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- [00:00]
John Hopkins
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John Hopkins
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Sir Anthony Beaver
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John Hopkins
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John Hopkins
Shopify.com promo It's November 1942, in the Soviet city of Stalingrad. A seven year old child crawls around the half demolished walls and mangled machinery of a bombed out tractor factory. The boy, dressed in filthy rags, is on an unending quest for any scrap of food he can find. He's one of scores of orphans living like rats in what's left of this once proud city. The afternoon quiet is broken by sporadic bursts of machine gun fire, single rifle shots and the heavy thud of artillery. The child listens carefully before deciding that this current skirmish is at least four or five blocks to the north. After months of living alongside near constant street battles, he has become adept at assessing where the greatest danger lies. He continues picking through the ruined building until he hears a sound that makes him freeze. The whistle comes from the corner of the factory floor, where two metal cabinets sit toppled together. The boy creeps closer until he sees that there's a man there, a German soldier. He waves at the boy and holds up a dirty crust of bread. The boy's instinct is to run at the sight of a German uniform, but he's mesmerized by that scrap of food. He hasn't eaten since yesterday morning. Smiling, the soldier now raises an army canteen too, and shakes it to indicate that it's empty. The boy gets the message. He edges close enough to snatch the bottle from the German's hand, then rushes off to fill it at the closest source of water he can think of, the river Volga. It's not far, but although he was born and raised in this city, he has to think hard to avoid getting disorientated. These days, whole blocks have been reduced to rubble and the streets are covered in debris and pockmarked with bomb craters. Finally, he reaches the river. Out from the bank, uniformed bodies float gently in the slow current. But it's nothing the boy's not used to. He lies down by the water's edge and fills the canteen, looking all around him as he does so. But as he climbs to his feet, there's the crack of a single rifle shot. The bullet hits the water bottle and sends it flying out of his hand. The boy runs to a large crater in the sand and throws himself down. Peering out, he catches movement in a third floor window of a bomb damaged apartment block. As he watches the sniper take aim at some fresh target within the city, he realizes that the man who fired on him is Red Army. A Russian like he is. But this was no accident. What the boy doesn't know is that Soviet generals have learnt that German soldiers are bribing feral youngsters to fetch water for them. Children caught performing this task risk being shot. Because in the battle to save the city that bears his name, Stalin will stop at nothing. In the middle of the Second World War, the Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most brutal engagements of the conflict. Over the course of six months, Soviet forces fought to defend the city against the German army in a battle that came to symbolize the unyielding stubbornness of both Hitler and Stalin. Characterized by intense urban warfare, Stalingrad saw over 1 million Soviet soldiers and an estimated 800,000 Axis troops killed, wounded or captured. It is considered the bloodiest battle in the entire war and probably in the history of warfare. But why was a modest little city in southern Russia so important to both dictators? Who were the soldiers who fought in the battle and the civilians caught in the crossfire? And what impact did the fighting have on the outcome of the war and the future shape of the world? I'm John Hopkins from the Noisy Network. This is a short history of the Battle of Stalingrad. Though the Battle of Stalingrad is a touchstone of the Second World War, the stage is already being set in Russia decades earlier. Following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917, the provisional government also collapses and the country descends into civil war. Though the hardline Communist Bolsheviks and their Red army take control, they face violent opposition from the so called White Russians, made up of former Tsarist officers, conservatives, monarchists and other anti Bolshevik factions, including the more moderate Mensheviks. They are aided by foreign powers, including the uk, France and Japan, who are terrified about the potential spread of communism. In April 1918, a member of the Bolshevik leadership is dispatched to Tsaritsyn, a small but strategically important city sitting beside the longest river in Europe, the Volga. The official Joseph Visarionovich Stalin is there to oversee food production in southern Russia. But he's ambitious and uses his time in Tsaritsyn to solidify his reputation as a tough, decisive leader. Taking a lead role in the command structure of the local Red army forces, he ruthlessly orders the execution of alleged counter revolutionaries and enacts brutal retribution on any peasants suspected of aiding the enemy. His influence grows steadily in the Bolshevik leadership until, in 1922, he becomes its general secretary. The role may be something of a dull administrative post, but Stalin recognizes its potential. This sprawling, chaotic country is run by Committee, but as general secretary when the