Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad: the Nazis - "dizziness from success"

One of the largest and longest battles in stories humanity, page of courage and heroism of the Soviet soldier - Battle of Stalingrad. At the same time, an important component of the battle itself is how the Nazis marched towards the Volga, who is the author of the operation with the transfer of the 6 Army to Stalingrad.

It all started as an easy walk of the very 6 Army.

A separate discussion is devoted to events in the bend of the Don. Alexei Isaev notes that some time before the "official" start of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Germans experienced something similar to "dizziness from success", when they considered that they could not be far ahead of Stalingrad and could not expect them to be ahead.

A lot of photos of where the Nazis are walking, but no one is ahead. And they really believed that no one was ahead.

But over time, the Nazis, including units of various allies of the Germans, in particular Italians and Romanians, began to understand: an easy walk to the Volga with a subsequent exit in the direction of the oil fields of the Caucasus turns into a grand battle - a battle, in the literal sense of the word, for every meter, for every a stone, for every piece of land.

In the TacticMedia story, historian Aleksey Isaev talks in detail about how the greatest battle began and the details that preceded the Battle of Stalingrad.

Comments

[iConst]

Stalingrad is a topic for a dozen serious films. Only Fedya and other liberd need to be eliminated somewhere. Otherwise, they will vulgarize everything.

[The leader of the Redskins]

And still the whole tragedy of that battle is unlikely to be conveyed. When the battlefield set up individual flights of stairs, floors ... And so in every building!

[iConst]

Quote: Leader of the Redskins

And still the whole tragedy of that battle is unlikely to be conveyed. When the battlefield set up individual flights of stairs, floors ... And so in every building!

I mean not only the Stalingrad meat grinder itself, but also the steppe battles.
And also (although History does not have a subjunctive mood) what would happen if Reichenau had not suddenly died.
And the battle for Voronezh? Almost nothing is known about it, although in terms of intensity and losses it was practically not inferior to Stalingrad. And also this battle did not allow the transfer of Wehrmacht forces to Stalingrad.

[Lyuba1965_01]

According to the special commission, which determined the degree of urban destruction after the war, 92% of all residential buildings (18 out of 220) were destroyed in Voronezh.
In Stalingrad, 90% of the housing stock was destroyed.
According to other information, "no more than 20% of the housing stock has survived."
And also very interesting about Voronezh.
When the Germans entered there, they decided to appoint a burgomaster from the locals.
There was not a single traitor to the whole city.
Voronezh turned out to be the third, after Leningrad and Sevastopol, by the duration of its presence on the front line.
During the whole war there were only two cities - Stalingrad and Voronezh, where the front line passed through the city itself.
In Voronezh operations, 26 German divisions, the 2nd Hungarian (fully) and the 8th Italian army, as well as the Romanian units were destroyed. The number of prisoners was greater than near Stalingrad.
In the battles on Voronezh land, about 400 Soviet soldiers died ...

[Eug]

Several attempts have been made to recapture Voronezh, as Rokossovsky writes about it casually. But I did not see a detailed description, although it would be very interesting to know the details.

[Lyuba1965_01]

As far as I know, Voronezh was released in parts from August 42 to January 43.
I also heard something like a myth, allegedly when Voronezh was taken by the Germans, then to that commander of the Soviet troops, Vatutin (?) Said: if you beat Voronezh tomorrow, then you can shoot. The name of the person who says varies depending on the narrator.
But you are right. Everything is somehow vague in the liberation of Voronezh. It seems that it’s not very smooth for someone’s biography, although it seems that so many years have passed and all the commanders of these operations passed away ..
And there are still strange moments in this story. The defense of Voronezh, its significance for the Victory is no less important than the defense of Stalingrad.
But!!!
Voronezh did not receive the title "Hero City". If I am not mistaken, in the 70s he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2008st degree. In XNUMX, he was awarded the title "City of Military Glory", but not "Hero City", although both the residents of the city and the front-line soldiers who lived there wrote many times throughout the years of the USSR asking for this title. and in the name of EBN, and also without an answer.
There is an opinion that this was not done because many Hungarians (incidentally, distinguished by incredible cruelty according to the locals) who fought in the German army died there.
Well, after the Second World War, peace, friendship, brothers forever, and with the Hungarians as well ... maybe this explains this attitude to Voronezh?
But also this is not entirely logical. After the overthrow of Antonescu, the Hungarians, together with Soviet troops, liberated Austria and Hungary itself. Although, Odessa, Sevastopol - Hero Cities.

