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With the
town still besieged and engulfed in fierce street battles, General
Georgi Zhukov brought in large reinforcements that began a massive
counterattack on November 19. The massive Soviet offensive that
commenced that morning took the Third Romanian Army by surprise and
caught it unprepared. The next day, a further Soviet offensive found
the German army surprised. The two offensives, 100 miles apart,
merged into a single, grand movement of forces that ringed and,
within four days, trapped the German army under Friedrich von Paulus.
Hitler’s generals urged the Fuehrer to allow them to break through
the noose and retreat while this was still possible. Hitler refused,
ordering von Paulus to continue fighting with no change in
direction. The bitter winter cold-30 degrees below zero-assailed the
stricken German forces, which lacked appropriate equipment for these
extreme conditions. The fighting continued until January 31, when
von Paulus and his forces-exhausted, starved, and
depleted-surrendered. Hitler never forgave von Paulus for laying
down his arms; he expected him to fight to the last soldier and then
to commit suicide. The German army never recovered from its defeat
in the Battle of Stalingrad. |
