Hitler Moves East, 1941-1943

HITLER MOVES EAST 1941-1943 BY PAUL CARELL

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
UNTERNEHMEN

BARBAROSSA

BY EWALD OSERS

with maps

Little, Brown edition published February 1965 2nd printing , . . . July 1965

Bantam edition published February 1966 All rights reserved.

German edition
© 1963
Verlag Ullstein GMBH., Frankfurt/M.Berlin. English translation Copyright
©
1964 George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd.

CONTENTS

Part One: Moscow

1. Taken by Surprise

The forest of Pratulin
—
The white
'G'—0375
hours
—
Across the Bug, the San, and the Memel-
—
Raseiniai and Liepaja
—
Surprise attack against Daugavpils
—
Manstein is made to halt
—
Rundstedt encounters difficulties
—
The citadel of Brest

2.
Stalin Looks for a Saviour

The first battles of encirclement
—
Why were the Soviets taken by surprise?
—
Stalin knew the date of the attack
—
The "Red Chapel" and Dr Sorge
—
Precursors of the U-2
—
Stalin and Hitler at poker
—
General Potaturchev is taken prisoner and is interrogated

1. Objective Smolensk
   

   The forest of Bialowieza
   —
   The bridges over the Berezina
   —
   Soviet counter-attacks
   —
   The T-34, the great surprise
   —
   Fierce fighting at Rogachev and Vitebsk
   —
   Molotov cocktails—Across the Dnieper
   —
   Hoth's tanks cut the highway to Moscow
   —
   A Thuringian infantry regiment storms Smolensk
   —
   Postdam Grenadiers against Mogilev
   

2. Moscow or Kiev?
   

Inferno in the Yelnya bend
—
A visit from the Mauerwald
—
Hitler does not want to make for Moscow
—
Guderian flies to see Hitler
—
Dramatic wrangling at Hitler's Headquarters
—
"My generals do not understand wartime economics"

1. Stalin's Great Mistake
   

   Battles of annihilation at Roslavl and Klintsy
   —
   Stalin trusts his secret service
   —
   Armoured thrust to the south
   —
   Yeremenko expects an attack on Moscow
   

2. The Battle of Kiev :
   

   Rundstedt involved in heavy fighting on the southern wing
   —
   Kleist's tank victory at Uman
   —
   Marshal Budennyy tries to slip through the noose
   —
   Stalin's orders: Not a step back!
   —
   Guderian and Kleist close the trap: 665,000 prisoners
   

3. Code Name "Typhoon" :
   

Caviare for Churchill
—
The mysterious town of Bryansk
—
Moscow's first line of defence over-run
—
Looting in Sadovaya Street
—
Stopped by the mud
—
Fighting for Tula and Kalinin
—
The diary of a Russian lieutenant
—
Secret conference at Orsha
—
Marshal Zhukov reveals a Soviet bluff

1. Final Spurt towards Moscow
   

   "The days of waiting are over"
   —
   Cavalry charge at Musino
   —
   On the Volga Canal
   —
   Within five miles of Moscow
   —
   Panic in the Kremlin
   —
   Stalin telephones the front
   —
   40 degrees below zero Centigrade
   —
   Battle for the motor highway
   —
   Men, horses, and tanks in ice and snow
   —
   Everything stop
   

2. Why Couldn't Moscow Be Taken? :
   

Cold weather and Siberian troops
—
The miracle of Moscow was no miracle
—
A chapter from the history of German- Soviet collaboration after the First World War
—
The unknown army
—
Tukhachevskiy's alliance with the Reichswehr
—
Himmler's grand intrigue
—
Stalin beheaded the Red Army

Part Two: Leningrad

1. Chase through the Baltic Countries

Ostrov and Pskov
—
Artillery against KV-1 and KV-2 monsters
—
Hoepner is held back by the High Command
—
The swamp of Chudovo
—
Manstein's Corps cut off
—
The road to Leningrad is clear
—
Unsuccessful bathing party at Lake Samro

2.
Break-through on the Luga Front

Critical situation at Staraya Russa
—
The battle of Novgorod
—
A Karelian supplies Russian maps
—
German 21st Infantry Division against Soviet 21st Armoured Division
—
Through the forests near Luga
—
On the Oredezh
—
The Luga pocket
—
On top of the Duderhof Hills
—
Radio signal from Second Lieutenant Darius: I can see St Petersburg and the sea

