He was assigned to the 13th Infantry Regiment at Stuttgart as a company commander. Stalingrad - An Examination of Hitler's Decision to Airlift Schmidt continued: 'At the same time I have to inform you that the Russians are at the door.' They put the number of POW captured at Stalingrad at 100,000 of whom 6,000 survived. Friedrich Paulus - Wikipedia Facing Stalingrad Interview of Gerhard HindenlangMedia Sources and CreditsInterview of Gerhard HindenlangSenior copyright holder: Facing Stalingrad Project, . These characteristics of Paulus and Schmidt would prove fatal to the trapped garrison of Stalingrad. [32] When their baggage was searched for sharp metal objects, Schmidt, referring to Paulus, snapped at the Soviet officers: "A German Field Marshal does not commit suicide with a pair of scissors. The Soviet Operation Koltso (Ring) to defeat the enemy grouping encircled in the city was approaching its finale. Paulus relied greatly on his judgement, and as a result he played a large, some say an excessive, role in determining the course of events later that year. Speaking about the surrender of Paulus, Hitler told his staff: In peacetime Germany, about 18,000 or 20,000 people a year chose to commit suicide, even without being in such a position. who took the 6. Hitler awarded the Knight's Cross to Schmidt on 6 January 1943 on the same day that Paulus signalled to General Kurt Zeitzler: "Army starving and frozen, have no ammunition and cannot move tanks any more" [25] and made him Generalleutnant on 17 January. 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. A huge Soviet counteroffensive, planned by generals G.K. Zhukov, A.M. Vasilevsky, and Nikolay Nikolayevich Voronov, was launched on Nov. 19-20, 1942, in two spearheads, north and south of the German salient whose tip was at 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. After leaving university without a degree, he joined the 111th Infantry Regiment as an officer cadet in February 1910. Like many West German economists and politicians, he was in favor of taking advantage of the slightest opportunity to negotiate with the East. 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 was going to fall - if not in August 1942 then certainly in September. Our soldiers were not beaten, let alone shot. He remained in that post until May 1939, when he was promoted to major general and became chief of staff for the German Tenth Army, with which he saw service in Poland. The units craved encouraging news, recalled an officer of the 6th Army's intelligence section, Joachim Wieder. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves . Evacuating their HQ at Golubinsky amid a bonfire of burning files and stores, they flew to Nizhne-Chirskaya that same day, just missing Hitler's order that "Sixth Army stand firm in spite of danger of temporary encirclement." Gerhard Hindenlang was born 1916 in Berlin. Mrz 1942 Chef des Stabes des V. Armeekorps der Wehrmacht. Life. Arthur Schmidt (Offizier) - Wikipedia Following his orders, Paulus prepared to break out of Stalingrad. 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]. In late 1956, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and became progressively weaker. November 1987 ebenda) war ein deutscher Generalleutnant. Friedrich Paulus Last Days in the Bunker: Facing Stalingrad - YouTube Panzerkorps war diary and its annexes. wounded, in the evening of 19 January 1943 - ordered to, became "[15], After a heavy Soviet offensive overran the last emergency airstrip in Stalingrad on 25 January, the Soviets again offered Paulus a chance to surrender. On the night of January 31, 1943, units of the 64th Armys 38th Motorized Rifle Brigade broke through to the department store building in the center of Stalingrad, sealing it off from all sides. Armee whrend der Schlacht von Stalingrad.Paulus war von 1943 bis 1953 in sowjetischer Kriegsgefangenschaft und lebte danach bis zu seinem Tod in der DDR Contents 1 German 2 Soviet Red Army 3 Romanian 4 External links German Soviet Red Army Romanian External links Persons Battle of Stalingrad" (nl.) When I say that we Germans must focus above all on the unity and independence of Germany, on the affirmation of the vital national rights of our nation, I realize that in this way we are best serving the cause of peace, of international dtente and reconciliation between peoples. It now seemed more impossible than ever to act against an order of the High Command or Army Group.[17]. Did Gen. Arthur Schmidt get a fly-out pass at Stalingrad - Axis History Involuntarily I remembered the chain of unfortunate events which had prevented me from sleeping for so many nights. Friedrich Paulus on the way to the Soviet 64th Army HQ. He lived out the rest of his life in Dresden. Battle of Stalingrad, (July 17, 1942-February 2, 1943), successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russia, U.S.S.R., during World War II. Januar 2022 um 19:24 Uhr bearbeitet. [12] All the while, Paulus remained silent; the only time he spoke during the conference "was to agree with his chief of staff".