Chapter 12 05. Battle of Stalingrad

On June 28, 1942, the Battle of Stalingrad began. The Fourth Panzer Army and the Second Army on the left wing of the German B Army Group suddenly attacked eastward from Kursk and carried out an assault on the Bryansk Front of the Soviet Army. On June 30, the right-wing Sixth Army also launched an offensive from the northeast of Kharkov, advancing towards Stalingrad in the southeast.It was difficult for the Soviet army to carry out effective resistance on the open prairie, and it retreated 100 to 300 kilometers. However, the success of the early stage of the battle caused Hitler's arrogance to attack again. He believed that it would not take so many troops to capture Stalingrad, and ordered the Fourth Panzer Army to go south to support the First Panzer Army to cross the lower reaches of the Don River.In this way, only the Sixth Army of Paulus remained in the attack on Stalingrad. It has 6 armies (including 2 armored corps), a total of 14 divisions with about 270,000 people, nearly 500 tanks, and 3,000 artillery pieces. and mortars.

It wasn't until this time that Stalin gradually understood the intentions of the German army and was determined to organize the army to defend the city named after him. On July 12, the Soviet army established the Stalingrad Front Army on the basis of the Southwest Front Army, with Timoshenko as the commander and Khrushchev as the member of the Military Commission, responsible for defending Stalingrad.The Stalingrad Front consisted of 38 divisions, defending a defensive zone approximately 530 kilometers long and 120 kilometers deep. On July 17, 1942, the German Sixth Army, under the command of General Paulus, assaulted the defensive positions of the Soviet Sixty-second Army.At the same time, Paulus launched a feint attack on the 64th Soviet Army with part of his forces to distract the Soviet Army. On the 23rd, the German army broke through the right-wing defense line of the Soviet Sixty-second Army, surrounded two divisions of the army, and approached the banks of the Don River west of Stalingrad. On the 25th, the German army launched an attack on the right-wing position of the Soviet Sixty-fourth Army, intending to forcibly cross the Don River. On the 26th, the 64th Army of the Soviet Army was forced to retreat across the Don River.

The situation was unfavorable, and Stalin was extremely disappointed with Marshal Timoshenko, the commander of the Stalingrad Front Army. He dismissed him as commander and was replaced by Lieutenant General Gordov, commander of the 64th Army, and appointed Chief of Staff Vasilev Admiral Ski went to Stalingrad as a representative of the Supreme Command to assist in commanding the war. On July 28, in order to improve the fighting spirit of the Stalingrad defenders, Stalin issued the famous Order No. 227, requiring Soviet soldiers to "not retreat half a step without an order from a superior. Whether he is a company commander, a battalion As long as a commander, regimental commander, division commander, or political commissar withdraws without the order of a superior commander, he is a traitor, and he will be treated as a traitor to the motherland."

The order was so long that Stalin was forced to praise the enemy.Under his strict order, the Soviet army launched crowd tactics again. Due to the lack of armored units and the tenacious resistance of the Soviet army, the plan of the German Sixth Army to occupy Stalingrad on the march could not be realized. On July 30, Hitler made another important decision to return the Fourth Panzer Army commanded by Hoth to Army Group B. On August 5, the Fourth Panzer Army broke through the defense line of the Soviet Sixty-fourth Army. On August 19, Paulus and Holt resumed their offensive.The Sixth Army attacked from the northwest to the southeast of Stalingrad. On the 22nd, it broke through the defense line of the Soviet Army's 62nd Army, crossed the Don River, and occupied Karachi. On the 23rd, it advanced to the northern suburbs of Stalingrad and went out to the Volga River.Huot's Fourth Armored Army attacked northward, broke through the defense of the Soviet Sixty-fourth Army, and advanced to the south of the city on the 29th. The forward was only 5 kilometers away from Stalingrad.

While the German Army attacked Stalingrad, the German Fourth Air Force also dispatched 2,000 sorties to bomb Stalingrad. Stalingrad was facing an extremely severe situation, and Stalin pinned his hopes on Zhukov.He appointed Zhukov as the supreme deputy commander in chief, and dispatched the 24th, 66th and 1st Guards Army to Stalingrad. On August 29, Zhukov flew to Stalingrad and began to organize a counterattack. At dawn on September 5, Zhukov commanded three new armies to launch a counterattack. Due to hasty preparations, the counterattack failed to achieve the expected results. On the 6th, the Soviet army launched an offensive again and failed again. On the 10th, the Soviet army tried to carry out a surprise attack from the north to restore contact with the 62nd Army, but failed again. On the 12th, the Soviet army withdrew to the city, and all the outer defense lines were lost. The German army broke through the defense of Stalingrad and rushed to the Volga River from the south.

