How did the battle for Stalingrad begin?
Armored personnel carriers Sd.Kfz.251 / 1 of the Kleist group during the attack on Stalingrad
General position of Germany
By the spring of 1942, the Third Reich had overcome the first crisis caused by the failure of the blitzkrieg plan. Germany is moving on to a protracted war: it is conducting additional mobilization of people, expanding military production. Part of the men from production had to be sent to the front: from 1941 to 1942, the total number of German workers is reduced from 33,4 million to 31,5 million people. Young men are replaced by older men, women are transferred to handicraft factories, and workers are also transferred from militarily less important industries and enterprises to more important ones. The length of the working day at military enterprises is increasing, and the output of civilian products is being reduced to the detriment of military production.
The use of forced labor by foreign workers and prisoners of war is also increasing. In the same period, their number increases from 3 million to 7 million people. The Nazis are organizing on an enormous scale the forcible transfer of the population, especially young people, from the occupied countries to the Reich. Especially many people were driven into slavery from the occupied regions of the USSR.
The Nazis actively use the human and industrial resources of the occupied and neutral countries. In particular, Turkey, Switzerland, Spain and Sweden played a large role in obtaining important resources and war materials for Germany.
As a result, in 1942 Germany achieved an increase in military production and provided the Wehrmacht with everything necessary to continue offensive operations of strategic importance. By July 1942, compared with February 1942, the level of military production increased by 55%. The priority was the production of offensive weapons and ammunition. Mainly medium-sized Tanks - T-3 and T-4. The production of aircraft over the year increased by 24%, tanks and armored vehicles - by 79% (from 5,2 thousand to 9,3 thousand), guns with a caliber over 75 mm - by 70%, etc.
By the spring of 1942, Germany had 239 divisions and 5 brigades, which numbered 8,6 million people. The overwhelming majority of the troops were on the Russian front: 182 divisions and 4 brigades. Also, Germany's allies additionally put up: Romania - 20 divisions (2 armies), Hungary - up to 12 divisions (one army), Italy - 7-8 divisions (one army).
Germany was still operating in a favorable military-political situation. The USA and England were in no hurry to open a second front in Europe, since the protracted war between the Russians and the Germans was in their interests. England concentrated its efforts on North Africa and holding positions in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States sent most of its forces and resources to the fight against Japan. The USSR had to keep in mind that the Empire of Japan in the Far East and Turkey in the Caucasus could at any moment come out against us. This made it necessary to keep part of the forces in the Far Eastern and Transcaucasian directions. In addition, the Nazis occupied the economically developed western regions of the USSR. Russia has lost part of its economic and human potential.
German armored personnel carrier Sd.Kfz. 251/10 platoon commander of the 64th Panzergrenadier Regiment of the 16th Wehrmacht Panzer Division during the attack on Stalingrad. The machine is equipped with equipment for the installation of 280-mm Wurfrahmen 40 rocket artillery mounts
Soviet GAZ-AA truck and 76-mm horse-drawn F-22-USV divisional gun on the road near Stalingrad
Finish off Russia
The German headquarters still overestimated its capabilities and strength. On March 15, 1942, Hitler announced that during the summer of 1942 the Russian army would be destroyed. However, the German high command understood that it could no longer carry out an offensive along the entire vast stretch of the Russian front. Some of the German generals had doubts whether it was possible to defeat Russia if they attacked only in one strategic direction?
However, the Fuhrer insisted on a new offensive. Also, the German generals understood that it was impossible to give the initiative to the enemy, so it could be lost forever. In addition, because of the pause, the threat from America increased. Therefore, there was only one way out: to continue the offensive and crush the Russians.
Hitler instructed to concentrate efforts on the southern strategic direction. In successive operations, defeat the Red Army, capture the Crimea and the Caucasus, important resources and create the possibility of Turkey entering the war. The Fuhrer also believed that Russia would collapse, and the Third Reich would be able to take over the Middle East, India, which was already leading to the defeat of Britain.
