Comments by "Cary Black" (@caryblack5985) on "TIKhistory" channel.

  1. It irritates me that Richtofen is constantly criticizing Paulus and the 6th Army for being slow and other perceived failures yet his Luftwaffe is facing a very weak and ineffective Soviet air force and minimal flack except on the East side of the Volga. He seems to have no conception of the casualties and difficulties facing the troops in urban fighting.
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  2.  @ducthman4737  I would not say most rather some hated the communist system especially in the Ukraine. However they soon learned that the Nazis were likely to kill them and certainly stole their food and oppressed them. That's why the Partisan movement grew larger and larger throughout the war.
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  3.  @dickesbrot5724  Unfortunately there are so many numbskulls commenting that it is difficult to know when someone is not serious. I apologize for mistaking your comment.
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  4. Rdiculous it is known that it was staged by the SS as an excuse to attack Poland
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  5. And we have to take into account the fuel shortage which would limit many divisions and also the distance they could possibly retreat.
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  6. He was always anti-Soviet and a bit of a fool politically. This is quoted but he did not seem reluctant to take on the Nazis when he was commanding.
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  7.  @Cloudman572  It is unfortunate. Many people who watch this film will never open a real history book. Probably the most widely read book on Stalingrad is Beevors and although he dug up some interesting facts it is just fair as to accuracy and quite outdated. For those who do not want to invest in a 5 part, very expensive and lengthy books by Glantz I recommend Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire which is excellent from the Soviet view but offers a good amount of information on the German side.
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  8. Well argued and comprehensive. It is ludicrous to think a major withdrawal of all the forces in Stalingrad could be done in a day or two. The disposition of the forces scattered both within the city and along the northern perimeter would take quite a time to organize and lines of defense were absolutely necessary or the units of the 6th Army would be easily defeated if they lacked any cohesion.
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  9.  @bobflatman278  Richtofen should have realized fighting in a city is not movement but digging out defenders dug in behind rubble. Especially since he created it.
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  10.  @Edax_Royeaux  It was propaganda. The soviets would have pushed the Germans back or defeated them much earlier if they could. The idea of encircling the Germans only became plan in Sept 1942. This does not take away from the fact that the Soviets carried out the plan successfully.
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  11. Enough of the Nazi comments
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  12.  @juliantheapostate8295  They had sent many horses back from the front lines to winter quarters. Whatever vehicles they had they were in bad shape for fuel. TIK mentioned one of the German divisions did not have enough fuel to get to the fighting when sent. I think it was the 44th.
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  13.  @steenkigerrider5340  Sounds like Trump and his handling of Covid.
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  14. Stalin did execute generals in 1941 but very few or none from 1942 and on. Hitler was not lenient to any generals involved in the July 20th plot.
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  15. Congratulations on the video Tik. Don't be discouraged if the video has a much smaller number of views than your other videos. The main reasons are the video is age restricted, some people do not want to see the suffering in the war and some do not want to hear about their "side" comitting war crimes. Too many people think war is like Hearts of Iron or World of Tanks. No blood no suffering and no death. It is important that people know what happens in war and that often it is the civilians that suufer more than the troops. Keep making videos so people understand that WII is not just about moving armies aound on a map.
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  16.  @promecio8085  No asshole you are the one crying for your Nazis
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  17. Check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLNfOyOBo68&t=14s
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  18. Hilter and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had. 2
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  19. Nazi synpathizer
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  20. Yes there was heavy fighting in both the central sector and also in the north where Manstein and the 11th army were to take Leningrad but were unable to launch an offensive because the Soviet attack was very heavy there and were only able to hand onto their positions. So the Wehrmacht was facing attacks on 2 army groups and launching offensives at Stalingrad Army Group B and in the Caucasus Army Group A. It seems to me they had enough manpower to cover their losses but lacked enough to do all they were attempting. Could they have allocated their forces better? Perhaps but it is hard to know exactly where the priority was.
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  21. By rairoad. The steam engines used coal.
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  22. Camouflage and strong antiaircraft guns.
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  23. Yes but the Germans have more tanks available and the Luftwaffe contols the air entirely.
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  24. It is close to Nazism
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  25. He is documenting the fighting in this series not the war crimes.
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  26. Not in Stalingrad
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  27. They outproduced the Germans in tanks, aircraft and artillery in every year from 1942 on. They put together a large force of troops that the Germans did not think they could. They executed a plan of encirclement when the Germans believed that since they had defeated every attack on the northern line that it would necessarily fail.
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  28. Also small boats can be hidden and are extremely difficult to hit compared to a medium or large ship. If you don't think the luftwaffe tried you are mistaken.
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  29. They certainly believed in their ideas. They would have feared that if word got out what they were doing would hurt them in public opinion. That is why they would say evacuated to the East instead of killed.
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  30. I am sure they were not but how does that excuse the Germans?
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  31.  @hastalavictoriasiempre2730  My books said SS and they killed one or more persons to have bodies to help make the supposed attack more believable. The ploy was originated or run by Heydrich. This is what wikipedia says https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident
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  32. All the Soviets could do is hang on. Even though urban warfare favors defense the Germans had more armored fighting vehicles, artillery and had air superiority in Stalingrad. It doesn't change until November.
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  33. I suggest you don't watch it if you don't like it.
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  34.  @ricardokowalski1579  Hard to say. Certainly the success against France helped. Also the Soviets struggle to defeat Finland in 1940 was a factor especially when Finland was so small compared to the USSR.
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  35. They are getting supplies but not enough and slowly. Reinforcements sent to the city come from the troops along the Don. The Germans withdraw their troops and replace them with the Romanians and other allies.
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  36. Well all the information is from books of Glantz, Isaev and Mark. However Tik has managed to create a narrative from them and using maps has made it possible to follow even the more complex aspects of the 4 month battle.
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  37. That question has several aspects. The Germans believed the attack would come in the center and that the Soviets could not manage two great offenses at the same time. They were prepared for for Mars in the center but not for Uranus in the south. They were also overconfident as they has beaten back all the Kotluban attacks in the north (there were 4). They overestimated themselves and underestimated the Soviets.
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  38. He uses Isaev a lot and last I heard he was a Russian historian.
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  39. The Germans used many T34s and artillery captured from the Soviets. You also see photos of German soldiers with Soviet submachine guns.
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  40. True there were were major attacks by the Soviets at Rzhev. They sent Manstein and 11th Army to Leningrad. They split Army Group South into A and B to simultaneously attack Stalingrad and the Caucasus when they were supposed to capture or neutralize Stalingrad and THEN go on to the Caucasus.
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  41. The artillery was well camouflaged and well protected by anti aircraft guns.
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  42. Up till the 1990s and the release of official Soviet archives the West traditionally did not trust the Soviet versions. On top of that much of the history was written by German officers who were the "guests" of the US Army. On top of that he cold war and the language barrier had an effect. It was wasn't till Glantz and the Russian historians of the 2000s that we got much of the Soviet story. Citino and other historians have commented on this.
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  43. The cavalry was important arm for the Soviets. They usually fought dismounted but the use of horses in a land with few roads gave them extra mobility. Here is some information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry_corps_(Soviet_Union)
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  44. Casualty should mean killed or wounded. Losses can be killed, wounded, missing or captured. Wounded is generally thought to be 3 times the number killed. In 1941 the vast majority of the Soviet losses were pows who were later starved to death or perished because of exposure in pow camps in the winter of 1941-42.
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  45.  @aleksazunjic9672  Well he was pretty consistently negative about Paulus' conduct of the battle.
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  46. Across the Volga and that is why they are in supply crisis because the ice flows on the Volga is making supply extremely difficult.
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  47. Cary Black 3 minutes ago (edited) The Stalingrad area was serviced only by 3 single track railway lines which were regularly interrupted by air attacks and partisans. Trucks were worn out and fuel scarce. Horses were sent back to winter quarters . By October the 6th Army was receiving less then half its required daily trainloads of supply. The 6th Army would face a hunger catastrophe even if they seized the entire city Fritz Ostkrieg p. 297.
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  48.  @QuizmasterLaw  I don't understand. You mean that Stalin traveled to the front to meet with Zhukov? That can't be right. The meetings with the Stavka and Stalin were in Moscow.
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  49. As of November 1 1942 the Germans had 699,353 deaths and approximately 2,100,000 wounded on the Eastern Front alone. This of course does not take into account the huge losses for November and December 1942 and January 1943.
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  50. No Manstein was unaware of the Soviet reserves.
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  51.  @boomslangCA  I would mostly agree but Hilter and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had.
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  52. Manstein and the 11th Army were sent to Leningrad to take the city. The Soviets launched an offensive and the Germans were just able to hang on. There were constant Soviet attacks at Rezvh and the Germans had to reinforce Army Group Center. The south got. the Italian 8th Army, Hungarian 2nd Army and Romanian 3rd and 4th Army. There were no other troops available.
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  53.  @jeanfrancois3959  I already replied to that please read my response
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  54. The movie is useless for history. It is entertainment not to be considered accurate.
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  55. You are right. The Italian 8th Army and the 2nd Hungarian army were also along the Don to the west.
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  56. The Croatian government was allied with the Germans and one way of showing their loyalty was sending troops to fight the Soviets.
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  57. Not revisionist only accurate.
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  58. Typical Hitler bs
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  59. Don't believe any memoirs unless checked against other sources. Neither Soviet, Nazi UK or US.
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  60. Isaev Stalingrad City on Fire gives Soviet unit strengths but only brigades and divisions and not day to day but at certain times. I don't think all that data is readily available but read the book.
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  61. Just the usual neoNazi tripe. Both paranoid and delusional
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  62. Paulus could not have known the Soviet plan in September. It was possible that he sensed this from reports of the Romanian Army about build up but this would have been till October/November at the earliest.
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  63.  @TheNoonish  Or maybe Paulus just said I( can take the city but I need reinforcement without giving a set timeframe.
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  64. Yes since he was mostly responsible for the strategy that helped to defeat France and was successful in conquering Sevastopol. He was considered the most able general for operations.
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  65. In fact many German soldiers used and preferred the Soviet submachine guns to their own.
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  66. Milch was not Jewish in any interpretation. He had a jewish father but was raised aChristian. He had no ties to the Jewish community and never considered hmself Jewish in any way.. His mother claimed he was illegitimate to hide his ancestry. He was only Jewish by Nazi racial laws but not by any recognized view of his identity. Reply
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  67. I don't think they considered crossing the Volga. It would be a difficult and dangerous operation. There was also the danger of their troops being cut off from the supply routes.
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  68.  @KironManuelCards  You made a public claim. The evidence should also be public for everyone.
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  69. You have to look at the entire front. There was no inactive front. The Germans hoped to take Leningrad but a soviet attack forced them on the defensive and Manstein and the 11th Army could not take the city. In the center the battles at Rzhev were intense and required reinforcements. In the Caucasus there was heavy fighting and oil was the goal. Al this fighting required more German troops so Stalingrad did not get reinforcements.
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  70. Security divisions were usually lightly armed. They were used against partisans, saboteurs and any thing that was considered a threat to the troops in the rear areas. They were not considered front line soldiers. However due to the great manpower shortages in the German army, especially later in the war, they would be put in the front lines. They were also resopnsible for many atrocities against civilians as they often engaged in mass reprisals regardless of the guilt or innocence of the people under their control.
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  71. There were mixed beliefs about the Soviets ability to attack. Some believed they could not attack at t all. The strongest belief from the German intelligence was that there would be an attack at the center on the Moscow axis. There was the belief that the Soviets attack would be not at all powerful and that it would be handled with little difficulty. The Germans certainly did not think that the Soviets could attack both in the center and at Stalingrad. The Germans were wrong.
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  72.  @iddomargalit-friedman3897  Well in Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire, Zhukov was present at the Planning meetings regarding this Northern offensive and had input on the plans. He may not have ordered the offensive but I believe he was the STAVKA representative at Stalingrad and so had considerable authority. TIK can't cover everything and in order to get a complete picture you need to read the books on the subject. I recommend the Isaev book if you don't want to invest in Glantz's 5 volumes on Stalingrad.
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  73.  @ares106  There were Stuka attacks against the river boats and landing stages so I can't imagine why they would not attack the artillery emplacements. TIK does not talk much about air attacks unless it is part of a German ground attack.
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  74. Also the US and the UK were far less prepared for a large amphibious invasion of France in 1942. Take a look at Dieppe.
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  75. . They felt the bombing would destroy defensive installations, supplies and equipment and greatly reduce Soviet morale. They did not realize it would greatly hamper them later.
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  76. Hilter and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had. 2
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  77. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk-T-iNSdaw
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  78. There was little or no wood on the steppe. The fire bombing of Stalingrad months earlier and the fighting destroyed almost all of the available wood. Very little fuel for any kind of fire.
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  79. Massive attacks by the Soviets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Rzhev
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  80. There is still the Geneva Convention and rules of war. An attitude like the one you expressed can justify any atrocity
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  81.  @QuizmasterLaw  He had many conferences with Stalin both in person and over the phone and deeply involved in planning many of the Soviet army's operations.
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  82.  @QuizmasterLaw  I don't think any one was eager to see Stalin unless he was successful. However if he was summoned he would go. Khruschev felt the same. However Vasilevsky who was part of the Stavka and frequently met with Stalin and was supervisor of a number of operations was never threatened. Once Stalin trusted a general he did not just say, you failed you are executed. That happened for the most part in1941. I think this is a notion that has been exaggerated because of what Stalin did in1941 but much less after that.
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  83. They were fearful of being captured. They knew what they did to Soviet troops and citizens and fesred revenge. Many believed that the Soviets would take no prisoners.
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  84. I doubt they gave them a thought
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  85. Hitler and Halder were convinced that the Wehrmacht would take the city very soon so there was no need to change goals..
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  86.  @johnnydavis5896  Without giving spoilers there will be conference on Sept 12 where some of the possibilities for the Wehrmacht will be discussed. I want to wait and see if TIK covers this in his next episode. This will lead to an interesting discussion.
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  87. They are just destortions of reality to suit certain neoNazis
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  88. Not true the NKVD division was on the front line. Blocking detachment were at the rear but if you read Island of Fire the blocking detachment of the NKVD was fighting on the front line.
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  89. Allmemoirs must be used cautiously and checked against other evidence.
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  90. No they did not lure the Germans into a trap. The idea of encirclement did not begin till September 28th. The Soviets needed the time till November 19th to collect train and equips their forces. If the Germans would have captured Stalingrad before that or pulled back there might have been a different outcome.
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  91. Not the same Willy Brandt who was in Sweden at this time.
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  92. Millions were killed by mass shootings and starvation and worked to death.
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  93. Hayward in his book on the Luftwaffe Stopped At Stalingrad says it was unsuitable as it was more fragile and could not deal with the various problems you mentioned and other problems.
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  94. The German army had agreements with the murder squads sent to the USSR in March 1941 before a single German soldier set foot in the USSR. This is different from "every army"
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  95.  @paulcateiii  Yes but the Wehrmacht planned atrocities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEraxud7vZ4&t=11s
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  96. Possibly to show he was ok after capture. Many of the Germans believed they would be shot immediately after capture so sending him back would show they did not execute prisoners.
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  97. They did not have any. They never planned to cross the Volga and did not bring boats with them.
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  98. What area do you mean when you ask about the central Stalingrad pocket?
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  99. The Soviets are still fighting in the city but as you can guess the attacks by the Germans are much diminished and the Soviets also attack but they were in a quite weakened state. The fighting in the city takes a backseat to the fighting for survival in the pocket.
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  100. Jeschonnek first said the airlift would work but quickly changed his mind. Goring later assured Hitler it would work. Von Richtofen and Fiebig, the two Luftwaffe leaders at Stalingrad told the OKH that it would not work from the very day it was first considered.
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  101. I recommend Prit Buttar On A Knife's Edge for a very detailed operational history of fighting in the Ukraine Nov 1942-March 1943.
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  102. No they only sent partof the division. After enough weapons arrived the rest of the division was sent.
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  103. Many were wounded and sick in cellers and basements.
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  104.  @alanle1471  I am just saying that the NKVD division fought on the front line in Stalingrad and took casualties as did all the other units. How it was for them in other battles I could not say but I know about this battle.
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  105. Because Hitler wanted to keep all the conquest he made in Europe and then conquer the USSR. Eventually he could and would turn on the UK or at least turn it into a vassal state. That would be the end of Democracy in Europe. Also it would accept to terror that Germany visited on their conquered peoples. Do you think the Nazis would stop killing if they won the war?
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  106. Stalin was never close to the front. Spent most of his time in Moscow.
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  107. The original idea was that the Kotluban offensives would break through and join the 62nd Army in Stalingrad. When these offenses failed they started planning Uranus to surround the Germans. They needed time to conscript, train and arm troops and so the middle of Nov. was when it was supposed to begin. They sent reinforcements to the city but wanted the vast majority for the counteroffensive.
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  108.  @cccpredarmy  Lascar held out the 1st day and for the remaining 4 days until out of ammo and food and surrounded. Deny it but it still happened. I don't care what you think think since this is the reality. So if you want to deny that is up to you.
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  109. Richtofen was an ardent Nazi who was a very competent airfleet commander but had little knowledge of ground combat. He always assumed the army was not trying hard enough.
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  110. The Soviets (not Russians) did not realize the number trapped which was much greater than expected. Also the Germans fought fiercely mostly out of fear but they should be credited with doing all in their power to resist the Soviets.
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  111.  @samstewart4807  A number of high officers and specialists were flown out of Stalingrad. But quite a few generals as well as Paulus were not.
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  112. At this point in the war the Soviets had only a little success against the German Army. They did not know exactly what conditions were in the pocket and were surprised by the fierce resistance which may have given the Soviets the idea that the troops in the pocket were in better shape than what we know today. It may have been a case that we trapped them and we will make sure they are destroyed rather than taking troops away for a full scale attack elsewhere. I think it was a case of making sure this victory does not slip away.
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  113. Because the German narrative at least in the West prevailed after WWII since Halder and the German generals wrote about the Eastern front. More modern narratives such as Fritz Ostfront credit Romanians for doing fairly well considering their lack of armor and anti tank weapons
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  114. The Soviets wanted to be sure the 6th Army was destroyed. They wanted there to be no chance for any troops to escape.
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  115. Yes the fighting was bloody. The Soviets had lost many millions killed by this time. The Germans had by the end of Sept. 1942 674,303 killed on the Eastern front and about 1,922,000 wounded. US casualties do not compare.
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  116. Excellent episode and great content.
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  117. This helps explain some of the reasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry_corps_(Soviet_Union)
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  118. The figures given by Isaev are 48,360 men on September 11, 1941. The heavy machine guns and the light machine guns machine were only 20 to 25% of authorized strength. However only 1 division had 8,615 men (10 th rifle NKVD) 1 with over 3,000 men, three with over 2000 men and six with1000 or less.. The strength was in the rifle brigades , of the 8 averaged 4,000 men. Some of the units as you can see were very worn down and could be called divisions in name only.
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  119. If you are referring tp atrocities tan fewer civilians led to fewer atrocities but forced labor camps for Jews were set up in Tunisia.https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/labor-and-internment-camps-in-north-africa
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  120. They fought desperately because they knew there would br little chance for them as POWs. Many Germans believed that they would br shot immediately if they surrendered.
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  121. By radio.
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  122. They might have thought so or might have not but Hitler and the high command say you must take Stalingrad. If they refused they would simply be replaced. Also they have been fighting in the city for only 4 or 5 days and it looks like the Southern half may fall at any day.
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  123. I recommend Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire
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  124. There is the possibility of those aircraft to be used in combat in the future. They may only be temporarily unusable because of minor problems such as inability to start or need spare parts that will be available soon.
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  125. It was the Romanians who complained the loudest about the Soviet buildup opposite them. The warnings were ignored.
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  126.  @gunnerjensen5998  There was major offenses against Army Group Center at Rzhev. See thishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Rzhev
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  127. Not 20 extra divisions into the city. They had around 48,000 men on September 25th on Oct 1, 1942 they had approx. 41,000 on Oct10 they had approx 43,000 on Nov 20 they had approx 34,000. They replaced their losses to some extent but there was no buildup of Soviet forces in the city. See Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire p 132, p 165-66 p 179 p 218. Many of the divisions were worn down and some so small that they could not be called divisions or brigades or even companies.. The famous 13th Guards went from over 10,000 to 5,200 in November but this doesn't give an accurate picture because they had reinforcements throughout the battle. For more information see Isaev.
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  128. It makes them look silly and we know that German logistics were much worse and their production capacity was much inferior to the Soviets. Enemy At The Gates is entertainment not history.
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  129. The Germans were warned repeatedly by the Romanians. Anti tank weapons were promised but never delivered.
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  130. I don't know about the travel of the 13th Guards but I know some troops marched as much as 200 kilometers to get to Stalingrad. They may have marched at night and took cover in the day. The Luftwaffe could do little at night. The Stukas concentrated on the boats over the Volga and river crossings and docks but it did not stop the Soviets. There was also heavy artillery shelling of the crossings.
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  131. He dismissed Rudel's comment because of the weather at the time and recent evidence that the Romanians did resist the Soviet attack better than the narrative given by the Germans.
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  132. The Luftwaffe in the Stalingrad area had to also take care of the offense in the Caucasus, so they were splitting their time between the two offenses. See Joel Hayward Stopped At Stalingrad. As to your other many questions I think you will have to consider buying the Glantz series on Stalingrad and Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire.
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  133.  @mroblongo  They had little choice. They were fending off two strong attacks one in the North and one in the center and running two offenses one at Stalingrad one in the Caucasus. Not enough men even with their allies on the Don.
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  134. no the trump
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  135. They were around because the combat troops were greatly reduced in the fighting in the city and at the Kotluban attacks. These were head quarters. supply, transport, medical , people to care for the horses, signals and other vital areas. All divisions depend on a number of noncombat troops to enable the combat troops to function.
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  136. I think so. They took all the wounded they could on return flights and also those who were ordered to leave. In some cases the full loads of wounded were a hazard in takeoffs.
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  137.  @adamjaquay4279  Nobody was clean but some were much dirtier than others.
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  138.  @Anthony-jo7up  Well you have to have trained men , ships, amphibious landing craft and the ability to supply all the troops. I don't see this in1942 for the Allies.
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  139. They did aerial surveillance. There seemed to be several splits in the German intelligence and assumptions regarding the Soviets. The Fremde Heere Ost, German intelligence in the east expected an attack at the center. Some in the OKH thought the Soviets were too weak to attack at all. Some thought they might attack but were too weak for the attack to be significant. It seems that no one expected two powerful attacks at the same time, one in the center, one in the south. This came from the chronic underestimation of the Soviets and German arrogance.
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  140. Don't forget that the Germans had superiority in armored vehicles and artillery as well as air superiority in the city.
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  141. Well they did attack areas on the east side of the Volga. However they could hardly stop giving almost total support to the German units attacking and since the Soviets were dug in and close to the German lines it mad it even more difficult. The Luftwaffe did their best to attack the small Soviet boats on the river but they were well camouflaged, hard to hit and operated at night when the only way you could bomb the was by flare. The idea you can win a land battle with mostly air power was totally discredited in WWII as the Allies learned.
