In October, winter in Russia arrived as promised, and the Battle of Volgograd was still in progress.
With the experience of the Moscow Defense War last year, the German army has made great improvements in logistical supplies. Cold-proof clothing for soldiers is the first need. In an icy and snowy environment, if the thermal insulation effect is not good, the combat effectiveness of soldiers will be greatly affected.
The thermal clothing of the Russian army is more suitable for the Russian environment than the cold-proof clothing issued by the German army.
Many German soldiers took off the clothes from dead Russian soldiers and put them on themselves. This behavior is expressly prohibited on the battlefield, because if you wear the clothes of the other party, you will no longer enjoy the "Geneva Convention" after being captured.
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At this point in the war, the "Geneva Convention" has disappeared. Whether it is the Germans or the Russians, as long as they capture the other party's soldiers and execute them directly on the spot, there is no possibility of survival.
After three months of bloody fighting, the Germans finally pushed the front to the banks of the Volga River and occupied 80% of the city. The Russian troops in the city were compressed into two rectangular strips.
At this time, the Volga River began to freeze, and the Russians' logistical supplies were seriously affected.
The fighting in the city was extremely fierce. Near the tractor factory, workers continued production in a factory building just one street away from the battlefield. The newly produced tanks did not even have time to be painted and installed with shooting sights before they were driven onto the battlefield by worker volunteers.
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The battle was so tragic that the two divisions under the Russian 62nd Army lost about 75% of their troops, but they still continued to fight.
The Germans are even worse. So far, the Axis powers have lost nearly 700,000 people in Volgograd, as well as more than 1,000 tanks, more than 2,000 cannons and mortars, and 1,400 aircraft.
On October 10th, Paulus was forced to call a truce for three days. While replenishing supplies, he sent out new troops to replace the combat troops that had suffered heavy losses.
At this time, the German defense line in Russia is 2,000 kilometers long. With the current strength of the German army, it is impossible to maintain such a long front. There are actually no troops to defend the 350 kilometers from Volgograd along the Don River to Voronezh.
If you take action, you can break through the German defense line from here at any time.
The troops in Mustache's hands were already stretched thin and he was unable to send out German troops. He could only draw three armies from the servant army to fill the defense line.
This is just a drop in the bucket. Three armies cannot cover a 350-kilometer-long defense line. In some areas, a field platoon's defense line is one to two kilometers long. If the Russians counterattack, it will have no effect at all.
The Russian counterattack is coming.
During last year's defense of Moscow, Mustache gained a new understanding of the determination and resilience of the Russians.
This is not enough.
On the one hand, Big Beard sent troops to firmly attract the main force of the German army to Volgograd, and on the other hand, he was accumulating strength.
By mid-October, Big Beard secretly assembled three front armies composed of 10 combined arms armies around Volgograd, including a tank army, four air force armies and several independent armies, tank armies and brigades, totaling
There are 1.106 million people in 143 divisions, 15,500 artillery pieces and mortars, 1,463 tanks and assault artillery pieces, and 1,350 aircraft.
At this time, Army Group B, which was attacking Volgograd, consisted of 80 divisions and 3 brigades, approximately 1 million men, 10,290 artillery pieces, 675 tanks, and 1,216 aircraft.
It can be seen from the comparison of military strength that Russia is getting stronger as it fights, while Germany is constantly being weakened and its losses cannot be replenished in time.
Franz Halder, the German Army Chief of Staff, realized the hidden dangers on the German front and suggested to Mustache to abandon the attack on Volgograd and order Army Group B and Army Group A, which was attacking the Caucasus, to retreat westward.
Mustache was unwilling to fail and refused to listen to any advice. All remarks related to stopping the attack were considered betrayal by Mustache.
At the end of September, Mustache removed Halder as Army Chief of Staff and was replaced by General Kurt Zeitzler, Commander-in-Chief of the German Army in France.
When disagreements arose within Germany, Big Beard approved the counteroffensive plan drawn up by Zhukov and Vasilevsky, and personally named the counteroffensive plan "Operation Uranus."
On October 31st, Operation Uranus officially began.
The Southwest Front Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Vadudin, launched its main attack from the bridgeheads in Seramofevich and Klitskaya areas on the west bank of the Don River, broke through the defenses of the 3rd Romanian Army on the front, and aimed directly at Karachi on the east bank of the Don River.
