Stalingrad 1943

 

The Beginning of the End.

With the German 6th Army and its allied troops encirlced, the disaster of Stalingrad and the South-East Front begins. Not only were the troops at Stalingrad facing destruction, but also those units of the Army Group "A" were now about to be cut off deep in the Caucasus.

German forces in Stalingrad were issued strict orders to stay at the Volga river and tie strong Russian troops there, to prevent the main assault reaching Rostov where they would create an encircling position for Army group "A".

Thus the Kaukasus Army managed to fall back in direction to Rostov finally, while weakened reserve units and Panzers from General Hoth tried to make an attempt to break through the enemy lines and relieve the forces trapped at Stalingrad.

The attack was a failure and it sealed the fate of the encircled 6th Army (Video Stalingrad, WMV-file, 498KB) under Major General Paulus. On 31st January, one day after the anniversary of the Nazi seizure of power, the Stalingrad forces surrendered shortly before Paulus was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal.

Out of an army of 250 000, 91000 were taken prisoner. From this number only approximately 6000 returned home after the war.  

Das letzte Gefecht

© 2003 Schäfer

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