Hitler moves east, 1941-1943

405 Pages·1964·6.774 MB·English

by  Paul Carell

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HITLER MOVES EAST 1941-1943
BY PAUL CARELL
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN UNTERNEHMEN
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BARBAROSSA
BY EWALD OSERS
with maps
Little, Brown edition published February 1965
2nd printing , . . . July 1965
Bantam edition published February 1966
All rights reserved.
German edition © 1963 Verlag Ullstein GMBH., Frankfurt/M.Berlin.
English translation Copyright © 1964 George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd.
CONTENTS
Part One: Moscow
1. Taken by Surprise
The forest of Pratulin—The white 'G'—0375 hours—Across the Bug, the San, and the Memel-—Raseiniai and
Liepaja— Surprise attack against Daugavpils—Manstein is made to halt —Rundstedt encounters difficulties—The
citadel of Brest
2. Stalin Looks for a Saviour
The first battles of encirclement—Why were the Soviets taken by surprise?—Stalin knew the date of the attack—The
"Red Chapel" and Dr Sorge—Precursors of the U-2—Stalin and Hitler at poker—General Potaturchev is taken
prisoner and is interrogated
3. Objective Smolensk
The forest of Bialowieza—The bridges over the Berezina— Soviet counter-attacks—The T-34, the great
surprise—Fierce fighting at Rogachev and Vitebsk—Molotov cocktails—Across the Dnieper—Hoth's tanks cut the
highway to Moscow—A Thuringian infantry regiment storms Smolensk—Postdam Grenadiers against Mogilev
4. Moscow or Kiev?
Inferno in the Yelnya bend—A visit from the Mauerwald— Hitler does not want to make for Moscow—Guderian flies
to see Hitler—Dramatic wrangling at Hitler's Headquarters— "My generals do not understand wartime economics"
5. Stalin's Great Mistake
Battles of annihilation at Roslavl and Klintsy—Stalin trusts his secret service—Armoured thrust to the
south—Yeremenko expects an attack on Moscow
6. The Battle of Kiev :
Rundstedt involved in heavy fighting on the southern wing— Kleist's tank victory at Uman—Marshal Budennyy tries
to slip through the noose—Stalin's orders: Not a step back!— Guderian and Kleist close the trap: 665,000 prisoners
7. Code Name "Typhoon" :
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Caviare for Churchill—The mysterious town of Bryansk— Moscow's first line of defence over-run—Looting in
Sadovaya Street—Stopped by the mud—Fighting for Tula and Kalinin —The diary of a Russian lieutenant—Secret
conference at Orsha—Marshal Zhukov reveals a Soviet bluff
8. Final Spurt towards Moscow
"The days of waiting are over"—Cavalry charge at Musino— On the Volga Canal—Within five miles of
Moscow—Panic in the Kremlin—Stalin telephones the front—40 degrees below zero Centigrade—Battle for the
motor highway—Men, horses, and tanks in ice and snow—Everything stop
9. Why Couldn't Moscow Be Taken? :
Cold weather and Siberian troops—The miracle of Moscow was no miracle—A chapter from the history of German-
Soviet collaboration after the First World War—The unknown army —Tukhachevskiy's alliance with the
Reichswehr—Himmler's grand intrigue—Stalin beheaded the Red Army
Part Two: Leningrad
1. Chase through the Baltic Countries
Ostrov and Pskov—Artillery against KV-1 and KV-2 monsters—Hoepner is held back by the High Command—The
swamp of Chudovo—Manstein's Corps cut off—The road to Leningrad is clear—Unsuccessful bathing party at Lake
Samro
2. Break-through on the Luga Front
Critical situation at Staraya Russa—The battle of Novgorod —A Karelian supplies Russian maps—German 21st
Infantry Division against Soviet 21st Armoured Division—Through the forests near Luga—On the Oredezh—The
Luga pocket—On top of the Duderhof Hills—Radio signal from Second Lieutenant Darius: I can see St Petersburg
and the sea
3. In the Suburbs of Leningrad
"All change—end of the line!"—In the gardens of Slutsk— Harry Hoppe takes Schlüsselburg—Order from the
Fuehrer's Headquarters: Leningrad must not be taken—Hitler's great mistake
Part Three: Rostov
1. Through the Nogay Steppe
