The end at Stalingrad

[cardboard_killer]

[The beginning of the end. 80 years ago today] "• The Red Army opens an offensive with the 21st Army, 65th Army, and 5th Tank Army, with the goal of shattering the weak screening forces north of Stalingrad and encircling the German 6. Armee. After a 7½-hour artillery preparation, six corps of the Don Front attack from Serafimovich across the River Don and make a deep penetration in Kletskaya area.

 

- The Soviets are attacking with 804 tanks, 13,400 artillery pieces and over 1,000 aircraft, including modern La-5 and Yak-9 fighters, upgraded Il-2 attack aircraft, and lend-lease Douglas Bostons.

 

 

 

- General-locotenent Petre Dumitrescu’s Armata a 3-a Română is in a difficult position. Its eight divisions are each holding at least twice the normal divisional frontage. Four of those divisions have every battalion --even the engineers-- actually in the front line, with some battalions covering three miles of front. The other four each have one battalion in reserve, instead of the recommended two. Shortages of mines and barbed wire left much of 3rd Army's extended front inadequately fortified.

 

- Divisia 1 Blindata has eighty-four operational R-2 tanks (Skoda Pz-35(t)) remaining, which along with a handful of anti-tank guns (37mm, 45mm, and 47mm) are inadequate to meet the Soviet T-34s. Most of the Soviet tanks lost will be due to mines, grenades, and Molotov cocktails.

 

- Requests to the Germans for reinforcements has been denied and permission to withdraw if attacked is refused.

 

- Divisia 13 Infanterie resists stubbornly, knocking out 25 Soviet tanks before its right flank is overwhelmed by three Soviet infantry divisions. Part of the division manages to fall back into the pocket forming around Divisia 6 Infanterie. The Divisia 5 Infanterie is overrun by Soviet tanks. Divisia 15 Infanterie, on the shoulder of the breakthrough area, defeats an attack by 35 Soviet tanks supported by infantry, knocking out five tanks and taking 45 prisoners. Later a significant portion of Divisia 15 will break out and reach Axis lines, but General-maior Ioan Sion will be killed during the attempt.

 

- Divisia 1 Cavalerie, attacked by several Soviet infantry divisions, falls back a few kilometres, but is forced away from the rest of Armata a 3-a Română to the south and east, and will eventually wind up being trapped in the Stalingrad pocket along with the German 6. Armee.

 

- Romanian losses will reach 75,000 men in less than five days.

 

Romanian troops near Stalingrad."

 

Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-218-0501-11 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The Soviet offensive continues to grind forward. At the end of the day the lines of the Armata a 3-a Română have a 70 kilometer wide gap in the centre. The German 22. Panzer Division attempts to link up with Romanian Divisia 1 Blindata for a counter-attack but the Germans fall back and retreat under threat of encirclement. Most of the Romanian armor is destroyed by Soviet V Tank Corps tomorrow but many of the men and motor transport get away. They will work their way to the Chir River on the 25th, supplied by the Escadrila 107 aero-transport using improvised landing fields, and cross to safety. The division will be rebuilt with the Pz-35(t)s replaced by Pz-38(t)s and augmented by a dozen Pz-IIIN and Pz-IVG.

 

Shells from the Romanian AT guns are nearly useless against the heavy Soviet armor. Most of the Soviet tanks knocked out are done so by grenades, mines, and Molotov cocktails. The Germans had promised 5cm Pak 38 anti-tank guns but they have not yet been delivered.

 

- Encircled by the Soviets are three Romanian infantry divisions and isolated units of two more divisions. The 40,000 men will become known as the “Lascăr Group” under the command of General-maior Mihail Lascăr of Divisia 6 Infanterie.