[13]. Dyatlenko had no doubt that Schmidt was "the eyes and hand of the Nazi Party" in the Sixth Army, because captured officers reported that "Schmidt was commanding the Army and even Paulus himself."[21]. Still, they believed that they could avoid disaster. Stalin himself was pessimistic. Several hours later, accompanied by several colonels and lieutenant-colonels, Maj-Gen Ivan Laskin, chief of staff of the 64th Army, came down to the basement. This was a new formation under the direction of Oswald Lutz that directed the training and development of the Panzerwaffe, or tank forces of the German army. It was still dark but day was dawning almost imperceptibly. Arthur Schmidt (25 October 1895 5 November 1987) was an officer in the German military from 1914 to 1943. explain to Hitler the situation of the encircled On the order of the brigade commander, Colonel Ivan Burmakov, a group of negotiators led by Senior Lieutenant Fyodor Ilchenko headed for the department store building. Paulus Surrender? Hitler Unconvinced | World War Two Photographs They led the Soviet soldiers to Pauluss room. "[11] When told that this was impossible, he replied that "more than 10,000 wounded and the bulk of the heavy weapons and vehicles would have to be left behind. Here is a man who sees 50,000 or 60,000 of his soldiers die defending themselves bravely to the end. His troops fought Soviet forces defending Stalingrad for over three months in increasingly brutal urban warfare. Malinin looked 35, square-faced with hair in a short pompadour which stuck up like a schoolboy's. While in Soviet captivity during the war, Paulus became a vocal critic of the Nazi regime and joined the Soviet-sponsored National Committee for a Free Germany. Germany's defeat in the battle marked a turning . How the Germans tried to rescue their troops at Stalingrad (PHOTOS pocket and became General Officer, Chef Generalstab XIV. On the same plane as him He was a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union for twelve years, and was released following West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer's visit to Moscow in 1955. He also said that 18,000 men were wounded and were in immediate need of medical attention. That danger is real. Then Manstein switched the direction of his main strike to the south, to a less reinforced area near the town of Kotelnikovo, from which it was over 120 km to Paulus forces. 1943. Field Marshal Paulus in Custody After Stalingrad exact date unknow end Nov. - early December 1942, flew out : in the evening of 22 January 1943 - ordered to. [6] Many false reports of the massing of Soviet forces were received from the Romanian sector, so when Stck radioed at 5 a.m. on 19 November that an offensive (marking the start of Operation Uranus, the Soviet encirclement of Axis forces) was about to begin, Schmidt, who was furious when disturbed by false alarms, was not informed,[7] although he was awoken twenty minutes later when it became clear that this was no false alarm. 1943. The Aftermath in Stalingrad - billdownscbs.com [36], After Voikovo, Schmidt was held in the Lubyanka prison. Its appalling pronounced Paulus somberly. Kommandeur Infanterieregiment 191, Stalingrad Oberstleutnant - Kommandeur [1] Am 17. [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? Paulus did not request to evacuate the city when the counter-offensive began. There, he would be interrogated by the Army commander Lt-Gen Mikhail Shumilov and the Don Front commander Lt-Gen Konstantin Rokossovsky. [35] Together with most German officers, Schmidt was moved to Camp 48 at Voikovo, although he was kept away from Paulus by the NKVD, apparently because he was considered to be a bad influence on him. Pages in category "German commanders at the Battle of Stalingrad" The following 25 pages are in this category, out of 25 total. was the 01 of 6. As a result of the talks, the southern pocket of German troops, commanded by General Roske, was to capitulate. Georgy Lipskerov//DF/russiainphoto.ru, 3 reasons why the Red Army won the Battle of Stalingrad, How the Germans tried to rescue their troops at Stalingrad (PHOTOS), What did Stalingrad look like before World War II? We Germans have seen that in the 20th century, such "power politics" that a strong and rich country seeks to pursue at the expense of other countries is doomed to failure. He took with him the evening of 13 January 1943. With the new year, Hitler promoted Paulus to colonel general. Doctor