On April 5, 1942, Directive No. 41 of the German High Command was issued. It stated that the goal of the offensive was to destroy the remaining forces of the Red Army and deprive them of their most important military and economic centers. Simultaneous attacks on Stalingrad (Volga) and the Caucasus were planned in order to capture the southern regions of the USSR rich in strategic resources. At the same time, positions were maintained in the central direction. There was no chronological framework for the end of the campaign. It was envisaged to carry out a number of successive operations in the Crimea, Kharkov region, in the Voronezh, Stalingrad and Caucasian directions. The operation to capture Leningrad and establish direct contact with the Finnish army was made dependent on the solution of the main task in the south. Army Group Center was to maintain and improve its operational position through a series of private operations.
On June 1, 1942, Hitler, accompanied by Keitel, arrived at the headquarters of Army Group South in Poltava. Here preparations for a general offensive in the south were completed.
The deterioration of the position of the Red Army
By the spring of 1942, the winter offensive of the Red Army had stalled. Soviet troops went on the defensive everywhere. The Headquarters and the General Staff proceeded from the fact that the enemy would deliver the main blow in the central (Moscow) direction in order to end the war in his favor. The largest grouping of the Wehrmacht was located here. Therefore, the General Staff proposed organizing a temporary strategic defense, accumulating reserves, and then launching a counteroffensive again. The headquarters approved this idea. At the same time, it was planned to carry out private offensive operations in a number of directions: near Leningrad, in the Demyansk region, in the Smolensk, Kursk, Kharkov and Crimean directions. Our troops had to improve their operational position, hold the initiative and, if possible, thwart the enemy offensive.
In many ways, the failure of the Red Army was associated with the proposal of the command of the South-Western direction (Timoshenko, Khrushchev and Bagramyan) to conduct a large offensive operation in May by the forces of the Bryansk, South-Western and Southern fronts. However, the poorly organized offensives of our armies in the southern strategic direction led to a number of disasters. The Crimean Front was unable to break through the enemy defenses in the Kerch direction. The 11th German Army in May 1942 carried out its counteroffensive, which led to the collapse of the Soviet front and the loss of the Kerch Peninsula. Our troops suffered heavy losses and retreated to the Taman Peninsula (Kerch catastrophe of the Red Army; Part 2). This worsened the situation of Sevastopol. Manstein was able to concentrate his efforts on the capture of the Sevastopol fortress. On June 7, the third assault on Sevastopol began. By July 4, the fortress had fallen. The coastal army was killed (How the Germans took Sevastopol; Part 2).
Soldiers of the 578th Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht at a halt during the attack on Stalingrad. July–August 1942
In the north, the situation was also difficult. Leningrad could not be unblocked. In May, the North-Western Front failed to succeed in the Demyansk direction. The Volkhov grouping of the Leningrad Front (formerly the Volkhov Front) was unable to achieve victory on the western bank of the river. Volkhov. The Germans launched a counterattack and blocked the troops of the 2nd shock army (Battle on the Volkhov; Part 2). Most of the army died in the Myasnoy Bor area.
On May 12, 1942, the troops of the Southwestern Front, with the support of the Southern Front, launched an offensive in the Kharkov direction. The start of the offensive was successful. But on May 17, the Germans (1st tank and 17th field armies) launched a counteroffensive from the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk region. The 6th Army of Paulus also launched a counterattack. The command of the South-Western direction underestimated the enemy and did not start the withdrawal of troops in a timely manner. As a result, a large grouping of our troops fell into the "boiler". A smaller part of the troops broke through from the encirclement (The failure of the Kharkov operation; How Khrushchev shifted all the blame for the Kharkov disaster to Stalin).
The Kharkov disaster turned into further tragedies for the Soviet troops. The situation in the southern direction has changed dramatically in favor of the enemy. Our troops in the Crimea and near Kharkov suffered heavy losses, which they did not have time to make up for by the beginning of the enemy offensive, the armies did not have time to put in order, to gain a foothold on new lines of defense.