Committee meets, he sets the agenda and controls who's invited. Through guile, manipulation and fear. And by appointing allies to key positions, Stalin builds a powerful support base for himself. By the time Soviet leader Lenin dies in 1924, he is perfectly placed to gradually outmaneuver his rivals and take the top spot for himself. Tsaritsyn is renamed Stalingrad in his honor. And Stalin gets started with his plans to drag this rural, backward empire kicking and screaming into the 20th century. For many citizens, that means forced labor on newly collectivized farms, but without the skills, management and infrastructure to make it a success. By the early 1930s, the country is facing an unprecedented famine. Workers can be executed or sent to labor camps for failure to meet impossible targets. The city of Stalingrad, however, becomes a model city for Stalin's program of urban change growing rapidly, spreading out along the west bank of the river. Newly constructed factories produce machinery and thousands of cars and tractors. Modern white apartment blocks are built overlooking the Volga, providing housing for its growing population. But as the decade draws to a close, their neighbors over in Germany have radical plans of their own. In August 1939, Germany's foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, flies to Moscow for a meeting with Stalin and his foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov. The men agree to the final details of a non aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, promising that neither government will aid or ally itself with an enemy of the other. A week later, German tanks roll into Poland. The Nazi military machine has developed a devastating new form of warfare, the blitzkrieg, or lightning war. Designed to quickly overwhelm the enemy, the strategy utilizes mechanized infantry formations supported by divisions of Panzer, tanks and the air force or Luftwaffe. It takes little more than a month for Poland to fall. Soon, France, Belgium and the Low Countries also collapse under the blitzkrieg onslaught. Hitler's last remaining foe, Britain, is forced to make a humiliating retreat back across the English Channel to begin with Stalin believes his pact will protect the Soviet Union from similar treatment. But by June 1941, troops, heavy artillery and tanks of the mighty German and Axis alliance are quietly gathering along the 2000 mile Soviet border. Stalin is warned by his generals and intelligence officers that attack is imminent, but he dismisses the reports as British propaganda. If he had paid more attention to Hitler's autobiography, Mein kampf, published nearly 20 years earlier, he would have learned about Hitler's obsession with the need to destroy the Soviet Union. The British military historian Sir Anthony Beaver is a world renowned expert on the Second World War and author of the award winning book Stalingrad.
- [11:25]
Sir Anthony Beaver
Hitler had always considered the defeat of the Soviet Union as his ultimate war aim because he would also accomplish that other war aim of his, of course, which was the destruction of the Jews. He was going to achieve the destruction of the Jews in Europe by just defeating France and Britain. So it was a vital element.
- [11:51]
John Hopkins
To Hitler, the pact had been a tactical move, allowing Germany to avoid fighting a war on two fronts at the same time. Now, having achieved much of his aims in Western Europe, Hitler plans a new offensive to the east, codenamed Operation Barbarossa.
- [12:10]
Sir Anthony Beaver
The idea in Operation Barbarossa was that he didn't necessarily have to conquer the whole of the Soviet Union, but he only needed to advance up to what was called the AA line, the Astrakhan Archangel line, roughly for Volga, for a lot of its course to ensure that he could still maintain his control over European and Central Russia and if necessary, bombard any remaining forces using the Luftwaffe in the future. That was the intention.
- [12:45]
John Hopkins
Convinced that Russia will quickly fold, Hitler tells his generals, we only have to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down. Daredevil is born again on Disney.
- [13:06]
Sir Anthony Beaver
Why did you stop being a vigilante? The line was crossed.
- [13:10]
John Hopkins
Sometimes peace needs to be broken.
- [13:12]
Sir Anthony Beaver
Chaos must reign.
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John Hopkins
On March 4th, the nine episode event begins.
- [13:18]
Sir Anthony Beaver
I was raised to believe in grace.
- [13:20]
John Hopkins
But I was also raised to believe in retribution. Marvel Television's Born Again. Don't miss the two episode premiere March 4th only on Disney. Workdays can be unpredictable, but your workwear shouldn't be. With a Cintas Apparel plus program, you'll have freshly laundered garments for everyone on your team, delivered every week. Cintas has workwear for just about any job imaginable with high performance fabrics and an uncompromising fit that stretches and moves with you. Don't leave looking and feeling good to chance. Visit cintas.com oh, I'm ready. And get ready for the workday Part of the thinking behind Operation Barbarossa is the belief that many Russians and Ukrainians, who have suffered under the brutality of Stalin's reign, will welcome the invading forces and join them. On 22 June, Hitler sends more than 3 million German and Axis troops, along with tank divisions, artillery and the Luftwaffe, into the Soviet Union. It is the greatest invasion force in history.
