With the new year, Hitler promoted Paulus to colonel general. Georgy Lipskerov//DF/russiainphoto.ru, 3 reasons why the Red Army won the Battle of Stalingrad, How the Germans tried to rescue their troops at Stalingrad (PHOTOS), What did Stalingrad look like before World War II? Adam later served in the National People's Army of East Germany . [36], After Voikovo, Schmidt was held in the Lubyanka prison. After he concluded that they would not, telling both Schmidt and Paulus so, Paulus reprimanded him for the original promise that air supply to Sixth Army would be possible, asking him: "Can you imagine that the soldiers fall upon a horse cadaver, split open its head, and devour the brain raw?" Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, General Arthur Schmidt and Wilhelm Adam, adjutant to the 6th Army commander. Januar 2022 um 19:24, Infanterie-Regiment Frst Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau (1. Pages in category "German commanders at the Battle of Stalingrad" The following 25 pages are in this category, out of 25 total. It now seemed more impossible than ever to act against an order of the High Command or Army Group.[17]. Aggressively ideological, his aggression would translate into a passive kind as he functioned as his chief's alter ego [] As late as mid-December, Paulus, even as illusions had all but vanished, would still not contradict Schmidt when he presented his tragically absurd hypotheses to visitors to the besieged and starving Sixth Army.[24]. to solve several supply problems. On one of the final Luftwaffe flights out of Stalingrad, Paulus had sent his wedding ring to his wife. After he concluded that they would not, telling both Schmidt and Paulus so, Paulus reprimanded him for the original promise that air supply to Sixth Army would be possible, asking him: "Can you imagine that the soldiers fall upon a horse cadaver, split open its head, and devour the brain raw?" But how shockingly different their external appearance was! recalled Wilhelm Adam, adjutant to the 6th Army commander. Hitler awarded the Knight's Cross to Schmidt on 6 January 1943 on the same day that Paulus signalled to General Kurt Zeitzler: "Army starving and frozen, have no ammunition and cannot move tanks any more" [25] and made him Generalleutnant on 17 January. Having survived Winter Storm and not having heard the Thunderclap, the Soviet command calmly returned to drawing up its planned operation to split up and conclusively destroy the Paulus grouping - preparations for which had been interrupted by the German offensive. Am 6. He attained the rank of Generalleutnant during World War II, and is best known for his role as the Sixth Army's chief of staff in the Battle of Stalingrad in 194243, during the final stages of which he became its de facto commander, playing a large role in executing Hitler's order that it stand firm despite being encircled by the Red Army. It would have had to go out to meet the 4th Panzer Army, while fighting on all four sides as if forming a square, Erich von Manstein wrote in his memoirs, Lost Victories. Arthur Schmidt (general) View source Arthur Schmidt (25 October 1895 - 5 November 1987) was an officer in the German military from 1914 to 1943. It was the HQ commander. that it was the best to fly him out of the Hitler, leery of the reasons for Paulus' transfer to Nizhne-Chirskaya, orders him to move his HQ again. Stalingrad cover The novel begins with a meeting between fascist dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini on April 29, 1942, in which they discuss the progress of the war. Click here to find out more. Evacuating their HQ at Golubinsky amid a bonfire of burning files and stores, they flew to Nizhne-Chirskaya that same day, just missing Hitler's order that "Sixth Army stand firm in spite of danger of temporary encirclement." In comparison . Paulus remained absolutely firm in obeying the orders he had been given. The time has come for the old enmity that we have inherited and the many disputes to be buried once and for all. Paulus was promoted to lieutenant general in August 1940. As part of his last will and testament, his body was transported to Baden-Baden, West Germany, to be buried at the Hauptfriedhof (main cemetery)[24] next to his wife, who had died eight years earlier in 1949, not having seen her husband since his departure for the Eastern Front in the summer of 1942. According to Beevor: [Soviet commanders] were increasingly convinced that Paulus was virtually a prisoner in his own headquarters, guarded by his chief of staff [Schmidt]. Armee, Hauptmann Winrich Behr, The Battle of Stalingrad was a brutal military campaign between Russian forces and those of Nazi Germany and the Axis powers during World War II. He remained there until 1955, when a visit to Moscow by West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer led to his release, together with the remaining high-ranking German prisoners.