[Eug]

I know only two cities in which long and hard battles took place in the Great Patriotic War - Stalingrad and Voronezh. And if the Stalingrad battles are described in sufficient detail, the Voronezh battles are very sparing. I wonder why.

[Lyuba1965_01]

The battle for Voronezh is also described in detail, but, I repeat, there is a strangeness.
For some reason, it merges with the protection of the city from the Nazis, who nevertheless entered it, although they did not occupy the whole city, with the battle for its liberation.
The city was defended mainly by local cadets and soldiers of the NKVD, as were local, as was the people's militia.
And immediately after the description of their description, operations were underway to release him.
There were two of them: the Ostrogozh-Rossoshanskaya operation and the Voronezh-Kastorensky.
If you are interested in this topic, try reading the books by A.M. Abbasov "Voronezh Front: Chronicle of Events" and memoirs of Marshal of the USSR F. Golikov.
To be honest, I tried to read them, but since I am not a military man, it was difficult for me to "read" the maps of battles, so much remained vague.
But I think you will understand us much more than me.

[nikolai711]

Antonescu, he’s like a Romanian, a conductor, etc. Maybe they wanted to write Admiral Horthy / the head of Hungary and Hitler’s last ally. /

[Lyuba1965_01]

Oh, sorry, you're right.
Just, apparently, was not particularly attentive when writing.
Just before this comment, I read articles about Romanians during the Second World War, and that is purely mechanically and wrote it down.
Thank you for correcting.

[Aleksandre]

Quote: iConst

And also (although History has no subjunctive mood) what would happen if Reichenau had not suddenly died

What would have changed if he had stayed alive? Neither von Bock nor Paulus, as it were, were children in military affairs.

[iConst]

Quote: Aleksandre

Quote: iConst

And also (although History has no subjunctive mood) what would happen if Reichenau had not suddenly died

What would have changed if he had stayed alive? Neither von Bock nor Paulus, as it were, were children in military affairs.

Paulus was a staff theorist. Therefore, after the appointment, the 6th Army hostilely accepted him. Remained memories that the officers between themselves expressed contempt for him. They considered him a purebred sissy. And the psychological climate in the troops is worth a lot.

[Aleksandre]

Quote: iConst

Paulus was a staff theorist. Therefore, after the appointment, the 6th Army hostilely accepted him. Remained memories that the officers between themselves expressed contempt for him. They considered him a purebred sissy. And the psychological climate in the troops is worth a lot.

In fact, Paulus was not a newcomer to the 6th (she is the 10th) army, in 1939-1940 he held the post of chief of staff in it. Yes, and in the failures at the front because of his relationship with the officers, it is somehow poorly trusted, there are still not hysterical young ladies from the institute of noble maidens gathered, but an ordnung is an ordnung.

[iConst]

Quote: Aleksandre

Yes, and in the failures at the front because of his relationship with the officers, it is somehow poorly trusted, there are still not hysterical young ladies from the institute of noble maidens gathered, but an ordnung is an ordnung.

What are the failures? Start listing - I will bend my fingers.
That's real, I'm waiting.

[Aleksandre]

Quote: iConst

What are the failures? Start listing - I will bend my fingers.
That's real, I'm waiting.

Yes, at least the extremely unfortunate idea that the Romanian and Italian units may have some practical value. Especially on the flanks, yeah.
However, do not you consider the defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad a failure for the Germans?