 

• The Soviets begin to press the German units deployed north of the city. The German 376. Infantry Division and the Austrian 44. Infanterie Division begin to redeploy to face the enemy on their flanks, but are hindered by a shortage of fuel. By the end of the day the Soviet 1st Tank Corps is chasing the retreating XLVIII Panzerkorps, while the Soviet XXVI Tank Corps has captured the headquarters of Romanian Corpul 2 armata at Perelazovsky, 130 kilometers northwest of Stalingrad.

 

- Soviet units report problems with tank engines freezing up in the cold weather. STAVKA quickly organizes an air bridge from Moscow to the Stalingrad area to deliver cases of antifreeze via Antonov A-7 gliders.

 

Antonov A-7

 

• With Göring promising relief by air, Adolf Hitler refuses a withdrawal plan by Generaloberst Kurt Zeitzler that would have allowed General der Panzertruppe Friedrich Paulus’ 6. Armee to pull out of Stalingrad and strike the attacking Soviet forces in the open.

 

• With Axis eyes focused on the beleaguered Armata a 3-a Română north of Stalingrad, the Soviet 51st and 57th Armies attack the Armata a 4-a Română south of the city. The principal shock is received by the Corpul 6 armata. The line is broken at the junction of the Divisia 2 Infanterie and Divisia 20 Infanterie and at the junction of the Divisia 1 Garda (Guards Infantry) and Divisia 18 Infanterie. The Soviets advance rapidly into the breaches, pushing XIII Tank Corps of the 57th Soviet Army towards Saty, the IV Mechanised Corps of the 51st Soviet Army towards Plodovitoye and later, the IV Cavalry Corps towards Abganerovo. The Romanians are unable to plug the breaches as they have no reserves."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The Red Army's offensive continues, with remaining Romanian units in the north being destroyed in isolated battles, and Soviet forces flanking portions of the German 4. Panzerarmee and 6. Armee. IV Tank Corps spears through lines of German XI Armeekorps by sending twelve captured German tanks with infantry riders to the bridge at Kalach with their lights on as the Germans do at night. Two motorized infantry companies follow closely and the bridge is taken by surprise. The German 22. Panzer Division is broken and forced to withdraw to the southwest.

 

- A German officer records the retreat of a Romanian unit:

 

“An unrestrained, disorderly crowd flows past me. Soldiers trudging along in groups or alone. A field kitchen heads towards us. Wounded soldiers hang off it, as it is dragged along by horses. A few more field kitchens, and then three small trucks. They are also packed to the roof with men. Unhappy, dumbfounded faces. Men looking like ghosts cling to the sides with hooked fingers. They trudge along, moving their legs robotically. Their tall sheepskin hats are pulled down to the bridge of their noses, the collars of their greatcoats are turned up to cover their mouths, so all you can see is a band of their unshaven faces, which they try to hide from the burning-cold wind. It all added up to a picture which reminiscent of the retreat of Napoleon from Moscow.”

 

• The Soviet offensive has surprised the Germans, despite Romanian reports of buildups opposite their lines. Heer intelligence had specified that the Soviets had no more reserves and would thus be unable to mount a major attack. General der Panzertruppe Friedrich Paulus is aghast to hear that Soviet forces are behind him, only forty kilometers from his headquarters. He receives orders from Hitler to assume an all-around defense as “Festung Stalingrad”.

 

Soviet forces attack near Kalach 72 kilometers from Stalingrad

 

Fighting continues in Stalingrad itself"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein is transferred from the Leningrad front to take command of newly forming Army Group Don in order to contain the Soviet offensive and relieve Stalingrad. Von Manstein concurs with Göring’s optimistic promise that Stalingrad can be supplied by air until relieved.

 

• While Soviet troops consolidate their positions, the majority of the Axis air units stand down in preparation for the Stalingrad airlift. Romanian Grupul 7 vânătoare (fighter group) evacuates the surrounded Karpovka airfield as Soviet tanks are approaching. The pilots cram a mechanic (in one case two) into their Bf-109s with them. Several SM-79s and Ju-52s fly in and evacuate additional personnel while under fire.

