Chapter 90
Chapter 90
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Broken Faith (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
While the Korean military was rushing preparations for deployment to Africa, the German army was struggling in hellish urban combat.
“How many times have we taken Mamaev Hill only to lose it again!”
The German High Command sent telegrams several times a day pressuring Field Marshal Paulus with updates on the Stalingrad front.
Paulus was doing his utmost, but he simply couldn’t dislodge the Soviet forces clinging tenaciously to the ruins of the city, pounded into rubble by artillery and bombing.
Encircling them was pointless too—the Volga River had frozen solid, allowing Soviet troops to cross back and forth constantly on sleds from the far bank.
At this rate, ending the battle quickly was impossible.
“Frustrating.”
Paulus felt extreme fatigue from the double burden of combat and pressure from above, to the point where his face was going numb.
It would have been nice to have someone to share his worries with, but there was no one.
The fate of the 250,000 men of the 6th Army rested solely on one man’s shoulders—his.
“Sir. Reports of officer sniping incidents over the past 24 hours. Twenty-three cases.”
“Understood for now.”
So many officers and NCOs were getting sniped that there weren’t even enough promotions to fill the gaps.
They were short on regular soldiers too.
From their arrival in Stalingrad on November 22 until January 3, 1943—a little over a month and a half—the 6th Army had suffered around 80,000 casualties.
It was an unbelievable toll.
The Soviets had taken incomparable losses, but the enemy had endless reserves to make up for them.
Proof of that: their resistance was barely diminished compared to the early days of the Stalingrad battle.
Truly horrifying.
Paulus roughly applied a compress of snow his aide had brought to his bloodshot eyes that wouldn’t close properly, then peered at the map again.
Even so, through sheer brute force, they’d secured 60 percent of Stalingrad.
The remaining 40 percent would probably take two months, but he didn’t doubt they could win the street fighting.
The problem lay elsewhere.
‘The Soviets have established a bridgehead on our flanks.’
The Soviets had attacked the sectors held by the weaker Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies to the south and north, digging in solid bridgeheads.
This bridgehead was gnawing at Paulus’s nerves.
Regardless of the attrition in Stalingrad, Paulus believed they needed reinforcements to seal it off.
He repeatedly requested more troops, demanding the issue be resolved.
Even the Army High Command had voices of concern about Stalingrad.
“If by some chance the Soviets attempt a double envelopment on our flanks, we’re finished. We need to reposition reserves just to counter that.”
But those concerns never reached Hitler’s ears.
Hitler trusted only the reports from the Army Eastern Intelligence Office and ignored the voices from the front.
“Soviet strategic reserves won’t budge from Moscow. So focus solely on capturing Stalingrad. Once that’s done, we’ll have plenty of troops to spare for the flanks, won’t we?”
Hitler figured the tiny city would fall with just a bit more time, so no reinforcements were needed.
When the Supreme Commander himself judged it so, the Army High Command couldn’t object.
The Army High Command relayed this to Paulus.
“We can only hope the Führer’s judgment is correct.”
Paulus redoubled the assault on Stalingrad.
Meanwhile, the Soviets were moving massive strategic reserves to both flanks of the Germans.
Numbering nearly 900,000 men.
Considering that around the same time the Soviets had massed 1.5 million troops against the Rzhev salient, it wasn’t unreasonable for the Germans to misjudge.
‘How could they launch million-man offensives from both directions at once? Impossible.’
But the Soviets were the Soviets.
They successfully concealed their intentions while assembling huge forces on the German flanks.
In truth, signs of the Soviet buildup had been steadily appearing, but the German command had failed to interpret them correctly.
On the morning of January 10, 1943, at 4 a.m.—just as the Germans were catching their breath after their 10th counteroffensive—the Soviet artillery opened up in unison.
Then a tidal wave of Red Army troops swept over the Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies, the Hungarian 2nd Army, and parts of the German 4th Panzer Army.
The Luftwaffe was the only hope to stop them, but it failed to secure enough sorties in the brutal cold.
The Soviets tore through the fragile Axis lines, advancing over 100 kilometers.
Day three of the offensive.
By capturing the vital Kalach bridge, the Soviets completed a massive encirclement of the Germans.
The shocking outcome lit a fire under Paulus.
“We hold out with hedgehog defenses. Relief will come from the homeland.”
The 6th Army hastily formed a circular defensive perimeter, absorbing Axis stragglers fleeing the collapsed front and reorganizing.
Around 380,000 Axis troops were trapped in the pocket.
A bit more than expected.
Feeding and supplying that enormous force was the first problem.
There had been a case in the 1941-42 winter where an encircled force of about 100,000 had been sustained by air supply.
Sustaining nearly 400,000 was something the Germans had never attempted.
The German High Command had to decide.
Break the encirclement and withdraw, or hold out with air supply.
Hitler chose to hold.
“How can we finish off the Soviets in short order if we retreat here?”
They couldn’t give an inch if they wanted to wrap up the Soviets before America entered fully.