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  142. Yes the vast majority of horses were already moved to winter quarters.
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  143. There was almost no chance of the Germans reaching Baku. They captured Maikop but never reached Grozny which was 354 miles (not Kilometers) further.. From Miakop to Baku is another 676 miles or over 1000 kilometers. Not only would the Soviets stop fighting but the Germans would have to have a new logistics system.
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  144. The Germans had to protect slow flying and unarmed transports which really burdened them and were flying out of poorly organized airfields. The Germans were effective to the extent they could but in this case the Soviet air force was getting stronger and could be resupplied with fresh plaens while the German got weaker and were undersupplied
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  145. If you read Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire he goes into much detail on the Kotluban offenses as does Glantz.
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  146. There are conflicting ideas of when the planning for Uranus started. Zhukov says middle of September but Isaev has some evidence that it was not until 3 weeks later. But I think your point is correct. They would want to hold Stalingrad but use as many troops for the counter offensive and the least they could to hold the city. The question becomes what amount of troops will be sufficient to hold Stalingrad?
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  147. The simple answer is no.
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  148. They could hear not see the artillery in the distance and then it faded.
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  149.  @alanpennie8013  If you are wounded you are a casualty whether you are lightly wounded and can still fight or have to be sent to a hospital. That is why the wounded is 3 times as great as killed. Many Germans and Soviets were wounded more than once and sent back to the front lines after recovery.
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  150. No it doesn't. As we learn more about the battle and the archives have opened the understanding of what went on changes. In fact much information that is not favorable to the Soviets has come out. An example is Operation Mars which was simultaneous to Uranus. Mars was an offensive on the Moscow axis as Uranus was on the Stalingrad axis. Mars was a failure and Uranus was a success. Mars was never talked about and was almost unknown until Glantz ,the same historian who wrote the 5 volumes about Stalingrad, wrote about a book about it. Your idea is false and if you don't care for the facts given in these videos you can choose not to watch. You are entitled to your own opinion but not to your own facts.
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  151.  @dpt6849  Yes I missed the sarcasm because it sounded like some of the comments I have seen on other channels. However what I said is I feel accurate.
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  152. Leningrad had a much bigger population then Stalingrad and they thought Stalingrad would be easier to capture. Also Hitler decided to just surround Leningrad but he seemed to have felt that the speeches he made claiming that Stalingrad was ready to fall and did not want to be seen as backing off.
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  153.  @dantepndrgn  I agree. Stalingrad could not be encircled because of the Volga and supplies could be brought across. The Germans did not have the manpower and equipment to cross the Volga and they would have to face several Soviet armies on the other side of the river.
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  154. No FDR wanted the US in the war against the Nazis. He did what he could but could not get entirely involved because of the strong group of isolationists. Hitler declaring war on the US freed the US to go all out.
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  155. Some realized it was a disaster from the beginning of the encirclement. They knew the 6th army was cut off from any land supplies and the Soviets had huge numbers of troops available. They hoped to get the 6th Army out but it would be a disaster regardless. They just did not know it would be a total disaster. After the relief failed on December 24th they knew it would be a total disaster.
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  156.  @efolson  My point was you asked 6 questions and several did not apply to logistics. If you want all of this covered you are asking a lot from TIK. You should contribute info regarding some of the aspects you mentioned.
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  157.  @efolson  No I don't but realize TIK is working hard just to produce his videos. Some of the questions you could research yourself and contribute in the comments. You seem to be really defensive.
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  158. They should have but the transportation of a Tank Corps from the west takes weeks and such a decision needs to be made so there is lead time. Why they failed to do this I do not know.
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  159.  @WillyEckaslike  bigot
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  160.  @tlmoller  There was the Italian 8th Army, the Hungarian 2nd Army and German formations near Voronezh. Most German troops in the South were at Stalingrad or in the Caucasus.
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  161. The Germans were certainly more able at the tactical and operational aspects of the war. It took time for the Soviets to reach a similar level of competence. If you look at the battles from late 1943 through 1945 you see the Soviets performing much better on those level. I think the Soviets performed as well as they could. Stalin whose reputation correctly as one who was willing to spill blood actually reprimanded at times commanders who wasted lives. It was not for humanitarian reasons but to waste soldiers lives hurt chances of victory. The problem was the training which was lacking until later in the war but they learned.
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  162. There were heavy AA snd Artillery on the East bank and the islands in the Volga. The germans tried repeatedly but reinforcements got through even with losses.
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  163.  @TheImperatorKnight  Up to the end of September the Wehrmacht had 675,320 dead on the Eastern Front. Figure about 3 times that many wounded. The Soviets probably over 6 million dead.
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  164. Actuall by the end of September 1942 the Germans had 674,303 killed and approximately 1,900,000 wounded on the Eastern front. It is well known and documented that millions of Soviet soldiers were killed. That was not propaganda but the actual total is in dispute but it was many millions.
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  165.  @jacekpalubinski7171  Well my sources are Glantz When Titans Clashed and lopukhosky The Price of Victory. The official total by a special commission published in 1988 by the USSR government was 11,444,100. The German deaths were about 3,500,000 to 4,000,000. I don't know if you are disputing the number of Soviet deaths or the German deaths or both. If so what are your numbers and what sources are you using? These are totals for 1941-1945.
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  166. Yes wounded Wehrmacht soldiers were returned to the front if they were still capable of fighting
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  167. The Germans were getting support by removing their troops along the Don and replacing them with Romanians. Not right now but you will see this happening in the future.
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  168.  @krzysztofsachmacinski9591  Yes the Germans were arrogant. Remember at the Vinnitsa conference when Halder said they would take the city in 10 days but Paulus wasn't sure. When you have Hitler and the high command thinking this is going to be a short mop up operation but can't send any reinforcements it is a recipe for disaster.
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  169. The Germans found that their horses had a tough time in winter. They were not used to the extreme cold of the Russian winter. They also needed fodder and could not survive on the grasses alone in the USSR as opposed to Russian ponies. And on the steppe there was very little grass.
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  170. Fritz in his book Ostkrieg makes the point that logistics were inadequate for the Germans even before encirclement and there was suffering from inadequate food but noy outright starvation. p.317-18.
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  171. Not enough troops and parachute attacks are not a good idea in below freezing weather. Also no armor to deal with Soviet armor in parachute attacks.
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  172. The decision to split forces was mostly if not all Hitler. He decided to send forces to Caucasus before Stalingrad was captured. He also decided to send Manstein and the 11th army to Leningrad and so they were not available in the South.
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  173. Don't know where you got that info? SEE THIS From 1953–56 he lived in Dresden, East Germany, where he worked as the civilian chief of the East German Military History Research Institute. In late 1956, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and became progressively weaker. He died within a few months, in Dresden, on 1 February 1957, 14 years and one day after his surrender at Stalingrad. As part of his last will and testament, his body was transported to Baden-Baden, West Germany, to be buried at the Hauptfriedhof (main cemetery)[19] next to his wife, who had died eight years earlier in 1949, not having seen her husband since his departure for the Eastern Front in the summer of 1942.[Note 3]
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  174.  @LavrencicUrban  They were up in the Leningrad area https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Nordlicht_(1942)
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  175. The differences were huge. IN 1942 the Germana produced 9,200 tanks, 15,409 planes , 1200 artillery. The USSR produced 24,446 tanks, 25,436 planes and 49,100 artillery. Manpowerat this time was approx. 2 to 1 in favor of the USSR.
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  176. It is interesting to note of the agressive commanders Rommel lost and Patton won and of the conservative commanders Paulus lost and Eisenhower on. So neither attitude guarantees success. It depends on the situation your logistics and what strengths an weaknesses your forces havev.d
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  177. They are making an all out attack with reinforcements taken from areas on the Don and with the majority of the tanks they can spare along with an increase of Stuka sorties.
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  178.  @mladenmatosevic4591  I understand. My point was that people should be aware that their were significant advantages that the Germans held even in urban warfare at Stalingrad.
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  179. In 1945 there were many surrenders in the West and many mass surrenders.
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  180. Wolfram von Richtophen was diagnosed with a brain tumor and operated on in Oct 1944. His condition continued to deteriorate and he died in July 1945.
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  181. There was a rail line I believe by the East bank of the Volga. It is possible that it could be used to transship oil.
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  182. Hard to say since it is speculation but they would have had a better chance.
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  183. Zeitzler was never dismissed se this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Zeitzler
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  184. They had not developed the tactical skills as yet. The Germans had more effective cooperation between armor infantry and air. This will change later on but it is a learning process.
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  185. The first offensive was to break through the Germans in the north and link up with the 62nd Army. It was rushed and not carried out well but it made sense and at that time it was feared that Stalingrad would collapse. The 2nd was the sam idea thinking they could link up and was probably justified. By the 3rd and 4th it seemed a repetition of a failure and seemed wasteful to me. That is my view of the 4 offensives. Of course the Soviets hoped one of them would succeed.
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  186. There were a number of factors and you named a couple. German arrogance and belief in there superiority of their troops in any situation and the same notion like at Moscow that we are in bad shape but the Russians are in worse and not taking into account of Soviet reinforcements are a couplefactors.
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  187. Not until 1943 and beyods. After Stalingrad he often deferred to his generals.
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  188. The Germans never planned to cross the Volga and had not prepared for it. They planned to follow the west bank of the Volga down to Astrakhan after capturing Stalingrad.
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  189. Milch was not Jewish in any interpretation. He had a jewish father but was raised aChristian. He had no ties to the Jewish community and never considered hmself Jewish in any way.. His mother claimed he was illegitimate to hide his ancestry. He was only Jewish by Nazi racial laws but not by any recognized view of his identity. Reply
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  190. He was in a mixed marriage with an "aryan" which kept him from being deported.
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  191. The Germans were in a desperate situation for troops once the 6th Army was no longer able to participate in the south of the USSR. It is obvious Manstein was trying to get any and every soldier he could into the counterattack. Clearly most were tied up in fending off other attacks along the Chir and the ones in the center were fighting in Rzhev. Even the ones in the Caucasus were supposed to get oil but were also in a standstill. Troops in France and the West would take weeks to reach the Stalingrad. The Germans attacked with what hey had but it was hardly likely to be successful.
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  192. Arrogance and the continued belief that the "Soviets are finished" helped to defeat them.
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  193. There were only 3 German divisions in N. Africa and not that many tanks certainly compared to the USSR. There would be no guarantee that Mussolini would send more soldiers to the USSR than he already did.
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  194. They certainly did in the winter of1944-45. The Nazis punished them for welcoming the allies who reached part of the Netherlands
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  195.  @livingtribunal4110  I am not saying you need Glantz but I do not think we should discourage anybody who wants the in depth information to seek it out. Each person is different and has different needs. Few will buy the 5 books on Stalingrad that Glantz published. I just reacted to what I saw as either discouraging or disparaging Glantz's vital research.
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  196.  @3idraven714  Can't answer that.
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  197. Hilter and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had. 2
    2
  198. No
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  199. That was the original plan. The attack would be in stages but Hitler split the forces and the two army groups went in seperate directions which weakened both groups.
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  200. How would they cross the Volga without boats. The Don front manned with armies and commanded by Yeremenko was there. How would they hold the beachhead? What about the Soviet troops north of Stalingrad if they sent troops over the Volga? The 6th Army and OKH never planned to cross the Volga.
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  201. They had peak production but also halted much of the spare parts to increase production. There fuel available for training pilots was minimal and also for sorties. They lost many experienced pilots and were not able to replace them so increased production did not help much. Also the combat effectiveness of the planes declined since they had to use slave labor not skilled workers.
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  202. Well what was the reason? Do you know?
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  203. Indeed the Germans used the ponies when they needed to but a modern army needs much more in supplies tahn an ancient one ad railways are the most efficient.
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  204. The Stalingrad area was serviced only by 3 single track railway lines which were regularly interrupted by air attacks and partisans. Trucks were worn out and fuel scarce. Horses were sent back to winter quarters . By October the 6th Army was receiving less then half its required daily trainloads of supply. The 6th Army would face a hunger catastrophe even if they seized the entire city Fritz Ostkrieg p. 297.
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  205. Aid will come in from the West and and the Germans were trapped and got less and less food fuel and ammunition so the situation is different.
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  206. No there were a number of attacks on the Kletskaya and Serifimovich bridgeheads and none of them eliminated the foothold. It would have taken a very much stronger and sustained attack and even then it might not have succeeded.
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  207.  @LokiOdinssnn  How come the Germans did not execute the soldiers who killed Soviet citizens on the spot? I don't think they treated raspe any more seriously than civilian massacres.
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  208. They had airdrops but those are unreliable and the Germans lacked fuel to recover the airdrops.
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  209. Yes they could have used them but how long would it take them to get to Stalingrad? That assumes they were sent on their way months ago.
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  210. They sometimes could hold brcause they were dug in and fortified all the buildings the best they could.
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  211. It was about the 23rd to 25th when they started to hear the sounds of battle starting to recede from them they knew the relief was over.
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  212. Yes it would be impossible for the Wehrmacht to get oil in a single campaign. Not only the tremendous flanks but also the distances. They reached Rostov but could not hold it. Maikop is 207 miles (Not Kilometers) from Rostov. and the least of the oil centers. Grozny is 354 miles from Rostov and the big prize Baku is 883 miles from Rostov. To reach these and over the Caucasus in the fall and winter is impossible. If the USSR collapsed it might work but obviously they did not. Rommel had only 3 or 4 German divisions the rest of his troops were Italian. No way that would have made a difference.
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  213. The Romanians would not be interested in fighting in the West. They were out to get Transnistria and Bukovina which they had to cede to the Soviets. They were also promised Soviet territory including Odessa. The Italians and Hungarians were asked to supply men for the Eastern Front by Hitler and they complied. They were not needed in the West in the summer of 1942.
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  214.  @mumin7229  There were no unimportant parts to send them to. There were attacks vital for Germany in the Caucasus to get oil. The Soviets were fighting in the center at Rezhv and Hitler wanted to take Leningrad in the North but was unable to do so since the Soviets attacked. There were no quiet places and the Germans needed the axis troops to advance in the South or they would be too short of manpower to carry out the offensive.
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  215. They lost land to the USSR and wanted that back. They were anticommunist and hated the Soviets. Hitler promised them additional land from the USSR including Odessa.
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  216.  @keithsledger6282  I don't see how that justifies Hitler
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  217. That is true. You need instructors for US equipment . Also there were US observers.
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  218. They didsince every plane landed brought back wounded. It wouldn't make sense to flu planes empty and the number of planes that made it due to weather flak and the Red Airforce would not be greater if the planes were loaded with supplies. There was little chance each plane could make atrip more than once s day so the number coming out was probably noy going to change.
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  219. What is?
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  220.  @greatsouthernplumbinggaswa2255  To give you a little more information the Germans lost 45,033 dead in September 1942 and you can assume 3 times the number of wounded. Obviously fighting is going on in other places along the front. Isaev gives totals of Soviet strengths of divisions. On Sept 25 the 13th guard is down to 6,906. Another figure is the 42nd rifle brigade losses on Sept 17-18 is 153 men killed 308 wounded and 72 missing. You really have to read Glantz , Isaev and others to get the picture since even with all the detail Tik doesn't have time to discuss all the losses mentioned in the various books.
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  221. You can read Island of Fire which covers the Soviet division around the Barrikady factory which was isolated but continued to fight as a unit until the full capture of Stalingrad by the Soviets they were there all the months of fighting and it was quite some time (January 1943) till the Soviets reached them.
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  222. Well as far as the Soviets were concerne3d they were likely to shoot SS members from any country as they identified any SS with atrocities.
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  223. Yes I would agree. Difficulty in the arrival of supplies at the airport might be a contributing factor but not the sole one. Both von Richtophen and Fibbig made it clear from the beginning of the airlift that they could not see how they could deliver even the minimum of supplies. The various factors weather, anti-aircraft flak the Red Airforce and other problems they were aware of were taken into consideration and these problems were even worse than they anticipated. As with most failures there were multiple reasons but it was was very quickly evident from the first few days the airlift was not going to work.
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  224. No
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  225. Milch was not Jewish in any interpretation. He had a jewish father but was raised aChristian. He had no ties to the Jewish community and never considered hmself Jewish in any way.. His mother claimed he was illegitimate to hide his ancestry. He was only Jewish by Nazi racial laws but not by any recognized view of his identity.
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  226. Perhaps perhaps not. Many were near total starvation or sick and the vast majority died within a few months.
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  227. The Luftwaffe had been bringing in supplies since July but it could not have satisfied the army.
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  228.  @alanle1471  As I said not in Stalingrad they were on the front line.
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  229. They did not have enough men to do this and also support the attack on Stalingrad. They had to use Romanians, Hungarians and Italians to protect their flanks on the Don rather than German troops
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  230. The Romanians had taken huge casualties and a long time in taking Odessa and the Germans did not have faith in their ability to fight in Stalingrad. Also the Germans did not anticipate such a overwhelming attack at the Don so thought the Romanians could manage
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  231. As to one of your questions it was the Soviets who were doing the attacking at Rzhev and since the attacks were heavy Army Group Center needed reinforcement. Hitler did not use Army Group Center to keep the Soviets busy he wanted to conquer the USSR and the plan was on 3 axis, North, Center and South in1941.
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  232. Yes they knew they were under equipped and did not have the training the Germans had. They saw the weakness and exploited it.
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  233. Excusing the war crimes of the Wehrmacht https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEraxud7vZ4&t=11s
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  234.  @coolunicorn2895  Wehrmacht crimes were planned before. There was an agreement to support murder squads in the USSR in March 1941 before any soldier entered the USSR.
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  235.  @coolunicorn2895  Your ignorance is showing. The Morgenthau plan did not have anything to to with "killing half the German People". It was about deindustrializing Germany. It did not propose killing anyone. ..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgenthau_Plan. The attempt to depopulate the USSR is discussed here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalplan_Ost. You better start reading a lot more on WWII and what the Germans did and planned to do. You keep getting things wrong. I don't know if this is deliberate or you just don't know. If you read the previous information I sent you would be aware of what the Germans actually did https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J-xlJgCr2U&t=1s&bpctr=1610225635.
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  236. Indeed they had to send many reinforcements to Rzhev and Hitler sent Manstein and the 11th army to Leningrad. Meanwhile Army Group A was sent to the Caucasus. The Wehrmacht was short of soldiers.
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  237. He would get nothing from the US.
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  238.  @postumus77  There are plenty of books on what the Nazis did in the USSR and in Yugoslavia (also Slavs) there is a movie Russian called Come and See. Make some effort on your such as reading wikipedia and exploring the bibliography instead of crying you don't get enough attention.
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  239. There were not enough produced, fuel available and pilots to make a difference. Too little and too late.
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  240. @Clinton Reisig I believe you are wrong. There was active fighting both at Rezehv in the central section and fighting in the North at Leningrad. It was Hitler who sent Manstein and the 11th army to Leningrad. I don't think much of Halder but he needed troops in the center and Hitler wanted Leningrad. Also the German army was definitely short of manpower.
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  241. In some areas he mentioned the Soviets did not advance.
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  242.  @cccpredarmy  If you are attacked by tanks and promised antitank weapons but they are never delivered it is pretty difficult to stop a tank corps or division. Some Romanian divisions held firm especially General Lascar. See this After the Romanian front was broken at the Battle of Stalingrad, General Lascăr took command of the remains of the Romanian Third Army and kept fighting for 4 days. The only unit under his command that managed to escape encirclement was the battalion led by major Gheorghe Răscănescu. Lascăr was taken prisoner on November 22, 1942, spending the years 1943–1945 in captivity in the Soviet Union.
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  243. See Military History Visualized. He did a couple videos on booty weapons.
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  244. All this information is already available in books. Most from Glantz along with Hayward and Isaev that is where the information comes from.
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  245.  @valentine8988  They fought for the Soviet Union not Russia.
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  246.  @valentine8988  Evidently you don't know your own history. It was the USSR from 1918 till 1990. Ukrainians, Russians, Kazaks, Tatars and every other nationality fought in the Soviet forces in WWII not just Russians.
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  247. The problem is people think it is accurate history. If they watch it and go on to read real history books thats great. If they think they have an accurate picture of the battle for Stalingrad not good.
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  248. Indee even when it is not justified.
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  249. Not a 400 kilometer breakout in the middle of winter and verging on starvation. The circumstances at Cherkassy was different.
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  250. Yes it was good for it's time but is now sadly outdated.
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  251.  @timobrienwells  TIK doesn't just use Glantz but also uses Isaev and Hayward and also Jason Marks. If you are watching this series you should know that.
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  252.  @timobrienwells  And if Glantz Hayward and Isaev are in your opinion not any good what historians do you use for the battle of Stalingrad?
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  253. They also had insufficient transport planes and the weather was against them. Also the Soviet air force was gaining in strength.
    2
  254. So are the Nazis
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  255. They did change the rails but often did a shoddy job since they were in a rush.. In many cases even changing rails was not enough because there was only a single line and that was a bottleneck in itself. Further you do not mention constant partisan attacks on the railways and motor transport columns which had a very negative effect on supplies to the front. The Germans were in the USSR for over 4 years and the supply situation never was good.
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  256.  @thehistoryenthusiast4956  There are several other books to explore: Jean Ancel The History of the Holocaust in Romania, Mihai Polenc The Holocaust in the Romanian Borderlands, Henry Eaton The Origins and Onset of the Romanian Holocaust, Randolph Braham the Destruction of the of the Romanian and Ukrainian Jews During the Antonescu Era, Radu Ioanid The Holocaust in Romania, Radu Ioanid The Iasi Pogrom June-July 1941 a Photo Documentary Matatias Carp Holocaust in Romania Facts and Documents.
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  257. The Stalingrad videos come out about every 4 weeks. He certainly is not done.
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  258. He left Stalingrad and shows up later at Kursk in Operation Citadel.
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  259. The luftwaffe was already bringing some supplies in. They could not bring enough to supply the shortage.
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  260.  @chrishoff402  This would not be practical and have reduced even further the supplies the 6th Army received. Night drops are very tricky and night navigation in the middle of winter in the Soviet Union would be a nightmare.
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  261.  @frerderickbays2762  The Soviets did not get replacements everyday. Many days they received no reinforcement at all and were severely short of ammunition since supplies were not available at times from the East bank. Also Paulus pulled additional men from the line of the Don for reinforcement to be replaced by Romanian troops. You will see this as the series progresses so you are mistaken.
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  262. Both sides were short of food and it depends on what period of time in 1942 you are talking about. The Soviets received food aid from the US and the situation improved as the war went on. The Germans confiscated food from occupied territories to supplement what they produced. It got worse as the war went on. In Stalingrad it depended on how supplies were available. The Soviets (not Russians) often had supply and food shortages as they were supplied from across the Volga. The Germans were at the end of a long and difficult supply line and the amount of food available was insufficient. After they were encircled it became a crisis and starvation followed.
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  263. No they were behind because of unexpected resistance. They did underestimate the number of troops they encircled.
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  264. Not enough times.
