But it was precisely during those days, when everyone was still waiting, believing and hoping, that the approaching formations tasked with releasing the 6th Army from its encirclement were halted and then pushed back by Russian forces without reaching their objective.. World War II As part of his communication, Rokossovsky advised Paulus that he was in an impossible situation. Tired of waiting for Friedrich Paulus himself to finally appear, the Soviet commanders went into his room. As a result of the talks, the southern pocket of German troops, commanded by General Roske, was to capitulate. The carnage of the Battle of Stalingrad finally came to an end in February 1943, when the German Sixth Army Commander, Gen. Friedrich Paulus, surrendered the remaining ninety thousand troops of his army to the Soviet Forces. After all the formalities had been settled and the Field Marshal had received guarantees of his personal safety, he was led out of the basement, along with his staff officers. pocket and became General Officer, Chef Generalstab XIV. German 6. Battle of Stalingrad | History, Summary, Location, Deaths, & Facts Realizing their blunder, the Soviet military command ordered the 2nd Guards Army under the command of Lieutenant-General Rodion Malinovsky to the battle zone. He led the drive to Stalingrad but was cut off and surrounded in the subsequent Soviet counter-offensive. Hitler implied that if Paulus allowed himself to be taken alive, he would shame Germany's military history.[16]. Adolf Hitler prohibited attempts to break out or capitulate, and German defence was gradually worn down. I prepared for my last official duty. Street fighting was still under way in the center of Stalingrad when German officers, accompanied by Soviet commanding officers, set off in vehicles to order their units to cease firing. How German Field Marshal Paulus was taken prisoner A fluent German speaker, Captain Dyatlenko was transferred to the 7th Department of the Stalingrad Front in the autumn of 1942 to help . [21] Of the 91,000 German prisoners taken at Stalingrad, half had died on the march to Siberian prison camps, and nearly as many died in captivity; only about 6,000 survived and returned home.[b]. We were in frenzied spirits and, had it made sense, we would have been shouting Hoorah! We were firing at every target that appeared, operating our machine guns to their very limit The Russian infantry dispersed in all directions; they must have thought we were madmen, is how 1st Lieutenant Horst Scheibert remembered the launch of Operation Winter Storm that aimed to break through to Friedrich Pauluss 6th Army encircled at Stalingrad. [c], Lieutenant General Friedrich Paulus (June 1942). He is Lieutenant General Mikhail Malinin, chief of staff for the Stalingrad front and one of the men responsible for putting into operation plans for the encirclement of the German 6th Army. Paulus also forbade his soldiers from standing on top of their trenches in order to be shot by the enemy. His final plan was to have two Stork aircraft towed by larger aircraft to Stalingrad, land and pick him up, then fly out of the pocket back to German lines. The Red Army fighters looked fresh and wore warm winter uniforms. After leaving university without a degree, he joined the 111th Infantry Regiment as an officer cadet in February 1910. Guderian described him as "brilliantly clever, conscientious, hard working, original and talented" but had severe doubts about his decisiveness, toughness and lack of command experience. An officer, the head of the guards, allowed me and the driver to go out and get the car ready. He took with him A firefighter by profession, he volunteered into the German army in 1939. XIV. Paulus led the drive on Stalingrad that summer. . Panzerkorps war diary and its annexes. [36], After Voikovo, Schmidt was held in the Lubyanka prison. Everyone knows that our nation used to have great military experts, known all over the world, such as Clausewitz, Moltke the Elder, Schlieffen. Following his release, Schmidt remained bitterly hostile to those German officers who had co-operated with the Soviets in the National Committee for a Free Germany. Lasting from August 1942 to February 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad was the largest battle of World War II and in the history of warfare. Paulus was promoted to lieutenant general in August 1940. Most significantly, he promoted Paulus to field marshal. When presented with the commander of 51st Corps General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach's 25 November memorandum to Paulus, detailing plans for a breakout, Schmidt said: "We don't have to break the head of the Fhrer for him, and neither does General von Seydlitz have to break the head of [General Paulus]. Stalingrad - An Examination of Hitler's Decision to Airlift He remained there until 1955, when a visit to Moscow by West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer led to his release, together with the remaining high-ranking German prisoners.