Army Historical Series

Moscow To Stalingrad: Decision In The East

by
Earl F. Ziemke
and
Magna E. Bauer III

CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY
UNITED STATES ARMY
WASHINGTON, D. C., 1987

ARMY HISTORICAL SERIES
David F. Trask, General Editor

Advisory Committee
(As of 1 July 1985)
 
Charles E Roland
University of Kentucky

 

Archer Jones
North Dakota State
University

 

Roger A. Beaumont
Texas A&M University

 

Maj. Gen. Carl H. McNair, Jr.
U.S. Army Training and Doctrine
Command

 

Lt. Col. Robert A. Doughty
U.S. Military Academy

 

Jamie W. Moore
The Citadel

 

Col. Louis D.G. Frasche
U.S. Army Command and General
Staff College

 

James O'Neill
National Archives and Records
Administration

 

John H. Hatcher
The Adjutant General Center

 

Brig. Gen. Richard L. Reynard
U.S. Army War College

 

L. Eugene Hedberg
American Enterprise Institute
for Public Research

 

Donald W. Smythe, S.J.
John Carroll
University

 

Maj. Gen. Edward J. Huycke
Deputy Surgeon General, USA

 

U.S. Army Center of Military History
Brig. Gen. William A. Stofft, Chief of Military History

Chief Historian David Trask
Chief, Histories Division Lt. Col. Richard O. Perry
Editor in Chief John Elsberg

CONTENTS

Chapter     Page
  Foreword v
  The Authors vi
  Preface vii
I.  "THE WORLD WILL HOLD ITS BREATH" 3
    The Deployments 3
    German Strategy 13
    Soviet Preparedness 15
II.  THE BLITZKRIEG 25
    Barbarossa 25
    Taifun 34
III.  TO MOSCOW 47
    On the Defensive in the Heartland 47
    The Turnabout 55
IV.  THE COUNTEROFFENSIVE: FIRST PHASE 69
    Hitler on the Defensive 69
    The Fuehrer Takes Command 80
V.  THE COUNTEROFFENSIVE: SECOND PHASE 88
    Roles Reversed 88
    On the Flanks 92
    The Question of a Retreat 100
VI.  CRISIS IN THE CRIMEA 105
    Sevastopol 105
    Kerch and Feodosiya 108
    The Trap Does Not Close 115
VII.  HITLER AND STALIN 118
    Hitler Orders a Retreat 118
    Stalin Projects a General Offensive 134
VIII.  THE GENERAL OFFENSIVE 143
    On the North Flank 143
    On the South Flank 155
    In the Center 161
IX.  THE CLINCH 173
    The Front, February 1942 173
    Army Group Center 178
    Army Group North 186
X.  THE WAR BEHIND THE FRONT 199
    The Partisan Movement, Beginnings 199
    The Underground 206
    German Rear Area Security 207
    The Partisan Movement Established 209
XI.  THE NORTHERN THEATER 220
    Cobelligerents and Brothers-in-Arms 220
    A Thrust to Belomorsk 224
    The Soviet Spring Offensive 226
    The Arctic Convoys 233
XII.  ACTIVE DEFENSE, CENTER AND NORTH 238
    Stalin's Bid for the Initiative 238
    Army Group Center's Second Front 240
    Demyansk and the Volkhov Pocket 254
XIII.  ACTIVE DEFENSE, SOUTH 261
    Kerch Resolved 261
    The Izyum Bulge 269
XIV.  A TIME FOR DECISIONS 283
    Hitler's Strategy 283
    German Strategic Estimates 293
    Soviet Strategy 299
XV.  PRELUDE TO SUMMER 309
    Preliminary Operations 309
    Deployment for BLAU 321
    Soviet Deployment 325
    On the Eve 327
XVI.  OPERATION BLAU 333
    "The Enemy Is Defeated" 333
    A Strategic Retreat 340
XVII.  HITLER'S GRAND DESIGN 349
    "A Certain Crisis" 349
    Directive 45--Order No. 227 358
XVIII.  OPERATION EDELWEISS 366
    The Kuban and the Caucasus 366
    Tuapse and the Terek 373
XIX.  FROM THE DON TO THE VOLGA 382
    No Enemy West of Stalingrad 382
    Confrontation 388
XX.  SUMMER ON THE STATIC FRONTS 398
    On the Moscow Axis 398
    Leningrad and Demyansk 408
    The Far North 423
XXI.  THE CHANGE OF SEASONS 432
    Duty and Country 432
    Counteroffensive Plans 441
    "This Year's Campaign Has Been Concluded" 447
    The Exceptions 451
    A Winter Offensive--Where? 454
XXII.  THRUST AND COUNTERTHRUST 458
    The Battle on the Volga 458
    Sixth Army Encircled 468
XXIII.  STALINGRAD, FINALE 478
    The Relief 478
    Sixth Army Isolated 483
    Sixth Army Destroyed 492
XXIV.  CONCLUSION 503
    "The Beginning of the Road" 503
    The Transitions 506
    The Decision 512
Appendix  
A.  TABLE OF EQUIVALENT RANKS 517
B.  COMPARATIVE SIZES OF MAJOR COMMANDS 518
 
