The Soviets pretty much won the European war. This was roughly a year and a half before the Normandy invasion. Stalingrad was the big turning point. After the battle of Stalingrad, Germany was largely in retreat until the end of the war.
@@andraslibal I am familiar with those battles. Thank you for mentioning them. My comment was largely generalized. After Stalingrad the overall theme was the German army in retreat, but counteroffensives occur.
@@stuvo1977 yeah, I would say after Kursk. The Germans did regain the operational momentum after the spectacularly botched Russian offensive in early 1943 (2nd battle of Kharkow, an overextended Russian offensive into a well prepared and resupplied German defense). The Russians learned how to defend in 42 but did not quite learn how to attack in 43 ... for that, one more year was needed, 44 is when the Germans are in full retreat. The Americans also went through a learning curve from the initial setbacks in Tunisia to an arrested offensive in Italy to finally breaking out of Normandy. It was not one battle that determined the war, it was a lot of factors but for some reason in a simplified view of things people tend to pin it on one battle. That one battle did not make the difference it was just a bell-weather on what was really happening. It was a gradual attrition and balance of power that eventually caught up, the Germans were always inferior numerically and resource-wise it was only their new way of waging warfare that allowed them to win initially in spite of the numbers. Once the Allies learned this new way, there was nothing to tip the balance to its inevitable conclusion.
@@stuvo1977 yes that was a loss of momentum on the Allied side because again of an overreach of logistical capabilities and overextension (Market Garden) which meant the Allies gifted back the momentum to the Germans who took it (even if they had almost nothing to exploit it with, starting on fumes of fuel in the hopes of capturing a depot). We do see this switch many times in the war but overall the large scale supply situation wins out in the end on the local fluctuation.
Once (in 1955 when I was about 10 years old) I spoke a German survivor and he told me the story. At that time, I knew nothing about it and I could hardly believe him. Later, I learned that all really had happened and he was one of the about 5.000 (as far as I know) survivors of the 6th army. Still remember us sitting in our backgarden and me listening to his unbelievable story.
He told me the story of surviving the Stalingrad battle and the Gulag camps. He told all these in a quiet manner and I found him very symphatic really. I'am afraid that if I had his age and I was born as a German, I too had been in the German army. Being a Nazi (member of the party) is something different but it is pretty easy to condemn these people while living now in a peaceful country, sitting in a comfortable chair. Saying that, ofcourse there were also a lot of fanatics such there are these all over the world. Also when there a "strong leader" a lot of people have the habit to follow him and this habit is not alone applicable at the Germans.
Fascinating listen, thank you for uploading. My grandfather was captured along with thousands of men in the 6th army at Stalingrad, he was in the 44th infantry division. Many deaths occured in his POW camp of malnutrition. He ultimately lost around 80 pounds moving around many different Russian labour camps. Fortunately he became one of the few survivors to finally return home to Germany years after the war where he lived a long peaceful life. His younger brother started off the war in the East as part of the 439th Regiment of the 134th Division and was at the battle of Moscow then later he was one of 9 survivors out of 1,000 men in his regiment to die in the battle of Kursk where he was injured. He survived the end of the war as part of the 512th heavy tank destroyer battalion as a loader for the Jagdtiger when he surrendered to the Americans in May 1945.
The part about malnutrition is precisely correct. Majority died because they eat rotten corn flower, grass and rind when taken out to chop wood in the forest cause no food in the camps but only potato peelings left overs from the guards meals. The next morning were found dead. My grandfather learned in the camp to catch, cook and eat snakes, snails , pigeons and other small birds. He said he learned this from the Italian POWs and kept him alive for a while. I recall he always carrying a little knife on him for such jobs even forty years after and felt bemused about. RIP our grandfathers, both the ones with known and the majority ones with unmarked graves and be a lesson to our political leaders of today not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Peace from Romania.🕊
@@semsemeini7905 I taught I've replied by not seen my reply... Anyway, no he was not although having a moustache same style...😊 But he was always a great admirer of the German people in general and soldier in particular as far I remember him, God rest his soul in Peace!
@@semsemeini7905 indeed, the military gendarmerie units and some military comitted atrocities inside the occuppied Odessa city and Transnistria Protectorate mainly in response to partizan activities and against Jewish community and bolshewick commissars, following the orders received from the HC. When one make comments about How useless our military was, has to understand the circumstances. 90 percent of our men were peoples from villages, farmers and sheperds. They did not wanted to go into Russia because although very simple peoples they've sensed this adventure will not end well at all especially because they knew about the British and especially Americans being involved and was no chance for the Germans to prevail. Our people wished only to go back home to their wives, children, animals and land but they had no choice. Have in mind at the beginning of the campaign in 1941 during liberation of Bessarabia and capture of Odessa we've lost almost an entire Army and almost all our tanks (considered afterwards obsolete and retired from service all together) and heavy machineguns and artillery. The next year 1942 at Stalingrad out of roughly 250 thousand men of the 2 Armies involved we lost 150 thousand the others escaping by running away the night before because they've herd for days the rumble of Russians in the oposite two pockets beyond the river Don bend, amassing vast numbers of heavy and medium tanks and also being warned by the Soviets in the trenches opposite that a massive attack will follow. The next day on the Kalmik steppes was even worst as there were practically no artillery cover and the men simply run away en masse cause they already heard the news about what happenned at the Don river bend a day before. The ones whom followed orders and stayed put are the 150 thousand I've mentionned above including about 9 thousand whom escaped alive and retreated into the cauldron of Stalingrad later on becoming the POW's you see on the Soviet propaganda materials about the surrender of the 6th Army at Stalingrad (The ones with the white or black sheep skin hats being herded away in large columns out of the city). Our people were infantry and dismounted cavalry divisions with no heavy artillery behind, no tanks and almost no air cover. They've being literraly pulverized by the artillery preparation barrage early in the morning and the massive armor wave attack which followed immediately after. No Army on this planet could have withstanded the Uranus operation which remember was carried at about 20 degrees below zero and blizzard conditions. As a consequence, the Romanian Army ceased to exist as a combat force after. Only the best few divisions which remained and their equipment were broken to pieces and merged into German units under German direct command. All the others were repatriated for reformation and reequipment ( was a way of saying to spare them from certain death just in order to save the nation fiber as they were saying unoficially at the time). Our men fought bravely in the Caucasus and Crimeea especially in the anti partizan warfare and as a proove stands the large numbers of Iron Crosses of various types awarded to our officers and men as well citations on the German daily orders of combat for which they paid later on under the Soviet military occupation of our country. Finally, after the gigantic battle of Kursk in the following summer the German Wermacht also ceased to count as a serious combat force against the Red Army but can anyone say about the Germans that they were useless?
Слава нашим дедам! Немцы никогда не признавали поражения, во всём виноват снег, мороз и дождь, они всегда наступали аж до берлина. Недооценили силы советски воин и людей работающих в тылу врага. Вечная память тем кто пал во имя победы над фашизмом!
A heartening moment for British audiences watching this. A moment that likely convinced most that Germany had met it's match and was going to be defeated eventually. -- Yet it would still take 2 more years and the main British effort was almost a year and a half away.
I remember my father telling me of the joy he felt on hearing of the Stalingrad surrender, he said he realised then that the war was turning against the Axis powers, it was a magnificent victory by the Russian forces
Imagine how Paulus is feeling - bugger! Particularly as the Russians found the "No prisoners, no surrender" order.
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Von Paulus was the greatest traitor to the 3rd Reich. On another note, Army Group South should have headed for the oil fields and Volga mouth with Army Group Central protecting their north flank. Not trying for Moscow & Leningrad in 1941. Army Group North just helping the Finns and holding the north. Then in 1942 the Germans could have had oil, come up both sides of the Volga using the Volga to transport all. Russia would have built up Moscow/Leningrad, but without oil to run airforce/tanks/ transportation, Germany would have won the East in 1944 and been able to stop the invasion in the West.
@glyn hodges The source was the Nazis. Many high-ranking military officials were just following orders like anyone else. If anything, what's odd is that communists didn't treat everyone as equal. But then again, this was Stalin's Soviet Union.
Plz watch the "Last days at Stalingrad and First interrogation of Field Marshal Paulus" -- no corny music, just a first person narration of the events.