On September 12, Hitler flew to the front line, summoned General Weicks, commander of Army Group B, and General Paulus, commander of Army Group Six, and demanded to "take the city into his own hands as soon as possible", and ordered them to attack Stalinger on the 13th. Le city. The street fighting in Stalingrad that shocked the world began. Before the German Army attacked the city, the bombers of the Air Force had already bombed the city of Stalingrad into ruins. On September 13, Paulus Sixth Army took the lead and began to attack from the north of the city.Hoth's Fourth Armored Army advanced from the south of the city to support Paulus' main attack on the north of the city. On the 14th, the German army broke into the urban area from the north of the city and fought fierce street battles with the Soviet army.The competition between the two sides reached a fever pitch, and the streets and squares of the whole city became fierce battlefields. Fierce gun battles took place in every street, every building, and every factory in the city. Among them, the battle for the first train station lasted for a week, changing hands 13 times.

To this day, street fighting is the most difficult to fight and should be avoided as much as possible.Today, such an advanced armored force of the U.S. military does not dare to fight in the streets.The Russian army also suffered from street fighting in the Chechen War.Today's armored forces, with such advanced electronic communication means, still suffer from street battles.During World War II, the elevation angle of tank guns could hit the third floor at most, and a person standing on the fifth floor would throw the explosives down and you would be done.If a tank is driving on the road, a child holds an explosive bag and hides it under the sewer. When the tank passes by, he throws the explosive bag away, the tank explodes, and the child runs down the sewer, but he cannot be found.The German army fought in the streets of Stalingrad, and it was really attacking the enemy's strengths based on its own weaknesses. The Soviets used two dilapidated armies—the 62nd and 64th armies, and they just held back Germany's most elite troops. The Sixth Army won time for the Soviet counterattack.

The casualties of the German troops entering the city continued to increase.Although the Germans frequently bombed the east bank of the Volga, the defenders received continuous support and supplies from the east bank.According to statistics, the average survival time of the Red Army soldiers who went to the city was no more than 24 hours, and the average survival time of the officers was less than 3 days. The tragedy of the battle can be imagined. In World War II, the main tactics of the German army was multi-arms joint operations, attaching great importance to the cooperation of infantry, engineering troops, artillery and air force.In order to counter this tactic, the Soviet army adopted a close-fitting tactic, placing its position as close to the German army as possible, so that the German artillery and air force could not effectively carry out long-range attacks.

After the lessons of blood, the Soviets finally learned to use their brains. The German army fell into the quagmire of street fighting.It is worth mentioning that the Soviet snipers showed their skills in street fighting and caused great casualties to the German army. In 2001, the Hollywood movie "Attack to the City" reproduced the street fighting scene in Stalingrad.Among them, the most famous sniper was Vasily Zaitsev, who killed 225 enemies within a month.In fact, there were more than 30 Soviet snipers who killed more enemy troops than him.However, Vasily killed Konings, the headmaster of the Berlin Sniper School in Germany, and won a complete victory in this top Soviet-German sniper duel, which made him famous!

Vasily was born in a small village at the foot of the Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union. Zaitsev means hare in Russian, which shows that their family is a hunter.Vasily went hunting with his grandfather as soon as he finished elementary school, and became a sharpshooter.After the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, Vasily joined the army and went to the front line. He used an ordinary Mosin Nagant rifle to kill 32 German officers and soldiers before the Battle of Stalingrad. After the Battle of Stalingrad started, Vasily took the initiative to ask for a fight.So Vasily joined the 1047th Regiment of the 62nd Army of the Army to fight.Just 10 days into the war, he killed nearly 40 German soldiers with his rifle.At that time, the Germans often used heavy artillery bombardment to clear the occupied areas.Observers are required to fire guns. The German army occupied a water tower on the Mamayev Heights. Standing on the water tower, the situation on the battlefield is clear at a glance.A German officer hid in a water tower with his assistants, directing the artillery to throw shells at the Soviets every day.Vasily felt that the German guy was too arrogant, so he was ready to shoot.Sure enough, after a while, a messenger appeared on the top of the water tower, and Vasily shot him down.The people on the water tower were baffled, so they sent a messenger to see what was going on, but they were brought down again.The officer was so frightened that he hid in the water tower without showing his head, and Vasily was waiting for him.After more than an hour, the officer was shot in the head as soon as he took the initiative.Being a sniper requires not only good marksmanship, but also patience.