NOTE ON SOURCES 519
GLOSSARY 531
CODE NAMES 534
INDEX 537

 
Maps		  
No.   Page
1.  German-Soviet Frontier, 22 June 1941 6
2.  The German Advance, 22 June-12 November 1941 26
3.  Army Group Center, 15 November-5 December 1941 38
4.  Army Group South, 28 November-3 December 1941 56
5.  Army Group North, 1 December 1941 58
6.  The Moscow Counteroffensive, Phase I, 6-15 December 1941 72
7.  The Moscow Counteroffensive, Phase II, 16 December 1941-1 January 1942 89
8.  Soviet Kerch Offensive, 16 December 1941-18 January 1942 107
9.  The Fanatical Resistance, 1-14 January 1942 121
10.  The Soviet General Offensive, North Flank, 6 January-22 February 1942 144
11.  The Soviet General Offensive, South Flank, 16 January-1 February 1942 157
12.  The General Offensive, Army Group Center, 24 January-18 February 1942 162
13.  Army Group Center, 18 February-20 April 1942 174
14.  Army Group North, 20 February-8 May 1942 187
15.  Partisan Areas, April 1942 211
16.  Northern Theater, Winter 1942 221
17.  The Kestenga-Loukhi Sector, April-May 1942 227
18.  The Zapadnaya Litsa Front, 27 April-14 May 1942 230
19.  Operation HANN0VER, 24 May-21 June 1942 243
20.  Operation SEYDLITZ, 2-12 July 1942 249
21.  Operation VOGELSANG, 6 June-4 July 1942 253
22.  The Reconquest of Kerch, 8-19 May 1942 263
23.  The Soviet Offensive, Kharkov, 12-19 May 1942 274
24.  The German Counteroffensive, Kharkov, 17-28 May 1942 277
25.  Plan for Summer Offensive, Army Group South, 19 February 1942 288
26.  Summer Campaign Projected in Directive 41, 5 April 1942 289
27.  The Battle for Sevastopol, 7 June-4 July 1942 313
28.  Operation WILHELM, 10-15 June 1942 315
29.  Operation FRIDERICUS II, 22-25 June 1942 317
30.  Operation BLAU-BRAUNSCHWEIG, 28 June-11 July 1942 335
31.  Operation BLAU-BRAUNSCHWEIG, 14-31 July 1942 350
32.  Operation EDELWEISS, 31 July-10 October 1942 368
33.  The Advance to Stalingrad, 31 July-3 September 1942 383
34.  Stalingrad, 8 September-6 October 1942 389
35.  Soviet Attacks, Rzhev and Vorya River Areas, 30 July-23 September 1942 399
36.  Operation WIRBELWIND, 11-24 August 1942 401
37.  Army Group North, July-August 1942 410
38.  The MGA Bottleneck, 27 August-25 September 1942 417
39.  Operations SCHLINGPFLANZE and WINKELRIED, 27 September-9 October 1942 422
40.  The Nalchik Operation, 25 October-9 November 1942 453
41.  Stalingrad-North, 13 October-19 November 1942 461
42.  Operation URANUS, 19-23 November 1942 469
43.  MALYY SATURN, 16 December 1942-19 January 1943 487
44.  Operation KOLTSO, 10 January-2 February 1943 498


