Paulus disobeys Hitler

800 trucks could not possibly have evacuated the German(and Romanian) forces in Stalingrad nor was 14 Panzer Corps capable of lifting out its own men given the lack of fuel. Indeed, as was noted, Paulus could barely move his panzers 20 miles on the fuel he had available. Meanwhile 3000 tons of supplies would amount to @55 pounds of food, fuel, urgently needed medical supplies, spare parts and ammunition per man, hardly enough to rejuvenate the already stricken 110,000 in Stalingrad.
 
800 trucks could not possibly have evacuated the German(and Romanian) forces in Stalingrad nor was 14 Panzer Corps capable of lifting out its own men given the lack of fuel. Indeed, as was noted, Paulus could barely move his panzers 20 miles on the fuel he had available. Meanwhile 3000 tons of supplies would amount to @55 pounds of food, fuel, urgently needed medical supplies, spare parts and ammunition per man, hardly enough to rejuvenate the already stricken 110,000 in Stalingrad.

The romanians and the aa division would be fucked agreed (the germans showed no compunction of abandoning allies at Alemein)... and they would certainly have to abandon a lot of heavy equipment (although a lot of the 6th army's transport and gear had been moved away from the city after it was invested) and probably most of the wounded as well (desperate times and all)

the 6th army's minimum demand for supplies was 550ish tonnes a day for all facets; so 3000 tonnes is nearly a week of operational supplies; and that 3000 tonnes wasn't meant to get them all the way back to Rostov; it was meant to reinvigorate them; and get their tanks and self propelled guns moving again; and feed the men for a few days until they could retreat back to Kotelnikovo where the German railhead was; and then they would be fully resupplied and ready for their next move (a retreat of about 100-120 miles would be all that was required out of those 3000 tonnes of supplies)
 

Sir Chaos

Banned
There´s another thing that is often overlooked: let´s assume 6th Army breaks out; now all the Soviet forces surrounding it are freed up for other operations.

Granted, they´ve taken some damage so far, but they are still a huge and powerful force. Where else along the front line will they strike while the winter weather lasts? I am pretty sure they could break through any place they chose to attack, as the German were already spread quite thin -and whatever forces of 6th army remain are not in a shape to reinforce the attacked sector. The relief column won´t be as shot up, but hardly as fresh and ready as most of the Soviet force.
 
There´s another thing that is often overlooked: let´s assume 6th Army breaks out; now all the Soviet forces surrounding it are freed up for other operations.

Granted, they´ve taken some damage so far, but they are still a huge and powerful force. Where else along the front line will they strike while the winter weather lasts? I am pretty sure they could break through any place they chose to attack, as the German were already spread quite thin -and whatever forces of 6th army remain are not in a shape to reinforce the attacked sector. The relief column won´t be as shot up, but hardly as fresh and ready as most of the Soviet force.

They'd first strike against escaping 6th army and relief forces then go for Rostov to cut off forces in Caucassus. and this is not overlooked, in fact this thread mentiones it
 
There´s another thing that is often overlooked: let´s assume 6th Army breaks out; now all the Soviet forces surrounding it are freed up for other operations.

Granted, they´ve taken some damage so far, but they are still a huge and powerful force. Where else along the front line will they strike while the winter weather lasts? I am pretty sure they could break through any place they chose to attack, as the German were already spread quite thin -and whatever forces of 6th army remain are not in a shape to reinforce the attacked sector. The relief column won´t be as shot up, but hardly as fresh and ready as most of the Soviet force.


comrade aktarian is correct... also bear in mind as army group a and don (including 6th army) retreat the front becomes tremendously shorter (up to 800 miles shorter from the height of the advance) which greatly improves german force to space ratio's (especially once the 1st panzer army comes north with its fresh divisions)
 
One thing that always seems to get overlooked (when this subject is broached) is the fact that Sixth Army's presence in Stalingrad continued to pin huge Soviet resources down...resources that could have added immeasurable punch to the Soviet counter offensive(s).

Although the POV is (somewhat) speculative, pulling Sixth Army off the line may well have started a rout and this could have cost the Ostheer the bulk of its forces committed in the Caucasus region. The historical situation around Stalingrad pales in comparison to the disaster that would result if this came to pass.

This is why Hitler ordered Paulus to hold...Paulus (a highly competent staff officer, not some boot-licking sycophant) was well aware of the strategic situation as well; this is why he threw his army on the sacrificial scrapheap of history.

Paulus knew what was at stake...chances are better that he would have disobeyed an order to break out.

Cheers. Ron

Derived from my studies of Glantz (who else?)

I agree but actually Paulus did disobey orders because he surrendered his army on the field of battle. His orders were to fight to the last man.
 
I agree but actually Paulus did disobey orders because he surrendered his army on the field of battle. His orders were to fight to the last man.

Hitler relented on this at the end after a dramatic back and forth with Manstein, saying that he didn't need the 6th army to tie down forces anymore relative to the amount suffering he was going through. He wanted Paulus to kill himself; but in terms of the troop surrender; he consigned himself at the end when Manstein informed him there was no ammunition left
 
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