The commander of the encircled troops did not issue the order, however. pocket and became General Officer, Chef Generalstab XIV. Schmidt joined the army as a one-year volunteer on 10 August 1914, attaining the rank of Leutnant on 8 May 1915. "[33], Prior to Paulus's interrogation, Paulus asked Schmidt how he should respond, to which Schmidt replied, "Remember you are a Field Marshal of the German Army," apparently (according to the Soviet interrogator) using the intimate "du" form of address, although Captain Winrich Behr, who was familiar with the relations between the two men, considered this unlikely. Here is a man who sees 50,000 or 60,000 of his soldiers die defending themselves bravely to the end. [15] Paulus and Schmidt started planning for the breakout that evening, despite receiving another message from Hitler that they must stand firm and await relief. Almost 70% of deaths occurred in the winter of 1945-1946. Believing that an attempt to break the encirclement would be made here, the Soviet command attached special importance to the sector and intensively reinforced it. had been ordered to fly out by Heeresgruppe Don Paulus was asleep. I had the official seal with me. [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. The dispatch came early this morningit was the last one.'. In 1920s, as part of the military cooperation between Weimar Republic and Soviet Union to escape Treaty of Versailles, Paulus presented guest lectures in Moscow, Soviet Union.[8]. I was going to get up quietly when someone knocked at the door. Following his orders, Paulus prepared to break out of Stalingrad. Every day that the army holds out longer helps the whole front and draws away the Russian divisions from it. Arthur Schmidt (25 October 1895 - 5 November 1987) was an officer in the German military from 1914 to 1943. Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! 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." Captured German generals before meeting with commander of the 64th Soviet Army general N. Shumilov. Er wurde am 15. Schmidt suffered a life threating Schmidt, confident of his own abilities, put many backs up within Sixth Army headquarters, although he also had his supporters. In 1953, Paulus moved to East Germany, where he worked in military history research. Malinin looked 35, square-faced with hair in a short pompadour which stuck up like a schoolboy's. In this it would constantly face the danger that its southwesterly push could stall or the enemy could overwhelm its rear guard or flank defenses. While south of Stalingrad, some Soviet soldiers were holding back the onslaught from Hoths tanks, northwest of the city, in the area of the great bend in the Don River, their fellow servicemen were making short work of the Italian and Romanian divisions: They broke through the enemy front lines, advanced 340 km inside them and reached the rear of Army Group Don itself. While the Field Marshal was tidying himself up in the room next door, the Soviet negotiators presented his generals with an ultimatum: The encircled grouping must immediately stop any resistance, lay down its weapons and surrender to the Soviet troops in an orderly manner. Dr. Karl Uhrmacher and the 6. Januar 2022 um 19:24, Infanterie-Regiment Frst Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau (1. A northern pocket centered on the tractor factory and a smaller southern pocket in the city center. Kommandeur Infanterieregiment 191, Stalingrad Oberstleutnant - Kommandeur The governments responsible for this have both put their armed forces in front of insoluble problems. have Handlungsfreiheit (freedom of action). The march towards the Volga had ended.[17]. Paulus also forbade his soldiers from standing on top of their trenches in order to be shot by the enemy. 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. Facing Stalingrad Interview of Gerhard HindenlangMedia Sources and CreditsInterview of Gerhard HindenlangSenior copyright holder: Facing Stalingrad Project, . Gaunt, pale and emaciated, the commander of the Wehrmachts 6th Army looked like a hunted animal to the Soviet military commanders. He had the appearance of a sick and physically exhausted man and his face was twitching in a nervous tic.. 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). high command ordered him not to fly back into Interrogation of captured German officers led Soviet commanders to realise that, because of the toll of events on Paulus's nerves, Schmidt was the real commander of the defending forces. ", "Battle of Stalingrad a summary History in an Hour", " . : (02/07/1954)". Juni 1942 zum Generalmajor ernannt und nahm an der Schlacht von Stalingrad teil. It would have had to go out to meet the 4th Panzer Army, while fighting on all four sides as if forming a square, Erich von Manstein wrote in his memoirs, Lost Victories. Finally, he supported former German Chancellor Heinrich Brning's appeal for a betterment of relations between West Germany and the Eastern Bloc, agreed with Brning's criticism of West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's overtly pro-American policy, and expressed his hope for a German reunification: Chancellor Brning took a clear stand against Chancellor Adenauer's rigid orientation to the West, and practically against the EDC and the Bonn conventions. That would be a Napoleonic ending." A firefighter by profession, he volunteered into the German army in 1939. But how shockingly different their external appearance was! recalled Wilhelm Adam, adjutant to the 6th Army commander. [36], After Voikovo, Schmidt was held in the Lubyanka prison. Paulus remained absolutely firm in obeying the orders he had been given. Maybe since the last time we met - more than 10 years ago - our views on specific issues differed, but I know in general, through his writings, with what sense of responsibility, how restlessly he refused to align himself with the Federal Chancellor's European Defence Community policy. 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]. The following excerpt covers the last two days in Stalingrad as Adam began to have doubts about the Chief of Staff to the 6th Army, Lieutenant-General Schmidt: Was Lieutenant-General Schmidt playing a double game? to solve several supply problems. Arthur Schmidt (* 25. A fluent German speaker, Captain Dyatlenko was transferred to the 7th Department of the Stalingrad Front in the autumn of 1942 to help . The units craved encouraging news, recalled an officer of the 6th Army's intelligence section, Joachim Wieder. 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. However I'm not going to do them such a favour.' The Germans started to withdraw, pursued by Malinovskys 2nd Guards Army which had begun a counterattack on December 24. This list may not reflect recent changes . On one of the final Luftwaffe flights out of Stalingrad, Paulus had sent his wedding ring to his wife. [citation needed], Many English-language sources and publications from the 1940s to the present day give Paulus' family name the prefix "von". World War II Stalin himself was pessimistic. However, the lack of food and ammunition, equipment losses and the deteriorating physical condition of the German troops gradually wore down the German defense. 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. 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]. 1955 wurde er aus der Gefangenschaft entlassen. What happened to the first German Field Marshal made prisoner?On January 31, 1943, in the basement of the Univermag department store, Field Marshal Paulus su. who took the 6. [c], Lieutenant General Friedrich Paulus (June 1942). A car to the neighboring village of Beketovka, where the 64th Army HQ was stationed, awaited the Field Marshal. Paulus did not request to evacuate the city when the counter-offensive began. [4] The British historian and author Antony Beevor offers the following description of Schmidt: He also criticized United States foreign policy as aggressive and called for a reconciliation between the Germans and the French: American policy today calls itself "power politics". The unit was renamed the Sixth Army and engaged in the spring offensives of 1940 through the Netherlands and Belgium. Schmidt and Paulus set up their HQ in the Kessel underneath the Univermag department store on the city's Red Square. Paulus awoke and sat up. Stalingrad cover The novel begins with a meeting between fascist dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini on April 29, 1942, in which they discuss the progress of the war. [15] Paulus and Schmidt started planning for the breakout that evening, despite receiving another message from Hitler that they must stand firm and await relief. We reacted to this order with astonishment, since we had expected some sort of discussion with the Army Group, and were fairly certain of the breakout. [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. 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. [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." It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked . The recently formed Army Group Don under the command of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, reinforced with divisions transferred from the North Caucasus and Western Europe, was tasked with opening a corridor to the city. Ahead for Friedrich Paulus lay Soviet camps, work in the anti-fascist National Committee for a Free Germany and life in the GDR for the short time left to him. 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). The Soviets held higher ground to the west, meaning that Sixth Army would be exposed to their guns if it attempted to break out. Gaunt, pale and emaciated, the commander of the Wehrmacht's 6th Army looked like a hunted animal to the Soviet military commanders. The Red Army fighters looked fresh and wore warm winter uniforms. The implication was clear: Paulus was to commit suicide. Armee. But the city held, aided by the very destruction heaped on it by the Luftwaffe and Nazi tanks and artillery. Intensive talks started between Mansteins and Pauluss HQs about the need to embark on the implementation of Operation Thunderclap - a breakthrough by the 6th Army to meet Army Group Hoth. The German soldiers, ragged and in light coats, looked like ghosts with hollow, unshaven cheeks. Schmidt was not a man of great tactical skill, daring or initiative; rather he was characterised by a stubborn optimism, tenacity and a willingness to obey the orders of his superiors without question. After the Soviet troops opened intensive fire from machine guns and mortars on the building at about six oclock in the morning, the shooting from the German side stopped. On the night of January 31, 1943, units of the 64th Army's 38th. In June 1942, Nazi Germany was looking forward to victory. Manstein, Erich von; Powell, Anthony G. (2004). I have in mind, first of all, France. 