Radio announcement of the Defeat in Stalingrad - 3 February 1943

The Battle for Stalingrad was perhaps the most famous battle of WWII.
After the Germans reached the City during the course of Case Blue, the 6th Army under General Paulus was tasked with capturing the city.
From Mid-September to November 1942, the Germans managed to capture 90% of the cities, however, the Soviets held a bridgehead on the left bank of the Wolga River.
The Soviets prepared a counter-offensive, Operation Uranus, which started on November 19th and resulted in the encirclement of the German 6th Army in Stalingrad. Attempts to relief the city failed, and after long and bitter fighting, the Germans capitulated on February 2nd, 1943.
This is a German radio announcement from February 3rd, informing the German public about the end of the Battle for Stalingrad.
-
Subtitles made by me.

[GermanWWIIArchive]

0:44 The Divisions talked about are:
The 9th Flak Division, formed in September 1941 in France, and assigned to the Eastern Front in January 1942, assigned to the 2nd and 6th Army, from July 1942 only to the 6th Army. During the Battle of Stalingrad, the Division was placed on the northern parts of the city and managed to shoot down 122 planes and destroy 299 tanks.
12 heavy and 13 medium and light AA-batteries were encircled in Stalingrad, while 5 heavy and 3 medium/light batteries managed to avoid encirclement.
During the siege, the division was used to protect the Pitomnik Airfield, one of the airfields used by the Germans in Stalingrad. During its existence from 1941 to February 1943, the division shot down 600 planes and destroyed 913 tanks.

The Romanian troops encircled in Stalingrad were the remains of the 20th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division. While Romania had two armies, the 3rd and 4th Army, with 18 divisions in total at Stalingrad, most of these were destroyed during the initial stages of Operation Uranus.

The Croatian Regiment at Stalingrad was the 369th Croatian Reinforced Infantry Regiment, part of the 100th Jäger Division, the only non-German unit to participate during all stages of the Battle of Stalingrad. It was involved in the capture of the Red October Factory and the Mamayev Hill, and was reduced to 1/3 of its strength by December 1942.
Both German and Croatian war diaries cite dozens of men from the unit for acts of bravery and valor. A notable example is Captain Madras, who was to be flown out of Stalingrad, but refused to left his men. Around 700 Croatians surrendered at Stalingrad, however, only around 90 were actual combat troops, while the other 600 were artillery and support troops.

[lonelychameleon]

“The army’s sacrifice was not in vain”
(It was in vain)

[badhombre]

“They died so that Germany may live” for two more years

[zeljkamiskic]

Yesterday, it is 81 years since the emd of the Battle of Stalingrad.

[moniquedulane]

1943 was the year when the Nazis started to be aware, that the 1000 years Reich length, may not be happening.

[wonkeeeeee]

Amazing footage. I’ve asked myself what the regime told the public of the defeat at Stalingrad. I tried to find old German news articles from this period but they are practically impossible to find for general research. Thank you for uploading this broadcast.

[sibarrazcl]

Is interesting how they never mention that they surrendered and instead imply they died fighting to the last bullet

[newbeginnings]

The famous 6th Army group that marched triumphant into Paris.. Then the remaining columns marched East to Siberia most of whom would never be seen again.

[emilioalcazar-suvi]

Historical jewel preserved in all its dramatic intensity..so much blood and pain behind that words

[Mr.Crowley]

As a yank I know what a debt of thanks we (all the Allies) owe to the Red Army (key member of the Allies of course) which took unimaginable losses and was responsible for catastrophic German losses — nearly every 3 Wehrmacht soldiers out of 4 died on the Eastern front (famous video shows how immense the losses were for the U. S. S. R.). Stalingrad was a critical turning point — Hitler thought he’d destroy Stalin’s namesake and that the Red Army would surrender — showing how poorly he understood the culture and how these people would fight from city block to city block with knives and hammers for Mother Russia. They would never surrender. After Stalingrad, it was just a matter of time — Germany was going to be ground down from the east, from the west, and from the south (the Italians didn’t last long) by all the Allies after that brutal defeat.

Of course Hitler in his arrogance and overzealous faith in the Luftwaffe and mechanized warfare thought that Napoleon’s brutal defeat wouldn’t haunt his efforts to invade — only a madman spurs on a massive army deep into Russia with long, harassed, then failing supply lines trailing far behind — inadequate clothing, no fuel, frozen machinery, no food, constant threat of hypothermia and frostbite — especially when the weather starts to change…

[MrCiaranm]

They really gave Field Marshall Paulus a nice mention. Obviously Hitler did not write this announcement.

[robertshonk]

"And now, sports."


I'm sorry. I've made that joke on a few of these, but I can't help it.

[greenlime]

Epic battles like these make the wars of today look like child’s play by comparison. To get a sense of the massive scale of battles like this, one must first look at the numbers that were involved. At the time of the Russian counter attack in November ‘42 that besieged the city, the total number of Axis forces deployed in the area amounted to around 600, 000 men while the Soviets had amassed 1, 143, 000. The Russians were estimated to have lost around 1, 219, 464 men over the course of the battle while the Germans are estimated to have lost 670, 000 men. To put these numbers into perspective, the current war in Ukraine has so far involved barely 300, 000 men in total while total confirmed military casualties haven’t even topped 100K.

[AOT_HxH]

I can't imagine what hearing this would have been like if you were a civilian in Germany or soldier on duty, especially if you had a friend or family member at Stalingrad and this is what you hear after worrying for so long.

[abdelgaderalfallah]

It was the biggest turning point of WW II.

[diosnoexiste]

Very good (perfect) translation into English.

[guillefull]

I would like to see the reactions of the people in Germany listening to this news, what they must have felt...

[zigzag]

Summary: We lose and we are quite screwed now

[oliburkiob]

Ich möchte an dieser Stelle diesem Channelinhaber mal einen GROSSEN DANK übermitteln. Diese Videos sind eindrücklich und meiner Meinung nach ist es wichtig, dass solche Inhalte geteilt und diese Ereignisse somit nicht in Vergessenheit geraten. Sie leisten einen wichtigen Beitrag zur hoffentlich nie endenden Aufklärung.

Nur leider locken diese Videos auch "andere Gruppierungen" an (vgl. Kommentare von Ok KJ). Ich hoffe jedoch, dass sich die meisten davon distanzieren...

[glennhubbard]

I believe even if there had been no encirclement, the ability of the German Army to keep advancing had ended. They had reached the limit of their ability to bring enough mass to bear to force their way through the Soviet defenses. That was shown by the drive to the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus.