and to prepare for attack. (Yoder, “Death of a City”)

The battle of Stalingrad was a main turning point in World War II, and a major victory for the Russians. While the German’s weak battle tactics and arrogant attitude towards fighting, as well as the intelligent Russian battle plans slowed the German advance battle into Stalingrad, the battle of Stalingrad could not have been won without the Russian’s nationalism, and an important home “field” advantage.

According to Operation Blau, the German army had been split up into two groups, German army group A and German Army group B; the commanding officer over both armies was Field Marshal Fedor Von Bock. Army Group B included the Sixth army, and was the most powerful as it was supposed to be the army that finished Russia once and for all. (Editors, Time Life Books, 261)

The German Army Group B began attacking Stalingrad on August 24, 1942. Even though plans were made to evacuate Stalingrad in mid-August, by the time the battle had started, the majority of Russian civilians were still living in the city. The first attacks made by the Germans were those of the Luftwaffe, which bombed downtown Stalingrad, reducing that part of the city to burning rubble.

Over 40,000 Russians were killed in these first attacks, and soon afterward, an actual evacuation of the great city began; yet Stalin urged citizens to stay in the city saying that it would strike fear into the hearts of the enemy.

Men were ordered into factories, and women were sent to dig trenches, and ready battlements. After this primary German attack, the nationalism of the Russians began to be seen all over the streets and homes of Stalingrad. The editors of Stalingrad’s local paper printed out a one-page edition, with the headline reading “We Will Smash the Enemy at the Gates of Stalingrad!” (Yoder, “Death of a City”)

The Russian’s nationalistic pride, and love for their country drove many to stay and fight against the invading German forces. The first days of the battle, German’s orders were to “shave-off” balconies chimneys and other structures that may be harboring the enemy. Even with doubled efforts to stop civilians from standing against the Russian army, thousands of Russian civilians remained in Stalingrad, wanting to fight for a country, and city that they loved.

While Russian nationalism was a key benefit for the Russian’s moral, and fighting tactics, a real advantage came from the fact that the Russians knew every “nook and cranny” of Stalingrad, and were prepared to fight the Germans on the streets of their home. The Russian troops and remaining civilians barricaded the streets with paving stones, mined alleys, sniped from rooftops and threw Molotov cocktails to gain an advantage over the advancing Germans.

One famous Russian sniper, Vasily Zaitsev struck fear into the hearts of German officers by obtaining over 149 kills during the course of the battle. “Pavlov’s House”, a building that Sergeant Yakov Pavlov held for 59 days before being relieved, became recognized as a miracle of sorts; Pavlov would mount anti-tank guns on the roof tops of buildings, easily destroying the tanks below, who could not raise their guns high enough to hit the turrets.

The soviet propaganda machine used these legends to construct entire stories of Zaitsev taking on famous German snipers, and Pavlov holding off teems of the advancing enemy, making the Russian citizens all the more willing to try to become a Soviet legend and die for their countries. Large German Panzer IV tanks equipped with heavy armor and weaponry were completely useless in the tight streets of Stalingrad; the fact that tank fighting was drawn to a minimum was very damaging to the advancing German Army.

A main technique of the Germans was also lost to the small debris filled streets of Stalingrad; their blitzkrieg maneuvers. The Germans’ style of lightning-fast, devastating attacks was halted by the very small area they had to fight in. It was clear that Paulus’s rapid war movement was over. The Germans began to address the war as Rattenkrieg, or the war of the rats. The Russians were able to position themselves in city buildings which gave them a distinct tactical advantage over the Germans who were advancing into the city on foot, under a constant bombardment of Soviet artillery fire.

Even with the tremendous losses, the Germans kept advancing through Stalingrad, leveling blocks with decisive attacks and Stuka dive-bombers. The bulk of the Russian civilians surged forward to attempt to hold the city against the Germans; the Krasny Oktyaber plant continued producing Russian T-42 tanks and sending them straight into battle, sometimes driven by the same civilians that built them. Russian women even defended certain positions along the Soviet line, and all of Stalingrad began to lash back at the harsh German attacks. (Yoder, “Death of a City”)

Despite all the men and women fighting against Hitler and his legions, the German army would still surge forward; that is not to say, however, that the Russian civilian’s movements and decisions were useless during the first days of the fight. The intense nationalism felt by the Russians allowed them to fight with enough gusto to hold off the Germans from taking over important tactical areas such as the ferry landing in central Stalingrad.