- [14:28]
Sir Anthony Beaver
The Operation Barbarossa was going to be an offensive with three main axes of advance in the North, Northern Army Group to attack Leningrad, Army Group center, which was going to attack all the way along the traditional invasion route of Napoleon towards Mosc Moscow, and Army Group south, which was going to attack towards Kiev.
- [14:51]
John Hopkins
Those same blitzkrieg tactics which worked so effectively against the Allies in Western Europe, see the invaders surge through vast swathes of the Soviet Union. And they aren't interested in playing nice. Protected by Hitler's promise that no German soldier will be held criminally responsible for their actions on the Russian front, the invaders slaughter and torture civilians as well as Soviet soldiers. Those peasants who survive are transported back to Germany to work as slave labor in the munitions factories. But the soldiers care little for the lives of the civilians for whom their leader has such contempt.
- [15:30]
Sir Anthony Beaver
The other objective was to destroy Muras, the Slav rakes by the so called hunger plan, which was going to reduce their population by at least 30 million through sheer starvation. If that had taken place, it would have put even the Holocaust into the shade. And then the remainder of the population would be used as slaves for a German colonization of Russia. So that was the objective.
- [16:05]
John Hopkins
Though the Soviets fight back as best they can, their weapons and tanks are no match against this onslaught. Soon the invasion forces are almost at the gates of Moscow with what appears to be the imminent fall of the capital. Muscovites flee their city. The authorities mine the buildings to inflict what casualties they can when the enemy arrive. In reality, though, the Germans are already struggling. The speed of Barbarossa's advance has left its supply lines dangerously stretched. Without the necessary logistics in place, Nazi progress slows and its armies are unable to keep pushing forwards. Weeks of delay turn into months, and soon the deadly Russian winter is upon them. The German generals were so convinced of a swift victory that their units are not prepared for this brutal shift in climate. They now face shortages of fuel, ammunition, food, medical supplies and clothing. Their tanks, artillery and supply vehicles break down or get stuck in the frozen fields. But the Soviet forces, with their greater experience of operating in subarctic conditions, now have an opportunity to push back the German advance. Driving them away from Moscow. The spring of 1942 arrives, and Stalin fully expects Hitler to renew his attempt to take Moscow. Except now the Nazis have a new and more urgent objective. Despite their earlier confidence, they are now fighting on multiple fronts. America has entered the war on Britain's side, dramatically changing the shape of the conflict. German and Italian forces continue fighting the Allies in North Africa. The Nazi war machine is running low on supplies, and resources are tight for the German people back home, too. So Hitler and his generals turn their attention to resources, specifically those held in the Caucasus. This region in the south of the Soviet Union at the intersection of Europe and Asia, is one of the great oil producing areas of the world, providing the majority of the Red Army's fuel. If Hitler can control the oil fields, he will simultaneously starve the Soviet war effort and accelerate his own. The operation to take control of the region, codenamed Case Blue, commences at the end of June 1942. The Nazi Army Group south is divided into two forces. One will cross the Caucasus Mountains to reach the oil fields. The other will protect its flank along the Volga with a plan to destroy the Soviet supply line at the city of Stalingrad. The invasion achieves some early success, pushing down into the Caucasus. But two weeks into the campaign, they are once again hampered by supply problems. The Soviet forces they encounter put up fierce resistance, but they too struggle with poor provisions, outdated weaponry and heavy casualties. Morale in the Red army is low, with desertions and disciplinary issues increasing. Having already lost significant territory, Stalin refuses to cede any more ground. What he is willing to do, though, is sacrifice as many men as it takes to halt the German advances. Stalin issues a new directive, order number 227, which gives a clear message to his soldiers. The time for retreating is over. It not one step back. Special units are now attached to each division. If any Soviet soldier attempts to flee from fighting, they will be gunned down. Meanwhile, the German generals on the ground leading case Blue come to an unavoidable conclusion that they simply do not have the manpower to capture and hold the vast area of the Caucasus. But it's not news that any of them want to break to the Fuhrer.
