Stalingrad, January 27, 1943. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The aim of the German army was to fight the Battle of Stalingrad with all its might. Stalingrad, founded in 1589, was originally called Tsaritsyn, and was renamed Stalingrad on April 10, 1925.

Between 7 May and 23 July, the Germans advanced into the Don valley, and from 17 July 1942, Hitler began Operation Blue.

Germany's blitzkrieg relied on mechanization. Mechanization relies on oil, oil. Fighting a war is not a game, without oil, everything is empty, and all the phenomena that the German army had to be unexplained when attacking in World War II can be explained by the shortage of oil.

For this battle, Hitler said: If it is not possible to obtain the oil of Mykop and Grozny, I must end this war. This is a very calm and correct sentence.

In order to implement the strategy of seizing the Soviet oil fields, Hitler dispatched the German Army Group South and part of the troops of various lines to quietly cross the steppes of the southern Soviet Union and attack the Caucasus at full speed. The summer offensive, codenamed Operation Blue, was planned to include the German 6th and 17th Army Corps, 4th and 1st Panzer Corps.

Army Group South was divided into two armies, Army Group A and Army Group B. Army Group A was commanded by William Liszt and commanded the 1st Panzer Corps and the 17th Army Corps to advance south into the Caucasus. Army Group B consisted of the 6th Army Corps under the command of General Friedrich Paulus and the 4th Panzer Corps under General Hermann Hort, which was responsible for the Volga River and Stalingrad to the east, while Army Group B was initially commanded by Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, but later changed to General Maximilien von Weix.

With 600,000 inhabitants, Stalingrad is an important port on the Volga River, the main inland shipping route of the Soviet Union, a railway transportation hub and an important industrial city in the south of the Soviet Union, with a large tractor factory, that is, the Stalingrad Tractor Factory. This tractor plant accounted for half of the production of tractors in the whole Soviet Union, and for a long time a large number of tanks were produced.

To the west and south of Stalingrad is the vast and fertile lower Don River basin, the Kuban River basin, and the Caucasus, which is an important production area of grain, oil and coal in the Soviet Union, and is the only transportation throat from the central region of the Soviet Union to the important economic regions of the south, and its strategic location is extremely important.

If the Germans occupied this area, the Soviet Union would lose the oil, food, and important industrial base needed for the war effort, and Germany desperately needed these resources at this time.

At the beginning of the phase, the Soviet troops led by Khrushchev retreated into the city under the powerful offensive of the German army. The city had been bombed to the ground by thousands of German planes. Street fighting, brutal street fighting, nightmarish street fighting. The vast majority of the soldiers who rushed to the battlefield in the East did not live more than a day and night, and the officers did not live more than three days and nights.

In late July, Stalin issued Order No. 227: "...... It's time to stop retreating. 'No step back' should be our main slogan at the moment. It was necessary to stubbornly hold every position, to hold every inch of Soviet territory, to defend it with the greatest strength until the last drop of blood was shed. ”

According to this order, the Soviets imposed the death penalty on those who fled, and the army set up overseers to shoot the officers and officers who fled. In addition, those who escaped were assigned to punishment camps, where in the most difficult parts of the campaign, redeemed the betrayal with their lives.

The new commander, Chuikov, ruled the army with an iron fist and shot several generals who were about to escape, and Stalingrad finally held on.

In the winter, the difficulties of the German army came, and there were huge problems with their supply, in addition to not having enough cotton clothes ready, but also, the destruction of the partisans.

The air force was almost the only way to transport supplies, and the shortfall of supplies was dozens of tons every day, and the pilots even found that the Germans on the front line did not even have the strength to carry the materials from the airfield.

Just when the German army, which was fighting in the bitter cold, could barely support it, a large amount of cotton clothes arrived, from Ukraine.

The combat effectiveness of the German army was immediately replenished. Paulus received the padded coat and immediately intensified the attack. Except for the fact that the tanks could not be launched in the bitter cold, the combat effectiveness of the soldiers was basically restored. The uniforms of the German army were neat and structured, which looked unsuitable for battle, and the appearance was indeed excellent.

