Comments by "Cary Black" (@caryblack5985) on "Paulus is running out of men | BATTLESTORM STALINGRAD E23" video.

  1. 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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  2. I doubt they gave them a thought
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  3. 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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  4. 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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  5. 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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  6. 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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  7.  @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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  8. Not until 1943 and beyods. After Stalingrad he often deferred to his generals.
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  9. 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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  10. @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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  11. Yes urban fighting advantages the defense especially in Stalingrad.
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  12. 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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  13. 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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  14. 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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  15. 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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  16. 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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  17. 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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  18.  @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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  19.  @Michael-gm2pl  Here is something about the battle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Odessa_(1941)
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  20. 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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  21. 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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  22.  @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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  23.  @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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  24. 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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  25. 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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  26. 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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  27.  @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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  28.  @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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  29. 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.
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  30. 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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  31. 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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  32.  @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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  33. 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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  34.  @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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  35.  @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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  36.  @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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  37.  @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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  38.  @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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  39.  @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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  40.  @SimSim314  read Isaev Stalingrad City On Fire
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  41. 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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  42.  @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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  43. @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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  44. 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.
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  45. 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.
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  46. 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.
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  47.  @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.
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  48.  @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.
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  49. 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.
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  50. 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.
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  51. 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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  52.  @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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  53. 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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  54.  @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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  55.  @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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  56.  @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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  57. Who the Germans or the Soviets?
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  58.  @mikereger1186  Supplies of food and ammo are often desperately short.
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  59. 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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  60.  @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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  61.  @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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