Stalgrind

Can some one tell me a little bit about Stalgrind.
All i know is that we won.

 

So what part of Russia are you from?

 

I meant the allies.

 

Welcome and hope you enjoy your time here, PrinceMooCow!

The German summer attack reached by autumn 1942 the city of Stalingrad. Meanwhile the Russians had gathered troops and tanks and in November 1942 started a series of attacks, one of which resulted in the Stalingrad pocket where the German 6th army was surrounded. The German counter attacks were beaten back and Paulus surrendered early feb 1943.

More:

http://users.pandora.be/stalingrad/

 

cool thanks. And just wondering whats with the Awards?( the ones under the avatar)

 

I know, I was just overly semantic.

I know it was a major turning point in the war, and was the end of Germany's ability to conduct effective large scale offensive operations in Russia.

There are a great many interesting and tragic details of this battle, a fraction of wich was covered in the film Enemy at the gates

 

Ohhh, have to argue with that Monty, EATG is a mixture of Soviet propaganda stories and fiction.

 

Stalingrad frustrated all the German strategy for 1942, which was meant to seize the Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus, thus depriving the Soviets of this very important resource, and the Germans acquiring it.

In summer 1942, the enormous Army Group 'South' fought back and defeated a Soviet offensive in the II Battle of Khárkov, then moved on Rostov and then split. Army Groups 'A' and 'B' were created. Army Group 'A' headed south, towards Bakú, whilst 'B' group advanced towards the Don plains and River Volga, thus forming a defensive northern flank for 'A' group.

Army Group 'B', under colonel general Von Weichs, was short of manpower and could not actually defend all the Volga-Voroznieh line, and it had to be reinforced with Allied armies: II Hungarian, VIII Italian, III and IV Romanian. This group, however, had the largest field army of III Reich: the German VI (under general Friedrich Paulus), which comprised almost 22 veteran regular German divisions (3 Panzer) and was reinforced by IV Panzer Army.

The problem was German weakness, because there was not enough air nor armoured power to support both groups simultaneously. Thus, the IV Air Fleet, covering the entire southern front, when focused at Stalingrad, left all Army Group 'A' to the Red Air Force. Also, I Panzer Army, heading south, could not encircle any large Soviet force on its own. IV Panzer Army was sent south to assist I Panzer Army, but then was re-called northwards to assist VI Army to encircle the defenders of Stalingrad in open ground. The final result was that IV Panzer Army did not support any army and the Soviet defenders broke through and withdrew, saving the bulk of their forces.

Stalingrad was the largest and most important industrial city of the region, but it was soon bombed and destroyed by the Luftwaffe. After that, it didn't have much military value, in fact, it made the front longer and created a dangerous salient in the German line. But Hitler wanted the city because of its name, and Stalin wanted the city for the same reason.

Now, once the fierce urban fight at Stalingrad started, Hitler became more and more obsessed with its capture, and forgot about the general German strategy; once the Caucasus offensive was halted by the Red Army, it was forgotten, and all German attention focused on that miserable heap of ruins called Stalingrad. Stalin, in the other hand, even if interested in keeping the city por propagandistic aims, did not buy Hitler's game and left the German Army bleed itself in that place of no value, whilst the Red Army strenghtened and organised worth offensives.

At the city, a WWI-like fighting erupted, in which the Germans had every possible disadvantage, except numbers.

The German command structure worked with divisions. The Soviets worked with 12-men squads.

German all-arms co-ordination was impossible at Stalingrad, since Panzer and air crews had not been trained in urban fighting. Besides, all radio and telephone personnel, messengers and artillery and Luftwaffe observers were shot at the spot by Soviet snipers. These Soviet snipers were observers too, and they provided Soviet artillery (quietly laying in the opposite bank of the Volga) with valuable information. Therefore, when the Germans massed troops for an attack, enemy artillery soon destroyed their concentrations and disrupted or weakened attacks.

Also, the Luftwaffe's bombardments had made the terrain perfectly suited for defence, and it miserably failed at cutting the Volga communications and neutralising Soviet artillery.

The fighting in the city, from August to November 1942 costed the VI and IV Panzer German armies 150.000 casualties.

On November 1942, a series of Soviet offensives started, having all possible advantages on their side and performing incredibly well, and rapidly encircled 250.000 German and Romanian troops. On February 1943, only 110.000 remained and surrendered.

More Soviet offensives in winter 1942 against Army Group 'B' destroyed the armies: II German, II Hungarian, VIII Italian, III and IV Romanian and created gaps 100 km long. Army Group 'A' didn't suffered as much, and it was only when field marshal Von Manstein, commanding the improvised Army Group 'Don', managed to stabilise the front and prevent collapse and destroyed the Soviet offensive at the III Battle of Khárkov in early 1943.

In all, Army Group 'South' lost 700.000 men from summer 1942 until spring 1943. This was, without a doubt and definately, the momment when the tide of the war went agaisnt Germany.

 

Are you guys like the only ones whoi come on here?

 

No, just the only ones who feel like answering

 

Thanx Friedrich!

That was a good sum up of the battle!

Some nice pics:





http://www.katardat.org/marxuniv/2002-SUWW2/Images/images05-stalingrad.html

 

Ya good pics. I would love to see the face on Hitler when he found out he lost stalgrind and Omaha Beach.

 

Stalingrad has always seemed to me to be the biggest mistake made in the East.

And then to follow it with Kursk the next year...

Actually... while on the subject of urban warfare...

Anyone know of any webpages with details of the fighting in Brest-Litovisk in 1941 and Sebastopol? Im after some maps of the two cities...

 

I'm here, does that count?

 

Prince, out of interest is there any particular reason you keep spelling it 'Stalgrind'? I mean is it a reference to something in particular that I have missed or just a typo?

 

Good question Stefan. After all ..."This is not Minsk or Kiev. This is Stalingrad. Staleengrad! This city bears the name of the boss!" - Nikita Sergeivich Khruschev, "Enemy at the Gates."

 

well i...i dont know but does it realy matter aslong as you can understand it

 

Well yes. Considering that it was named after a person. Would you like it if someone didn't spell your name correctly?

 

Yes it does matter, not least because when people see you repeatedly spelling the name incorrectly they will make negative assumptions about you and you wouldn't want that now would you?