 

Bf-109s of Grupul 7 vânătoare in 1943"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The Luftwaffe launches the Stalingrad Airlift. Transport units attempt to fulfill Göring’s promise to Hitler that the 6. Armee can be supplied entirely by air.

 

Ju-52 in the previous winter’s Demyansk airlift.

 

- The number of planes used rises from 320 in late November to 500 in early December when bomber units are added, to 850 in late December when reconnaissance aircraft plus obsolete bombers and transports from training schools are added.

 

- The 6. Armee requires 800 tons of supplies (rations, fuel, ammunition, medical, and miscellaneous) per day to operate effectively. OKL and OKW agree that it can get by on 500 tons per day, with 300 tons per day the absolute minimum for inactive defense.

 

- To give each man 200 grams of bread per day will require flying in 50 tons of bread per day.

 

- Through January 1943, the Luftwaffe will average delivering 117 tons per day. 135 wounded and ill will be evacuated each day.

 

Loading supplies for 6. Armee. The van under the wing is using exhaust to warm the port engine

 

- In early December, Stalin will order additional fighter aircraft to the area to put a stop to the airlift. In addition to escorting fighters, the Germans will lose:

 

• Two-hundred and sixty-six Ju-52s

• One-hundred and sixty-five He-111s

• Forty-two Ju-86s

• Nine Fw-200s

• Five He-177s

 

- The total losses are the equivalent of five wings, or more than one complete fliegerkorps. Approximately 1,100 airmen will be lost including many of the Luftwaffe’s most experienced bomber and transport pilots, navigators and flight instructors.

 

Ju-52s from Stanitsa Tacinskaja airfield flying low to supply Stalingrad

 

Downed Ju-52 Stalingrad"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Driving on Stalingrad, a panzer spearhead of 160 tanks clashes all day long with about 350 Soviet tanks in the battle of Werchne-Kumsky. The Soviet tanks are sent into battle piecemeal and the Germans gain the upper hand. Each side will commit more armor and the fighting will go on for two more days.

 

• As German rations in Stalingrad are being reduced to 160 grams per day, Russian POWs in the pocket are being starved. Paulus refuses a suggestion to release them to the Soviet lines."

"In a gesture of solidarity with the starving troops in Stalingrad, Zeitzler reduced his own rations to their level. Hitler was informed of these actions by Martin Bormann. After two weeks and the visible loss of some 12 kilos (26 pounds) in weight, Hitler ordered Zeitzler to stop the diet and return to normal rations."

The air battles over Stalingrad

"On December 12, 1942 the German grouping" Don "of General-Field Marshal Manstein with superior forces (the newly created German 4th Panzer Army - the 6th, 23rd and 17th Panzer Divisions, a separate battalion of heavy tanks Pz.VI Ausf H "Tiger I" and the 4th Romanian army - four infantry divisions) began the breakthrough of the outer front of the encirclement from the Kotelnikovo area in the zone of the troops of the 51st Army of General FI Tolbukhin.

 The counteroffensive of Manstein's grouping began with massive strikes by German aviation against the airfields and the Red Army troops.

 On the morning of December 12, 13 Bf110 under cover of 9 Bf109 dealt a rather effective bombardment strike against the Abganerovo airfield. As a result of a raid in the combined air group of the 8th IA, 4 Il-2 811th caps, 3 I-16 fighters (one of them was not subject to recovery) and one U-2 (it was not subject to recovery) were damaged.

 In the air group, there were only 3 combat-ready IL-2s that, early in the morning of December 13, literally before the nose of the German "Messerschmitts" flew to Solodovka airfield - another blow of eight Luftwaffe fighter-bombers fell on an empty airfield ... Weakened during the November counterattack, Soviet troops could not to restrain the onslaught of the enemy.

