general schmidt stalingrad

According to Soviet statistics, from 1945 to 1956, over 580,000 people died in prison camps, over 356,000 of them Germans. "[18], On 18 or 19 December, Major Eismann was sent by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein to brief Paulus and Schmidt on Operation Donnerschlag, Army Group Don's plan, not sanctioned by Hitler, for the Sixth Army to break out and incorporate itself in Manstein's Army Group. Arthur Schmidt (25 October 1895 5 November 1987) was an officer in the German military from 1914 to 1943. His troops fought Soviet forces defending Stalingrad for over three months in increasingly brutal urban warfare. [9] However, he only took over his new command on 20 January, six days after the sudden death of Reichenau,[10] leaving him on his own and without the support of his more experienced sponsor. Aggressively ideological, his aggression would translate into a passive kind as he functioned as his chief's alter ego [] As late as mid-December, Paulus, even as illusions had all but vanished, would still not contradict Schmidt when he presented his tragically absurd hypotheses to visitors to the besieged and starving Sixth Army.[24]. I was going to get up quietly when someone knocked at the door. When presented with the commander of 51st Corps General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach's 25 November memorandum to Paulus, detailing plans for a breakout, Schmidt said: "We don't have to break the head of the Fhrer for him, and neither does General von Seydlitz have to break the head of [General Paulus]. My God, what a contrast between the two sides! The Germans started to withdraw, pursued by Malinovskys 2nd Guards Army which had begun a counterattack on December 24. According to Pois and Langer: [Paulus's] chief of staff, Arthur Schmidt, a committed National Socialist to the end, seemed to represent Hitler for Paulus, indeed, probably was Hitler at Stalingrad. 1943. The Aftermath in Stalingrad - billdownscbs.com The events of that day were recorded by Colonel Wilhelm Adam, one of Paulus' aides and an adjutant in the XXIII Army Corps, in his personal diary: January 31, 1943 7.00 a.m. with these words he opened the door and a Soviet general and his interpreter entered the room. [14], On 7 January 1943 General Konstantin Rokossovsky, commander of the Red Army on the Don front, called a cease-fire and offered Paulus' men generous surrender terms: normal rations, medical treatment for the ill and wounded, permission to retain their badges, decorations, uniforms and personal effects. And anyway, my new uniform will hardly be of any use to me now, the commander added with a wry smile. On the night of January 31, 1943, units of the 64th Armys 38th Motorized Rifle Brigade broke through to the department store building in the center of Stalingrad, sealing it off from all sides. I placed my revolver on the table. [23], From 1953 to 1956, Paulus lived in Dresden, East Germany, where he worked as the civilian chief of the East German Military History Research Institute. And the mission would have had to be accomplished by troops who were thoroughly weary through lack of food and whose mobility had been almost completely lost. After the Armistice, Paulus was a brigade adjutant with the Freikorps. In that role he helped draft the plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa. Friedrich Paulus Last Days in the Bunker: Facing Stalingrad - YouTube exact date unknow end Nov. - early December 1942, flew out : in the evening of 22 January 1943 - ordered to. Magdeburgisches) Nr. Realizing their blunder, the Soviet military command ordered the 2nd Guards Army under the command of Lieutenant-General Rodion Malinovsky to the battle zone. [21] Of the 91,000 German prisoners taken at Stalingrad, half had died on the march to Siberian prison camps, and nearly as many died in captivity; only about 6,000 survived and returned home.