ЕГО ЗВАЛИ ФЁДОР Ударил гром со всполохом зарниц, Нежданно, в память лет Пришла беда от западных границ И тысячи запущенных комет Взорвали тихий наш рассвет. Оставив кроху сына и жену Мой ДЕД призвался на войну. Рождён он не был как герой, Обычный человек - земной. От залпа вражьих батарей Терял и хоронил друзей, Глотал обиду отступлений и тревог Да пыль проселочных дорог, Судьбу злодейку материл, Терпел лишения и ненависть копил. Он пятился под натиском армад, Налился кровью яростный закат - Спиной упёрся в город Сталинград. Вот тут, под лютый страха вой, Навязал, жестокий ближний бой. Вперёд бросок - под взрыв гранаты, Удар штыка или лопаты, Смеялась смерть, огонь и смрад, Под залпы близких канонад. Боролся, дрался и зубами рвал - Зачем пришли? Я вас не звал. За улицу, за дом и полисад, Стал бастионом Сталинград. В суровый, роковой тот час, "СТОЯТЬ" - Пришёл от родины наказ, За Волгой нет для нас земли И ВСТАЛИ, не на шаг не отошли. С честью и без лишних фраз - Солдат : ты выполнил ПРИКАЗ В анналах доблести оставив след, Показал всю мощь и духа силу, Сломал ты там врагу хребет И вырыл для него могилу. Был долог, трудный путь домой, Ещё не раз был принят бой, Не дал заполыхать костру, Спас мир, освободил, Загнал назад зло в конуру - Там опрокинул и добил. Салют - Последний залп из автомата Лежит поверженный Берлин - У ног усталого солдата. Закончилась великая война, Живым вернулся гвардии боец, Достойно встретила жена - И сын, мой будущий отец. Так много испытаний, бед - Для одного лишь человека ДЕД, Как выжил ты, как победил? "Я БОЛЬШЕ НЕНАВИДЕЛ И СИЛЬНЕЙ ЛЮБИЛ" Посвящаю своему деду Он сражался за РОДИНУ - "Его звали Фёдор"
He really should have kept it a secret that he got promoted to Generalfeldmarschall. He would not have been treated any worse. Basically, few knew about it. Like, three people? He told the fact himself to his captors. He got promoted in hope that he'd kill himself. I would not have wished that on him but he could have just "kept it to himself" you know.
A deliberate act by Hitler, in the hope that he would commit suicde , rather than be the first German Field Marschall in history, to surrender. He survived the war, unlike the Nazi heads.
От героев былых времён Не осталось порой имён. Те, кто приняли смертный бой, Стали просто землёй и травой. Только грозная доблесть их Поселилась в сердцах живых, Этот вечный огонь, Нам завещанный одним, Мы в груди храним. Погляди на моих бойцов, Целый свет помнит их в лицо. Вот застыл батальон в строю, Снова старых друзей узнаю. Хоть им нет двадцати пяти, Трудный путь им пришлось пройти. Это те, кто в штыки Поднимался, как один, Те, кто брал Берлин. Нет в России семьи такой, Где б не памятен был свой герой, И глаза молодых солдат С фотографий увядших глядят. Этот взгляд словно высший суд Для ребят, что сейчас растут. И мальчишкам нельзя Ни солгать, ни обмануть, Ни с пути свернуть.
@Walter Dumbrowski I'm from South Texas and I ran circles around all the soldiers from your part of the country in the middle of winter in the Ozarks. I chuckle at your boasting . #blessed
@Walter Dumbrowski yeah I’m from St. Paul Minnesota, makes New England winter seem like winters in Florida. This year of the war Russia had a record breaking winter. Temps got down to -40 degrees which is insane. It was just like Napoleon when he went into Russia, the troops didn’t have the proper winter clothing to survive
One reason the Battle of Stalingrad lasted as long as it did was the Germans knew they could expect little mercy from the Soviets. Of the 91,000 survivors of the German 6th Army who surrendered, fully 2/3 had died within two months of the battle's ending. Only approximately 5,000 to 6,000 returned to Germany. As for the Soviets, their great victory came at a cost of an estimated 750,000 casualties.
@@kriseastlondon965 Not really. They knew Soviet government had never agreed to sign any international treaty regarding the treatment of prisoners of war before the war even started. Which is actually besides the point. Orders were not to surrender. Period. Germans are sticklers when it comes to obeying orders. And when they finally did surrender, it was because their ammo and food were completely depleted. Nothing else to do. When Russians, Englishmen, Americans (above all), and others surrendered to the Germans, it was usually because their morale was depleted after a few days of battle, even though they still had food and ammo. And even in Stalingrad, there were a few pockets of German resistance until March of 1943, until their ammo ran out. This is not a comment. These are just empirical facts. Although History Channel and court historians rarely touch the issue, if ever.
I see that you are Dutch. There is compassion in your observations. I knew Dutch people who went through the occupation both as adults and children. The behaviour of the occupying forces in some cases was most unpleasant. I still recall (60s and 70s) children and young people of the post-war generation being asked by tourists of they spoke German and replying (in German) by asking for their radio or bicycle to be returned. As a child myself at the time, I didn't quite understand. You are quite right to feel sympathy. Many of those who suffered and died on and after Stalingrad were there by fate, not personal choice. Once the NS Regime had decided to behave brutally in the USSR, it was unlikely that German, Hungarian and other Axis POWs would be treated with love. A bitter tale of a bitter campaign.
In that enormous mass of surrendered German soldiers, about 95% were to die of abuse, overwork, starvation, and sickness. Only about 6,000 left Russia alive.
A huge amount died immediately following the surrender given there terrible health and deterioration through starvation over 2 months . As well as the huge amount of wounded who were part of the captured .
Back in January1994 I wanted to fly to New Zealand with a friend of mine for 3 months backpacking and hitchhiking. 3 weeks before our flight a thooth brock in my mouth. Jesus Christ I thought. Because I didn't wanted to miss my flight but also didn't want to travel with a broken thooth my girlfriend back then gave me the adress of a retired dentist that she knew and told me to ask him to help me. So I did. And that dentist, at that time 74 years old, helped me. Cause I had just 3 weeks left but needed a new thooth I needed to go to him on some days twice cause we had for the procedure that short time only. But it was enough time that we both had a lot of conversation. He told me that he decided to help me only because the way I wanted to travel in New Zealand, only a backpack and lots of walking, impressed him and reminded him to his young ages. He said, he was walking also just with a backpack, but for years and in Russia. He told me that he survived Stalingrad. And that he was in an Infantry-Division. But he became wounded and was transported back to Germany wirh one of the last JU 52 that made it out of the Stalingrad-Kessel in end January 43. So that he could luckily escape the faith of 100 th. of thousends comrads which didn't made it back home. I told him that I don't believe him one word as long as he can show me an evidence for his words. He stept a level higher the stairs in his house (it was a Villa) and came back after a while with his Soldbook and I could see all what he has told me with my own eyes cause it was written down there.
Nothing happened. 75% returned to Germany after 5-7 years. They rebuilt the cities that they had destroyed, departed the punishment and went home. Field Marshal Pauls lived in East Germany. 25% died in captivity from wounds or diseases. The prisoners were fed and provided medical care. All the documents about this are there. They were fed both meat and fish and so on. It is thanks to this that there are many living soldiers in Germany who write and tell their memories of the Eastern Front.
@@nannunbgd I meant what I wrote.You first find out how many prisoners of war returned to Germany from the USSR from 1950 -1960.And also you should be wondering how many Russian prisoners of war returned from German concentration camps to the USSR.German prisoners of war in the USSR (Russia) ate better than our citizens at that time.Russia obeys all signed agreements, including the number of prisoners of war, we are not barbarians.
Evident nazis whas criminals,but and comunists. Abbaut massacre of fantana alba,what you known?Maibe i exagerated a little,but fact is fact,bouth are criminals. Dont understand me,i dont have nothing with people of Russia,who are similar in more things with my nation,but with Russia Tzardom,Soviet Union or Russian Federation. You country is to big to be a good friend and thrust ally. I am agree i exagerated,from 2800000,389000 died. But if you are right,nothing dont happened if dont existed Hitler,Musolini and Stalin and there pact.
How much blame can be pointed at Paulus ?. He listened to Hitlers 'stay and don't pull back' orders religiously even though he knew the 6th Armies position was hopeless, Would the likes of Gudarian or Rommel have obeyed Hitlers orders, knowing the fate of 265, 000 men was in their hands, or would they have attempted a breakout, even though Hitler forbade it.
The Germans behaved very savagely in Russia, and Russia & Stalin are very unforgiving. Were those who surrendered eventually allowed to return to Germany?
Paulos was a good soldier but that good in frontline,but i admired his courage to choose life over pride.Many generals even fieldmarshalls committed suicide after knowing that they will be turn to the soviets.His soldiers carreer was verry sad calling him a traitor,never saw his family,I am not sure if his children manage to visit him in east germany. Another sad story was the case of GFM von kliest he was compassionate to the russians civilian he show symphaty to the people of russia but still he was turnover to the soviet and died in exiled.
ЕГО ЗВАЛИ ФЁДОР Ударил гром со всполохом зарниц, Нежданно, в память лет Пришла беда от западных границ И тысячи запущенных комет Взорвали тихий наш рассвет. Оставив кроху сына и жену Мой ДЕД призвался на войну. Рождён он не был как герой, Обычный человек - земной. От залпа вражьих батарей Терял и хоронил друзей, Глотал обиду отступлений и тревог Да пыль проселочных дорог, Судьбу злодейку материл, Терпел лишения и ненависть копил. Он пятился под натиском армад, Налился кровью яростный закат - Спиной упёрся в город Сталинград. Вот тут, под лютый страха вой, Навязал, жестокий ближний бой. Вперёд бросок - под взрыв гранаты, Удар штыка или лопаты, Смеялась смерть, огонь и смрад, Под залпы близких канонад. Боролся, дрался и зубами рвал - Зачем пришли? Я вас не звал. За улицу, за дом и полисад, Стал бастионом Сталинград. В суровый, роковой тот час, "СТОЯТЬ" - Пришёл от родины наказ, За Волгой нет для нас земли И ВСТАЛИ, не на шаг не отошли. С честью и без лишних фраз - Солдат : ты выполнил ПРИКАЗ В анналах доблести оставив след, Показал всю мощь и духа силу, Сломал ты там врагу хребет И вырыл для него могилу. Был долог, трудный путь домой, Ещё не раз был принят бой, Не дал заполыхать костру, Спас мир, освободил, Загнал назад зло в конуру - Там опрокинул и добил. Салют - Последний залп из автомата Лежит поверженный Берлин - У ног усталого солдата. Закончилась великая война, Живым вернулся гвардии боец, Достойно встретила жена - И сын, мой будущий отец. Так много испытаний, бед - Для одного лишь человека ДЕД, Как выжил ты, как победил? "Я БОЛЬШЕ НЕНАВИДЕЛ И СИЛЬНЕЙ ЛЮБИЛ" Посвящаю своему деду Он сражался за РОДИНУ - "Его звали Фёдор"
It is out of place... but super typical of the time. It feels like it's a Bugs Bunny reel at times. The war was so horrible that doing the description in such a propaganda heavy fashion feels unnecessary to our modern eyes.
