sharlin
Banned
Scenario I thoughts
scenario II
in the 3rd week of November when Uranus linked up; 6th army was bloodied but it was still a powerful force with over 200 tanks and 270ish thousand men there is no particular reason that they could not have massed two of their infantry corps on the southwest corner of the pocket (reinforcing them with a brigade of tanks) and ripped a whole open in the encircling forces and then swamped out of the pocket, riding hell bent for Kotelnikovo (120 km away) which restores their supply lines and would allow them to retreat in a more focused way towards Rostov whilst holding a corridor for Army Group A
Two huge problems, the germans had next to no fuel for their forces in Stalingrad and could only do tank operations by borrowing fuel from unit to unit when they were needed, that 120 km in atrocious weather would have guzzled fuel even faster than normal so the Panzers would end out out of gas in the open if they could safely disentangle themselves from Stalingrad itself, which would be hard considering that the defenders in the city went on the offensive at the same time as Operation Uranus to keep the 6th army looking the wrong way.
Second problem was Hitlers express order that had tank crews going into the city acting as infantry. You'd have to get them back to their units, reconstitute the companies and regiments, get them supplied, get them fueled up or get at least a core of the tanks fueled up and then get them moving.
All that's going to take a massive ammount of time, and it was time the 6th Army didn't have.
Actually 3rd problem. Hitler seems to have loathed the General Staff and had complete control down to a divisional level, you could not move without his express order, and Paulus was lets be honest, not a great general, he was more like a Staff officer promoted into the post, he was no Mannstein or Guderian or Rommel. To break out he wanted authority from Hitler to do so. And when he did ask about the possibilty of breaking out. Hitler said 'no' so like a good officer, he obeyed his orders and stayed put.
He didn't put any forces on standby he didn't try to get the Panzers out of the city 'just in case' he kept at his task and stayed firmly in Stalingrad.
The supply situation for the germans even before their encirclement was nigh on catasrophic. The 22nd Panzer Division was down to less than 30 tanks and was so short of fuel it had to borrow from the Romanians. German airpower was not much help due to the weather and i'll quote the commander of the air forces in the region Richtofhen from his diary 'Rains, snow and icy mists have put a stop to all flying. VIII Air Corps managed with great difficulty to get one or two aircraft off the ground. To seal off the Don Crossing by bombing is not possible.'
Also any withdrawl would have meant leaving over 10000 wounded behind as well as most of the heavy equipment and artillery. It would have been a case of infantry marching with tanks at their head. Across terrain pre-spotted for artillery and at the risk of constant air attack. It would not have been a withdrawl it would have been a rout.
Paulus did ask permission to break out by asking for 'freedom of action if it proves impossible to achive all round defence on the southern flank' That was his request to break out if the situation got worse.
Hitlers reply was.
'The Sixth Army is temporarily surrounded by Russian Forces. I know the Sixth Army and your commander-in-chief and have no doubt that in this difficult situation it will hold on bravely. The Sixth Army must know that I am doing everything to relive them. I will issue my instructions in good time. Adolf Hitler.'
To break out you would have needed Hitler to change his mind, and you've got more chance of the moon actually being made of cheese than that happening. Winter Storm was suppose to be used to open a corridor to supply the 6th army, not help it escape. Hitler would brook no withdrawl. And breaking out without orders could be seen as mutiny. IMHO to get the 6th army out, like to win at Kursk would require ASB/devine intervention. There simply was nothing they could do.
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