Illustrations		  
  Page
The German Field Artillery Moves Out 5
Marshal S. K. Timoshenko 9
G. K. Zhukov 9
Captured Soviet Troops March Past a Peasant Village 27
SS-Men Cross the Beresina River Alongside a Wrecked Bridge 31
Crew of 88-mm. Gun Searches for Targets on the Approach to Kiev 35
Women Fire Fighters Keep Lookout Over the Rooftops of Leningrad 36
Moving Supplies in the Rainy Season 41
KV Tank Headed for the Front Rumbles Through Pushkin Square, Moscow 48
Panzer III Tank and Infantry Advance Over Rutted but Frozen Road 52
Soviet Gunners Man a Machine Gun West of Moscow 59
Crew of German s.F.H. 18, 150-mm. Howitzer, Bundled-Up Against the Cold 64
Half-Track Attempts To Haul a 150-mm. Howitzer 71
A German Column Stalled in the Snow 76
German Mortar Squad on the March 79
Germans Surrender to a Soviet Soldier 85
Soviet Infantry on the Attack 91
Trying On Winter Gear, Which Was Too Slow in Coming 92
After a Pause It Is Time for the German Troops To Move On Again 93
Villagers Greet the Crew of a Soviet T-60 Tank 99
Soviet Naval Craft Lays a Smoke Screen Off Sevastopol 109
Soviet Troops Landing on the Kerch Peninsula 111
Civilians Shovel Snow To Open the Road Through a Village 119
An Army Commander (Weichs, fourth from left) Sets Out for the Front 124
German Infantry Enter a Village 126
Before a Sign Reading, "Defend Moscow! for Yourselves and for the Whole Soviet People," Women Work on Artillery Shells 136
Soviet 152-mm. Gun-Howitzer Firing North of Lake Ilmen 146
General A. I. Eremenko 149
Sled-Mounted German Antitank Gun 160
German Sentry on the Ruza River Line 165
German Machine Gunners Dig In West of Sychevka 168
Germans Dug-In: Four Knocked-Out Soviet Tanks in the Distance 175
Soviet Infantry Fire on a Village in the Enemy Rear 181
Melting Snow Has Turned Roads Into Rivers 183
German Outpost Line West of Rzhev 184
Machine-Gun Nest on the Volkhov Front 196
Poster Reads, "Partisans! Avenge Without Mercy!" 201
Partisans Listen to a Soviet Newspaper Being Read 205
Improvised Armored Train on Patrol Against Partisans 210
Woman Partisan Hanged From Lenin Statue in Voronezh 218
Outpost on the Verman River Line 224
Infantry Take Cover in the III Corps Sector 229
German Ski Patrol, Kestenga Front 231
German Submarine on the Wait in the Arctic 235
A Camouflaged Tank Trap in the Forest 248
Bringing Up an Antitank Gun in the Belyy Gap 251
Machine-Gun Squad at the Volkhov Pocket 256
Generals Vlasov and Lindemann Talk at Eighteenth Army Headquarters 258
General von Richthofen (second from right) Discusses an Air Strike With His Staff 265
Aiming a Six-Inch Rocket Projector 268
Tankmen Flush Out Soviet Soldiers After the Battle 271
T-34 Tank Crews Brush Up on Tactics 276
PAK 40, 75-mm. Antitank Gun Crew on the Watch 280
Hitler's "Young" Troops on the March 291
Improvised Mobility: The "Marder" (Martin), Captured Soviet 76.2-mm. Antitank Gun on an Obsolete Tank Chassis 295
New T-34 Tanks Move Up to the Front 301
German 150-mm. K-18 Guns Open Fire 311
Soviet Rear Guards Engage an Enemy Armored Car 320
Field Marshal von Bock (seated in car) 323
New 75-mm. Self-Propelled Assault Gun at Practice 327
Panzer III Tanks on the Attack 334
Self-Propelled Assault Gun and Mounted Troops Crossing the Oskol River 338
Panzer III Tank in Voronezh 341
An Infantry Division Heads East at the Pace of Its Horses 345
German Tanks Rove Over the Steppe in Search of Targets 352
General Hoth (center) Gives an Order at the Don Crossing 356
Soviet Antitank Gun Crew Comes Under Fire 359
Abandoned T-34 Tank Provides Cover for a German Observer 364
Soviet Machine Gunners Dug-In Outside Novorossiysk 367
German 75-mm. Antitank Gun in the Caucasus Foothills 373
German Mountain Troops in the Sancharo Pass 374
Soviet Mortar Squad Firing East of Tuapse 380
Sixth Army's Tanks Crossing the Don at Vertyachiy 386
German Machine Gunner Looks Across the Volga North of Stalingrad 388
General Paulus (right) Watches the Attack on Stalingrad. Behind Him the Commander of LI Corps, Seydlitz 390
Fourth Panzer Army's Infantry on the Defensive at Kuporosnoye 392
Machine-Gun Nest North of Rzhev 402
Quadruple Antiaircraft Guns Guard a Bridge on the Zhizdra River 406
A Tiger Tank Waits for a Tow 419
Lookout Near Kestenga 425
The Cruiser Koeln on Station in Alta Fiord 429
The "Patriotic War": A Tank Crew and Their Tank Named "Kutuzov" 433
Woman Sniper Lieutenant Poses With Her Rifle and Medals 436
General N. F. Vatutin, Commander of Southwest Front 442
On the Attack at the Stalingrad Gun Factory 463
Rubble Provides Cover for Soviet Soldiers 466
German Field Artillery Fires into Stalingrad 467
T-34 Tanks Advancing at Speed 475
Self-Propelled Assault Guns Attack in Operation WINTERGEWITTER 481
A Column of T-34 Tanks in Operation MALYY SATURN 486
Soviet Infantry on the March Toward the Donets River 495
Sixth Army Survivors March Out of Stalingrad Under Guard 500

Transcribed and formatted by Jerry Holden for the HyperWar Foundation