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60, titled Leningrad, was completed in Samara in December 1941 and premiered in that city on March 5, 1942 in honor of the besieged city of Leningrad.At the first hearings of the Seventh, most listeners wept. This was true even when Shostakovich played the piece on the piano for friends.
Seeing the scope/scale of these attacks VS what's happening in Ukraine today is fascinating. The size of these armies is amazing. The Eastern front man. Sheesh.
They might as well died fighting, only 3 Germans survived the Gulags. The Russians were brutal. Had they known that they would be worked to death, they would probably have kept on.
Steve Codwell One certainly should have avoided at all costs becoming a POW, but the Germans might not have known that. No wonder that as the war drew to an end, German units were desperate to surrender to the Western allies rather than the Russians.
@@fraukatze3856 My father at the end of WW2 traded captured SS soldiers for Russian vodka, as the Russians hated them to death.The SS thought they were safe surrendering to Canadians ,but Canadian Troops knew how they murdered Canadian troops after D day and hated them as well.
@@Liss6669 Притом, что один дед лег в 42 ом под Невелем, а второй с 1939 по 1946 служил и воевал. И нету в России семьи без этого. И сейчас память у многих отшибло. На этих кадрах не гопники и бомжи,а 6я армия, которая Париж раком поставила, и под Сталинградом ее стерли в пыль. И этого нам простить не могут те, кто за двадцать тридцать дней как проститутки под фашиков ложились.
@@val8481 Все правильно тебе сказали. Фашизм, в первую очередь - это устройство экономики и общества, концлагеря лишь следствие. Изучи историю Италии начала 20 века и Германии после 1933 и сравни с Россией. Хотя если тебя это успокоит, то РФ такая не одна, Турция и США - тоже фашистские страны.
From Soviets. There were a great number of nationalities in the USSR. My grandpa was Soviet Asian and fought for VICTORY. My husband's granny was a nurse there. She was Soviet Korean.
@@gulnaragulnara4240 well done. My last love was a Korean lady. Russia encompasses many people's. United by a common language. Much like the British commonwealth.
War is evil. Soldiers from both sides forced to fight against their will for evil dictators like Stalin and Hitler. RIP to all the dead who never returned.
@@rickmorrow7592 When the Paulus group finally capitulated in late January and early February, 91,545 Germans (about 2,500 of them officers and generals) were captured. About 10% of them were in a hopeless state and died. Almost all of them were exhausted. About 70% had dystrophy. About 60% had frostbite of the 2nd and 3rd degree with complications in the form of sepsis and gangrene. All this took place in a ruined city. In order for the POWs to survive, they had to be taken to the pow camps that had already been set up. The nearest one was about 5 hours ' walk from the city (Beketovka). Surviving prisoners of war speak of this March as a death March. In winter, in the cold, without normal clothing, not all frostbitten dystrophics passed this route. In the camps, the death rate was still very high. In March, a special Commission examined one of the camps for prisoners of war and assessed the condition of prisoners of war as follows: 29% healthy, 71% sick and weakened. At the same time, those who could move independently were considered healthy. By may 10, 1943, 35099 of the inhabitants of the Beketov camps were hospitalized, 28098 people were sent to other camps, and another 27078 people died. And after the war, only about 6,000 people returned from Stalingrad to Germany. Author: Igor Vadimov Source: shkolazhizni.ru/culture/articles/60689/ Shkolazhizni.ru
At the same time, you should know that from 1941 to 1949, more than 580,000 prisoners of war died or died in the USSR for various reasons, which is only 15 percent of the total number of prisoners taken (of course - this also takes into account the monstrous death rate among Stalingrad prisoners). For comparison, 57 percent of Soviet prisoners of war died in the camps... So why-if they talk about the fate of German prisoners of war, they so often remember the Stalingrad Germans? Apparently, due to the fact that, doing everything possible to save the lives of German prisoners of war, the Soviet doctors still failed to save the frostbitten dystrophics. Author: Igor Vadimov Source: shkolazhizni.ru/culture/articles/60689/ Shkolazhizni.ru
Rick Morrow Former Russian prisoners who returned to their Homeland, many of them were placed in camps. Stalin was paranoid and killed his own citizens. Something he did correctly, but half of all his actions were criminal. In 1937, many innocent people were killed. Even the same Sergei Korolev( he is the Creator of the Russian rocket and space program, launched Gagarin into space first), he was in Stalin's camp, Sergei was very lucky that he was alive and returned home. Then Khrushchev took him into service.
I m waiting for that day that these brave men will be seen as humans. Even if non my relatives ever had been to Russia I'm interested in this chapter of history. Each of these men had a mother, lots of them wife's, brides and even children. Same if course with russian People. I m here not for judging, I m psychotherapists and I just see broken men who were left even by their leader. Betrayal on its highest. May non of these poor guys ever be forgotten. Peace upon you all
Germans could have easily sent one more army and continued fighting at Stalingrad. They had 11 million in their army. Don't understand how just this one army's defeat could impact the whole Reich.
Yes true. They had. After the first bad idea to attack Russia Hitler took many many more bad decisions after the war had started. Instead of sending another Armee to Russia he sent them to France, where they had nothing to do just waiting the western Alliierten to come. That was the thing. What happend to the all the people there regardless of their nationality is horrible. Concerning the soldiers I wonder how even one of the sixth armee could survive this. Minus 40 degree, no appropriate clothes, no food, no fuel no medical surgery simply nothing
That is what is so fascinating is that the Axis controlled from the Channel Islands to Castellorizo and ended up cornered in bunkers and cellars in Berlin. The Sixth Army was, in the end, twenty or so well-worn-down divisions. I guess they were lucky that were starved of replacements making them a smaller catch than they were. Other forces that could have formed a defensive ring around the Kalach Bridgehead in the rear were sent elsewhere like to Army Group Centre, Serbia and Southern France. Imagine if they cornered a force the size of Army Group North as it was in 1944 in the Central Russian Uplands. How would you supply a force that size by air?
Germany didn't have the logistics to send more armies, or many more troops The German 6th army and supporting Luftwaffe units were at the end of a very long supply train. There was only one congested rail line, supporting only 12 pairs of trains daily, terminating at Chir, as the rail bridge crossing the Don to Stalingrad had been destroyed by retreating Soviets. From Chir, supplies had to offloaded to trucks and transported 38 km to cross a pontoon bridge at Kalach, then back to captured Soviet broad gauge line for the final 64 km to Gumrak, 13 km west of the Volga. With the exception of very limited supply by air (the Luftwaffe had neither the cargo planes or the petrol to support many), all he fuel, ammunition, food, spare parts, animal fodder, replacement solders and equipment for an army 300k soldiers in action had to travel by this narrow supply line. Even before Operation Uranus, in which the Red army encircled the 6th Army at Stalingrad, food rations and stores were very limited, and some German soldiers complained of hunger. It wasn't long after the encirclement that the soldiers resorted to eating their draft horses, and then their shoe leather. Add another Army at the end of this supply line, and twice as many would go hungry. This of course, is why while foreign armies have won battles with Russia or the Soviet Union, none have brought them to total capitulation. The distances are so great that logistics for invaders become impossible, and then "General January" and "General February" arrive, immobilizing the invader (but less so the Russian/Red army).
The Germans were mostly starving and in ill health and could expect to die in large numbers after surrender. The allies in '45 had the same problem to a much lesser extent after the final surrender.
That just means Patton was an evil pos. The Russians were fighting to survive, whereas the nazis fought to conquer. Truman probably would have fired Patton after the war.
The commies weren't fighting Germans during the encirclement, they were fighting Romanians, Hungarians and Italians who were tasked to hold the German perimeter.
1943 was the true turning point against the axis. The Germans lost TWO Armies that year. The 6th Army at Stalingad and "Heersgruppe Afrika" (Includes the Afrikan Korp which was part of the 5th Panzer Army and The 1st Italian Army) Not to mention the whole eastern front suffered heavy losses all over especially the south which was endanger of collapsing (due to Stalingrad). Oh and Japan lost Guadalcanal.
If he had died at the hands of the Gestapo, as a fighter against Nazism, then we would all know his name and would call the streets of our cities after him. But he preferred the role of a murderer of innocent people.
