Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,995
"Unternehmen Wintergewitter" fails...!
On December 12, 1942, the Hitler armed forces starts the "Unternehmen Wintergewitter" (= "Operation Winter Storm")!
The aim is to relieve the units of the 6th German Army encircled in Stalingrad, parts of the 4th Panzer Army, most of the survivors of the 4th Romanian Army and some Italian units.
Stalingrad is encircled by strongly superior Red Army units since November 21, 1942, and it has proven impossible to adequately supply the more than 300,000 German and allied soldiers, who are now trapped there, from the air.
The Stalingrad Army begins to starve while warlord Hitler categorically forbade breaking out of the cauldron on November 22nd!
"Wintergewitter" now plans to blow up the cauldron and re-establish the connection with Stalingrad.
In addition, the Hitler Army scrapes together what is still available: The parts of the 4th Panzer Army that have escaped enclosure - 250 tanks of all types and 50,000 men strong, should achieve the impossible!
The commander of "Wintergewitter", General der Panzertruppe Hermann Hoth ...
... has received the order from Berlin not to attack until the remains of the 17th Panzer Division (only 30 tanks of the types Panzerkampfwagen III and Panzerkampfwagen IV under Generalmajor Fridolin von Senger and Etterlin) ...
... which was hastily deployed from another section of the front, decides, however, in view of the worsening situation in Stalingrad, to attack immediately!
The German side is optimistic; it is considered impossible to hold such a large cauldron against an advancing relief army.
But the Germans do not know how strong the Red Army units actually are there, since the enemy reconnaissance of the "Fremde Heere Ost" department (= "Foreign Armies East") has once again failed!
There are three fully equipped "fronts" (army groups) facing the Hitler army:
The "Southwest Front" (Colonel General Nikolaj Fjodorowitsch Watutin ...
... with 398,000 men, 410 tanks and 4,258 guns).
The "Don Front" (Lieutenant General Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Rokossowski) ...
... with 307,500 men, 161 tanks and 4,177 guns)
The "Stalingrad Front" (Colonel General Andrei Ivanovich Jeremenko ...
... with 429,000 men, 323 tanks and 5,016 guns).
And the 62 army in Stalingrad itself under Lieutenant General Wassili Iwanowitsch Tschuikow ...
... which, however, is badly damaged and cannot get offensive.
**continued next post**
On December 12, 1942, the Hitler armed forces starts the "Unternehmen Wintergewitter" (= "Operation Winter Storm")!
The aim is to relieve the units of the 6th German Army encircled in Stalingrad, parts of the 4th Panzer Army, most of the survivors of the 4th Romanian Army and some Italian units.
Stalingrad is encircled by strongly superior Red Army units since November 21, 1942, and it has proven impossible to adequately supply the more than 300,000 German and allied soldiers, who are now trapped there, from the air.
The Stalingrad Army begins to starve while warlord Hitler categorically forbade breaking out of the cauldron on November 22nd!
"Wintergewitter" now plans to blow up the cauldron and re-establish the connection with Stalingrad.
In addition, the Hitler Army scrapes together what is still available: The parts of the 4th Panzer Army that have escaped enclosure - 250 tanks of all types and 50,000 men strong, should achieve the impossible!
The commander of "Wintergewitter", General der Panzertruppe Hermann Hoth ...
... has received the order from Berlin not to attack until the remains of the 17th Panzer Division (only 30 tanks of the types Panzerkampfwagen III and Panzerkampfwagen IV under Generalmajor Fridolin von Senger and Etterlin) ...
... which was hastily deployed from another section of the front, decides, however, in view of the worsening situation in Stalingrad, to attack immediately!
The German side is optimistic; it is considered impossible to hold such a large cauldron against an advancing relief army.
But the Germans do not know how strong the Red Army units actually are there, since the enemy reconnaissance of the "Fremde Heere Ost" department (= "Foreign Armies East") has once again failed!
There are three fully equipped "fronts" (army groups) facing the Hitler army:
The "Southwest Front" (Colonel General Nikolaj Fjodorowitsch Watutin ...
... with 398,000 men, 410 tanks and 4,258 guns).
The "Don Front" (Lieutenant General Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Rokossowski) ...
... with 307,500 men, 161 tanks and 4,177 guns)
The "Stalingrad Front" (Colonel General Andrei Ivanovich Jeremenko ...
... with 429,000 men, 323 tanks and 5,016 guns).
And the 62 army in Stalingrad itself under Lieutenant General Wassili Iwanowitsch Tschuikow ...
... which, however, is badly damaged and cannot get offensive.
**continued next post**
