Barbarossa: The Russian German Conflict, 1941-45

552 Pages·1962·6.8 MB·English

by  Alan Clark

CONTENTS
LIST OF MAPS AND CHARTS
AUTHOR’S NOTE
PREFACE
BOOK I | The “Eastern Marshals”
1. The State of the Wehrmacht
Brauchitsch appeals to Hitler after the Polish campaign | His attempt to preserve
the executive independence of the Army | Hitler’s reaction | The power structure
within the Third Reich | Historical background to the Army’s decline | Origins of
Hitler’s ascendancy | The Deutschland Compact | The Blomberg scandal | The
Fritsch scandal | Creation of OKW | The effect on strategic planning | Hitler’s
contempt for the General Staff | Its justification | Seeds of treason in the Army |
The generals temporise | Hitler’s decision to attack Russia | Apparent political
justification | Professional opinion divided | Shift in the strategic balance | The
final directives issued.
2. Mother Russia
The enigma of the Red Army | The problems of defending European Russia |
The Stalin Line | The Soviet chain of command | The Red Army’s subservience
to Stalin | Historical background, the purges | The Red Army’s tactical doctrines |
Its dispositions | Its composition | Its numerical strength | The Osoaviakhim |
Hitler’s estimate of Russian strength.
3. The Clash of Arms
The Russians taken by surprise | Their violent reaction | Ruinous encirclement
battles | The Germans reach the Dnieper, but are disconcerted by the resistance |
Halder’s birthday party | Hitler comes to tea | He digresses on the postwar
pattern | Plans for administering the occupied East | The Ostministerium | The
influence of personal rivalries | The SS and the Army in conflict | Character of
the Reich Commissars | Kube and Koch | Attempted interference by Ribbentrop |
Lohse and the Baltic territories | Poor relations between Kluge and Guderian |
Hitler’s concern | Guderian presses on in defiance of orders | Delays in front of
Leningrad | General Köstring’s cautious assessment.
4. The First Crisis
Differences of strategic opinion | The Wehrmacht loses momentum | The
condition of the Red Army | A new OKW directive | Members of the General
Staff divided among themselves | Hitler’s attitude ambivalent | Guderian’s
advance | Russian plans dislocated | Extravagant Russian countermeasures, and
individual bravery | The German Army feeling the strain | Only Guderian drives
on | The “centre-thrust controversy” | Great risks attend an isolated armoured
thrust | Timoshenko’s counterattack at Roslavl | Intervention by Kluge |
Guderian’s insubordination | The Novy Borisov conference | The consequences |
The “Gomel Plan” | A general strategic indecision remains | Tactical victory at
Roslavl | The Führer to visit Army Group Centre.
5. The Lötzen Decision
All is not well at Army Group Centre | Schlabrendorff and Tresckow | Rationale
of the plotters | Character of Bock | Hitler interviews the commanders | His
decision | Timoshenko at his last gasp | But the Panzer force worn out | Halder’s
contempt for Hitler | The generals know best | Fatal delays | Russians gradually
patch up their front | Friction between Guderian and OKH | Halder busies
himself | Army Group Centre in disarray | A reproof from the Führer | Guderian
flies to Lötzen | Brauchitsch loses his nerve | Hitler reaffirms his strategy |
Halder’s “nervous collapse” | Importance of the dispute.
6. Leningrad: Hypothesis and Reality
Germans cross the Luga | Popov without reserves | Counterattack by the Soviet
48th Army | Preparations in Leningrad | The curious affair of the Leningrad
Military Soviet | German solutions for the “Leningrad problem” | Suggested
alternatives for massacre | The Finns are reluctant | Hitler decides to close down
the Northern theatre, but Leeb has his own ideas | His personal motives |
Progress of the assault | Halder’s agitation | Hitler gives qualified approval, but
the Germans are exhausted | Serious effect on the campaign as a whole | Could
Leningrad have been stormed?
7. Slaughter in the Ukraine
The Stavka appoints Budënny | His indifferent qualifications, but great numerical
strength | First encirclement at Uman | Kleist breaks into the Donetz | Bock
regroups for the Kiev battle | Budënny’s inertia | Local victories of the Russian
cavalry | Guderian attacks from the north | Budënny’s alibi | Will not hold up |
Further friction between Guderian and OKH | The encirclement completed |
Budënny dismissed | His army fights to the end.
8. The Start of the Moscow Offensive
The Germans are baffled | The quality of their enemy | Strategic prospects | The
generals disagree | Brauchitsch addresses the Chiefs of Staff | Russian strength at
its lowest ebb | The Siberians the only reserves left | But the Soviet intelligence
system excellent | Genesis of the Partisan movement | German reaction | A
typical incident | The Vyazma-Bryansk operation | The appointment of Zhukov.