Even Army Chief of Staff Franz Halder, who had long hoped for Hitler’s failure, couldn’t stay silent now.
The destruction of the 6th Army and Army Group B could collapse the entire Eastern Front.
Halder confronted Hitler’s decision strongly.
“Sir. Holding in place is out of the question. We must prepare to withdraw.”
Hitler didn’t tolerate Halder’s defiance.
Halder had always clashed with him anyway.
Right there, Hitler sacked Halder and promoted Colonel General Kurt Zeitzler to Chief of Staff.
With Hitler firing even the Chief of Staff for contradicting him, the Army had no choice but to fall silent.
Then Reich Marshal Hermann Göring stepped forward.
“Führer. The Luftwaffe can supply the 6th Army at Stalingrad. I promise you.”
“Good. I knew you’d say that, Reich Marshal.”
Hitler believed Göring’s promise.
The Luftwaffe had never broken a promise before.
If Göring said it could be done, it could.
Hitler, buoyed, boasted of Göring’s pledge to the Army generals as if to rub it in.
After the meeting, as Hermann Göring emerged, the new Army Chief of Staff Kurt Zeitzler asked him,
“Marshal, do you know how many aircraft it would take daily to supply the army trapped at Stalingrad?”
“I don’t know personally.”
That was where the disaster was foreshadowed.
On January 14, 1943, the Luftwaffe began its supply operation for the Stalingrad army.
The army needed at least 650 tons of supplies per day, but the first day’s air drop was just 100 tons.
“Well, you can’t expect perfection from the start.”
Of course, German air supplies did increase steadily.
On good days, they reached 300 tons.
But due to inadequate airfields and supply lines, Soviet interference, and harsh weather, efficiency always fell short of needs.
Without the army stepping in, the encircled Axis forces would starve.
“Führer, the Reich Marshal’s boast has proven empty. Air supply can’t save the 6th Army.”
It took two weeks for the army to raise its voice again—precious time for the 6th Army.
In that span, their supplies had nearly run out.
Only then did Hitler start listening to the army.
“If retreat isn’t possible, we break a corridor to deliver supplies.”
That was the army’s logic to persuade him.
Of course, once the corridor was open, they planned to pull the 6th Army out intact.
“Marshal Manstein. The fate of our soldiers rests on your shoulders.”
“Have no fear. I’ll bring them out.”
Erich von Manstein—the architect of Operation Citadel, which had enabled Germany’s payback—stepped up as savior for the beleaguered Germans.
With the miracle worker and master of turnarounds, even the military pinned their hopes on him.
“We launch Operation Winter Storm.”
Manstein quickly counterattacked after reorganizing his meager forces.
The German strength was pitiful, but Manstein’s reputation was not.
“Manstein’s coming. The turnaround master is here to save us!”
The Germans trapped in Stalingrad placed great hope in Manstein’s assault, slicing through the thick encirclement like splitting bamboo.
For a moment, hope flickered.
But Soviet strength wasn’t something tactical genius alone could overcome.
“We knocked out a hundred tanks a day, and now another panzer force is pushing toward us?”
“They’re attacking our flanks too.”
When Manstein heard his own flank on the Chir River front was taking a beating, his offensive zeal evaporated.
Just 50 kilometers to Stalingrad, but they couldn’t bridge it.
Before retreating, a German tank commander sent his final radio message toward Stalingrad from his vehicle.
“I wish you the best of luck.”
That was the death sentence for the 6th Army at Stalingrad.
The Soviets mocked the Germans, now rats in a trap.
Their propaganda broadcasts declared,
“In Stalingrad, a German dies every seven seconds. One second, two seconds… seven seconds—another one’s gone.”
The disaster didn’t end at Stalingrad.
The Soviets expanded their offensive with the aim of destroying Army Groups A and B in the Caucasus.
Manstein somehow shielded Army Group A’s flank while covering their withdrawal.
Fortune amid misfortune for Germany: Army Group A hadn’t pushed deep into the Caucasus, allowing a hasty escape.
Substantial forces were left in the Kuban Peninsula to the west, but many withdrew through Rostov into Ukraine.
In this chaos, Hitler gave Paulus a field marshal’s baton and insignia.
A silent command.
‘I hear Prussian field marshals don’t surrender. So don’t disgrace yourself—die with dignity.’
Paulus, who had endured hellish battles obeying the Führer’s orders, finally snapped.
“Do you think a German field marshal will die for some Bohemian corporal!”
On March 5, 1943, Paulus, who had held out so stubbornly, raised the white flag and surrendered to the Soviets.
This capitulation made 150,000 Axis troops, Germans included, Soviet prisoners.
The political fallout from the defeat was immense.
Even those who had acknowledged the Führer’s judgment began doubting his abilities.
Hitler was aware of it.
That’s why he doubled down on his stubbornness.
He had no choice but to scream that not one inch of ground be yielded.
It was the beginning of the vicious cycle toward defeat.