New objectives for the Southern Front—The bridge of Beri-slav—Sappers tackle the lower Dnieper—Mölders's fighter
aircraft intervene—The road to the Crimea is barred—Battle at the Tartar Ditch—Roundabout in the Nogay
Steppe—Between Berdyansk and Mariupol
2. The Battle of the Crimea
Ghost fleet between Odessa and Sevastopol—Eight-day battle for the isthmus—the Askaniya Nova collective fruit
farm—Pursuit across the Crimea—"Eight girls without baskets"— First assault on Sevastopol—In the communication
trenches of Fort Stalin—Russian landing at Feodosiya—Disobedience of a general—Manstein suspends the attack on
Sevastopol— The Sponeck affair
3. In the Industrial Region of the Soviet Union
Kleist's Panzer Army takes Stalino—Sixth Army captures Kharkov—First round in the battle for
Rostov—Obersturmführer Olboeter and thirty men—Rundstedt is dismissed— Ringing of the alarm bells
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Part Four: Winter Battle
1. The Siberians Are Coming
5th December 1941—No winter clothing—Fighting for Klin —3rd Panzer Group fights its way back—Second Panzer
Army has to give ground—Drama on the ice of the Ruza— Brauchitsch leaves—Historic conversation at the Fuehrer's
Headquarters—Hold on at all costs—Break-through at Ninth Army—The tragedy of XXIII Corps—Time-table for
"Giessen"—Guderian is dismissed
2. South of Lake Ilmen
The fishing village of Vzvad—Charge across the frozen lake —Four Soviet Armies over-run one German
Division—Staraya Russa—The Valday Hills—Yeremenko has a conversation with Stalin in the Kremlin shelter—The
Guards are starving— Toropets and Andreapol—The tragedy of 189th Infantry Regiment
3. Model Takes Over
The supply-dumps of Sychevka—"What have you brought with you, Herr General?"—A regiment holds the Volga
bend —"I am the only one left from my company"—Stalin's offensive gets stuck—Sukhinichi, or the mouse in the
elephant's trunk—A padre and a cavalry sergeant—Spotlight on the other side: two Russian diaries and a farewell
letter
4. Assault on the Valday Hills
The Soviet 57th Striking Brigade charges across the Volkhov —Rendezvous: Clearing Erika—Two Soviet Armies in
the bag—Demyansk: 100,000 Germans surrounded—An unusual Order of the Day by Count Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt—A
pocket is supplied from the air—Operation "Bridge-building"— Kholm, a fortress without guns
5. General Vlasov
A crack Soviet Army in the swamp—The wooden road across the clearing Erika—A merciless battle—Engineers
Battalion 158—-Break-out from hell—The disaster to the Soviet Second Striking Army—"Don't shoot; I am General
Vlasov"—Maps buried under a river
Part Five: The Ports on the Arctic Ocean
1. "Operation Platinum Fox"
The Murmansk railway—Offensive on the edge of the world —General Dietl reaches out for Murmansk—Across the
Titovka and Litsa—No roads in the tundra—An error costs the Finns their victory—Mountain Jägers in the Litsa
bridgehead
2. Battle in the Arctic Night
From Athens to Lapland—1400 horses must die—The Pet-samojoki river—Supply crisis—Nightmare trek along the
Arctic Ocean road—The Soviet 10th Rifle Division celebrates the October Revolution—An anniversary
attack—Fighting at Hand-grenade Rock—Convoy PQ 17—The Soviet 155th Rifle Division freezes to death—The
front in the Far North becomes icebound
Part Six: The Caucasus and the Oilfields
1. Prelude to Stalingrad
Halder drives to Hitler's Headquarters—Anxieties of the Chief of the General Staff—The Izyum bend—Balakleya and
Slav-yansk—Fuehrer Directive No. 41—"Case Blue"—Curtain up over the Crimea—Failure of a Russian
Dunkirk—Mid-May south of Kharkov—"Fridericus" will not take place—Kleist's one-pronged armoured
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pincers—The road to death—239,000 prisoners
2. Sevastopol
A grave in the cemetery of Yalta—Between Belbek Valley and Rose Hill—324 shells per second—"Karl" and "Dora,"
the giant mortars—A fire-belching fortress—The "Maxim Gorky" battery is blown up—"There are twenty-two of us