 The front was broken, and within three days the main forces of the Germans immediately crossed the river Aksai-Esaulovsky. December 19 in the area of the hut. The Upper-Kumsky units of the 51st Army withdrew behind the Myshkov River. Stalingrad was 40 km away. There was a real threat of connection of tank and motorized parts of Manstein with the surrounded grouping of Paulus.

 Since the 226th Shad was withdrawn to the reserve for reorganization as a result of the decision of the Stavka Supreme Court of December 15, 1942, the execution of combat missions on the Kotelnikovo line fell on the shoulders of the 8th IA combined air group, which included all combat crews of the 206th Shad, 268 th above, 218th over and 272nd nbad.

 On December 18, from the structure of the 206th Shad, which suffered great losses before it, a special operational assault air group was formed, headed by Lieutenant Colonel LK Chumachenko, the deputy commander of air division, which included 10 of the most trained crews from the 503rd, 686th, 811th and 945th steps. In the composition of this group, TN Khryukin also included 6 IL-2 226th shad (two aircraft from each regiment's air regiment).

 Crews had to operate in conditions of poor visibility and low clouds both on routes and in target areas. Acted at low altitudes, mostly in small groups, often without cover for fighters, looking for clusters of tanks and motorized rifles of the enemy and making their way to them through tight anti-aircraft fire. "Ilyushin" suffered a sensitive loss.

 On December 18, 6 Il-2 (leaded by Squadron commander M.N. Slobodnichenko), the 686th caps in a complex ground, air and meteorological situation inflicted an accurate bombardment strike on enemy tanks and vehicles that had sheltered in the beams 2 km to the south of 147.0 and in the beams of Leskina and Neklinskaya.

 Unfortunately, when approaching the target, two Yak-1 fighters from the cover group, due to a malfunction of the host's car, returned to their airfield. The remaining pair of "Yaks" during the attack by "Ilami" goal lost sight of the group being hid. As a result, attack planes over the target remained without cover and at the exit from the attack were attacked by four Luftwaffe fighters (2 Bf109 and 2 Bf110).

 The first attack of Messerschmitt was inaccurate. This allowed Soviet pilots to make a second call on enemy tanks. In this approach Il-2 of the host was hit, and he had to leave the battle. The "Il" and the second host lit up. The Il-2 group disintegrated. In the future, instead of organizing the defense, the remaining storm troopers began to make attempts alone to flee from German fighters on a short flight. As a result, all IL-2 were shot down. Two of them made a forced landing in the area of the hut. Verkhne-Kumsky to the location of the tankmen of the 59th Mech Brigade. Nothing is known about the fate of the others ...

 On December 19, the Chumachenko group from the airfield Fruitful made two combat sorties under the cover of the 268th fighter aircraft. Both flights took place in an extremely tense situation.

 

In the first of them, 4 Il-2 503rd and 945th caps under the cover of 6 Yak-1 on the approach to the target at 230 ° in the Kosh area, nose to nose, met with six of the Lu87 Luftwaffe dive bombers heading toward the front. The storm troopers attacked the Junkers, upset their fighting order and one of them was shot down. After that the Il-2 group bombed a cluster of German vehicles (up to 20 tanks and 50 vehicles) in the Neklinskaya gully and ravines to the north of Klykov, as a result of which 2 tanks and 3 enemy vehicles were destroyed and damaged.

 In the second departure, 5 IL-2 from the 686th and 811th convoys during the attack of the advancing enemy forces, when they came out of the attack on a collision course, crashed into the formation of six Ju87s and eight Bf109Fs covering them. In the course of the fast-paced air battle, 3 "Junkers" were shot down. Their losses "ilushin" did not have.

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Soviet attacks have hit north and south of the Italian 8ª Armata positions on the middle Don, forcing Generale Italo Gariboldi to stretch his lines even further. Today the Red Army launches Operation Little Saturn, a strong offensive against the Italian center. The German 62. and 294. Infanterie Divisions, backing the Italians and with the only effective anti-tank guns, have been withdrawn to support von Manstein. The Don is frozen hard enough to allow tanks to cross, and the Sixth Army and First Guards Army concentrate on the 3ª Divisione di fanteria «Ravenna» and 5ª Divisione di fanteria «Cosseria».

