Nazis' Last Stand: The Brutal Final Days Of Stalingrad

Stalingrad: The Last Letters, a History Hit Original feature-length documentary, revealing newly translated, never-before heard accounts that shed light on the agonising final moments of the men trapped in the ruins of Stalingrad during the Second World War.

Discovered and translated by renowned German historian These deeply personal writings, penned in the face of inevitable defeat, offer a raw glimpse into the horrors of the Eastern Front and unique insights into the lives of the men that fought and died for Hitler

1941 was a failure for Nazi Germany. After invading the Soviet Union in June, they had expected to defeat the Red Army in 6 weeks. But by December, German forces had been thrown back by the Soviet winter counter-offensive. And there were even bigger problems. Germany had previously relied on the Soviets themselves for supplies of raw materials. But now, at war with their former ally, those supplies were running short.

For Hitler the extensive oilfields of the southern Caucasus were the key to victory, without them the war could not be won.

The campaign to capture that oil would culminate in the bloodiest battle of the Second World War, the Battle of Stalingrad.

00:00:00 INTRO
00:01:57 1942 AND RECAP OF 1941
00:03:30 OBJECTIVES OF FALL BLAU
00:07:18 LAUNCH OF FALL BLAU
00:13:15 FUHRER DIRECTIVE no 45
00:14:51 ADVANCE TOWARDS STALINGRAD
00:26:00 CROSSING THE VOLGA
00:26:30 AERIAL ASSAULT ON STALINGRAD
00:30:45 GERMAN TROOPS ENTER STALINGRAD
00:42:22 LOSSES
00:45:37 HITLERS SPEECH 30TH SEPTEMBER 1943
00:50:09 OPERATION HUBERTUS & SECOND HITLER SPEECH 8TH NOVEMBER 1943
00:57:49 SOVIETS LAUNCH OPERATION URANUS
01:01:38 ENCIRCLEMENT COMPLETE
01:07:18 SUPPLY BY AIR
01:11:55 EVERY SEVEN SECONDS A GERMAN SOLDIER DIES
01:14:00 WINTER STORM
01:28:58 CHRISTMAS IN STALINGRAD
01:34:30 SOVIET ATTACKS RESUME
01:36:10 GERMAN AIRFIELDS FALL
01:41:20 GOERING SPEECH INFORMING GERMAN PUBLIC OF DEFEAT
01:48:05 SURRENDER

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[kaifuchs]

My grandpa was in stalingrad and he throw away the ammo boxes for the MG42 and run for his bare life as the Soviet Tanks Rolled in Sight of his Position he returned Home wir a Shot trough the arm and his left Hand. Thanks to that he was 94 bevor he died. I was there in the age of 16 as he died.

[mf-ecox]

I am from Austria. I had the privilege to meet one of the 6000 survivors. Our history teacher invited him to tell his story... he even brought the wodden box he came home with after 5 years in russian captivity. He told us that in this box is everything he had after the war and he kept everything as a reminder. That was one of my best history lessons and a lesson for life. It was so interesting that even when the bell rang nobody of us left the classroom and that means something.

[MikeHarland-mg]

The images should not be blurred. War should be seen as what it is.

[LanceRomanceFE]

Lived in Germany in the early 70’s and worked with a German veteran captured in Stalingrad. He was a 19 yr old enlisted man in the Luftwaffe. He wasn’t aircrew, but worked at one of the airfields until the surrender. He was a POW for nine years. Said of the 10, 000 Germans in his camp less than 700 came home. Research shows that many POWs died early in captivity because they were already starving or sick with typhoid when captured. Charl was a hard working man, but prone to outbursts for no apparent reason. I was afraid of him. The other Germans respected him immensely.

[johnlowe]

War is hell, doco's like this should be shown in every school, maybe it could make a difference...

[Arthur-txfd]

The camera men who filmed all of this get my total respect

[kylefitzpatrick]

What an extraordinary piece of work. Firsthand German accounts from the final days are scarce, yet 81 years later, thanks to History Hilt, we are privileged to read newly publicized letters from those desperate moments, through the eyes of Officer Lindeman.