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. Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox. This website uses cookies. 139142; other examples are Allen and Muratoff's The Russian Campaigns of 19411943, published in 1944[5] and Peter Margaritis (2019). This is on page 194. [20]:207208,212215 Beevor comments, "Whether this was a ploy to allow Paulus to distance himself from the surrender, or a further example of Schmidt handling events because Paulus was in state of nervous collapse, is not clear. Soviet soldiers attacking last german resistance in Stalingrad. It has been suggested that much of the reason for Schmidt's ascendancy over Paulus lay in the fact that, unlike Paulus, Schmidt was a committed Nazi, and Paulus, afraid of Hitler and conscious of his responsibility for Sixth Army's catastrophic position, saw Schmidt as a cipher for the Fhrer whom he could placate. [23] When General Hans-Valentin Hube flew into the Kessel [the encircled pocket of Axis forces in Stalingrad] on the morning of 9 January with Hitler's message to stand firm, "this strengthened General Schmidt's intransigent position at Sixth Army's headquarters." Then they left the room. Newspaper clippings about Friedrich Paulus, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Friedrich_Paulus&oldid=1149650806, This page was last edited on 13 April 2023, at 15:20. 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. report to Hitlers headquarters to personally Hitler expected the success to be repeated here and ordered Paulus to hold on in Stalingrad, while getting essential food, weapons and ammunition supplied by air. Soviet and German soldiers who just a few hours earlier had been firing on each other stood calmly next to one another in the courtyard holding their guns in their hands or slung on their shoulder. 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. The Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943) was fought during the Second World War between Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler and the Soviet Union led by Joseph Stalin. It formed part of the German Third Army that enacted the attack on France and Belgium in August 1914 as part of the pre-war Schlieffen Plan. said Paulus after reading the dispatch. that it was the best to fly him out of the The battle of Stalingrad, fought between Stalin's Red Army and Hitler's forces from 23 August 1942 to 2 February 1943, is considered one of the major confrontations of World War II. 'Meeting The Victors', Sputnik Magazine, 1968, USSR; (English-language article). [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. [1] On 19 January, Major Thiel[who?] Magdeburgisches) Nr. said the Soviet general through his interpreter. The time has come for the old enmity that we have inherited and the many disputes to be buried once and for all. German officers who flew out of the Stalingrad Schmidt kmpfte im Ersten Weltkrieg als Zugfhrer und Kompaniechef im Infanterie-Regiment Frst Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau (1. 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. Paulus radioed Hitler once again for permission. At the same time, Paulus declined to order the northern pocket to surrender on the grounds that, since January 30, its commander, Col-Gen Karl Strecker, was directly accountable to Hitler. Lt-Gen Konstantin Rokossovsky (L) and Friedrich Paulus. There, they encountered the freshly-formed Soviet 2nd Guards Army that had finally arrived on the scene. 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. The twin pincers of this counteroffensive struck the flanks of the German salient at points about 50 miles . [8], Paulus and Schmidt realised that Sixth Army was encircled on 21 November. It now seemed more impossible than ever to act against an order of the High Command or Army Group.[17]. the evening of 13 January 1943. Panzerregiment 36, flew out : [19] Beevor states that it is unclear what happened at the meeting, except that Paulus, who still believed in the chain of command, refused to break out without a clear order to do so from a superior, something that the politically deft Manstein refused to give.[19][20]. This website uses cookies. Having survived Winter Storm and not having heard the Thunderclap, the Soviet command calmly returned to drawing up its planned operation to split up and conclusively destroy the Paulus grouping - preparations for which had been interrupted by the German offensive. After a leave of absence due to illness, he joined the Alpenkorps as a staff officer, serving in France, Romania and Serbia. [29] The signal sent from Sixth Army HQ on the evening of 30 January, that stated that soldiers were "listening to the national anthem for the last time with arms raised in the German salute", was, according to Beevor, much more likely to have been written by Schmidt than by Paulus. 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. Hitler expected it. The German On 2 February 1943 the remainder of the Sixth Army capitulated. Paulus requested permission from Hitler to surrender. He also said that 18,000 men were wounded and were in immediate need of medical attention. [6] This is incorrect, as Paulus' family was never part of the nobility,[citation needed] and Antony Beevor refers to his "comparatively humble birth" (like Rommel's family; their "sole similarity").