Sure enough, it's excellent.

At the beginning, Chiang and Hitler got close, and Germany trained talents and provided equipment. The German army's drill equipment had a huge influence on the Chiang army, resulting in a large number of German fans still existing in China decades later. Today, their lean military jackets are bloated Ukrainian, cotton clothes, cotton hats, indescribably awkward.

It was this awkward-looking German army, but its combat effectiveness suddenly increased, except for the weapons that were not suitable for the cold of the Soviet Union, all other unfavorable factors were gone.

The Soviet troops, dressed in cotton clothes, eating potatoes and drinking vodka, were suddenly under tremendous pressure.

As in history, the Soviet Union mobilized a large number of troops in eastern Stalingrad to prepare for a counterattack, which was scheduled for February.

The Supreme Command of the Soviet Army began to prepare for a major counteroffensive at the end of September, and it was Zhukov who was responsible for the overall strategy of the Stalingrad region.

Zhukov recovered a little during this period of time, and at his own request, he began this work.

He secretly massed forces on a large scale at Stalingrad. By mid-November, the Soviet army on the north and south sides outside the Stalingrad area consisted of three fronts, 10 combined armies, one tank army, four air force armies, and several independent armies, tank armies, and brigades, with a total of 1,106,000 men in 143 divisions, 15,500 artillery pieces and mortars, 1,463 tanks and assault artillery, and 1,350 aircraft.

The German Paulus Army Group B in front of it had a total of 80 divisions and 3 brigades, about 1 million men, 10,290 artillery pieces, 675 tanks, and 1,216 aircraft.

In the later battles, the Soviet army was constantly depleted, and the follow-up troops could not keep up, and in addition, there were only domestic supplies from Central Asia and the Urals, and the supplies of the American army could not be transported. Zhukov was so anxious in the face of reports of material shortages that he flew to Central Asia several times to personally supervise the dispatch of materials.

By the end of January, after the winter storm fighting, the forces of both sides were greatly depleted. The Germans had 250,000 men left, while the Soviets had less than 300,000 left.

At this time, the remaining less than 300,000 Soviet troops, nearly 100,000 Soviet soldiers, divisional reserves, were not equipped.

On the German side, because the Germans had cotton clothes, and the planes only needed to transport food and ammunition, the situation of the German army was much better than in history.

The German army was forced by "diplomatic pressure", and the recently regrouped Ukrainian rebel army not only defeated the partisans, but also gathered an additional 50,000 or 60,000 puppet troops behind the German army.

When the balance is in equilibrium, even if there is a small weight, the direction of the balance tilt changes.

Under the action of these weights, the difference between the military strength of the German army and the Soviet army has narrowed, and it is similar and similar.

The lack of weapons in the Soviet army was a big weight. This weight crushed the Soviet army.

Zhukov, in view of the serious shortage of weapons and ammunition, asked Stalin to postpone the counterattack until March.

Zhukov called Stalin directly and said: "Comrade Stalin, you must have received our report ten minutes ago. ”

Stalin said: "It's in my hands." I think your numbers are accurate. The political and political situation believes that the counteroffensive campaign cannot be changed. The plan for a total encirclement of Paulus's troops should also not change. ”

Zhukov said: "Insufficient ammunition will lead to the failure of our big counterattack." ”

Stalin said: "But in March, when the weather warms up, the combat effectiveness of the German army will be greatly enhanced." Our army will fall into great passivity. If the plan doesn't change, what are you going to do? ”

Zhukov said: "We had to concentrate the elite, occupy the airfield, and eliminate the puppet army defending the railway. Then, distribute the rifle bullets of the troops, but let the veterans divide more. ”

Stalin said: "Hateful puppet army! These puppet armies have caused great trouble for this battle of ours! Okay, just follow this plan and execute it. The government has agreed to your plan. ”