160 - Stalingrad Falls? - WW2 - September 18, 1942

Italians? And Poles? And British? Like, all of them? Wow, so what did you do? Stuck around

until the Americans showed up. How come? I see.

September 18, 1942

The Wehrmacht launched their summer offensive at the end of June, and now two and a half

months later, they have crossed the steppes and the rivers and have reached Stalingrad

on the Volga. They have fought their way step by step to and through the suburbs of the

city, and now the final battle begins-

Stalingrad.

I’m Indy Neidell; this is World War Two.

Last week on the Kokoda Track the Japanese advance continued, but the Allies were reinforcing.

On Guadalcanal, the Japanese prepared for another offensive. In the Caucasus the Axis

advance took Novorossiysk, but Adolf Hitler was so concerned with the lack of progress

there that he fired Wilhelm List and took personal control of Army Group A. But all

eyes are on Stalingrad, where Axis forces fought their way to the suburbs and even managed

to reach the Volga River.

And they have breached the suburbs of Stalingrad and the fight for the city itself now begins.

We had an extra regular episode come out the 13th that explains the situation in the city,

so if you haven’t seen that yet, you may want watch it first.

Anyhow, the 48th Panzer Corps from Herman Hoth’s 4th Panzer Army reached the Volga

at the end of last week, splitting the city in two. You have the city center and the industrial

district to the north, and the southern suburbs to the south. On the 13th, with the 48th panzers

now assigned to the 6th Army so the whole assault is unified under one commander, Friedrich

Paulus, the assault begins- the panzers from the south and 51st Army Corps from the north

and west.

Here’s a great quote from Robert Citino that pretty well sums up the current situation:

“In front of the German armies lay a great city with a population of 600,000 and a large,

heavy industrial base. Just a few months ago, the Germans had suffered some 75,000 casualties

reducing the much smaller city of Sevastopol… Stalingrad, moreover, presented an unusual

set of geographical problems. Rather than a collection of neighborhoods radiating out

from some central point, the city was one long urbanized area stretching along the right

bank of the Volga for nearly 30 miles, as straight as a railroad tie. In operational

terms, therefore, it was not so much a city as a long, fortified bridgehead on the western

bank of the river. The Germans could never put it under siege. Behind it lay a great

river, behind the river a huge force of artillery that could intervene in the battle at will,

and behind the artillery a vast, secure, and rapidly industrializing Soviet hinterland.”

(Citino, “Death of the Wehrmacht”)

On the 14th, German assault troops take Mameyev Kurgan, from where Soviet 62nd Army Commander

Vasily Chuikov watched them launch their assault the day before. Alexander Rodimtsev begins

bringing in the 13th Guards Division from across the river- under heavy fire the whole