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  265. There were huge Soviet attacks around Rzhev at army group Center and there was urgent need for replacements. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Rzhev
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  266. How could the Finns help stalingrad as they werea thousand miles away? Perhaps you meant Leningrad. The inns invaded the USSR along with the Germans. Not every Axis partner agreed to send troops to the Stalingrad area and the Finns having a very small population had no extra troops to send away from their front. Sending troops to Stalingrad is not what defines being in the Axis.
    2
  267. They were used as laborers, and other support troops which freed more Germans for the front lines.
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  268. Yes urban fighting advantages the defense especially in Stalingrad.
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  269. They did and evacuated the wounded also.
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  270. It also should be remembered that ubtil Nov 1942 only about 1/2 of France was under occupation. The rest was governed by Vichy France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_military_administration_in_occupied_France_during_World_War_II#/media/File:FranceOccupee.jpg
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  271. Every general who wrote memoirs was a hero.
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  272. By the end of September 1942 that is when the Germans entered Stalingrad the Germans had 674,361 deaths on the Eastern front. The Soviets had well over 5.700,000 deaths.
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  273. Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire is good and TIK does use it in his videos.
    2
  274. Not true just a myth
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  275. Keep watching for the surrender although the Nazis claimed all the men died and fought to the last bullet.
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  276. They had no units in the east that were not busy. The Soviets are attacking Army Group Center and Army Group North. Paulus is using his troops along the Don. As the Romanians and Italians and Hungarians take over these duties he starts feeding them into the city. If there are any reserves they are in France and it takes weeks to properly train, equip and transport them thousands of miles.
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  277.  @azralandar  Here is what I found: In recent years other authors have offered more detail on the losses of each side. John Manrho and Ronald Pütz, published their findings in Bodenplatte: The Luftwaffe's Last Hope. According to their figures, taken from German and Allied sources, which include the remains of German airmen found up until 2003,[7] German casualties were 271 fighters destroyed, 65 single-engine fighters damaged and 9 twin-engine aircraft destroyed, and four damaged. Some 143 pilots were killed in action, 70 became prisoners of war and 21 were wounded in action.[8][9] The Allies lost 305 aircraft destroyed and 190 aircraft damaged.[10] A further 15 Allied aircraft were shot down and ten damaged. A further six were downed by other causes.[11] Manrho and Pütz have also deduced that only 17 German aircraft are certain to have been shot down by German Flak. Even if aircraft with unknown fates are added, it still gives a figure of only 30–35. They state that the notion that one-third of the German aircraft were shot down by friendly fire is "myth".[10]
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  278. Plays for me.
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  279. It was because the intelligence sources expected an attack in the center Operation Mars. They did not expect an attack in the south at Stalingrad. When they eventually decided there would be an attack at Stalingrad they expected it to be weak since they believed the Soviets could not mount two attacks and they were confident that the attack would be beaten off as the previous Kotluban offensives had been.
    2
  280. Good guy? no.
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  281. The cavalry was important arm for the Soviets. They usually fought dismounted but the use of horses in a land with few roads gave them extra mobility. Here is some information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry_corps_(Soviet_Union)
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  282.  @paulbabcock2428  I don't use the word genius. I think he was the best operational general in the German army. There were others who were very good such as Model and Henrici but they were mostly defensive specialists and had few if any offensive victories.
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  283. The Germans had air supremacy over Stalingrad. It did not change till Nov 1942. The Soviet air force tried but were outclasses by the more experienced Germans.
    2
  284. Not what they could do when they had fully learned the lesson of combined arms and improved tactical and operational efforts. That would show up in 1944 in Operation Bagration.
    2
  285. Where did you get that information There is no evidence he opposed Hitler. He was prosecuted for war crimes.
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  286. Because of the great attrition in the battles for the city and along the Kotluban region many combat troops were lost and so the number of rear area troops compared to combat troops began to be extreme.
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  287. That info is not always available and would be changing day to day. I think TIK is working pretty hard just doing what he is doing.
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  288. They were able to concentrate their reserves and they outproduced the Germans in tanks, aircraft and artillery.
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  289. Part of their fighting was do to fear of the Soviets and their retaliation for German atrocities.
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  290. You don't say. Tell us what is wrong.
    2
  291. Hitler was nominally a Christian. He did not support paganism as did Himmler. He would have liked a Christianity more in line with Nazi ideology and racial notions. And of course he opposed any Christians both clergy and lay that were in opposition to his government.
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  292. Not toot much difference. It was an honor for their successful operations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guards_unit_(Soviet_Union)
    2
  293. Zhukov had Stalin and the defense committee to contend with as the Germans had Hitler and Halder.
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  294. It is a starting place but not a finishing place.
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  295. There was almost no chance of the Germans reaching Baku. They captured Maikop but never reached Grozny which was 354 miles (not Kilometers) further.. From Miakop to Baku is another 676 miles or over 1000 kilometers. Not only would the Soviets stop fighting but the Germans would have to have a new logistics system.
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  296.  @michaelconnors7668  I don't think they planned to get the oil in Baku in 1941. They made the assumption that the USSR would collapse and that the fighting would be over in 8 to 12 weeks. That means that at the beginning of October the war with the USSR would end. Therefore no worries about logistics, no worries about what the winter would mean. It seems ludicrous now but they did think so. They also did not have to worry about oil since they had enough. The Germans were realistic enough to realize that they could not reach Baku in one campaign since they got as far as Rostov but could not hold it and Baku was 800 miles (1200+ kilometers) further but why worry since if the USSR collapsed they will get the oil in 1942.
    2
  297. IThink it applies to the battles outside the city in Stalingrad itself, the Northern flank attacks, reinforcements to both armies including Romanians Hungarians and Italians and Operation Uranus .
    2
  298.  @ScepticGinger89  I accept your explanation. You expressed yourself poorly and I took offense. If you are expressing sarcasm remember no one can see your facial expression or tone of voice.
    2
  299. The Germans invaded the USSR with 3,800,00 me. Would 45,00 men be much of a difference. The Germans had many more panzer divisions and tanks in the USSR. Would the panzers from N Africa make a difference not in any significant way.
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  300.  @Ph33NIXx  As to Fall Blau being to only offensive planned you are wrong. Operation Nordlicht was planned to encircle and take Leningrad. Manstein and the 11th Army was sent to the Leningrad area and because of the Soviet offensive the Germans wound up in a defensive battle that enabled them just to hang on. You may not have heard it but it happened but is not as well known and of course an offensive requires a buildup of troops. Tik did not go into the fighting at Rezvh and how many troops it took. TIK I think did a disservice by indicating numbers of troops sent but not giving any reasons for the imbalance of reinforcements. It naturally raises questions and without looking into reasons it seems just arbitrary. It was a not. Was it poor decision? maybe but without exploring the reasons it makes it difficult to make a judgment. I will await his full explanation for the way reinforcements were allocated.
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  301. Initially, supply flights came in from the field at Tatsinskaya,[139] called 'Tazi' by the German pilots. On 23 December, the Soviet 24th Tank Corps, commanded by Major-General Vasily Mikhaylovich Badanov, reached nearby Skassirskaya and in the early morning of 24 December, the tanks reached Tatsinskaya. Without any soldiers to defend the airfield, it was abandoned under heavy fire; in a little under an hour, 108 Ju 52s and 16 Ju 86s took off for Novocherkassk – leaving 72 Ju 52s and many other aircraft burning on the ground. A new base was established some 300 km (190 mi) from Stalingrad at Salsk, the additional distance would become another obstacle to the resupply efforts. Salsk was abandoned in turn by mid-January for a rough facility at Zverevo, near Shakhty. The field at Zverevo was attacked repeatedly on 18 January and a further 50 Ju 52s were destroyed. Winter weather conditions, technical failures, heavy Soviet anti-aircraft fire and fighter interceptions eventually led to the loss of 488 German aircraft.
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  302. Manstein and 11th Army to Leningrad. Reinforcements to Army Goup Center at Rzhev and reinforcements to the Caucasus.
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  303. What secret help?
    2
  304.  @Spiderfisch  Yes the US was very active in supplying aid to the USSR but I could not understand what he thought was secret. The US aid was very well publicized and well known.
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  305. They sent Manstein and the 11th Army to capture Leningrad. However a big Soviet attack went in and the Germans were just able to hold their positions and the contemplated attack was called off.
    2
  306. Correct planes are more replaceable but having many planes and few or no pilots to fly them does nothing for your air force. Particularly when your experienced pilots are not rotated or sent to train others as the Germans did and many just flew till they were shot down and captured or killed.
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  307.  @tancreddehauteville764  Take a look at this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_atrocities_committed_against_Soviet_prisoners_of_war
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  308.  @tancreddehauteville764  Then I would suggest you follow up with the list of sources listed in their bibliography. If you have any sources that you consider better please list them for me.
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  309.  @walterwarren2402  Cary Black 3 minutes ago (edited) The Stalingrad area was serviced only by 3 single track railway lines which were regularly interrupted by air attacks and partisans. Trucks were worn out and fuel scarce. Horses were sent back to winter quarters . By October the 6th Army was receiving less then half its required daily trainloads of supply. The 6th Army would face a hunger catastrophe even if they seized the entire city Fritz Ostkrieg p. 297.
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  310. Two reasons forGermans taking Soviet boots. One was their bookt were falling apart because of huge distances they had to walk in the USSR and German logistics had trouble supplying new ones. Second the Soviet boots for winter were much better suited to the cold so the Germans grabbed then when they could.
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  311. You are right. The Soviets were on the brink until the end as far fighting in the city Stalingrad goes.
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  312.  @sorsocksfake  I can't answer that. I don't think an armed assault over the Volga was ever in the German plans but I don't know.
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  313. Too weak
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  314. They were wiped out.
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  315. There were several plans and they were impractical. By March 1941 the German army had reached an agreement with the Einsatzgruppen (murder squads) to give them logistical and other assistance and this was 3 months before a German soldier set foot in the USSR.
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  316. You summed it up pretty well. One thing you left out. Hitler was convinced they would win and his generals with exceptions did likewise. Perhaps their confidence was based on only what they knew. The terrible showing the Soviets had against the Finns and the quick German victory over the French. You pointed out what they did not know or were too arrogant to consider.
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  317. Cite your proof. If everybody knows it should be easy for you to give citations
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  318. Because he has the most depth on Stalingard. Prior to his books almost all books on the Eastern Front depended on German memoirs and documentts. Not necessarily the fault of histtorians but much of the Soviet side was missing. Glantz was a specialist in Slavic military history went into the archives and was able to give us the much mor complete history of the battle from both sides.
    2
  319.  @darklysm8345  Different people have different opinbions. But whatever his biases are it is better to get both sides than only one which was the case for 40 years.
    2
  320. As of October 1, 1942 the Germans have lost 674,362 men killed and approximately 2,022,000 men wounded on the Eastern front
    2
  321. Well there are examples on both the German side in the battel for Moscow and the Soviet side when they capture the bridge at Kalach.
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  322. The wehrmacht originally planned to either block or take Stalingrad and then head into the Caucasus. Hitler changed the plan and decided to do both simultaneously.
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  323. Chuikov was still in charge. There was still a chain of command in the divisions and brigades. And everyone knew that they might have to pick up a weapon if the occaision demanded and in Stalingrad it happened more often.
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  324. Germaqny would have to go to war with the US if japan was attacked by the US not the other way around.
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  325.  @RYLCatalystic  I disagree. Hitler made the decision to declare war on the US when he was not obligated to do so. The fact that he would back Japan at some time in the future does not mean he had to do this immediately. You have to take in consideration that Japan signed a non agression pact with the USSR in April 1941 and certainly did not back their ally Germany. The quick declaration of war against the US made any political problems that Roosevelt might have had for a war with Germany disappear.
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  326. The Luftwaffe was bloated by thousands of men. Ground crews, aircrews and administrative staff of course were needed but thousands volunteered for the Luftwaffe because it looked more glamorous or seemed a better choice than serving in the army. Goering was willing to take these unnecessary men since it enhanced his standing and power against his rivals in the Nazi power struggle.
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  327. You might look ino Anton Joly's books Stalingrad Battle Atlas in 4 volumes. By the way your English is fine.
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  328. Dnipro
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  329. Hitler tricked himself into persisting at Stalingrad.
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  330. I would say Hitler feared an attack but did not know any more than anyone else. He feared but did not take action but just wanted the capture of the city to be speeded up as much as possible to be able to send those troops in the city to the flanks.
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  331. Well you should not be watching youtube at all by your comment. Why bother to watch or comment?
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  332. No The supplies still needed to be sent from Germany and other areas like Warsaw and transported to the airfields so they could be flown into Stalingrad.
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  333.  @insideoutsideupsidedown2218  No they thought the campaign with the the USSR would take 6 to 8 weeks, well beore the onst of winter and they would have captured Moscow and any Soviet resistence would be east of the Urals.
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  334.  @roberts1711  He does not of course. He makes his judgement on evaluating the evidence. That what you do when you judge what someone claims in his book. You can't be sure about what happened unless the claim is impossible. Tik gave his opinion and you can disagree. The current research by Glantz and others show the Romanians resisted at first but started to collapse when overwhelmed by Soviet tanks.
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  335. It is not the famous Willy Brandt
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  336. Milch was not Jewish in any interpretation. He had a jewish father but was raised aChristian. He had no ties to the Jewish community and never considered hmself Jewish in any way.. His mother claimed he was illegitimate to hide his ancestry. He was only Jewish by Nazi racial laws but not by any recognized view of his identity.
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  337. No the Germans were hard pressed to maintain their Northen defenses. An attack might have weakened them more than what they would gain.
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  338. Easy to explain. The high command (Halder) and the supreme command (Hitler) said you must take Stalingrad. All you have to have is the WILL and National Socialist drive and nothing can stop you.
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  339. The professiosl soldiers were aware of the problem of supplies before the invasion of the USSR started. However Hitler insisted on the invassion. Also both Hitler and he General Staff thought the campaign would take 4 to 8 weeks ending at most at the end of August well before winter and the collapse of the supply situation. They counted on a rapid campaign and the collapse of the Soviets. Obviously this did not happen.
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  340. The large reserves were built well back from Stalingrad and you will see how the movements were well disguised when we get to the end of Oct beginning of Nov. However the Germans said over and over again the Russian is finished , he has no m,ore troops to attack. The intelligence of the Wehrmacht was pitiful.
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  341. Well they did not. If They started immediately, within 3-5 days perhaps. After that chances went down hill. And Hitler refused permission to break out.
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  342. Time to do some readinG: Joel S Hayward Stopped at Stalingrad the Luftwaffe and Hitler's defeat in the East. Very good on the Luftwaffe and quotes extensively from von Richthophen's diary
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  343. He was busy in North Africa. Why send him to the Eastern front when he was keeping British troops engaged. He would be less effective in the East as by Dec 1941 the war of movement had ended and it was mostly frontal attacks. Finally one more general would not mean much. Guderian was a very aggressive general and he had to pull back in December 1941 so Rommel would have been in a similar situation.
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  344. There was a multi volume German official history of WWII by a team of scholars done in the 1990s I think. Some have been translated into English but are very expensive.
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  345. The 6th Army had no plan to cross the Volga nor did the OKH. The Volga was a very wide river that would have taken extensive planning to cross. I don't believe the boats that would be needed were there. The Stalingrad front under Yeremenko was there with many troops. Finally the 6th Army was already weakened and short of troops and was already being attacked on the northern flank and all troops there were occupied as well as the troops trying to take the city.
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  346. The NkVD regiment fought on the frontline. Do not confuse them with blocking detachments who also in some instances fought on the front lines.
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  347. Only if you consider Nazi Germany good. If you do it shows the kind of person you are.
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  348. You see there was very heavy fighting at Rzhev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Rzhev
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  349.  @josephkugel5099  BS don't need any explanation from you as you are deluded.
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  350. Good questions. Yes they were myopic . Over and over again from Hitler, Halder, the Okh and the high command back in Germany, not at the front, the refrain was ":the Russianis finished", we are hurting but the Soviets are worse off. They might launch an attack but won't be successful. Also since are soldiers are so much superior to the Soviets we will always win. On top of that the German intelligence service and intelligence on the Eastern front was very poor and they did not seem to be able to get a real idea of the resources and manpower of the USSR.
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  351. Mars Saturn Little Saturn and Jupiter (cancelled)
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  352. There was limited fighting in the city but gains by either side was small and considering both sides were very beaten up this is not surprising.
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  353.  @johnkkkj  I am not guessing. Read Island Of Fire by Jason D Mark who describes the fighting in the city particularly the Barrikady Gun Factory through the German surrender.
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  354. The effect they had was to drive more and people into the partisan organization.
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  355. An excellent book is Joel Hayward Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East 1942-1943
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  356. Battle of the Bulge happened when the Third Reich was on its last legs and there was no way the Germans could stave off defeat whether they were successful or not. Kursk is different but they Germans lost their largest amy at Stalingrad and they did not lose anything like that at Kursk.
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  357. There was a very important factor which is that the Germans had complete air superiority during the the Don battles and the assault on Stalingrad.
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  358. You have to look at the entire front. There was no inactive front. The Germans hoped to take Leningrad but a soviet attack forced them on the defensive and Manstein and the 11th Army could not take the city. In the center the battles at Rzhev were intense and required reinforcements. In the Caucasus there was heavy fighting and oil was the goal. Al this fighting required more German troops so Stalingrad did not get reinforcements.
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  359.  @Anthony-jo7up  take a look at Dieppe.
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  360. Halderr said and Hitler agreed it would take a week to 10days but Pauklus did not agree and asked for 2 FRESH divisions.
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  361. No they were not. There was a civil war but Greece was never occupied by the Russian.
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  362. What is propaganda? The Germans having supply problems? That is well known by competernt historians and especially German historians.
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  363. no
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  364. The Soviets wanted to be sure the 6th Army was destroyed. They wanted there to be no chance for any troops to escape.
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  365. The Soviets remembered Demyansk when surrounded German divisions escxaped.
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  366.  @timobrienwells  Please tell us who are the accurate historians of the Russo-German war
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  367.  @timobrienwells  I have read the same ones and do not see where TIK is wrong in his description of the fighting. Can you supply any specific statements about which he is wrong. I also use Isaev.
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  368.  @timobrienwells  Wait a minute be specific. All you say is it is completely wrong. If you want to convince anyone you have to supply an argument not just say he is wrong. No one will accept only on your assertion.
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  369. No It would have been very dangerous and risky. The Volga was a very wide river and the Soviets were there in force.
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  370.  @dhardy6654  No I am not saying anything about the Artillery. I am saying the Germans had air superiority over Stalingrad and they used that in their attacks before and after they reached the city. The vast majority of Soviet artillery was located on the western bank of the Volga, not in the city. You said the Germans were totally deficient in air power and I pointed out that they had air superiority over Stalingrad.
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  371. They had all the fighting they could manage holding the Soviets off at Rzhev.
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  372. The Germans were in a desperate situation for troops once the 6th Army was no longer able to participate in the south of the USSR. It is obvious Manstein was trying to get any and every soldier he could into the counterattack. Clearly most were tied up in fending off other attacks along the Chir and the ones in the center were fighting in Rzhev. Even the ones in the Caucasus were supposed to get oil but were also in a standstill. Troops in France and the West would take weeks to reach the Stalingrad. The Germans attacked with what hey had but it was hardly likely to be successful.
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  373. It was von Manstein
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  374. Yes but no efforts were made and the lag time for getting oil for Italy would take many many years.
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  375.  @jimsackmanbusinesscoaching1344  Well you should ask Mussolini. Why they did nothing is something that is probably due to politics in Italy in the20s and 30s. Where you could find out is something I have no information on.
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  376. This is what I found. Maybe there is more info In 1935 a professor from Milan University who was in charge of a water well drilling program made it a point to watch for petroleum. This was probably more out of academic interest than a serious concern for finding a significant economic resource. A couple of year later petroleum was detected in a water well drilled near Tripoli. This find was enough to prompt a geological survey in Tripolitania. One well was drilled searching for petroleum but none was found. Nevertheless in 1940 a program of exploration was initiated but the available equipment was inadequate to deal with the severe conditions of the Saharan Desert. Shortly thereafter war came to Libya and all exploration stopped. Immediately after World War II the political status of Libya, which had been controlled by Italy, was uncertain. There was no state which could guarantee petroleum exploring companies the rights to what they might find. Therefore no exploration was carried out until after Libya became an independent kingdom in 1951. The new kingdom developed mineral rights law through consultation with the international petroleum companies. In 1953 Libya granted prospecting permits to eleven petroleum companies. Geologic surveys were undertaken by those companies. In 1955 a petroleum well was successfully drilled under desert conditions just across the border in Algeria.
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  377. From 1943 on it was thw Soviets who did the attacking not the Wehrmacht
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  378. He was feeling the pressure. He knew that the US would be involved in the ground war soon which happened in 1942 in North Africa. Also US aid to the USSR and other allies would only increase. He hoped there was a possibility to end the fighting on the Eastern front and be able to concentrate on the West. He had limited time to do this and he tried to rush the operations in response to the time pressure.
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  379. It would be a big problem to transport them to the Easter Front battle lines. Also the British Navy was powerful in the Meditteranean.
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  380. No that muc. The USSR had their own sorces and the US had enough at home and also supplied the UK.
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  381. By the time the Nazis developed the V1 and V2 it was too late. Besides they did not have the range or the accuracy to do much damage to the Soviet army.
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  382. It was the continued battles in the Rhzev that caused the need for replacements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Rzhev
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  383. Well he was there at Yeremenko's headquarters.
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  384. Rather I would say he is a libertarian
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  385. Their troops were not necessarily second rate. They did send in guard divisions.
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  386.  @mladenmatosevic4591  I still say they were not 2nd rate troops.
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  387. True there were were major attacks by the Soviets at Rzhev. They sent Manstein and 11th Army to Leningrad. They split Army Group South into A and B to simultaneously attack Stalingrad and the Caucasus when they were supposed to capture or neutralize Stalingrad and THEN go on to the Caucasus.
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  388.  @sirtalkalot3211  Cary Black 1 second ago Because Hitler wanted to keep all the conquest he made in Europe and then conquer the USSR. Eventually he could and would turn on the UK or at least turn it into a vassal state. That would be the end of Democracy in Europe. Also it would accept to terror that Germany visited on their conquered peoples. Do you think the Nazis would stop killing if they won the war?
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  389.  @sirtalkalot3211  We saw what Nazi Germany did as a fact and the pipe dream of Hitler wanting to peacefully let the UK go nits own way is absurd. It sounds like the propaganda the Germans put out to show how peace loving they were. I think the facts of Nazi Germany speak for themselves regarding the motives and plans of Germany.
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  390. The Germans are fighting in the Rzevh section in the Moscow axis. There are not much manpwoer and supplies to send to Stalingrad and of course the transport of supplies is still quite bad.
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  391. No
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  392. It was real but later tan the time frame of this video.
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  393. Yet they eventually cleared the South and central parts of Stalingrad and had over 90% of the city. This convinced the Germans that the city would fall to them.
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  394. They tried t bring about a quick victory in 1941 but it did not work. Now in 1942 the Germans are fighting off Soviet attacks at Leningrad in the north and Rzhev in the center as well as conducting an offensive at Stalingrad and the Caucasus. The Germans do not have enough troops and are hurting.