left. . . . Farewell"—Fighting for Rose Hill—Komsomols and commissars
3. A Plan Betrayed to the Enemy
Venison and Crimean champagne—An interrupted feast— Major Reichel has disappeared—A disastrous flight—Two
mysterious graves—The Russians know the plan for the offensive—The attack is mounted nevertheless—Birth of a
tragedy
4. New Soviet Tactics
Fatal mistake at Voronezh—Timoshenko refuses battle—Hitler again changes his plan—Council of War at the
Kremlin—The battle moves to the southern Don—Fighting for Rostov —Street fighting against NKVD units—The
bridge of Bataysk
5. Action among the High Mountains
A blockhouse near Vinnitsa—Fuehrer Directive No. 45—By assault boat to Asia—Manychstroy and Martinovka—The
approaches to the Caucasus—Chase through the Kuban— Mackensen takes Maykop—In the land of the Circassians
6. Between Novorossiysk and the Klukhor Pass
"The sea, the sea!"—The mountain passes of the Caucasus— Fighting for the old Military Highways—Expedition to
the summit of Mount Elbrus—Only 20 miles to the Black Sea coast—For the lack of the last battalion
7. Long-range Reconnaissance to Astrakhan
By armoured scout-car through 80 miles of enemy country— The unknown oil railway—Second Lieutenant Schliep
telephones the station-master of Astrakhan—Captain Zagorodnyy's Cossacks
8. The Terek Marks the Limit of the German Advance
Hitler's clash with Jodl—The Chief of the General Staff and Field-Marshal List are dismissed—An obsession with
oil— Panzer Grenadiers on the Ossetian Military Highway—The Caucasus front freezes
Part Seven: Stalingrad
1. Between Don and Volga
Kalach, the bridge of destiny over the Don—Tank battle in the sands of the steppe—General Hübe's armoured thrust
to the Volga—"On the right the towers of Stalingrad"-—Heavy anti-aircraft guns manned by women—The first
engagement outside Stalin's city
2. Battle in the Approaches
The Tartar Ditch—T-34s straight off the assembly line—Counter-attack by the Soviet 35th Division—Seydlitz's Corps
moves up—Insuperable Beketovka—Bold manœuvre by Hoth—Stalingrad's defences are torn open
3. The Drive into the City
General Lopatin wants to abandon Stalingrad—General Chuy-kov is sworn in by Khrushchev—The regiments of 71st
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Infantry Division storm Stalingrad Centre—Grenadiers of the 24th Panzer Division at the main railway
station—Chuykov's last brigade—Ten crucial hours—Rodimtsev's Guards
4. Last Front Line along the Cliff
Chuykov's escape from the underground passage near the Tsaritsa—The southern city in German hands—The secret
of Stalingrad: the steep river-bank—The grain elevator—The bread factory—The "tennis racket"—Nine-tenths of the
city in German hands
5. Disaster on the Don
Danger signals along the flank of Sixth Army—Tanks knocked out by mice—November, a month of disaster—Renewed
assault on the Volga bank—The Rumanian-held front collapses— Battle in the rear of Sixth Army—Break-through
also south of Stalingrad—The 29th Motorized Infantry Division strikes —The Russians at Kalach—Paulus flies into
the pocket
6. Sixth Army in the Pocket
Get the hell out of here—"My Fuehrer, I request freedom of action"—Goering and supplies by air—The Army High
Command sends a representative into the pocket—General von Seydlitz calls for disobedience—Manstein takes
over—Wenck saves the situation on the Chir
7. Hoth Launches a Relief Attack
"Winter Storm" and "Thunder-clap"—The 19th December— Another 30 miles—Argument about "Thunder-
clap"—Rokos-sovskiy offers honourable capitulation
8. The End
The Soviets' final attack—The road to Pitomnik—The end in the Southern pocket—Paulus goes into
captivity—Strecker continues to fight—Last flight over the city—The last bread for Stalingrad
Appendix
Acknowledgment
Bibliography
PART ONE: Moscow
1. Taken by Surprise
The forest of Pratulin-The white 'G'—0315 hours-Across the Bug, the San, and the Memel—Raseiniai and Liepaja—
Surprise attack against Daugavpils-Manstein is made to halt—Rundstedt encounters difficulties-The citadel of Brest.