Vasily soon became famous.At that time, the Battle of Stalingrad was the most difficult time, the Soviets began to vigorously promote this "sniper hero", and the head of the regiment gave him a real sniper rifle.Vasily took this gun and selected dozens of smart and capable fighters to pick the Germans when they went to the bathroom and when they were eating, which made the Germans restless.Later, he opened a class to recruit apprentices, and FireWire trained a large number of sniper elites.Soon, the death rate of German frontline officers and artillery observers skyrocketed, and Vasily's record rose to 100.The little soldiers under him, together with him, killed more than a dozen backbone German soldiers every day.If the fight continues like this, within two months, the German Sixth Army will have few squad leaders and platoon leaders available. Therefore, General Paulus was very angry and asked his superiors to send a skilled sniper.Hitler sent Konings, the principal of the Berlin Sniper School, to Stalingrad.Cornings was an ace sniper who became famous on the Western Front during the First World War. He was vicious and extremely conceited. He only killed those opponents who were worth killing. He thought that ordinary soldiers were not worth wasting bullets.After Konings arrived at the front line, he let out the wind and wanted to fight Vasily. He wounded several of Vasily's apprentices, deliberately not killing them, just to report to their master. See if you see, the Lord is here! Vasily chose to fight and went to the front to confront Cornings.The two stalemate for 4 days. Finally, Vasily asked his assistant to hold the dummy, carefully put the steel helmet on the dummy's head, pulled the dummy to make a retreat, and lured Cornings to take the bait. Only then did he kill Konings. Nings.According to the data of the Soviets, although Vasily did not kill the most German soldiers, he had the highest sniping efficiency.He made great contributions to the cultivation of sniper talents and the development of theory. His disciples and grandchildren wiped out more than 3,000 enemies in total. He is worthy of being the ace sniper of the Soviet Union. In fact, there is also a very famous female sniper named Lyudmila Pavlichenko who ranks ahead of Vasily in killing the enemy. Lyudmila was a top student in the history department of Kyiv State University before the war.She often participates in the activities of a shooting club. Her calm and tenacious character and hard training make her quickly grow into a sharpshooter.On the first day the war broke out, she threw her pen into the army.The officer in charge of recruiting recruits didn't want her at first, and hoped that she would go to the rear to be a signal soldier or a nurse.Although a total of 800,000 female soldiers in the Soviet Union later went to the front line, and they directly picked up guns and went to the tragic fight like men, but at that time, the Soviet army did not need to recruit female soldiers to the front line. However, Lyudmila was very determined and insisted on going to the front.After joining the army, Lyudmila was sent to the 25th Infantry Division as a rifleman.During the first battle, she was sent to perform sniper missions.Maybe the superior took care of her as a female soldier and didn't want her to charge with a bayonet. What should I do?Be a sniper, be a little safer. Lyudmila went to the front line as a sniper for the first time, and she also brought a recruit as an observer for her.However, when she saw the Germans, she couldn't bear to shoot. After all, she had no grievances with the Germans on the opposite side. In the end, the Germans killed the childish observer, which suddenly aroused the hatred in her heart. out.Lyudmila killed many German soldiers for the first time on the battlefield, especially in the defense of Odessa and the defense of the Sevastopol fortress. As a sniper, she wiped out 309 enemies.In the end, the Soviet Union failed to defend the Sevastopol fortress and was about to retreat. Stalin learned of Lyudmila's deeds and asked the navy to rescue her by name and not throw her in the occupied area. Lyudmila later visited the United States as the image ambassador of the Soviet Union and became the first Soviet citizen to be received by President Roosevelt. The Battle of Stalingrad was crucial to the Soviet-German War.Stalin shifted the strategic focus from Moscow to Stalingrad, and mobilized all the country's air power to support Stalingrad.Reinforcements from both sides also continued to arrive at the front line. At this time, the German army's front in the Soviet Union had reached more than 3,200 kilometers, but the German troops simply could not maintain such a long front.The more than 500-kilometer front from Stalingrad along the Don River to Voronezh, Germany itself could not spare any troops to defend, so it had to deploy three armies of vassal states on this line.Even so, in some areas there is only one field platoon to defend the entire 1-2 km line of defense.It's not that the