It has been suggested that much of the reason for Schmidt's ascendancy over Paulus lay in the fact that, unlike Paulus, Schmidt was a committed Nazi, and Paulus, afraid of Hitler and conscious of his responsibility for Sixth Army's catastrophic position, saw Schmidt as a cipher for the Fhrer whom he could placate. On the order of the brigade commander, Colonel Ivan Burmakov, a group of negotiators led by Senior Lieutenant Fyodor Ilchenko headed for the department store building. It appears the Storks only had the range to fly one way. The German soldiers - ragged, in thin greatcoats over threadbare uniforms, as thin as skeletons - presented emaciated figures exhausted half to death, with sunken, unshaved features. The commander of the encircled troops did not issue the order, however. After he concluded that they would not, telling both Schmidt and Paulus so, Paulus reprimanded him for the original promise that air supply to Sixth Army would be possible, asking him: "Can you imagine that the soldiers fall upon a horse cadaver, split open its head, and devour the brain raw?" By the end of the war, he was a captain. Stalingrad was going to fall - if not in August 1942 then certainly in September. [34] Unlike many German prisoners of war, such as Paulus himself and von Seydlitz-Kurzbach, Schmidt refused to co-operate with the Soviets, despite the NKVD's attempt to ingratiate themselves by serving him caviar and champagne in a luxury railway coach. Certainly, in their time they assessed the political-military situation of Germany with perseverance and sobriety, developed principles and positions for the strategy and tactics of a general nature, which were valid for the special situation in which Germany would be in a state of war. Soviet soldiers attacking last german resistance in Stalingrad. "[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. .
[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. On one of the final Luftwaffe flights out of Stalingrad, Paulus had sent his wedding ring to his wife. Armee unterzeichnet hatte, geriet Schmidt am 31. 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. [37] He died in Karlsruhe on 5 November 1987. In comparison . That would be a Napoleonic ending. On 4 July 1912 he married the Romanian Constance Elena Rosetti-Solescu, the sister of a colleague who served in the same regiment. He was told that "The Luftwaffe doesn't have enough aircraft. The basement was literally packed with soldiers - there were hundreds of them here. Hearing the sound of gunfire, Ilchenko made a grab for his holster, but it only turned out to be suicides. February 9, 1943 The Russian blow at Kursk was so fierce and the threat of encirclement so great that the Germans fled frantically, throwing away quantities of equipment. The twin pincers of this counteroffensive struck the flanks of the German salient at points about 50 miles . Stalingrad archive of Geert Rottiers, Private
Maybe since the last time we met - more than 10 years ago - our views on specific issues differed, but I know in general, through his writings, with what sense of responsibility, how restlessly he refused to align himself with the Federal Chancellor's European Defence Community policy. They had huddled here to hide from the mortar fire, recalled the senior lieutenant. Other historians, such as Mitcham, agree: As the situation in Stalingrad deteriorated, Paulus's self-confidence declined, and he allowed himself (and 6th Army) to be more and more guided by his chief of staff, until Arthur Schmidt was virtually conducting the battle for the German side. Gerhard Hindenlang was born 1916 in Berlin. On the afternoon of 22 November, Schmidt flew with Paulus to the new Sixth Army HQ at Gumrak. had been ordered to fly out by Heeresgruppe Don
Arthur Schmidt (general) - Wikipedia Hitler, leery of the reasons for Paulus' transfer to Nizhne-Chirskaya, orders him to move his HQ again. 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]. The tanks opened up their devastating fire and the assault rifles of the Hitlerite infantry stuttered and rattled.
