Enemy at the Gates (59 page)

Chapter Sixteen

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE (November 19-27, Chapters Sixteen and Seventeen.)

From interviews with Wilhelm Altar, Winrich Behr, Karl Binder, Horst Caspari, Franz Deifel, Pyotr Deriabin, Gerhard Dietzel, Isabella Feige, Karl Geist, Heinz Giessel, Gerhard Hassler, Herman Kastle, Dionys Kaiser, Leah Kalei, Heinz Lieber, Josef Linden, Xaver Marx, Wolf Pelikan, Albert Hager, Wilhelm Plass, Carl Rodenburg, Arthur Schmidt, Abraham Spitkovsky, Eugen Steinhilber, Siegfried Wendt, and statements by Karl Ostarhild (television documentary mentioned previously). Also, Heinz Schroter's
Stalingrad;
Herbert Selle's
The Tragedy of Stalingrad;
German Motorized Twenty-ninth Division history; Gram's
The Fourteenth Panzer Division;
Werthen's
History of the Sixteenth Panzer Division;
and
The 384th Infantry Division
(privately published); and Alex Buchrier's Combat Report of Second Battalion, Sixty-fourth Armored Infantry Regiment. Also, the War Diary of the Seventy-sixth Infantry Division and Karl Binder diary; Rumanian Army Records (see Documents for this period); plus Goerlitz's
Paulus and Stalingrad;
Care11's
Hitler Moves East,
and Philippi and Heim's
The Campaign Against Soviet Russia 1941-1945.
Also, P. 1. Batov's
In Campaigns and Battles;
Michael Bragin's "Stalingrad—Uranus, Saturn and Tanks,"
Moscva,
no. 2, 1968; M. Popov's "South of Stalingrad,"
V./.Z.,
no. 2, 1961; Rokossovsky's "Victory on The Volga,"
V./.Z.,
no. 2, 1968; A. Telegin's "Between Volga and Don,"
Voyenny Vestnik,
no. 2, 1963; A. Zheltov's "The Southwest Front of the Counterattack of Stalingrad,"
V./.Z.,
no. 11, 1967; P. Zhidkov's "How the Ring Around the German Sixth Army Was Closed,"
VIZ.,
no. 3, 1962; also A. P. Bachurin's
Front Memoirs;
Chuikov's
The Battle for Stalingrad;
Khrushchev's memoir; Koroteev's
Stalingrad
Miracle;
K. Morozov's
The Regiments Fought Like Guards
and
The Fight for the Volga:
and various participants' recollections in Samsonov's
Stalingrad
Epopeya;
and Yeremenko and Zhukov books previously cited.

Contrary to many Western accounts, the vital bridge at Kalach fell on November 22, not November 21.

Chapter Seventeen

COLLAPSE OF RUMANIAN ARMIES AND REPERCUSSIONS

From Winrich Behr diary; records of German military mission to Rumania (see Documents); Frank Capra's, documentary
movie The Battle for Russia;
Henry Cassidy's
Moscow
Dateline;
Erich von Manstein's
Lost Victories;
General Platon Chimoaga's monograph on unfairness of Germans to their Rumanian allies.

EAST PRUSSIAN CONFERENCES

From interview with Adolf Heusinger; Kurt Zeitzler's remarks in
The Fatal Decisions;
Cajus Bekker's
The Luftwaffe War Diaries;
also Care11's
Hitler Moves East, 1941-1943.

NEWLY FORMED KESSEL

From interviews with Karl Binder, Hermann 'Castle, Emil Metzger, Heinz Neist, Hans Oettl, Albert Pfliiger, Arthur Schmidt; Schiller diaries; Giinter Toepke's book; also Wilhelm Kreiser diary.

Chapter Eighteen

THE AIRLIFT

From Paulus' private papers and Richthofen diary; Cajus Bekker's
The Luftwaffe War Diaries;
Goerlitz's
Paulus and Stalingrad;
Fritz Morjik's
The German Transport Command in the Second World War;
H. von Rohden's
The Luftwaffe Struggle for Stalingrad;
also Care11's
Hitler Moves East 1941-1943.

THE KESSEL AND RUSSIAN ATTACKS

From interviews with Karl Binder, plus Binder diary; Franz Deifel, Hersch Gurewicz, Anton Kappler, Heinrich Klotz, Heinz Lieber, Albert Pfliiger, Friedrich Syndicus, Hubert Widmer; also statements by Wilhelm Plass and Rudi Pothmann; Eugen Rettenmaier diary.
Also von Dieckhoff's
The Twenty-ninth Motorized Division History;
A. D. Kolesnik's
The Great Victory on the Volga
and V. Koroteev's,
Stalingrad Miracle, Stalingrad Sketches
and
I Saw it.