Not operiruete data solzhenitsena Stalin's gulags rotted traitors of ROA and UPA they are for his own sins deserved, and to 56 years they were destroyed in the forests of West Ukraine and the Baltic States not all have finished sorry bastards left posterity now they are waiting for revenge, they want blood again they expect a revolution in Russia that would avenge his ancestors
I unserstand German soldiers were starving, sick, poor dressed and ill when captured in 1943. Hitler just did not care of them (same as about other Germans in later war years). Soviet soldiers are properly dressed for Russian winter while Germans have light coats. Absolutely strange behaviors to invade Russia in summer dress.
@@maksimmaksimov5240 Hitler thought it was going to be over quickly so there was no need to equip them for winter warfare. This arrogance cost Germany a massive and humiliating defeat, and ultimately the war. Without holding Stalingrad the advance into the Caucasus was halted because their armies' flank would have been exposed, and without oil from the Caucasus oilfields the war was lost. Mother Russia did a hell of a job !
I think of Erwin Rommel would have been in command at Stalingrad he would have defied Hitler's order and pulled back and saved all his men Rommel had guts
For what it's worth. Whomever survived this and lived to a old age . Have my blessings and sympathy. On both sides . Almost 80years later we are still talking about this . Close to 100thousand Germans surrendered. 5thousand came back 11years later ?
Stalingrad was decisive because for the first time in WW2 the Soviets actually execute a successful offensive and encircle an entire German Army. Meanwhile. Operation Mars at Rzhev was a huge Soviet blunder. Back to Stalingrad, as Von Manstein attempted to rescue Paulus and 6th Army. Paulus was ready to breakout but needed Hoth's 4th Panzerarmee to get within 20 miles because of the limited mobility of the encircled Army suffering shortages of essentials as the attempt to supply them by air was failing. Hoth got to the Myskova River but was still 35 miles short of Paulus. Then the Soviets launch Operation Little Saturn towards Rostov which threatened to cut off the retreat of 1 Panzerarmee and 17 Armee from the Caucasus. 6 Armee was left to fight on as the rescue attempt (Wintergewetter) was called off by Von Manstein to meet the new threat. The Soviets had broken through the Italian 8th Army west along the upper Don and were heading towards Rostov. This Soviet attempt at a double encirclement didn't quite work but they overran the main Luftwaffe airfield at Tatsinskaya for supply to the Stalingrad pocket. 6 Armee was doomed but by holding on until the end of January 1943. They tied down considerable Soviet forces and a bigger catastrophe for the Germans was avoided. After Soviet victory at Stalingrad. STAVKA had an idea that they could dash west to the Dnieper (Star and Gallop). However. Von Manstein had a fresh SS Panzerkorps at his disposal and he managed to read the situation well and hit the Soviets as they were running out of momentum and Kharkov was recaptured. Considering the situation it was a decent victory for the Germans but there wouldn't be a major German victory for the rest of the war against the Soviets, just the occasional tactical victory. Stalingrad was the turning point. Kursk was just a pointless venture. Even a victory there would not have changed Germany's situation.
People often think that wars are won by individuals... actually such, wars are usually lost... Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed (?), Napoleon, Hitler, Biden... but then what???
Man, those movie recordings were used in countless WWII documentaries and in the intro of Sam Peckinpah's "Cross of Iron", but the music almost killed me...
@@hozothirdeye1139 you just read a winners side of history . and you think Soviet is hero country . this is your mistake .Stalin is killer thousands people after war .
What should have happened in a just World would be Hitler, Stalin, FDR, Hirohito and the rest were put into a ring and the rest of us just pointed at them and laughed while they kill each other.
The Soviets pretty much won the European war. This was roughly a year and a half before the Normandy invasion. Stalingrad was the big turning point. After the battle of Stalingrad, Germany was largely in retreat until the end of the war.
You probably do not know about the 2nd battle of Kharkow and Kursk, then.
@@andraslibal I am familiar with those battles. Thank you for mentioning them. My comment was largely generalized. After Stalingrad the overall theme was the German army in retreat, but counteroffensives occur.
@@stuvo1977 yeah, I would say after Kursk. The Germans did regain the operational momentum after the spectacularly botched Russian offensive in early 1943 (2nd battle of Kharkow, an overextended Russian offensive into a well prepared and resupplied German defense). The Russians learned how to defend in 42 but did not quite learn how to attack in 43 ... for that, one more year was needed, 44 is when the Germans are in full retreat. The Americans also went through a learning curve from the initial setbacks in Tunisia to an arrested offensive in Italy to finally breaking out of Normandy. It was not one battle that determined the war, it was a lot of factors but for some reason in a simplified view of things people tend to pin it on one battle. That one battle did not make the difference it was just a bell-weather on what was really happening. It was a gradual attrition and balance of power that eventually caught up, the Germans were always inferior numerically and resource-wise it was only their new way of waging warfare that allowed them to win initially in spite of the numbers. Once the Allies learned this new way, there was nothing to tip the balance to its inevitable conclusion.
@@andraslibal We can't forget the Battle of the Bulge.
@@stuvo1977 yes that was a loss of momentum on the Allied side because again of an overreach of logistical capabilities and overextension (Market Garden) which meant the Allies gifted back the momentum to the Germans who took it (even if they had almost nothing to exploit it with, starting on fumes of fuel in the hopes of capturing a depot). We do see this switch many times in the war but overall the large scale supply situation wins out in the end on the local fluctuation.
Once (in 1955 when I was about 10 years old) I spoke a German survivor and he told me the story.
At that time, I knew nothing about it and I could hardly believe him.
Later, I learned that all really had happened and he was one of the about 5.000 (as far as I know) survivors of the 6th army.
Still remember us sitting in our backgarden and me listening to his unbelievable story.
What was that beaten nazi talking about?
He told me the story of surviving the Stalingrad battle and the Gulag camps.
He told all these in a quiet manner and I found him very symphatic really.
I'am afraid that if I had his age and I was born as a German, I too had been in the German army.
Being a Nazi (member of the party) is something different but it is pretty easy to condemn these people while living now in a peaceful country, sitting in a comfortable chair.
Saying that, ofcourse there were also a lot of fanatics such there are these all over the world.
Also when there a "strong leader" a lot of people have the habit to follow him and this habit is not alone applicable at the Germans.
@@wan4891 yeah its not hard to condemn the germans of ww2. sorry to hear you would have joined them, you germans never regret the war only losing
@@diviksophistrum5466 lmao
@@freefall9832
I'am a Dutchman.
Nevertheless in my opinion, it was pretty difficult in those times in Germany to be a "pacifist".....😊
Fascinating listen, thank you for uploading.
My grandfather was captured along with thousands of men in the 6th army at Stalingrad, he was in the 44th infantry division.
Many deaths occured in his POW camp of malnutrition. He ultimately lost around 80 pounds moving around many different Russian labour camps. Fortunately he became one of the few survivors to finally return home to Germany years after the war where he lived a long peaceful life.
His younger brother started off the war in the East as part of the 439th Regiment of the 134th Division and was at the battle of Moscow then later he was one of 9 survivors out of 1,000 men in his regiment to die in the battle of Kursk where he was injured.
He survived the end of the war as part of the 512th heavy tank destroyer battalion as a loader for the Jagdtiger when he surrendered to the Americans in May 1945.
interesting history!
Imagine being in the mighty 6th army , now prisoners of the Untermench.
The part about malnutrition is precisely correct.
Majority died because they eat rotten corn flower, grass and rind when taken out to chop wood in the forest cause no food in the camps but only potato
peelings left overs from the guards meals.
The next morning were found dead.
My grandfather learned in the camp to catch, cook and eat snakes, snails , pigeons and other small birds.
He said he learned this from the Italian POWs and kept him alive for a while.
I recall he always carrying a little knife on him for such jobs even forty years after and felt bemused about.
RIP our grandfathers, both the ones with known and the majority ones with unmarked graves and be a lesson to our political leaders of today not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Peace from Romania.🕊
@@semsemeini7905 I taught I've replied by not seen my reply...
Anyway, no he was not although having a moustache same style...😊
But he was always a great admirer of the German people in general and soldier in particular as far I remember him, God rest his soul in Peace!
@@semsemeini7905 indeed, the military gendarmerie units and some military comitted atrocities inside the occuppied Odessa city and Transnistria Protectorate mainly in response to partizan activities and against Jewish community and bolshewick commissars, following the orders received from the HC.
When one make comments about How useless our military was, has to understand the circumstances.
90 percent of our men were peoples from villages, farmers and sheperds.
They did not wanted to go into Russia because although very simple peoples they've sensed this adventure will not end well at all especially because they knew about the British and especially Americans being involved and was no chance for the Germans to prevail.
Our people wished only to go back home to their wives, children, animals and land but they had no choice.
Have in mind at the beginning of the campaign in 1941 during liberation of Bessarabia and capture of Odessa we've lost almost an entire Army and almost all our tanks (considered afterwards obsolete and retired from service all together) and heavy machineguns and artillery.
The next year 1942 at Stalingrad out of roughly 250 thousand men of the 2 Armies involved we lost 150 thousand the others escaping by running away the night before because they've herd for days the rumble of Russians in the oposite two pockets beyond the river Don bend, amassing vast numbers of heavy and medium tanks and also being warned by the Soviets in the trenches opposite that a massive attack will follow.
The next day on the Kalmik steppes was even worst as there were practically no artillery cover and the men simply run away en masse cause they already heard the news about what happenned at the Don river bend a day before.