[b]. After all the formalities had been settled and the Field Marshal had received guarantees of his personal safety, he was led out of the basement, along with his staff officers. Stalingrad archives of Jason Mark, Manfred Kehrig - Everyone knows that our nation used to have great military experts, known all over the world, such as Clausewitz, Moltke the Elder, Schlieffen. Rudolf Schmidt - Wikipedia [9] At Nizhne-Chirskaya on 22 November, Schmidt told 8th Air Corps's commander, General Martin Fiebig, that Sixth Army needed to be resupplied by air. The rank of field marshal has been conferred upon you. It would have had to go out to meet the 4th Panzer Army, while fighting on all four sides as if forming a square, Erich von Manstein wrote in his memoirs, Lost Victories. Arthur Schmidt (Offizier) - Wikipedia Street fighting was still under way in the center of Stalingrad when German officers, accompanied by Soviet commanding officers, set off in vehicles to order their units to cease firing. He was considered a promising officer; by the time World War II broke out he had been promoted to major general. [2] On 25 October 1940 he served as chief of staff in 5th Army Corps, a position he held until 25 March 1942, when he moved to the Fhrerreserve at Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH). Battle of Stalingrad | History, Summary, Location, Deaths, & Facts According to Beevor: [Soviet commanders] were increasingly convinced that Paulus was virtually a prisoner in his own headquarters, guarded by his chief of staff [Schmidt]. These characteristics of Paulus and Schmidt would prove fatal to the trapped garrison of Stalingrad. In der Endphase der Schlacht bernahm er von Paulus weitgehend die Fhrung der Armee. The battle ended in disaster for the Wehrmacht when Soviet forces encircled the Germans within the city, leading to the ultimate death or capture of most of 265,000 6th Army personnel, their Axis allies and collaborators. He is not here. [11], Paulus followed Adolf Hitler's orders to hold his positions in Stalingrad under all circumstances, despite the fact that he was completely surrounded by strong Soviet forces. Soviet soldiers attacking last german resistance in Stalingrad. Malinin looked 35, square-faced with hair in a short pompadour which stuck up like a schoolboy's. The Germans had already had the successful experience of using an air bridge to resupply the 100,000-strong II Army Corps cut off near Demyansk at the beginning of the same year and successfully releasing it from its trap after several months of encirclement. . "[33], Prior to Paulus's interrogation, Paulus asked Schmidt how he should respond, to which Schmidt replied, "Remember you are a Field Marshal of the German Army," apparently (according to the Soviet interrogator) using the intimate "du" form of address, although Captain Winrich Behr, who was familiar with the relations between the two men, considered this unlikely. wounded, in the evening of 19 January 1943 - ordered to, became The German troops sustained significant losses and found it difficult to make headway. Paulus did not request to evacuate the city when the counter-offensive began. Newspaper clippings about Friedrich Paulus, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Friedrich_Paulus&oldid=1149650806, This page was last edited on 13 April 2023, at 15:20. At first, Paulus refused to collaborate with the Soviets. I recorded Paulus's new rank in his military document, stamped it with the seal then threw the seal into the glowing fire. Climbing out of the cellar, I stood dumbfounded. [27], Thyssen comments that both Paulus and Schmidt seemed to have forgotten Fiebig's statements on 21 and 22 November that the Luftwaffe would not be able to supply Sixth Army in the Kessel.[28]. During the Nuremberg Trials, Paulus was asked about the Stalingrad prisoners by a journalist. Nach dem Krieg wurde er in die Reichswehr bernommen. General Schmidt also was trying one last way to exit from Stalingrad. It was still dark but day was dawning almost imperceptibly. Description On 26 January 1943, the German forces inside Stalingrad were split into two pockets. Ahead for Friedrich Paulus lay Soviet camps, work in the anti-fascist National Committee for a Free Germany and life in the GDR for the short time left to him. It now seemed more impossible than ever to act against an order of the High Command or Army Group.[17]. Upon finding out about Paulus' "surrender", Hitler flew into a rage and vowed never to appoint another field marshal again. These characteristics of Paulus and Schmidt would prove fatal to the trapped garrison of Stalingrad. This website uses cookies. [6] Many false reports of the massing of Soviet forces were received from the Romanian sector, so when Stck radioed at 5 a.m. on 19 November that an offensive (marking the start of Operation Uranus, the Soviet encirclement of Axis forces) was about to begin, Schmidt, who was furious when disturbed by false alarms, was not informed,[7] although he was awoken twenty minutes later when it became clear that this was no false alarm. [2] On 26 January 1942 he was awarded the German Cross in Gold.