- [20:39]
Sir Anthony Beaver
Since Hitler had actually said to his generals before the whole operation, if we don't manage to capture the oil fields, I'll have to put an end to the war. Well, of course, he now did not admit to that phrase at all. And he then started screaming at his generals, because once again, Hitler refused to acknowledge the problems, either of manpower or of logistics, and that basically the forces in the Caucasus were not large enough to occupy the whole area and hold it, and they simply didn't have the support.
- [21:13]
John Hopkins
Refusing to accept defeat and withdrawal, Hitler changes the objective of the campaign.
- [21:20]
Sir Anthony Beaver
He then changed the plan, and basically he ordered the capture of Stalingrad. And this is because, of course, it became an ersatz victory. It was going to be a replacement victory because it bore Stalin's name.
- [21:35]
John Hopkins
To achieve what he believes will be a crucial symbolic conquest of Stalin's namesake city, Hitler sends in the 6th army, one of Germany's most prized and feared regiments. Numbering 285,000 men, alongside vehicles and field guns, it earned its formidable reputation in the capture of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In mid August 1942, the 1st Infantry Companies of the 6th army cross the Don river using inflatable assault boats. Once bridgeheads are secured, pontoon bridges are built, and soon the mighty army is assembling less than 50 kilometers west of Stalingrad. The 6th Army's commander in Operation Barbarossa was recognized for his single mindedness and severity, but he died during the winter months in Russia. His replacement, Friedrich Paulus, is considered an effective army official, but inexperienced in battle. Tasked with taking the city and raising the Nazi flag over its buildings, Paulus troops are supported by tanks from the 4th Panzer Division and forces from the Romanian army. Also fighting alongside the 6th army are 50,000 Ukrainians and Russians. Some are defectors who want to rid their country of Stalin. More are prisoners of war who have been forced into service rather than face starvation in the labor camps. As Paulus advances, Stalin considers his options. He realizes that Hitler's obsession with taking the city presents an opportunity. If the Red army can tie up the Germans at Stalingrad, it will give them valuable months to gather their forces and plan a counterattack. But in the meantime, they've got a city to defend. That job goes to the 62nd army, under the command of General Vasily Trikov.
- [23:53]
Sir Anthony Beaver
Tchikov was a very, very tough commander and knew perfectly well, as he put it, you know, time is blood. They had to hang on at all costs.
- [24:04]
John Hopkins
Not long ago, Stalingrad had been a peripheral target of operation Case Blue. Now possession of the city is a matter of honor to both dictators. The stage is set for an epic battle of wills that will cost everyone involved dearly.
- [24:23]
Sir Anthony Beaver
And Lavrenti Beria, the head of Stalin's secret police, the nkvd, then described the battle of Stalingrad as a battle of rams, because basically, Stalin and Hitler were sort of obsessed about the symbolic importance of the city rather than its strategic importance. And which is simply sort of smashing against each other.
- [24:48]
John Hopkins
It begins on Sunday 23rd August. Stalin has refused to allow a mass evacuation of the city's estimated 600,000 civilians. He insists they stay to feed and support the soldiers and work in the munitions factories. In doing so, he is putting into play some of that psychological manipulation for which he will become notorious. His troops will fight harder, he thinks, if there are Russian women and children in the city to defend. On the street corners, loudspeakers blare out air raid warnings. Initially, the city folk, who are used to false alarms pay little attention. But when they hear their anti aircraft batteries open fire, they run for cover. Soon the sky darkens with mass formations of Luftwaffe planes and the carpet bombing of Stalingrad begins. Those modern white apartment blocks along the front are shelled until whole floors collapse, while giant oil storage tanks on the riverbank explode, leaving nothing but an inferno. Most of the city structures, factories, municipal buildings and housing are decimated by the onslaught. The relentless bombing continues for days. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, are killed in the first week, with a further 150,000 wounded. And as the Luftwaffe wreaks havoc overhead, Paulus vast military machine gathers to the north. The divisions of the Romanian army are charged with guarding the flanks on either side of the German forces, and they enter the city, preventing them from being encircled and trapped. But though the aerial bombardment was intended to ensure a speedy victory for the land forces, when Paulus soldiers, artillery and tanks roll into Stalingrad, they're impeded by an obstacle of their own making.