Germans don't know that the troops of the vassal state are very poor in combat effectiveness and unreliable at all, but there is no way, they really can't draw troops, and they can go if they are alive. On September 28, Stalin decided to rename the former Stalingrad Front as the Don Front, with Lieutenant General Rokossovsky as the commander; the former Southeastern Front as the Stalingrad Front, and the commander as General Yeremenko; The former First Guards Army was reorganized and expanded into the Southwest Front Army, and the commander was Lieutenant General Vatudin.He also ordered the deputy supreme commander, General Zhukov, and the chief of the general staff, General Vasilevsky, to secretly prepare for a counterattack. Throughout October, fierce street fighting continued in Stalingrad.By the beginning of November, the German army finally advanced to the banks of the Volga River and occupied 80% of the city of Stalingrad, but the German army still failed to completely occupy Stalingrad.At the Red October Factory and Tractor Factory in the northern part of the city, while the Soviet army was fighting fiercely with the German army, factory workers repaired damaged tanks and other weapons, and sometimes even repaired weapons directly on the battlefield.Some tanks went straight from the factory production line to the front line of battle, without even having time to paint and install shooting scopes.It can be seen how fierce the battle is. According to statistics, from July to November, the German army lost about 700,000 troops, more than 1,000 tanks, more than 2,000 artillery pieces, and more than 1,400 aircraft in the battles of the Don River, the Volga River, and Stalingrad. In mid-November, the Supreme Command of the Soviet Army assembled a large-scale counter-offensive force, and assembled three front armies outside Stalingrad, with a total of 143 divisions and 1.106 million people.Their opponent is the German Army Group B, which has 80 divisions and 3 brigades, with about 1 million people. The counter-offensive strategy drawn up by Zhukov and Vasilevsky was to keep the German army in the city and attack the weak outer side of the German army, thus encircling the German army attacking Stalingrad in the urban area. On November 13, Stalin approved the counterattack plan and named it "Uranus". On November 19, the Soviet Army began to implement the "Uranus" operation. The Southwest Front Army and the Don River Front Army launched a counterattack in the heavy snow.Responsible for protecting the flanks of the German Sixth Army was the Romanian Third Army, which had no combat effectiveness at all, and was broken through by the Soviets within a day. On the 20th, the 51st, 57th, and 64th armies of the Stalingrad Front also launched a counterattack in the south, breaking through the defense line of the Romanian Fourth Army. On the 22nd, the Southwest Front Army began to forcibly cross the Don River in batches. On the 23rd, the Southwest Front Army and the Stalingrad Front Army joined forces, thus completing the siege of Stalingrad. As of November 30, the 3 front armies of the Soviet army encircled Stalingrad with 22 divisions of 5 corps of the German Sixth Army and some Romanian, Italian and Croatian troops. After the Soviet counteroffensive, General Zeitzler, chief of the German army's general staff, urged Paulus to withdraw from Stalingrad.However, Field Marshal Goering, commander of the air force, told Hitler that even if Paulus was surrounded, the air force was capable of supplying the Sixth Army.Hitler believed the fat man's nonsense and ordered Paulus to stick to Stalingrad. As it turned out, Marshal Goering was bragging again, and his promise of air supplies turned out to be empty talk.The upper limit of the material that the Luftwaffe can airlift for the Sixth Army is 300 tons per day, while the Sixth Army's daily demand is 700 tons.Coupled with the bad weather and the fierce Soviet anti-aircraft firepower, the Sixth Army actually only received an average of about 100 tons of supplies per day.The elite troops of the German army began to face the threat of starvation. At the same time, the Soviet army continued to shrink the encirclement. In order to rescue the Sixth Army, Hitler pinned his hopes on Manstein, one of the three famous German generals in World War II. On November 21, Hitler ordered the expansion of Field Marshal Manstein's Eleventh Army Group into the Don Army Group, with Manstein as the commander, and the Sixth Army of Paulus and the Fourth Panzer Army of Hoth. He commanded the third and fourth armies of Romania.Hitler ordered Manstein to retake lost positions. Manstein believed that the only chance for the German army to succeed was that the Sixth Army would break out from Stalingrad to the southwest, while the Fourth Panzer Army would attack northeast and pinch the Soviet Stalingrad Front.But Hitler would never allow Paulus to retreat from Stalingrad, and asked Manstein to fight his way to Stalingrad. On December 12, Manstein, who was in danger, launched a