Battle of Stalingrad | History, Summary, Location, Deaths, & Facts The Red Army fighters looked fresh and wore warm winter uniforms. He remained in that post until May 1939, when he was promoted to major general and became chief of staff for the German Tenth Army, with which he saw service in Poland. Military Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. The Soviet Operation Koltso (Ring) to defeat the enemy grouping encircled in the city was approaching its finale. Lasting from August 1942 to February 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad was the largest battle of World War II and in the history of warfare. Even though it was obvious the Sixth Army was in an untenable position, the German Army High Command rejected Paulus' request, stating, "Capitulation out of the question. His troops fought Soviet forces defending Stalingrad for over three months in increasingly brutal urban warfare. At the same time, Paulus declined to order the northern pocket to surrender on the grounds that, since January 30, its commander, Col-Gen Karl Strecker, was directly accountable to Hitler. [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. He was a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union for twelve years, and was released following West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer's visit to Moscow in 1955. As a result of the talks, the southern pocket of German troops, commanded by General Roske, was to capitulate. After the Soviet troops opened intensive fire from machine guns and mortars on the building at about six oclock in the morning, the shooting from the German side stopped. Paulus relied greatly on his judgement, and as a result he played a large, some say an excessive, role in determining the course of events later that year. flew out of the
Schmidt and Paulus set up their HQ in the Kessel underneath the Univermag department store on the city's Red Square. [10] He re-emphasised that before Sixth Army could break out to the south: "We must have fuel and ammunition delivered by the Luftwaffe. [10] He re-emphasised that before Sixth Army could break out to the south: "We must have fuel and ammunition delivered by the Luftwaffe." [2] On 26 January 1942 he was awarded the German Cross in Gold.[3]. Paulus led the drive on Stalingrad that summer. [16] However, on 24 November Sixth Army received a further Fhrer order relayed from Army Group B, ordering them to stand firm. Analyse und Dokumentation einer Schlacht, in the evening of 13 January 1943 - ordered to, during the night of 19 and 20 January 1943 -
Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox.
Arthur Schmidt (soldier) - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core [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). There, they encountered the freshly-formed Soviet 2nd Guards Army that had finally arrived on the scene. Click here to find out more. Schmidt was appointed chief of staff to General Friedrich Paulus in Sixth Army on 15 May 1942, replacing Colonel Ferdinand Heim after the counter-attack against Marshal Semyon Timoshenko at the Second Battle of Kharkov. https://books.google.com/books?id=OWOQAv01lYEC, https://books.google.com/books?id=inwd2rDaLm4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=isbn:1874622469&cd=1#q=schmidt, https://books.google.com/books?id=xg8QrmsLK-kC, https://books.google.com/books?id=qWuWOFS4o7AC&dq=%22arthur+Schmidt%22+stalingrad, "A Desperate Struggle to Save a Condemned Army: a critical review of the Stalingrad airlift", http://www.stormingmedia.us/44/4497/A449793.html, "Photographs of Schmidt at a Sixth Army reunion, Wiesbaden 1969", http://www.stalingrad.net/german-hq/members-aok-6/members_aok_6_a.htm, Pages containing cite templates with deprecated parameters, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, 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, Knights of the House Order of Hohenzollern, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Schmidt, confident of his own abilities, put many backs up within Sixth Army headquarters, although he also had his supporters. 4 posts Page 1 of 1 Almost 70% of deaths occurred in the winter of 1945-1946. Behrs instructions were to ask
The Soviets held higher ground to the west, meaning that Sixth Army would be exposed to their guns if it attempted to break out. The following excerpt covers the last two days in Stalingrad as Adam began to have doubts about the Chief of Staff to the 6th Army, Lieutenant-General Schmidt: Was Lieutenant-General Schmidt playing a double game? [23] When General Hans-Valentin Hube flew into the Kessel [the encircled pocket of Axis forces in Stalingrad] on the morning of 9 January with Hitler's message to stand firm, "this strengthened General Schmidt's intransigent position at Sixth Army's headquarters." Schmidt, confident of his own abilities, put many backs up within Sixth Army headquarters, although he also had his supporters. Having survived Winter Storm and not having heard the Thunderclap, the Soviet command calmly returned to drawing up its planned operation to split up and conclusively destroy the Paulus grouping - preparations for which had been interrupted by the German offensive. Paulus and I came separately to the same conclusion. What happened to the first German Field Marshal made prisoner?On January 31, 1943, in the basement of the Univermag department store, Field Marshal Paulus su. When I say that we Germans must focus above all on the unity and independence of Germany, on the affirmation of the vital national rights of our nation, I realize that in this way we are best serving the cause of peace, of international dtente and reconciliation between peoples. I prepared for my last official duty. Establishing good neighborly relations with the countries that surround us from east and west is crucial for our national existence. We reacted to this order with astonishment, since we had expected some sort of discussion with the Army Group, and were fairly certain of the breakout. Paulus remained absolutely firm in obeying the orders he had been given. Guderian described him as "brilliantly clever, conscientious, hard working, original and talented" but had severe doubts about his decisiveness, toughness and lack of command experience. [10] Later that day, Schmidt and Paulus held a conference attended by General Hermann Hoth and Major-General Pickert,[10] during which Schmidt "did much of the talking". They led the Soviet soldiers to Pauluss room. Snow fell from our vehicle tracks. But it was precisely during those days, when everyone was still waiting, believing and hoping, that the approaching formations tasked with releasing the 6th Army from its encirclement were halted and then pushed back by Russian forces without reaching their objective..
