Chapter 50 last chance missed

In conversations between General Paulus and myself, as well as the chiefs of staff of both sides, the Army Group has rightly emphasized that the thundering command should be issued immediately after the winter storm without a break, for example at Donskaya Sharit sand.We fully agree with this point. In fact, the order of the army group has already implied that Thunder should be directly connected to Winter Storm. Undoubtedly, the commander of the Sixth Army is in a very heavy heart, because the troops are exhausted, and after the horses are slaughtered for hunger, their mobility will be even reduced, especially if they want to perform such a difficult and dangerous task in such a severe cold environment. , the probability of its success is certainly not high.

But in the end it was the fuel problem that made the Sixth Army decide against the breakout and demanded that the Army Group should not insist on carrying out its orders.Paulus reported that all the fuel he had was only enough to drive his tanks (of which there were about a hundred serviceable) a maximum of twenty miles.This meant that he could not begin his operations unless proper fuel (and rations) could be secured and Fourth Panzer Army could move within twenty miles of the enemy's encirclement.Now no one can refute this: since the tanks representing the main attack force of the Sixth Army have only enough fuel to travel twenty miles, it is of course impossible to ask them to cross a distance of about thirty miles.On the contrary, it is impossible for us to wait for the army's fuel reserves to reach the required level (4,000 tons). According to our experience, it is absolutely impossible to transport such a large amount by air, and the time delay will also miss the opportunity to break through.

We can only operate with what we have in hand, including, of course, the fuel that will continue to be flown in over the next few days while the army is still building up.In addition, we can also hope that during the breakout process, there will still be a steady stream of refueling from the air. It is also worth noting that troops always have more fuel than is reported on paper.But even disregarding these aspects, it is possible to hope that events will develop along the following lines.When the Sixth Army launches an attack to the southwest, the situation of the Fourth Panzer Army will become easier, and the enemy will no longer be able to draw troops from the encirclement.On December 19th, therefore, Fourth Panzer Army was not sure of advancing beyond Mischkova; but once the pressure on it was relieved by the actions of Sixth Army, it could undoubtedly Continue to complete those twelve extra miles.

Of course there were risks in our calculations, but otherwise it would have been impossible to conceive of the rescue of the Sixth Army.However, the main reason why this fuel issue is so decisive is that Hitler left a liaison officer in the encirclement.From the liaison officer's report, Hitler knew that Paulus believed not only that the fuel situation made it impossible for him to launch a breakout operation, but even to reach the starting position. I spent a lot of time on the phone trying to get Hitler to allow Sixth Army to break out and abandon Stalingrad.But he replied to me: I don't know what you think, Paulus can only travel fifteen to twenty miles with all the fuel, and he himself said that he can't break out now.

Therefore, the Army Group had to submit to both sides: on the one hand, the High Command, which believed that when the Sixth Army attacked southwest, it must simultaneously maintain other positions in Stalingrad; on the other hand, the Sixth Army The Military Headquarters, which claimed to be unable to carry out the order of the Army Group due to fuel shortages.Hitler could use the opinion of the Army Group as an extremely strong basis to support his own decision.If Hitler did not have such an excuse at the time, the pressure of reality might have forced him to finally give up the idea of ​​continuing to stick to the stronghold during the breakout process.If so, General Paulus would have a different view on the whole issue, since he would no longer have to act against Hitler's orders.

The reason I analyze in such detail Sixth Army's motivations for failing to seize its last chance to save itself is that I don't think it has anything to do with Paulus' personality or later behaviour.I have already said that none of the reasons given by Paulus can be said to be unreasonable.But in fact, this is our last chance to rescue the army.To fail to improve the opportunity, however great the danger, is to give up all hope of salvation.Taking advantage of this opportunity is tantamount to putting everything in one basket.According to the judgment of the headquarters of the army group, this method can only be adopted now.