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  395.  @wazza33racer  They still predicted a short war with the USSR. They expected the war to last 12to 16 weeks which meant at the most the organized fighting would end by September 22nd or shortly thereafter. See Richard Evans The Third Reich At War. David Stahel Operation Typhoon and The Battle For Moscow.
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  396.  @wazza33racer  The point was that if they only attacked in the south they would have a very long flank. The Soviets could attack the flank and with no Soviet soldiers occupied in the north and center they would all attack the flank and cut it making the chances of the Germans being totally cut off from their supplies likely. There was also the danger of the Germans being trapped in a pocket in the Caucasus or elsewhere. It would be e extremely risky or suicidal to let millions of Soviet soldiers free to attack the flanks.
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  397. I agree with much of what you say however I have a somewhat different take. At the conference Halder is way over optimistic as usual and thinks Stalingrad can be taken in 10 days. Hitler agrees because it is just what he wants to hear and von Weichs agrees with his superiors. Paulus is more realistic and does not agree with ten days and says he needs additional troops. He must have agreed that he could take the city or they would have replaced him. The situation is this: the 6th army has taken many losses but they know the 62nd army is probably in worse shape. They haven't gone into the city yet but they know they have pushed the Soviets back in every action and repelled the attacks from north of the Don. Why would they not go into Stalingrad and assume they can take it with hard fighting? Is it likely they would not even try? After 2 weeks they have the south of Stalingrad in their hands. The commitment takes over and the mindset becomes one more push and we will have all of Stalingrad. Now at the end of the first push around Oct 1st is the time when they should have reevaluated and said this is costing us too much and the Soviets have reinforced. We need to take another look but by this time they and Hitler who gave a public speech Sept 30 that Stalingrad would be conquered, are committed.
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  398. There were major Soviet attacks a Rzhev and there was danger of a collapse. Hitler and Halder sent Manstein and the 11th Army to capture Leningrad. Hitler and Halder decided to attack the Caucasus and Stalingrad at the same time splitting their forces when the original plan was to capture or neutralize Stalingrad and THEN attack in the Caucasus.
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  399. They never sent troops that were scheduled to Astrakhan. They were tied up in Stalingrad.
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  400. I believe it is likely that Paulus I can take the city but did not give ant commitment to a particular amount of time it would take. He may have just said if you give me reinforcements I can take Stalingrad. One thing that TIK did not mention along with postponing dealing with the forces of the Soviets north of the Don the war diary of the 6th army (Sept.13, 1941) states the army will have to forego the complete clearing of the SOUTHERN BANK of the Don along the left flank. On the 15th of Sept it was noted FOLLOWING the capture of Stalingrad the army must as quickly as possible attack the area between the Volga and Don to the north and destroy the forces there Isaev p99. In other words they have decided to leave the bridgeheads at Serifimovich and Kletskaya until after conquering Stalingrad. This will have dire consequences in November as the Romanians will be defending those bridgeheads when the counterattack begins.
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  401. He did ask for reinforcements at the conference at Vinnitsa with Halder and Hitler. Halder said I have no fresh divisions to give you and gave him part of the 4th Panzer Army.
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  402. There was much hand to hand combat and more as the fighting went on. especially fights for many of the fortified buildings and factories. Main weapons, submachineguns, grenades, knives and entrenching tools.
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  403. What was the myth you are talking about?
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  404. Advertisements are controlled by youtube. TIK has no control over them.
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  405. It was pretty good although it was not a good substitute being very inefficient compared to having oil resources. But when the US bombers went after the synthetic oil plants it went from bad to a disaster.
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  406. Don't forget there were attacks on the Northern flank by the Soviets from the time iit reached the Volga. As TIK pointed out in previous episode Wintersheim wanted to pull out but he was forced to stay and the Germans were able to stabilize. I don't think the Wehrmacht could have reduced their troops in the North. Later they would reinforce the city attacks with troops from the Don as the Romanians took over that part of the Don line.
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  407. Hilter and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had. 2
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  408. It is a what if question and an unlikely situation. Japan already had a bloody nose at Kahlkin Gol from the Soviet army. The Japanese were looking for rubber, oil ,tin and other raw materials none of which was available to them in Siberia. They were already deeply involved in China. Attacking the USSR was not an option.
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  409. e film of the two Soviet armies meeting when they surrounded the 6th army was a recreation. The movie (documentary) Desert Victory about the victory at El Alamein was at least a partial reenactment. A film (documentary)about the Pearl Harbor attack December 7th was a reenactment. Everyone did them.
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  410. World At war is still valuable. It is important to realize it is many years old and we have learned much more about WWII since then.
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  411. The Luftwaffe did send supplies and had done so since July but it could never be sufficient.
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  412. No they did not but Germany did and if you sign the convention you are bound by it regardless of whether the other party signed or not.
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  413.  @МихаилЧерников-п2т  Yes Isaev lays it out .
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  414. Actually that was truer at the beginning of the war. Later on from late 1943 on Stalin did begin to defer to his generals in military matters but of course he expected success.
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  415.  @thelexkex  I did not say anything regarding Stalin's tyranny I just pointed out he was willing to listen to his generals and willing to defer to their opinions and they could disagree with him..
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  416. We still do not a definitive answer about why the Germans allocated troops as they did.
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  417. They would have been flown out.
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  418.  @tlanimass952  Correct. You will see a big change near the end of the battle as the Soviet air force grows.
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  419. I think you have a lot of research and reading to do. Don't expect TIK to do it all for you.
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  420.  @efolson  I am not asking for TIK to answer all these questions, you are.
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  421. Another what if for the Germans to win the war. How can you answer other than speculation. Finally Hitler, Zeitzler and the OKH insisted they capture Stalingrad.
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  422.  @davidtakacs7549  Difference is that the US was sending much food aid to the USSR through lend lease which eased their food problem. The oil that Germany received was from Romania but that was declining because of bombing raids on the oil fields and forced production. Germany had to depend on synthetic oil they made from coal and because this is expensive and inefficient oil was always a vulnerable area.
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  423.  @davidtakacs7549  I can't tell you how much food was supplied but I know they sent a lot of Spam and other canned foods which have along life without spoilage. If you know how short the Soviets were for food I would be interested.
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  424. See this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_participation_in_the_Eastern_Front
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  425. They did of course and also had the Hungarian, Romanian and Italian armies to help in the south. However there were strong Soviet attacks in both the south and the center and they had to reinforce the those armies.
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  426.  @juliantheapostate8295  Not in 1942. In fact Hitler was with Halder in Vinnitsa and when Paulus asked for 3 fresh divisions he said I have none. Hitler certainly could have overruled Halder. And it was Hitler who sent Manstein and the 11th Army from the South up to Leningrad to capture the city.
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  427.  @Michael-gm2pl  The Germans had faith in their own troops to conquer the city. The Romanians did very badly in conquering Odessa taking huge casualties and a very prolonged fight.. Obviously the Romanians were a stop gap to free up German troops and the Germans would go back to the Don and theoretically than defeat the Soviets facing them. The Germans had no choice. Remember a couple episodes back when Paulus ask for 3 fresh divisions and Halder said he had none.
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  428.  @Michael-gm2pl  Here is something about the battle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Odessa_(1941)
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  429. Sure and the whole series has value. It is just important to know that it is outdated and new info is available which changes some of the way we look at WWII.
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  430. Idiot
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  431. Certainly a lot of fuel had to be used for the Luftwaffe to even get in and out of Stalingrad and provide escorts which left less that could be given to the 6th Army.
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  432.  @WillyEckaslike  Swallowed Goebbels propaganda whole.
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  433.  @WillyEckaslike  I am not interested in your antisemitic and Nazi beliefs. You can heil yourself in the mirror. Here is something for you to watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEraxud7vZ4&t=6s
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  434.  @WillyEckaslike  Since you are a bigot and a follower of Nazi propaganda I know I won't change your opinions. Therefore it is a waste of time talking to you.
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  435. Don't know about the Germans but the night witches who flew biplanes bombed the Germans every night to derive them of sleep and do whatever damage they could.
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  436. There were Axis forces in the Caicasus , at Rhezv and at Leningrad as well as at Stalingrad.
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  437. There was major offenses against Army Group Center at Rzhev. See thishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Rzhev
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  438. No Hitler continually lied. He hoped he could destroy Poland just as he destroyed Czechoslovakia without a war but it did not work.
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  439. The US was supplying a lot of oil to the UK and could continue to.
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  440. No the Soviet army had to be fed as well as the German army. You also have to have people in communications, the commanders, artillery spotters and other specialists. Not every one was a rifleman but could pick up a weapon when needed.
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  441.  @RamblingRecruiter  The commanders still had to do their jobs and communications an people to run them were necessary. If your point is that sometimes specialists and others had to piuck up weapons and fight I agree. If your point id that there were no support troops I disagre.
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  442.  @RamblingRecruiter  No not rifleman first if they were important specialists that job was vital. There were still quartermasters and others to feed troops but everyone picked up if it was vital.
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  443. Ration strength is the total number of troops they have as opposed to combat troops. Ration strength takes into account all support troops such as truck drivers mechanics cooks etc.
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  444. The Luftwaffe did what they could. Had their hands full supporting attacks in the city, on the Northern flank and trying to stop boats crossing over the Volga. In addition they were also giving air support to the Caucasus offensive. See Hayward Stopped At Stalingrad.
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  445.  Wulf  True but that along the other duties I described were their mission.
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  446. They were mostly covering how the Soviets were holding out, fighting for every yard of ground. fighting till the end.
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  447. There could be many reasons nd I have seen no definitive explanation. There was heavy fighting in the North at Leningrad and there was extremely heavy fighting in the center at Rzhev. Or itcould be poor intelligence or other reason. This is speculation. If anyone has a definitive answer I would be interested.
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  448. It was certainly brilliant and changed the course of the war. They Germans were pushed back hundreds of kilometers and lost their most powerful army. Except for Karkov the Germans were on the defensive until the Soviets reached Berlin.
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  449. One can always view with hindsight what would have been a better tactic. However the whole operation was very successful for the Soviets anda disaster for the Germans and was one of the turning points of the war. And none of the Germans got away.
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  450. True. Heris some further info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tizard_Mission
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  451. @BoybytheLake People often do not know what happened on other fronts. I am opposed to any of the allies claiming they won the war by themselves. It was a group effort.
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  452.  @diegoalbertoramirezhernand9985  Spend your time reading the evidence that Hitler died in Berlin and the Soviets recovered what was left of his body instead of fairytsles.
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  453. Here is some further information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe_Field_Divisions
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  454.  @williamst.romain7393  Most likely becuase of his relationship with Hitler. Hitler still overlooked the in competence of Goering and when Goering said that he would turn the men into field divisions rather than turning them entirely to the army. Hitler excused Goering many times because of his loyalty during the rise to power of the Nazis.
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  455. Indeed they combed out the German rear echelon troops and I think Paulus considered using the tank men as well but I think he changed his mind.
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  456. Next to nothing. They were mostlt starved tp death.
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  457. Cary Black 1 second ago Because Hitler wanted to keep all the conquest he made in Europe and then conquer the USSR. Eventually he could and would turn on the UK or at least turn it into a vassal state. That would be the end of Democracy in Europe. Also it would accept to terror that Germany visited on their conquered peoples. Do you think the Nazis would stop killing if they won the war?
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  458. At this point in the war the Soviets had only a little success against the German Army. They did not know exactly what conditions were in the pocket and were surprised by the fierce resistance which may have given the Soviets the idea that the troops in the pocket were in better shape than what we know today. It may have been a case that we trapped them and we will make sure they are destroyed rather than taking troops away for a full scale attack elsewhere. I think it was a case of making sure this victory does not slip away. Your question was not stupid.
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  459. They all wanted to destroy the Soviet Union. They considered it a war of annihilation.
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  460. Both sides were badly weakened. If you want to know the strengths of various Soviet divisions and brigades read Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire.
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  461. But why would they back off attacking Stalingrad when they had yet to attack the city? They couldn't know on Sept 8 that an attack on the city would fail. They attacked Sept13 and in two weeks they had the Southern half of Stalingrad under their control.
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  462.  @georgecromarty5372  I agree that the Wehrmacht was in a bad position and it would have been better to reconsider their objectives. I have to disagree regarding their just saying screw Stalingrad. They were under a dictatorship and they were an army. When you supreme commander (Hitler) and your chief of the general staff Halder says you have to take Stalingrad you are bound to do it. Paulus of course could resign but if he did not but refused to take Stalingrad he would be relieved and another general would take his place with the same objective. The problem goes right to the top and there was no change of objectives there. On Sept 12 a t a conference with Hitler, Halder and Paulus it was decided to take Stalingrad first which was expected to take 12 to14 days and then with the troops freed up attack Soviet forces at the bridgeheads and than to attack and destroy the Soviet forces North of the Don. In order to help with the attack the 4th panzer would be available for attack on Stalingrad itself and not just South of the city. This decision to delay clearing Kletskaya and Serafimovich would have dire consequences in the future. The optimism was obviously misplaced but until they attacked the city they would not know. If after the first attack or even the second it would have been the time for them to alter their objectives. They kept saying one more push and we will take the city and then our troops will be able to deal with the Soviets to the North.
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  463.  @georgecromarty5372  Hard to say. What if questions are always difficult to answer because even if the Germans did as you suggested we would have to also assume that the Soviets would react differently, attacking in a different section at a different time. That is what makes what if questions a lot trickier. The other side always has an opportunity to change the situation. And they react to what their opponents do. The actual situation was that there was no way that Hitler and Halder would allow Paulus to avoid going in to Stalingrad. Further Hitler made a speech in the Sportspalast on September 30 saying Soviets would never drive the Germans from Stalingrad. He was 100% committed and his reputation was at stake. It did not turn out as he expected but by this time, in Hitler's mind there was no turning back.
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  464. They bombed at Stalingrad. The Luftwaffe did not operate at night. They also used bi-planes that were low speed and were very maneuverable. SEE THIS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Witches
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  465. Here is some information https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2016/12/05/italians-on-the-eastern-front-from-barbarossa-to-stalingrad/
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  466. Yes the Germans often gave a alcohol ration at various times such as sometimes prior to an attack.
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  467. Richtofen was an ardent Nazi who was a very competent airfleet commander but had little knowledge of ground combat. He always assumed the army was not trying hard enough.
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  468. Hitler knew something was not going right. I don't know exactly what he knew but in the Vinnitsa conference on Sept. 12 before the city fighting Halder and Weichs were saying they city would be captured in 10 days. Paulus did not support that and asked for 3 fresh divisions which he did not get but got the 4th Panzer Army. Now the fighting has been going on for 2 weeks and only half the city is captured. This should give Hitler or anybody else the idea things are not going to plan. On the other hand on Sept 28 and 30 Hitler gave public speeches that claimed Stalingrad would soon be in German hands. He was totally committed to capturing Stalingrad and now he would be unlikely to admit defeat or allow withdrawal since he would look foolish.
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  469. Cary Black 3 minutes ago The Luftwaffe did send supplies and had done so since July but it could never be sufficient.
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  470. He could not. Hitler and Zeitzler and the OKH said capture Stalingrad. If he would have withdrawn he would have been replaced by someone who would continue the attack.
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  471. There were no British ships on the Volga. Aid to the USSR was landed in southern Iran and transported by rail through Iran to Azerbaijan (part of the USSR at that time) and then by rail to various locations in the USSR. It may have helped at Stalingrad but that was not the reason it was started. It began before Stalingrad and continued after the battle was won as an route for lend lease.
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  472.  @perobusmaximus  First the Volga was not how lend Lease came from Iran. It came by train to Azerbaijan and then by train to the rest of the USSR. Second only 4% of lend lease was delivered in 1941 and 14% in 1942 so the Soviets gat maybe 12% of lend lease by the start of Stalingrad. Third less then 1/2 of that came through this route. Fourth the Soviets produced 24,446 tanks, 25, 436 planes and 49,100 artillery pieces in 1942. The Germans produced 9,200 tanks, 15,409 aircraft and 12,000 artillery pieces in 1942 so the Soviets vastly outproduced the Germans. Fifth the Stalingrad battle was urban combat and manpower and the ability to reinforce their fighting strength was the most vital element and the Soviets were able to put many more troops into the fight than the Germans.
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  473.  @perobusmaximus  Well that is a what if question and there is no definitive answer. I would say that the Japanese had decided not to attack the USSR and signed a non-agression treaty in April 1941 and had no plans to attack the Soviets. They had their hands full in China and Southeast Asia. They could raid the Indian Ocean but needed their navy in the Pacific. If they perhaps conquered India it might be different but they never got much further than Burma. To do all this which would be a massive job for the Japanese and the Germans were beaten in North Africa I don't see your idea being possible and certainly the Germans were even unable to reinforce Stalingard and did not have any additional troops to send anywhere else.
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  474. The Soviets also had Operations Mars and Saturn offensives.
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  475. Some were recalled most were just retired.
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  476.  @chadrowe8452  There were some in mixed marriages that were saved but even those including Victor Klemperer were scheduled for deportation and death. Mnay of the Jews in Germany were welcomed by the German government well after the war.
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  477. Yes but they did not and Hitler wanted to invade the USSR.
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  478. Your idea is a possible one but Hitler already had the OKH planning for an invasion of the USSR in December 1940. Since Hitler was determined to conquer the USSR both for resources and ideological reasons and since the Germans did not have naval power a middle east strategy was unlikely. They could have used the Italian Navy but it was not nearly a match for the British Navy. The problem with what if scenarios is that they are unverifiable and require for this alternative to go as exactly as imagined. There are so many alternative possibilities that can be imagined it becomes an exercise that can go on almost without end.
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  479. The Germans had little in reserve. When Paulus asked Halder for reinforcement he said all I can give you is 3 battle worn divisions from the 4th panzer army.
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  480. There was enough blame to go around. Halder and his ridiculous optimism that Stalingrad could be taken in 10 days. Also his possible misallocation of troops although we don't have a definitive explanation. Hitler and his ridiculous optimism and his insistence on the capture of the city. Zeitzler who sent a few more troops but did not actually make any changes to the insistence of capturing the city. Von Weichs who was Paulus' boss who did nothing to aid him. And Paulus who tried to capture the city block by block which led to weakening the offensive. Nobody looks very good.
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  481.  @FairladyS130  He insisted on capturing Stalingrad when he might have reevaluated what was happening. As I said there is much blame to go around.
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  482.  @Tico.Altacuna  If the City had been captured the Germans could have sent troops from the city to the Don to protect their flanks. Anyhow that did not happen. I can't think why they would "invent" a story about needing time if they could have attacked immediately.
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  483.  @Tico.Altacuna  We already read the German version of the Eastern front. No they did not win WWII but Halder and the German generals were the "guests" of the US and most of the history was written by them. Until Glantz and the new generation of Russian historians along with David Stahel we had the German version at least in the east of WWII.
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  484.  @Tico.Altacuna  If you don't accept ANY historians as trying to find "truth" in history than where do you look and how do you judge what they say? Is there some truth around some where for you to judge their books?
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  485. For a good explanation and description I recommend Hayward Stopped At Stalingrad.
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  486. If you read Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire you will get a good idea of the number of troops on both sides and the losses they took. It is a good single volume history if you don't want the 5 vol. history that Glantz did.
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  487.  @EdAtoZ  The Germans attacked the boats, they were not very successful. The booats were not docked right near Stalingrad but came from some distance upstresm and in the night. The Germans spent much of their artillery bombarding the landing areas.
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  488.  @z000ey  Yes major Soviet offenses at Rzhev against Army Group Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Rzhev
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  489.  @gerardhilde01  It is possible Hitler and the general staff thought as long as Romanians, Hungarians and Italians could hold the Don enough Germans could be relieved form the Don and reinforce the offensive into the city.
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  490.  @gerardhilde01  They were short of men. Germany did not have enough so he needed his allies. If you read my previous comment you would see the Germans were fighting off attacks at Leningrad and Rzhev and at the same time running offenses in the Caucasus and Stalingrad.
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  491. I don't think so. Never heard they would pull out of the Caucasus until they were forced to by circumstances.
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  492. Manstein and the 11th Army was sent up to Leningrad to capture the city. The Soviets launched an attack and the Germans had to hang on. When the Soviets surrounded the 6th Army Manstein was sent to take over the south (army Group Don). Only Manstein was sent the rest of the troops remained in the north.
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  493.  @LavrencicUrban  Manstein and the 11th Army were sent to Leningrad to capture the city. The Soviets launched an offensive and the Germans were able to hang on. When the 6th Army was encircled Manstein was sent south to command army group Don and some troops were taken to try to help in the Stalingrad area.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinyavino_offensive_(1942)
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  494. That was a common practice. It depended on whether artillery spotters were in a position to call down strikes and of course radio communications. Soviets were always short of radios in 194-42.
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  495. See the following https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry_corps_(Soviet_Union) and this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry_division_(Soviet_Union)
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  496. A group that held out at the bank of the Volga. Read Mark Island of Fire.
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  497. Too little too late.
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  498. Your ignorance shows immediately. Thomas Mann was born of Catholic and protestant parents. He was baptized a Lutheran.
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  499. I have a somewhat different take. At the conference Halder is way over optimistic as usual and thinks Stalingrad can be taken in 10 days. Hitler agrees because it is just what he wants to hear and von Weichs agrees with his superiors. Paulus is more realistic and does not agree with ten days and says he needs additional troops. He must have agreed that he could take the city or they would have replaced him. The situation is this: the 6th army has taken many losses but they know the 62nd army is probably in worse shape. They haven't gone into the city yet but they know they have pushed the Soviets back in every action and repelled the attacks from north of the Don. Why would they not go into Stalingrad and assume they can take it with hard fighting? Is it likely they would not even try? After 2 weeks they have the south of Stalingrad in their hands. The commitment takes over and the mindset becomes one more push and we will have all of Stalingrad. Now at the end of the first push around Oct 1st is the time when they should have reevaluated and said this is costing us too much and the Soviets have reinforced. We need to take another look but by this time they and Hitler who gave a public speech Sept 30 that Stalingrad would be conquered, are committed.
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  500. Listen there is plenty of blame to go around, Hitler, Halder, Zeitzler, von Weichs, Paulus and others. No one individual is responsible for all the mistakes. Without the fighting by the the Soviet army Stalingrad would fall.
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  501. It would take years to search for discover, drill and get the oil out of the ground.
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  502. Well they never captured Grozny. Don't know why you say too close. They wanted to capture Grozny.
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  503. I believe they could come home after 1953 with the death of Stalin.
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  504. No
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  505. Almost all of the governments in wwii had some and type of rationing and price control.
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  506. Yes in Isaev's book on Stalingrad he uses left bank for the East bank and right bank for the West bank. It had me confused and I would have to transpose it in my mind. Again as pointed out it is the rule to align maps to the North. Interestingly the maps in the book are aligned North so the East bank is on the right.
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  507.  @THEBARTMANOPS  Why don't you read about it yourself. There are hundreds of books that go into great depth on the holocaust and they are in your library or can be borrowed from your library. You do not have to rely on websites. Also you can to go wikipedia or the US Holocaust Museum on line if you choose to go with online sources but reading will go into depth about the whole process.