The ones whom followed orders and stayed put are the 150 thousand I've mentionned above including about 9 thousand whom escaped alive and retreated into the cauldron of Stalingrad later on becoming the POW's you see on the Soviet propaganda materials about the surrender of the 6th Army at Stalingrad (The ones with the white or black sheep skin hats being herded away in large columns out of the city).
Our people were infantry and dismounted cavalry divisions with no heavy artillery behind, no tanks and almost no air cover.
They've being literraly pulverized by the artillery preparation barrage early in the morning and the massive armor wave attack which followed immediately after.
No Army on this planet could have withstanded the Uranus operation which remember was carried at about 20 degrees below zero and blizzard conditions.
As a consequence, the Romanian Army ceased to exist as a combat force after.
Only the best few divisions which remained and their equipment were broken to pieces and merged into German units under German direct command.
All the others were repatriated for reformation and reequipment ( was a way of saying to spare them from certain death just in order to save the nation fiber as they were saying unoficially at the time).
Our men fought bravely in the Caucasus and Crimeea especially in the anti partizan warfare and as a proove stands the large numbers of Iron Crosses of various types awarded to our officers and men as well citations on the German daily orders of combat for which they paid later on under the Soviet military occupation of our country.
Finally, after the gigantic battle of Kursk in the following summer the German Wermacht also ceased to count as a serious combat force against the Red Army but can anyone say about the Germans that they were useless?
Слава нашим дедам! Немцы никогда не признавали поражения, во всём виноват снег, мороз и дождь, они всегда наступали аж до берлина. Недооценили силы советски воин и людей работающих в тылу врага. Вечная память тем кто пал во имя победы над фашизмом!
My respect for all the brave soviets soldiers that defeated the nazi monsters.
A heartening moment for British audiences watching this. A moment that likely convinced most that Germany had met it's match and was going to be defeated eventually. -- Yet it would still take 2 more years and the main British effort was almost a year and a half away.
Lee Christy Are you a racist? Chaplins stupid army was doomed the moment it stepped foot Into The Mighty Soviet Union!!! Totally crushed
Stalin is the true English friend forever. Hail Stalin, Hail Bolshevism!
I remember my father telling me of the joy he felt on hearing of the Stalingrad surrender, he said he realised then that the war was turning against the Axis powers, it was a magnificent victory by the Russian forces
yeah the English sure love being bailed out by „fortunes“, aka the satanic forces of communist russia and capitalist united states
@@fritzkralle4689 Stalin was pretty much as bad as Hitler.
Imagine how Paulus is feeling - bugger! Particularly as the Russians found the "No prisoners, no surrender" order.
Von Paulus was the greatest traitor to the 3rd Reich. On another note, Army Group South should have headed for the oil fields and Volga mouth with Army Group Central protecting their north flank. Not trying for Moscow & Leningrad in 1941. Army Group North just helping the Finns and holding the north. Then in 1942 the Germans could have had oil, come up both sides of the Volga using the Volga to transport all. Russia would have built up Moscow/Leningrad, but without oil to run airforce/tanks/ transportation, Germany would have won the East in 1944 and been able to stop the invasion in the West.
That would be obvious because they would have no place to house them nor anything to feed them.
@glyn hodges The source was the Nazis. Many high-ranking military officials were just following orders like anyone else. If anything, what's odd is that communists didn't treat everyone as equal. But then again, this was Stalin's Soviet Union.
Paulis should of broke out. But he surrendered. Lived a long life while 95thousand died in captivity .
@@dougtheviking6503 He did live a long life and then he denounced Nazism. I bet you hate that part.
Thanks for the footage.
The defeat of the German army at Stalingrad will always be remembered as the turning point of WWII!
I think that Stalingrad was the second nail in Hitlers coffin, the first being the defeat of the German forces at the gates of Moscow.
@@alunhughes2632 I agree!
@glyn hodges that’s similar to what occurred at Stalingrad, without a doubt!
Moscow and Germany lost their most experienced troop's to the cold.
Plz watch the "Last days at Stalingrad and First interrogation of Field Marshal Paulus" -- no corny music, just a first person narration of the events.
Title is incorrect - should say "Germans Surrender At Stalingrad".
Perfectly true.
Absolutely true .
WELL..
TRUE
I don’t think so. There was only one major surrender in Stalingrad so I knew exactly what the title meant
stalingrad was in total occupation by the nazi's so the title say's it all.
beginning of the end of the war
the war changed in front of Moscow
@Рамис Карама we knew we cant go further
Ужас! Как советский солдат все это вынес?! Вечная память и благодарность ! Мира во всём Мире!
ЕГО ЗВАЛИ ФЁДОР
Ударил гром со всполохом зарниц,
Нежданно, в память лет
Пришла беда от западных границ
И тысячи запущенных комет
Взорвали тихий наш рассвет.
Оставив кроху сына и жену
Мой ДЕД призвался на войну.
Рождён он не был как герой,
Обычный человек - земной.
От залпа вражьих батарей
Терял и хоронил друзей,
Глотал обиду отступлений и тревог
Да пыль проселочных дорог,
Судьбу злодейку материл,
Терпел лишения и ненависть копил.
Он пятился под натиском армад,
Налился кровью яростный закат -
Спиной упёрся в город Сталинград.
Вот тут, под лютый страха вой,
Навязал, жестокий ближний бой.
Вперёд бросок - под взрыв гранаты,
Удар штыка или лопаты,
Смеялась смерть, огонь и смрад,
Под залпы близких канонад.
Боролся, дрался и зубами рвал -
Зачем пришли? Я вас не звал.
За улицу, за дом и полисад,
Стал бастионом Сталинград.
В суровый, роковой тот час,
"СТОЯТЬ" - Пришёл от родины наказ,
За Волгой нет для нас земли
И ВСТАЛИ, не на шаг не отошли.
С честью и без лишних фраз -
Солдат : ты выполнил ПРИКАЗ
В анналах доблести оставив след,
Показал всю мощь и духа силу,
Сломал ты там врагу хребет
И вырыл для него могилу.
Был долог, трудный путь домой,
Ещё не раз был принят бой,
Не дал заполыхать костру,
Спас мир, освободил,
Загнал назад зло в конуру -
Там опрокинул и добил.
Салют - Последний залп из автомата
Лежит поверженный Берлин -
У ног усталого солдата.
Закончилась великая война,
Живым вернулся гвардии боец,
Достойно встретила жена -
И сын, мой будущий отец.
Так много испытаний, бед -
Для одного лишь человека ДЕД,
Как выжил ты, как победил?
"Я БОЛЬШЕ НЕНАВИДЕЛ
И СИЛЬНЕЙ ЛЮБИЛ"
Посвящаю своему деду
Он сражался за РОДИНУ -
"Его звали Фёдор"
А моего - Гудаир. Первую мировую тоже воевал.
Не советский солдат , а наш солдат !!!
@@СергейПлотников-и1е спасибо вашему деду Федору за солдатский подвиг и мужество, а вам - за память, которую храните о нем
@@АллаБайрамова-б7э 🌹
He really should have kept it a secret that he got promoted to Generalfeldmarschall. He would not have been treated any worse. Basically, few knew about it. Like, three people? He told the fact himself to his captors. He got promoted in hope that he'd kill himself. I would not have wished that on him but he could have just "kept it to himself" you know.
Of the thousands of German soldiers taken prisoner, only about 5000 returned home.
And still history will repeat. When will they ever learn
yeah and yet they continue ruining Europe even now
@@mikaelgustafsson7150 that will be a mistake.
Paulus had his Field Marshall title just before the surrender of his army.
A deliberate act by Hitler, in the hope that he would commit suicde , rather than be the first German Field Marschall in history, to surrender. He survived the war, unlike the Nazi heads.
the rat
Hitler promoted him the night prior to his surrender.
Eine sehr schöne Auszeichnung!
Hitler didn't realize, he was playing tennis on a football field.
he was to stuck in ww1 days underestimating soviet power…
Helluva fine work done, cheers!
January and February 1943 was a bigger turning point than people realize. At the same exact time the Japanese were defeated at Guadalcanal.
Amazing frames. And there were people with a movie camera. This is unique, even in the best movie so can not be removed.
Hurrah even today for the brave soviet and the Russian people.comment from Pakistan
Peace to you, friend!
Yes unlike Chyna, they dont have to create any imaginary victory to celebrate.
Great video history
Excellent content amigo!
Nice touch, soundtracking the Generals' surrender to a jaunty British orchestration of "The Internationale".
Thanks Red Army, Thanks USSR спасибо!
От героев былых времён
Не осталось порой имён.
Те, кто приняли смертный бой,
Стали просто землёй и травой.
Только грозная доблесть их
Поселилась в сердцах живых,
Этот вечный огонь,
Нам завещанный одним,
Мы в груди храним.
Погляди на моих бойцов,
Целый свет помнит их в лицо.
Вот застыл батальон в строю,
Снова старых друзей узнаю.
Хоть им нет двадцати пяти,
Трудный путь им пришлось пройти.
Это те, кто в штыки
Поднимался, как один,
Те, кто брал Берлин.
Нет в России семьи такой,
Где б не памятен был свой герой,
И глаза молодых солдат
С фотографий увядших глядят.
Этот взгляд словно высший суд
Для ребят, что сейчас растут.