- [27:04]
Sir Anthony Beaver
What the German generals had failed to realize until too late was that the bombing of Stalingrad as the panzers reached the outskirts of the city, was actually a disaster. Because turning the city on the whole of that western bank of the Volga into a pile of ruins created a killing ground for their own troops. It allowed the Red army to bury their tanks under rubble, their anti tank guns into rubble, to prepare ambush positions and what they call breakwaters, which were going to be fortified houses to break up any of the rush attacks carried out by the Germans.
- [27:50]
John Hopkins
Concealing tanks and soldiers in among the destroyed buildings, the Soviets now launch ambush after ambush. The invaders find themselves locked in close combat, fighting from house to house, where the bayonet and boot knife are as effective as the bullet and bomb control of a building can change hands several times a day. A single battle can occupy one floor or a stairwell and continue for days and nights. The city's main railway station changes hands 15 times in five days of fighting. With The Nazis eventually winning control of the destroyed building. The battle for Stalingrad soon inspires a new German military term. Rattenkrieg, the war of the rats. Though they're on home soil, those defending the city are facing serious supply issues. Many of Stalin's soldiers are still having to use ancient rifles, and there's far too few of them. Some units only receive half the weapons they need, so soldiers are ordered to share. They operate in pairs, with the second soldier ready to pick up the gun as soon as the first soldier is shot. And those in the munitions factories in earshot of the fighting are manufacturing the necessary ammunition as quickly as the men at the front can fire it. Casualties for both armies mount up. But most especially for the Soviets. If the Red army is to keep the city, it needs a constant stream of men to replace those lying dead among the ruins at the end of every day. Fresh units of fighters, along with artillery and supplies are shipped across the Volga from the east bank each night. But they have to come from somewhere.
- [29:51]
Sir Anthony Beaver
Have you ever spotted McDonald's hot crispy fries right as they're being scooped into the carton? And time just stands still.
- [30:06]
John Hopkins
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- [34:40]
Sir Anthony Beaver
Here we find Paulus 6th army, hammering away what were the September battles and then the October battles, where we have this basically almost at times hand to hand fighting in sewers, in cellars and in ruined buildings.
- [34:57]
John Hopkins
But as the battles in the city drag on for weeks and then months, Stalin is quietly preparing his counterattack.
- [35:05]
Sir Anthony Beaver
The only way of dealing with the whole situation at Stalingrad was to keep the Germans focused on the city and then prepare a massive counterattack which would take nearly a couple of months really to prepare. It was a huge operation which had never been practiced before. And because it was so big and so sophisticated, the Germans never imagined the Red army was capable of.
- [35:31]
John Hopkins
While these plans are being developed, the Soviets are being pushed back into a smaller and smaller area of the city. Their backs to the Volga, the Luftwaffe continues its aerial assaults, targeting Soviet held areas. German soldiers unroll swastika flags in the ground they control, praying their pilots will be able to see them through the thick clouds of dust and smoke and know not to drop their bombs on their compatriots. But the campaign is taking its toll on the Luftwaffe. Pilots are exhausted. They're barely allowed any rest between flying operations. The planes aren't in much better condition, with many of them damaged from the constant attacks or out of service entirely. And life for the German soldiers on the ground is even worse. With their supply lines constantly disrupted, they live, eat and attempt to sleep in bunkers and basements of destroyed buildings. Above ground, there is the perpetual threat of Soviet snipers who clamber through the decimated buildings, searching for vantage points to kill the enemy one soldier at a time. It is a dangerous and unending occupation, and the leaders on both sides are painfully aware of the impact such a fruitless, protracted battle will have on the morale of their people. So the propaganda machines do what they were made to do. People back home in Germany receive breathless reports on the 6th Army's progress. But those receiving them aren't always convinced. Parodies are shared discreetly with one surviving letter reading. Today our troops captured a two room flat with kitchen, toilet and bathroom. They managed to retain two thirds of it, despite hard fought counter attacks from the enemy. The reality is that every night more Soviet troops, fresh lambs to the slaughter, are transported into the besieged city across the Volga. The lifespan of a Soviet soldier drafted in to defend Stalingrad is often not measured in weeks or even days, but hours. And even in the face of Order 227 and the punishments it allows for desertion, Thousands of soldiers try to flee.
- [37:56]
Sir Anthony Beaver
To give an idea of the savagery of the fighting, 13,000 Soviet soldiers were executed during the course of the battle. That was more than a whole division of troops.
