Comments by "Cary Black" (@caryblack5985) on "A closer look at the New Stalingrad CITY MAP, plus new Stalingrad Schedule (Addendum 7)" video.

  1. 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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  2. They never sent troops that were scheduled to Astrakhan. They were tied up in Stalingrad.
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  3. 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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  4. 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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  5.  @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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  6. 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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  7. 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.
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  8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volgograd
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  9. haha
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  10. 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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  11. 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.
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  12. Yes
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  13. 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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  14. Just the normal type of building for the periods the various buildings were constructed.
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  15. 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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  16. They did not want to continue honoring Stalin.
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  17. 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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