Operation Winter Tempest(Thunderclap)

[wtornado]

This was taken from my IL-2 coop and would be fun to mount an operation like this in your server

 

 

 

The 6th Army's annilation       

                                         OPERATION WINTER TEMPEST(Thunderclap)

 

In the early hours of December 12th 1943 Field Marshal Manstein started ''Winter Tempest'' by sending

the Hoth's Panzer division forward and smashing in Russian infantry lines.By December 20th the 6th Panzer

Division was only 48 kms from Stalingrad after securing a bridgehead with the 1st Battalion 114th

Panzer-Genadier regiment.After crossing the Mishkova river and forming a bridgehead from there on the Germans

ran into a stone wall with the Second Guards Army.Manstein's used his meager Luftwaffe support on stratigic

positions with good results.For Field Marshal Paulus and his 250 000 men trapped inside Stalingrad.Time was

running out.Marshal Goring and his Luftwaffe failed to deliver 550 tons of supplies per day to the trapped

6th Army.The V.V.S airforce was not fairing much better than the Luftwaffe as fighters planes were in big demand.

 

Why Paulus never obeyed  Manstein's order to commence ''Operation Thunderclap'' breakout towards the

the 6th Panzer lines in uncertain.Fuel, ammunition,or maybe just the urge not to disobey Hitlers orders. 

[Finkeren]

I once read an analysis, which focused on the leadership actions taken by Paulus during the Stalingrad campaign. It gave the impression of a man starting to crack under the tremendous stress and pressure even before Operation Uranus launched. The faillure of the 6th army to break out might well be partly caused by Paulus becoming increasingly indicisive and simply delaying important decissions untill it was too late. 

 

BTW: The supply operations of the Luftwaffe in those crucial months will (I hope) be a focal point of both the campaign and multiplayer in IL2-BoS, which is why I really hope, that the devs will get around to model a Ju-52 fairly soon after launch.

[Allons]

Why Paulus never obeyed  Manstein's order to commence ''Operation Thunderclap'' breakout towards the

the 6th Panzer lines in uncertain.Fuel, ammunition,or maybe just the urge not to disobey Hitlers orders. 

 

 

Breaking out to make it 48 km to the west would mean retreat from your fortified positions into a steppe-like environment. Retreat is one of the strategically most dangerous operations an army could imagine as retreats have to be well organised and must be fast and with the ability to make your enemy stop anytime not to let him the advantage of action. In fact the 6th army was chronically athreptic even before the russian attacks started due to malfunction of railways. Even with enouph fuel to get the machanised units working, infantry, artillery and staff were often still bound to horses or walking. In my personal view breaking out with the 6th army at that time and condition would have be suicidal.

 

Best, Allons!

BTW: The supply operations of the Luftwaffe in those crucial months will (I hope) be a focal point of both the campaign and multiplayer in IL2-BoS, which is why I really hope, that the devs will get around to model a Ju-52 fairly soon after launch.

 

If you look at the reports given by the 6th army about landed aircraft you will see that in later days as many Ju 52 as He 111 landed in Gumrak & Co. So we could as well take the Heinkels as transport units.

 

Best, Allons!

[wtornado]

Breaking out to make it 48 km to the west would mean retreat from your fortified positions into a steppe-like environment. Retreat is one of the strategically most dangerous operations an army could imagine as retreats have to be well organised and must be fast and with the ability to make your enemy stop anytime not to let him the advantage of action. In fact the 6th army was chronically athreptic even before the russian attacks started due to malfunction of railways. Even with enouph fuel to get the machanised units working, infantry, artillery and staff were often still bound to horses or walking. In my personal view breaking out with the 6th army at that time and condition would have be suicidal.

 

Best, Allons!

 

If you look at the reports given by the 6th army about landed aircraft you will see that in later days as many Ju 52 as He 111 landed in Gumrak & Co. So we could as well take the Heinkels as transport units.

 

Best, Allons!

Lets see starvation, a death camp or fighting a breakout attempt hummmm I think the best reason is that the men were starving to death for such a long time

that they no strength left to do anything at all except surrender their will was broken.

 

Soldiers would apparently die for no reason right where they would be sitting at an alarming rate which in turn prompted the Wehrmacht and when they sent

a well reputed doctor to study the situation.In his medical studies he found that the soldiers vital organs were shrinking due to malnutrition and that it would

lead to kidney failure and eventually heart failure.

[Finkeren]

If you look at the reports given by the 6th army about landed aircraft you will see that in later days as many Ju 52 as He 111 landed in Gumrak & Co. So we could as well take the Heinkels as transport units.

 We could, but that would be like saying: "Nah, we don't need the LaGG-3 in the sim. We've got the Yak-1, and it was a better fighter anyway".

 

I value variety a lot in a sim, and a realistic plane set for Stalingrad would not just benefit from having a Ju-52 but require it.

[Allons]

Just to make it clear: i would pay another 15,- Eur for a flyable Ju-52 but dont consider it as that essential. Best, Allons!