[Jager]

Romanians and Italians stood on the flanks not of a good life. The Germans already lacked troops throughout the theater. Do not forget that army groups diverged to Stalingrad and the Caucasus. And there was simply nothing to close the gap between them. This was just the perfect chance to use mobile armored units. It was then that the deficit of tanks in Germany proved itself fully. The Wehrmacht was still incredibly strong, but the bell of an imminent catastrophe was already ringing on it.
Why? Yes, because Blitzkrieg failed, Hitler refused the main goal - the capture of Moscow.
The campaign to Stalingrad and the Caucasus is an attempt to strangle the USSR, since it could not be defeated immediately. Having lost oil and transport routes, a huge range of industrial enterprises in the Caucasus and the Volga region, the future of the Union would be very vague. But moving away from the Blitzkrieg strategy and dispersing forces, Germany eventually strangled herself in the war of attrition.

[Aleksandre]

Quote: Jager

Do not forget that army groups diverged to Stalingrad and the Caucasus.

Then, among the unsuccessful decisions, based on what you have said, one can also attribute the replacement of directive 41 to directive 45. Perhaps this is debatable, since the Wehrmacht really needed fuel by that time, but nonetheless, stretching the front several times wasn’t good led.

[Jager]

All this was already a desperate attempt to grab the falling pants ...

[Alex paritsky]

While we reached these floors and stairways, we ran out of breath 3000 kilometers of fields and gardens!

[Yuriy_999]

Well, from Berlin to Stalingrad it’s not at all 3000 km, but 2200 km. Moreover, a third of the distance did not pass through the territory of the USSR. Do not remember how long the Wehrmacht ran to the border with the USSR?
And before that he ran to the edge of France (more than 1300 km). This is where the "hundred-meter" was, as soon as the breather was not ripped off :)

[Greenwood]

Quote: iConst

Stalingrad is a topic for a dozen serious films.

Reliably films about the war were shot in Soviet times. This was facilitated by the fact that war veterans were alive, and sometimes many actors and members of the film crew participated in hostilities and knew firsthand about the horrors of war.
Now "directors" like Bondarchuk or Mikhalkov, whose brains are inflamed with chronic anti-Sovietism and the desire to make money, are filming obscene non-films trying to clumsily imitate Hollywood, instead of following Russian traditions, plus they slander Soviet power in every possible way. The result is the same: failure at the box office, devastating reviews from critics and spitting viewers.

[Igorpl]

They also had excessive optimism about the attack on the Soviet Union. People do not change.

[Alex paritsky]

In the event of an attack, it was Stalin who was optimistic. Let's remember Mayakovsky: "They are climbing ?! Good! Let's grind it into powder!"

[Alex paritsky]

Funny title. The Germans needed to cover 3000 kilometers to supply their troops, and the Russians needed to overcome 800 meters to force the Volga to supply their army. And they drove through in
Volga millions of its soldiers and the tone of ammunition. So who was in this situation fun?

[Valerikk]

Quote: Alex Paritsky

Funny title. The Germans needed to cover 3000 kilometers to supply their troops, and the Russians needed to overcome 800 meters to force the Volga to supply their army.

What strange measurements of distances you have ... It’s direct, as in that joke - from head to tail 7 meters, and from tail to head 2. The Russians, apparently, have technical support to the Volga through some kind of space-time portal happened?

[sergo1914]

Quote: Alex Paritsky

Funny title. The Germans needed to cover 3000 kilometers to supply their troops, and the Russians needed to overcome 800 meters to force the Volga to supply their army. And they drove through in
Volga millions of its soldiers and the tone of ammunition. So who was in this situation fun?

“Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity (C) ...”

[Ehanatone]

"So who was having fun in this situation?"
I reviewed the Ural dumplings or something - judging by the photo it seems like not a teenager!

[Yuriy_999]

And how many millions have surpassed?

