Could Paulus have abandoned Stalingrad before encirclement? BATTLESTORM STALINGRAD E37

Could Paulus have mounted a breakout operation before he was encircled at Stalingrad? With Operation Uranus in full swing, it's doubtful. Yet many historians and German generals have suggested that "nervous Paulus" could have disobeyed Hitler's stand fast order and pulled the 6th Army away from danger. But the sources suggest something different...

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ABOUT TIK 📝

History isn’t as boring as some people think, and my goal is to get people talking about it. I also want to dispel the myths and distortions that ruin our perception of the past by asking a simple question - “But is this really the case?”. I have a 2:1 Degree in History and a passion for early 20th Century conflicts (mainly WW2). I’m therefore approaching this like I would an academic essay. Lots of sources, quotes, references and so on. Only the truth will do.

This video is discussing events or concepts that are academic, educational and historical in nature. This video is for informational purposes and was created so we may better understand the past and learn from the mistakes others have made.

[khosrowanushirvan]

It speaks volumes about German's logistical and fuel situation in this stage of war when 700 motorized equipment is just sitting around in a depot far behind front lines, getting dust on, or snow in this case.
The oil crisis of the Axis powers is indeed overlooked. Thanks, for enlightening us TIK!

[jayjayson]

It's amazing how long the Battle of Stalingrad really took and all the turning points and decisions that led to its outcome.

Thank you very much for your efforts in providing an accurate account of the events TIK

[morewi]

I'll be honest here the Romanians did a lot better than I originally thought. I was always under the impression that they just folded when a day of the attack.

[CruelDwarf]

I think the reason why Paulus was chosen as a scapegoat for the whole thing is rather simple: he went over to the Soviets and the rest of the German general corps never forgave him for that. So he was an easy target no one would really protect post-war.

[MrGouldilocks]

For me, this episode is the climax of the entire series.

I had a general idea of the sequence of events at Stalingrad. But seeing everything laid out in detail, and most importantly with CONTEXT.

Even if Paulus had wanted to break out of the pocket, where was the 6th army supposed to go? They're literally hundreds of miles away from anything approaching safety and they would lack transportation and heavy equipment. The German general, who said a breakout would be of Napoleonic catastrophe, was spot on.

[bwv]

The most surprising thing about this stage is there was no 11th Kotluban offensive on the 19th/20th Nov.

[rozkaz]

The analisys of difrent conflicting sources and making out some sort of coherent theory out if it is absolutely amasing academic tier work. This is great work TIK. Im sure people could get phds out of the content you put out for us here

[winterkingbeats]

I've wanted to comment this for the longest but I always get sidetracked by the video. Thank you for adding the source material right on screen and thank you for the extra editing required to do that. It's such a great help. Excellent video as always.

[scottnieradka]

I never understood what many historians wanted Paulus to do, If he abandoned his positions and broke out on foot even on the 20th, they would abandon defensive positions and free up the other soviet armies in the north and east. If they were delayed in escaping, as they would as the soviet calvary and motorized units racing to kalach had better mobility, they would have been slaughtered on the steppe. Looking at a map, its absurd, casualties would have been atrocious, morales would be low if abandoning stalingrad, it would be a rout. The blame should be that all reserves had been committed to stalingrad and army group b didnt have sufficient reserves at kalach to do much to stop the soviet advance. Paulus sent what scraps he had west.

[Sphere]

I think TIK did a good job showing that the important German mistakes were made long before Operation Uranus. The Axis forces were stretched way too thin across this entire front, and the logistics capacity too limited for the Germans to do much of anything when Uranus was begun. It wasn't that the wrong option was chosen in these handful of days, rather there were no good options to take. Credit the Soviets for putting together an offensive that found the weak points in the Axis line, and executed it at a pace that prevented the 6th Army from having the time to react effectively. The real story of Uranus isn't the German command becoming dumb, it's the growing competence of the Red army.

[Comradez]

People forget that the 6th Army had responsibilities to the entire Army Group, not just to its own survival. What if Paulus had ordered a breakout on November 21st, and in the disorder, rush, and having to leave behind almost all vehicles and heavy weapons (because of lack of fuel reserves/horses/time to prepare/etc.), what if the 6th Army had just completely disintegrated, and instead of tieing up 4+ Soviet armies until Feb. 3rd, had just left the door completely open for the Soviets to take Rostov in a matter of days, shutting the door on the entire Caucasus force before Manstein could react and precipitating an even bigger crisis? Paulus's ultimate decision to stand ground might have been the only reason the Soviets ultimately had to demote the planned Operation Saturn to Operation Little Saturn, and the only reason the Caucasus forces were able to mostly withdraw through the Rostov gate at all.

[joemcardle]

This is such a concise rebuttal to the "conventional wisdom" propagated the last 80 years about the breakout option, thanks TIK!

[Razors]

Good to see you back, TIK. Always take care of your health!

[Trojanponey]

Day instantly improved with new Stalingrad video! Thanks TIK!

[thomasvandevelde]

YES! Made my day again here TIK! And this *with* decent subtitles... Keep up the good work mate!

[Pincer]

Thinking back of all the videos on this specific topic (Stalingrad) it was only recently that I realized what a work of Herculeanian proportions this entire series must be, considering the amount of detail, the many different viewpoints, the excellent analysis and careful avoidance of too convenient judgement by other historians or witnesses of the time. Not to mention the work that must have gone into making the maps with outlines of units, commanders and shifting frontlines. To me this is an above and beyond Phd-thesis effort. And then we even haven't talked about all other, related videos. Admirable doesn't begin to cover my sincere appreciation.

[jtfrank]

The weather played a huge factor here too.. There was a massive white out blizzard in the middle of all of this then followed by days of super dense fog.. these guys couldn’t see more than 20 feet in front of them for the most part

[ErikHare]

One thing you didn't cover in this rapidly evolving situation situation is that Paulus probably didn't know exactly what was going on at any given time. It would have been very difficult to make decisions

[karljohan]

What an episode ! I'm wondering how Chuikov felt at this moment. The madlad held the thin red line until Operation Uranus. Must have felt great to finally see a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel.

[jgelt]

The thing that hits me the hardest, is that in this case there is enough information for TIK to build a counter-narrative to what is the accepted story of the events. How many stories of history, in fact, bear little resemblance to what actually happened because no information survives to build a counter-narrative?