STAlINGRAD, 1942
Above: General Georgy
Zhukov was responsible
for the defence of
Stalingrad.
interfering
Rather than
for political
reasons, Stalin left him
alone to conduct the
battle.
Left Russian soldiers in
winter
uniform combat
the extreme
cold as well
as the Germans
in the
rubble of Stalingrad.
Stalin refused to give up the city in southern
his name and the Germans
movement.
wrecked
A
German
remains
were encircled
army
became
of the city, fighting
oattle for survival.
Russia that bore
in a crushing
trapped
pincer
inside
the
a bitter house-to-house
It was the beginning
of the end for Hitler's
One decisive aspect of the battle was that it revealed the limits of political power. It demonstrated
to two of the biggest ideo-
logical dictators of the 20th century that war could not be fought
by politicians alone and that military command
was best left to
generals. But only one of the dictators was to learn the lesson.
war against the Soviet Union.
The
German
war
machine
had come
to
a halt outside
Stalingrad and the Soviet Union had begun to gain the initiative
-n the most terrible war of the 20th century.
The contest
decisive
for Stalingrad
·0
complete
Hitler's
ruins of Stalingrad,
War. Before
it, German
most of Europe and they seemed poised
long-desired
however,
conquest
of the east. In the
the Red Army halted the German
advance and so weakened the resolve of Hitler's ~rmy that
from then onwards it was more or less in retreat back to Berlin.
STALINGRAD
Up until this point
Soviet regimes,
has often been called the most
battle of the Second World
armies had conquered
THE FAILURE OF DICTATORS
in the great clash between
the Nazi and
each leader had believed that his own political
will was enough to bring victory to his armies. Hitler and Stalin
were convinced
to secure
they knew better than their generals.
his grip on power,
In order
Stalin had fatally weakened
the
Red Army with purges of its officers and placed it directly under
political
all fronts
influence.
After war broke out, humiliating
was the result of his paralysing
faced with annihilation
efforts,
defeat
on
and when
in 1942 Stalin was forced to concede
command
of the Stalingrad
campaign
to one of his generals,
•- •
Hitler, on the other
believed
hand, was intoxicated
his generals
them onwards,
were
relieved
in southern
als were too afraid to counter
hundreds of thousands
He
• • -- -.
--
pushed
Germany's
®
military
When two of his generals protested,
of their commands
control of the fighting
with victory.
and constantly
until he fatally overextended
and logistical capacities.
they were
too timid
--:
~
Hitler's commands
.
!,l0jtbvsk7a'
to perpetuate
his delusions.
tr4~/AN
*
~
of 1942, the
counter-offensive,
but the
Russians
Germans
Right The progressive
advances
of the Soviet
by it and maintained
Crimea.
In the spring,
forces
forcing the Russians on to the defensive
as they
broke
and surrounded
the German
fighting
troops
generals
armies combine
inside
Stalingrad
Hitler's
the German
recommended
in one powerful
armies
"
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thrust southwards
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Below. Russian
soldiers
camouflage
advance
through
ruined
heart
factory
a
at the
of the fighting.
oil reserves.
Hitler was impatient,
to be
simultaneous
meant dividing
and the creation
i
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along the
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thrusts against Stalingrad and the Caucasus. This
his armies
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forward,
and decided
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Rostov and Stalingrad and
however,
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then move into the Caucasus to assume control of its immense
in snow
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O~ivskaya
once again.
that the German
.•..•
THIRO AfllMY
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Finland to the
pressed
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,
,
a winter
too strong
their lines from
Don and Donets valleys to capture
.
launched
were
affected
·through
,
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At the beginning
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EIGHTH-'ARMY
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HITLER TAKES COMMAND
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and they and
of soldiers were sacrificed to his vanity.
He ate alone, with only assistants
German airfields
-";--~'
: \ .•.~<
gener-
After Stalingrad, Hitler no longer dined with his high command.
Frontline 30 Nov
Front line 31 Dee
Don
and Hitler took direct
Russia. The remaining
Soviet aavances
• - .German
counterattacks
- - - Front line 19 Nov
Georgy Zhukov, and let him get on with it.
I
begins 16 ?ec
that
this would put severe pressure on their fighting and supply abilities. Hitler dismissed
mand of Army
headquarters
In August
two of his generals and took direct com-
Group A, communicating
his orders
from
his
in East Prussia 1,900km (1,200 miles) away.
1942, Hitler concentrated
his troops
in order to
capture the city of Stalingrad astride the River Volga. He issued
commands
to General
Friedrich
Paulus and his Sixth Army,
which took on the brunt of the fighting.
In the meantime,
Group B held the line to the north of Stalingrad,
Army
while
Army
Group A led the line to the south, with a gap of 380km
miles) between
them maintained
(240
by only one German motor-
ized division and some less than reliable allies.
Georgy Konstantinovich
in the 1930s to emerge
Zhukov had survived
Stalin's purges
as his leading general,
having been
awarded the honour of Hero of the Soviet Union for his victorious
battle
against
the
Japanese
in Manchuria.
Stalin
now
looked to him to defend Stalingrad and, for once, let his general
deal with
the situation
made a very accurate
without
political
interference.
analysis of the situation,
Zhukov
believing,
as
STALINGRAD
117
UN
ION
Hitler's
own
generals
around
the
city
observed
were
had argued,
were
greatly
protected
committed
by Italian,
Romanian
less well armed
- ••••
- •••• ' German forces
~11.
German
forces
Zhukov
also
into Stalingrad
and Hungarian
troops,
than the Germans
to the cause. Zhukov's
until he could muster sufficient
-
the
that the flanks of the German thrust
men who were
-
that
overextended.
and less
plan was to hold Stalingrad
forces to launch counter-attacks
against the weaker German flanks.
Soviet forces
STREET FIGHTING
front line 12 September
The bitter fighting
inside Stalingrad dragged on for months and
into the winter of 1943. The Soviet Sixty-second
Army was sur-
rounded in the centre of the city but refused to give up. A second Soviet army, the Sixty-fourth,
maintained
a small bridge-
head on the River Volga, over which supplies could be sent to
the desperate
defenders.
Soviet artillery and aircraft based on
the other side of the Volga kept up a relentless
the attacking
The
barrage against
Germans.
rubble
created
by the
fighting
stopped
advancing swiftly and led to hand-to-hand
up positions
fighting.
in the many broken buildings.
on both sides was tremendous,
and exhausted
soldiers
from
The daily pressure
and hungry, cold, frightened
found themselves
ate animals, depending
tanks
Snipers took
reduced to desper-
on a primeval desire to survive.
General Vasily Chuikov, the tough son of a peasant, took on
the terrible task of battling with Paulus's men in the ruins of the
city. Paulus was less resilient
and his health began to deterio-
rate during the months of fighting.
slumped
considerably
The morale of his troops had
too. 'Stalingrad
one German officer in September.
capture twenty
is hell on earth,'
wrote
'We attack every day. If we
yards in the morning,
the Russians throw
us
back again in the evening.'
Despite being more poorly armed, the Soviet soldiers fought
for every square metre
of the city. Building
were forced back towards
slow victory for the Germans.
out
inside
the city, Zhukov
counter-attack
by building
they
the Volga, but it was a costly and
And as the Germans
was
gathering
slogged
his forces
it
for a
outside.
ZHUKOV STRIKES
On 19 November,
Zhukov sprang his attack. More than a million
men, with almost a thousand
tanks, struck north and south of
Stalingrad, taking the Germans completely
had judged
the opposition
armies and German reserves
offensive,
by surprise. Zhukov
just right: the flanking
crumbled
Romanian
before the determined
with many quickly surrendering.
Soviet tanks execut-
ed swift advances, just as the Germans had shown them in earlier battles,
and rapidly
surrounded
inside Stalingrad. By 22 November,
Realizing the danger of encirclement,
Top: During the fight for
Above left Germany's
Above right
the city, front lines
strategic
swung back and forth as
Caucasus region of
southern Russia meant
Stalingrad, where the
rubble of bombed-out
each side made gains
one day only to lose
them again the next.
STALINGRAD
offensive in the
that Hitler's troops wer~
dang.erously stretched.
Central
buildings slowed the
German
advance
towards
the Volga.
men out of Stalingrad
was obsessed
the German
Sixth Army
Soviet forces had linked up.
Paulus wanted
and break through
to pull his
to safety, but Hitler
with beating Stalin and refused
Paulus permis-
sion to retreat. The Sixth Army was trapped.
News of this development
coincided with the Allied victory in
North Africa over Rommel at EI Alamein.
For a moment,
Hitler
was struck by uncertainty.
The Luftwaffe
the trapped soldiers by delivering
promised
500,000kg
to relieve
(500 tons) of sup-
plies a day, but in reality it could barely manage 1OO,OOOkg(100
tons). Soviet aircraft enforced a blockade of the city. Panzer divi- .
sions attempted
tance
from
Hungarian
to break through,
Soviet
armies
tank
crews.
collapsed
but were met by stiff resisElsewhere,
under further
the
had finally learned to coordinate
and concentrate
its power against the weakest
Having found
its strength,
and
Soviet aggression.
The Red Army
enemy.
Italian
its elements
aspects
of the
the Red Army would
now
take the war to Germany.
Almost
a quarter
inside Stalingrad,
of a million
German
but by late December
soldiers
they were
remained
in a poor
state. They were short of food, medical supplies and ammunition. Worn
down
by constant
Soviet bombardment,
German
soldiers began to lose the will to resist. On 10 January, Zhukov
gathered
his forces
fierce resistance
to crush the
they met surprised
remaining
opposition.
the advancing
The
Red Army
forces because the number of Germans left inside the city had
been wildly underestimated.
The Germans now fought with the
same sort of desperation
Soviets.
Eventually,
31 January
that had been characteristic
though,
German nerves gave way and on
Paulus surrendered
before, Hitler had promoted
of the
his army to Zhukov. The day
Paulus to the rank of field marshal;
now, on 1 February, Hitler condemned
him for his betrayal.
Stalingrad was a costly defeat. At least 147,000 German soldiers were
dead and 91,000
return. Thousands
destroyed.
taken prisoner,
many never to
of German tanks, aircraft and guns had been
Germany's
allies had suffered
a trauma they would
not forget. Soviet morale was lifted immensely:
of their earlier defeats
was forgotten
the depression
and it had been demon-
strated that they had learned the lessons of war. The Soviets
now believed
they could win this awesome
took back control
struggle.
Stalin
of the war, but he was more open to the
advice of his generals.
Even Hitler seems to have been cowed
by his massive defeat and allowed his generals to plan counterattacks from 1943 onwards.
Above right Soviet T34
tanks in action against
the Germans
in southern
Russia.
GUY SAJER,
GROSSE
DEUTSCHLAND
DIVISION
Above: A Russian soldier
raises the Red Flag as a
signal of victory as the
German
army surrenders
inside Stalingrad.
VICIOUS
WAR
experience of this routine brutality:
to the bars of a gate. When his victims
All wars are bitter and cruel, but the
'[very [Russian] prisoner
had been secured,
German invasion of the Soviet Union in
a German body was immediately
caught robbing
shot.
1941 unleashed a warfare of absolute
There were no official firing squads
brutality, one in which atrocities and
these executions.
massacre were commonplace, with
simply shoot the offender
civilians suffering as much as soldiers.
hand him over to a couple of toughs who
An officer
for
would
on the spot, or
given this sort of job.
Guy Sajer was a French member of the
were regularly
Grosse Deutschland Division posted to
Once, to my horror, I saw one of these
the Eastern Front and recalls his
thugs tying the hands of three prisoners
he stuck a grenade
into the pocket of one of their coats,
pulled the pin, and ran for shelter.
three Russians,
out, screamed
The
whose guts were blown
for mercy until the last
moment.'
Quoted from The Forgotten Soldier by
Guy Sajer (Cassell, 1999)
STALINGRAD
11'