[3]. Nachdem er anstelle von Paulus im Keller des Kaufhauses Univermag die bergabeverhandlungen gefhrt und die Kapitulation der 6. Here is a man who sees 50,000 or 60,000 of his soldiers die defending themselves bravely to the end. Januar wurde er zum Generalleutnant befrdert. Wilhelm Adam - Wikipedia Arthur Schmidt (general) View source Arthur Schmidt (25 October 1895 - 5 November 1987) was an officer in the German military from 1914 to 1943. Schmidt joined the army as a one-year volunteer on 10 August 1914, attaining the rank of Leutnant on 8 May 1915. Arthur Schmidt (soldier) - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core On December 18, the 4th Mechanized Corps which had particularly distinguished itself in the fighting here was awarded the title of Guards Corps. [1], Schmidt held various positions in the Heer, including chief of operations in Fifth Army (25.08.3912.10.39) and Eighteenth Army (05.11.3901.10.40). brought to the divisional doctor, Oberstarzt Dr. Dyatlenko had no doubt that Schmidt was "the eyes and hand of the Nazi Party" in the Sixth Army, because captured officers reported that "Schmidt was commanding the Army and even Paulus himself."[21]. It was the HQ commander. Gaunt, pale and emaciated, the commander of the Wehrmacht's 6th Army looked like a hunted animal to the Soviet military commanders. [35] Together with most German officers, Schmidt was moved to Camp 48 at Voikovo, although he was kept away from Paulus by the NKVD, apparently because he was considered to be a bad influence on him. Er wurde am 15. He was not able to walk anymore and was brought to the divisional doctor, Oberstarzt Dr. Karl Uhrmacher (missing in Stalingrad since end January 1943). Army [36], After Voikovo, Schmidt was held in the Lubyanka prison. An officer, the head of the guards, allowed me and the driver to go out and get the car ready. November 1987 ebenda) war ein deutscher Generalleutnant. pocket and became General Officer, Chef Generalstab XIV. World War II - The Battle of Stalingrad | Britannica Oktober 1895 in Hamburg; 5. From right to left: Friedrich Paulus, General-Feldmarshal, commanding general of 6th Army, Arthur Schmidt, General-lieutenant, Chief of the 6th Army Staff; Wilhelm Adam, Colonel, Adjutant for Gen. Paulus said Paulus after reading the dispatch. Adam later served in the National People's Army of East Germany . January 1943). There are still many people today who wonder how Germany, which no doubt possessed a highly trained army, could be defeated in two wars. The negotiators were met by the commander of the Wehrmachts 71st Infantry Division, Maj-Gen Friedrich Roske, and the 6th Armys chief of staff, Gen. Arthur Schmidt. The anti-tank gunners (anti-tank rifle squads) fought to the last round, to the last grenade. [13], The decision not to negotiate with the Soviet envoys who bore an ultimatum to Paulus on 8 and 9 January 1943, was, for example, made by Schmidt, not Paulus, as Colonel Wilhelm Adam told one of the envoys, Captain Nikolay Dyatlenko, during his post-battle interrogation. On the night of January 31, 1943, units of the 64th Army's 38th. Gerhard Hindenlang - Facing Stalingrad The recently formed Army Group Don under the command of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, reinforced with divisions transferred from the North Caucasus and Western Europe, was tasked with opening a corridor to the city. The following month he was named deputy chief of the German General Staff (Oberquartiermeister I). flew out of the Hitler awarded the Knight's Cross to Schmidt on 6 January 1943 on the same day that Paulus signalled to General Kurt Zeitzler: "Army starving and frozen, have no ammunition and cannot move tanks any more" [25] and made him Generalleutnant on 17 January. [19] Beevor states that it is unclear what happened at the meeting, except that Paulus, who still believed in the chain of command, refused to break out without a clear order to do so from a superior, something that the politically deft Manstein refused to give.[19][20]. fly out of the Stalingrad pocket and he left on [19], Shortly before surrendering, Paulus sent his wedding ring back to his wife on the last plane departing his position. Stalingrad pocket to, received orders to "Photographs of Schmidt at a Sixth Army reunion, Wiesbaden 1969", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arthur_Schmidt_(general)&oldid=1145006784, Lieutenant generals of the German Army (Wehrmacht), Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union, German commanders at the Battle of Stalingrad, Short description is different from Wikidata, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from August 2013, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 16 March 2023, at 19:24.