Continued above
The main task of the Soviet offensive was the 65th Army, commander General Batov. In order to have a 100 percent chance of victory in this offensive, Rokossovsky specially dispatched 25 reinforced artillery regiments, eight guards mortar regiments, and four heavy artillery brigades to the 65th Army, which was tasked with the main attack. This ensured that the density of artillery in the frontal assault of the troops reached 338 guns per kilometer, which was extremely rare in all the battlefields of 1942.
At 8:05 a.m., Batov telegraphed all the troops participating in the battle to officially launch the offensive, and in an instant, the earth was shaken by the thunderous bombardment of thousands of cannons, and the orange-red barrage formed by the lightning of the artillery formed a spectacular spectacle in the air. And the forward positions of the German army also rose with thick smoke that obscured the sky, and even the sun looked gray.
At nine o'clock in the morning, as the artillery fire extended deep into the German positions, the fields resounded with the shouts of thousands of people, and the Soviet infantry began to charge.
By the end of the day, the 65th Army had been deeply wedged into the enemy's defensive positions at a distance of nearly five thousand meters, and the other armies had broken through the main German defensive belt.
In the following two days, on the 11th and 12th, the Soviet army continued to expand the results of victory. The 65th and 21st armies had advanced to the west bank of the Rososhka River and the area around Karpovka. The 57th and 64th armies, which fought in the south, although met with stubborn resistance from the Germans, also reached the Karavatka valley and the south bank of the Chervlennaya River. The Pitemnik airport, which the Germans had previously used to provide supplies, was now under siege by Soviet troops.
Such a series of heavy blows had completely left Paulus's Sixth Army completely powerless to fight back. Although they tried to use their flesh and blood to stop the rolling Soviet-made tanks, the miracle did not happen.
On the 12th, when Paulus learned that the Soviets had appeared near the Pitmnnik airport, he had a premonition that the situation was not good, but he could not send any reserves to reinforce it. In desperation, he could only ask the base camp for instructions on what to do next, but the answer from East Prussia plunged him deeper into despair. Not only did they not say anything about whether or not they would provide rescue operations, but they repeatedly urged the Sixth Army to keep Tsibenko, Karpovka, Rososhka and Pitemnik. Reading such a meaningless and ridiculous message, Paulus was so angry that he even scolded on the spot. As a last resort, Paulus had no choice but to order his troops to hold their positions.
Of course, the offensive of the Soviet troops. Encountering the desperate resistance of the German army, the trapped beast is still fighting, after all, for a group of people who are already doomed to death, it is possible to make any kind of crazy move.
On January 13, the 44th Regiment of the 15th Guards Division of the Soviet Army, when attacking the Germans on the east bank of the Chervlennaya River, was stubbornly resisted by the enemy. These Germans, who had no way back, completely blocked the Soviet advance with dense machine-gun fire based on the steep terrain on the shore.
Lieutenant Osipov of the 2nd Battalion, under the cover of machine-gun fire from the whole platoon of fighters, advanced to the front of two enemy firing points using the stones on the bank of the river, and destroyed the enemy's machine-gun firing points with grenades.
In the course of the ensuing battles, the Soviets occupied the line of Rososhka, Baburkin and Alekseevsky. Even more important to the Germans than the lifeline was the Pitemnik airfield.
From the moment the Soviets launched a general offensive, Paulus understood what the outcome would be for him and his troops.
Rososhka is lost, Tsibenko is lost, Karpovka is lost, Pytamnik airport is lost!
In just seven days, more than half of the positions have been lost.
On January 14, Pitomnik Airport fell. This was the end of the work of airlifting supplies and evacuation of the wounded. From this moment on, the situation deteriorated sharply, and the last battle groups on the various lines of defense in the encirclement retreated towards the city of Stalingrad. On the road lay a group of German soldiers who had been hit by shells, the soldiers whose hands and feet had been blown off were still alive, their blood had frozen into red ice, and no one had bandaged their wounds or removed them from the road. All the teams trudged forward in a dull and indifferent manner, walking past the wounded soldiers on their own. Major Bohr, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 134th German Infantry Division, ordered his men to bandage the wounded soldiers and move them to the side of the road.
These were the last days of the Stalingrad encirclement experienced by thousands of German soldiers. A strong sense of hunger and utter helplessness in the face of a full-scale Soviet offensive led to a rapid decline in the combat effectiveness and morale of the German soldiers. Mental malaise and a sharp rise in casualty figures. The number of wounded in the first-aid stations and bandaging stations is extremely large, and medical supplies and bandages have been run out.
When the headquarters of the Sixth Army was forced to withdraw from Gumlak to Stalingrad, Paulus's men set off in panic in several surviving cars after burning all the official documents.
After the loss of the Pitemnik airfield, the Germans attempted to make a makeshift landing at the alternate airfield in Gumlak, but it soon became another target for the Soviets. Under the heavy artillery bombardment, not to mention the planes, even a bird of the Germans could no longer land on this land smoothly.
Hearing this, Paulus could only smile bitterly and mutter: "The plane cannot land, which is equivalent to pronouncing the death of the Sixth Army." ”
Realizing that resistance had become pointless, he was motivated to live by the desire to live, which led Paulus to pluck up his courage and send a plea of surrender to the base camp. The reason is that since there is no longer the ability to continue resisting, it is better to stop this battle now, which is no longer possible.