The Volgograd Front Army is commanded by General Yereomenko. Its mission is to assault from the south of Volgograd to the northwest, break through the defenses of the Romanian 4th Army, join forces with the Southwest Front Army in Karachi, and complete the encirclement of the German forces in Volgograd City.
At the same time, the Don Front was commanded by Lieutenant General Rokossovsky, and its mission was to carry out auxiliary assaults from the northwest to the southeast of Volgograd to cover the main attack of the Southwest Front.
On the day the plan was implemented, the Russian army launched an attack on the Axis forces' defense lines in the ice and snow.
There is a huge gap between the Romanian army and the Russian army in terms of numbers, willpower, and equipment level.
The Southwest Front Army responsible for the main offensive consists of 18 infantry divisions, 8 tank brigades, 2 motorcycle brigades, 6 cavalry divisions, and 1 anti-tank brigade, and is supported by the 2nd and 17th Air Force Group Armies.
Facing the crazy attack of hundreds of thousands of Russian troops, the Romanians were unable to stop it. It only took the Southwest Front 24 hours to break through the defensive positions of the Romanian 3rd Army.
The Volgograd Front commanded by General Yeremenko launched the offensive one day later than the Southwest Front.
On November 1, the 51st, 57th, and 64th armies of the Volgograd Front also turned to counterattack in the south and broke through the defense line of the Romanian 4th Army. The Romanians, mainly composed of cavalry, were quickly annihilated.
The Axis forces were at the end of their strength at this time, and the Russians counterattacked very quickly. The No. 2 Southwest Front Army crossed the Don River in batches, and the No. 3 Southwest Front Army and the Volgograd Front Army met in Karachi, completely completing the siege of Volgograd.
Within the encirclement, there were five corps and 22 divisions of the German 6th Army, Romanian and Italian troops, and some Croatian troops, totaling about 270,000 people.
The speed of the Russian counterattack far exceeded the German expectations.
When the Russians just launched a counterattack on the 31st, the new German Army Chief of Staff Zeitzler suggested that Mustache order Paulus to evacuate.
Mustache's confidence also began to waver.
Goering, who had made mistakes during the French campaign, once again assured Mustache that the Luftwaffe he led was capable of providing aerial supplies to the 6th Army in Volgograd through the "air bridge".
Mustache once again believed Goering's lies.
It's amazing to say that although Goering made countless mistakes, Mustache's trust in Goering has never wavered.
Even if Göring said that the Luftwaffe could take off from Berlin and bomb Pretoria, Mustache probably believed it.
Paulus failed to wait for Mustache's order to retreat. What he waited for was the order for the 6th Army to be reorganized into the "Volga Barrier Army".
Mustache ordered Paulus to persist in fighting no matter what. Even if he fought to the last soldier or shot, he could not retreat from Volgograd.
Soon Goering's promise to Mustache was completely shattered. After winter entered, the environment in Russia was extremely harsh, and the Luftwaffe's dispatches were greatly affected.
The current Russian army is no longer the same as last year. It has assistance from southern Africa and the United States. The Russian army is equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons. The German Air Force's airdrops to the 6th Army have been greatly affected.
The German army in the encirclement needed about 700 tons of supplies every day.
The Luftwaffe's transport limit is 300 tons.
The actual supplies airdropped to Volgograd were reduced to only about 100 tons.
Moreover, not all of these supplies were airdropped to the German army's positions, some of the supplies were even airdropped to the Russian army's positions.
In the end, the supplies the German army received every day were only about ten percent of what they needed.
After completing the siege of Volgograd, the Russians began to gradually reduce the encirclement.
At this time, Mustache was still unaware of the imminent disaster, and was still adjusting his attack according to the development of the war situation.
On the 2nd, Mustache ordered the expansion of the 11th Army led by Manstein into the Don Army Group, with Manstein as commander, and the 6th Army surrounded by Volgograd, led by Hott.
The 4th Panzer Army, as well as the remnants of the Romanian 3rd and 4th Armies were placed under the command of Manstein.
Something ridiculous happened. The Romanian 3rd and 4th Army Groups bore the brunt of the Russian army's counterattack during "Operation Uranus".
The defense lines of these two armies were breached by the Russian army, but the Romanians miraculously preserved most of their strength.
They were able to escape from the Russians, but they could not escape the persistence of Mustache. The Romanians, who had no fighting spirit, were forced to return to the battlefield, and they would continue to fight the Russians.