FOR two days they had been lying in the dark pinewoods with their tanks and vehicles. They had arrived, driving with
masked headlights, during the night of 19th/20th June. During the day they lay silent. They must not make a sound. At
the mere rattle of a hatch-cover the troop commanders would have fits. Only when dusk fell were they allowed to go to
the stream in the clearing to wash themselves, a troop at at time.
Second Lieutenant Weidner, the troop commander, was standing outside the company tent when Sergeant Sarge trotted
past with his men of No. 2 Troop. "Nice spot for a holiday, Oberfeldwebel," he said with a chuckle. Sergeant Sarge
stopped and grimaced. "I don't believe in holidays, Herr Leutnant." And more softly he added: "What's it all about,
Herr Leutnant? Are we having a go at Ivan? Or is it true that we are only waiting for Stalin's leave to drive through
Russia in order to get at the Tommies through their Persian back door and let the air out of their beautiful Empire?"
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The question did not surprise Weidner. He knew as well as Sarge the many rumours and stories which had been going
the rounds ever since their tank training battalion had been reorganized as the 3rd Battalion, 39th Panzer Regiment,
which formed part of 17th Panzer Division, and had been moved first to Central Poland and then brought here into the
woods of Pratulin. Here they were, less than three miles from the river Bug, which formed the frontier, almost exactly
opposite the huge old fortress of Brest-Litovsk, occupied by the Russians since the partition of Poland in the autumn of
1939.
The regiment was bivouacking in the forest in full battle order. Each tank, moreover, carried ten jerricans of petrol
strapped to its turret and had a trailer in tow with a further three drums. These were the preparations for a long
journey, not for swift battle. "You don't go into battle with jerricans on your tank," the experienced tankmen were
saying.
This was an argument against the stubborn ones who kept talking about imminent war with Russia. "Russia?
Nonsense! We've got quite enough on our hands already. Why start another war? Ivan isn't doing us any harm, he's our
ally, he's sending us grain, and he's against the British." That was what most of them were saying. It therefore followed
that if they were not going into battle and not driving into Persia either, then the whole thing must be one huge
diversionary manœuvre.
A diversionary manœuvre—but against whom? Surely, to bluff the British. All this build-up in the East might well be
a blind for the invasion of Britain on the other side of Europe. This was an argument that was passed on in a whisper
and with a knowing wink nearly everywhere. Those who spread it, and who believed in it, could not know of an entry
in the diary of the Naval High Command, dated 18th February: "The build-up against Russia is to be presented as the
greatest camouflage operation in military history, allegedly designed to divert attention from final preparations for the
invasion of Britain."
Yet another story, breathtaking in its beauty and simplicity, was confidently bandied about by the old corporals, those
old soldiers who, as is only too well known, can hear the grass growing, know all the secrets of the company office,
and represent not only the soul but also the eyes and ears of each unit: Stalin, they patiently explained while washing
up their mess-tins, playing "Skat," or polishing their boots, Stalin had leased the Ukraine to Hitler, and they were
moving in merely as an army of occupation. In a war people will believe anything. And Sergeant Sarge was only too
glad to believe in peace. He believed in the pact which Hitler had concluded with Stalin in August 1939. He believed
in it, together with the rest of the German people, who regarded this pact as Hitler's greatest diplomatic achievement.
Second Lieutenant Weidner stepped up close to Sarge. "Do you believe in fairy-tales, Oberfeldwebel?" he asked.
Sarge looked puzzled. The lieutenant glanced at his watch. "Be patient for another hour," he said significantly, and
walked back to his tent.