 

Italian position in the USSR

 

- There is stubborn Italian resistance at strong points, but the Soviets bypass most of these once gaps are cleared in the minefields. Italian calls for German air support are not answered due to the need to allocate aircraft for the failing Stalingrad airlift. At the focal points of the attacks some Italian units are outnumbered 9:1.

 

- Within three days, the Soviets will have opened a 60 km hole in the front through which pour four armored or mechanized corps.

 

• In the offensive to relieve Stalingrad, Generaloberst Hermann Hoth of the XLVIII Panzer Corps overrules his subordinate commanders and orders an armored assault into a steppe area to take a low elevation dominating the surrounding plain. Generalleutnant Erhard Raus writes what happens:

 

“The well camouflaged Russian infantry which was situated in groups of two to four men in a system of deep foxholes and narrow trenches, allowed itself to be overrun by the two panzer regiments. Then, using their innumerable antitank rifles, each of which could be operated by a single soldier, they opened fire at close range against the more lightly armored vehicles of Captain Kueper’s battalion, inflicting heavy losses.

 

Over and over again it became necessary for the tanks to wait or even turn back and assist, as the panzergrenadiers had to deploy to locate and identify an invisible enemy in combat on foot. The various enemy nests proved so well hidden in the steppe grass (which was brown like Red Army uniforms) that the only way to find them was actually to stumble across them. Usually some unlucky German soldier had been killed by a bullet before a nest was identified. Even the Luftwaffe proved unable to deal with this “invisible ghost.”

 

Never before had our tank crews felt so powerless, although they would have been able to stand their ground against the strongest Russian tank attack. By early afternoon Colonel von Hünersdorff reported that he had reached his objective but could not eliminate “this invisible enemy” and I ordered him to return to his line of departure. The lunge into the void had brought us losses, but no success. Worse, we had lost a precious day.”'

 

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Soviets recapture two towns near Nalchik in the Caucasus and reopen the Ossetian Military Highway.

 

• With the slaughter of over 12,000 horses, the Germans in Stalingrad receive their last meat rations.

 

• Soviet Second Guards and Fifty-first Armies break Armeegruppe Hoth, with the Germans retreating and the Romanian VI and VII Corpul effectively destroyed. This signals the end of von Manstein’s “Winter Storm”.

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Soviet sniper Maksim Passar is killed in action while taking out German machine gun crews in the Stalingrad pocket. His tally as of this date is 237 kills. A member of the Nanai people from the Soviet Far East, the Germans put a 100,000 Reichsmark [about 675,000 USD today] bounty on him.

 

Максим Пассар

 

• Soviet forces open an assault on Voronezh. Troops of South Front overrun Salsk, on Stalingrad-Novorossisk rail line at its junction with line to Rostov.

 

• After another Soviet artillery barrage announcing the start of renewed attacks, Generaloberst Paulus evacuates his headquarters and moves into the city itself (Univermag department store). 6. Armee’s last airstrip, at Gumrak, is assaulted by the Soviets, and is soon lost. This is a virtual death-blow to the German airlift and from now on all supplies must be dropped by parachute.

 

Germans loading parachute supply cannisters for Stalingrad

 

Soviet 120mm mortar battery Stalingrad 22 Jan 1943"

Edited January 22, 2023 by cardboard_killer

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Generale di Brigata Giulio Martinat is killed leading a charge of men from the 2ª Divisione alpina «Tridentina» at Nikolayevka. The Germans had ordered the Alpine Corps to stand and fight to the last, but Generale di Corpo d’armata Gabriele Nasci ordered a retreat before the encirclement by the Voronezh Front could be complete.

