Freidrich Paulus
Freidrich Paulus was born on September 23, 1890. During the Battle of Stalingrad, Freidrich Paulus was one of the commanders of the German army. Near the start of the Battle of Stalingrad, Freidrich advanced on Stalingrad with around 250,000 soldiers, 7,000 mortars and firearms, 25,000 horses, and 500 tanks. Since gas was so scarce and the group that Paulus was commanding was not the first priority of Germany, it was very hard for his group of soldiers to advance towards Stalingrad. Eventually, when Paulus' group of soldiers finally had enough fuel to reach Stalingrad, they killed or captured about 50,000 Soviet soldiers. Eventually, after fighting the Soviet army for each and every building, Paulus controlled over 80% of Stalingrad. Since the Battle of Stalingrad lasted very long in the harsh Russian environment, Paulus' troops ran out of supplies like ammunition and rations. Because of all of these hardships, Paulus and his army ended up surrendering on February 2, 1943. This was the day after Hitler tried to force Paulus to commit suicide by promoting him up one rank in the army.
"Troops without ammunition or food. Effective command no longer possible. 18,000 wounded without any supplies or dressings or drugs. Further defense senseless. Collapse inevitable. Army requests immediate permission to surrender in order to save lives of remaining troops." - Freidrich Paulus, 1943
"Troops without ammunition or food. Effective command no longer possible. 18,000 wounded without any supplies or dressings or drugs. Further defense senseless. Collapse inevitable. Army requests immediate permission to surrender in order to save lives of remaining troops." - Freidrich Paulus, 1943
Georgi Konstantinovitch Zhukov
Zhukov was the most successful commander of the Soviet army during all of World War Two. Just after the Battle of Stalingrad was started, Zhukov was made into the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet army. During the Battle of Stalingrad, Zhukov planned an attack on the Germans called "Operation Uranus." This was a counterattack to the German advances on Stalingrad. "Operation Uranus" was finally launched in early November. The launch of "Operation Uranus" was prevented by the troops controlled by Freidrich Paulus because they surrounded the city, but the Soviets eventually got to employ the plan that Zhukov had made. Because of his exemplary effort during the Battle of Stalingrad, Zhukov was given the Order of Suvorov. Zhukov was the first man in the first group of Russian soldiers to ever receive the Order of Suvorov.
"Nazis did not expect Soviet resistance to be so strong. The deeper they moved into this country's territory, the more fierce it became. When Hitler's armies approached Moscow, every man and woman here thought it imperative to resist the enemy. And that resistance grew by the day. The enemy was sustaining heavy losses, one after another. In fact, Hitler's best troops perished here. Nazis believed the Red Army was not capable of defending Moscow, but their schemes failed." -Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov, n.d.
"Nazis did not expect Soviet resistance to be so strong. The deeper they moved into this country's territory, the more fierce it became. When Hitler's armies approached Moscow, every man and woman here thought it imperative to resist the enemy. And that resistance grew by the day. The enemy was sustaining heavy losses, one after another. In fact, Hitler's best troops perished here. Nazis believed the Red Army was not capable of defending Moscow, but their schemes failed." -Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov, n.d.