- [38:17]
John Hopkins
By mid November, the Germans, at great cost of men and machinery, have pushed the Russians back into a narrow, 9 kilometer long strip of land along the Volga's bank. But victory is still beyond their grasp and the fighting continues. The corpses pile higher and winter will soon be returning. Stalin, though, is finally ready to launch his counterattack. His generals identify the weak link in Germany's Stalingrad operation. The Romanian army divisions on the flanks of the city protecting the 6th Army's rear are ill equipped, under resourced and very much inferior to the German military.
- [39:00]
Sir Anthony Beaver
Hitler, in his arrogance, had assumed that even though the Romanians who were guarding the two flanks, both on the north and to the south of Stalingrad, had no anti tank guns and had not been really given any backup from the German forces themselves, that that would be sufficient. And they had no idea, of course, that Stalin, being preparing fresh armies with troops from the Far east and reorganization of others, ready to smash through a.
- [39:32]
John Hopkins
Mighty Soviet army of more than 1 million men. Thousands of tanks and artillery and supported by a thousand planes from the Soviet Air Force has been assembled. And a counterintelligence operation keeps the Germans from guessing their plans. Operation Uranus begins Thursday 19th November. The Russians launch simultaneous assaults on the Romanian divisions guarding the two flanks. The Axis forces are no match for the onslaught and quickly retreat. In a matter of days, the two Soviet armies meet up in the small town of Kalak on the Don River. The occupying forces in the city are now encircled, their supply lines cut. It's a desperate situation. Marshal Erich von Manstein, in charge of German forces in the south, launches an offensive to create a corridor into the city. But it fails. Those on the ground know that the game is up and a breakout plan for the 6th army is devised. But Hitler has no intention of surrendering the city that bears the name of his sworn enemy. So he vetoes the plan, insisting that the soldiers stay in the city and fight whatever the cost.
- [40:59]
Sir Anthony Beaver
Hitler would prefer the whole of the 6th army to be lost rather than give up Stalingrad, over which he had made so many boasts of victory.
- [41:08]
John Hopkins
Paulus, trapped with his men, has a tough decision to make. Another commander in charge of the 6th army might decide to defy Hitler and launch an offensive to lead his men to safety.
- [41:22]
Sir Anthony Beaver
Paulus was, unfortunately for the Germans, a very conventional officer. He was a brilliant staff officer, a brilliant planner, but he was not a commander, not a leader. Was not going to break Hitler's order that he had to stand firm.
- [41:40]
John Hopkins
With no way out, the 6th army soldiers have no option but to fight on and pray that a German counteroffensive will come to relieve them. They do at least have control of some small airfields which allow the Luftwaffe to relay the food, ammunition and supplies they need to survive the winter. Reich Marshall Hermann Goering tells Hitler his planes are up to the job.
- [42:07]
Sir Anthony Beaver
When Goering. When Reichsmarshal Goering boasted once again because he was in bad odour and wanted to get back into Hitler's good books, boasted that his Luftwaffe could supply the 6th army, his senior officers were absolutely appalled. They knew it was impossible. Goering said, oh, we can, you know, at least deliver 300 tons of supplies a day. Well, they hardly even ever supplied More than 100 tons, even on the best days and. Or, of course, many days when the weather conditions were so poorly that winter, when there was absolutely no chance of getting through.
- [42:43]
John Hopkins
The increasingly foul weather makes it hard for the supply planes to land. Aircraft that do touch down can find their undercarriages damaged by potholes in the Runway, meaning they can't fly out again. By the beginning of December, the 6th army soldiers are receiving less than 20% of their daily food requirements. What follows for many is death through accelerated starvation, a condition brought about by the lethal overlap of cold, stress and hunger. Others are dying of their injuries or simple hypothermia, or else being driven mad by the constant barrage and hopelessness of the situation to which they had been abandoned. Back in Germany, the propaganda continues. The news reports give no indication of the misery and hopelessness of the Stalingrad siege. And on Christmas Eve, German radio broadcasts what it claims is a message from the soldiers inside the city.
- [43:49]
Sir Anthony Beaver
They still had radios in Stalingrad, and when they heard, first of all, a pretense that they were still holding firm at Stalingrad, and there was a choir singing Silent Night, pretending they were soldiers from Stalingrad singing it, and the guys in Stalingrad heard that. I mean, the shites of anger, bitterness and betrayal, because that's when they knew that the promised relief force was never going to arrive.
