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The Battle of Stalingrad (not recommended) | Unbelievable true stories | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: The Battle of Stalingrad (not recommended)
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The Battle of Stalingrad was an exceptionally brutal and devastating conflict, marked by extreme human suffering, strategic blunders, and ultimately, a pivotal turning point in World War II that led to the annihilation of the German Sixth Army and immense loss of life on both sides.
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The Battle of Stalingrad is considered
the deadliest and most brutal single
battle in human history with casualties
that exceed those of many entire wars.
However, the numbers are just numbers,
and you don't really get the idea of how
bad this actually was until you reduce
it to a personal level and describe the
actual way it happened. People were
brought to the breaking point where
humanity as we know it simply ceased to
exist from complete mercilessness
through atrocities all the way to
cannibalism. When the battle finally
ended, 99% of the city was completely
destroyed and just around 1,500 of over
half a million of its inhabitants were
still alive in the ruins. So, let's
briefly go over the course of the battle
to set the stage for what was about to
happen so you'll get the complete
picture and understand the kind of
horrific suffering that was coming.
It was the summer of 1942 when Hitler
launched Operation Blue. This was a
massive German offensive into southern
Russia with the goal of seizing the oil
richch Caucus region and capturing the
city of Stalingrad on the Vular River.
This would secure Germany's flank and as
a nice bonus deliver a symbolic blow to
the Soviet Union by capturing the city
that bore its leader name. So the German
army group south was split into two
thrusts. One going after the oil fields
and the other of course towards
Stalingrad. They didn't know it at the
time, but the Germans were already
making a mistake that would cost the
entire eighth army its existence. On the
other side, the Soviet Union knew the
price of the fall of Stalingrad and the
oil fields. So, Stalin himself issued
the infamous order number 227, stating
not one step back. As you probably
assumed, any unauthorized retreat was
strictly forbidden, and blocking
detachments were formed with orders to
shoot any desertters who might try to
leave their positions. This strategic
setup from both sides set the stage for
the savage fighting that was about to
unfold. By late August 1942, the German
6th Army under General Friedrich Powas
and the fourth Panza army under General
Herman Hoth reached Stalingrad's
outskirts. The city's population had
little time to fully evacuate while tens
of thousands of residents were mobilized
to dig trenches and prepare defensive
networks, and they were still there now
as the firestorm was about to start. On
August 23rd, 1942, the relentless
Luftvafa bombing raids began with wave
after wave of bombers blanketing the
city and already killing a staggering
number of civilians and soldiers. On the
very first day, a huge portion of the
city was in flames and reduced to
rubble. Then came the German tanks into
the northern suburbs where they faced
something they couldn't have even
dreamed of. A unit of literally teenage
girls manning anti-aircraft guns opened
fire on advancing German tanks, holding
them off and reportedly knocking out
over 80 of them before being overrun.
Shocked Germans pressed through isolated
strongholds of resistance. And by early
September, assault units had reached the
vulgar river north of Stalingrad and
split Soviet defenses. Red Army
reinforcements were urgently flooded in
across the river to stop the Germans
from advancing to the other side. By
November, the Germans held 90% of the
city, while the Soviets were cornered in
two small enclaves along the river.
Exhaustion on both sides was palpable,
but this was only a warm-up for what was
about to come because the Soviets were
preparing a huge counter-strike to take
advantage of the Germans overextended
yet overconfident position. And the
battle was about to shift inside the
city. And that quite literally would
become hell on earth for both sides.
Unbeknownst to the Germans, the Red Army
was amassing fresh armies on the flanks
of the city. And on November 19th,
Operation Uranus was unleashed.
Germany's weakly held flanks manned by
their not so well motivated and poorly
equipped Romanian, Italian, and
Hungarian allies were shattered and
overrun by waves of T34 tanks and
infantry. In just 4 days, two Soviet
thrusts met each other west of
Stalingrad, completely encircling the
entire German 6th Army and parts of the
fourth Panza army inside the city.
Almost 300,000 Axis soldiers were now
trapped in a stunning reversal, now
besieged within the enemy city. Panic
and confusion swept through German high
command, and General Pow begged for the
order to break through the encirclement
while they still had the strength to do
it. And while Soviet defenses were not
yet fully locked in, but to his horror,
Hitler personally forbade any retreat
from the city. He ordered the encircled
army to fortify themselves and hold out,
promising that the Luftwaffer would
resupply them entirely by air. This
order would seal the fate of almost
every German soldier inside the pocket.
Such an army needed several hundreds of
tons of supplies daily, and the
Luftvafer could provide only a fraction
of that. So, the shortages of everything
from food to ammunition and winter
clothing began almost immediately. The
horrors that were about to become
reality, they couldn't have even
imagined in their worst nightmares.
Let's start lightly and first explain
the way combat worked inside the
encircled city. And when I say lightly,
I really mean that. As horrible as it
was, the fighting itself wasn't even the
worst thing they endured. Germans
expecting a quick victory got their
dreams shattered in what they now called
Raten Creek, colorfully meaning the rat
war. House to house, floor to floor, and
room to room fighting was an everyday
occurrence with both sides fanatically
trying to capture and hold positions.
One side would capture a house, then
lose it in a counterattack, then attack
again and recapture it, only to be
pushed back once more. Each time, both
sides suffered horrendous casualties.
And this was a daily occurrence. For
example, Stalingrad's central railway
station changed hands 13 times in a
single day. And we should probably
explain the way of fighting a bit more
because this was everything but an
ordinary battlefield. We really couldn't
put enough emphasis on how close the
fighting was. The Soviets were using the
tactic of quote unquote hugging the
Germans to make it harder for artillery
and dive bombers to be used as the
targets were so close to friendly
troops. There were actual instances of
fighting in multi-story buildings where
Germans would be on one floor, beneath
them were Soviet soldiers, and beneath
them again were more Germans, all
fighting from every direction. Soldiers
were crawling through sewers, trenches,
rubble, and collapsed buildings to
outmaneuver and surprise one another.
