158 - This War is Three Years Old - WW2 - September 4, 1942

by Panzer
Wait, wait, wait...
Rommel did what?
He failed?
Uh huh.
No, no, you don't see that every day.
And what happens now?
Hello?
Hello?
September 4, 1942
Three years ago this week, Germany invaded Poland.
Three years later millions of people are dead, many falling in battle, but millions of them
civilians intentionally targeted in a war of extermination; a war that has engulfed
the entire world and one that continues to grow and grow in size, intensity, and terror.
This week the world war is three years old.
I'm Indy Neidell; this is World War Two.
Last week the Japanese lost yet another carrier to the Americans in the Battle of the Eastern
Solomons; they also launched the Battle of Milne Bay on land.
The German 6th army and 4th panzer army mounted furious attacks against the Soviets to try
and reach the Volga River break into Stalingrad, and in the Caucasus the Axis were clearing
the Kuban and trying to reach Novorossiysk and Grozny, but stiffening resistance and
supply issues stalled their drives.
On the 31st, German Army Chief of Staff Franz Halder writes in his diary, "The Fuhrer has
ordered that, upon penetration into the city, the entire male population be eliminated,
since Stalingrad with its one million uniformly Communist inhabitants is extremely dangerous."
4th Panzer Army Commander Herman Hoth resumes his drive on Stalingrad from the south already
the 29th.
He's located a weak spot in the Soviet defenses, some 20 km long running west from Abganerovo Station.
This is defended by the 126th rifles from 64th army, but they are missing nearly all
of their artillery.
Hoth sends in the 24th and 14th panzer divisions, with the Romanian infantry on the left flank,
and they have a huge superiority in men, armor, and artillery.
They break through that day, advancing 20 km or so and taking Zety.
This sabotages 64th army's entire defense along the railway line, and threatens the
rear of both 64th and 62nd armies, so they have to withdraw, but Mikhail Shumilov still
has some of the 64th defending the bulge toward the River Don from Basargino Station and some
of the 62nd is defending north of the Kalach-Stalingrad railway line, and they are in serious jeopardy.
However, on the 1st, the panzers do not continue north to link up with 6th Army and surround
the enemy, but swing east and try to drive on Stalingrad straight from the west.
This fails, with the result that the corps and army commanders "Kempf and Hoth were disconcerted…