Hitler's Tactical Mistakes

First of all I would like to address the issue regarding if invading Russia was the correct move for the Axis power’s army. Let’s reflect a bit about the whole situation that they faced at this point in war.

At this point the Axis power’s faced a serious problem; they lacked a constant supply of oil. In order to solve this problem they had two viable options, they could either invade Russia or they could try to take control Libya, Egypt and other Mediterranean countries that could serve as an oasis to them.

Let’s go ahead and explore both options:

First we take a look at invading the Mediterranean. They would need to regroup and Rommel would’ve received massive reinforcements in order to try to overrun Egypt, the Suez Canal and finally the Oil Rich countries of the Middle East. This would provide some sort of an oasis that would serve as a base for the Axis Powers.

Then we have the attack on Russia. This represents a mayor challenge to the Axis powers, since Russia is so huge and winter is close, they would need to overrun the Red Army and take Moscow in less than a couple months if they wanted to succeed.

Both of these options offered a solution to the oil problem and had potential to defeat one of Germany’s enemies. The difference was that Russia represented a bigger threat to the Reich than the close-to-collapse Great Britain; this was the main reason why attacking Russia made more sense.

After outlining the situation that the Axis powers went through we can take a look at what happened during the actual invasion of Russia.

The German army was probably the best army in Europe at the time; meanwhile the Russian was probably the worst. Although the Russians outnumbered the Germans by a vast majority, the Germans were better equipped, trained and led.

Since Russia was so huge, the German army would be divided into three groups. The first would advance through the Baltics and towards Leningrad; the second one would move all the way south and take the wheat and oil fields, while the third would push through the middle towards Moscow.

The problem relayed on the fact that there was not enough Panzer and other resources to fulfil all the objectives. One of them had to be prioritized, in this matter Hitler’s Generals provided great advice. They argued that taking Moscow was crucial to the operation since that would neutralize all Russian efforts to regroup and reorganize.

Hitler, on the contrary, thought that taking Ukraine and the Oil fields was more important, he spoke from a historical perspective were Napoleon had invade Russia and took Moscow only to fail miserably and have to retreat.

Hitler decided to take action and invade Ukraine and the Oil Fields; this proved disastrous to their campaign in Russia and was the biggest mistake they made.

While taking Moscow was deceive and would have forced Russia to surrender they moved all the way through Ukraine and ended up getting pinned down by the massive forces that Russia had gather to the north.

The last blow to this campaign happened on December 5^th of 1942 when the Russian army launched a massive counteroffensive and caused multiple causalities to the Nazi army and forced them to retreat and never threaten Moscow again.

We can then conclude that Hitler’s single and biggest mistake was overestimating and being really optimistic regarding their ability to take Ukraine and then seize Moscow. What would have happened if he would have followed his generals advice is left up to speculation?

German and Russian Tactics during the Battle of Stalingrad

GERMANS:

German military doctrine was based on the principle of combined-arms teams and close cooperation between tanks, infantry, engineers, artillery and ground-attack aircraft.

Rattenkrieg:

Rattenkrieg, or "Rat's War," the opposing forces broke into squads eight or 10 strong and fought each other for every house and yard of territory. The battle saw rapid advances in street-fighting technology, such as a German machine gun that shot around corners and a light Russian plane that glided silently over German positions at night, dropping lethal bombs without warning.

Operation Blue

One of the most important plans established by the Germans was the “Operation Blue” that consisted in concentrating all the available forces in the southern flank of the long front, then, destroying the front line of Russian forces there, and then spread in two directions to the most important industrial centers remaining in South Russia. These are some of the points stated in this strategy:

·         First, they will advance through the mountainous Caucasus region, to capture the oil fields on the Caspian Sea.

·         Then they advance East, to Stalingrad, the biggest industrial and transportation center on the West side of the Volga River (which was the main waterway of inner Russia).

·         In order to reduce losses, Chuikov’sstated that they needed to narrow the gap between the Russian positions and the German positions to the minimum, so the German dive bombers will not be able to drop their bombs on the Russian positions without risking the German soldiers. 

