Comments by "Nicholas Conder" (@nicholasconder4703) on "Why No German Reinforcements at Stalingrad?" video.

  1. TIK, I think I know why those reinforcements were never sent to Stalingrad. I have been watching a made-for-TV series produced in Russian in 2011 called "Soviet Storm". In episode 6, "The Rzhev Meat Grinder", it talks about the Red Armies repeated attempts to retake Rzhev, which was a major rail hub for north-south and east-west rail traffic. It was a cornerstone of Army Group Centre's supply lines, and had to be held at all costs. Knowing this, the Red Army launched a major offensives in July and August 1942 that came close to capturing the Vyazma-Rzhev rail line. Model had to commit all the troops he had assembled for his own small offensive, and only barely prevented the collapse of the central front near Moscow. According to the TV series, neither side ever talked about this after the war, the Soviets because they lost huge numbers of men, the Germans because they lost ground and fought a pedestrian defensive battle that they almost lost (hence was not good for PR). During these summer offensives, the Germans suffered around 60,000 casualties, while the Red Army lost around 314,000 men. During Operation Mars, Army Group Centre lost a further 53,000 men, while the Red Army lost at least 216,000. If you can dig up some more information about the battles around Rzhev, it might make for a great video. Also, I know you don't like Halder, but in a sense this does rehabilitate him somewhat for the failure at Stalingrad (though not completely). It also demonstrates how thinly stretched the Wehrmacht was in 1942 (robbing Peter to pay Paul), backing up Citino's claims that this is the year that Germany lost.
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  2. I noticed that you did not mention that at around the same time the Wehrmacht was fighting for survival following Operation Saturn at Stalingrad, the Germans were able to put together around 250,000 men and sent them into North Africa! Good thing no-one in OKH or OKW thought about using ME323 on the eastern front to ship petrol to the forward units (instead they were sent to Tunisia where many of them got shot down). And those 4 transfered armored divisions would have given Paulus the strategic reserve to have fended off the Soviet counterattack. As you said, talk about misplaced priorities. One almost has to feel sorry for Paulus getting the short end of the stick for his defeat here.
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