Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "Battlestorm Stalingrad E7 - Operation Nord" video.

  1. BOTH sides were desperate and dehydrated. Even with their backs at the Don, the Soviets were not getting water to the front! Even when the Germans got to the Don, they found it virtually impossible to drink -- as the Reds kept shooting at them. This tactic became ever famous after Uranus. THIRST is the Big Story. You'll also note that the German panzers need refit -- rather constantly -- same as North Africa -- as the dust is hardly different than the Sahara. Most tanks are dying from this dust -- not enemy action. That's why even rear area Soviets are pathetically weak. Many of the 'Soviet defeats' were actually retreats to get back to the WATER at the Don. The Germans pressed on -- fanatically -- to get TO the water, to the Don. EVERY account I've ever read tells of astounding heat and thirst. The primary reason 6th Army had no horses when surrounded at Stalingrad was because the boys had EATEN them, already. That's how bad the boys were being supplied. The Soviets didn't defeat the Germans. The Germans defeated the Germans. By the time 6th Army was upon the Volga, the boys were totally worn out... as in they'd lost a lot of body weight. You don't see a single photo of a fat German from that area and that time. Even Paulus was lean... very lean by the standards of his time. Whereas, the Reds were bringing in fresh boys, who'd not been totally famished, all the while. Logistics totally decided the campaign -- something that the ground-pounders just did not appreciate. By this time, Germany was already cooked. The soldiers just didn't know it. BTW, Stavka was totally foolish to defend to the west of the Don. The river was a killer defensive position. It was utterly stupid to not defend behind it. By expending so many troops, Stavka (Stalin) threw away the rational defense of the Volga. What a fool. No marshal could talk him out of his folly, obviously. It took the battle -- a catastrophe -- for Stalin to give the reins to Zukov & company. After that, the Soviets never lost. What an amazing coincidence.
    1