It is all too easy to criticize Paulus' attitude at such a critical juncture.Admittedly, this was not just blind obedience to Hitler, because Paulus himself doubted in his heart whether he should launch such an operation that directly violated Hitler's explicit orders and would inevitably surrender Stalingrad to the enemy.At this point, however, it is worth noting that since the army group had ordered a retreat, the responsibility fell naturally to the latter. But apart from this conflict of conscience, if the army commander obeys the orders of the army group, he will also face a huge gamble.Breaking out of the encirclement certainly gives the group army a chance to be saved, but at the same time it may also be wiped out.If the first attempt to break out of the encirclement fails, if the Sixth Army is stuck in the middle and the Fourth Panzer Army is unable to advance any further, and if the enemy is able to smash the forces covering the breakout from the flanks or rear, the forces of the Sixth Army will be greatly reduced. The fate has been unimaginable ever since.So the task it faces is indeed arduous and dangerous to the extreme.It seems to be a square, fighting on all sides at the same time. When it breaks out to the southwest, it is possible to be broken by the enemy in front, back, left, and right.Moreover, when performing this task, its troops were already exhausted from hunger and cold, and their mobility was extremely limited.However, because they hope to regain their freedom and escape the fate of death and capture, they may be able to inspire their spirit of survival from death to complete this seemingly impossible task.

General Paulus finally let this last chance slip away, and when he hesitated at first and finally opposed the venture, he did so because he felt a responsibility on his shoulders.Although the Army Group headquarters hoped to relieve him of his responsibility with his own orders, he still felt unable to shirk his responsibility either to Hitler or to his own conscience. Within a week of the Army Group headquarters ordering an immediate breakout, the fate of the Sixth Army was completely decided. For six full days, Army Group risked all imaginable dangers to keep the door open so that Sixth Army could free itself and join Fourth Panzer Army.At this stage, the army group was always in the midst of turbulent waves. After the enemy broke through in the area of ​​​​the Italian army, it decided to expand its results, or to cross the Donets River and go straight to Rostov, cutting off our entire army. The lifeline of the southern wing, or it turned around, rushed into the rear of the He Lide Army on the left wing of the Don River Army Group.Even this thin barrier of forces on the lower front of the Zill River (Romanian Third Army) and in the area of ​​​​Holliday's Army could completely collapse.

Despite this, the Army Group Headquarters tried to keep the Fourth Panzer Army in a prominent position east of the Don River, so that the Sixth Army could still gain the last hope of breaking out of the encirclement.Until the development of the left wing of the army group forced us to draw troops from the left bank of the Don River to rush to the rescue, the time limit finally came. By December 25, the 57th Panzer Army could no longer stay on the banks of the Mishkova River . Now let's briefly describe the major events of this week as follows: Its starting point was on the left flank of the army group, or to be more precise, on the left flank of Holliday's army.We don't know what the actual situation of the Italian Army Group is.Only one light division and one or two infantry divisions seem to have put up any noteworthy resistance.On the morning of December 20, a German commander on the right flank of the Italian Army reported that two Italian divisions under his command had been on the lookout because two armored corps were reported to have penetrated the flank. Fleeing.As a result, the side of He Lide's army was completely exposed.

When the Army Group headquarters received the report from General He Lide (he was actually under the command of Army Group B), he was immediately instructed to use all possible means to prevent the Italian troops from fleeing.The army group under his command was ordered to hold the position on the Zill River and to cover its left flank with an echelon defense. However, during this day, two of the weak fronts of the group army have been penetrated by the enemy.The 7th Romanian Division retreated without orders, and the corps of the 1st Romanian Army abandoned its command post in terror. By the evening of December 20th, the situation in the depth and flank of He Lide's army had become chaotic.No one knew whether or where the Italian forces were still resisting.In the rear of Holliday's Army, it was reported everywhere that the enemy's armored spearheads had been spotted, and they even penetrated deep into the important Donets River crossing at Kamensk|Shakhtinsky.