RUSSIANS:

Response to Operation Blue:

·         General Zhukov (Russian) planned and prepared a massive counter attack, Uranus squad would attack the German flanks at their two weakest points, 100 miles West of Stalingrad, and 100 miles south of it.

·         Then, the two Russian forces will meet far Southwest of Stalingrad and encircle the entire German army near Stalingrad and cut its supply lines. Zhukov’s goal was to win not just battle of Stalingrad but the entire campaign in South Russia.

“Hugging”:

Soviet commanders adopted the tactic of always keeping the front lines as close to the Germans as physically possible. Chuikov called this "hugging" the Germans. This forced the German infantry to either fight on their own or risk taking casualties from their own supporting fire; it neutralized German close air support and weakened artillery support.

Technology, Weapons, and Armies

Technology, the key to the outcome of the battle:

The battle was won due to lack of technology as opposed to key technology. The Germans had rifles, machine guns, panzer tanks and even support from the “Luftwaffe”. However the battle came down to hand to hand combat in individual street battles. The Russians won because they overpowered the Germans with their manpower. General Zhukov divided his men into six armies to surround the city of Stalingrad and trap the Germans.

This is a chart that compared the amounts of weapons between the two nations in the Stalingrad battle:

German Army	RussianArmy
LedbyPaulus	Ledby Zhukov
1,011,500 men	1,000,500 men
10, 290 artilleryguns	13,541 artilleryguns
675 tanks	894 tanks
1,216 planes	1,115 planes

In Russia:

The weapons that they used the most were:

·         Tokarev SVT-40

·         MosinNagant 1882

·         PPS-42

·         PPSh-41

·         Tokarev TT-30

·         PTRS-41

·         DP-28

·         T-34

·         Gibovski G-11

·         Waco CG-3

·         the Yakovlev Yak-series -14 -6 and -8

This included tanks, aircrafts, and guns.

In Germany:

The weapons that they used the most were:

Germans:

 Karabiner 1898 Kurtz

Gewehr 41

MP40

MP38

MG42

MG34

Walther P38

Flammenwerfer 35

Flammenwerfer 41

Panzer and Tiger Tanks

JU88

JU Junkers 52 

This also included machine guns, minor weapons, tanks, and aircrafts.

The Geographical Challenges of The Battle of Stalingrad

First, the situation of Germany and Russia was very different. The colonizing position that Germany took was very offensive, while URSS was a pacific country with no intentions to go into war. Hitler decision to attack eastern Europe was a good strategy and a crucial point in World War II if they achieve the goal of winning, but if not, lot of loses will be seen and the army of Germany will decrease its power.

Hitler made huge mistakes in going into battle in Stalingrad. By his orders to attack, he committed a military blunder so immense that it cost an entire army and set the stage for the Germany’s ultimate defeat in World War II.

The German army, in that moment, had to fight with two different powerful enemies: The Russian army and the bad weather conditions.  It seems that Hitler interests were far beyond the geographical factors, so it, in the future, causes him lot of problems. The German Sixth Army, a great group of soldiers that took up most of central Europe were destroyed by the bad weather conditions that they experimented on Russian territory. The soldiers didn´t have so mucho food and water supplies, cars and tanks were freeze and unusable, Hitler promise air-dropping supplies which never came, etc. The consequences were the rapid death of the army in the bad and cold weather in Russia.  

An important fact that we must consider is the land condition of Russia, the soldiers felt overwhelmed by the vastness of the landscape. For many soldiers Russia seems like a desert and villages where to o far apart and countryside was flat and desolate. German soldiers didn´t liked to travel in that inhospitable country.

Another problem of the German troops was the climate conditions in Stalingrad region.  During the summer the temperature reach 31 degrees centigrade, which can fatigue soldiers while they move.  In October, huge rains appeared for a month and it turned roads into quagmires thick with mud.

By these conditions, health problems start appearing in German forces. Varieties of illness, such as respiratory problems, cystitis, and dysentery often occurred.  Because of the bad weather, tanks and motor vehicles were impossible to drive, slowing down the marches of the troops in that horrifying situation as we describe before.