[RubberToeYT]

The letters with the voice actors are so personal, great doc

[samuels]

I worked in Germany back in 80's in a company and got to know the truck driver who used to limp by walking. Out of curiosity I asked him one day what the limp was caused by. He looked at me and said have you heard of Stalingrad and I said yes and he replied I was there!!

[glandersofficialyreleaseds]

I hate the blurry scenes. They been recorded on purpose and by sacrifice. Yet they are censored by people never had to suffer..

[jeanchasticot]

This is by far the best documentary I've ever watched about Stalingrad. Please, do thank its author(s) and give us more documentaries of that type.

[stephencutler]

My late best friend's father was in the German 6th Army in Stalingrad. He, along with a couple of other soldiers managed to escape the Russians and made their way back to Germany. He had been sent to the Russian front as punishment for commenting that "we can't fight the whole World". He had been overheard by an SS officer, then forced to dig trenches for 2 months before being sent there. Very sad indeed. He died in 1962, aged 42 years, from an enlarged heart, caused by the severe hardship in Stalingrad.

[Polina-feif]

My grandfather's brother died defending Stalingrad. He was 22 years old. Only in 2019 did I find documents indicating the place of his burial.

[Jayjay-qeum]

Every year still, hundreds of bodies of soldiers who died in the battle are recovered in the area around Stalingrad (now Volgograd) and reburied in the cemeteries at Mamayev Kurgan or Rossoshka.

[scehr]

I've watched this over a few sittings. This channel is why YouTube should exist. Exceptional documentary.

I agree with no part of the war, nor war in general, but I am deeply saddened to listen to these letters, how confident men are slowly, gruelingly wittled down until they are entirely without hope.

May we, as a species, find our way to lasting peace.

[IztokGolob-Naklo]

Growing up I hated Germans. The things they did in my country, Slovenia. And ex Yugoslavia. Would kill each one of them when I was a kid. I felt it personal too. My grandmother was murdered by the retreating army. She was released by her partisan unit in the dying days of war to go to my then 2 years old father only to be betrayed and caught, tortured and executed. As I grew up and after serving the army I softened a lot. You get to understand a personal side of soldiering. Also I became aware not all Germans were bad. By the way I recommend The forgotten soldier and Blood red snow. Two accounts of Germans soldiers on the Russian front. May it never happen again.

[futseb]

Temperature during the battle fell to -25 to -40°c. At this temperature, only fuel and vodka doesn't freeze, bodies need more food just to cope, any wound or blood loss is lethal, frozen land is a hell to dig in.

[Bronkowitsch]

One of my grandfathers was in stalingrad (german). He was captured. It was difficult for him to talk about it, but sometimes he mentioned how they were starving, ate leather belts and shoes or even scraped out the window-kit to have something to eat. And at some point of the story, he always began to cry. We never dared to ask. He was 17 back then. I guess in the end nobody really wins in the frontlines of war.

[mashek]

If you haven't already, Antony Beevor's 'Stalingrad' is a must read. What a hell on earth. Anything tragic that could happen in this battle did.

[Kuznet]

Something interesting that very few people know: 1:23:46
The guy to the right of A.H. in the background is called Franz Halder and was significantly involved in Operation Barbarossa and the invasion of the Soviet Union/Russia. He was a colonel general.
The Americans caught him after the war. On orders from the Americans, he was then responsible for writing the history of the German war against the Soviet Union. The Americans set up a kind of authority for him under the name “Operational History (German) Section”
The legend of the supposedly clean Wehrmacht, which had done nothing wrong, came from him and was then spread by the Americans and Germans. Every historian who wanted files on the war against the Soviet Union had to go to him.
And on the far left of the camera is Adolf Heusinger, who later became a general in the West German army and also NATO Chair of the NATO Military Committee.

History repeats itself when you look away.