[7]. But, the enemy kept pressing home their attack, their tanks and armored vehicles reached our dug-in positions and then started to steamroll them. Guderian described him as "brilliantly clever, conscientious, hard working, original and talented" but had severe doubts about his decisiveness, toughness and lack of command experience. When World War I began, Paulus' regiment was part of the thrust into France, and he saw action in the Vosges and around Arras in the autumn of 1914. He crossed the Meuse river at Dinant. The Soviet Operation Uranus, as a result of which the 300,000-strong German grouping ended up trapped in a pocket on November 23, 1942, shocked the leaders of the Third Reich. After his return to the German Democratic Republic in 1953, Paulus gave a press conference in Berlin on 2 July 1954 in the presence of Western journalists, titled "On the vital issues of our nation". [14], On 7 January 1943 General Konstantin Rokossovsky, commander of the Red Army on the Don front, called a cease-fire and offered Paulus' men generous surrender terms: normal rations, medical treatment for the ill and wounded, permission to retain their badges, decorations, uniforms and personal effects. We want good relations between the German people and other peoples who respect our national rights. I placed my revolver on the table. [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. The main entrance to the cellar was closed and guarded by the Soviet soldiers. November 1987 ebenda) war ein deutscher Generalleutnant. In comparison . And, until now, the 6th Army was regarded as the best field army in the Wehrmacht. He was assigned to the 13th Infantry Regiment at Stuttgart as a company commander. [37] He died in Karlsruhe on 5 November 1987. Paulus was promoted to lieutenant general in August 1940. The general feared that, deprived of their armored strike force, the slow-moving bulk of his troops would simply be ground into dust by the Red Army in the freezing steppe. He served in various staff positions for over a decade (192133). XIV. "[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. Juni 1942 zum Generalmajor ernannt und nahm an der Schlacht von Stalingrad teil. In 1942, Paulus was given command of the 6th Army despite his lack of field experience. I recorded Paulus's new rank in his military document, stamped it with the seal then threw the seal into the glowing fire. You will go in your personal car.' fly out of the Stalingrad pocket and he left on jaundice. with these words he opened the door and a Soviet general and his interpreter entered the room. We were in frenzied spirits and, had it made sense, we would have been shouting Hoorah! We were firing at every target that appeared, operating our machine guns to their very limit The Russian infantry dispersed in all directions; they must have thought we were madmen, is how 1st Lieutenant Horst Scheibert remembered the launch of Operation Winter Storm that aimed to break through to Friedrich Pauluss 6th Army encircled at Stalingrad. [13], The decision not to negotiate with the Soviet envoys who bore an ultimatum to Paulus on 8 and 9 January 1943, was, for example, made by Schmidt, not Paulus, as Colonel Wilhelm Adam told one of the envoys, Captain Nikolay Dyatlenko, during his post-battle interrogation. [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. We must hold them here to the last so that the eastern front can be stabilized. [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). Schmidt, confident of his own abilities, put many backs up within Sixth Army headquarters, although he also had his supporters. On 4 July 1912 he married the Romanian Constance Elena Rosetti-Solescu, the sister of a colleague who served in the same regiment. was sent by VIII Air Corps to assess the runway at Gumrak and see whether further landings by Luftwaffe supply aircraft would be possible. When presented with the commander of 51st Corps General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach's 25 November memorandum to Paulus, detailing plans for a breakout, Schmidt said: "We don't have to break the head of the Fhrer for him, and neither does General von Seydlitz have to break the head of [General Paulus]. on New Years Day 1943, In the morning of 19 . [4] The British historian and author Antony Beevor offers the following description of Schmidt: [He was] a slim, sharp-featured and sharp-tongued staff officer from a Hamburg mercantile family. The northern pocket was tactically commanded by General Strekker while the southern pocket was commanded by General Roske. [33], Of all the senior German officers held at Zavarykino, Schmidt was the most disliked by the Soviets; on one occasion he apparently reduced a mess waitress to tears during lunch, for which a Soviet officer, Lieutenant Bogomolov, made him apologise. General Schmidt surrendered the headquarters. 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]. [2][3], deutscher Generalleutnant im Zweiten Weltkrieg, Zuletzt bearbeitet am 24. [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]. 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]. Thus, another prominent and experienced German politician stressed that a final implementation of the EDC agreement would be dangerous for the German nation. 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]. 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.
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