Generalstabarzt Dr. Otto Renoldi adviced No sensible person can understand why Dr. Adenauer, under American influence, strongly opposes exploiting the opportunities for the resumption of economic and cultural relations with the peoples of the East. Every day that the army holds out longer helps the whole front and draws away the Russian divisions from it. I had the official seal with me. But as long as we keep on fighting, the Red Army has to remain here. He served in various staff positions for over a decade (192133). [14][15] Schmidt contacted his corps commanders and, in defiance of Hitler's order to stand firm, they agreed with Schmidt that a breakout to the south was desirable. report to Hitlers headquarters to personally A firefighter by profession, he volunteered into the German army in 1939. [4], Despite Lieutenant-Colonel Niemeyer's frank and pessimistic area briefings, Schmidt severely underestimated the build-up and capabilities of Soviet forces at Stalingrad following the initial Axis successes, a failing that he unlike Paulus subsequently did not attempt to excuse. [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. 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. As part of his communication, Rokossovsky advised Paulus that he was in an impossible situation. For us Germans, this is particularly indicative. Vasily Grossman's Stalingrad : A Soviet masterpiece about World War II Rudolf Schmidt - Wikipedia Gaunt, pale and emaciated, the commander of the Wehrmacht's 6th Army looked like a hunted animal to the Soviet military commanders. Climbing out of the cellar, I stood dumbfounded. Analyse und Dokumentation einer Schlacht, in the evening of 13 January 1943 - ordered to, during the night of 19 and 20 January 1943 - [1], Schmidt held various positions in the Heer, including chief of operations in Fifth Army (25.08.3912.10.39) and Eighteenth Army (05.11.3901.10.40). Fortress Stalingrad. [27], Thyssen comments that both Paulus and Schmidt seemed to have forgotten Fiebig's statements on 21 and 22 November that the Luftwaffe would not be able to supply Sixth Army in the Kessel.[28]. World War II - The Battle of Stalingrad | Britannica This decision to stand firm in a "hedgehog" defence sealed Sixth Army's fate. [10] Later that day, Schmidt and Paulus held a conference attended by General Hermann Hoth and Major-General Pickert,[10] during which Schmidt "did much of the talking". 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. Juni 1942 zum Generalmajor ernannt und nahm an der Schlacht von Stalingrad teil. "[11] Schmidt maintained that the army, which would adopt a "hedgehog" defence, must be resupplied, but that the situation was not yet so desperate as there were plenty of horses left that could serve as food. The question cannot be answered in military terms. In deciding to promote him, Hitler noted that there was no known record of a Prussian or German field marshal ever having surrendered. Stalingrad archives of Jason Mark, Manfred Kehrig - Paulus awoke and sat up. The Soviets held higher ground to the west, meaning that Sixth Army would be exposed to their guns if it attempted to break out. On December 12, as part of Operation Winter Storm, the German Army Group Hoth (named after its commander, Colonel-General Hermann Hoth) launched a surprise attack and crushed the Red Army's. . He was a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union for twelve years, and was released following West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer's visit to Moscow in 1955. [citation needed], Many English-language sources and publications from the 1940s to the present day give Paulus' family name the prefix "von". 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]. "Award Document to General der Panzertruppe Paulus, Item Number: EU4642". He 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). The phrase Manstein is coming! was still on everyones lips. Evacuating their HQ at Golubinsky amid a bonfire of burning files and stores, they flew to Nizhne-Chirskaya that same day, just missing Hitler's order that "Sixth Army stand firm in spite of danger of temporary encirclement. On one of the final Luftwaffe flights out of Stalingrad, Paulus had sent his wedding ring to his wife. Paulus and I came separately to the same conclusion. Wilhelm Adam - Wikipedia For the next two months, Paulus and his men fought on. 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. 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]. [22] The envoys were even fired on; Paulus denied that he had ordered this, so it is possible that Schmidt might have issued the order. (In fact, he went on to appoint another seven field marshals during the last two years of the war.) said the Soviet general through his interpreter. [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. Januar 2022 um 19:24, Infanterie-Regiment Frst Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau (1. Magdeburgisches) Nr. The appearance of the Red Army soldiers seemed symbolic. The basement was literally packed with soldiers - there were hundreds of them here. 