[35]. On the afternoon of 22 November, Schmidt flew with Paulus to the new Sixth Army HQ at Gumrak. Nachrichtenfhrer AOK 6, Private But the city held, aided by the very destruction heaped on it by the Luftwaffe and Nazi tanks and artillery. After the Armistice, Paulus was a brigade adjutant with the Freikorps. Operation Winter Storm, a relief effort by Army Group Don under Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, was launched in December. In November 1941, after German Sixth Army's commander Field Marshal Walter von ReichenauPaulus' patronbecame commander of the entire Army Group South, Paulus, who had never commanded a larger unit than a battalion, was promoted to General der Panzertruppe and became commander of the Sixth Army. [26] Schmidt addressed Thiel in the same vein: "[] here you come trying to justify the Luftwaffe, that has committed the worst treason, that has ever occurred in German history [] An entire army, this wonderful 6th Army, must go to the dogs like this." [29] The signal sent from Sixth Army HQ on the evening of 30 January, that stated that soldiers were "listening to the national anthem for the last time with arms raised in the German salute", was, according to Beevor, much more likely to have been written by Schmidt than by Paulus. The rank of field marshal has been conferred upon you. The battle of Stalingrad, fought between Stalin's Red Army and Hitler's forces from 23 August 1942 to 2 February 1943, is considered one of the major confrontations of World War II. Stopped Cold at Stalingrad - HistoryNet A shameful capitulation, the terrible tragedy of the soldiers. Paulus was born in Guxhagen and grew up in Kassel, Hesse-Nassau, the son of a treasurer. General Schmidt surrendered the headquarters. "[33], Prior to Paulus's interrogation, Paulus asked Schmidt how he should respond, to which Schmidt replied, "Remember you are a Field Marshal of the German Army," apparently (according to the Soviet interrogator) using the intimate "du" form of address, although Captain Winrich Behr, who was familiar with the relations between the two men, considered this unlikely. He was not able to walk anymore and was brought to the divisional doctor, Oberstarzt Dr. Karl Uhrmacher (missing in Stalingrad since end January 1943). Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus (23 September 1890 1 February 1957) was a German field marshal during World War II who is best known for commanding the 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad (August 1942 to February 1943). Armee war diary and its annexes. Amidst the ruins of their city which the Germans had destroyed, Soviet soldiers would pull a piece of bread or cigarettes or tobacco out of their pocket and offer them to the weary, half-starved German soldiers., Sergeant Pyotr Alkhutov was present when the German commander was taken prisoner: Paulus was haggard and clearly ill. The frontline was holding on with the last of its strength, banking on Hitler imminently, in the run-up to Christmas, fulfilling his promise of relief. With Paulus at Stalingrad - by Martin Cherrett It was still dark but day was dawning almost imperceptibly. [37] He died in Karlsruhe on 5 November 1987. [1] On 19 January, Major Thiel[who?] Arthur Schmidt (* 25. Arthur Schmidt (25 October 1895 5 November 1987) was an officer in the German military from 1914 to 1943. But how shockingly different their external appearance was! recalled Wilhelm Adam, adjutant to the 6th Army commander. 1943. Field Marshal Paulus in Custody After Stalingrad https://books.google.com/books?id=OWOQAv01lYEC, https://books.google.com/books?id=inwd2rDaLm4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=isbn:1874622469&cd=1#q=schmidt, https://books.google.com/books?id=xg8QrmsLK-kC, https://books.google.com/books?id=qWuWOFS4o7AC&dq=%22arthur+Schmidt%22+stalingrad, "A Desperate Struggle to Save a Condemned Army: a critical review of the Stalingrad airlift", http://www.stormingmedia.us/44/4497/A449793.html, "Photographs of Schmidt at a Sixth Army reunion, Wiesbaden 1969", http://www.stalingrad.net/german-hq/members-aok-6/members_aok_6_a.htm, Pages containing cite templates with deprecated parameters, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, Lieutenant generals of the German Army (Wehrmacht), Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union, German commanders at the Battle of Stalingrad, Knights of the House Order of Hohenzollern, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. We shall be back for you at 9.00. Click here to find out more. Gaunt, pale and emaciated, the commander of the Wehrmacht's 6th Army looked like a hunted animal to the Soviet military commanders. The appearance of the Red Army soldiers seemed symbolic. On its way to the HQ, the car caught up with columns of German prisoners dragging themselves along the road. Februar 1957 in Dresden-Oberloschwitz) war ein deutscher Heeresoffizier (ab 1943 Generalfeldmarschall) und im Zweiten Weltkrieg Oberbefehlshaber der 6. We reacted to this order with astonishment, since we had expected some sort of discussion with the Army Group, and were fairly certain of the breakout. In November 1942, when the Soviet Red Army launched a massive counter-offensive, code-named Operation Uranus, Paulus found himself surrounded by an entire Soviet Army Group. In 1920s, as part of the military cooperation between Weimar Republic and Soviet Union to escape Treaty of Versailles, Paulus presented guest lectures in Moscow, Soviet Union.[8]. (In fact, he went on to appoint another seven field marshals during the last two years of the war.) Involuntarily I remembered the chain of unfortunate events which had prevented me from sleeping for so many nights. German officers who flew out of the Stalingrad pocket and became General Officer later during World War 2 End November early December 1942 Johannes Schmidt became sick. Stalingrad encirclement from Pitomnik airfield [30] When the forces defending Sixth Army HQ surrendered on the morning of 31 January, Schmidt discussed surrender terms with officers from General Shumilov's HQ, while Paulus waited unaware in a room next door. 'One can't help feeling it's an invitation to suicide. He died a few months later, in Dresden, on 1 February 1957, aged 66, exactly 14 years and one day after his surrender at Stalingrad. [2] On 26 January 1942 he was awarded the German Cross in Gold.[3]. Soviet soldiers attacking last german resistance in Stalingrad. It formed part of the German Third Army that enacted the attack on France and Belgium in August 1914 as part of the pre-war Schlieffen Plan. 26. Climbing out of the cellar, I stood dumbfounded. The German troops closest positions to the encircled 6th Army were in the area of the Chir River (just 40 km away). German officers who flew out of the Stalingrad Paulus didnt greet us but he sat up. Paulus awoke and sat up. The Field Marshal was lying on an iron bed without a uniform, in just his shirt, recalled Ilchenko. Arthur Schmidt (25 October 1895 5 November 1987) was an officer in the German military from 1914 to 1943. The events of that day were recorded by Colonel Wilhelm Adam, one of Paulus' aides and an adjutant in the XXIII Army Corps, in his personal diary: January 31, 1943 7.00 a.m. Following his release, Schmidt remained bitterly hostile to those German officers who had co-operated with the Soviets in the National Committee for a Free Germany. This is on page 194. It has been suggested that much of the reason for Schmidt's ascendancy over Paulus lay in the fact that, unlike Paulus, Schmidt was a committed Nazi, and Paulus, afraid of Hitler and conscious of his responsibility for Sixth Army's catastrophic position, saw Schmidt as a cipher for the Fhrer whom he could placate. We must hold them here to the last so that the eastern front can be stabilized. German hopes for the rescue of the encircled grouping were finally dashed by the Soviet Operation Little Saturn that started on December 16. [16] However, on 24 November Sixth Army received a further Fhrer order relayed from Army Group B, ordering them to stand firm. Schmidt joined the army as a one-year volunteer on 10 August 1914, attaining the rank of Leutnant on 8 May 1915. Hitler responded by showering a raft of field promotions by radio on Paulus' officers to build up their spirits and bolster their will to hold their ground. Russians consider it to be one of the greatest battles of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. In comparison . Friedrich Paulus - Wikipedia [18], Paulus, a Roman Catholic, was opposed to suicide. [1] Am 17. The following month he was named deputy chief of the German General Staff (Oberquartiermeister I). That danger is real. Manstein's forces were unable to reach Stalingrad on their own and their efforts were eventually halted due to Soviet offensives elsewhere on the front.