Quote:
Originally posted by Joeaksa
Spot on. Hitler wanted Stalingrad worse than anything and the Ruskies threw everything they had at it.
Then when the city was lost the Russians then did a textbook pincer movement with their tanks that destroyed hundreds of Panzers and a few Tigers and ended any chance of an offensive.
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NOw U stepped in it Joey. Hitler was after the RESOURCES Southern Russia had to offer. Capturing Stalingrad would have cut the Volga as a supply route N & S. It only came a bit later that AH and
JS got into a pissing contest over the place. Both knew its importance, and Stalin said NOT ONE STEP BACK and he meant it. Over 1M Soviets died at Stalingrad. They still turn up skeltons.
Whats the difference between a Panzer and a Tiger? Ohh and the Tiger wasn't introduced until the Spring of 1943..so I don't know how it could have been available at Stalingrad. One of the BIG reasons why the Germans didn't commence Operation Citadel until July was the fact that the new Panthers and Tigers had teething problems.
Oh and Kursk was the introduction of a Porsche vehicle known as the Elephant..or Ferdinan with its 8.8 CM gun it was a potent weapon...with one glaring problem it carried NO MACHINE GUNS to protect itself from enemy infantry. They were slow and also broke down alot. After Kursk the remaining vehicles were withdrawn, reconditioned and deployed in Italy where they were used against American Troops at Anzio in 1944 with success...I guess they didn't have to move around very much.
Operation Citadel or Kursk was the largest Tank Battle the world has ever seen. Where the Panzer Divisions slugged it out with the Russian Tank Corps that had been digging in for months. On the Southern end of the pincer the Germans nearly broke through, but the Americans & Brits landed on Sicily and the Germans had to call off the battle and withdraw a couple of Panzer divisions to help prop up Mussolini. That was the last offensive the Germans were able to accomplish on the Eastern front. While Field Marshall Manstein came up with the plan for a Spring Offensive he knew and advised against it by summer. His idea was for a fluid defense, let the Soviets attack and then cut their flanks. While building a fortified line on the Don. But AH said NO RETREAT, hold every bit of ground.
Also by the Summer of 1943 AH and his flunkys knew the war was lost. Keitel said to Guderian that on average Germany was losing 150,000 men a month with no major battles being fought, and was only able to replace 75,000 of those men a month. So they knew they were losing the war to attrition and it was only a matter of time. AH said to one of his Aides (I think thats who) that his Generals Depressed him as all they wanted to do was take him aside and tell him the war was lost. AH knew that if Germany surrendered his goose was cooked once the Holocost was found out about, so he had nothing to loose by fighting to the bitter end. It was really his only option. So U can see why he demanded no retreat, keep the enemy as far away from yourself as you can for as long as you can.