[Pilat2009]

Quote: Alex Paritsky

And they drove through in
Volga millions of its soldiers and the tone of ammunition

And it was not necessary to deliver to the Volga?
Logistics was that there what is the same

[Valerikk]

Quote: Alex Paritsky

In the event of an attack, it was Stalin who was optimistic. Let's remember Mayakovsky: "They are climbing ?! Good! Let's grind it into powder!"

Do not attribute Mayakovsky’s optimism to Stalin

[vitvit123]

Quote: Alex Paritsky

In the event of an attack, it was Stalin who was optimistic. Let's remember Mayakovsky: "They are climbing ?! Good! Let's grind it into powder!"

If they were waiting for THEY to climb! How could there be optimism of the attack at US! ???

[LAWNER]

Stalingrad is the victory of the Soviet peoples ... One can beat everyone alone ... But when they unite, there are no rivals for us.

[Paul Siebert]

I think the best film about the Great Patriotic War is "They Fought for the Motherland." The last film with the participation of Vasily Shukshin. Truthful, uncompromising, bloody. Just about these events. An endless retreat across the sun-scorched steppe. Countless stops, digging trenches, lack of water, skirmishes with the advancing Wehrmacht.
Was this operation a walk for the Germans?
I doubt it.
The Red Army has reached a boiling point. This is what Shukshin's hero says: "If you spit, I'll boil!"
Three hundred times can be cited as evidence by Goebbels’s propaganda about the construction of sound bridges in the rear of the upcoming 6th Paulus Army. And you can just know the psychology of our Russian people.
It is impossible to twist the spring of Russian patience endlessly. A critical moment is inevitable. And then - God bless the one who began to test us for strength ...

[gorenina91]

-I don’t know., But personally I can’t understand ... -And why exactly Stalingrad ???
-A, if in the same way the Red Army resisted in Kiev; Minsk; Smolensk ... and so on ...
-Because then the USSR was not yet so exhausted by the war and behind there were huge unspent reserves ... - whole cities full of population, huge human potential ... German tanks (weak guns, weak armor) in big Russian cities ??? -Yes, they just would have been burned there ... -And the German aviation would not have been so effective either ...- even in Kiev alone (and not only in Kiev) there were so many basements where the bombs would not reach ...- They constantly cite the example of the Brest Fortress, which the Germans allegedly just bypassed and left "in the rear", but the whole "unconquered cities" with our warring soldiers in their "rear" the Germans could not have left ... -Because , when they liberated Western Europe from the Nazis, it was so ... -the Germans only surrendered Konigsberg and several "foreign cities" (Polish and Czech) .., and in their cities they held on like ours in Stalingrad ...
-So ... the professional professional Red Army ... just surrendered ... -So, the detachments were really needed (or at least a "rumor" about them to scare) and other "emergency measures" ...
-And she slowed down, this giant cadre surrendered army (almost 3,5 million) then the Germans ...- so she herself would how many would destroy the German troops; and during this time the USSR could have time to recruit another 2-3 such armies and strike at the exhausted German troops ... -But this did not happen ...
-And then I had to clean up all of Siberia "clean" to recruit new Siberian divisions ... -there was nowhere else to recruit ...

[pogis]

And near Moscow is not the personnel Red Army Germans peeped? Do not compare parts of the Red Army in the Far East, Siberia and Central Asia with parts of the western districts staffed by conscripts who became citizens of the USSR for a year. Such Germans 500000 people. home was released from captivity until the fall of 41.

[gorenina91]

-Near Moscow, the exhausted "Germans chpoknul" already another, "second" cadre army ... -And the "first" cadre army was defeated and for the most part was captured ...

[Pilat2009]

Quote: gorenina91

And if in the same way the Red Army resisted in Kiev; Minsk; Smolensk ... and so on ..

And she resisted. While there were ammunition. For example, some URs fell after the garrison ran out of ammunition. The thirtieth battery was seized similarly, before that the Germans simply could not approach her. Sevastopol on Shirokorad fell because most of the artillery ammunition was taken out.
where do you think millions of prisoners come from?