The time that the Germans lost to the tightly packed and guarded streets was priceless, and it allowed the Russian armies to mount counter attacks with Yak 1 airplanes, and well calculated strikes against the Germans. While the Russian civilians and troops had made a large dent in the German offensive, it would not be an army that would damage the Germans next, but nature; the Russian winter had arrived, and it was to be the coldest ever to hit Russia in 140 years.

The Russian winters were known for their bitterness, and the one that hit Stalingrad in 1942 was no exception to this reputation; by the end of the war, over 100,000 cases of frostbite were recorded. However, the harsh Russian winter meant more to the clashing armies than losing fingers and toes; each army relied on supply chains vital to their survival that could be jeopardized by the freezing conditions. Not only that, but troops and their duties were greatly hindered by the conditions. Troops went mad with the cold, and abandoned vehicles and weapons in search of warmth, or some relief from the driving winds.

The winter did not favor sides however, and even the Russians who were used to this type of biting cold suffered greatly. Chuikov knew that he had to wait for the great Volga River to freeze before he could re-supply his army. Chuikov had to wait for three weeks before the Volga froze; until that time all he could do was stock pile ammunition, husband his reserves and save his rations of chocolate. Until the Volga froze, a Russian soldier’s life was brutal.

At one point, half of a chocolate bar was the total daily ration for a Russian soldier. Paulus knew he had to act quickly if he was to overtake Stalingrad; if he was able to mount a large attack against the weakened, starving Russian soldiers, it would mean victory for his troops. However, Paulus had problems of his own. He had taken on staggering amounts of casualties due to the harsh fighting on the streets of Stalingrad, and the winter was beginning to take a toll on his own men as well.

Paulus was still confident that he could take Stalingrad, as he now controlled up to 90% of the city. Paulus was in control of the great hill Mamaev Kurgan, the southern residential suburbs, and had broken through to the Volga in downtown Stalingrad. Chuikov now only held downtown Stalingrad, the ferry landing, and Barrikady metal works, and feared that the harsh conditions would end him and his command. (Yoder, “Rattenkrieg”)

The weather would have great consequences for both great armies; Paulus knew that he could not maintain his army in the bombed out deserted city through the entire winter, and he would soon find that supplying his army would become very difficult as he tried to attack Stalingrad with haste. Before mounting an attack, Paulus had some troops of his army “written out” of the battle. (Maule, 61) This meant that many troops were still stationed in Stalingrad with civilian status, and therefore not allowed the soldiers’ rations. After cutting his losses, Paulus requested several battalions of elite combat engineers known as Pioneers.

Before Paulus’ attack had even begun, an entire unit of Pioneers was wiped out by a Russian booby-trap; slowly the awesome might of the German army began to be humbled. It was in the coldest part of the winter that Paulus and his Pioneers spear-headed a final attempt against Stalingrad; the Pioneers threw explosives, ignited the sewers, and detonated satchel charges driving a gap in the Russian line, and splitting Chuikov’s command into three parts. Paulus may have had a small victory, but his armies were exhausted and his forces were now in the center of Stalingrad without supplies, or reinforcements.

On the Russian front, since the Volga was impassible by ship, supplies were air dropped, but because the Russians held such a small amount of land, supplies usually ended up in German forces hands. (Yoder, “Rattenkrieg”). Chuikov mounted multiple small winter offensives, but with Stalin and his commissars breathing down his neck, the attacks ended up being clumsy, and unorganized.(Beckhusen, 258)

The problems with the freezing conditions were becoming more and more apparent in Paulus’ men, and he asked Hitler for advice. In the dispatch that was returned to Paulus, Adolf Hitler assured Paulus that while the Axis forces were in a tight space, the Russians were in much deeper trouble. Paulus readied his men to mount a final attack, but they never got the chance; Chuikov had begun a well-planned counter-attack, and Russian artillery began to destroy Paulus’ lines. It is clear that the weather had a large affect on the battle. The conditions greatly damaged both armies, but the Germans were not prepared to take on the impact of the cold. The winter made Paulus lose men, supplies, and sanity, during the time when the army needed it most.