German tractors Sd.Kfz. 8, towing 150-mm howitzers sFH 18, on the march near Stalingrad
German tanks Pz.Kpfw. III riding in formation across the steppe during the attack on Stalingrad
The Germans go on the offensive
Army Group "South" was divided (this was finally formalized on July 7) into Army Group "A" (Caucasian direction) of Field Marshal List as part of the 1st Panzer, 17th and 11th Field and 8th Italian armies and a group armies "B" (Stalingrad direction) of Field Marshal von Bock as part of the 4th tank, 2nd and 6th field and 2nd Hungarian armies.
On June 28, 1942, the 2nd field and 4th tank armies attacked the left flank of the Bryansk Front. The Germans broke through our defenses. On June 30, the 6th Army of Paulus went on the offensive and broke through the defenses of the armies of the right wing of the Southwestern Front. The enemy went to the Don, crossed it in the Voronezh region, occupying most of the city. The German strike group developed an offensive to the south along the right bank of the Don.
On July 8, the 1st Panzer Army attacked Starobelsk from the Slavyansk, Artemovsk area. By mid-July, the troops of the 6th and 4th tank armies reached the large bend of the Don and occupied Bokovskaya, Morozovsk, Millerovo, Kantemirovka. The 1st Panzer and 17th Army advanced on Novocherkassk and Rostov-on-Don. The troops of the Southwestern Front with heavy fighting retreated to the Don, to Stalingrad, the troops of the Southern Front - to the lower reaches of the Don. Rostov fell on July 25. The Battle for the Caucasus has begun.
The accumulation of Soviet vehicles destroyed by the German aviation in the Don area
Soviet artillerymen firing at the enemy from a 76-mm divisional gun of the 1939 model (F-22-USV) in a large bend of the Don
With the exit of the Wehrmacht into the great bend of the Don, there was a threat of an enemy breakthrough to Stalingrad, one of the leading industrial centers of the USSR. Also, the Germans could cut the Volga communications, which are important for the economy and the country's defense capability. The Germans initially attached an auxiliary importance to the operation to capture Stalingrad - ensuring the left flank of the troops that were advancing on the Caucasus. But soon it was here that the decisive battle of the 1942 campaign and one of the main battles of the entire war broke out.
On July 12, 1942, the Stalingrad Front (SF) was formed on the basis of the field administration and troops of the Southwestern Front. It included the reserve 63rd, 62nd and 64th armies, which retreated beyond the Don, the 21st army and the 8th air army of the Southwestern Front. The front was headed by Marshal Timoshenko, from July 23 - General Gordov. The troops of the front received the task of stopping the enemy, preventing his breakthrough to the Volga and holding Stalingrad. Also, the 28th, 38th and 57th armies of the former Southwestern Front retreated to the Northern Fleet and were included in its composition. These armies were drained of blood, needed to be replenished with personnel and equipment. On July 25, the Volga flotilla.
On July 14, the Stalingrad region was declared under martial law. Stalingrad became a front-line city. Stalingrad is being prepared for defense. On the night of July 23, the city was attacked by enemy aircraft.
On July 17, 1942, the Battle of Stalingrad began. The forward units of the 62nd Army entered the battle on the river. Chir with forward detachments of the 6th German Army. Fighting began on the distant approaches to Stalingrad. As the German army advanced towards Stalingrad, its left wing was strongly stretched along the right bank of the Don with a front to the northeast. The forces of the Paulus army were increased to 18 divisions. By the end of July 26, the Nazis reached the right bank of the Don north of Kalach. The 62nd Army faced the threat of encirclement. On July 25 - 27, the Soviet reserve 1st and 4th tank armies were thrown into battle, which had not yet been fully formed. This made it possible to delay the advance of the German 6th Army and prevent the enemy from encircling the troops of the 62nd and partially 64th armies. The enemy was unable to capture Stalingrad on the move, as planned. However, the situation remained critical.
Soviet 76-mm guns F-22 (USV), captured by the Germans near Stalingrad. In the background, walking Soviet prisoners of war are visible.
Anti-tank battery of 76,2 mm divisional guns mod. 1939 (USV) of the Soviet 99th tank brigade is firing near Stalingrad. August 1942
- Alexander Samsonov
- https://ru.wikipedia.org/, http://waralbum.ru/
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