History 13/03/20 Operation “Uranus”: how the Red Army defeated the army of Paulus
Strategic offensive operation “Uranus” which was released Stalingrad, has become one of the most important military operations in history. In the “Stalingrad pot” was more than 300 thousand soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht.
the Military classic
the Operation “Uranus” was one of the largest and most heroic battles of the great Patriotic war. It turned around at the vast area of about 100 thousand square km while the length of the front 400 – 850 km.
the red Army resisted the German 6th field and 4th Panzer army, Romanian 3rd and 4th army of army group B, which consisted of more than 1 million soldiers, about 10.3 thousand guns and mortars, 675 tanks and assault guns, more than 1.2 thousand combat aircraft.
the Offensive of the red army developed “the classics” of military strategy and is reminiscent of the German offensive in 1941. First Northern wedge with two edges attacked the Romanian army 3, the second wedge struck the southern flank of the Stalingrad front.
the attack was Preceded by over an hour-long artillery preparation, after which “appeared first wave of attackers”.
Calculation of the impact on the Romanian positions was justified. Despite the courage and fortitude that Romanians showed in the first hours of defense, they eventually panicked.
November 19, several divisions of the Romanian front gave up and fled. During heavy fighting, soon found themselves surrounded by nearly 300-strong group of the enemy.
“Superstringer”
Karel Paul in his book “Scorched earth” wrote that the Stalingrad offensive operation Uranus could have been for the Wehrmacht all the more tragic. According to German historian, Stalin’s plans were much bigger than the capture of one army. Karel says “Superstorage”, that the Soviet military command wanted to crush the entire southern flank of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern front and take in the encirclement of German troops in the Caucasus. Then it would be in Soviet captivity immediately found half a million soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht.
Karel writes: “Through the giant operations of eight of the armies, the attacks on Rostov and the lower reaches of the Dnieper from the Kalmyk steppes and the Middle don, he (Stalin)wanted to cut and then destroy the German southern flank – three groups of seven armies in General. Military history does not know of the plan of operation, comparable with that in grandeur of scale.”
Why Uranium?
Why the operation to liberate Stalingrad received the code name “Uranus”? Throughout the war, the Red Army conducted strategic 47 and 150 front-line operations. The full list of more than 200 operations, published in the second issue of Military history magazine” for the year 1989, only 9 (“Uranus”, “little Saturn”, “Ring”, “don”, “spark”, Suvorov, Kutuzov, Rumyantsev, Bagration) have code names.
Marshal Vasilevsky in his memoirs book “the Business of life” writes that the code names of all strategic operations was up with Stalin himself. Why “Uranus”?
There is a version astrological. It lies in the fact that some strategic decisions of the Soviet command in the battle of Stalingrad affected practicing astrologers.
Operation “Uranus”, began November 19, 1942 at 7.30 am. At this point, the so-called ascendant (the point of the Ecliptic rising above the horizon) was located in the planet Mars (the Roman God of war), the setting point of the Ecliptic was the planet Uranus.
According to astrologers, this planet was ruled by the German army. Interestingly, in parallel, the Soviet command developed another major offensive in the South-Western front —”Saturn”. At the last moment it was abandoned and had surgery “little Saturn”. Interestingly, in ancient mythology it was the Saturn (in Greek mythology, Cronus) castrated Uranus.
Psychological warfare
About the battle of Stalingrad, saying that it “broke the backbone of fassistsin invaders.” It was in many ways revolutionary battle. The red army has used an entire Arsenal of tools to suppress the enemy. Including techniques of psychological influence.
From the speakers installed in the front, raced favorite hits of German music, which was interrupted by reports of the victories of the red army in areas of the Stalingrad front. The most innovative and effective tool was the monotonous sound of the metronome, which was interrupted after 7 strokes commentary in German: “Every 7 seconds at the front killed one German soldier”. Upon completion of a series of 10-20 “reports timer” from the speakers raced tango.
Karel Paul in the book “Eastern front”, wrote that during the operation “Uranus” in the “pot” in which the German army had dropped leaflets calling for surrender. All surrendered guaranteed life, security, food, safety clothing and things. These calls had a major impact on the morale of the Germans, for which Stalingrad has become hell.
Hell on Earth
the Germans called Stalingrad “hell on Earth”, “Red Verdun”. In his memoirs, former German soldiers and officers who survived the battle of Stalingrad, celebrated as one of unparalleled bravery and even ferocity of the Soviet soldiers, fighting to the last bullet (then hand to hand), to the last man.
on 15 January 1943 a German officer wrote in his diary: out of the boiler and never will be. From time to time around us, exploding mines…
From the diary of officer F. P. of the 8th light small-arms Park 212 regiment.
And it was a common condition. A state of panic, confusion and fear in the ring of Soviet troops. And this ring was compressed.
Paulus
I must say that despite all the fears of the Germans toward their fate, to those who willingly surrender, the Soviet soldiers were more than tolerable. Who needed it received medical attention.
it is Well known that German prisoners worked. Not for a loaf of bread, as he worked the Soviet prisoners of war in Germany. The NKVD circular of 25 August 1942 ordered to extradite prisoners allowance (7 rubles enlisted,10 officers and 15 colonels, 30 – generals). There was a prize for hard work – 50 rubles per month. Prisoners could even receive letters and remittances from the homeland, they were given soap and clothes.
a Demonstration against the “mercy of the fallen” can be considered the fate of Friedrich Paulus, one of Hitler’s favorite marshals, the day before his personal surrender received the title of field Marshal and unequivocal “Hello” from the Fuehrer: “no, field Marshal of the Third Reich did not surrender to the enemy.”
Paulus became the first. On 31 January 1943 he surrendered.
on 8 August 1944, he will speak on the radio, calling upon the Germans to renounce the Fuhrer, from 1946 to live in the country in Tomilino as a “personal guest” of Stalin, in 1947 – I will go to a sanatorium in the Crimea, in 1953 – will leave for Germany, where he is the mouthpiece of the position of the Soviet Union, will be to condemn West Germany and to repeat that “Russia is not to defeat anyone.”
the restoration of the city
After the liberation of the city, in early February 1943, the Soviet government raised the issue not appropriate restoration of Stalingrad, which would cost more to build a new city.
However, Stalin personally insisted on the decision to restore Stalingrad in literally from the ashes. The Mamaev Kurgan was dropped as projectiles that after the release for 2 long years it did not grow grass.
Molotov declared that neither the Germans did not return home until Stalingrad will not be rebuilt.
Russian Seven
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