Finally, we can see that Hitler made a huge mistake by sacrificing their valuable army in this battle. People often say that the loss of this battle meant a huge drop to the Hitler regime and the first stage of his fall in WWII.  Undoubtedly geographical reasons meant a great ally for Russia and a terrible enemy to Germany.

A word of advice for Hitler?

 When speaking of Hitler's actions regarding the Battle of Stalingrad, I'm sure there will be a lot to say, and criticize. Both Hitler's and Stalin's orders were pretty similar to each other. The German army was heading to Caucasus when Hitler commanded them to attack Stalingrad.  We can be pretty sure that by the time, Hitler already hated Stalin. So it is believed that Hitler decided to invade Stalingrad because of the hatred against him. But we must not forget that Stalingrad was also the centre of communication and manufacturing in Russia, so taking that in consideration; Hitler could have also seen this as a new strategy for his invasion at hand.

Now Stalin, perhaps as a matter of pride, stated that the people there would not retreat at any cost. The Russians were also ordered to stay as close as they could to the enemy. This tactic, which was referred to as hugging, almost nullified the chances of the Germans to provide their army with artillery or air support; unless of course, they were up for taking a lot of casualties.

The German army got weaker as time went by, and even knowing this Hitler took the same position as Stalin: They were not to retreat at any cost, for any reason whatsoever. The Soviet army’s constant attacks were doing absolutely no good to the Germans, but there was no way Hitler would be persuaded to let them leave. But in the end the Germans had no chances of prevailing, between the end of January and the beginning of February, General Paulus (who was given promotion by Hitler in order to encourage him to keep fighting) and General Schreck surrendered in both of their respective groups despite Hitler’s orders.

Now again, one can say a lot about Hitler’s ways of “controlling” this situation, but we have some points we’d like to present regarding it. First, we think Hitler shouldn’t have given the orders to attack it in the first place! Though it is true that it would indeed have been unwise to leave a major city unconquered, the German army was already on their way to the Caucasus. In a way, this just shows lack of organization and a stable plan from Hitler’s side; and I think this is just what led Hitler to his ultimate defeat. Another advice would have been simply to leave aside his pride. It’s not as certain as a fact, but it is somehow clear that Hitler held a deep grudge against Stalin. This could have caused Hitler’s vision to change, and “mock” him by taking over his beloved Stalingrad. Here we can definitely see how pride and being a bit cocky about his actions were Hitler’s mistake.  In a more strategic view, Hitler should have definitely taken the weather in consideration. The cold and rough climate of Russia was perhaps the biggest defense the country had. So if Hitler did want to attack Stalingrad, he should have prepared his men better, and give them more resources for them to overcome these types of situation.  However, there’s also the possibility of Hitler ignoring the attack on Stalingrad and having kept the original route for the German army. The Germans could have conquered Stalingrad’s surroundings and then enter the city for conquering.

Of course, all these are just opinions. Hitler’s reason for the invasion of Stalingrad could have been for another reason than the ones presented here. But it is very clear that he should’ve thought about all the factors that would imply invading Stalingrad, because it was at that point, that the WWII’s tide started to change.

The Turning Point in WWII

The Battle of Stalingrad is perhaps de turning point in World War II; for after it was taken place, the German army was in full retreat. The Soviet counter-offensive got hold of the first large-scale German defeat of the war.

To start off, let's go through some of the most relevant events in the battle:

• July 17, 1942 - Battle of Stalingrad begins as the Luftwaffe begins to bomb the city and Soviet shipping on the Volga River.
• August 23, 1942 - Panzer column reaches Volga River just north of Stalingrad.
• September 13, 1942 - German ground offensive starts in the city.
• November 19, 1942 - Red Army begins Operation Uranus to encircle German 6th Army.
• November 23, 1942 - Encirclement is complete trapping roughly 290,000 Axis troops.
• December 12, 1942 - Field Marshal von Manstein's army group launches an attack to relieve the 6th Army in Stalingrad. German advance is pushed back by the Soviets.
• February 2, 1943 - German troops trapped at Stalingrad surrender.

(Timeline taken from: http://www.russia-ukraine-travel.com/battle-of-stalingrad.html)