Mustache hoped that Manstein could force the Russian army's offensive to halt and regain the lost positions.
Manstein was not optimistic. He believed that the German army's chance of success lay in the 6th Army's breakout from Volgograd to the southwest, while Huth's 4th Armored Army attacked northeast from Kotelnikovo, south of Volgograd.
After completing this task, they flanked the Volgograd Front commanded by Yeremenko and then turned back to attack the Southwest Front commanded by Tuvatin.
This plan represented the abandonment of the German offensive on Volgograd.
Mustache disagreed with Manstein's plan. Not only did he disagree with Paulus's breakout, but he also did not allow Paulus to surrender, and ordered Manstein to fight his way out and break through the encirclement of the Russian army.
Looking at the jagged battle lines on the map, Manstein felt extremely heavy. The war potential displayed by the Russians far exceeded the Germans' pre-war expectations.
Even if Manstein completes the order given by Mustache, breaks the Russian encirclement and joins the 6th Army.
God knows if Bearded Man still has reserves in his hands. If another million Russian troops appear across the Don River, even Manstein's 11th Army will be surrounded.
This possibility is not impossible. Even though the Germans have repeatedly raised their predictions about Russia's war potential, the Russians can still break through the upper limit of their predictions.
So far in the war, Russia has lost tens of millions of people. The Germans are killing people until they are weak, but the Russians cannot kill them all.
On November 12, Manstein launched Operation "Winter Storm" in accordance with Mustache's orders in an attempt to rescue the 6th Army surrounded by Volgograd.
Manstein was still capable, and the German army had not completely lost confidence. The 4th Armored Army led by Hoth broke through the defense line of the Russian 51st Army on the Aksay River on the 16th, and reached the 57th Armored Forces of the forward force on the 19th.
The army is only 30 miles away from the southern encirclement.
At this time, Manstein had no choice but to discover that if the 4th Armored Army continued to advance, it might make the same mistake as the 6th Army and be surrounded by Russian troops.
Manstein violated Mustache's orders and ordered the troops to stop the attack, and ordered the 6th Army in Volgograd to break out and join the 4th Armored Army.
Paulus also made a mistake at this time. He did not dare to disobey Mustache's order and refused Manstein's order to break out due to lack of fuel.
This was the 6th Army's last chance to break through.
On the 20th, the Russian army, which had regained its composure, began to counterattack. Faced with the crazy attack of the Russian army, the Fourth Armored Group Army had to begin to retreat. The front line gradually moved away from Volgograd. Operation "Winter Storm" completely failed.
At this time, the temperature in Volgograd had dropped to minus 45 degrees Celsius, and the ice on the Volga River was getting thicker. Russia could successfully transport supplies to frontline troops through the ice.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for the German Air Force to airdrop to Volgograd. All the supplies of the 6th Army have been exhausted and are about to run out of ammunition and food. The daily rations for soldiers have dropped below the standards necessary to maintain survival, and medicines and fuel have been exhausted.
All was depleted, artillery shells began to run short, and thousands of soldiers died every day from disease, cold, and malnutrition.
Schmidt, the chief of staff of the 6th Army, suggested a breakout to Paulus.
Paulus had a premonition that the end was coming, and sent Lieutenant General Hubi, commander of the 14th Army, to fly out of the encirclement by plane to meet Mustache, and reported the situation of the 6th Army to Mustache face to face, hoping that Mustache would allow the 6th Army to break out.
Mustache was now so mad that he not only refused Paulus's request, but also awarded Paulus the German Field Marshal's Scepter, and sent a telegram to Paulus saying: In the history of Germany, no field marshal has ever been captured alive.
The meaning is obvious. Mustache hopes that Paulus will die for his country at the last moment and cannot surrender under any circumstances.
As for victory, forget about victory. No matter how optimistic the Germans are, they are completely disappointed with the situation in Russia.
It's winter now.
Russians in winter are invincible.
Shorty has proven this.
Now the mustache has proven it again.
At the end of November, the Russian army launched a new offensive, codenamed "Operation Jupiter", in an attempt to break through the Italian army's defense line in the Don River area and capture Rostov.
If this plan succeeds, the remainder of the German Army Group South will be completely besieged in the Caucasus.
As a result, no one expected that Italy once again gave Mustache a surprise.