- [44:22]
John Hopkins
Christmas passes and a new year begins. But still the Soviet onslaught continues. The trapped, beleaguered soldiers of the 6th army continue to fight. But the celebrated iron discipline of the German soldier is breaking down. There are suicides and murders. Particularly hated officers are shot dead by their own men. Rations are denied to the sick and wounded and given only to those still able to fight. But even the precious little food left is dwindling. The last of their horses have been eaten. They catch and consume rats, dogs, magpies. Those who can manage to sleep amid the relentless shelling sometimes wake to find they are overrun by starving rats. Trenchfoot, that illness particular to the First World War, as well as dysentery and frostbite, are common. It is impossible to get warm, and with the ground now too hard for graves to be dug, the corpses Just lie out in the open. Even if the Fuhrer won't admit it. Everyone knows the end of the battle of Stalingrad is in sight. It's early in 1943, and a German soldier is sat shivering in what is left of the cellar of a house. He's trying to distract himself from the agonizing hunger by rereading an old letter from his wife when he suddenly becomes aware that of something unusual. He looks up, confused. It's quiet. Could it really be a break in the bombardment? But then, cutting through the silence, he hears the engine of a single Red army plane. He runs to his nearest bunker and waits there with a clutch of other equally skeletal men for the inevitable explosion. Oceans, he hunches with his hands over his ears. But the plane passes over and when he looks up he sees not bombs falling from the sky, but thousands of leaflets written in German fluttering to the snow covered ground. The soldier checks around him. Russians have dropped leaflets many times before, and anyone found with a copy is liable to be shot. Except now there's no officer in sight. Emerging from the bunker, he reaches out with a frostbitten hand to pick up a leaflet and, blinking away snow, begins to read. The page promises that he and his fellow soldiers will receive favorable treatment as well as food and medical assistance if they surrender. Now and after the war, he can return to Germany, to his home, his wife and his children. Before he can begin to imagine it, the soldier next to him snatches the leaflet from his hands and stamps it into the snow. There are good reasons, his friend reminds him, not to trust the words written on this paper. It is now a year and a half since they arrived in this wretched country, and there's no doubt that they have committed the most appalling atrocities against these people. The six month battle for Stalingrad has decimated the Soviet divisions sent in to defend it, and any soldier he surrenders to is unlikely to forget any of that. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month, of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try. @mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com at New Balance we believe if you Run. You're a runner, however you choose to do it. Because when you're not worried about doing things the right way, you're free to discover your way. And that's what running's all about. Run your way and you. On the 23rd of January, the last airfield controlled by the Germans is overrun by Russian forces. Now the starving, depleted invasion force can only receive supplies by air drops. Two days later, a further military push from the Soviets sees German forces divided into two smaller pockets of resistance. Just a few days after that, Berlin informs Paulus by radio that he's been promoted to the position of Field Marshal. But he's under no illusions that this is a cause for celebration. No German Field Marshal has ever been captured by the enemy, a detail that Hitler knows will be understood loud and clear by Paulus. The message from the Fuhrer is simple. He's telling him to commit suicide. This, however, is the one command that the previously obedient Paulus refuses to carry out. I have no intention of shooting myself for this Bohemian corporal, he says contemptuously. The next day, Paulus headquarters are overrun and he surrenders along with his staff. He leaves it to his men to decide their own fate, but they are by now beyond spent. Within days, the remains of the 6th army surrender. The battle of Stalingrad is finally at an end. 90,000 enemy combatants are led from the city, many of them barely able to walk from frostbite. The Soviets are shocked to discover that many of the fiercest fighters they faced are fellow Russians.
- [51:03]
Sir Anthony Beaver
Nearly 30% of the frontline personnel left of the 6th army at Stalingrad were actually Russians in German uniform. They were the Red army soldiers who'd been forced through appalling starvation, to volunteer as basically slave labor for the German army, knowing what a fate awaited them if they were captured by the Red Army. Having been working for the Germans, they were prepared to fight on.