Chapter Nineteen

OPERATION WINTER STORM

From interview with Alexei Petrov. From War Diary Tank Regiment Eleven, Sixth Panzer Division (see Horst Schiebert's
Relief Operation Stalingrad);
also Manstein's
Lost Victories;
Ms. number P-060g; Sixth Panzer Division, en route to Stalingrad, December 1942 (see Documents); A. M. Vasilevsky's "Unforgettable Days"
VIZ.,
no. 3, 1966; also Felix Gilbert's
Hitler Directs His War.
Also Manstein's
Lost Victories,
Paulus' private papers; AI thur Schmidt's critique (unpublished).

KESSEL

From interviews with Ekkehart Brunnert, Tania Chernova, Ignacy Changar, and Heinz Neist; plus diary of Wilhelm Kreiser and Eugen Rettenmaier; also Koroteev's
Stalingrad
Miracle;
I. Paderin's
In the Main Direction.

Chapter Twenty

RELIEF ATTEMPT

From interviews with Josef Linden, Gerhard Meunch, Alexei Petrov, and Arthur Schmidt; also Schmidt's unpublished manuscript on details of relief operations through December 25 (see next two chapers). From Goerlitz's
Paulus and Stalingrad;
and Manstein's
Lost Victories;
also Friedrich Paulus's private papers.

Chapter Twenty-One

ARMY GROUP DON—SIXTH ARMY CONVERSATIONS

From interviews with Winrich Behr and Arthur Schmidt; Schmidt manuscript and communications log between both groups (see Documents for appropriate dates). Also Sixth Panzer Division manuscript referred to in previous chapter notes and Horst Scheibert's
Relief Operation-Stalingrad;
plus Carell's
Hitler Moves East;
Goerlitz's
Paulus and Stalingrad
and SchrOter's
Stalingrad
.

THE ITALIAN EIGHTH ARMY

From interviews with Giuseppe Aleandri, Felice Bracci, Cristoforo Capone, Stelio Sansone. Also Umberto Salvatore's
Bersaglieri on the Don.

Chapter Twenty-Two

THE CONTINUING ROUT OF THE ITALIAN EIGHTH ARMY

From interviews as noted in preceding chapter. German communications between Gumrak and Novocherkassk (see Documents as noted in previous chapters).

SIXTH PANZER DIVISION ADVANCE

(see previous citations.)

SITUATION INSIDE KESSEL

From interviews with Ekkehart Brunnert, Albert Pfliiger, Ernst Wohlfahrt; Karl Binder diary.

AIRLIFT BREAKDOWN

From Bekker's
The Luftwaffe War Diaries;
Care11's
Hitler Moves East;
and Morzik's
The German Transport Command in the Second World War.

Chapter Twenty -Three

THE CHRISTMAS SEASON ( also in next chapter)

From interviews with Hans Braunlein, Karl Binder, Ekkehart Brunnert, Mikhail Goldstein, Emil Metzger, Gerhard Meunch, Hans Oettl and Albert Pflilger. Also Sacha Fillipov in
The Great Victory in Stalingrad,
Moscow: 1950; plus previously mentioned works by Gerasimov and Koroteev. Also Koroteev's
I Saw It;
Schroter's
Stalingrad
;
and Werthen's
History of the Sixteenth Panzer Division.
The author listened to the Ring Broadcast, played during the twenty-fifth anniversary documentary on German television.

TELETYPE

See previous chapter notes.

Chapter Twenty-Four

TEDDY—KLAUS EXCHANGE

From von Below family papers (microfilm in National Archives, Washington, D.C.).

KREMLIN MEETING

From Yeremenko's
Stalingrad
;
Zhukov's memoirs; and Khrushchev's memoir.

ITALIANS

From interview with Felice Bracci and his unpublished manuscript, a harrowing story.

Chapter Twenty-Five

MAIL

From unpublished letters on file in German archives at Freiburg. Also Karl Binder's letters to his wife.

Chapter Twenty-Six

DETERIORATION OF GERMAN TROOPS

From interviews with Giinter von Below, Ekkehart Brunnert, Ignacy Changar, Hermann Kastle, Heinrich Klotz, Ottmar Kohler, Gerhard Meunch, Hans Oettl, Alexei Petrov.

ITALIANS

From interviews with Felice Bracci, Cristoforo Capone, and Veniero Marsan. Also Bracci's manuscript and Enrico Reginato's
Twelve Years of Prison in the USSR.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

THE COLLAPSE OF THE POCKET (January 10-20)

From interviews with Eugen Baumann, Winrich Behr, Karl Binder, Hans Braunlein, Franz Broder, Horst Caspari, Pyotr Deriabin, Fritz Dieckman, Georg Frey, Werner Gerlach, Anton Kappler, Emil Metzger, Albert Pfliiger, Carl Rodenburg, Gottlieb Slotta, and Hubert Wirkner. Also statements by Wilhelm Plass and Rudi Pothmann; Selle's
The Tragedy of Stalingrad;
and Third Motorized; Twenty-ninth Motorized, and 384th Division histories. Also Ninth Flak Division war diaries; and Valeriu Campianu's
The Stalingrad Siege,
written in Bucharest in 1945; N. N. Voronov article in
Krasnaya Zvezda,
Feb. 1, 1963.