[35]. I was taken by surprise" in conversation with Marshal Voronov. We want good relations between the German people and other peoples who respect our national rights. Almost 70% of deaths occurred in the winter of 1945-1946. [13], The decision not to negotiate with the Soviet envoys who bore an ultimatum to Paulus on 8 and 9 January 1943, was, for example, made by Schmidt, not Paulus, as Colonel Wilhelm Adam told one of the envoys, Captain Nikolay Dyatlenko, during his post-battle interrogation. The battle of Stalingrad, fought between Stalin's Red Army and Hitler's forces from 23 August 1942 to 2 February 1943, is considered one of the major confrontations of World War II. Paulus said he had not surrendered and refused to order the remaining German forces to surrender. He attained the rank of Generalleutnant during World War II, and is best known for his role as the Sixth Army's chief of staff in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-43, during the final stages of which he became its de facto commander, playing a large role in executing Hitler's order . "[33], Prior to Paulus's interrogation, Paulus asked Schmidt how he should respond, to which Schmidt replied, "Remember you are a Field Marshal of the German Army," apparently (according to the Soviet interrogator) using the intimate "du" form of address, although Captain Winrich Behr, who was familiar with the relations between the two men, considered this unlikely. [9] At Nizhne-Chirskaya on 22 November, Schmidt told 8th Air Corps's commander, General Martin Fiebig, that Sixth Army needed to be resupplied by air. When World War I began, Paulus' regiment was part of the thrust into France, and he saw action in the Vosges and around Arras in the autumn of 1914. Paulus surrendered in Stalingrad on 31 January 1943,[a] the same day on which he was informed of his promotion to field marshal by Hitler. The tanks opened up their devastating fire and the assault rifles of the Hitlerite infantry stuttered and rattled. [32] When their baggage was searched for sharp metal objects, Schmidt, referring to Paulus, snapped at the Soviet officers: "A German Field Marshal does not commit suicide with a pair of scissors. There, he would be interrogated by the Army commander Lt-Gen Mikhail Shumilov and the Don Front commander Lt-Gen Konstantin Rokossovsky. Then they left the room. It was still dark but day was dawning almost imperceptibly. He also criticized United States foreign policy as aggressive and called for a reconciliation between the Germans and the French: American policy today calls itself "power politics". Less than a year. In that role he helped draft the plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa. He attempted to conduct himself in a suitably dignified manner, but in his condition it was difficult for him to manage. According to Pois and Langer: [Paulus's] chief of staff, Arthur Schmidt, a committed National Socialist to the end, seemed to represent Hitler for Paulus, indeed, probably was Hitler at Stalingrad. Schmidt and Paulus set up their HQ in the Kessel underneath the Univermag department store on the city's Red Square. [14][15] Schmidt contacted his corps commanders and, in defiance of Hitler's order to stand firm, they agreed with Schmidt that a breakout to the south was desirable. And the mission would have had to be accomplished by troops who were thoroughly weary through lack of food and whose mobility had been almost completely lost. Arthur Schmidt (25 October 1895 - 5 November 1987) was an officer in the German military from 1914 to 1943. Schmidt, confident of his own abilities, put many backs up within Sixth Army headquarters, although he also had his supporters. [36], After Voikovo, Schmidt was held in the Lubyanka prison. Millions were killed, wounded, missing, or captured in what was perhaps the most brutal battle in modern history. [22] The envoys were even fired on; Paulus denied that he had ordered this, so it is possible that Schmidt might have issued the order. Schmidt was appointed chief of staff to General Friedrich Paulus in Sixth Army on 15 May 1942, replacing Colonel Ferdinand Heim after the counter-attack against Marshal Semyon Timoshenko at the Second Battle of Kharkov. On December 18, the 4th Mechanized Corps which had particularly distinguished itself in the fighting here was awarded the title of Guards Corps. But the city held, aided by the very destruction heaped on it by the Luftwaffe and Nazi tanks and artillery. Youll have to talk to me.. "Photographs of Schmidt at a Sixth Army reunion, Wiesbaden 1969", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arthur_Schmidt_(general)&oldid=1145006784, Lieutenant generals of the German Army (Wehrmacht), Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union, German commanders at the Battle of Stalingrad, Short description is different from Wikidata, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from August 2013, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 16 March 2023, at 19:24. "[10] Later that day, Schmidt and Paulus held a conference attended by General Hermann Hoth and Major-General Pickert,[10] during which Schmidt "did much of the talking". This was a new formation under the direction of Oswald Lutz that directed the training and development of the Panzerwaffe, or tank forces of the German army. Aggressively ideological, his aggression would translate into a passive kind as he functioned as his chief's alter ego [] As late as mid-December, Paulus, even as illusions had all but vanished, would still not contradict Schmidt when he presented his tragically absurd hypotheses to visitors to the besieged and starving Sixth Army.