И мальчишкам нельзя
Ни солгать, ни обмануть,
Ни с пути свернуть.
Imagine having to fight in that cold weather.
@Walter Dumbrowski
I'm from South Texas and I ran circles around all the soldiers from your part of the country in the middle of winter in the Ozarks. I chuckle at your boasting .
#blessed
@Walter Dumbrowski yeah I’m from St. Paul Minnesota, makes New England winter seem like winters in Florida. This year of the war Russia had a record breaking winter. Temps got down to -40 degrees which is insane. It was just like Napoleon when he went into Russia, the troops didn’t have the proper winter clothing to survive
Soumi hold my beer
Я из Москвы и холодную погоду не люблю
@Walter Dumbrowski hahahahaha
One reason the Battle of Stalingrad lasted as long as it did was the Germans knew they could expect little mercy from the Soviets. Of the 91,000 survivors of the German 6th Army who surrendered, fully 2/3 had died within two months of the battle's ending. Only approximately 5,000 to 6,000 returned to Germany. As for the Soviets, their great victory came at a cost of an estimated 750,000 casualties.
Wrong. Their orders were not to surrender. And when they did, it was against Hitler's orders.
... they knew how they treated Russian POW
@@kriseastlondon965 Not really. They knew Soviet government had never agreed to sign any international treaty regarding the treatment of prisoners of war before the war even started. Which is actually besides the point. Orders were not to surrender. Period. Germans are sticklers when it comes to obeying orders. And when they finally did surrender, it was because their ammo and food were completely depleted. Nothing else to do. When Russians, Englishmen, Americans (above all), and others surrendered to the Germans, it was usually because their morale was depleted after a few days of battle, even though they still had food and ammo. And even in Stalingrad, there were a few pockets of German resistance until March of 1943, until their ammo ran out. This is not a comment. These are just empirical facts. Although History Channel and court historians rarely touch the issue, if ever.
I see that you are Dutch. There is compassion in your observations. I knew Dutch people who went through the occupation both as adults and children. The behaviour of the occupying forces in some cases was most unpleasant.
I still recall (60s and 70s) children and young people of the post-war generation being asked by tourists of they spoke German and replying (in German) by asking for their radio or bicycle to be returned. As a child myself at the time, I didn't quite understand. You are quite right to feel sympathy. Many of those who suffered and died on and after Stalingrad were there by fate, not personal choice.
Once the NS Regime had decided to behave brutally in the USSR, it was unlikely that German, Hungarian and other Axis POWs would be treated with love. A bitter tale of a bitter campaign.
In that enormous mass of surrendered German soldiers, about 95% were to die of abuse, overwork, starvation, and sickness. Only about 6,000 left Russia alive.
Lucky that many made it after all the murdering they did along the way.Psychopaths were rampant and needed to die a foul death.
@Tom Butthurt the 27 million Russians that died, their souls call bull shit to that!!!!!!!
A huge amount died immediately following the surrender given there terrible health and deterioration through starvation over 2 months . As well as the huge amount of wounded who were part of the captured .
5000 survived and returned to a destroyed Germany .........
th-cam.com/video/jAw3kt3BdrQ/w-d-xo.html
And the problem?
Misleading title. I thought Russians in Stalingrad surrendered.
Yan ang purpose.
Not big on history, are you?
@@ThisHandleWasTheOnly1Available you claimed to be "big in history"? If So, who surrendered in Stalingrad according to this video?
Where was Zhukov?
exactly
Having " Margaritas in Hawaii"...🍹🍹🍻🥂🍾🍷🍸🍸!!
at home watching Tele
Skating in the parking lot, working on kickflip s
Home with Covid
Goosebumps. The annihilation of Hitler’s armies are a joy to watch. Well done Russia.
After Stalingrad Stalin had East Europe for many decades. Thank you America and England, murder friends for ever.
Back in January1994 I wanted to fly to New Zealand with a friend of mine for 3 months backpacking and hitchhiking. 3 weeks before our flight a thooth brock in my mouth. Jesus Christ I thought.
Because I didn't wanted to miss my flight but also didn't want to travel with a broken thooth my girlfriend back then gave me the adress of a retired dentist that she knew and told me to ask him to help me. So I did. And that dentist, at that time 74 years old, helped me. Cause I had just 3 weeks left but needed a new thooth I needed to go to him on some days twice cause we had for the procedure that short time only. But it was enough time that we both had a lot of conversation. He told me that he decided to help me only because the way I wanted to travel in New Zealand, only a backpack and lots of walking, impressed him and reminded him to his young ages. He said, he was walking also just with a backpack, but for years and in Russia. He told me that he survived Stalingrad. And that he was in an Infantry-Division. But he became wounded and was transported back to Germany wirh one of the last JU 52 that made it out of the Stalingrad-Kessel in end January 43. So that he could luckily escape the faith of 100 th. of thousends comrads which didn't made it back home.
I told him that I don't believe him one word as long as he can show me an evidence for his words.
He stept a level higher the stairs in his house (it was a Villa) and came back after a while with his Soldbook and I could see all what he has told me with my own eyes cause it was written down there.
There Romanian and Italian soldiers who surrendered as well.
Napoleon said: "The best Army cannot defeat a nation of people who have decided to win or die".
The Field Marshal appointment for Poulos was pressure not to surrender by Hitler, for none had done so in the past.
The start of payback time. !!!!!!
Yep. I guess those promises of food and well treatment offers made by the Russians if they surrendered were just bull...
Remember another 250 thosand Surrendered in North Africa the same year. Truly 1942 was the begining of the end for The Nazis!!
Both German surrenders at Stalingrad and Tunisia were in 1943.
What happened to them i wan’t channel’s answer please
Nothing happened. 75% returned to Germany after 5-7 years. They rebuilt the cities that they had destroyed, departed the punishment and went home. Field Marshal Pauls lived in East Germany. 25% died in captivity from wounds or diseases. The prisoners were fed and provided medical care. All the documents about this are there. They were fed both meat and fish and so on. It is thanks to this that there are many living soldiers in Germany who write and tell their memories of the Eastern Front.
@@SergeyPastuh - You whant to say,75% whas killed,burried in mass graves,like katyn and rest after 15 years,go home.
@@nannunbgd I meant what I wrote.You first find out how many prisoners of war returned to Germany from the USSR from 1950 -1960.And also you should be wondering how many Russian prisoners of war returned from German concentration camps to the USSR.German prisoners of war in the USSR (Russia) ate better than our citizens at that time.Russia obeys all signed agreements, including the number of prisoners of war, we are not barbarians.
Evident nazis whas criminals,but and comunists. Abbaut massacre of fantana alba,what you known?Maibe i exagerated a little,but fact is fact,bouth are criminals. Dont understand me,i dont have nothing with people of Russia,who are similar in more things with my nation,but with Russia Tzardom,Soviet Union or Russian Federation. You country is to big to be a good friend and thrust ally. I am agree i exagerated,from 2800000,389000 died. But if you are right,nothing dont happened if dont existed Hitler,Musolini and Stalin and there pact.
@@SergeyPastuh - You are sure abbaut signet agrements?
Rokossovsky... Best general name... And a pretty damn good general at that
How much blame can be pointed at Paulus ?. He listened to Hitlers 'stay and don't pull back' orders religiously even though he knew the 6th Armies position was hopeless, Would the likes of Gudarian or Rommel have obeyed Hitlers orders, knowing the fate of 265, 000 men was in their hands, or would they have attempted a breakout, even though Hitler forbade it.
The Germans behaved very savagely in Russia, and Russia & Stalin are very unforgiving. Were those who surrendered eventually allowed to return to Germany?
Around 90000 soldiers were captured only about 5000 would return to Germany
Paulos was a good soldier but that good in frontline,but i admired his courage to choose life over pride.Many generals even fieldmarshalls committed suicide after knowing that they will be turn to the soviets.His soldiers carreer was verry sad calling him a traitor,never saw his family,I am not sure if his children manage to visit him in east germany.
Another sad story was the case of GFM von kliest he was compassionate to the russians civilian he show symphaty to the people of russia but still he was turnover to the soviet and died in exiled.
Thank god for the Bravery of the soviet army’ And people , god bless you , stay strong .you sacrificed so much .
Ironic that they didnt fight to the death considering captivity in Siberia was a fate worse than death.
They had run out of ammunition 😢
@@trelawneychipepera4454In that case its better to make a bayonette banzai charge. lol
Город герой Сталинград.
Да!!!
ЕГО ЗВАЛИ ФЁДОР
Ударил гром со всполохом зарниц,
Нежданно, в память лет
Пришла беда от западных границ
И тысячи запущенных комет
Взорвали тихий наш рассвет.
Оставив кроху сына и жену
Мой ДЕД призвался на войну.
Рождён он не был как герой,
Обычный человек - земной.
От залпа вражьих батарей
Терял и хоронил друзей,
Глотал обиду отступлений и тревог
Да пыль проселочных дорог,
Судьбу злодейку материл,
Терпел лишения и ненависть копил.
Он пятился под натиском армад,
Налился кровью яростный закат -
Спиной упёрся в город Сталинград.
Вот тут, под лютый страха вой,
Навязал, жестокий ближний бой.
Вперёд бросок - под взрыв гранаты,
Удар штыка или лопаты,
Смеялась смерть, огонь и смрад,
Под залпы близких канонад.