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  508.  @THEBARTMANOPS  Ok
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  509.  @THEBARTMANOPS  I suggest going to wikipedia Yad Vashem and the US Holocaust Museum sites to learn more online if you can't find the time to read..
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  510. Hitler and Zeitzler insisted on Stalingrad being captured. If Paulus said I am going to pull out he would have been replaced.
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  511. Yes there was an effect of Urban warfare which gives an advantage to defense rather than offense. Also the Germans excelled in maneuver warfare sometimes called blitzkrieg and fighting in the city eliminated this. However we should not forget that the Germans had advantage in artillery and air superiority which broke up many Soviets offenses so the advantage was not all on one side. Also the Soviet troops at the start of the city fighting were in worse shape than the Wehrmacht.
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  512. ​ @mladenmatosevic4591 I am not sure whether you agree with me or not. I pointed out the Germans had a strong advantage in artillery as pointed out by Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire and had undisputed air superiority which was quite an advantage for German offensive operations. I should also point out that they had an advantage in tanks useful but less so in urban warfare and must be supported by infantry.
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  513. Part of their fighting was do to fear of the Soviets and their retaliation for German atrocities.
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  514. At this time Speer was trying to produce as many tanks as possible. Often production capacity was focused on putting a new tank in the field and letting production of spare parts be neglected.
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  515.  @Lifeskillsish  It did increase the number of new tanks available to the troops
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  516. There were no troops available on the Eastern front to draw on cause of the offensive against Army Group Center (operation Mars. I don't know if there was sufficient time to get reinforcements from France for the relief attempt.
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  517.  @MadDog-dn5st  Your point is correct about Hitler wanting to hold all the territory that was conquered. That was clear from his actions both before and after Stalingrad.
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  518. Don't trust any Memoirs, Soviet, German, US or UK. All memoirs shade the truth to make the writer look better and there are many errors due to confusion, memory slips, rumors and other sources of error. Always verify memoirs against other sources of information to see if they are contradicted. Use memoirs only if there are no others ways to get the information and then be very cautious in their use.
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  519. Part of the reason was the many of the Germans were near starvation and very weak and many had typhus, diseases and wounds.
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  520. Their logistics was a problem even in 1941. By 1942 their logistics were in crises in the South. There was not enough train capacity tosupply the army and their only hope was a quick victory.
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  521.  @nottoday3817  I have no doubt that changing to a part rail and part river or all rail transport of oil would effect both quantity and efficiency of oil transport. The question would be would it be sufficient? This is a question I am sure the Soviets were glad they did not have to answer.
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  522. Maybe but by this time they were committed and thought Rommel would win until he didn't.
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  523. Yes they did. Supplies and reinforcements crossed the Volga by a fleet of small ships. The main artillery of the Soviet armies was stationed on the East bank of the Volga.
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  524.  @Suchtel10  They had supplies and men unloaded at train stations north of the Don river and trucked supplies and marched the men to the points east of Stalingrad and then had them cross the river. Of course they tried to stop reinforcements and supplies from the East bank. The crossings were always under artillery fire and small arms fire.
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  525. Have to have the logistics and the planning to do so. Also there were strong Soviet forces on the east bank of the Volga.
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  526. They were very close to winning on the first day of the attack in the city. Chuikov believed that Stalingrad would have fallen if not for Rodimtsev's attack. Yes there probably was but we can never know because the decisions that were made led to failure.
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  527. That is exacyly what they wanted to do but after failing twice it would be wiser to try something else rather than attempting it for a third and fourth time.
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  528. According to biographies this is a different Willy Brandt . In 1933, using his connections with the port and its ships, he left Germany for Norway to escape Nazi persecution. It was at this time that he adopted the pseudonym Willy Brandt to avoid detection by Nazi agents. In 1934, he took part in the founding of the International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations, and was elected to its secretariat.[citation needed] Brandt was in Germany from September to December 1936, disguised as a Norwegian student named Gunnar Gaasland. The real Gunnar Gaasland was married to Gertrud Meyer from Lübeck in a marriage of convenience to protect her from deportation. Meyer had joined Brandt in Norway in July 1933. In 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, Brandt worked in Spain as a journalist. In 1938, the German government revoked his citizenship, so he applied for Norwegian citizenship. In 1940, he was arrested in Norway by occupying German forces, but was not identified as he wore a Norwegian uniform. On his release, he escaped to neutral Sweden. In August 1940, he became a Norwegian citizen, receiving his passport from the Norwegian legation in Stockholm, where he lived until the end of the war. Willy Brandt lectured in Sweden on 1 December 1940 at Bommersvik College about problems experienced by the social democrats in Nazi Germany and the occupied countries at the start of the Second World War. In exile in Norway and Sweden, Brandt learned Norwegian and Swedish. Brandt spoke Norwegian fluently, and retained a close relationship with Norway.[citation neede
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  529. That was true but I think mostly in the fighting in the city not much before then.
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  530. It was the Germans who could not sustain their logistics. The Soviets are doing very well.
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  531. One of the problems is that the Luftwaffe had to keep switching back and forth between Staliungrad and the Caucassus since they did niot have enough for both. For more info read Joel Hayward Stopped at Stalingrad The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East 1942-43
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  532. Well that is a what if question and we can never know since it did not happen and Turkey stayed neutral.
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  533. The Volga was an extremely wide river. There were major Soviet troops on the Eastern bank. It would be extremely hazardous crossing and I believe they did not have the troops. If they crossed the chance of them holding the Eastern bank was extremely slim.
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  534. However the Germans can't hold what they have. They never reach Grozny or Baku for oil which was the entire goal of Blau. They get into a battle of attrition at Stalingrad and in Nov. the entire 6th army is destroyed leaving a huge hole in their line. Shortly after that the Italian Romanian and Hungarian forces holding the Don line and the northern flank are destroyed and they are back where they started in the summer.
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  535.  @rafopderand8524  Well you are right about the attack in the city. It has not been decided yet. However Halder and Hitler insist they take it so Paulus has no choice in the matter. Whether they can take it faster seems unlikely as their troops are worn down and Paulus has to ask for reinforcements and Halder says we have none. He gives Paulus three battle worn divisions from the 4th panzer army but thats it .As far as Baku , not necessarily a goal but they would have liked to reach it but never reached Grozny the second most important oil city. To reach the Caucasus to get oil is very much the goal of the Wehrmacht and in fact the entire reason for Blau.
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  536. They already bombed the city several times. The ruins made the defense of Stalingrad easier for the Soviets. The bomb damage was so great all they could do with more bombing is churn up the ruins. The Soviets were dug in and there was no way to completely destroy them. Read Stopped At Stalingrad The Luftwaffe's Defeat In The East by Hayward.
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  537. Yes that why they beat the Germans in wwii
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  538. The cavalry was important arm for the Soviets. They usually fought dismounted but the use of horses in a land with few roads gave them extra mobility. Here is some information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry_corps_(Soviet_Union)
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  539. Hilter and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had. 2
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  540. Not too much as only 4% of lend lease arrived in 1941 and 14% of the total in 1942 so maybe 11% had made it to the USSR by Sept 1942.
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  541. People who downvote a video rarely if ever give their reasons. I remember one guy who complained bitterly that TIK was using Glantz. It appears that the new information on the Soviet side of the conflict bothered him and I assume he only wanted to hear about the Eastern front as told by the Germans in memoirs and histories that went back to the 1950s.
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  542.  @bookaufman9643  I doubt it because it would have been a risky move given the Soviets across the river and the kind of planning and equipment needed. Also the Germans only reached the Volga north oh the city and the Kotluban offensives kept those troops pretty busy.
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  543. I think you are mistaken. The German army started slaughtering horses when they ran out of food in November. Ration strength refers to the total number of soldiers in a division, brigade etc. It does not have to do with the amount of rations that a soldier is eating.
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  544.  @sniperboom1202  I have heard that from time to time food was in short supply but I have never heard of German soldiers starving before the counterattack in Nov. and have never heard of them using horses for food before supplies were cu off by the counterattack. I would be curious to know where you got the information.
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  545.  @sniperboom1202  Well they were not starving and not dying of thirst. They were short of water and food from time to time but the starving did not happen till they were trapped and supplies cut off from Stalingrad so you are remembering wrong. They were not eating horses till other food supplies were cut off after the counteroffensive.
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  546. They have two different approaches. World War Two is telling the story of the entire war from the beginning to the end and covering all fronts. TIK is doing an in depth detailed coverage of the Stalingrad campaign. These are different goals.
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  547. The film of the two Soviet armies meeting when they surrounded the 6th army was a recreation. The movie (documentary) Desert Victory about the victory at El Alamein was at least a partial reenactment. A film (documentary)about the Pearl Harbor attack December 7th was a reenactment. Everyone did them.
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  548. Exactly unless they are called back Rundstedt several times and Blaskowitz. Some might be given non front commands like Guderian as inspector of panzers etc.
    1
  549. Japan went to war because the US cut off oil and Japan needed the oi, tin and rubber to keep their war in China going. The embargo began in 1941.
    1
  550. No it is a different person.
    1
  551.  @bezahltersystemtroll5055  Correct
    1
  552. I assume fighting continued against the 64th army but it was cut off from the 62nd army which was in Stalingrad itself. They would leave it while they tried to conquer the city and deal with it after. The 64th army could not directly aid the 62nd army isolated in Stalingrad.
    1
  553. Wait till the battle gets to Nov 1942
    1
  554. If he has explained causation wrogly give us the details and the citations.
    1
  555.  @KidoKoin  So did most of the military. Hitler gave in to Goering's request out of loyalty to his long time supporter.
    1
  556. They outproduced the Germans by a vast amount and their factories and roads were not under attack . The railroads were a problem for the Germans and under partisan attack. Lastly the Germans had very long supply chains.
    1
  557.  @tomtom34b  Yes they did have shortages especially 1941-42 when they relocated their factories and were getting up speed. However as they ramped up production and aid started to flow their shortages got better and as he war went on the Germans got worse.
    1
  558. Before the war yes during the war no.
    1
  559. The Romanians asked for AT guns repeatedly. I can only guess there were none to spare or it was just stupidity.
    1
  560. Lots of TIKs series is based on the information found in Glantz. Everything that TIK uses comes from books mostly from Glantz. He is not psychic.
    1
  561.  @livingtribunal4110  Glantz's stats are not meaningless. It is easier to follow TIK but but TIK is careful to show where his info comes from. People should be encouraged to go to the most complete and primary sources. Not everyone will do so but being able to check up on what is said is important.
    1
  562. The germans were plenty busy in holding off Soviet attacks in other areas. They were not sitting around doing nothing.
    1
  563. I would point out also that it was Hitler's decision to try to take Stalingrad and the Caucasus at the same time rather than in sequence. Hitler also sent Manstein and the 11th army to Leningrad. However the high command was not very competent.
    1
  564. It is his channel and he can produce what videos he wants . I disagree that anything else is boring or nonsense.
    1
  565. Paulus combed out many rear echelon troops to use for combat in Stalingrad.
    1
  566. There was always a chance that the Germans would take the city. Even Stalin thought the city would fall a couple of times. The Soviets were hanging on by a thread and the Germans were exhausting their striking power, supplies and troops. It could have gone either way. It was a race between how long would the Soviets hang on till the counterattack would be launched or would the Germans succeed in taking the city and be able to use all their troops to defend. My opinion is if the Germans succeeded only a week before Uranus it would have made no difference but this is purely speculation.
    1
  567. The entire southern front in the USSR collapsed and they lost all the territory they had gained in 1942 plus losing the 6th Army and their Italian Hugarian and most of the Romanian armies. See Prit Buttar's trilogy regarding the fighting in the Ukraine.
    1
  568. You are correct but the public would not accept that no attempt to relieve the pocket would be made. Even Hitler knew that the Germans must try even if it is likely they would fail The failure would be bad enough but not to try would be a disaster for the regime. I also believe Manstein would also want to try the relief attempt no matter how likely it would fail.
    1
  569. The Germans did not have a strong Navy and to get to the Black Sea they would have to deal with the British Navy.
    1
  570.  @benholroyd5221  As I said the British Navy in the Mediterranean and the German Navy was busy in the Atlantic and Baltic. I don't think the Germans had adequate harbor facilities on the east of the Black Sea. They were still in Soviet hands.
    1
  571. It was forced labor.
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  572. That was part of the deal but it was later expanded into we send you war materials you pay us later.
    1
  573. Hitler throughout the war insisted that the will would overcome any difficulty like being outnumbered in troops, tanks, artillery anf planes. Determination and willingness to sacrifice will only get you so far..
    1
  574. Saturn
    1
  575.  @alexhodskins8426  The German attack to relieve Stalingrad was Winter Storm
    1
  576. Nope he fought the entire war and was promoted. Stalin executed Generals during 1941 for failure. He did that much less if at all from 1942 on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIBwF7e3yR0&t=16s
    1
  577.  @samstewart4807  Thanks for the information.
    1
  578.  @samstewart4807  I found some additional info on this. It appears most of them were executed because of the Soviet failures in 1941https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1941_Red_Army_Purge#:~:text=About%20300%20commanders%2C%20including%20Lieutenant,Soviet%20Union%2C%20on%20October%2017.
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  579. Yes the Wehrmacht did not have soldiers to spare. Of course they used Rumanian, Hungarian, and Italian troops to protect their flanks. There were no troops available to reinforce to make up for the loses in battle.
    1
  580. He has done several other battlestorm projects such as N. Africa and Courland.
    1
  581.  @leohard1814  I think my comment made it clear that there were other effects besides production by the bombers. Also the loss of German pilots trying to shoot down the bombers led to sharp drop off of experienced German pilots when long range fighters accompanied the bombers. Those pilots were not available to attack the Normandy beaches.
    1
  582. Don't watch
    1
  583. Army Group A had many supply problems when they reached the Caucasus mountains. The terrain was rugged and there was thick forests making it hard to get supplies through. They stalled out and were unable to get to Grozny and Tuapse. If you want to know more Hayward Stopped At Stalingrad gives a good picture of the situation.
    1
  584. Demyansk was the first thing they thought of when the question was can the 6th army be supplied by air.
    1
  585. Agree
    1
  586.  @jtfrank2006  Time will tell if the Ukrainian Army or the Russian Army has the worst time.
    1
  587. Yes Paulus did push for a breakout. Hausser is different as he disobeyed the order no retreat and decided to breakout.
    1
  588. Not only at Rzhev but also at Leningrad and the need to reinforce in the Caucasus.
    1
  589.  @LokiOdinssnn  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEraxud7vZ4&t=11s
    1
  590. As far as urban warfare for the Germans are concerned the battle for Kiev was not inside the city to any extent. The battle for Odessa was fought by the Romanians. Leningrad was never entered and was planned to be surrounded and the same for Moscow. So theonly one before Stalingrad was Sebastopol and the fighting in the city was not as long or caused the casualties as in Stalingrad.
    1
  591.  @МихаилЧерников-п2т  I agree. I think the myth started with the 13th Guards. And of course it is a myth.
    1
  592. Hilter and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had. 2
    1
  593.  @markaxworthy2508  I can't answer your question. I was just letting you know that the German replacement problem was acute since they had so many areas they needed to cover.
    1
  594. He was a paranoid right winger
    1
  595. I think there are many ways the Soviets could know about the Romanians replacing German units on the Don. Signal intercepts, recon, captured prisoners both German and Romanian as well as spies. When you move a whole army into position for a couple of months it is hard to keep it secret.
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  596. By the end of the first assault on the city about September 26th they knew that Stalingrad would not fall quickly. This was the time to think about a withdrawal. However Hitler and the high command kept pushing Paulus to take the city. The notion that took hold was one more push and we will have the city. If Paulus wanted to withdraw he would have been replaced.
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  597. I can't comment on feasibility but I have not heard any of this was ever used by the Germans or the Soviets.
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  598. It is always hard to identify the turning point. IMO it is when the 6th army is no longer able to fulfill it's role for the Wehrmacht.
    1
  599. But what is early breakout? November 19 when Uranus was launched Nov 21 when it started to accelerate Nov 22 when the two pincers were approaching Kalach or Nov 23 when the Germans were encircled or a date after?
    1
  600. Have not seen any information on this. What is your thoughts?
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  601.  @AlanDeAnda1  I believe that the size of the Volga, a very large river and the the large number of Soviet troops on the east bank was what discouraged the Germans ever to make a fighting river crossing and it was never in their planning. They hoped to control the west bank at Stalingrad and also block transport of oil coming up the Volga from the Caucasus.
    1
  602.  @AlanDeAnda1  When the Soviets launched their counterattack it was not over the Volga. The North pincer crossed the Don river which was much narrower then the Volga and the southern pincer had troops did not have to cross a river in order to attack since they were already well west of the Volga when they attacked.
    1
  603. What static divisions?
    1
  604. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volgograd
    1
  605. These are all items of speculation. Hitler and Germany did not prepare the country for total war until 1943. The Soviets, who were invaded, were geared up for total war and they evacuated their industries to the Urals and beyond.
    1
  606. See what the Nazis did in the USSR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J-xlJgCr2U&t=5s
    1
  607. I think there were more supplies available then space and aircraft available for transport.
    1
  608. This is the history of the fighting at Stalingrad. If you want a summation you can read Citino, Isaev and Glantz.
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  609. Thats crap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEraxud7vZ4&t=11s
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  610.  @frederickbays405  I was speaking of influences that made Germany confident that they could take over the USSR in 12 to 16 weeks.
    1
  611. It shows how difficult it is to bomb a small boat that is a moving target and even more difficult to bomb it at night by a flare. They were well camouflaged during the day and so the Germans concentrated artillery fire and air attacks on the landing stages.
    1
  612. It means there were very few roads and minimal landmarks to follow on the Steppes.
    1
  613. There is also divisions where the losses are mentioned. He often says the battalion has 36 men as an example. This gives you the idea of some of the losses.
    1
  614.  @Turtle76rus  I have only heard of the reinstatement if you were wounded. Where did the additional information come from?
    1
  615. However it was Hitler who set up the OKW OKH division and had the power to change it.
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  616. Here is some information for you https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einsatzgruppen
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  617. The Soviets were not on a par with the Wehrmacht at this time. The Soviets fought with courage and tenacity and this with greater supplies and numbers made a difference. The Soviets were learning all the time and you will see the difference in1943 and onwards.
    1
  618. I think Hitler is ALSO to blame. I think Halder told Hitler what he wanted to hear and Hitler readily agreed.
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  619. I don't think he ever said that or even implied that.
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  620. Most of them also moved at night and a small boat is much harder to hit then a medium or large ship.
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  621. Most of the German prisoners were taken in 1944 and 1945. Conditions were better in the USSR so the Soviets could feed and house POWs. Beforethen the prisoners would get very little.
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  622. In WWII he did not have much mercy on the Greek people. Several million died in a famine the Germans created. Many greek villages were burned to the ground. Many vostages executed in retaliation for resistance. See This https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_occupation_of_Greece
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  623. The big if is where would the Germans get the divisions. They would have to get them from France but there was concern about an invasion of France by the Allies.
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  624. haha
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  625. Not near Stalingrad. Troops were still being trained and armed. Also even if they had them ready they would not have moved them in till they were ready to attack. The element of surprise was vital.
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  626.  @johnnydavis5896  Glantz covers the planning in detail and if you want to learn more about it Glantz one volume book on Stalingrad will give you information. His 5 volumes is probably overkill for most of us in detail and cost.
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  627. Not if you take into account the German plan to depopulate the USSR, destroy their cities and mass murder and starve millions. About 27 million Soviet citizens were killed in WWII.
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  628. They have been in combat for weeks so their manpower is degraded.
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  629. You need to go back and watch TIK's earlier videos. He spent a lot of time discussing that point.
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  630. Have not heard anything to document that.
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  631. I think the answer is German arrogance. They felt they had won all the battles that brought them to Stalingrad so how could they not capture the city. Don't forget Hitler and the high command said they must capture Stalingrad and they were convinced that Germany was superior.
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  632.  @SimSim314  Of course the German high command was confident and felt they could capture the city in a week to 10 days. What surprises me is that they did not reassess their plans after the first assault on the city. After 2 weeks, not 1 week or ten days they had captured the South of Stalingrad but were far from capturing the factory district. The Germans had already taken many casualties and were taking divisions out of Don line to reinforce the soldiers fighting in the city. I think if you don't care for arrogance then it can be called overconfidence. It just seems to me that they expected the fight to be a walkover just as they expected that the USSR would collapse and they would take Moscow by Oct 1941. That my opinion but you see it differently. I would add that Paulus did not agree with their timetable and asked for 3 fresh divisions which Halder said he could not provide but instead gave him part of the 4th Panzer which was anything but fresh.
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  633.  @SimSim314  Well I would just be repeating what I said in response about the casualties taken, the failure of the timetable, need for German reinforcements and the fact that the Germans were unable to stop the Soviets from reinforcing their divisions. I think they should have reassessed after Sept 26th but this is my opinion.
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  634.  @SimSim314  I decided that I should add this to my previous comment. I am not surprised that he Germans decided to enter Stalingrad. Besides the pressure from Hitler and Halder to take the city it seemed because they had won all the previous battles that they could also occupy Stalingrad. Paulus being more realistic pointed out that he needed fresh reinforcements of 3 divisions and Halder and Hitler told him they had none. Paulus also did not support the timetable of one week to 10 days but he thought he could take Stalingrad. After Sept 26 when the first assault on the city was over there were many reasons to alter their plan as I mentioned previously. However the pressure on Paulus from his superiors Hitler Halder and von Weichs was intense and the idea that one more push and we will have the city took over. By the time the second assault had ended even though they had to constantly take German reinforcements from the Don and replace them with Romanians while failing to cut off Soviets reinforcements meant the troop strength was failing and what ground they gained was bought at a price that was destroying the army. At that point I believe the idea that we have paid such a price in blood that we cannot justify not completing the task. And at all times the pressure from Hitler and the high command was unrelenting.
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  635.  @SimSim314  About the 30th Of September 1941 Yeremenko suggested that since the Kotluban offensives had been wasteful and ineffective there was a better way. He and Vasilevsky worked out plan for a counteroffensive both north and south of the city to meets at Kalach. They also noted that the germans had and continued to draw troops into Stalingrad and replace troops on the Don with Romanians were were poorly trained, motivated and had almost no tanks and antitank weapons. It would take time to organize train and equip the troops needed and make sure they had enough tanks and artillery to make the counteroffensives successful. It necessary to keep to Germans occupied in the city so they would not be able to reinforce their defenses. The plan succeeded. It was not a plot but a plan that had a reasonable chance of success. You can call it brilliant or not but it took advantage of the strategic situation.
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  636.  @SimSim314  It was a plan not a plot and it began to be formed around the 27th or 28th of September after the first German assault on the city. It went through several revisions and took advantage of the fact that the Romanians on the Don were poorly trained motivated and lacked tanks an antitank guns. It was necessary to keep the Germans busy in he city so they could not strengthen their defenses. You can call it brilliant or not. It was successful and took advantage of the strategic situation.