In the next two days, the situation of He Lide's army became more urgent.Not only has the front been penetrated, but its sides and rear are completely powerless against enemy armor.The enemy can now move freely in the areas previously defended by the Italian Army.Before long, the Romanian Third Army on the lower reaches of the Zill River was also destined to be affected by this dangerous situation. The first important task for Holliday's Army was to establish a new front roughly parallel to the Romanian Third Army, in order to simultaneously cover the latter's flanks and Morosovsky and Tatsinskaya Two airfields, which were also necessary bases for airlifts to Stalingrad.At the same time, the important crossings of the Donets River at Forchstadt and Kamensk-Shakhtinsky should be kept as unimpeded as possible. Obviously, these temporary emergency measures can only temporarily stabilize the left wing of the army group for two or three days at most.As early as December 20, the Army Group had called the Army Headquarters, clearly pointing out that if the enemy was determined to expand further after breaking through the front of the Italian Army, he would rush to Rostov in one go and try to catch them all Army Group Don and Army Group A.This happened to coincide with the popular strange phenomenon in the High Command. On that day, Hitler was negotiating with a delegation from Italy. Only the representatives of the High Command participated. .The only reply we got was an order from the Army Headquarters, received on December 22, specifying that Holliday's Army should relocate to a certain line of defense, which in fact had already been lost.At the same time, on that day, relying on the weak strength of this group army, it was doubtful whether it could withdraw from the front and establish a new line of defense. As a result of the collapse of the Italian forces, a large gap had been torn between our front and Army Group B, and it was obvious that Army Group could not expect any effective measures from the High Command to stabilize the situation.It has even refused a request to quickly second an infantry division from Army Group A to protect Rostov.So we had to mobilize our own resources, which was a very painful decision, because in fact, we only had to mobilize our right-wing troops, in other words, the troops that are now fighting hard on the east bank of the Don River.But now there is no room for hesitation, because on December 24, the crisis of Holliday's army had reached its climax.Three enemy tanks and mechanized troops have rushed in from the frontal gaps of the Italian Army and the Romanian Third Division.Two of the corps (the 25th Tank Corps and the 50th Mechanized Corps) were already close to the important airlift bases at Morosovsky and Tatsinskaya; the third of them (the 8th Tank Corps) Army) detoured to the rear of this army group, while our reinforcements were still fighting bloody battles in the middle or upper reaches of the Zill River. When the situation on the left wing of the Army Group, especially its exposed western flank, has become increasingly serious, we are still hoping to rescue the Sixth Army. On the one hand, Hitler will give up his intention to stick to Stalingrad. On the other hand, it depends on the willingness of the army to take risks. The Fourth Panzer Army was doing its best to complete the last leap to Stalingrad, but at the same time it was hoped that the Sixth Army would be able to launch an assault to the southwest to make its task easier to complete. After arriving at the Mishikova River on December 19, the rescue group army fell into a bitter fight the next day. The enemy continued to draw fresh troops from Stalingrad and attacked wave after wave to prevent it from continuing to advance.Nevertheless, the Fifty-seventh Panzer Corps took a foothold on the north bank, and after repeated expansions, it finally formed a bridgehead position.Although the enemy aggressively attacked, they only suffered losses and failed to shake the position of our army.On the distant horizon, the vanguard of the army could already see the artillery fire around Stalingrad!If the Sixth Army can seize the opportunity to launch an attack at this time, at least to hold back the enemy and prevent him from mobilizing new forces to block the advance of the Fourth Panzer Army, success seems to be possible.However, due to the reasons mentioned above, the attack of the Sixth Army has never been realized. By the afternoon of December 23, Army Group was forced to move its forces into the area regardless of the situation on its left flank.The Romanian Third Army in the lower reaches of the Chill River was ordered to draw out the 48th Armored Army Headquarters and the 11th Armored Division to stabilize the position of the right wing of the army group. In order to make up for this loss, the Fourth Armored Army had to allocate an armored division to Without the support of this division of the Romanian Third Army, it would be impossible to hold the front of the lower reaches of the Zier River. The development of the next day is enough to prove how urgent this measure is.The Tasinskaya airfield was lost, and with it one of the means of resupplying the Sixth Army from the air.It was not recaptured until December 28. The army group headquarters already knew that the Sixth Army would never take the opportunity to break through, so it made this painful decision to draw a complete armored division from the Fourth Panzer Army.Even now, it can only be drawn out because the 16th Motorized Division is ready to participate in operations.It was not until