Боролся, дрался и зубами рвал -
Зачем пришли? Я вас не звал.
За улицу, за дом и полисад,
Стал бастионом Сталинград.
В суровый, роковой тот час,
"СТОЯТЬ" - Пришёл от родины наказ,
За Волгой нет для нас земли
И ВСТАЛИ, не на шаг не отошли.
С честью и без лишних фраз -
Солдат : ты выполнил ПРИКАЗ
В анналах доблести оставив след,
Показал всю мощь и духа силу,
Сломал ты там врагу хребет
И вырыл для него могилу.
Был долог, трудный путь домой,
Ещё не раз был принят бой,
Не дал заполыхать костру,
Спас мир, освободил,
Загнал назад зло в конуру -
Там опрокинул и добил.
Салют - Последний залп из автомата
Лежит поверженный Берлин -
У ног усталого солдата.
Закончилась великая война,
Живым вернулся гвардии боец,
Достойно встретила жена -
И сын, мой будущий отец.
Так много испытаний, бед -
Для одного лишь человека ДЕД,
Как выжил ты, как победил?
"Я БОЛЬШЕ НЕНАВИДЕЛ
И СИЛЬНЕЙ ЛЮБИЛ"
Посвящаю своему деду
Он сражался за РОДИНУ -
"Его звали Фёдор"
The music played over this is so out of place
Too bloody right
It is out of place... but super typical of the time. It feels like it's a Bugs Bunny reel at times. The war was so horrible that doing the description in such a propaganda heavy fashion feels unnecessary to our modern eyes.
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60, titled Leningrad, was completed in Samara in December 1941 and premiered in that city on March 5, 1942 in honor of the besieged city of Leningrad.At the first hearings of the Seventh, most listeners wept. This was true even when Shostakovich played the piece on the piano for friends.
Seeing the scope/scale of these attacks VS what's happening in Ukraine today is fascinating. The size of these armies is amazing. The Eastern front man. Sheesh.
the Europeans have such a tradition, once in a hundred years to receive from Russia in full!
I see that the germans are wearing Parisan shoes!
They might as well died fighting, only 3 Germans survived the Gulags. The Russians were brutal. Had they known that they would be worked to death, they would probably have kept on.
Steve Codwell One certainly should have avoided at all costs becoming a POW, but the Germans might not have known that. No wonder that as the war drew to an end, German units were desperate to surrender to the Western allies rather than the Russians.
3 ?
@@fraukatze3856 My father at the end of WW2 traded captured SS soldiers for Russian vodka, as the Russians hated them to death.The SS thought they were safe surrendering to Canadians ,but Canadian Troops knew how they murdered Canadian troops after D day and hated them as well.
@Richard Ensey lol yes was suppose to three thousand from Stalingrad I thought
@Совест Незваный Stalin refused to let the civilians evacuate no excuse for them but did contribute to over
What a romantic period of time for the Germans!
Snarky. Conservative 😏
1OO% British comment 😂😂🤦🏼♂️
Некоторым непонятливым и забывчивым , такие кадры надо как лекарство прописывать...
А ты тут причем ?
Сейчас ваша подитика нечем не отлечается от нацисткой .
@@Liss6669 Бред сивой кобылы. Видимо кадры вас не впечатлили.
@@Liss6669 Притом, что один дед лег в 42 ом под Невелем, а второй с 1939 по 1946 служил и воевал. И нету в России семьи без этого. И сейчас память у многих отшибло. На этих кадрах не гопники и бомжи,а 6я армия, которая Париж раком поставила, и под Сталинградом ее стерли в пыль. И этого нам простить не могут те, кто за двадцать тридцать дней как проститутки под фашиков ложились.
@@val8481 Все правильно тебе сказали. Фашизм, в первую очередь - это устройство экономики и общества, концлагеря лишь следствие. Изучи историю Италии начала 20 века и Германии после 1933 и сравни с Россией. Хотя если тебя это успокоит, то РФ такая не одна, Турция и США - тоже фашистские страны.
It makes me sick to see all this poor infantrists.
Well done gentlemen. And that comes from a White Russian!!!
From Soviets. There were a great number of nationalities in the USSR. My grandpa was Soviet Asian and fought for VICTORY. My husband's granny was a nurse there. She was Soviet Korean.
@@gulnaragulnara4240 well done. My last love was a Korean lady. Russia encompasses many people's. United by a common language. Much like the British commonwealth.
They walk very slowly....
War is evil. Soldiers from both sides forced to fight against their will for evil dictators like Stalin and Hitler.
RIP to all the dead who never returned.
Stalin was a the savior of the entire Europe.
Они сражались за Родину!
I love these old newsreels but the music is so corny.
American film industry loves to manipulate their audiences with music
Nancy Demoss .Well,its nearly 80 year's ago.
Wasn't just Americans. Even British, German and Russian newsreels at the time used bombastic music.
мой отец мамадалиев мирзажон 1914-1999.был сталинградской фронте.из узбекистан
Уважение ,почёт и слава твоему отцу.Мои корни с Волгограда, твой отец защищил родину моих предков.❤
May the force be with you. The death star is broken. The evil beast in agony
and a very small % returned home too
They went to work rebuilding the city, haha
So gud
3,5 mio imprisonment soviet soldiers not returned home. They were murdered.
5000 out of 330,000!!
Immer die kleinen Leute...
When the Germans walked off in captivity? Where did the Russians take their prisoners?
The Russians took their German prisoners to Siberia where they worked them to death!
@@paulrusso3857 Thank you, because in the documentaries, they never say where the prisoners went other than only 5% of the prisoners returned home.
@@rickmorrow7592 When the Paulus group finally capitulated in late January and early February, 91,545 Germans (about 2,500 of them officers and generals) were captured. About 10% of them were in a hopeless state and died. Almost all of them were exhausted. About 70% had dystrophy. About 60% had frostbite of the 2nd and 3rd degree with complications in the form of sepsis and gangrene. All this took place in a ruined city. In order for the POWs to survive, they had to be taken to the pow camps that had already been set up. The nearest one was about 5 hours ' walk from the city (Beketovka). Surviving prisoners of war speak of this March as a death March. In winter, in the cold, without normal clothing, not all frostbitten dystrophics passed this route. In the camps, the death rate was still very high. In March, a special Commission examined one of the camps for prisoners of war and assessed the condition of prisoners of war as follows: 29% healthy, 71% sick and weakened. At the same time, those who could move independently were considered healthy. By may 10, 1943, 35099 of the inhabitants of the Beketov camps were hospitalized, 28098 people were sent to other camps, and another 27078 people died. And after the war, only about 6,000 people returned from Stalingrad to Germany.
Author: Igor Vadimov
Source: shkolazhizni.ru/culture/articles/60689/
Shkolazhizni.ru
At the same time, you should know that from 1941 to 1949, more than 580,000 prisoners of war died or died in the USSR for various reasons, which is only 15 percent of the total number of prisoners taken (of course - this also takes into account the monstrous death rate among Stalingrad prisoners). For comparison, 57 percent of Soviet prisoners of war died in the camps...
So why-if they talk about the fate of German prisoners of war, they so often remember the Stalingrad Germans? Apparently, due to the fact that, doing everything possible to save the lives of German prisoners of war, the Soviet doctors still failed to save the frostbitten dystrophics.
Author: Igor Vadimov
Source: shkolazhizni.ru/culture/articles/60689/
Shkolazhizni.ru
Rick Morrow Former Russian prisoners who returned to their Homeland, many of them were placed in camps. Stalin was paranoid and killed his own citizens. Something he did correctly, but half of all his actions were criminal. In 1937, many innocent people were killed. Even the same Sergei Korolev( he is the Creator of the Russian rocket and space program, launched Gagarin into space first), he was in Stalin's camp, Sergei was very lucky that he was alive and returned home. Then Khrushchev took him into service.
I m waiting for that day that these brave men will be seen as humans. Even if non my relatives ever had been to Russia I'm interested in this chapter of history. Each of these men had a mother, lots of them wife's, brides and even children. Same if course with russian People. I m here not for judging, I m psychotherapists and I just see broken men who were left even by their leader. Betrayal on its highest. May non of these poor guys ever be forgotten.
Peace upon you all
Germans could have easily sent one more army and continued fighting at Stalingrad. They had 11 million in their army. Don't understand how just this one army's defeat could impact the whole Reich.
Yes true. They had. After the first bad idea to attack Russia Hitler took many many more bad decisions after the war had started. Instead of sending another Armee to Russia he sent them to France, where they had nothing to do just waiting the western Alliierten to come. That was the thing. What happend to the all the people there regardless of their nationality is horrible. Concerning the soldiers I wonder how even one of the sixth armee could survive this. Minus 40 degree, no appropriate clothes, no food, no fuel no medical surgery simply nothing
That is what is so fascinating is that the Axis controlled from the Channel Islands to Castellorizo and ended up cornered in bunkers and cellars in Berlin. The Sixth Army was, in the end, twenty or so well-worn-down divisions. I guess they were lucky that were starved of replacements making them a smaller catch than they were. Other forces that could have formed a defensive ring around the Kalach Bridgehead in the rear were sent elsewhere like to Army Group Centre, Serbia and Southern France. Imagine if they cornered a force the size of Army Group North as it was in 1944 in the Central Russian Uplands. How would you supply a force that size by air?