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  637.  @SimSim314  OK First the plan for the counter offensives was not even proposed till SEPTEMBER 27 or 28 when the Germans already committed to fighting in the city. Second it was not just using buildings to stop the Germans. It was using every possible place to ambush and fire on the Germans from the front flank even rear. Fighting in the factories fighting in the sewers and reinforcing as best they could. Why are you talking about September 20. They were trying to take the city with an all out assault. It did not work. If it had worked than we would be talking about a different history of Stalingrad. You seem to think the Germans and the Soviets could predict history They could not. Both had their plans and no guarantee they would work. The Soviet plan was conceived when the Kotluban offenses failed and they decided to try something else. That is what you do when a plan fails. Read Isaev Stalingrad City on Fire
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  638.  @SimSim314  read Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire
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  639. On toast.
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  640. German army intelligence Fremde Heere Ost thought the attack would be in the center and were prepared for it (Operation Mars). They did not believe the Soviets could launch two powerful offensives at the same time.
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  641. Yes it was a disaster and coming only a few months after Stalingrad was was as catastrophic.
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  642. There are several reasons. As TIK mentioned in the Kotluban offensives the infantry failed to keep up and support the Soviet armor and the tanks were picked off. When the Germans got close to the city there was no longer maneuver room for encirclements and of course in the city itself tanks are not nearly as effective as their vision maneuver and speed are very limited. They can be ambushed and are very dependent on infantry.
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  643. They certainly did fight and when supplies and food ran out starvation became common. They surrendered when it became hopeless.
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  644. Goering was always supreme commander of the Luftwaffe in Berlin
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  645. If Paulus or any of the commanders refused to try to capture Stalingrad they would be replaced.
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  646. It is not a criticism in the sense he thought he was a liar. A part of a historians job is to evaluate evidence and if it doesn't seem to fit the facts he rejects that part that seems incorrect. A person can be confused misremembering or wrong for other reasons but in good faith.
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  647. No Chuikov did not know. I think it is more correct to say when the attacks from north of the Don did not succeed the Soviets started to think about an alternate attack. It did take time to assemble and equip sufficient troops for that attack so it was a question whether the Soviets in Stalingrad could hold out to November.
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  648. Nope want more on Stalingrad.
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  649. It may not have been needed but the high command Halder and Hitler said you must take it.
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  650. Yes ther was but in diminished intensity and continued to diminish as German troops were pulled out of the city.
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  651.  @thedarkechoes1236  No not even as much as shown in the last episodes of fighting in the city that TIK described.
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  652. Not if the encircled troops are out of ammunition and food. The men on the ground have to be able to put up a strong resistance.
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  653.  @huiyinghong3073  Yes they should have done that weeks before the Soviet counterattack.
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  654. See these major Soviet offenses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Rzhev
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  655. The troops he kept in the Courland pocket was because he was dreaming of an offensive from there of course that was a delusion. He kept troops in France and sent more in Dec1944 for the Ardennes operation because he thought he could defeat the US and UK and they would sur for peace. Another delusion.
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  656. Unfortunately the offensive was planned tp be sequential with the 6th army taking Stalingrad or at least the northern shoulder of the offensive and then sending the the armies into the Caucasus. Hitler decided to do this simultaneously. It did not work out.
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  657. Anton Joly has good maps.
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  658. Some have said it was to gain the strategic initiative although I think this is a pipedream. More realistically it was hoped to destroy enough Soviet manpower and armor to at least delay and disorganize the coming Soviet summer offensive.
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  659. Remember TIK uses books that are hundreds if not thousands of pages long. There are things that even TIK does not cover in videos.
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  660.  @MohammedKhaled-ju7gy  Try something other than a denial
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  661.  @MohammedKhaled-ju7gy  I understand
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  662. It was dangerous. As the fighting went on they brought German divisions from the Don to reinforce in Stalingrad and the line was taken over more and more with Romanian,Hungarian and Italian troops. It was a mine ready to explode.
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  663.  @coolunicorn2895  As I said the Wehrmacht had an agreement to support the murder squads prior to the invasion of the USSR. Also some soldiers participated in the massacres which was pointed out by the video in the previous post.
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  664.  @coolunicorn2895  I don't say the majority but it was more than a very few. And the point is not whether it was stupid, that is very obvious, the point is that they planned and executed horrible atrocities which were part of the invasion of the USSR. They planned genocide against the Jews and the Slavic peoples and when they had depopulated the country they would settle German people there. These were criminal actions involving many German civilians and soldiers.
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  665.  @coolunicorn2895  I have an many books besides including Fritz The Ostfront, David Stahel Operation Typhoon,. The Battle For Moscow; Stargardt The German War; Shepherd Hitler's Soldiers and many others. What ahve you read if anything.
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  666. Perhaps because they did not have enough arms or perhaps they did not care.
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  667. The book is good but quite outdated. The film is useless as far as history. It is just entertainment.
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  668. They should not have started the war in the first place.
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  669. First in this sector the river Don is to the West not North as it takes a bend to the South therefore the Germans would be travelling backwards to where they came from . Second at the meeting on September 12th with Hitler and Halder it was decided that the Wehrmacht should take the city first and then eliminate the Soviets to the North. They estimated that the city should be taken in 10 days. That was their plan.
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  670. They never sent troops or attacked the USSR. They only occupied Thrace and Macedonia.
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  671. I think there are several things to consider. Of course as you mentioned al ack of modern armor and effective antitank guns. They also lacked the same degree of training that the Germans had acquired. Finally the motivation and morale was lower among the Hungarians, Italians and Romanians. They were sent east but left wondering why are we here.
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  672. All deaths matter and Poland suffered as much as Russia and yugoslavia. Read The Other Holocaust by Lukas and this from wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ia%C8%99i_pogrom Also the books listed at the end of the article. I resent your sneering remarks about the Jews. Nobody who knows what Poland went through ignores it. You have some reading to catch up on.
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  673. If you want an excellent in depth look at the military and particularly politics of the Third Reich from July 1944 onward read Ian Kershaw The End.
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  674. It would only be speculation. The Germans were brutal to the Poles, Greeks, Yugoslavs and Soviets.
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  675. Well Hitler was top dog as was Stalin so they could enforce their decisions for good or for ill.
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  676. There was limited fighting in the city but gains by either side was small and considering both sides were very beaten up this is not surprising.
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  677.  @Suchtel10  Because they took many men out of the factories and replaced them with slave labor. They also started drafting volksdeutsche who were relocated from Poland Romania and other areas who may not have been fluent in German. They started to draft older men for garrison duty to replace younger soldiers to send to the Eastern front. If you were wounded you went back to the army unless you were crippled. They were drafting 16 year olds and 45 year olds. They had whole companies with stomach problems (ulcers) and deaf companies people who were partially deaf. You did not get a deferment for flat feet etc. They used some Eastern peoples who served in security units and garrison duties. They scraped the barrel pretty hard and thats how they continued till 1945. Also the many men in the Luftwaffe were turned into ground soldiers and also the kriegsmarine.
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  678. @Clinton Reisig I do not agree. First there was fighting in the center at Rhezh which had to be reinforced. Second Hitler decided to send Mnastein and the 11th Army to Leningrad. Third as TIK mentioned in a previous video at the meeting at Vinnitsa (before the city attack) Paulus asked for fresh reinforcements. Halder said he had none but could give troops from the 4th Panzer Army. Hitler was there and could have overruled Halder. He did not. I don't see where Halder disobeyed orders. Hitler was not hesitant to overrule his generals. I would say I have little regard for Halder but in this case he is only partly to blame.
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  679. I doubt it very much. The Wehrmacht divisions were very understrength due to previous fighting and there was little reinforcement available to the 6th army. That was the primary cause.
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  680. Would that make his video less true?/
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  681.  @TheImperatorKnight  Absolutely agree. memoirs usually attempt to make the writer look good. All memoirs should be verified against other accounts and documents.
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  682.  @valentine8988  I am talking about WWII not present day Russia. At that time all armed forces were Soviet.
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  683.  @valentine8988  I believe you are wrong. The government and ant official and otherwise said they were Soviet citizens. What did the Kazaks, Turkomen, and the other ethnics who came from their own region of the USSR say they were Russian? That would be nonsense. They told those peoples they were fighting for the Soviet Union. The vast majority had never been in Russia proper and had poor knowledge of the Russian language. This created problems in communication. I don't know why you deny the government that lasted for 72 years. By the way they were called Soviet citizens not Russians.
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  684. Another what if question that can only be answered by speculation. No way to prove it.
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  685. Paulus did not neither did Rommel or Kluge and all three were field marshals. Oh I forgot Model.
    1
  686. Did Germany own the USSR before WWI. Did Germany own Greece before WWI? I think not.
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  687. The USSR and Japan signed a non agression pact in April 1941
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  688.  @gordy3714  Men were landed at various points throughout the battle. Troops would come in after the South and most of the center of Stalingrad was taken by the Germans.
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  689. They used the planes to evacuate the wounded every trip. They could not get that many men on each trip. The number of flights in was no ware near 6000 Lasndings. Very few flew twice a day and the weather prevented any flights on some days.
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  690. To answer it very simply becasuse Hitler and Halder ordered them to do so. Poor planning inflexible decision making.
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  691. Cary Black 1 second ago Because Hitler wanted to keep all the conquest he made in Europe and then conquer the USSR. Eventually he could and would turn on the UK or at least turn it into a vassal state. That would be the end of Democracy in Europe. Also it would accept to terror that Germany visited on their conquered peoples. Do you think the Nazis would stop killing if they won the war?
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  692. From Stalingrad? Probaly no Germans.
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  693.  @aleksazunjic9672  I don't think so. He remained a very competent Luftwaffe commander for at least a year after Stalingrad.
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  694. You think they started all the Roman wars, Egyptian wars, medieval wars. What a foolish comment.
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  695. If they had the atom bomb.
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  696. Perhaps some but they were not given much food as the Soviets had a scarcity of foo themselves
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  697. Or for that matter what you think.
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  698. Beevor is not a very good or accurate source. Try Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire or the Glantz series but that is 5 volumes and quite expensive.
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  699. Much oil to the UK came from the US the Carribean Islands and Venezuela and possibly from Mexico on tankers.
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  700. Your name says it all
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  701. Here is some info https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-E9ZsactbM
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  702. I think and I might be wrong was that TIK does not consider Hitler mad in the sense of being totally irrational. He did nake some very poor decisions and in late 1944 /45 he did start to lose touch with reality. Tik wanted us to know that the Wehrmacht made plenty of mistakes on their own and every failure was not due to interference as is implied or outright claimed in many of the German generals autobiographies.
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  703. The 6th army diary survived and maybe the divisional diaries. There were many memoirs and the Soviets did after action reports and the Soviet Army diaries survived. There were many letters of the German soldiers even those in the pocket that are quoted in a number of books.
    1
  704. I agree with most of what you say. Stalin did start to trust his generals and Konev, Rokossovsky and Zhukov could disagree with Stalin and have him defer to them but it was later in the war.
    1
  705. These were support troops. Cooks, supply, administrative ,truck drivers and anyone else who support the combat troops. Later there was a combat to get more of the rear area troops into the front lines. All were trained for combat but many were inexperienced because they had only done support work in the army.
    1
  706.  @russellblake9850  Well I am not an expert. but I always thought there were many more support troops in a division to keep them going. I have read 5 to 7 support for every combatant. You also have to take into account the casualty rate in combat troops is many times higher than the support troops which of course can change the ratio.
    1
  707. I did some further research. A WWII US army division had about 60% combat and 40% support. However an army and army group have many more additional troops which function not on a division level but assigned to administer and support at a corps and army level. This makes the number of support troops considerably higher. And of course as I stated casualties among the combat troops has a much greater effect than on support troops which has a strong effect on the ratio.
    1
  708. Here is some information for you https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ia%C8%99i_pogrom
    1
  709.  @thehistoryenthusiast4956  Well you could look at the bibliography at the end of the wikipedia article. I also happen to own a book by Jean Ancel Prelude to Mass Murder about the Iasi pogrom which is 650 pages long and reproduces Romanian documents. What kind of information do you want? I can supply you with the titles of other books.
    1
  710.  @thehistoryenthusiast4956  Yes but books articles or what since you don't want info from wikipedia.?
    1
  711. He is a holocaust denier and lost a court case about that.
    1
  712.  @reginaldmcnab3265  Irving is a holocaust denier and the court case he lost proved him a liar. He was the one who brought the court case not the defendants. He thought he could get away with his lies and collect some money. He lost and destroyed his reputation and bankrupted himself.
    1
  713.  @reginaldmcnab3265  He is a liar. If he lies about one thing you can bet he lies about other things. He is also a Hitler lover.
    1
  714. Stupid comment
    1
  715. Milch was competent and Goring was not at that time. Whether it would have changed anything is speculation and not provable.
    1
  716. It could have been a possibility but the Germans did not have enough time. It all depended if they could hold this territory for almost another year and the Soviets also had bombers and could attack this source of oil.
    1
  717. He took troops from North and Center to strengthen Army Groups A and B to launch Blau. When the Soviets launched strong attacks at Rzhev he sent troops to Center. He also sent Manstein and the 11th Army from the Crimea to Leningrad. There was no emphasis to capture Moscow in 1942
    1
  718.  @calengr1  I have never seen a list of the 5000 POWcould access s that had returned from the USSR published. I would say that such information could be obtained through the current German government. As to 900 doctors that again might be information you could access by contacting the German government.
    1
  719. A very wothwhile video.
    1
  720. No they got out 30,000 on reurn trips. Since mosoralmost all of the time a plane would make one trip and so flying into Stalingrad either with or without supplies would be one trip and the 30,000 plus they evacuated is the number they could fly out plus maybe alittle more if everybody could stand.
    1
  721. I don't think it was a Soviet deception. Hitler decided he wanted to take Stalingrad. However when the Soviets decided on flank attacks to encircle the 6th army they wanted the Germans to keep fighting in Stalingrad until their counteroffensive was ready.
    1
  722. Yes in hindsight it would be a better choice.
    1
  723. You convert the Soviet gauge to the German gauge
    1
  724.  @sammuller8331  They did convert a good many mil;es of tracks to the German gauge from the Soviet gauge.
    1
  725. Stalingrad was part of Hitler's plan to dominate the world. His ideas on race are contrary to evolution and common sense. We don't have wars that wipe out all people except the most able. Many of the most able and certainly some of the most intelligent do not get wiped out by wars. This kind of thinking is really the most crude way of thinking about evolution and it does not apply to modern man who is able to cure diseases and invent tools and other aids to help him survive. This is social darwinism an outdated idea that was strong in the 19th century and has has been rejected for many years. However it was still a strong component of Hitler's racial nonsense.
    1
  726. There were other generals that could have been chosen.
    1
  727. The Germans invaded with 3,800,000. They were confident and did not feel they needed more men in 1941.
    1
  728.  @terrylawler2083  That I don't know. You would have to research it country by country. They certainly ran out of supplies in the USSR but not men though casualties certainly ran up by October and November but by that time it was too late to send troops to assure taking Moscow. In addition the Panzer units and tanks available for combat were very depleted.
    1
  729. No They did not have enough troops and could not supply the Axis allies with antitank guns or armor.
    1
  730. Not much at this time but in November and December the 3rd and 4th Romanian the 8th Italian and the Hungarian Armies were destroyed with immense casualties.
    1
  731. Since Hitler was angry that too many troops were in Voronezh in early July he fired von Bock. After that he troops quickly were divided. Army Group A to the Caucasus and Army Group B to Stalingrad. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Voronezh_(1942)
    1
  732.  @KungFuHonky  This is s matter of definition. Yes the Finns invaded the Soviet Union and not other countries. They had a different idea than National Socialism. The Finns could not have done anything at Stalingrad. Do you realize that Helsinki is 1100 miles 1700 kilometers to Stalingrad. Why would they want to send troops there when they needed their troops near Leningrad? As far as I am concerned they allied with Germany for whatever reason so they were in the Axis. The Finns did not go further into the USSR because of diplomatic pressure from the US. It is also a fact that the UK declared war on Finland. They assisted the Germans and that is enough for me. The Finns always want to excuse their invasion but there were Finns who wanted to annex Soviet territory and if things had gone differently and the Soviets collapsed they would have done so.
    1
  733.  @KungFuHonky  Read my comments as to what I think of his argument and ask him if he has a bad conscience for supporting the Nazis in wwii. And ask him about the Finns who volunteered for the SS.
    1
  734. You are not letting us down. My condolences on your loss.
    1
  735. Not at this time. They were fighting all over the East, Yugoslavia greece had to have occupation troops and men for war production in factories.
    1
  736.  @danreed7889  You will have to ask Halder and Hitler. They evidently felt fighting in Stalingrad , the Caucasus and sending the 11th army with Manstein to Leningrad exhausted available manpower. Remember when Paulus asked for more men when he met them before going into the city and they said we can only give you some depleted units from the 4th panzer. I know they essentially reinforced the troops in the city by replacing units on the Don with the Romanians.
    1
  737.  @danreed7889  Well maybe Hitler and Halder lied to Paulus. But I think the Wehrmacht began to do things alter they did not do in 1942 like replacing factory workers with slave laborers, drafting 16 and 45 year olds.. Replacing garrison troops with older troops so they could go to the Eastern front and the wounded went back to the front unless crippled etc.
    1
  738. We will never know. It is all conjecture
    1
  739. This has some truth. However you have to take into account the German air superiority. The Stukas,( flying artillery) were almost unopposed. Later when the troops of both sides are very close together the use of artillery is going to be limited for fear of friendly fire.
    1
  740. Ration strength was all the men who were present in a division. It did not specify if they were fighting or support troops. If all that were left were people in the commanders office that was the ration strength and it would vary since soldiers could be killed, wounded and at a field station or missing and unaccounted for. It would also count new reinforcements.
    1
  741. Cary Black The OKH in charge of the the Eastern Front had many failings in regards to planning, intelligence and operations. Like many absolute dictators there were always some who would tell him what he wanted to hear for favors or survival. This does not take away from his various misjudgments and mistaken notions of warfare. There was plenty of blame to go around and it is always easy to blame the dead for all the mistakes. I don't follow the notion that it was all Hitler's fault but I don't also follow the idea that the German generals made no mistakes. It does not have to be an either or situation.
    1
  742. Yes
    1
  743. They were sending troops to Army Group Center because of the many and heavy attacks at Rzhev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Rzhev
    1
  744.  @PallufoBsAs  Well I know every German soldier who was wounded and not disabled were sent back to the front. As far as Army Group North Hitler and Halder sent Manstain and the 11th Army to take Leningrad . In fact there was a heavy Soviet attack and the offensive was called off since the troops were needed just to hold their positions. In the south the plan was for Stalingrad to be take or neutralized and THEN attack in the Caucasus. Instead they did attack simultaneously which broke South into 2 army groups A and B which weakened both.
    1
  745.  @PallufoBsAs  My point is they sent these troops elsewhere not to aid in the conquest of Stalingrad.
    1
  746. They tried and were not successful. The artillery was camouflaged and the AA fire was intense. The Soviets did all they could to hide the troops, marching them hundreds of kms from the trains and moving at night. The Germans expected an attack in the center Operation Mars and thought most of the troops were being built up for that. Finally the Germans were arrogant and thought they could not launch two operations at the same time and focused on the center.
    1
  747. The reinforcements they are talking about are for the contemplated advance to relieve Stalingrad defenders. They have to build up forces for that relief attempt.
    1
  748. Hilter and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had. 2
    1
  749. You are nuts
    1
  750. There is no comparison but war crimes are despicable no matter who carries it out.
    1
  751.  @heretoforeunknown  I understand the difference but we cannot let war crimes be ignored. I am not saying that there is an equivalence in fact i agree with the second part of yout statement however war crimes are unacceptable by whoever does it.
    1
  752. Thanks There is also a very good book in English that covers the 138th Division by Jason D Mark Island Of Fire
    1
  753. Innocent of killing somebody with his own hands probably not. Ordering people killed absolutely yes.
    1
  754.  @damyr  Your point is mistaken. If you hire someone to kill a person and he does you are just as guilty. If your order is illegal in war something against the Geneva convention such as a massacre the one who orders it is just as guilty. The person controlling , ordering, arranging or causing for an illegal act is just as guilty as the one who carries it out. This principle is part of all domestic and international law and has been recognized for centuries.
    1
  755.  @damyr  Of course but that does not excuse the person who ordered it. If there was no order the crime would not have happened.
    1
  756. In Russian it is Uran.
    1
  757. Using chemical weapons brings retaliation from the other side.
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  758. They were not. The Germans were depleted and so were the Soviets.
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  759. Stalin thought the city was about to fall and wanted any attack possible to distract the Germans from closing in on Stalingrad.
    1
  760. I agree that the Wehrmacht was in a bad position and it would have been better to reconsider their objectives. I have to disagree regarding their just saying screw Stalingrad. They were under a dictatorship and they were an army. When you supreme commander (Hitler) and your chief of the general staff Halder says you have to take Stalingrad you are bound to do it. Paulus of course could resign but if he did not but refused to take Stalingrad he would be relieved and another general would take his place with the same objective. The problem goes right to the top and there was no change of objectives there. On Sept 12 a t a conference with Hitler, Halder and Paulus it was decided to take Stalingrad first which was expected to take 12 to14 days and then with the troops freed up attack Soviet forces at the bridgeheads and than to attack and destroy the Soviet forces North of the Don. In order to help with the attack the 4th panzer would be available for attack on Stalingrad itself and not just South of the city. This decision to delay clearing Kletskaya and Serafimovich would have dire consequences in the future. The optimism was obviously misplaced but until they attacked the city they would not know. If after the first attack or even the second it would have been the time for them to alter their objectives. They kept saying one more push and we will take the city and then our troops will be able to deal with the Soviets to the North.
    1
  761.  @samstewart4807  Well they were not out of men, tanks or ammo when they started the attack in the City of Stalingrad and in about two weeks they had conquered the Southern section of the city. They should have thought about what other plan they might try in October but did not. Hitler wanted the city and he and Halder set the objectives.
    1
  762.  @samstewart4807  Well you could read the German memoirs but I would not trust them unless you can verify them from another source. Hitler was supreme commander and if the generals did not agree with him he could replace them just as he did List. As for Hitler he thought his judgement was superior to his generals. So it was a question of obey or be fired.
    1
  763.  @samstewart4807  I know of no source that gives the opinions of Paulus' staff. It may be that there were those who thought the attack on Stalingrad would fail but I think most felt they would have a good chance to take the city. List thought they should resupply his troops and concentrate on Grozny. There were problems with the lack of forces for the campaign and poor supply so consolidating would make sense. I don't think the generals thought they could not succeed but they were more realistic about their problems then Hitler and Halder.
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  764. Most were sent to Leningrad to conquer it but the Soviet offensive made that impossible and the Germans just hung on to their positions.
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  765. No
    1
  766.  @nottoday3817  The original plan was to do Blau in sequences: first either set up a position on the northern shoulder and or take Stalingrad or both and then send the armies into the Caucasus but Hitler decided to do both simultaneously. He also sent Manstein and the 11th army to Leningrad after Sebastopol was conquered.
