Comments by "Cary Black" (@caryblack5985) on "A Steppe Too Far | BATTLESTORM STALINGRAD E22" video.

  1. 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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  2. 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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  3. 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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  4.  @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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  5. 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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  6. 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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  7. 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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  8. 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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  9. 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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  10. 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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  11. 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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  12.  @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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  13.  @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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  14. 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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  15. ​ @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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  16. 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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  17. 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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  18. 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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  19. 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.
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  20. 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.
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  21. 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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  22. 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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  23. 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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  24. Well Hitler was top dog as was Stalin so they could enforce their decisions for good or for ill.
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  25. 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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  26. 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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  27. They were not. The Germans were depleted and so were the Soviets.
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  28.  @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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  29. Sure he did. He started wwii to lose. What a bunch of bs.
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  30. Hitler wanted Leningrad captured and what Hitler wanted he got.
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  31. 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.
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  32. The Germans and the Soviets used kilometers and meters. We in the US convert them to miles and yards for our understanding.
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  33. 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.
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  34. 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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  35. 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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  36. 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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  37. 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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  38. You might consider getting Craig Luther The First Day On The Eastern Front.
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  39. What specifically are you referring to?
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  40.  @super-super-  You mean they did not win the battle
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  41. 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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