- [51:35]
John Hopkins
Some soldiers attempt to hide in the ruins of the city, but eventually they will be flushed out and shot. Many of the surrendered German soldiers will not make it to a prisoner of war camp and will instead die on the long, arduous journey. Those who do make it to the camps will be subjected to such brutal treatment that only around 5,000 will survive to the end of the war. Amazingly, some of the civilians who have been trapped in the city for six months make it out alive.
- [52:10]
Sir Anthony Beaver
And at the end of the battle, come February 1943, there were still 10,000 civilians still left in the ruins of the city. A thousand of them were children who were totally feral, couldn't speak Utterly traumatized. And I think that is the only way to show the sheer suffering of the civilians in what has become the great symbol, if you like, of the horrors of warfare, but above all, of urban warfare.
- [52:41]
John Hopkins
In all, the fight for the city has left more than a million people dead. And though Stalingrad is not the place where Hitler loses the war, the Soviet victory here does mark a significant moment in the conflict.
- [52:59]
Sir Anthony Beaver
The battle of Stalingrad became the psychological turning point of the Second World War. It was the moment, I'm now talking actually of February 1943, of the surrender at Stalingrad, when right across the world, you know, from South America through to anywhere else, I mean, we have Pablo Neruda writing his great poem of Comanachia Stalingrado. Recognizing that this actually is marking the.
- [53:25]
John Hopkins
End of Nazi power, many of Hitler's generals privately acknowledge that all is lost. But Hitler refuses to accept defeat. And so the war grinds on for another grueling two years. With Stalingrad, the Soviet military has proven it can carry out strategic, complex operations on the battlefield and win. There will be more bloody battles against the Germans on the Eastern front, but the balance of power has shifted. US Army Air forces begin a campaign of bombing German cities, prompting much of the Luftwaffe to be pulled back to protect the homeland. Later that year, the battle in North Africa ends with the surrender of Axis powers in Tunisia and Italy falls to Allied forces. Finally, in 1945, those house to house combat techniques are used again when Soviet forces, including Stalingrad's General Chuikov, encircle and then take Berlin. Trapped inside, Hitler does himself what he'd ordered Paulus to do and commits suicide. Once the war is over, Stalin's victory in the city that bears his name helps cement his standing as the great leader. But though he will stay in power until his death in 1953, his reputation will go the way of his German nemesis. Within a decade, Stalingrad is renamed Volgograd as part of Khrushchev's national de Stalinization of the Soviet Union. The enormous human sacrifices that were made here played a role in ensuring that Hitler's dream of a Third Reich to last for a thousand years is dead. But the name of Stalingrad endures as a stark reminder of humanity's capacity for suffering and cruelty and the true toll of war.
- [55:26]
Sir Anthony Beaver
Stalingrad is remembered, of course, as the symbol of the true horror of war. The suffering of the civilians, the total destruction of a city and all the rest of it. But also it was the start, let's face it, of what we're seeing. Now, nowadays we don't have front lines anymore really. Ukraine is an exception. But basically no armies really nowadays are large enough to have front lines. As in the old days, warfare is going to always be focused on cities. So urban warfare is the future. I'm afraid of warfare. And that is going to be the full focus in every single case.
- [56:12]
John Hopkins
Next time on Short historyof we'll bring you a short history of the Forbidden City.
- [56:20]
Sir Anthony Beaver
It's a sort of magnificent place and it's a relic or a survival of a extraordinary empire and or series of empires and culture that is very much in some respects a living culture. In China, we think of it according to its sort of name as it being forbidden. And at one level it really was. But at another level it was the sort of the beating heart at the center of this huge circulatory system of ritual, of objects, of people, of symbolism. It was. And it kept so much of that going in such important ways.
- [57:01]
John Hopkins
That's next time. Hi listeners, if you enjoyed this episode and would like to hear more about the history surrounding the battle of Stalingrad, we have miniseries on the lives of Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini over on our Real Dictators podcast. Search for real dictators wherever you get your podcasts or click the link in the episode description. Hablas espanol spries du droids. If you've heard that sound from Babbel before, I bet you do. Babbel is the science backed language learning app. Actually works with quick 10 minute lessons handcrafted by over 200 language experts. Babbel gets you on your way to speaking a new language in just a few weeks with over 16 million subscriptions sold and a 20 day money back guarantee. Just start speaking another language with Babbel right now. Up to 55% off your Babbel subscription at babbel.com Spotify podcast spelled B A B-B-E-L.com Spotify podcast rules and restrictions may apply.