While Sergeant Sarge and his second lieutenant had this conversation in the forest of Pratulin, a different conversation
was taking place in the Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin, in the former residence of the Reich President. But here there was
less mystery. Ribbentrop revealed the great secret. He informed his closest collaborators: Early tomorrow the
Wehrmacht moves against Russia.
So that was it, after all. They had been suspecting it; now they knew. They had hoped it would remain merely a plan
on paper; but now the die was cast. The time for politics and diplomacy, which were their concern, was over; now the
weapons would speak. At that moment the ambassadors, the envoys, and the ministerial officials all asked themselves
the same question: In view of this development, would Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop stay in office? Could he stay
in office? Did not the rules demand his resignation?
Twenty-one months previously he had returned from Moscow with the German-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and
explained to them: "Our treaty with Stalin keeps our rear covered and insures us against a war on two fronts such as
brought disaster to Germany once before. I regard this alliance as the crowning achievement of my foreign policy."
And now it was to be war. The crowning achievement lay in the dust.
Ribbentrop sensed the wall of silence around him. He walked to the window overlooking the park where an earlier
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Chancellor, Prince Bismarck, used to take his constitutional —another man who had regarded the German-Russian
alliance as the crowning achievement of his foreign policy. Was Ribbentrop reminded of his predecessor? He turned on
his heel and said loudly and with emphasis, "The Fuehrer has information that Stalin has built up his forces against us
in order to strike at us at a favourable moment. And the Fuehrer has always been right so far. He has assured me that
the Wehrmacht will defeat the Soviet Union within eight weeks. Our rear will then be safe without having to depend
solely on Stalin's goodwill."
Eight weeks. And supposing it took longer? It could not take longer. The Fuehrer had always been right before. For
eight weeks one could, if necessary, fight on two fronts.
That was the position. And presently the troops would be told. In the dense pinewoods of Pratulin the hot day was
drawing to its end. The pleasant smell of resin and the stench of petrol hung in the air. At 2110 hours an order was
shouted softly from the company headquarters tent to tank No. 924: "Companies will fall in at 2200 hours. 4th
Company, Panzer Lehr Regiment, in the large clearing." Wireless Operator Westphal called the order across to No.
925, and from there it was passed on from tank to tank.
Dusk had fallen by the time the company was lined up. First Lieutenant von Abendroth reported to the captain. The
captain's eyes swept along the ranks of his men. Their faces beneath their field caps were unrecognizable in the
twilight. The men were a grey-black wall, a tank company—without faces.
"4th Company!" Captain Streit shouted. "I shall read to you an order of the Fuehrer." There was dead silence in the
forest near Brest-Litovsk. The captain switched on the flashlight he had hanging from the second button of his tunic.
The sheet of paper in his hand shone white. With his voice slightly hoarse with excitement he began to read: "Soldiers
of the Eastern Front!"
Eastern Front? Did he say Eastern Front? This was the first time the term had been used. So this was it, after all.
The captain read on. "Weighed down for many months by grave anxieties, compelled to keep silent, I can at last speak
openly to you, my soldiers. . . ." Eagerly the men listened to what had been worrying the Fuehrer for many months:
"About 160 Russian divisions are lined up along our frontier. For weeks this frontier has been violated continually—
not only the frontier of Germany but also that in the far north and in Rumania."
The men hear of Russian patrols penetrating into Reich territory and being driven back only after prolonged exchanges
of fire. And they hear the conclusion: "At this moment, soldiers of the Eastern Front, a build-up is in progress which
has no equal in world history, either in extent or in number. Allied with Finnish divisions, our comrades are standing
side by side with the victor of Narvik on the Arctic Sea in the North. . . .
"You are standing on the Eastern Front. In Rumania, on the banks of the Prut, on the Danube, down to the shores of
the Black Sea, German and Rumanian troops are standing side by side, united under Head of State Antonescu. If this
greatest front in world history is now going into action, then it does so not only in order to create the necessary
conditions for the final conclusion of this great war, or to protect the countries threatened at this moment, but in order
to save the whole of European civilization and culture.