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  767. The Germans expected to capture a great deal of Soviet locomotives and railcars. It did not happen therefore they had to rely on German railroads. It would not make sense and would not be practical to manufacture locomotives and railcars in the Soviet rail configrations.
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  768.  @koiosdamocles1090  I also think but don't have any evidence that much of the railroad stock was heading East because the Soviets were relocating their factories to the east which meant a lot of railroad equipment was leaving western USSR.
    1
  769.  @jussim.konttinen4981  True but they beat the Germans.
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  770. You are most probably right. However it was the 6th Army 's only chance with the airlift failing so there would be no alternative.
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  771. Hilter and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had. 2
    1
  772. Check out the World War Two channel. They cover the war week by week. They have been covering Barbarossa from June 1941 to December 1941 when it was stopped at Moscow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzns-YF1I60
    1
  773.  @Punisher9419  Have to remember it is a history of WWII not just the Eastern front. They gave plenty of coverage between June and December 41 and will cover it for 3 more years. Of course if you are only interested in the Eastern front it is not for you.
    1
  774. Take a look at this, might interest you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFhWZYVm4pQ
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  775. From the reserve the Soviets had been building since September 1943 when the plan to encircle Stalingrad was proposed rather than to keep attacking in the Kotluban region.
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  776. It was supposed to be sequential Stalingrad and then the Caucasus but Hitler was in a hurry and wanted it simultaneously.
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  777. Also the Allies were able to replace the planes very quickly and the Allies loss of pilots was low as many of the planes were on the ground. The Germans could not replace the experienced pilots.
    1
  778. Yes but the Germans were critical. The Soviet shortages got better as the war went on and the Germans got worse.
    1
  779.  @nikolaynovichkov166  I agree and also the Stukas and 109 had a limited range and of course were not effective at night
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  780. Indeed it was risky. Don't know if it was required by his superiors
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  781. Pleas give citation to this statement. I know they used them in security divisions against partisans and late in the war in the West. I have not heard they used them on the frontline in the East.
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  782. Why?
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  783. Richtofen was the one who was in favor of and carried out the bombing.
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  784. Sure he did. He started wwii to lose. What a bunch of bs.
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  785. Hitler wanted Leningrad captured and what Hitler wanted he got.
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  786. Just the normal type of building for the periods the various buildings were constructed.
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  787. A good book to read that talks about this and of course other things is The German War by Nicholas Stargardt.
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  788. No one knows since it did not happen.
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  789. See the following https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Army_(Hungary)
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  790. I feel TIK does an excellent job. But you must remember he gets his information from Isaev, Glantz, Joly and other respected historians. He did not figure this all up by himself.
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  791.  @bas5925  Nazi propaganda
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  792. I don't know bout TIKs video but according to Isaev Stalingrad City on Fire ( p 101) before the first attack on the city the Soviets had 12 divisions but of those 5 had less 800men or less. They had seven brigades which ranged from 1000 to 5000 men. Total about 45,000 men. Of course the very depleted divisions certainly had little power to fight as a division and their artillery of except for some small guns was on the Eastern bank. Their armored brigades were in bad shape and had few tanks. The Soviets made the most use of the manpower they had.
    1
  793. Once the Soviets decided that the Kotluban offensives did not work they began a plan to surround the German forces in Stalingrad. It was vital to keep the Germans fighting in the city for the plan to work. In order to do that they had to keep reinforcing.
    1
  794. If they were not Nazis that would have been a possibility. They were Nazis however and the plan was to kill off the population and those left would be slaves.
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  795. Click on TIK first comment and you will see the bibliography.
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  796. Yes about one year but he is answering a question put by a supporter.
    1
  797.  @nemiw4429  No they had a different system and would never would be long term friends withrthe US and UK but did not think there would be any immediate war with them.
    1
  798. The Army group only captured one port. Most of the troops were in the mountains or far from the seacoast so it would still be very difficult to get supplies to them.
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  799. Because Hitler Zeitzler and the OKH wanted them to capture Stalingrad.
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  800. Not true Hitler was obliged to go to war if the US attacked Japan not the other way around.
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  801.  @themrchappi1  Well they had the reserves and they launched both Uranus in the South and Mars in the center at the same time. Only the Germans thought they were ready to collapse. Although it took two months to get the troops organized, trained and equipped.
    1
  802.  @themrchappi1  You start with the wrong premise. The Soviet Union was not close to collapsing. That was what the Germans thought. In December 1941 they were able to raise additional troops to throw the Germans back from Moscow. In 1942 they continued to attack the Germans around Leningrad but not successfully In 1942 the Soviets were fighting hard at Rezhv. In 1942 when Hitler saw the Soviets retreating in the South instead of standing and being encircled he thought the Soviets were finished. Instead they raised millions of men and launched Operation Mars in the center and Uranus at Stalingrad and were able to provide them with fresh planes, tanks and artillery. The Soviets were not collapsing except in the minds of Hitler and some of his generals. Stalingrad proved them wrong.
    1
  803.  @faeembrugh  Much of the lend lease aid reched the USSR in 1943 and later
    1
  804. The Germans and the Soviets used kilometers and meters. We in the US convert them to miles and yards for our understanding.
    1
  805. The Austrians were considered German after the anschluss and their army was incorporated into the Wehrmacht. Czechs, Poles French that were in the Wehrmacht were volksdeutsche, Germans living outside the Reich. The Germans recruited Hiiwis , helper who did labor in the rear areas and various work. They had armed exSoviets to assist in security divisions against partisans. Later in the war some Eastern soldiers were in Normandy fighting on the Western front. I have not heard of large number of exSoviets used on the frontline in the East of course when crises occurred security divisions might be sent to the front. The SS was a different story.
    1
  806.  @Scrap_Lootaz  Agreed and we might mention some from Romania. Unfortunately for them because of manpower needs they were subject to conscription.
    1
  807.  @Scrap_Lootaz  Thats not what I meant it was the volksdeutsche which were living in Romania and brought back to the Reich.
    1
  808. Lets look at what the Nazis did https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEraxud7vZ4&t=1s
    1
  809. Hitler and Halder thought Stalingrad could be taken in 10 dats. Paulus did not agree and asked fro three fresh divisions.
    1
  810.  @pathfinder3754  Unfortunately his boss Stalin said attack. Just like Hitler told Paulus take the city.
    1
  811. Here is info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry_division_(Soviet_Union)
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  812. Correct and sending fuel which has a great weight, just pick up a jug of milk, can show you how much a half filled plane carrying fuel supplies would weigh.
    1
  813. They were not good guys in any way.
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  814. I think it was General Hitler, General Halder , General Zeitzler and General Logistics that saved the Soviets along with the Soviet fighting men.
    1
  815. It seems like a much more perilous situation. I would think a general would avoid this problem no matter if the troops fought better or not.
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  816. Nazis are degenerate lying scumbags. Their word is worth nothing.
    1
  817. To be a Jew can mean all of these or some of these things you mentioned. The Nazis however only considered them a "race".
    1
  818. Would have been better (possibly) but Hitler and Halder said you must take Stalingrad.
    1
  819. Agree. The airlift was only to keep the 6th Amy going until they could be relieved by Manstein and that would only work for limited amount of time.
    1
  820.  @gmanbo  The Wehrmacht was brutal in all their aspects especially in the USSR. They were encouraged to do so and they collaborated with SS murder squads.
    1
  821. Lack of good sources and wishful thinking.
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  822. It is strange but the Germans knew they could not supply their army with enough food. Why they went ahead anyway is open to much speculation.
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  823. They were actively fighting the Germans and of course the Germans did not want to lose Warsaw sine it was an important transportation hub among other things
    1
  824. Richthofen sent 3 bomber wings to N. Africa and many of the JU52 aircraft needed for the airlift were instead involved in ferrying men and supplies to Tunisia.
    1
  825. First the war in the Ukraine is not over and may last for months or years longer. Second it takes time to separate propaganda from the facts and a lot of info available right now is colored by propaganda on both sides.
    1
  826. Take a look at the map . There was no secure location that they could land to reinforce the city. They were needed where it was most vital, the city center, and could not spend a couple days more trying to get there.
    1
  827. I have never seen information that would answer your question. We can speculate but that is all.
    1
  828. Well the Volga is a very long river and goes up to Mosco. The Urals are east of the Volga where Soviet tanks are made. Maybe you are only thinking about the area directly across from Stalingrad
    1
  829. Did Germany own the USSR before WWI? I think not. Nor did Germany own Greece and Yugoslavia.
    1
  830. My suggestion Don't Watch
    1
  831. Sometimes you are mentally finished with a particular task. Even if the amount of work is no more than what you have done in the past you cannot carry on with it because you no longer can find the mental energy to force yourself to do so. It sounds to me that you have reached what I might call the point of no return. I think if you consider the series complete and move on to other videos you will be better able to move forward without the feeling of exhaustion that you are experiancing. If you create a video that requires the same amount of energy that a Stalingrad episode does and it does not cause you the exhaustion you feel than that would explain what I mean by reaching the limits of a particular task for someone. Part of the exhaustion is forcing yourself to do Stalingrad when you no longer wish to so it would be time to move on.
    1
  832. Recent Russian accounts are much better. Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire is a good recent Russian account.
    1
  833. Please cite your scource for this.
    1
  834. I said that. The nazi racial ideas are crap. @AlexMilenk 
    1
  835. They certainly did compromise training late in the war 1944-45. Also had to greatly reduce pilot training due to fuel crisis.
    1
  836. Perhaps they released him to show that the Soviets did not automatically shoot their prisoners as many Germans believed. Of course tis is speculation.
    1
  837. . You might have said that Glantz should not have written a 5 volume work on Stalingrad. It isn't for the average WWII reader but having the information in a set of volumes or a video rather than in hundreds and perhaps thousands of reports advances understaning of history and so does this video. Those who do not have that level of interest could glean information from much less detailed accounts that currently exist and that is fine for those who prefer that level of information.
    1
  838. The Luftwaffe ceratinly attacked boats on the Volga but they were not very successful.
    1
  839. It was guarded but not by a continuous line.
    1
  840.  @raketize  No fortresses but points of concentration. It was never well covered by either the Romanians or the Germans. Usually a reserve force of German armor.
    1
  841.  @raketize  Not enough men is the reason..
    1
  842. What is the lie?
    1
  843. The Soviets were often short of fuel and ammunition. However when attacking you use fuel and ammunition faster than when defending. And teh Soviets were closer to their supply areas.
    1
  844. Yes they had fighter cover and the German pilots were more experienced.
    1
  845.  @simulatedpilot3441  Everything I have read has always said the Germans had complete air superiority. I don't know the number of planes the Soviets had but it seems to me that the Soviets would have had to have a very large surplus in planes to overcome the experienced German pilots. Where did you read that the Soviets had a greater number of planes than the Germans?
    1
  846. What you are saying that the Germans should withdraw to the Oder River only a few kilometers from Berlin. If they did that now it would require a retreat of many hundreds of miles which would probably be impossible and actually pointless as to retreat that far that quickly would have destroyed their armies.
    1
  847. The offensive was to take p[lace in stages. The Northern shoulder of the offense that is Stalingrad was to be taken or at least a defensive line set up before troops would go into the Caucasus. Hitler decided to do this simultaneously instead of waiting. It was Hitler's decision.
    1
  848. The Germans launched the Ardennes offensive deliberately at a time when overcast preventing flying to negate the Allied advantage in the air. The Germans were already at a great disadvantage in pilots and fuel in 1944. Another Bodenplatte earlier would be a failure.
    1
  849. A lot of US aid came from the Southern route through Iran and the Caucasus. Cutting off Murmansk would hurt but not stop aid.
    1
  850. Hitler was in firm control and although people could argue against the invasion what Hitler wanted was final. Anybody who did not want to go along would be replaced by someone who did. Finally the whole leadership hated the communists and was glad invade the USSR. As TIK said they considered it a war of annihilation and wanted to destroy the USSR.
    1
  851. Listen Nazi take your anti semitic hatred somewhere else.
    1
  852.  @yukikaze3436  Well your entitled to your opinion but 45,000 is only one and a half percent of the troops that invaded and there were many more panzer divisions and tanks fighting for the Germans in the USSR.
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  853.  @yukikaze3436  Yes but they would not have taken Moscow.
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  854. Yes if the Germans could supply the troops but they were tied up at Leningrad and Rezhv and the Paulus got the Italians, Romanians and Hungarians instead.
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  855.  @Ph33NIXx  They sent them to Leningrad because they we supposed to encircle and take the city. That is why Manstein and the 1thh Army was sent north. There was a Soviet offensive and the Germans were just able to hang on. There were constant offenses by the Soviets at Rezhv and reinforcements were needed there. There was no surplus troops. They were sent where they were neede. The south got the Axis allies armies.
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  856.  @Ph33NIXx That troops appear to be misallocated seems right in the sense that the Stalingrad was not given as much reinforcement as the other. But it is also the fact that Halder and Hitler wanted to encircle and capture Leningrad and sent troops there and were unable to launch an offensive because of Soviet attacks. And Soviet attacks were heavy at Army group Center. Both army groups were weakened earlier to provide troops for Army Groups A and B which caused them to need reinforcements. You believe they got more reinforcements than they needed. I believe they did get what they needed and that the shortage of troops for the Germans was such that there were no surplus troops and that instead the OKH sent the Italians, Romanians and Hungarians to Army Group B. The decisions might have been faulty but I would argue that there was no extra troops and it was a situation of trying to do too much too fast with too little troops. So I would agree with you in that it would have been more likely Stalingrad would have been captured but on the other hand Leningrad siege would have been more likely to be broken and the Germans forced back at Rzevh.
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  857.  @Ph33NIXx  I saw the movie and what TIK calls "surplus" is not surplus in the sense the troops were not needed or not fighting in the North and Center. They just got more troops than their casualties. In the North they were attempting to launch an offensive which required a build up. It did not happen since the Soviets attacked and the additional troops were needed just to hold their position. In the Center there was constant pressure by the Soviets and they kept all the reinforcements busy fighting. I agree they could have changed priorities. Kept Manstein and the 11th Army in the south and followed the original plan to capture or neutralize Stalingrad and THEN drive to the Caucasus it would have greatly aided the capture of Stalingrad. But the idea that since some army groups got more reinforcements than actual casualties does not mean they were not needed or they could be sent to Stalingrad. To do that they would have had to change priorities which they did not. There would have been a problem somewhere and it would also have been in the North at Leningrad where the offense was called off and turned into a defense just to hang on or there would have been a retreat at Rezvh. Calling the troops there a surplus is misleading seeming to mean the troops were not needed. They were needed. So I disagree with the whole notion of a surplus because they received more men than casualties and this is where are disagreement centers.
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  858. Every book I have read by respected historians says it is incorrect.
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  859. With so may contradictory stories and opinions with no documents and much of accounts given after the war and Jeschonnek had committed suicide it is really in the realm of speculation. TIKs explanations a good one but does not rule out some other interpretation. Some things just cannot be pinned down. One of the problems is we don't have a time period. Were they envisioning an airlift of days weeks or months. Did some envision a breakout after a week? Did they think Manstein's attempt at a rescue would take less than a month? Since we are not given this information it is difficult to arrive at an answer. We can say a long term, more than a couple or several weeks will fail given the situation in the Luftwaffe. Perhaps all these men had different ideas of how long the airlift would have to last.
    1
  860. Could be but seems unlikely and Isaev thinks the idea was discussed by Zhukov, Vasilevski and Konev on Sept 28th , at least the outline of the plan. See p.226-7. It is possible Zhukov just confused the date.
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  861. Yes there was heavy fighting in both the central sector and also in the north where Manstein and the 11th army were to take Leningrad but were unable to launch an offensive because the Soviet attack was very heavy there and were only able to hand onto their positions. So the Wehrmacht was facing attacks on 2 army groups and launching offensives at Stalingrad Army Group B and in the Caucasus Army Group A. It seems to me they had enough manpower to cover their losses but lacked enough to do all they were attempting. Could they have allocated their forces better? Perhaps but it is hard to know exactly where the priority was.
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  862.  @sniperboom1202  I would mostly agree but Hilter and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had.
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  863. Their war production was very faulty and they did not gear up for total war till late 1943 and later. Speer reduced many inefficiencies in the war economy.
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  864. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhhsMuCPCbo
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  865. What is the citation?
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  866. The Soviets were also fighting at Rhzev and were sending many reinforcements there as well as Stalingrad.
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  867.  @nottoday3817  Your points make sense however there was shortage of experienced pilots to fight and to train. Also shortage of fuel to fight and to train. The additional planes did not make up for these two vital problems. To focus only on the number of planes produced and not look at these problems give a distorted impression of what happened to the Luftwaffe. That why in 1944 very few Luftwaffe attacks at Normandy and by the middle of1944 the Luftwaffe could not put up an effective defense against the bombers since the number of long range fighters only increased and even the new pilots had much more airtime then German replacements. The Allies got stronger in the air and the Luftwaffe weaker.
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  868.  @WildBillCox13  Yes there was heavy fighting in both the central sector and also in the north where Manstein and the 11th army were to take Leningrad but were unable to launch an offensive because the Soviet attack was very heavy there and were only able to hand onto their positions. So the Wehrmacht was facing attacks on 2 army groups and launching offensives at Stalingrad Army Group B and in the Caucasus Army Group A. It seems to me they had enough manpower to cover their losses but lacked enough to do all they were attempting. Could they have allocated their forces better? Perhaps but it is hard to know exactly where the priority was.
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  869. No they ere planning to capture Stalingrad and this was laid out in the meeting at Vinnitsa on Sept 12, 1942 with Hitler, Halder, von Weichs and Paulus.
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  870.  @nemecec01  In 1941 the Germans got as far as Rostov but were unable to hold it. Of course they planned to defeat the USSR in 12 to16 weeks and if that happened they would have occupied Stalingrad in 1941. It had relevant in that it would provide a shoulder to protect the troops in the Caucasus. The Germans would travel down from there to Astrakan which would cover the east side of the Caucasian thrust. Whether they actually need to capture Stalingrad or merely neutralize it is another question. Take a look at a map of the region and it will give you an idea of what they were attempting.
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  871. These are all what if questions who can never be answered because they did not occur. You also forget Hitler who insisted Stalingrad be taken. If Paulus refused he would have been replaced.
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  872. It certainly assred the failure of the airlift that was already failing.
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  873.  @lucasdamotta  The Germans thought they would defeat the Soviets in 6 to 8 weeks. Therefore no winter operations and no oncern for logistics and the needed supplies.
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  874. There were only 3 German divisions in Africa so that is a drop in the bucket on the Eastern front. I doubt if Rommel could have made any difference if Guderian and von Manstein could not.
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  875.  @nomoneyglobal  Yes there was always trains bringing supplies but not as often as needed and too little supplies. It was Operation Uranus that cut the German rail link and cut off supplies.
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  876. no
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  877. have a somewhat different take. At the conference Halder is way over optimistic as usual and thinks Stalingrad can be taken in 10 days. Hitler agrees because it is just what he wants to hear and von Weichs agrees with his superiors. Paulus is more realistic and does not agree with ten days and says he needs additional troops. He must have agreed that he could take the city or they would have replaced him. The situation is this: the 6th army has taken many losses but they know the 62nd army is probably in worse shape. They haven't gone into the city yet but they know they have pushed the Soviets back in every action and repelled the attacks from north of the Don. Why would they not go into Stalingrad and assume they can take it with hard fighting? Is it likely they would not even try? After 2 weeks they have the south of Stalingrad in their hands. The commitment takes over and the mindset becomes one more push and we will have all of Stalingrad. Now at the end of the first push around Oct 1st is the time when they should have reevaluated and said this is costing us too much and the Soviets have reinforced. We need to take another look but by this time they and Hitler who gave a public speech Sept 30 that Stalingrad would be conquered, are committed.
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  878. They did. The Germans had 90% control of Stalingrad before he counterattack. However they were in extremely bad shape and had to use the Axis armies along the Don..
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  879. Italians lost. The Reds won.
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  880. Stop shouting. The Volga was a very wide river and there were many Soviets divisions on the other side. I think given the 6th Army weakness and the troops that had to hold in the North it would have been suicidal.
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  881.  @LavrencicUrban  It is considered shouting when you answer in all caps rather than lower case. The entire Stalingrad front under Yeremenko with Soviet armies were on the other side of the Volga. Such a crossing would be very risky especially in the weakened condition of the 6th Army.
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  882.  @LavrencicUrban  I DON'T THINK THE GERMANS EVER PLANNED A VOLGA CROSSING. i THINK IT WIOULD BE A BAD IDEA CONSIDERING THE SHAPE OF THE 6TH ARMY AND THE DANGER OF A RIVER ASSAULT AND THE NECESSITY OF HOLDING A BRIDEGEHEAD.
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  883.  @LavrencicUrban  WELL YOU MIGHT HAVE TO DO THE RESEARCH YOURSELF IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT MORE. I DON'T THINK IT WAS POSSIBLE AND I AM PRETTY SURE THE GERMANS NEVER PLANNED A VOLGA CROSSING AT STALINGRAD. JUST STRAIGHT DOEN THE WEST BANK OF THE VOLGA TO ASTRAKHAN. WE GAVE YOU ALL THE REASONS WHY WE THOUGHT IT WAS A BAD IDEA AND WOULD BE VERY HARD TO CARRY OUT. WHAT DID STRACHWITZ ACTUALLY SAY? DID HE GIVE ANY PLANS TO CROSS THE VOLGA OR DID HE JUST SAY THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE IT? STARNGE NOBODY ELSE SUGGESTED IT.
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  884.  @LavrencicUrban  Do not go by TIK's map. Yeremenko and the Don Front was holding that side of the Volga. There were Soviet units there.
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  885.  @LavrencicUrban  Take a look at the map again. How would the 16th Panzer be able to cross when there was pressure on their northern flank. You would have to cross at least several divisions and the Soviet units to the north would have made this extremely risky if not impossible. They needed all their manpower to keep the Soviets from destroying them. Finally Strachwitz was a regimental commander, not even a division and and his idea must have been rejected by higher ups if they even knew about it. I don't think it was a lost opportunity. I think it was common sense. You have not even given us any idea of a plan on how to cross. All we have from you is that Strachwitz suggested it with no details.
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  886.  @LavrencicUrban  Well we have give you the reasons that a crossing even if possible would be risky and possibly fatal.. I believe there were many Soviet units under Yeremenko across the Volga. I do not think a regiment of tanks and if you watch Tiiks which had already been reduced from 6 to 4 battalions could have made a difference. If you choose to believe so fine. However the German 6th Army and I presume the high command never planned to cross the Volga for the possible reasons we gave and it strikes me this is another if only the Germans did this. I would need pretty good evidence to convince me it would be a good move. Anyhow I have said my piece.
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  887.  @LavrencicUrban  I had my say don't want to keep going over what if situation.
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  888. Well Paulus had no choice. Hitler wanted him to take the city and if he said no he would be replaced.
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  889.  @nextbest  First the Germans were wasting thousands of troops in N. Africa and Tunisia during this period and sent many transport planes out there. Second it takes several weeks to get divisions from France to Stalingrad given the distance and difficulty with rail traffic as seen by how difficult it was to supply the 6th Armay.