counteroffensive code-named "Winter Storm".With Huot's Fourth Panzer Army as the vanguard, the German army broke through the Soviet defense line on the 16th.By the 19th, a part of the Fourth Armored Army had advanced to a place 50 kilometers away from the southern encirclement.Although the German army was brave and good at fighting, they were outnumbered after all.Manstein discovered that the Fourth Panzer Army, wedged into the enemy's formation, was also in danger of being surrounded by Soviet troops several times its own. At this time, Manstein made a bold decision. He ignored Hitler's order and ordered Paulus to immediately break out to the south and join the Fourth Panzer Army.However, Paulus was not as bold as Manstein. Before receiving Hitler's order, he did not dare to break through without authorization. He rejected Manstein's order on the grounds of insufficient fuel and gave up the last chance. On December 27, the Soviet army launched a powerful counterattack to push the Fourth Panzer Army back 150 to 200 kilometers, allowing it to return to its original position, smashing the German High Command's attempt to rescue the Sixth Army. Operation "Winter Storm" was declared a failure. It was already severe winter, and the ice layer on the Volga River was gradually thickening, allowing the Soviet army to replenish its own troops more conveniently.However, the situation of the German Sixth Army in the encirclement is getting worse and worse, and the materials transported by air are getting less and less, with an average of less than 100 tons per day.The Sixth Army was running out of ammunition and food, with rations allotted below subsistence levels; ammunition was running low; medical supplies and fuel were running out; thousands were sick and frostbitten even worse. Every day, a large number of soldiers die of hunger, cold and malnutrition. Unwilling to sit still, some officers tried to persuade Paulus to organize an immediate breakout against Hitler's orders.However, Paulus still did not dare to disobey the military order to break out of the encirclement without authorization, but sent someone to fly out of the encirclement to meet Hitler, report the situation of the Sixth Army to Hitler face to face, and asked Hitler for permission to break out of the encirclement.But Hitler insisted on going his own way and ordered the Sixth Army to defend Stalingrad. In January 1943, the Soviet army launched a new round of offensive, code-named "Jupiter" operation, forcing the outer German army to be separated from the German army in the Stalingrad encirclement by more than 250 kilometers.So far, the Sixth Army has fallen into a desperate situation and has completely lost reinforcements. On January 8, Lieutenant General Rokossovsky, commander of the Soviet Don Front Army, issued an ultimatum to General Paulus, commander of the German Sixth Army, urging Paulus to surrender unconditionally. Paulus saw that he was unable to escape, surrounded by the Soviet army like an iron barrel, with no way to go to the sky, no way to go to the ground, no ammunition and food, and reinforcements were delayed. If we continue to defend these hundreds of thousands of brothers You have to go to the gate of hell.So Paulus telegraphed Hitler to ask permission for the camera.That means, please allow me to surrender.But Hitler sternly dismissed Paulus' request. Two days later, Rokossovsky commanded the Soviet Don Front Army to launch an offensive code-named "Ring" against the besieged German Sixth Army.The besieged German army began to shrink its defense from the outskirts of Stalingrad to the city. On January 22, the Soviet army occupied Gumenlak Airport, and the air supply and wounded evacuation channels of the German Sixth Army were completely interrupted.The Sixth Army has no way to retreat. Although food and ammunition are extremely scarce, the German soldiers are still stubbornly resisting.The Germans fought for their lives, because they believed that the Soviets would execute the German soldiers who surrendered. They were dead anyway, so why should they be prisoners instead of martyrs? As a result, fierce street fighting broke out again in the city of Stalingrad.Surprised by the huge number of German troops in the encirclement, the Soviets continued to increase their troops to consolidate the encirclement.At this time, Paulus sent a report to Hitler again, saying that my troops could no longer support me, and it was meaningless to continue to resist, and I could only let these German boys die in vain, so I ask you to allow us to surrender.But Hitler's answer was that surrender was impossible, and that the Sixth Army should fulfill its due responsibilities in Stalingrad, fighting until the last soldier, every shot. At that time, Marshal Manstein also urged Hitler to approve the surrender of the remnants of the Sixth Army.Hitler said to Manstein, I will not allow them to surrender, why?First, even if the German army in the encirclement is divided into several smaller units, it can resist for a long time; second, the