December 20th that the Army Headquarters approved our request and allowed the Viking Division (Viking Division) to be transferred from Army Group B to replace the division in Irista. Unfortunately, the replacement took ten days to complete .Counting from the time when the Army Group first requested to mobilize the 16th Motorized Division, there was a full ten-day delay in the middle!Provided that approval could be obtained upon request, the division could be immediately available for the battle on the Zill on December 23, and the Fifty-seventh Panzer Corps would not have to draw that panzer division.As in the past, this was the result of Hitler's indecision. Although Hitler now also allows the allocation of the 7th Panzer Division to the army group, it is too late to participate in the rescue operations that have already begun. At the same time, because the first Tiger tank battalion is about to arrive, Hitler now The hope that the situation will improve has also proved to be absurd.In fact, the Tiger tank was not only painstakingly manufactured, but also never tested in actual combat, so there were so many initial problems that the new tank could not make any valuable contribution for a while.Hitler always overestimated the power of new weapons, and this is a typical example. As a result, on the battlefield east of the Don River, the initiative began to shift to the opponent's hands. On December 27, the 57th Panzer Corps was attacked in the Mishikova area. The enemy's strength continued to increase, and our army was finally forced to retreat to the Aksai River.In the next few days it became apparent that the intention of the Russians was to encircle the corps from the east and the west. On the north and east fronts of the Fourth Armored Army, the designations of the two Russian armies (Fifty-first and Second Guards two armies, with three mechanized armies, one tank army, and three infantry armies in total) were found. and a cavalry corps).Most of these troops were drawn from the Stalingrad front, but some of them came across the Volga for reinforcements. Within a day or two, the enemy's now formidable strength also began to force Fourth Panzer Army to withdraw all the way to Kotnikov, the starting point of its attack on Stalingrad on December 12. .This retreat was inevitable, since elements of the Romanian Fourth Army were unable to protect the flank of the Fifty-seventh Panzer Corps while it was fighting hard on the Axe River.The Romanian 6th and 7th Armies, which covered the east and west flanks of the 57th Panzer Corps, had lost morale partly because the commanders failed to maintain morale.The commander of the Romanian Fourth Army also felt helpless in the face of this collapse.In the end, we had to withdraw these troops from the front and send them back to Romania for replenishment. Attempts to rescue Sixth Army from December 12 had failed, at least so far.Judging from recent developments, is there any hope of a comeback?In hindsight today, judging from the changes in the situation in the Army Group B area, the answer to this question should be no.However, it was not expected at that time that after the disastrous defeat of the Italian Army, before the end of January, another even more serious disaster would be encountered in the area of ​​​​the Hungarian Army on the Don River. Despite various opposing forces, our army group is still unwilling to give up the idea of ​​​​rescuing the Sixth Army.Therefore, on December 26, it submitted the following proposal to Army Headquarters: The enemy is threatening to break through to Rostov from the left flank of the Army Group, and in order to maintain the position of the left flank, we request the Army Headquarters to put an Army-sized battle group (Armeegruppe) into action immediately, at least for a limited period of time.It had already started to build up in the Millerovo area, just behind Group B's right flank.In addition, we demand that an infantry division be drawn from the Seventeenth Army of Army Group A to quickly occupy the Rostov area in order to provide it with direct protection.In addition, the 7th Armored Division, which had been temporarily allocated to the army group, was too late to catch up with the battle east of the Don, but it could contribute to the battle on the left flank of the army group. The worst scenario predicted on the front of the center of the army group is to withdraw to the line of the Don River and the Donets River.In addition, the situation on the lower reaches of the Chir has eased somewhat in recent days, as the enemy has clearly concentrated its forces to the west in order to capture our airfields at Tatsinskaya and Morosovsky . Whether or not Stalingrad should be attempted again will depend on whether we can muster enough forces east of the Don to enable Fourth Panzer Army to defeat the enemy forces now pursuing it.For this purpose, the Don Army Group then asked the Army Headquarters to immediately withdraw the Third Panzer Corps and an infantry division from the First Panzer Army to reinforce the Fourth Panzer Army as early as December 18, or even earlier. We have repeatedly made this request since then.This force, combined with the 16th Motorized Division (which was also due to arrive as soon as possible), would, in the judgment of Army Group Headquarters, be sufficient for Fourth Panzer Army to advance again towards Stalingrad.Furthermore, we believe that these forces can be brought together within six days.At the same time, it should be possible to airlift 1,000 tons of fuel and 500 tons of food into the encirclement to meet the urgent needs of