[Pilat2009]

Quote: gorenina91

So ... the professional Red Army personnel ... just surrendered

Ischo raz.Kadrovy army fell into the boilers and spent ammunition either died or scattered through the forests. Someone was trying to break through.
In the year 43, there were no longer any boilers, they learned to fight. By the way, why did the Germans surrender if you follow your logic? If Paulus had ammunition with food, he would sit in Stalingrad forever

[gorenina91]

.Under there were ammunition. For example, some URs fell after the garrison ran out of ammunition.

-What are you writing ???
-Germans got whole arsenals of weapons: rifles, machine guns and machine guns in grease; shells; tens of millions of rounds; grenades; air bombs; anti-tank guns, which the Germans then used against our own tanks (they even strengthened our guns by drilling a charging chamber under a more powerful shell); even tanks, tractors and cars ...
- The whole warehouse with a huge amount of ammunition, uniforms fell into the hands of the Germans; giant military warehouses with food ...- huge reserves of flour, various cereals, sugar, whole stores of condensed milk, stewed meat, canned fish; chocolate, alcohol, vodka, red wines, biscuits, food concentrates, dried fruits, sweets and other stuff ... -And it's just military depots, not counting civilian ...
-In Sevastopol, the Germans even got entire warehouses with aviation gasoline and air bombs ... which the Germans then used and used against us ...

[Pilat2009]

Quote: gorenina91

-What are you writing ???

And what am I writing incomprehensibly? Yes, the depots were seized, if you don’t know the army has a certain stock of ammunition, everything else is transported. If the army enters the boiler, the supply ceases. Fershteen?
As for Sevastopol, during the first assault, large-caliber shells began to be taken out of the warehouses, but they didn’t bother to deliver them back. Even if you had everything bombarded there, it was tight without shells

[gorenina91]

-The army, the corps, the large military units have a huge territory, a place of deployment, and even objects and those parts of the Fortified Regions that these corps, divisions, regiments, etc. ... occupy ... -and precisely in these territories and these warehouses, warehouses, etc. are located ...
-You can just drop them when retreating; can be destroyed so that the enemy does not get it; but you can use them to destroy the enemy (shoot, feed your soldiers, bandage and use medicines for the wounded, etc. ... - all this was in abundance) ...- But all this was simply abandoned ...- and the enemy got it. ..
- And the fuel ...- the first-class aviation gasoline that the Germans got in Sevastopol ...- the Germans then poured into the tanks of their planes ...- And the Soviet air bombs that the Germans also got in Sevastopol ...- the Germans managed to adapt .. .and hung them from their planes and loaded their bombers into the bomb compartments and bombed our troops with them ...

[Eug]

The army was to become a wartime army, command posts were to be taken by the war nominees, who knew how and who were able to defeat the Germans at a tactical level. The army had to acquire a new quality, getting rid of the template, window dressing and hatred (first and foremost), first of all.

[gorenina91]

- Yes, but not to use the full potential of even that "original" Red Army ... - it was, if not outright betrayal ... - such an unprofessional action by the commanders of the Red Army that no saboteurs are needed ...
-And relatively well-fed and healthy our fighters were captured by the Germans .., in an unbreakable
uniforms and boots ...
-And not the German prisoners of war near Stalingrad ...- dirty, frostbite, sick, lousy ragged-dystrophics, who also had to be taken care of ...- And if these tens of thousands of these German prisoners-goners would simply be brought to the field would have been left there for the night in such a frost, then by morning they would have simply died out everything themselves ...

[Pilat2009]

There were prisoners and they will be. The human body is so designed that it avoids death. There’s a man sitting in the camp, they don’t drink him, they don’t feed him, they shoot and burn people, everything seems clear, there is no hope, you just have to take and kill the tormentor, you don’t die just like that. but a person pulls to the last, clings to life