Germany didn't have the logistics to send more armies, or many more troops
The German 6th army and supporting Luftwaffe units were at the end of a very long supply train. There was only one congested rail line, supporting only 12 pairs of trains daily, terminating at Chir, as the rail bridge crossing the Don to Stalingrad had been destroyed by retreating Soviets. From Chir, supplies had to offloaded to trucks and transported 38 km to cross a pontoon bridge at Kalach, then back to captured Soviet broad gauge line for the final 64 km to Gumrak, 13 km west of the Volga. With the exception of very limited supply by air (the Luftwaffe had neither the cargo planes or the petrol to support many), all he fuel, ammunition, food, spare parts, animal fodder, replacement solders and equipment for an army 300k soldiers in action had to travel by this narrow supply line.
Even before Operation Uranus, in which the Red army encircled the 6th Army at Stalingrad, food rations and stores were very limited, and some German soldiers complained of hunger. It wasn't long after the encirclement that the soldiers resorted to eating their draft horses, and then their shoe leather.
Add another Army at the end of this supply line, and twice as many would go hungry.
This of course, is why while foreign armies have won battles with Russia or the Soviet Union, none have brought them to total capitulation. The distances are so great that logistics for invaders become impossible, and then "General January" and "General February" arrive, immobilizing the invader (but less so the Russian/Red army).
5 of the 90 thousand surrendered survived Russian captivity
I also read that it took them FOUR MONTHS to get where they were going and approximately four thousand died during the march.
The Germans were mostly starving and in ill health and could expect to die in large numbers after surrender. The allies in '45 had the same problem to a much lesser extent after the final surrender.
General George S Patton "We defeated the wrong enemy".
PATTON WAS WRONG..WE NEEDED RUSSIA AS WELL AS THEY NEEDED US...BAD ATTITUDE PATTON
That just means Patton was an evil pos. The Russians were fighting to survive, whereas the nazis fought to conquer. Truman probably would have fired Patton after the war.
...... said after a bottle of vodka)
And who do you think that enemy is?, if you knew you would be very shocked.
War is HELL. OURE UNCUT HELL ON EARTH. PRAY FOR PEACE.
6:51 ghost appeared
The commies weren't fighting Germans during the encirclement, they were fighting Romanians, Hungarians and Italians who were tasked to hold the German perimeter.
78 years ago
1943 was the true turning point against the axis.
The Germans lost TWO Armies that year.
The 6th Army at Stalingad
and "Heersgruppe Afrika" (Includes the Afrikan Korp which was part of the 5th Panzer Army and The 1st Italian Army)
Not to mention the whole eastern front suffered heavy losses all over especially the south which was endanger of collapsing (due to Stalingrad).
Oh and Japan lost Guadalcanal.
Damn. Thought this was footage from Azov in Mauripol😂
walking dead better fight to the larst bullet.
Cold, broken, tired and hungry the germans surrendered
I speak as if I was there
Better to be dead than 5 -10 years Stalin Gulag. My neighbour was 10 years in Gulag and he was only 17 years old when he surrender. Poor man.
Ohh well, you shouldn't go walk-about in other peoples back yard
It would be better if your neighbor did not come to someone else's house with his Charter
If he had died at the hands of the Gestapo, as a fighter against Nazism, then we would all know his name and would call the streets of our cities after him. But he preferred the role of a murderer of innocent people.
Most of them never came back from stalins gulags
Not operiruete data solzhenitsena Stalin's gulags rotted traitors of ROA and UPA they are for his own sins deserved, and to 56 years they were destroyed in the forests of West Ukraine and the Baltic States not all have finished sorry bastards left posterity now they are waiting for revenge, they want blood again they expect a revolution in Russia that would avenge his ancestors
I unserstand German soldiers were starving, sick, poor dressed and ill when captured in 1943. Hitler just did not care of them (same as about other Germans in later war years). Soviet soldiers are properly dressed for Russian winter while Germans have light coats. Absolutely strange behaviors to invade Russia in summer dress.
History teaches Europe nothing he made the mistake of Napoleon
@@maksimmaksimov5240 Hitler thought it was going to be over quickly so there was no need to equip them for winter warfare. This arrogance cost Germany a massive and humiliating defeat, and ultimately the war. Without holding Stalingrad the advance into the Caucasus was halted because their armies' flank would have been exposed, and without oil from the Caucasus oilfields the war was lost.
Mother Russia did a hell of a job !
They were untermen haha unter the ground
Весь интерНационал Европы,ни чё не меняется,к сожалению?!
In india the political situation is very similar now. For a particular religious sect.
THEY MUST REBUILD THE CITY
THAT DESTROYED
POWs were used to rebuild it
100,000 taken into captivity, only 5000 returned. That was Stalins Russia.
Not too bad, considering 3.5 million Soviet soldier dead in captivity in Germany.
A pity 5000 returned.
@@patriciabrenner9974 Thats a weird thing to say. The majority of German soldiers were normal people conscripted into the army.
@@sm70911 who helped in the Holocaust. Normal murderers.
@@patriciabrenner9974 People being reliably people, just like Trump letting hundreds of thousands die for ego.
The enemy of our enemy was our friend. Such interesting times.
I think of Erwin Rommel would have been in command at Stalingrad he would have defied Hitler's order and pulled back and saved all his men Rommel had guts
at end of film...ther alll marched off to SIBERIA..much of Russia that was destroyed by the germans was rebuilt by german prisoners...
You have given these bastards too big a role in the reconstruction of the country
For what it's worth. Whomever survived this and lived to a old age . Have my blessings and sympathy. On both sides . Almost 80years later we are still talking about this . Close to 100thousand Germans surrendered. 5thousand came back 11years later ?
At least these criminals paid. A pity 5000 came back
Stalingrad was decisive because for the first time in WW2 the Soviets actually execute a successful offensive and encircle an entire German Army.
Meanwhile. Operation Mars at Rzhev was a huge Soviet blunder.
Back to Stalingrad, as Von Manstein attempted to rescue Paulus and 6th Army. Paulus was ready to breakout but needed Hoth's 4th Panzerarmee to get within 20 miles because of the limited mobility of the encircled Army suffering shortages of essentials as the attempt to supply them by air was failing.
Hoth got to the Myskova River but was still 35 miles short of Paulus.
Then the Soviets launch Operation Little Saturn towards Rostov which threatened to cut off the retreat of 1 Panzerarmee and 17 Armee from the Caucasus.
6 Armee was left to fight on as the rescue attempt (Wintergewetter) was called off by Von Manstein to meet the new threat. The Soviets had broken through the Italian 8th Army west along the upper Don and were heading towards Rostov. This Soviet attempt at a double encirclement didn't quite work but they overran the main Luftwaffe airfield at Tatsinskaya for supply to the Stalingrad pocket.
6 Armee was doomed but by holding on until the end of January 1943. They tied down considerable Soviet forces and a bigger catastrophe for the Germans was avoided.
After Soviet victory at Stalingrad. STAVKA had an idea that they could dash west to the Dnieper (Star and Gallop).
However. Von Manstein had a fresh SS Panzerkorps at his disposal and he managed to read the situation well and hit the Soviets as they were running out of momentum and Kharkov was recaptured. Considering the situation it was a decent victory for the Germans but there wouldn't be a major German victory for the rest of the war against the Soviets, just the occasional tactical victory.
Stalingrad was the turning point.
Kursk was just a pointless venture.
Even a victory there would not have changed Germany's situation.
СССР 👊💪
DDR!
Love Russia
🙄
Yes and Alex is right title should be Germans Surrender, not Stalingrad
UNIVERSAL PEACE
I know one thing I just want to sit down at the table with some of the Russians have a good chess game
Проиграешь, русский думает быстрей чем ты.
Russians were too kind. The nazis should have been sent to Siberia, for life.
Once again the silly music takes away the importance of the occasion
U should call it regaining stalingrad from the German army 🤔🤔🤔
Germans became cannibal in Stalingrad
They ate their own feet didn't they?
1945 same narrator: Communist are bad, the Hammer and Sickle are bad, Stalin is bad 😐😐😐😑😑😑
People often think that wars are won by individuals... actually such, wars are usually lost... Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed (?), Napoleon, Hitler, Biden... but then what???
Sorry mate, but what do you mean?
Man, those movie recordings were used in countless WWII documentaries and in the intro of Sam Peckinpah's "Cross of Iron", but the music almost killed me...
Im Feel bad for Germans because this boys really warriors. R.i.P all germans .
Don't take it so close, German warriors had much higher survival percentage in comparison with Soviets.
You feel bad for invaders?
@@hozothirdeye1139 Maybe for you invaders but for me this heroes . what give us Ussr or comunists ? just killed our people .
@@ShahlarSalim "Heroes" that killed innocent people. You should be thankful to the red army. They saved the world from nazi hords.
@@hozothirdeye1139 you just read a winners side of history . and you think Soviet is hero country . this is your mistake .Stalin is killer thousands people after war .
So much for trying to enslave Soviets
What should have happened in a just World would be Hitler, Stalin, FDR, Hirohito and the rest were put into a ring and the rest of us just pointed at them and laughed while they kill each other.
Instead of Stalin, you need to specify the main culprit - Winston Churchill