MALINOVSKY

From
The New York Times
dispatch. Also
The Red Army
by Walter Kerr and Alexander Werth's
The Year of Stalingrad.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

EAST PRUSSIA MEETINGS

From interview with Winrich Behr and statement by Coelestin von Zitzewitz. Also Care11's
Hitler Moves East,
and Goerlitz'
Paulus and Stalingrad.
LOSS OF PITOMNIK AND GUMRAK From interviews with Wilhelm Alter, Franz Deifel, Ottmar Kohler, Emil Metzger, Josef Metzler, Gerhard Meunch, Heinz Neist, Albert Pfliiger, Gottlieb Slotta, and Hubert Widmer. Also SeIle's
The Tragedy of Stalingrad;
Joachim Wieder's
Stalingrad
: How It Really Was.
Sixth Army radio traffic (see Documents for appropriate dates).

The Luftwaffe lost 488 planes on the shuttle to the Kessel. A pilot named Wieser was the last to fly from the pocket (January 25).

In his book, Colonel Adam mentions the wide-spread rumor among Sixth Army officers that General Schmidt kept a light plane at the airport for an escape from the
Kessel. In
my conversations with Schmidt, he admits that he planned to fly out, but only long enough to plead for more help from Hitler.

Paulus refused to let him go.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

SURRENDER AND AFTERMATH

From interviews with Wilhelm Alter, Helmut Bangert, Eugen Baumann, Ginter von Below, Karl Binder, Hans Braunlein, Friedrich Breining, Franz Brkider, Horst Caspari, Franz Deifel, Gregori Denisov, Pyotr Deriabin, Fritz Dieckmann, Gerhard Dietzel, Karl Englehardt, Paul Epple, Isabella Feige, Karl Floeck, George Frey, Karl Geist, Wilhelm Giebeler, Werner Gerlach, Heinz Giessel, Adolf Heusinger, Hans Mich, Dionys Kaiser, Anton Kappler, Hermann Kastle, Herbert Kreiner, Heinrich Klotz, Ottmar Kohler, Heinz Lieber, Josef Linden, Emil Metzger, Josef Metzler, Heinz Neist, Hans Oettl, Alexei Petrov, Ernst Paulus, Albert Pfliiger, Mesten Pover, Herbert Rentsch, Carl Rodenburg, Arthur Schmidt, Albert Schon, Kurt Siol, Gottlieb Slotta, Oscar Stange, Eugen Steinhilber, Friedrich Syndicus, Rudolf Taufer, Siegfried Wendt, Hubert Wirkner, Ernst Wohlfahrt, and Pyotr Zabavskikh.
Also statements by Franz Brendgen, Berthold Englert, August Kronmiiller, Xaver Marx, Hans Schiller and unpublished monograph by Arthur Schmidt on last days. Also Professor Jay Baird's "The Myth of Stalingrad" in
Institute
of Contemporary
History,
vol. 4, no. 3, July 1969.

German works dealing extensively with the end of the battle include: Wilhelm Adam's
The Hard Decision;
Hans Dibold's
Doctor at Stalingrad;
Philip Humbert's article in
Der Spiegel,
no. 5, 1949; Theodor Plievier's
Stalingrad
and Wieder's
Stalingrad
.
(see Ludwig affidavit). Among many Russian books and periodicals on the surrender are P. Batov's
In Campaigns and Battles;
V. Grinevsky's "The Last Days,"
Krasnaya Zvezda,
Feb. 2, 1963; I. Laskin's "Once More on the Capture of General Field Marshal Paulus,"
V./.Z.
1961; I. Morozov's
The Fight for the Volga;
K. K. Rokossovsky's "The Morning of Our Victory,"
lzvestia,
Feb. 1, 1968: M. S. Shumilov in
Komsomolskaya Pravda,
Feb. 1, 1963; L. A. Vinokur's "In Those Days,"
Sovetskaya Rossiya,
Feb. 2, 1958; P. Vladimirov's "The Encounter,"
Krasnaya Zvezda,
Feb. 2, 1963. Also: Rokossovsky, Shumilov and Voronov in Samsonov's
Stalingrad
Epopeya.

Others: Agapov's
After the Battle;
Chuikov's
The Battle for Stalingrad;
Druzhinin's
Two Hundred Fiery Days;
A. Werth's
Russia
At War, 1941– 1945.

Chapter Thirty

THE WRECKAGE OF WAR

From interviews with Ignacy Changar, Tania Chemova, Hersch Gurewicz. Also A. S. Chuyanov's
Stalingrad
Is Reviving,
written in 1944; and A. M. Samsonov's
The Stalingrad Battle,
the best analysis of destruction in the city.

PRISON CAMPS AND CANNIBALISM