 

Alpino trooper on the Don Front

 

- After Martinat falls, Generale di Division Luigi Reverberi climbs onto one of the last three light tanks as the sun begins to set and, yells “Tridentina, Avanti!” The Italian human wave attack breaks through the positions of the 48th Guards Rifle Division causing them to retreat. «Tridentina» holds the flanks enough to allow about a quarter of the Alpine Corps and some German and Hungarian stragglers to escape.

 

• Generalmajor Moritz von Drebber violates orders and surrenders the 1,800 remaining men of his 297. Infanterie Division to the Soviets at Stalingrad. His family will be arrested.

 

• The following dispatch is sent to Berlin.

 

“Croatian 369th Infantry Regiment participated in the fighting around Stalingrad with 1st Croatian Artillery Division, and distinguished itself outstandingly. Heavy enemy artillery fire over the entire town area. Defence of same massively hampered because of 30,000- 40,000 unattended wounded and scattered personnel. Energetic leaders making every effort to form units out of scattered personnel, and are fighting alongside them offering front-line resistance. Apart from a few scraps, all rations have been used up. German Gold Cross awarded to Major-General Wulz January 26th. Don Headquarters. Request posthumous promotion for Lieutenant-General Hauptmann, Commander of the 71st Infantry Division, whose outstanding conduct was a shining example, and who fell today in close combat. Troops are without ammunition and food. We have contact with some elements of six divisions only. There are signs of disintegration on the southern, western and northern fronts. Unified command is no longer possible. Little change on the eastern side. We have 18,000 wounded who are without any kind of bandages or medicines at all. The 44th, 76th, 100th, 305th and 384th divisions have been annihilated. As a result of strong incursions the front has been torn open. Firing points and shelter are available only inside the city. Collapse is inevitable. The army requests permission to surrender so as to save the lives of those that remain. Signed, Paulus” 

 

- Permission to surrender is refused.

 

Soviet troops Stalingrad January 1943

 

Advancing Soviet infantry passing a downed Ju-88"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• At Stalingrad, the Soviet Sixty-second and Sixty-fifth Armies, from opposite sides of the pocket, have linked up at the Mamayev Kurgan, site of furious battles last September. The Red Army now begins the final assault on the two large German ‘pockets’ in the ruined city.

 

Soviet road to Stalingrad

 

Soviets advance through the snow-covered ruins of Stalingrad Jan 1943"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Soviet forces capture Red Square in Stalingrad and prepare to rush the adjoining Univermag Department store. When a white flag is waved from the store, Lieutenant Fedor Yelchenko dashes across and finds Paulus and his command staff. Paulus surrenders to the Lieutenant, but makes it plain that he is only surrendering the headquarters as he has no effective communications with the various defensive sectors.

 

- Most of the sectors will follow the Generalfeldmarschall’s lead but fighting will continue sporadically for another two days.

 

Paulus being escorted to Soviet 64th Army HQ"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Formal resistance of the German 6. Armee at Stalingrad ends with the surrender of XI Armeekorps, concluding the epic struggle.

 

 

 

- Soviet casualties total 478,741 killed and missing with 650,878 wounded or ill. An estimated 40,000 civilians have also been killed. 4,341 tanks, 15,728 guns, and 2,769 aircraft have been lost.

 

- Axis casualties are less certain with an estimated 850,000 Germans, Italians, Romanians, Hungarians, and Croatians killed, wounded, or missing. 107,000 prisoners have been taken. Of the 91,000 Germans captured (the figure includes Russians, Byelorussians, and Ukrainians fighting for the Germans), only 6,000 will survive to return to Germany in 1955. 1,500 tanks, 6,000 guns, and 900 aircraft have been lost.

 

- Several isolated groups, mostly Soviets who had been fighting for the Germans, know that no mercy will be shown and refuse to surrender. NKVD units will take until early March to liquidate these last pockets.

 

Soviets celebrating in February 1943"

[cardboard_killer]