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  890. Cary Black 3 minutes ago The Luftwaffe did send supplies and had done so since July but it could never be sufficient.
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  891. Stupid comment
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  892. The Soviets referred to the troops actually fighting as bayonets. Trigger pullers is your designation. Just to let you know even if you are being sarcastic.
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  893.  @haroldfiedler6549  Well thank you for your lecture. As I pointed out the Soviets used active bayonets as their designation for those who were actually fighting in the front line rather than support troops or those wounded or not able to participate in the fighting. That is the Soviet designation not mine. Since only a propagandist (what does that mean) or an idiot would use bayonet you have classified all Soviet soldiers fighting in Stalingrad as idiots. You have therefore demeaned all the Soviet soldiers who fought and died for their country at Stalingrad.
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  894. Arrogance played a part as well as the idea that the Soviets would be attacking in the enter, Operation Mars which the Germans expected. They did not believe the Soviets could launch two major attacks. They also believed that the attack would fail as the other attacks to the north of Stalingrad failed.
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  895. It did survive until the surrender of all German forces on May8/9, 1945.
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  896. No they did not. They felt the bombing would destroy defensive installations, supplies and equipment and greatly reduce Soviet morale.
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  897. Unfortunately for the Germans they did not have sufficient manpower so they they had to depend on their allies. Manstein was sent to the Leningrad area to conquer the city. The Soviet offensive made it impossible and the Germans just were able to hang on. The problem with the allies was one that the Germans contributed to. They knew that the Romanians lacked the training and equipment to be successful in stopping a major counteroffensive but the Germans kept taking their troops from the Don to reinforce Stalingrad. They promised the Romanians antitank guns but failed to deliver the guns. The Romanians warned them about the Soviet buildup bur the Germans did not withdraw troops to reinforce the Don. The result was a disaster. Manstein tried and failed to rescue the 6th Army and the front line was pushed back to where it started. Where the Germans would get the troops without using allies is unlikely. They were fighting at Leningrad on the Moscow axis in Stalingrad and the Caucasus. There were no additional German troops to spare.
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  898.  @mossbergshockwave9629  Maybe they should have but they did not and the Germans did not have the troops to handle the Soviet attacks at Leningrad near Moscow and starting offenses simultaneously at Stalingrad and the Caucasus. They did not have the men. They could have waited for thw Caucasus attack bt they did not. It was a big mistake.
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  899. They kept many German troops to the north of the city which limited the number of German troops that could fight in Stalingrad. However most of those attacks were hastily done and attacking fortified German positions. Perhaps if they had just done feinting attacks to make sure the Germans felt they needed the troops north of the city they might have accomplished the same thing with fewer casualties. But that is not what they did.
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  900. Army Group Center was being attacked by large Soviet forces see this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Rzhev Also Hitler wanted Leningrad taken and he sent Manstein and the 11th Army there. Stalingrad was to betaken or neutralized first and THEN attack the Caucasus. The plan was changed to do them both at once which split Army Group South and weakened both Army Group A and B.
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  901. They did not have gunboats to deploy. They used what they had artillery and the Luftwaffe.
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  902. He did not sabotage Paulus in Stalingrad and the 6th Army. What he did before the fight in Stalingrad was ok with Hitler. He was soon dismissed when the fighting had just begun in Stalingrad
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  903.  Wulf  That does not happen to be true. Supplies were sent the problem was transport was insufficient. As far as troops were concerned it was Hitler that sent Manstein and the 11th Army up to Leningrad. When he told Paulus I have no fresh troops to give you Hitler was there in the same meeting and certainly could have overruled him. Finally there was very heavy fighting at Rzhev and army group center urgently needed reinforcements to prevent a collapse.
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  904.  @sniperboom1202  Perhaps but perhaps not but it is a major reason for a shortage of troops when Paulus asked for fresh divisions.
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  905. They were not good guys .
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  906.  @jussim.konttinen4981  Germany won WWII ? And all the while I thought they unconditionally surrendered.
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  907.  @JAMESBONG100  Well unless you are a racist the Germans were not the good guys.
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  908. They will loose Pitomnik in a few days.
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  909. Because they were not all available at any one time. The accuracy was very limited. They could attack a city as large as London well but not something as limited as the invasion beaches well.
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  910. They did not want to continue honoring Stalin.
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  911.  @Kober01  It sure sounded like some serious responses this video has gotten
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  912. These would be German troops.
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  913. There were none at Stalingrad.
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  914. Read The End by Ian Kershaw
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  915. Most of the Soviets that were recruited by the Germans were Hiwis which were basically laborers and rear area helpers. The ones they armed seemed mostly to serve in security divisions to fight the partisans. Later in the war they sent armed Soviets to the West and some units were in Normandy in1944.
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  916. I think it was to show thry were doing something even though it was unlikely to succeed.
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  917. Stupid sarcasm . Maybe you should choose not to watch as you seem to feel the information TIK gives on the battle is not correct.
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  918. See the following: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry_corps_(Soviet_Union)
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  919. They would also have to build new freight cars as well as locomotives. The germans planned to conquer the USSR in 6 to 8 weeks well before the winter of 1941. It did not happoen that way.
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  920. It wasn't bigger in terms of length, casualties, troops fighting and length of time.
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  921. The world war two channel does a very good job covering this in their War Against Humanity series. Here is a sample https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9LhHJh1rdg
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  922. at the meeting on September 12th with Hitler and Halder it was decided that the Wehrmacht should take the city first and then eliminate the Soviets to the North. They estimated that the city should be taken in 10 days. That was their plan. The Germans never reached Grozny.
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  923. The offensives in the in the North were ordered by Stalin and were often hasty and poorly coordinated. Also it was Zhukov not Eremenko who was in charge of the Northern offenses.
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  924.  @iddomargalit-friedman3897  Here is some information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Yeryomenko
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  925. no
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  926. . Yes he was more aware of economic and other needs than his generals. Some of his decisions were based on legitimate concerns. As the war went on he became more irrational or might I say was able to rationalize decisions that were faulty. A good example of this is his declaring many cities as fortresses which had no chance of holding out with their manpower supplies and location. Another was his constantly ordering no retreat and saying that if you retreat you will only be fighting nearer Germany. Obviously if the army is cut off an destroyed you will be fighting nearer to Germany but without the army you might have saved by retreat. He was not a madman but he did become increasingly irrational but his was in late 1944 and 1945. Clearly the German generals wanted to blame all mistakes on Hitler and give the idea if it was not for him we would not have lost the war so badly. The whole premise is wrong. It is not a question of was Hitler a madman or not. He was a calculating rational man until late in the war when his wishful thinking and his failure to accept that the Germans were inevitably losing made him ignore what would happen. That was easiest way for the generals to avoid responsibility
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  927.  @lawrencesmeaton6930  Well it is a what if question and matter of speculation. I think that it is agreed the Germans did themselves no favor by failing to provide the Romanians with anti-tank weapons and listening to their warnings.
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  928. They did bomb Grozny.
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  929. Manstein and the 11th Army sent North to capture Leningrad. The Soviets launched a major offensive and the Germans just could hang on. There was major attacks at the Center at Rhzev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Rzhev and reinforcements were badly needed. They also had to reinforce Army group A in the Caucasus.
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  930. The Germans still launched attacks in the city even after the counterattack began although much reduced.
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  931. Yes there was heavy fighting in both the central sector and also in the north where Manstein and the 11th army were to take Leningrad but were unable to launch an offensive because the Soviet attack was very heavy there and were only able to hand onto their positions. So the Wehrmacht was facing attacks on 2 army groups and launching offensives at Stalingrad Army Group B and in the Caucasus Army Group A. It seems to me they had enough manpower to cover their losses but lacked enough to do all they were attempting. Could they have allocated their forces better? Perhaps but it is hard to know exactly where the priority was.
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  932.  @nicholasconder4703  I would mostly agree but Hilter and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had.
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  933. Perhaps but Japan signed a nonaggression treaty with USSR in April 1941.
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  934.  @insideoutsideupsidedown2218  Well he did not think it would take one day. It would take time and the Soviets had hundreds of thousand or millions of men. The 6 to 8 weeks was a rediculously short time but his is what Halder and Hitler thought and completely unrealistic unless the Soviets just stopped fighting.
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  935. Nothing to forgive and you have not let us down. You have a life outside of your work and this channel is your work. As a former manager you would grant leave to an employee who had a bereavement. We the consumer of this channel would do the same. Do what you need to do in your private life to make that life a productive and happy experience. My best wishes.
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  936.  @chaptermasterpedrokantor1623  No in late 1944 early 1945 the loss ratios change. See Overmans. And the German army still tried to attack even at Kursk. It was then that they could found they were no longer able to go on the offense the Germans accepted that defense was their only option. I agree many of the offenses in 1941 and 1942 were mismanaged by the Soviets by poor planning and abrupt actions. The Soviets however did learn.
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  937.  @chaptermasterpedrokantor1623  I agree with you on the unplanned and rushed offensives in 1941 and 1942 resulted in very many unneeded casualties. The German army never had the number of soldiers that if they lost them all would equal in any way the Soviet casualties. What I disagree in the mid 1944 -1945 the number of Germans lost approached and lost .even surpassed in ratios by the end of the war. In the early part of the war particularly the Soviets were no match for the Germans in tactics and operations.
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  938.  @chaptermasterpedrokantor1623  No you don't see 10 to 1. The Soviets were inexperienced in war compared to the Germans who had been fighting since 1939. There is no question that the the Germans were far ahead in tactics and operations and the Soviets did not catch up until late 1943.
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  939. How could they do that . The volga goes for hundreds of miles from Moscow to Astrakhan.
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  940. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEraxud7vZ4&t=1s
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  941. You can't just attack in the South and have a huge flank and Soviet armies coming down on you from the North. Look at the size of the USSR and you can see what would happen. Also, falsely I believe, the Wehrmacht believed that if they were able to conquer Moscow the USSR would collapse.
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  942.  @celticman1909  They couldn't supply the armies in the USSR . They would have had even more trouble supplying all the troops in only one area, the South. The long flank would be very dangerous and very difficult to defend. The Wehrmacht reached Rostov but couldn't hold it and this was the beginning of winter. The Wehrmacht Would have to travel an additional 207 miles from Rostov the least of the oil centers Maikop. They would then try for Grozny which is 354 miles from Maikop. And the big prize is Baku which is 676 miles from Maikop. They would have to do this in the winter and over the Caucasus Mountains. This would be impossible in one campaign unless the USSR collapsed which they obviously never did.
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  943. Japan signed a nonagression pact with the USSR in April 1941.
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  944. Army group B was the forces at Stalingrad. They were deep in the city or defending their flanks. They were not going to encircle anyone. Army Group A was deep in the Caucasus. They were trying to capture Grozny and oil. They were hundreds of miles from Stalingrad.
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  945. The USSR was invaded by Germany not the other way around. Also Germany and the USSR were allies until the Germans invaded.
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  946. In Russian it is pronounced Uran.
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  947. Who the Germans or the Soviets?
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  948. Here is one way they kept going https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvcfpyzHRxw&t=606s
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  949.  @tims8326  True they were for the most sacrificial victims that could only die without changing anything.
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  950.  @mikereger1186  Supplies of food and ammo are often desperately short.
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  951. There werevery good reasons for sending troops to the center and south. Both were under very heavy Soviet attacks.
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  952. It took a while, pretty much after the success at Stalingrad that Stalin started to accept his generals advice and accept their suggestions.
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  953.  @EarlPiller  The production capacity of Romania, Hungary and Italy was far lower than Germany and the Soviet Union.
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  954.  @EarlPiller  But the Axis allies were having trouble even producing inferior tanks. And the German way of production was much slower and required more skilled labor so I don't think the Axis allies could have adapted to the German style.
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  955.  @EarlPiller  Since we are in the realm of speculation I have a stronger belief in my arguments than yours and there is no way to reslve it either way.
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  956. In some books such as Isaev and it seems Chuikov left bank is on the east. In the US maps and our way of always orienting maps to the north the waet bank would be the east and the right bank the east. It is opposite for Isaev and Chuikov. It confused me for a while talking about the artillery being on the left bank when I knew they were stationed across the Volga not in the city. Their way of orienting is opposite so it would be better to say east and west instead of left bank and right bank.
    1
  957.  @billbolton  That is true but maps published in most or all US history books orient the map with north at top and south at bottom so east is right and west is left. It is a convention for US maps so anyone using a US map in a history book or familiar with the use of maps in them would expect when talking about left bank would assume west and talking about right bank would assume east. It may be different in European books.
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  958.  @gargravarr2  That maybe true but in the history books written in the US they do not seem to follow that convention. I am not talking about correct or incorrect but how east and west banks of rivers are conventionally designated in US history books. I don't think anyone in the US would think if you said I am on the west bank of the Mississippi would think you are on the eastern side.
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  959. He attacked on his own. In fact Isaev in his book Stalingrad City On Fire criticizes some of his attacks because he was too weak and thus weakened his troops more than necessary. This led to a weakening defense.
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  960. The Germans conquered many cities but did not have an intensive building to building urban warfare situation till Stalingrad. Yes tanks are not ideal for urban warfare but you use what you have and the Germans got part of the 4th Panzer Army for reinforcement.
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  961.  @gilbertjones9157  The line was supposed to be from Archangel to Astrakhan which was decided prior to the invasion. What changes they may have made I do not know. As to what they might have done is a what if question that cannot be answered except by speculation but you can speculate on many different scenarios.
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  962.  @gilbertjones9157  I am not aware of further plans and not heard of any. It is possible they decided lets capture Stalingrad, Grozny and Baku and see what we can do after we accomplish that. I lean toward that scenario since manpower was already scarce and becoming scarcer but this is speculation. I know that once the Germans were defeated and the 6th Army was eliminated there seemed to be no strategic defensive plans. Manstein claimed he was aiming for a draw which implies a cease fire or peace treaty. I think that highly unlikely after the horrific war crimes and hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens murdered.
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  963. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberhard_von_Mackensen
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  964. They are fighting in the city of Stalingrad. Where can he move them? He can decide to not send them into Stalingrad and then he has no afvs to use in the city. He has armor along his northern flank but what he is doing is to try to conquer Stalingrad and drive the Soviets out. Armor is not good in urban fighting but Paulus has no choice if he wants Stalingrad.
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  965. Ask Hitler and Halder. It was stupid to not send the Alpini to the Caucasus. They felt that the German soldiers were best suited to take Stalingrad. The Romanians did very poorly in the fight to take Odessa so the Germans did not have much confidence in them regarding urban warfare
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  966. If Paulus refused to continue the attack Hitler would just replace him with another who would attack.
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  967.  @mladenmatosevic4591  There is the fact that he asked Hitler to pull his troops back from Stalingrad and he may have made that request more then once and of course it was refused. It is not clear whether this was because of high losses or because he feared a Soviet attack. The Romanians had reported large buildup of Soviets in their area and I imagine Paulus was informed of this.
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  968. You do the best with what you got but you are doing the right thing by comparing sources. You are right to be skeptical but with the newer sources we get closer. And hopefully 10years from now we will be closer still. It is a gradual cumulative process.
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  969. Hilter and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had. 2
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  970. It never happened.
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  971. They did. They sent Manstein and the 11th Army to Leningrad to take it. However a heavy Soviet attack prevented the offensive and the Germans were just able to hold their positions with the additional troops.
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  972.  @samsonsoturian6013  They were not as you said but they siphoned a lot of troops from Army Group South.
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  973. No he did not. He claimed in in several speeches that Stalingrad was nearly captured and that it was inevitable the city would fall.
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  974. They were in such bad shape with no air force and bottom of the barrel troops and much of their land occupied that it would have been next to impossible.
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  975. They only conquered one oil filed and that the least important one. It was destroyed in such a way that it would be many months before the Germans got any significant amount of oil.
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  976.  @akk-nd3vj  In theory but unlikely as soon as the 6th Army was no longer available.
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  977. No. The German front in the south was in a perilous position and you will see that in future episodes.
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  978. They were on the east side of the Volga. They communicated by radio.
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  979. I assume you are talking about the troops in Courland in 1944. They were bottled up as far as land was concerned. Some were evacuated by sea, the rest stayed there.
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  980. I assume he was a Soviet. Many men after the retaking of the Ukraine and Belorussia were armed but given little training and conscripted in the army.
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  981.  @freckleheckler6311  See my previous comment. The Germans had a chance to get some of the Soviets on their side but their insane racial ideas and determination to kill and starve the Soviets made this impossible. There was no solution due to the German policies.
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  982. See this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einsatzgruppen
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  983. German propaganda. All the German soldier needs is the will to fight with fanaticism. It does not matter that he is outnumbered and the enemy has a great advantage of tanks, aircraft and artillery.
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  984. Halder believed this and so did Hitler. However at the same meeting Paulus did not support this and asked for three fresh divisions.
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  985. It is pretty clear that you probably had a 90% chance of being killed or wounded in Stalingrad.
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  986. There was no doubt that Roosevelt wanted the US in the war against Hitler. But public opinion was considerably divided and the America First group was quite strong.
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  987. But Hitler was killing not just talkinghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEraxud7vZ4&t=16s
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  988. Some were defined in the Geneva Conventions, some came from Nuremberg.
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  989. You have to look at the entire front. There was no inactive front. The Germans hoped to take Leningrad but a soviet attack forced them on the defensive and Manstein and the 11th Army could not take the city. In the center the battles at Rzhev were intense and required reinforcements. In the Caucasus there was heavy fighting and oil was the goal. Al this fighting required more German troops so Stalingrad did not get reinforcements.
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  990.  @Anthony-jo7up  I don't think I want to spend anymore time on a what if.
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  991. There was also the fact that it was planned to send Army Group South to Stalingrad and then drive in to the Caucasus. Hitler and Halder then decided to split the army group into A and B and do both Stalingrad and the Caucasus at the same time weakening both drives.
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  992. No it was in the winter of 1941-2 not 1942-3.
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  993. The Heinkels were used because there were not enough JU 52s They could not cxarrry as much cargo and were not ideal for loading and unloiading supplies.
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  994.  @deanwilliams2353  The situation of the Luftwaffe is more complex than TIK portrays. On p 264 Hayward Stopped At Stalingrad points out they had to supply the 6th Army and at the same time provide close support to Manstein's operation and close support to the troops fighting desperately on the Chir. Fighters and bombers (HE 111) often had to be taken away from their role of supply for the other roles. Also it is pointed out the operational rate of the various aircraft was less than 50%. Hayward goes into great detail about the airlift and I don't know if just listing what was delivered and number of aircraft available or how much an aircraft can theoretically carry accurately portrays the airlift in its complexity and difficulty. I would recommend the above book as he devotes a couple hundred pages to the airlift among his discussion of the Luftwaffe at Stalingrad.
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  995. I would like to see a citation that shows that the Germans had knowledge of the makeup, the sail dates and the routes of convoys through insurance policies. It seems very doubtful.
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  996. But it was a concern that the Germans might get away. They had in the past and the Soviets had never succeeded in trapping a large German force and destroying them so they wanted to be sure.
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  997.  @timobrienwells  Well I have watched the video on Fall Blau. I think it is very well done and correct. I did not watch the oil video because I am not interested. I am watching the Stalingrad video and think it is one of the best done videos on youtube. If you have specific criticism I am willing to listen otherwise I just consider your comments assertions not backed up by any citations.
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  998. You might consider getting Craig Luther The First Day On The Eastern Front.
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  999. What if questions are always difficult. You have to assume when there are two sides, when one changes tactics etc the other is also going to make changes to meet it. It can never be one sided unless the other side can do nothing different and that is not the case of the Eastern Front
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  1000.  @konstantinatanassov4353  I have to disagree with you The Germans definitely had more armored fighting vehicles in the City of Stalingrad than the Soviets. They certainly were not fighting in ideal conditions but it is better to have more than less. As far air superiority is concerned the Germans had that and used it well. The Germans used the Stukas to break up attacks. The Soviets frequently had to keep their heads down for fear of dive bombers and they continuously would interdict supplies and reinforcement. Air superiority was a big advantage to the German attackers in the city. I refer you to Hayward Stopped At Stalingrad . I agree the Germans were superior to the Soviets in tactics and operations at this time.
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  1001.  @konstantinatanassov4353  Well I was talking about fighting in the city. If your point is that at this time the Germans were superior in tactics and operational skills we agree.
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  1002. Because of the great attrition in the battles for the city and along the Kotluban region many combat troops were lost and so the number of rear area troops compared to combat troops began to be extreme.
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  1003. What specifically are you referring to?
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  1004.  @super-super-  You mean they did not win the battle
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  1005. Yes the Germans were counting on their allies to hold the Don. As the fighting got intense and casualties mounted they would send German troops into Stalingrad to reinforce the city. But also Hitler and the general staff wanted Leningrad taken and troops were sent there. At the center there was reason to fear a collapse in the heavy fighting so it could not be ignored. In the south originally Stalingrad was to be taken and THEN advance to the Caucuses but the plan changed to simultaneous offensives leading to splitting the army into Groups A and B. It seems that several bad decisions were made based on doing too much too quickly for the manpower they had. 2
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  1006. No one reached the German lines.
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  1007. He has to capture the shoreline in Stalingrad as he has been doing all along. The luftwaffe attacks the river boats as best they can. The artillery bombards the landing stages. As long as there is shore to land reinforcements the Soviets reinforce. By capturing the factories and land behind them it eliminates areas that the Soviets can use to reinforce.
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  1008.  @dhardy6654  The Germans had air superiority over Stalingrad. The attacks of the Stukas were intense and were instrumental in breaking up Soviet counterattacks and German advances.
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  1009.  @dhardy6654  I think the air superiority meant quite a bit in Stalingrad. Chuikov mentions the Stuka attacks a number of times and how they pinned his troops down. It is also mentioned that the Stuka attacks broke up may of the Soviet counterattacks. The troops on the ground seem to feel that the Stuka attacks and the air superiority of the Wehrmacht greatly aided the the attacks of the Germans. I hope your remark about peasant conscripts was not meant in a slighting way. Being bombed heavily by close support aircraft effects all soldiers, peasant conscripts or not. If you want to know more about artillery read Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire. He mentions the German weight of artillery used and particularly how the Germans had a considerable advantage in large caliber artillery over 76mm. By the way he mentions Stuka attacks.
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  1010. Well the OKW and OKH went along with Hitler so anyone opposed would be outnumbered or replaced. It was a dictatorship after all.
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  1011. Only when you verify what he says in his memoirs with other available facts.
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  1012. Yes they did not have the strength to take Stalingrad even after they sent Hoth 4th panzer to Stalingrad instead of the Caucasus. They were over confident and in too much of a hurray to achieve all their aims.
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  1013. The Germans were very strained. It was a case of trying to do too much too fast with too little manpower.
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  1014. You are right that marine warfare meaning river boats were not possible for he German. however they did mine the Volga and concentrated artillery fire on the landing stages.
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  1015. The Soviets did not lack fuel although they did from time to time run short since there were problems delivering fuel.. The Germans had much greater problems as both fuel was short and they also had problems delivering fuel.
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  1016. Animal feed.
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  1017. Never take memoirs at face value whether Soviet, German or US. Always try to verify with the records available.
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