Major attacks mounted by the Germans were blunted, or halted due to the lack of supplies, and the difficult if not deadly conditions. Finally, the weather brought out the greatest weaknesses in both armies, and almost slowed that battle to a halt. But even with the harsh winter, the Germans would not have been defeated, had it not been for their foolish arrogance, and the Russian’s ingenious tactics.

During the battle, both sides had great tactical blunders; the Germans when they were mounting final offensives, and the Russians when they were defending against the primary German onslaught. However, had it not been for the weakness of the German’s battle plan on November 19th, 1942, and the strength of Russian ones, the Germans may never have fallen.

The Germans had come into the battle sure that they would win, thinking that the Russians were too weak to fight against their might. However, on the morning of November 19th, the Germans realized that their left flank was extremely weak, and that they had many fewer resources than they required. Paulus and his men had taken a series of rash moves that were very costly to them; requesting Pioneers as reinforcements, and then losing most of them in the fighting was very damaging to German forces as well as moral.

It was at this depression that Zhukov and Alexander Vasilevsky had time to mount a counter-attack that would end up finishing the Germans, once and for all. Zhukov and Vasilevsky both knew that they should attack the Germans where they were weakest; the broader sections of both flanks contained Italians, Romanians and Hungarians, all who were very poorly trained, and not loyal to the Nazi party or the German powers.

Zhukov finally assembled over 1 million fresh troops, 1500 tanks and 2500 heavy guns as well as hundreds of planes for his final assault, in complete secrecy. Operation Uranus was underway, and after the initial bombardment, the Russian soldiers began their attack. Troops and armor easily punched holes in the German forces, and soon, Paulus’ army was completely enveloped with no hope of escape, and no way to get supplies to his men.

While trapped, the German troops only had enough food to survive for six days; Paulus tried to work quickly to evade the strong barricade, but the German’s commanding officers were repeatedly confused by conflicting orders. A German General, Von Monstein was told to help the German’s escape from the encasing ring of Russians, while Paulus was told to hold the city at all costs.

Hitler also gave German troops false hope to boost their morale; multiple times, Hitler said that he would airdrop supplies onto the troops, or that Von Monstein would punch his way through the Russians to deliver supplies, but both of these tactics failed leaving the Germans more weakened and defeated than ever.(Yoder, “Uranus and Saturn”)

On January 30th, 1943, Hitler made Paulus a field marshal; it was a last ditch effort to convince Paulus not to surrender, as no German field marshal had ever been taken prisoner. (“Stalingrad, 1942-1943”, History)

Even with his newly appointed position, Paulus knew that if he and his army continued to fight, they would be annihilated. The day after being promoted, Paulus surrendered. It is clear that there were many flaws in the German’s formations and plans when the Russians launched the double-envelopment counter attack. The German’s left flank was incredibly weak, and after the Russians were able to penetrate the German forces, there was little Paulus could do to halt the onslaught.

Even after Paulus was trapped, continued miscommunication, and false information from the German command weakened and hurt Paulus’ army. Yet, had the Russians not planned an ingenious counter-attack in the first place, nothing would have happened.

The Soviet commanding officers made crucially beneficial decisions that allowed them to target the weakest part in the German army. Also, the sheer fact that the Soviets ordered over 1 million units for the counter-attack in complete secrecy is a miracle. After the loss at Stalingrad, the Germans slowly began to wither in size and strength.

Following the battle, the German’s Sixth Army was completely annihilated. Of the 350,000 troops that Paulus led into battle only 90,000 survived. Afterwards the 90,000 prisoners were worked in Soviet camps, until only 5,000 came home to their families. (Yoder, Annihilation) The Germans would retain a scar that would never be lifted, and the power of the Germans as a fighting force was greatly reduced after the loss at Stalingrad. Stalingrad itself was awarded the title “Hero City” for the bravery of it’s occupants during the attack.

A colossal statue of “Mother Russia” was erected on Mamayev Kurgan, a central hill of the battle. One of the greatest battles of all time was fought and won by an army and people that were never believed to win. It is clear that the battle of Stalingrad could not have been won without the Russian’s great nationalism, and an important home “field” advantage.