9. The Battle of Moscow
The Red Army state in October | The fall of Kalinin | Panic in Moscow |
Zhukov’s problem | Rain and wooded country delay the Germans | Superiority of
the T34 | Depression spreads in the Germany Army | Bayerlein’s account |
Congestion of the German front | The Orsha conference | Halder determined to
attack Moscow, but the Stavka now reinforcing from the Far East | Zhukov’s
plan | The Germans’ offensive starts well, but the balance of strength against
them | The temperature plunges | Guderian protests | Bock and Brauchitsch are
indisposed | The German offensive loses co-ordination | But Hitler determined
on Moscow | His reasoning | One last heave . . . ! | The blizzards start | Zhukov’s
attack begins | Suffering of the German troops | Hitler saves the day—at a price.
BOOK II | Stalingrad
10. Planning and Preliminaries
The Russian offensive peters out | The German generals vacillate over prospects,
but Hitler is decided | The Caucasus the key | Discrepancies between the various
orders | German strength in 1942 | Character of the Eastern theatre |
Improvements in the Panzer force | Russian shortages of raw material and
equipment | The fate of Western tank deliveries | Reorganisation of the Russian
armour | The Stavka accumulates a small reserve | Decides to commit it at
Kharkov | Result disaster | Crippling effect on the Red Army’s summer prospect.
11. The Wehrmacht at High Tide
The Germans’ offensive opens | Their treatment of prisoners | The Untermensch
philosophy | The Stavka plan | The Russians avoid encirclement, but surrender
much territory | German optimism | The diversion of Hoth | Paulus tries to rush
Stalingrad | The Russians in poor shape, but Paulus’ strength inadequate | Hoth at
last arrives | The attacks of early August, and their failure | Hitler orders all
reinforcements to be directed to Stalingrad.
12. Verdun on the Volga
The character of the Stalingrad fighting | Mistaken German tactics | German
morale shaken | The assault of 13th September | Chuikov appointed to command
the garrison | Critical developments | Early techniques in street fighting |
Individual Russian accounts | The attack dies down | Fighting for the grain
elevators | The ratio of committal moves against the Germans | Some early
dismissals | Wietersheim and List | Quarrelling among the Führer’s entourage |
Halder dismissed | Schmundt visits Paulus with exciting news | Paulus agrees to
stage a final attack | But selects the Russians’ strongest point, and is defeated.
13. The Entombment of the 6th Army
The German dilemma | Inaccurate intelligence reports | State of the Rumanian
Army | But the 6th Army still optimistic | Fighting continues in Stalingrad | The
day of the sniper | The last assault of the 6th Army | Interrupted by Zhukov’s
counteroffensive | Capture of the bridge at Kalach | Paulus isolated.
14. The Advent of General von Manstein
Significance of the Russian victory | Manstein appointed to Army Group B |
Kluges’ foreboding | Hourly deterioration of the German position | The problem
of relieving Stalingrad | Postwar writings have clouded the issue | Paulus largely
to blame | His destruction the primary Russian objective | Manstein’s efforts to
assemble a relief force | Alternative approaches | Russians start to cross the Chir |
Repulsed by the 11th Panzer | Manstein presses on with “Winter Tempest” |
Paulus’ reluctance to co-operate | Time running out, but Hoth making good
progress | The Russian counteroffensive develops | Rout of the Italians | Hoth’s
last chance to reach Stalingrad, but Paulus still reluctant | Manstein appeals to
Hitler | Without success.
BOOK III | Zitadelle
15. Crisis and Recovery
Plight of the German Army | The Russians also in poor shape | Manstein’s efforts
to extricate Army Group A | Administrative difficulties | Paulus still holding
down strong Russian forces | Last days at Stalingrad | Trials of the wounded |
Paulus surrenders | Hitler’s reaction | Hitler in chastened mood | He summons
Guderian and appoints him Inspector General of Panzer Forces | Hitler
conciliates Manstein, but declines to discuss the question of the Supreme
Command | The state of the Panzer forces | Porsche | Guderian granted wide
powers | Deterioration of the southern front | Hitler again visits Manstein, but is
placated.
16. The “Consolidation Period”
The Russians overextended | Manstein’s counteroffensive | First appearance of
the Tiger | Hitler visits Army Group Centre | A plot to assassinate him |
Operation Flash | Kluge vacillates | The “brandy bottles” | Schlabrendorff keeps
his nerve | Guderian’s reorganisations, obstructed by jealousy of other branches |
The Vinnitsa conference | The labour situation | Sauckel and the GBA |
Protestations by some army commanders | Goebbels dislikes Sauckel | Slave
labour an essential part of the German production machine.
17. The Greatest Tank Battle in History
The General Staff obsessed by the Kursk salient | Hitler less enthusiastic |
Personal rivalries between the senior commanders a factor | The May conference
at Munich | Hitler fusses about the Panther | Guderian’s personal appeal to Hitler
| The strength of Russian preparations | The Germans still hesitating in June | A
date is fixed | All the Panzers to take part | Unimaginative German tactics | the
Panzerkeil | The Germans severely punished | Model’s defeat | The Ferdinand a
failure | Hoth’s second attempt also defeated | But gradual progress by Gross
Deutschland and the SS | The Russians unperturbed | Final death ride by the
Panzers | Collision with the Russian armoured reserve | German inferiority in
numbers and material | Hitler accepts defeat | Guderian collapses, but rebuffs an
approach by Tresckow.
