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By Tatyana Moskovchenko
At the end of 1942, the Soviet forces dealt the German army besieging Stalingrad
a crushing blow and, in effect, split it into two parts. German soldiers
and officers were running out of ammunition and food. More than 12,000
wounded were untended. The German position became hopeless.
On January 8th, 1943 Soviet General Konstantin Rokossovsky issued an ultimatum
to General von Paulus commanding the Nazi forces at Stalingrad to surrender,
but he refused to do so. Two days later the Soviet army launched a full-scale
assault on the enemy position. Friedrich von Paulus radioed to Hitler that
the situation was desperate. The Fuhrer replied that surrender was out
of the question and again ordered the Sixth army to fulfill its “historic
duty” at the Stalingrad front until the last man and bullet. But the collapse
of the German war machine was not long in coming. By January 25th the Soviets
forces had captured the last enemy airfield. Instead of taking any practical
steps to save his soldiers and officers, Hitler promoted Colonel-General
Friedrich von Paulus to the rank of Field Marshal and reminded him that
no German Field Marshal had ever been taken prisoner alive.
But on February the 2nd, 1943, the new German Field Marshal and his staff
gave themselves up at their last headquarters in the basement of the large
department store in Stalingrad. Field Marshal Friedrich von Paulus had
preferred to surrender unconditionally and stay alive. Hitler was shocked
by the news and kept on saying that the God of war had abandoned them…
Hundreds of thousands of German soldiers and officers died at Stalingrad,
the Luftwaffe lost some 500 aircraft, not to mention loses of guns, motor
vehicles and other military equipment. The Soviet forces too suffered heavy
loses, but the German army never recovered from the loss of virtually
an entire army at the Stalingrad front. The Soviet victory was decisive
and it turned the tide of World War Two.
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