[24]. The appearance of the Red Army soldiers seemed symbolic. On the same plane as him Adolf Hitler prohibited attempts to break out or capitulate, and German defence was gradually worn down. [1] Am 17. On December 12, as part of Operation Winter Storm, the German Army Group Hoth (named after its commander, Colonel-General Hermann Hoth) launched a surprise attack and crushed the Red Armys outnumbered 302nd Rifle Division, subsequently embarking on a rapid advance in the direction of Stalingrad. Amidst the ruins of their city which the Germans had destroyed, Soviet soldiers would pull a piece of bread or cigarettes or tobacco out of their pocket and offer them to the weary, half-starved German soldiers., Sergeant Pyotr Alkhutov was present when the German commander was taken prisoner: Paulus was haggard and clearly ill. Tired of waiting for Friedrich Paulus himself to finally appear, the Soviet commanders went into his room. With a reunited Germany having good relations with the two great powers, not only can peace not be disrupted in Europe, but the basis for the development of general prosperity is laid. . Paulus relied greatly on his judgement, and as a result he played a large, some say an excessive, role in determining the course of events later that year. The main entrance to the cellar was closed and guarded by the Soviet soldiers. 1955 wurde er aus der Gefangenschaft entlassen. [10] He re-emphasised that before Sixth Army could break out to the south: "We must have fuel and ammunition delivered by the Luftwaffe." Schmidt commented: Early on the 24th November, while Paulus and I were preparing the necessary measures for a breakout to the south, we received a 'Fhrer decision' from Army Group [] It said that the Sixth Army was to stay in Stalingrad and wait to be relieved. Malinin looked 35, square-faced with hair in a short pompadour which stuck up like a schoolboy's. flew out of the Diese Seite wurde zuletzt am 24. Nachrichtenfhrer AOK 6, Private with these words he opened the door and a Soviet general and his interpreter entered the room. [35] Together with most German officers, Schmidt was moved to Camp 48 at Voikovo, although he was kept away from Paulus by the NKVD, apparently because he was considered to be a bad influence on him. pocket and became General Officer, Chef Generalstab XIV. [29] The signal sent from Sixth Army HQ on the evening of 30 January, that stated that soldiers were "listening to the national anthem for the last time with arms raised in the German salute", was, according to Beevor, much more likely to have been written by Schmidt than by Paulus. was sent by VIII Air Corps to assess the runway at Gumrak and see whether further landings by Luftwaffe supply aircraft would be possible. Then Manstein switched the direction of his main strike to the south, to a less reinforced area near the town of Kotelnikovo, from which it was over 120 km to Paulus forces. In deciding to promote him, Hitler noted that there was no known record of a Prussian or German field marshal ever having surrendered. Intensive talks started between Mansteins and Pauluss HQs about the need to embark on the implementation of Operation Thunderclap - a breakthrough by the 6th Army to meet Army Group Hoth. Magdeburgisches) Nr. A Gnther Angern D Alexander Edler von Daniels Heinrich-Anton Deboi Moritz von Drebber F Max Fremerey G Eccard Freiherr von Gablenz H Alexander von Hartmann Walter Heitz Hitler expected it. That would be a Napoleonic ending. The Soviet units and subunits already there were to contain the enemy until its arrival. At the same time, Paulus declined to order the northern pocket to surrender on the grounds that, since January 30, its commander, Col-Gen Karl Strecker, was directly accountable to Hitler. Dyatlenko was born in 1914 in the village of Kulichka in the Lebedin region, in present-day Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. In 1920s, as part of the military cooperation between Weimar Republic and Soviet Union to escape Treaty of Versailles, Paulus presented guest lectures in Moscow, Soviet Union.