18. The Aftermath
Himmler is uneasy | His acquaintance with Dr. Langbehn | Hitler hears of the
Badoglio coup | General agitation at the Führer’s H.Q. | Manstein in difficulties |
Koniev’s offensive | Langbehn and Himmler meet | Langbehn goes to
Switzerland | Arrested on his return | Himmler extricates himself | Langbehn’s
grisly fate | Army Group A on the point of disintegration | An evening
conference at Führer H.Q. | Zeitzler visits Manstein | Further evidence of unease
at Hitler’s court | Schirach and Goering | Hitler’s private convictions | His
intellectual isolation | General decline in the morale of the Wehrmacht.
BOOK IV | Nemesis
19. “The Floodgates Are Creating”
The Wehrmacht in a decline | Russian weapons output soaring | The Germans
face their third winter in Russia | A breakfast party at Hitler’s H.Q. | Manstein
again in difficulties | His dismissal | The great Russian summer offensive | The
attentat of 20th July | Guderian appointed Chief of Staff.
20. Eastern Europe Changes Hands
The “Polish problem” | Russian designs | American connivance | The Warsaw
uprising | The arrival of Bach-Zelewski | Character of the fighting | Guderian’s
concern over behaviour of the SS | Armistice discussions begin | Bach-Zelewski
is placatory, but the fate of Poland is settled | The Germans mobilise their last
resources | Himmler adds to his powers | Hitler’s war plan | Russian motives for
halting on the Vistula | Centre of gravity shifts to the Balkans | Rumania changes
sides | Bulgaria also | Guderian visits Admiral Horthy | Germans apprehensive of
internal disorder | Their strength in Poland continues to decline | Guderian tries
to draw reinforcement from the Western front | The Soviet offensive opens |
Russian troops set foot on German soil.
21. Black January
Break-through by the Russian armour | Behaviour of the invading forces |
Guderian sees possibility of a limited counteroffensive | Formation of Army
Group Vistula | Its commander an unhappy choice | Guderian has a meeting with
Ribbentrop | Hitler’s wrath | Army Group Vistula in difficulties | Collapse of the
“Warthe position” | Guderian’s plans for a counterstroke | The Führer is
undecided | Russian caution now evident | An undignified scene at the Reich
Chancellery | Guderian tries to supplant Himmler’s military authority, but is only
partially successful | The Arnswalde counteroffensive | Its early success |
Provokes a violent Soviet reaction | General Wenck’s motor accident | Political
background to the German failure.
22. The Fall of Berlin
State of the Reich | Chaos and terror | Himmler retires to Dr. Gebhardt’s clinic |
Professes Christianity | Is visited by Guderian | Resigns his army command |
Further deterioration of the Oder front | Dismissal of Guderian | Differing
attitudes within the Nazi hierarchy | Russians collecting themselves for a final
effort | Peace “negotiations” by Ribbentrop | And Himmler | The concept of a
bargain | The Jews on offer to the Red Cross, but things go wrong | Himmler will
not commit himself | Russians cross the Oder in force | Hitler’s birthday party |
Failure of the Steiner attack | Hitler commits suicide | Disintegration of the
Wehrmacht | The fate of some dramatis personae, German and Russian |
Chuikov accepts the surrender of Berlin.
EPILOGUE
Appendices:
1. Facts about the Russian and German Leaders
2. Chronology
3. Waffen SS Rank Conversion Table
4. Glossary of Abbreviations
5. Text of Führer Directive #34
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NOTE ON SOURCES
ENDNOTES
LIST OF ILLLUSTRATIONS
INDEX
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
ALSO BY ALAN CLARK
ILLUSTRATIONS
COPYRIGHT
LIST OF MAPS AND CHARTS
Maps
The Eastern Front on 22nd June, 1941
The Dnieper Crossings and the Battles of Smolensk and Roslavl
Leningrad
Budënny in the Ukraine (Uman and Kiev)
Moscow. The Battles of Vyazma-Bryansk
Moscow. Disposition of the Siberians and Zhukov’s Counter-offensive
German Plans for 1942
The Russian Defeat at Kharkov
The Approaches to Stalingrad
Street Fighting
The Stalingrad Encirclement
The “Miracle of the Donetz”
The Death Ride of the Fourth Panzer Army
Retreat in South Russia and Collapse in the Balkans
The Last German Offensive
Charts
Power and Personalities in the Third Reich
Order of Battle of the German Armies, 22nd June, 1941
Disposition of the Soviet Armies, 22nd June, 1941
Commanders and Dispositions of Opposing Forces in Spring, 1944