the Sixth Army.At this time, the High Command had also agreed to provide more transport aircraft.The airfields at Tatsinkaya and Morosovsky will also be available again within a day or two.At the same time, needless to say, we have repeatedly demanded that the Sixth Army be allowed freedom of movement.While the latter may still consider breaking out at this point hopeless, Army Group Headquarters insists that there is no other way, since it is impossible to obtain continuous supplies of the surrounded army.However, judging from the overall situation and the current situation of the Sixth Army, we believe that the time to break through the encirclement should be around New Year's at the latest. By then, the Fourth Armored Army can attack the encirclement again. Of course, the condition is that the reinforcements can arrive on time.But even if this breakout was successful, it was no longer possible to hope that the Sixth Army would remain a complete unit when it joined the Fourth Panzer Army.Nevertheless, it can still be assumed that a considerable number of troops can have a chance to break out of the encirclement. The question is whether the First Panzer Army can draw out the above-mentioned forces at this time.Both Hitler and the headquarters of Army Group A thought it was impossible.Whether this refusal is justified should be left to others to judge. In any case, on December 27, Army Group Don sent a strength comparison table to Army Headquarters (and brought it to Hitler's attention), which indicated that the plan to transfer three divisions to us was absolutely feasible.According to the figures shown in the table, the ratio of German troops to the enemy in the area of ​​​​Army Group A is undoubtedly more favorable than that in the area of ​​​​Army Group Don.In addition, the latter's troops have been fighting hard for the past month and a half, so their strength has been further depleted.The Don Army Group must now fight in open areas, and since the offensive in the Caucasus was frustrated, the troops of the A Group Army Group have long been on the defensive, and the positions they are now holding are already quite strong.And even though the First Panzer Army, after reducing its strength by three divisions, was no longer able to withstand a strong enemy attack, it could still use flexible tactics to delay the enemy's advance until the rescue of the Sixth Army was decided.Although our headquarters had pointed out many times that even if we could rescue the Sixth Army, the Caucasus front could not hold on forever, but Hitler refused to admit this at this time.The general solution we propose is to rescue the Sixth Army from Stalingrad, and then switch to mobile operations in the entire area under the responsibility of Army Group Don and Army Group A, which Hitler could not adopt. Apart from his basic attitude of unwillingness to give up anything, there may have been another reason for Hitler's refusal to weaken Army Group A.He believed that in his hands, there was another set of magic weapons, enough to rescue the Sixth Army, although there was still a long delay in time. According to an order from the Army Headquarters that we received on December 31, Hitler had decided to transfer a full-staffed SS Panzer Corps from the Western Front to the Eastern Front, under the command of the Führer Guard, the Skull, and armored infantry divisions such as the Empire.This corps will concentrate near Kharkov and from there launch a rescue offensive towards Stalingrad.However, according to the limited railway capacity, it seems difficult for this army to complete the assembly in the Kharkov area before mid-February.How the Sixth Army can survive during this period is not mentioned in this instruction.Even if a catastrophe in the area of ​​the Army Group in Hungary could not have been foreseen at that time, as in the area of ​​​​the Army Group in Italy, the growing situation in the area between Army Group B and Army Group Don certainly required this. SS Panzer Corps.However, it is groundless to think that the strength of this army can launch an offensive directly to Stalingrad.The distance between Kotnikov and Stalingrad in December was no more than eighty miles, and it was quite possible for the Fourth Panzer Army to reach it if it had enough reinforcements.On the contrary, in February, the distance from Kharkov was as much as 350 miles, which was nothing more than fantasy.Had Hitler really believed that such an attack was possible, it would suffice to justify our criticisms of him in the previous chapter. The fate of the Sixth Army was finally sealed when Hitler rejected all requests by Army Group Don at the end of December for the rapid reinforcement of Fourth Panzer Army.Although we have used the last man and the last shell we can use desperately in the rescue of the Sixth Army, the result is still in vain!Until the last minute, we never gave up hope, and we did not hesitate to take the fate of the entire army group as a bet, but the result was still nothing! From January onwards, operations in the area of ​​​​Army Group Don can be roughly divided into two parallel parts: first, the fighting of the Sixth Army around Stalingrad, and second, the struggle to maintain the entire southern flank, including Including the three army groups A, B and the Don River.The latter will be discussed separately in the next chapter for the sake of continuity of operations, and the former will form the last part of this chapter.Here the relationship between the last battle of the Sixth Army and the holding of the entire southern flank of the German army can be seen.