Night raids were common, and they were
literally fighting in the same rooms
with both sides forming small assault
squads of 5 to 10 men to infiltrate
enemy-held ruins. bayonets, knives,
spades, grenades, satchel charges,
submachine guns, and even flamethrowers
were all tools used to do the job. Here,
the Soviet PPSH41 submachine gun would
shine, and it was used by both sides.
But there were others as well. Every
conceivable tactic and trick was used by
both sides to inflict as much damage as
possible. Soviets would dig tunnels and
plant explosives to blow up heavily
defended German positions, much like the
tunnelers and trench raiders of World
War I. mines, booby traps, ambushes,
snipers, for example, had unlimited
opportunity to hide in ruins, camouflage
themselves in the snow, and shoot anyone
who peered out of cover. They had a huge
impact on both sides and caused heavy
casualties. Soviet sniper Vasili Zaitzv
famously had over 200 confirmed kills
and participated in several infamous
sniper jewels. As the battle dragged on
into December and real winter began,
with temperatures plummeting to
minus30°, the cold began to take as many
lives as the fighting. German soldiers
already malnourished, battered, and
without proper clothing, were now
freezing to death in large numbers.
Frostbite and hunger became even greater
enemies than Soviet soldiers, and there
was no protection from either. The site
was horrific, and we could not even
describe it or show it here on YouTube,
but you can look it up on Google and see
it for yourself, although I do not
recommend it. The already reduced daily
bread ration was further cut from 300 g
to 100, which was about two slices. And
even that bread was mostly made from
sawdust. Horses were eaten at first, but
they were soon gone. Then starving
soldiers turned to dogs, rats, and even
cooking leather belts. But when that ran
out, well, how can I say it without
saying it? There was one thing that was
not in short supply, and that was fallen
soldiers. I will let your imagination
conclude the rest. And yes, that did
happen. Soldiers wrote in their diaries
that they were turning into animals.
Medical supplies ran out as well, and
being wounded more often meant death,
just in a slower and far more horrible
way. Typhus spread, and most surgical
procedures that had to be done were
performed without anesthesia. The
condition of the German army was on the
breaking point. There was no morale with
all kinds of incidents you could and
could not imagine. And yet, they were
strictly forbidden to surrender with
Hitler personally reminding General
Palace that no German field marshall had
ever surrendered. However, not only
German soldiers were the ones who
struggled with supplies. Soviet
civilians who had not evacuated were now
trapped in this battle and just
contributing to the all-out horror. They
tried to find protection in the
devastated city without food or water
and around 40,000 of them would perish
during the fighting. Many of them died
during bombings and shellings including
from both the German and Soviet side as
they were right in between the fighting
but also from far more disturbing
reasons. There were atrocities, there
was hunger, there was winter, and there
was no protection from any of it. Women
even shaved their heads to look like men
and avoid being attacked in different
ways by the soldiers. Going out in
search of food or water was a deadly
activity. Meanwhile, the encircled
German army was desperately negotiating
with the high command to save them.
Field marshall Manstein attempted an
armored relief and he managed to fight
through to within 30 mi of Stalingrad,
but was stopped by relentless Soviet
attacks. Inside the city, German
defenses were shrinking inward. They
soon had to abandon the last functioning
airrip. They received a couple more
airdrop supplies, but it was a far cry
from the amount they needed. Ammunition
was almost completely expended. Fuel for
tanks and heating had long been gone. By
late January 1943, the situation was
beyond hopeless. But still, one final
and most disturbing chapter of the
battle was yet to come. Soviet forces in
Operation Ring cut German defenses into
smaller pieces. And from the original
300,000 soldiers, there were about
90,000 remaining, barely alive and in
any fighting condition. Many were
deserting and surrendering, but after
everything that happened and what the
German army had done to the Soviet
people, they were not always quite
welcome to become prisoners of war, if
you know what I mean. And that brings us
to the next disturbing point. What
happened to almost all German soldiers
who surrendered and what those handful
few who would still be alive after the
war had to endure. On January 31st,
General Palace finally found the courage
to directly disobey Hitler's order.
After being completely surrounded in his
headquarters, he decided to surrender
the remaining half-st starved Axis
troops still alive in Stalingrad. Hitler
was furious. Palace became the only
German field marshal ever to be captured
alive. The once invincible Sixth Army
had been annihilated. Even Soviet
soldiers were shocked by the state of
the Germans in dirty, frozen uniforms,
looking like skeletons, barely able to
walk. But the hatred ran deep, and the
horrors were still far from over for the
Germans. They were now marched off to
prisoner of war camps, but many would
never reach them. They were marching
over the freezing step and they were
dying from exposure and exhaustion in
massive numbers. Anyone who could not
keep walking was immediately put down by
the guards and left in the snow. Listen
to this. Out of approximately 91,000
German prisoners, only around 5,000
would survive to return home. To make
this even worse, the last of them
returned a full 11 years after World War
II had ended. They were forced to work
in camps, factories, and mines. As the
Soviets put it, to repair the damage
they had caused to the country and
rebuild what they had destroyed. In
other words, from all prisoners, over
90% would perish after the battle had
ended, completely abandoned by the very
country they fought for. Stalingrad
marked the first major loss for the
German army and the turning point in the
tide of the war. After the battle, the
German army was in strategic retreat all
the way back to Berlin eventually, where
it had all started years before. The
battle of Stalingrad has long since ended.
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