However, the reply he could get was that Hitler, who did not have the slightest pity, did not care about the life or death of the Sixth Army, and in addition to Hitler's refusal to surrender, the Sixth Army had to resist until the last moment. In order to ensure that the Germans were able to establish a new front in Rostov and to the north of it, as well as to ensure the withdrawal of Army Group Caucasus.
By order of the Army General Command, Major Zizewitz flew out of the encirclement on January 20. On 23 January, General Zeitzler took him to meet Hitler. This meeting is very important. Here's what Zizewitz himself had to say about it:
"As soon as we arrived at the Führer's base camp, General Zeitzler was called in, and I waited in the reception room. After a while, the door opened and I was called in. After I reported for duty, Hitler came up to meet me, clasped my right hand tightly with both hands, and said, "You come from a miserable environment," and the light was dim in the spacious room. There was a large round table with chairs with backrests around it, and a long table on the right, lit on top, with a huge map of the situation on the Eastern Front spread out on the table. Two stenographers sat in the back in order to record every word of the meeting. In addition to General Zeitzler, only General Schmunt and the Air Force and Army liaison officers were present. Hitler motioned for me to sit on a stool next to the situation map, and sat down across from me. Others sat in the darkness of the house. Only the Army Liaison Officer stands at the other end of the map.
Hitler began to speak, pointing to the map again and again. He talked about the idea of sending an armored battalion equipped with new tanks (Leopards) to attack directly towards Stalingrad, in this way to deliver supplies and provide tank reinforcements to the Sixth Army. I was dumbfounded as an armored battalion would launch a successful assault across hundreds of miles of enemy-defended territory and accomplish a feat that an entire Panzer Army had failed to accomplish. When Hitler interrupted his words, I took the opportunity to describe the difficult conditions of the Sixth Army. I gave examples and read the numbers on a slip of paper that I had prepared. I talked about hunger, frostbite, inadequate supplies, and feelings of abandonment. Mention was also made of the wounded and the lack of medical supplies. In conclusion, I said: "My Führer, allow me to point out that the soldiers of Stalingrad are no longer able to fight to the last bullet when they are ordered. Because they have neither the physical strength to fight, nor the last bullet. "Hitler looked at me in amazement, but I sensed that he understood what I meant.
Then he said, "A person recovers very quickly. With that, I was asked out.
But Hitler's telegram to Stalingrad remained the same: "Surrender is not considered, the troops will resist to the end." ”
But rhetoric can no longer have any effect. Even the bravest officers have lost the will to fight and all hope.
The worst message from Stalingrad was sent: the Führer's base camp, Army Group Don: "The food situation forces us to stop distributing rations to the wounded and sick in order to keep the fighters alive. "Chief of the Operational Staff of the Command of the Sixth Army.
On January 30, the 38th Brigade under the command of Colonel Burmakov of the Soviet Army, while marching towards the "Fallen Soldiers" square, learned from a prisoner that the headquarters of the Sixth Army was located in the basement of a nearby department store. They immediately surrounded the building and cut all telephone lines to the headquarters of the Sixth Army.
At this moment, in the dimly lit basement, a dazed Paulus was sitting on a marching bed, and the sound of a keyboard clattering could be heard in the telegraph room next to him. After a while, Schmidt came over and handed Paulus a note, while whispering congratulations: "Congratulations on your rise to the rank of marshal and on the receipt of the Order of the Empire, the highest honor." ”
Obviously, this was a naked "bribe" by Hitler. The Führer tried to exchange Paulus's loyalty for a marshal's scepter, coveted by German soldiers. The reason for this is that in the history of Germany, there has not been a single field marshal who would have chosen to surrender in war. And Hitler, who is doing this now, is tantamount to stuffing a pistol into Paulus's hand, not to resist the Soviet army, but to commit suicide to serve the country.
Paulus sent out the last telegram at 7:30 a.m. on January 31: "We listened to the Führer's announcement in the bunker. We salute the national anthem, perhaps for the last time...... At this time, the Soviets are outside the door, we are annihilating the enemy, please do not contact again, I am destroying the radio station". Then, the signal was completely cut off. Hitler's base camp, thousands of miles away, was immersed in an atmosphere of sadness.
Nevertheless, at 1:30 a.m. on January 31, Hitler ordered his chief of the General Staff to send another telegram to Stalingrad: "The Führer asked me to point out that every day of the Stalingrad fortress was vital. ”
On January 31, at six o'clock in the morning, Paulus rolled over and got up to talk with his chief of operations, von Bellow. Exhausted, Paulus had no hope left, and he was determined to put an end to it. But he wanted it to be unassuming, as he said, that is, without the need for a surrender document or a formal ceremony.
Paulus, who insisted that his surrender did not represent his entire army group, that he was only surrendered along with his own command personnel. The commanders in each theater of operations made their own arrangements for a ceasefire with the Russians. On January 31, everything came to an end in the center of Stalingrad.
But what really happened was that at the last moment, there was no resistance or bloody fighting. When a group of Soviet soldiers appeared at the door of the basement of the department store, the Paulo Room ordered his subordinates to raise the white flag.
The newly appointed marshal of the Third Reich actually surrendered.
On 1 February, the Germans were still resisting in some places. On 2 December, the gunfire ceased and the last German troops stationed in the northern factory area laid down their arms.
At four o'clock in the afternoon of February 2, 1943, Stalin received news from the front that the fighting in and around Stalingrad had come to an end.
The Soviets are victorious!
To be continued, this article is 3742 words