Stalingrad - An Examination of Hitler's Decision to Airlift During the Nuremberg Trials, Paulus was asked about the Stalingrad prisoners by a journalist. He was a First Lieutenant in the 71 st Infantry Division that spearheaded the attack into Stalingrad in September 1942. In 1920s, as part of the military cooperation between Weimar Republic and Soviet Union to escape Treaty of Versailles, Paulus presented guest lectures in Moscow, Soviet Union.[8]. Involuntarily I remembered the chain of unfortunate events which had prevented me from sleeping for so many nights. Soviet and German soldiers, who just a few hours earlier had been shooting at one another, now stood quietly together in the yard. "[11] Schmidt maintained that the army, which would adopt a "hedgehog" defence, must be resupplied, but that the situation was not yet so desperate as there were plenty of horses left that could serve as food. Soviet and German soldiers who just a few hours earlier had been firing on each other stood calmly next to one another in the courtyard holding their guns in their hands or slung on their shoulder. Mai 1942 Chef des Generalstabes der von Friedrich Paulus befehligten 6. German officers who flew out of the Stalingrad pocket and became General Officer later during World War 2 End November early December 1942 Johannes Schmidt became sick.
Friedrich Paulus - Wikipedia On the afternoon of 22 November, Schmidt flew with Paulus to the new Sixth Army HQ at Gumrak. [4] He tried, unsuccessfully, to secure a cadetship in the Imperial German Navy and briefly studied law at Marburg University. [30] When the forces defending Sixth Army HQ surrendered on the morning of 31 January, Schmidt discussed surrender terms with officers from General Shumilov's HQ, while Paulus waited unaware in a room next door. I placed my revolver on the table. We shall be back for you at 9.00. But, the enemy kept pressing home their attack, their tanks and armored vehicles reached our dug-in positions and then started to steamroll them. Am 6.
Wilhelm Adam - Wikipedia A huge Soviet counteroffensive, planned by generals G.K. Zhukov, A.M. Vasilevsky, and Nikolay Nikolayevich Voronov, was launched on Nov. 19-20, 1942, in two spearheads, north and south of the German salient whose tip was at Stalingrad. The German troops closest positions to the encircled 6th Army were in the area of the Chir River (just 40 km away). The northern pocket was tactically commanded by General Strekker while the southern pocket was commanded by General Roske. With the new year, Hitler promoted Paulus to colonel general. (In fact, he went on to appoint another seven field marshals during the last two years of the war.) Battle of Stalingrad, (July 17, 1942-February 2, 1943), successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russia, U.S.S.R., during World War II. said Paulus after reading the dispatch. Dyatlenko was born in 1914 in the village of Kulichka in the Lebedin region, in present-day Sumy Oblast, Ukraine. Following his release, Schmidt remained bitterly hostile to those German officers who had co-operated with the Soviets in the National Committee for a Free Germany. Interrogation of captured German officers led Soviet commanders to realise that, because of the toll of events on Paulus's nerves, Schmidt was the real commander of the defending forces.
Stopped Cold at Stalingrad - HistoryNet [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.