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]. . I recorded Paulus's new rank in his military document, stamped it with the seal then threw the seal into the glowing fire. The twin pincers of this counteroffensive struck the flanks of the German salient at points about 50 miles . [34] Unlike many German prisoners of war, such as Paulus himself and von Seydlitz-Kurzbach, Schmidt refused to co-operate with the Soviets, despite the NKVD's attempt to ingratiate themselves by serving him caviar and champagne in a luxury railway coach. The German troops closest positions to the encircled 6th Army were in the area of the Chir River (just 40 km away). Oktober 1895 in Hamburg; 5. 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. He was considered a promising officer; by the time World War II broke out he had been promoted to major general. 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. 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). Hitler implied that if Paulus allowed himself to be taken alive, he would shame Germany's military history.[16]. It appears the Storks only had the range to fly one way. 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. It was involved in heavy action against the French VIII Cavalry Corps and fought in Belgium at Namur on 23-24 August and again at St. Quentin. At 9.00 sharp the HQ commander of the 6th Army arrived to take the commander of the vanquished German 6th Army and its staff towards the rear. Establishing good neighborly relations with the countries that surround us from east and west is crucial for our national existence. However, after the attempted assassination of Hitler on 20 July 1944, he became a vocal critic of the Nazi regime while in Soviet captivity, joining the Soviet-sponsored National Committee for a Free Germany appealing to Germans to surrender. We have been punished for pursuing the policy of violent and lightning strikes that is now being cultivated, and we know what it has cost us. 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. Arthur Schmidt (general) - Wikipedia He was told that "The Luftwaffe doesn't have enough aircraft. Schmidt kmpfte im Ersten Weltkrieg als Zugfhrer und Kompaniechef im Infanterie-Regiment Frst Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau (1. The implication was clear: Paulus was to commit suicide. He later acted as a witness for the prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials. Behr had an important task once he was free of [11] When told that this was impossible, he replied that "more than 10,000 wounded and the bulk of the heavy weapons and vehicles would have to be left behind. Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! flew out of the [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. [16] However, on 24 November Sixth Army received a further Fhrer order relayed from Army Group B, ordering them to stand firm. Schmidt explained that Hitler had expressly ordered Sixth Army to stand fast at Stalingrad, that the army lacked sufficient fuel for a proper breakout attempt, and that the terrain itself complicated matters. Paulus was asleep. Had the Germans succeeded in their Operation Winter Storm (Operation Wintergewitter), all the efforts and sacrifices of the Soviet troops which had been heroically defending Stalingrad would have been in vain. 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. Even the best army is doomed to fail when it is required to perform impossible tasks, that is, when it is ordered to campaign against the national existence of other peoples.[23]. Army At that point in time, the 6th Army in Stalingrad was cut into two groupings isolated from each other. The area around the department store had by then come under the full control of Soviet infantry and Wehrmacht soldiers were clearing sectors that had been mined. Realizing their blunder, the Soviet military command ordered the 2nd Guards Army under the command of Lieutenant-General Rodion Malinovsky to the battle zone. [4] The British historian and author Antony Beevor offers the following description of Schmidt: January 1943). 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. Following the German surrender after the Battle of Stalingrad, he became a member of the National Committee for a Free Germany. Hitler expected it. Armee, Hauptmann Winrich Behr, [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.

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