The Reasons the Germans lost at Stalingrad
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In September 1942, the German Wehrmacht had penetrated deep into Soviet territory during Operation Barbarossa. The German forces had captured key Russian cities, including Kiev ,Kharkov and Kursk. They had laid siege to the Soviet second city, Leningrad, and had reached the outskirts of Moscow. Things were getting so bad that Stalin considered surrendering[citation needed]. But the Wehrmacht had taken heavy casualties during operation Barbarossa, and Stalin had used the winter of 1941-42 to reorganize the Red Army. These factors meant that by the start of the battle of Stalingrad, the Red Army was more prepared to take on the Wehrmacht.
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[edit] The Battle
The battle of Stalingrad started with a heavy Luftwaffe bombardment of the city, turning much of it to rubble, and killing many citizens still in the city. This meant that the Red Army had a perfect battlefield in which to conduct urban warfare, which neutralized the German numerical advantages and meant that the German 6th Army could not use the Nazis' Blitzkrieg tactics. Under the command of General Friedrich Paulus, the 6th managed to push the Soviets back to the banks of the Volga despite heavy resistance. Both sides suffered massive casualties, and a stalemate was created. The fighting was especially intense in and around the station house, the grain elevator and Mamaev mound.
On November 19, 1942, the Russian general Georgy Zhukov launched operation Uranus, a pincer movement which cut off the Germans inside the city from the rest of the invasion force. The Russians surrounded Stalingrad with the 1st Guards Army, 5th Tank Army, and 21st Army. The German General Erich Von Manstein attempted to relieve the trapped sixth army in December (codenamed Operation Winter Storm) but failed. Paulus contacted Hitler to tell him the situation was hopeless, but the Fuhrer replied that Paulus should surrender rather than be captured. By January 25, 1943, the Germans had lost control of the two airfields, meaning there could be no further supplies to the city. The last German forces surrendered on February 2, having suffered 850,000 casualties, and the red army having suffered 478,740 casualties, as well as 40,000 civilian deaths.
[edit] German Inadequacies
The Germans lost at Stalingrad for many reasons. First, there was poor command from German general Paulus. Paulus was an indecisive man who did not understand combat particularly well. Even in the last stages of the battle, Paulus still obeyed Hitler’s orders to not surrender only disobeying these orders at the last minute, by which time it was too late. If Paulus had been a better tactician, he would have broken out of the Soviet encirclement as soon as Operation Uranus was launched. This would have saved a large part of the 6th Army, which could have been used at later battles, such as Kursk.
There also was poor command from Hitler, who did not understand war that well, either. He ordered the 6th Army to stay in Stalingrad at all costs and placed incompetent commanders such as Paulus in the eastern front while placing very talented commanders such as Erwin Rommel in Northern Africa, which was relatively unimportant compared to Stalingrad. Hitler turned the battle of Stalingrad into a personal vendetta, refusing to surrender when all the tactical signs showed that would be best. Hitler also was overconfident of a German victory and thus did not supply the Wehrmacht with winter clothes, as he was confident the battle would be won by winter. As it happened, the 6th Army lost huge amounts of men to the cold, one reason for the defeat. Hitler also kept interfering with the battle, causing confusion among his soldiers.
The second reason for the German defeat was the poor supply for soldiers on the front. By the battle of Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht was 1,600 kilometers from Berlin, and most of the supply line was horse-drawn. This meant there were insufficient supplies, and when Zhukov launched Operation Uranus, no supplies could be moved to the city. Goering said he could supply the trapped 6th Army by air, but the new Soviet air force was too strong for the Luftwaffe and shot down a lot of planes. In the end, the Luftwaffe only supplied about one-fifth of the needed supplies to Paulus’ troops.
[edit] Soviet Strengths
The main reason for the Soviet victory at Stalingrad was the vast number of troops sent in by the Soviets. Joseph Stalin had so much human resources available to him that it was very unlikely that the Germans would prevail. Despite being better equipped than the Soviets, they would be eventually worn down by the massive amounts of resources Stalin was putting into the battle.
Another reason for the Russian victory at Stalingrad was the winter reorganization of 1941-42, in which Stalin completely reorganized the Soviet economy. This meant moving all the heavy industry to the east, which meant the Luftwaffe bombers could not destroy it. Also, the Soviet military structure was completely redeveloped, with commissars being given more choice in what they did, and more flexibility in the orders they were allowed to give. In addition to this, the Soviets began mass producing vast amounts of new technology, such as the T-34 tank, the Katyusha rocket launcher and a new Soviet air force. By 1943, they were producing far more tanks and equipment than their German counterparts, and these were eventually very helpful in the defeat of the Wehrmacht at Stalingrad, as the new airforce destroyed German supply planes, and the T-34 s helped in Operation Uranus. Finally, a new military discipline was introduced, with order 227 stating that there would be “Not one step backwards”. Many deserters were shot, and many more were put into newly created “Penal Battalions”, which were given the most deadly jobs, such as drawing fire away from other units.
The Soviet army also received a lot of help from its allies, such as the U.S. and Britain, who aided the Russians with considerable amounts of weapons and supplies.
Another reason for the success of the red army is the immense will of the people to succeed against Hitler in the Great Patriotic War. This was in part caused by the atrocities committed by the German army in 1941-2. The Soviet people had such a will to win that they endured incredible hardships, and often refused to surrender, committing suicide instead. This meant that the German army suffered massive casualties, meaning that they were not at full strength when they reached Stalingrad. The scorched earth policy also helped, in which the retreating soviets destroyed everything of value in the land they were retreating from, which meant that the Germans could not use the materials that they captured.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
"Stalingrad", Antony Beevor