3. In the Suburbs of Leningrad

"All change
—
end of the line!"
—
In the gardens of Slutsk
—
Harry Hoppe takes Schlüsselburg
—
Order from the Fuehrer's Headquarters: Leningrad must not be taken
—
Hitler's great mistake

Part Three: Rostov

1. Through the Nogay Steppe
   

   New objectives for the Southern Front
   —
   The bridge of Beri-slav
   —
   Sappers tackle the lower Dnieper
   —
   Mölders's fighter aircraft intervene
   —
   The road to the Crimea is barred
   —
   Battle at the Tartar Ditch
   —
   Roundabout in the Nogay Steppe
   —
   Between Berdyansk and Mariupol
   

2. The Battle of the Crimea
   

   Ghost fleet between Odessa and Sevastopol
   —
   Eight-day battle for the isthmus
   —
   the Askaniya Nova collective fruit farm
   —
   Pursuit across the Crimea
   —
   "Eight girls without baskets"
   —
   First assault on Sevastopol
   —
   In the communication trenches of Fort Stalin
   —
   Russian landing at Feodosiya
   —
   Disobedience of a general
   —
   Manstein suspends the attack on Sevastopol
   —
   The Sponeck affair
   

3. In the Industrial Region of the Soviet Union
   

Kleist's Panzer Army takes Stalino
—
Sixth Army captures Kharkov
—
First round in the battle for Rostov
—
Obersturmführer Olboeter and thirty men
—
Rundstedt is dismissed
—
Ringing of the alarm bells

Part Four: Winter Battle

1. The Siberians Are Coming

5th December 1941
—
No winter clothing
—
Fighting for Klin
—
3rd Panzer Group fights its way back
—
Second Panzer Army has to give ground
—
Drama on the ice of the Ruza
—
Brauchitsch leaves
—
Historic conversation at the Fuehrer's Headquarters
—
Hold on at all costs
—
Break-through at Ninth Army
—
The tragedy of XXIII Corps
—
Time-table for "Giessen"
—
Guderian is dismissed

2.
South of Lake Ilmen

The fishing village of Vzvad
—
Charge across the frozen lake
—
Four Soviet Armies over-run one German Division
—
Staraya Russa
—
The Valday Hills
—
Yeremenko has a conversation with Stalin in the Kremlin shelter
—
The Guards are starving
—
Toropets and Andreapol
—
The tragedy of 189th Infantry Regiment

1. Model Takes Over
   

   The supply-dumps of Sychevka
   —
   "What have you brought with you, Herr General?"
   —
   A regiment holds the Volga bend
   —"I a
   m the only one left from my company"
   —
   Stalin's offensive gets stuck
   —
   Sukhinichi, or the mouse in the elephant's trunk
   —
   A padre and a cavalry sergeant
   —
   Spotlight on the other side: two Russian diaries and a farewell letter
   

2. Assault on the Valday Hills
   

The Soviet 57th Striking Brigade charges across the Volkhov
—
Rendezvous: Clearing Erika
—
Two Soviet Armies in the bag
—
Demyansk: 100,000 Germans surrounded
—
An unusual Order of the Day by Count Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt
—
A pocket is supplied from the air
—
Operation "Bridge-building"
—
Kholm, a fortress without guns

5.
General Vlasov

A crack Soviet Army in the swamp
—
The wooden road across the clearing Erika
—
A merciless battle
—
Engineers Battalion 158
—
-Break-out from hell
—
The disaster to the Soviet Second Striking Army
—
"Don't shoot; I am General Vlasov"
—
Maps buried under a river

Part Five: The Ports on the Arctic Ocean

1. "Operation Platinum Fox"

The Murmansk railway
—
Offensive on the edge of the world
—
General Dietl reaches out for Murmansk
—
Across the Titovka and Litsa
—
No roads in the tundra
—
An error costs the Finns their victory
—
Mountain Jägers in the Litsa bridgehead

2.
Battle in the Arctic Night

From Athens to Lapland
—
1400 horses must die
—
The Pet-samojoki river
—
Supply crisis
—
Nightmare trek along the Arctic Ocean road
—
The Soviet 10th Rifle Division celebrates the October Revolution
—
An anniversary attack
—
Fighting at Hand-grenade Rock
—
Convoy PQ 17
—
The Soviet 155th Rifle Division freezes to death
—
The front in the Far North becomes icebound

Part Six: The Caucasus and the Oilfields

1. Prelude to Stalingrad