[8]. After the Armistice, Paulus was a brigade adjutant with the Freikorps. Following his release, Schmidt remained bitterly hostile to those German officers who had co-operated with the Soviets in the National Committee for a Free Germany. In 1953, Paulus moved to East Germany, where he worked in military history research. Gerhard Hindenlang was born 1916 in Berlin. [23], From 1953 to 1956, Paulus lived in Dresden, East Germany, where he worked as the civilian chief of the East German Military History Research Institute. Everyone knows that our nation used to have great military experts, known all over the world, such as Clausewitz, Moltke the Elder, Schlieffen. These characteristics of Paulus and Schmidt would prove fatal to the trapped garrison of Stalingrad. Description On 26 January 1943, the German forces inside Stalingrad were split into two pockets. November 1987 ebenda) war ein deutscher Generalleutnant. [10] He re-emphasised that before Sixth Army could break out to the south: "We must have fuel and ammunition delivered by the Luftwaffe. Climbing out of the cellar, I stood dumbfounded. [35] Together with most German officers, Schmidt was moved to Camp 48 at Voikovo, although he was kept away from Paulus by the NKVD, apparently because he was considered to be a bad influence on him. Lt-Gen Konstantin Rokossovsky (L) and Friedrich Paulus. The phrase Manstein is coming! was still on everyones lips. Kurt Zeitzler, the newly appointed chief of the Army General Staff, eventually got Hitler to allow Paulus to break outprovided he continue to hold Stalingrad, an impossible task. Mrz 1942 Chef des Stabes des V. Armeekorps der Wehrmacht. In der Endphase der Schlacht bernahm er von Paulus weitgehend die Fhrung der Armee. Schmidt was appointed chief of staff to General Friedrich Paulus in Sixth Army on 15 May 1942, replacing Colonel Ferdinand Heim after the counter-attack against Marshal Semyon Timoshenko at the Second Battle of Kharkov. Calender - November1942 during the battle for Stalingrad November 1942 . Its appalling pronounced Paulus somberly. XIV. Fortress Stalingrad. After all the formalities had been settled and the Field Marshal had received guarantees of his personal safety, he was led out of the basement, along with his staff officers. He handed the colonel general a piece of paper and said: 'Congratulations. A fluent German speaker, Captain Dyatlenko was transferred to the 7th Department of the Stalingrad Front in the autumn of 1942 to help . pocket and became General Officer Schmidt joined the army as a one-year volunteer on 10 August 1914, attaining the rank of Leutnant on 8 May 1915. This list may not reflect recent changes . The Red Army soldiers were well nourished, full of vigor and dressed in fine winter uniforms I was deeply moved by something else. Stalingrad archives of Jason Mark, Manfred Kehrig - He was a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union for twelve years, and was released following West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer's visit to Moscow in 1955. Newspaper clippings about Friedrich Paulus, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Friedrich_Paulus&oldid=1149650806, This page was last edited on 13 April 2023, at 15:20. [21] Of the 91,000 German prisoners taken at Stalingrad, half had died on the march to Siberian prison camps, and nearly as many died in captivity; only about 6,000 survived and returned home.[b]. Panzer Korps, - Armee 'Meeting The Victors', Sputnik Magazine, 1968, USSR; (English-language article). Mai 1942 Chef des Generalstabes der von Friedrich Paulus befehligten 6. However, after the attempted assassination of Hitler on 20 July 1944, he became a vocal critic of the Nazi regime while in Soviet captivity, joining the Soviet-sponsored National Committee for a Free Germany appealing to Germans to surrender. American diplomats in Moscow expected it. The German troops closest positions to the encircled 6th Army were in the area of the Chir River (just 40 km away). General Schmidt surrendered the headquarters. But as soon as a tank passed over an entrenchment, our men - soldiers, sergeants and officers - got up again and opened fire on the departing armored vehicles.. Military Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. General Kurt Zeitzler, chief of the Army General Staff, was in a panic because hundreds of Soviet tanks had just smashed through the Romanian Third Army's lines northeast of Stalingrad, threatening communication and supply lines to the German Sixth Army. They were all armed, some with weapons in their hands, some with them over their shoulders. Following his orders, Paulus prepared to break out of Stalingrad. Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox. Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus (* 23.September 1890 in Guxhagen; 1. Rudolf Schmidt (12 May 1886 - 7 April 1957) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II who commanded the 2nd Panzer Army on the Eastern Front. Manstein told Paulus that the relief would need assistance from the Sixth Army, but the order to initiate the breakout never came. later during World War 2, German officers who flew out of the Stalingrad Paulus radioed Hitler once again for permission. The events of that day were recorded by Colonel Wilhelm Adam, one of Paulus' aides and an adjutant in the XXIII Army Corps, in his personal diary: January 31, 1943 7.00 a.m. But it was precisely during those days, when everyone was still waiting, believing and hoping, that the approaching formations tasked with releasing the 6th Army from its encirclement were halted and then pushed back by Russian forces without reaching their objective.. Our soldiers were not beaten, let alone shot. He was a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union for twelve years, and was released following West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer's visit to Moscow in 1955. They knocked out and set on fire the enemys tanks and armored vehicles, they brought down the enemy infantry. Arthur Schmidt (25 October 1895 5 November 1987) was an officer in the German military from 1914 to 1943. Believing that an attempt to break the encirclement would be made here, the Soviet command attached special importance to the sector and intensively reinforced it. Street fighting was still under way in the center of Stalingrad when German officers, accompanied by Soviet commanding officers, set off in vehicles to order their units to cease firing. Thus, another prominent and experienced German politician stressed that a final implementation of the EDC agreement would be dangerous for the German nation. Stalingrad encirclement from Pitomnik airfield The carnage of the Battle of Stalingrad finally came to an end in February 1943, when the German Sixth Army Commander, Gen. Friedrich Paulus, surrendered the remaining ninety thousand troops of his army to the Soviet Forces. Armee. [8], Paulus and Schmidt realised that Sixth Army was encircled on 21 November. There are still many people today who wonder how Germany, which no doubt possessed a highly trained army, could be defeated in two wars. I was going to get up quietly when someone knocked at the door. He was, in any case, a defender of a united and sovereign Germany. Worse than a tram! [33], Of all the senior German officers held at Zavarykino, Schmidt was the most disliked by the Soviets; on one occasion he apparently reduced a mess waitress to tears during lunch, for which a Soviet officer, Lieutenant Bogomolov, made him apologise. He studied philology at the University of Kyiv before World War II, and after the war he became an author.. Stalingrad truce First attempt. Magdeburgisches) Nr. [2] On 26 January 1942 he was awarded the German Cross in Gold.[3]. The German soldiers, ragged and in light coats, looked like ghosts with hollow, unshaven cheeks. According to Pois and Langer: [Paulus's] chief of staff, Arthur Schmidt, a committed National Socialist to the end, seemed to represent Hitler for Paulus, indeed, probably was Hitler at Stalingrad. We Germans have seen that in the 20th century, such "power politics" that a strong and rich country seeks to pursue at the expense of other countries is doomed to failure. In February 1938, Paulus was appointed Chef des Generalstabes to Gen. Heinz Guderian's new XVI Armeekorps (Motorisiert), which replaced Lutz's command. Operation Winter Storm, a relief effort by Army Group Don under Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, was launched in December. He also said that 18,000 men were wounded and were in immediate need of medical attention. The anti-tank gunners (anti-tank rifle squads) fought to the last round, to the last grenade. Soviet soldiers, who seized the headquarters of Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus. An officer, the head of the guards, allowed me and the driver to go out and get the car ready. [30] When the forces defending Sixth Army HQ surrendered on the morning of 31 January, Schmidt discussed surrender terms with officers from General Shumilov's HQ, while Paulus waited unaware in a room next door. ", "Battle of Stalingrad a summary History in an Hour", " . : (02/07/1954)". On 30 January, Paulus informed Hitler that his men were only hours from collapse. We reacted to this order with astonishment, since we had expected some sort of discussion with the Army Group, and were fairly certain of the breakout. The general feared that, deprived of their armored strike force, the slow-moving bulk of his troops would simply be ground into dust by the Red Army in the freezing steppe. He died a few months later, in Dresden, on 1 February 1957, aged 66, exactly 14 years and one day after his surrender at Stalingrad. The negotiators were met by the commander of the Wehrmachts 71st Infantry Division, Maj-Gen Friedrich Roske, and the 6th Armys chief of staff, Gen. Arthur Schmidt. Karl Uhrmacher (missing in Stalingrad since end I have in mind, first of all, France. His troops fought Soviet forces defending Stalingrad for over three months in increasingly brutal urban warfare. In der Endphase der Schlacht bernahm er von Paulus weitgehend die Fhrung der Armee. Panzerkorps war diary and its annexes. Army Upon finding out about Paulus' "surrender", Hitler flew into a rage and vowed never to appoint another field marshal again. Janaury 1943, Stalingrad - Oberst - (PHOTOS). The department store building in