Soviets will not keep their promise of surrender to the Sixth Army.Hitler was right about this, and the Soviets did not keep their promises.What Hitler meant was that it would be a death anyway, it would be better to do one last bit of effort for the motherland and die in battle with honor. On January 30, Hitler sent a telegram to Paulus, saying that I conferred on you the rank of Field Marshal.Why did Hitler promote Paulus to field marshal at this time?Because in the history of Germany, there has never been a marshal captured. Hitler actually wanted Paulus to fight to the end or commit suicide. On January 31, Paulus sent a telegram to the headquarters, saying that the Sixth Army was loyal to its extremely important mission, and for the sake of the head of state and the motherland, it had stuck to its post and fought every soldier and every shot.On this day, the 38th Brigade of the 64th Army of the Soviet Union hit the headquarters of Paulus. A German radio operator decided on his own to send the last telegram to Berlin that moved Germany: "The radio of the Sixth Army is about to Close, the Russians have captured the headquarters! Long live the downed Bolsheviks! God bless Germany!" It's a pity that God can't bless Germany. The Soviet army has already attacked outside the basement where Paulus is located.Paulus was suffering from illness at the time and had been unable to eat for several days.When the Soviets appeared outside the basement and called Sixth Army headquarters to surrender, General Schmidt, Chief of Staff of the Sixth Army, agreed to surrender.Schmidt turned his head and asked Paulus: "Excuse me, Field Marshal, do you have anything else to say?" Paulus shook his head, had nothing to say, but surrendered. On February 2, 1943, the remnants of the German Eleventh Army, which was besieged in the north of Stalingrad, also announced their surrender. So far, the Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted more than half a year, ended. In addition to Paulus, the German army captured in Stalingrad included 23 German generals, 2,000 officers below the field level, and 91,000 extremely hungry and tired soldiers.Except for the general, these people were all sent to Siberia labor camps. Until 1955, more than 5,000 people who survived returned to Germany. The rest were tortured to death after 12 long years in Siberia.Only more than 30,000 wounded and sick German troops withdrew from Stalingrad. Hitler was extremely disappointed with the performance of the newly promoted field marshal, and publicly said: "Paulus was one step away from stepping into the hall of glory, but he chose to retreat." Hitler vowed not to promote anyone to be field marshal in the future, so many German generals Suffering from Paulus, for example, the victorious General Schörner was not promoted to Field Marshal until Hitler committed suicide in April 1945, and General Jodl was never promoted.Because of the large scale of World War II, there were many German marshals, and there were 27 field marshals (including Goering). It is said that when the Soviet army appeared at the Paulus headquarters, Paulus was still wearing the three-star general's epaulets, and the Soviet commander asked Paulus: "Mr. General, do you have anything else to say?" Paulus stood up and said, "I'm already a field marshal, and I haven't had time to change my epaulets." The Soviets were overjoyed when they heard that, picked up a big shot, and captured the highest-ranking prisoner of war in World War II.Marshals are captured, which is rare in all countries in the world. Paulus and his senior officers were taken to Moscow as tools for Soviet propaganda.German generals, including Field Marshal Paulus, issued anti-Hitler declarations, which were probably sincere.Because they were extremely disappointed with the loss of troops caused by Hitler's random command, General Kurzbach even proposed to form an anti-Hitler army from among the German prisoners of war, but the Soviets did not accept this suggestion. These senior prisoners of war were not repatriated until 1955, and most interestingly, Field Marshal Paulus was the only former Nazi Reichsmarshal to settle in East Germany after the war. A few weeks before the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, the German media had stopped reporting relevant news, and the German people did not learn about the defeat of the German army in Stalingrad until the end of January 1943.This is not the first defeat suffered by the German army, but this defeat is unmatched by other campaigns in terms of scale and strategic significance. On February 18, German Propaganda Minister Goebbels delivered a famous speech, encouraging the German people to accept the concept of total war, that is, to use all the resources of the country to carry the war to the end. In contrast, General Zeitzler, the chief of staff of the German Army, has already seen some clues. He said: "We lost 250,000 officers and soldiers in Stalingrad, which is equivalent to breaking the backbone of the entire Eastern Front."