[12]. Career [ edit] Schmidt joined the Prussian Army in 1906 and served during World War I. According to Beevor: [Soviet commanders] were increasingly convinced that Paulus was virtually a prisoner in his own headquarters, guarded by his chief of staff [Schmidt]. "[9] At Nizhne-Chirskaya on 22 November, Schmidt told 8th Air Corps's commander, General Martin Fiebig, that Sixth Army needed to be resupplied by air. The basement was literally packed with soldiers - there were hundreds of them here. Dyatlenko was born in 1914 in the village of Kulichka in the Lebedin region, in present-day Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. The last German success in Operation Winter Storm was reaching the Myshkova River 48 km from Stalingrad on December 19. On 4 July 1912 he married the Romanian Constance Elena Rosetti-Solescu, the sister of a colleague who served in the same regiment. 12 Dec 2013. that it was the best to fly him out of the The anti-tank gunners (anti-tank rifle squads) fought to the last round, to the last grenade. Wilhelm Adam - Wikipedia General Kurt Zeitzler, chief of the Army General Staff, was in a panic because hundreds of Soviet tanks had just smashed through the Romanian Third Army's lines northeast of Stalingrad, threatening communication and supply lines to the German Sixth Army. . Heavy fighting broke out near the hamlet of Verkhnekumsky, where the Soviet forces managed to resist the Germans for about five days, thus winning precious time. Arthur Schmidt (soldier) - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core For the next two months, Paulus and his men fought on. Behrs instructions were to ask On 30 January, Paulus informed Hitler that his men were only hours from collapse. He is not here. He was a First Lieutenant in the 71 st Infantry Division that spearheaded the attack into Stalingrad in September 1942. Friedrich Paulus on the way to the Soviet 64th Army HQ. But it is a misconception and dangerous idea that the age of nations is over simply because a power, the United States, relies on this position so that it can bend over and dominate other nations at the lowest cost to it. Diese Seite wurde zuletzt am 24. Januar 2022 um 19:24, Infanterie-Regiment Frst Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau (1. This website uses cookies. [13], Regarding the resistance to capitulate, according to Adam, Paulus stated .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, What would become of the war if our army in the Caucasus were also surrounded? Arthur Schmidt (Offizier) - Wikipedia was the 01 of 6. Aggressively ideological, his aggression would translate into a passive kind as he functioned as his chief's alter ego [] As late as mid-December, Paulus, even as illusions had all but vanished, would still not contradict Schmidt when he presented his tragically absurd hypotheses to visitors to the besieged and starving Sixth Army.[24]. the confines of the Kessel: he was ordered to [4] The British historian and author Antony Beevor offers the following description of Schmidt: [He was] a slim, sharp-featured and sharp-tongued staff officer from a Hamburg mercantile family. Paulus was asleep. This decision to stand firm in a "hedgehog" defence sealed Sixth Army's fate. Other historians, such as Mitcham, agree: As the situation in Stalingrad deteriorated, Paulus's self-confidence declined, and he allowed himself (and 6th Army) to be more and more guided by his chief of staff, until Arthur Schmidt was virtually conducting the battle for the German side. 'Prepare yourself for departure. [23], From 1953 to 1956, Paulus lived in Dresden, East Germany, where he worked as the civilian chief of the East German Military History Research Institute. flew out of the In der Endphase der Schlacht bernahm er von Paulus weitgehend die Fhrung der Armee. [9] At Nizhne-Chirskaya on 22 November, Schmidt told 8th Air Corps's commander, General Martin Fiebig, that Sixth Army needed to be resupplied by air. And the mission would have had to be accomplished by troops who were thoroughly weary through lack of food and whose mobility had been almost completely lost. While south of Stalingrad, some Soviet soldiers were holding back the onslaught from Hoths tanks, northwest of the city, in the area of the great bend in the Don River, their fellow servicemen were making short work of the Italian and Romanian divisions: They broke through the enemy front lines, advanced 340 km inside them and reached the rear of Army Group Don itself. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked . had been ordered to fly out by Heeresgruppe Don Like many West German economists and politicians, he was in favor of taking advantage of the slightest opportunity to negotiate with the East.