Stalingrad. Armee. Armee war diary and its annexes. [19], Shortly before surrendering, Paulus sent his wedding ring back to his wife on the last plane departing his position. This is the precondition for collective security in Europe and at the same time for a happy future for our own nation. Nevertheless, the hope of a restoration of freedom and of deliverance from death or captivity would have given the troops the strength to make the impossible possible!. Here is a man who sees 50,000 or 60,000 of his soldiers die defending themselves bravely to the end. Arthur Schmidt (25 October 1895 5 November 1987) was an officer in the German military from 1914 to 1943. Gaunt, pale and emaciated, the commander of the Wehrmacht's 6th Army looked like a hunted animal to the Soviet military commanders. [34] Unlike many German prisoners of war, such as Paulus himself and von Seydlitz-Kurzbach, Schmidt refused to co-operate with the Soviets, despite the NKVD's attempt to ingratiate themselves by serving him caviar and champagne in a luxury railway coach. This is on page 194. For example: Mark Arnold-Forster's The World At War, companion volume to the documentary of the same name, Stein and Day, 1973, pp. A huge Soviet counteroffensive, planned by generals G.K. Zhukov, A.M. Vasilevsky, and Nikolay Nikolayevich Voronov, was launched on Nov. 19-20, 1942, in two spearheads, north and south of the German salient whose tip was at Stalingrad. No sensible person can understand why Dr. Adenauer, under American influence, strongly opposes exploiting the opportunities for the resumption of economic and cultural relations with the peoples of the East. While in Soviet captivity during the war, Paulus became a vocal critic of the Nazi regime and joined the Soviet-sponsored National Committee for a Free Germany. [34] Unlike many German prisoners of war, such as Paulus himself and von Seydlitz-Kurzbach, Schmidt refused to co-operate with the Soviets, despite the NKVD's attempt to ingratiate themselves by serving him caviar and champagne in a luxury railway coach. On December 12, as part of Operation Winter Storm, the German Army Group Hoth (named after its commander, Colonel-General Hermann Hoth) launched a surprise attack and crushed the Red Army's. Laskin gave the driver a sign to slow down to allow the German commander to observe them closely and thoroughly. jaundice. Interrogation of captured German officers led Soviet commanders to realise that, because of the toll of events on Paulus's nerves, Schmidt was the real commander of the defending forces. Oktober 1895 in Hamburg; 5. [9] However, he only took over his new command on 20 January, six days after the sudden death of Reichenau,[10] leaving him on his own and without the support of his more experienced sponsor. At first, Paulus refused to collaborate with the Soviets. [23] When General Hans-Valentin Hube flew into the Kessel [the encircled pocket of Axis forces in Stalingrad] on the morning of 9 January with Hitler's message to stand firm, "this strengthened General Schmidt's intransigent position at Sixth Army's headquarters." German troops during the Operation Winter Storm. Stalingrad pocket to, received orders to [1] On 19 January, Major Thiel[who?] [6] Many false reports of the massing of Soviet forces were received from the Romanian sector, so when Stck radioed at 5 a.m. on 19 November that an offensive (marking the start of Operation Uranus, the Soviet encirclement of Axis forces) was about to begin, Schmidt, who was furious when disturbed by false alarms, was not informed,[7] although he was awoken twenty minutes later when it became clear that this was no false alarm. He remained in that post until May 1939, when he was promoted to major general and became chief of staff for the German Tenth Army, with which he saw service in Poland. A candle-end was burning on the table, illuminating an accordion lying on the couch. Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox. He was considered a promising officer; by the time World War II broke out he had been promoted to major general. The German This plan was to be successfully implemented in early 1943. [14], On 7 January 1943 General Konstantin Rokossovsky, commander of the Red Army on the Don front, called a cease-fire and offered Paulus' men generous surrender terms: normal rations, medical treatment for the ill and wounded, permission to retain their badges, decorations, uniforms and personal effects. On the night of January 31, 1943, units of the 64th Armys 38th Motorized Rifle Brigade broke through to the department store building in the center of Stalingrad, sealing it off from all sides. He took with him It has been suggested that much of the reason for Schmidt's ascendancy over Paulus lay in the fact that, unlike Paulus, Schmidt was a committed Nazi, and Paulus, afraid of Hitler and conscious of his responsibility for Sixth Army's catastrophic position, saw Schmidt as a cipher for the Fhrer whom he could placate.
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