"German soldiers! You are about to join battle, a hard and crucial battle. The destiny of Europe, the future of the
Glerman Reich, the existence of our nation, now lie in your hands alone."
For a moment the captain stood silent. The beam of his flashlight flickered over the paper in his hand. Then he added
softly, almost as if these were his own words and not the conclusion of the Order of the Day: "May the Almighty help
us all in this struggle."
After the men were dismissed there was a buzzing as of a swarm of bees. So they were going to fight Russia after all.
First thing tomorrow morning. It was quite a thought. The men ran back to their tanks on the double.
Sergeant Fritz Ebert passed Sarge. "Extra comforts to be issued at once for each vehicle," he announced. He let down
the tailboard of his lorry and opened a large crate: spirits, cigarettes, and chocolate. Thirty cigarettes per head. One
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bottle of brandy gratis for every four men. Drink and tobacco were the troops' traditional requirements.
There was feverish activity everywhere: tents were being taken down, tanks were being made ready. After that the men
waited. They smoked. Very few touched the brandy. The spectre of a stomach wound still terrified them—in spite of
sulfonamide. Only the very toughest slept that night.
It was a night of clock-watching. Slowly the hours ticked away, like eternity. It was the same all along the long frontier
between Germany and the Soviet Union. Everywhere, strung out across an entire continent, the troops lay awake, from
the Baltic to the Black Sea, a distance of 930 miles. And along these 930 miles three million troops were waiting.
Hidden in forests, pastures, and cornfields. Shrouded by the night, waiting.
The German offensive front was divided into three sectors— North, Centre, South.
Army Group North, under Field-Marshal Ritter von Leeb, was to advance with two Armies and one Panzer Group
from East Prussia across the Memel. Its object was the annihilation of the Soviet forces in the Baltic and the capture of
Leningrad. The armoured spearhead of von Leeb's forces was Fourth Panzer Group, under Colonel-General Hoepner.
Its two mobile corps were commanded by Generals von Manstein and Reinhardt. First Air Fleet, attached to this Army
Group, was under Colonel-General Keller.
Army Group Centre was commanded by Field-Marshal von Bock. Its area of operations extended from Rornintener
Heide to south of Brest-Litovsk—a line of 250 miles. This was the strongest of the three Army Groups, and comprised
two Armies as well as Second Panzer Group, under Colonel-General Guderian, and Third Panzer Group, under
Colonel-General Hoth. Field-Marshal Kesselring's Second Air Fleet, with numerous Stuka wings, lent additional
striking power to this tremendous armoured force. The object of Army Group Centre was the annihilation of the strong
Soviet forces, with their many armoured and motorized units, in the triangle Brest-Vilna (Vilnius)-Smolensk. Once
Smolensk had been taken by the mobile forces in a bold armoured thrust the decision would be made whether to wheel
to the north or drive on towards Moscow.
In the southern sector, between the Pripet Marshes and the Carpathians, Army Group South, under Field-Marshal von
Rundstedt, with its three Armies and one Panzer Group, was to engage and destroy Colonel-General Kirponos's
Russian forces in Galicia and the Western Ukraine on the near side of the Dnieper, secure the Dnieper crossing, and
finally take Kiev. Complete air cover was to be provided by Fourth Air Fleet under Colonel-General Löhr. The
Rumanians and the German Eleventh Army, who came under Rundstedt's sphere of command, were to stand by as
reinforcements. In the north Germany's other ally, Finland, was to stand by, ready for attack, until 11th July, the date
for the German thrust against Leningrad.
This grouping of the German offensive line-up clearly shows its concentration of strength at Army Group Centre. In
spite of unfavourable terrain, with river-courses and swamps, this sector was equipped with two Panzer Groups in
order to bring about a rapid decision to the campaign.
Soviet intelligence evidently failed to spot this disposition, for the focus of the Soviet defensive system was in the
south, opposite Rundstedt's Army Group. There Stalin had concentrated 64 divisions and 14 armoured brigades, while
on the Central Front he had only 45 divisions and 15 armoured brigades, and on the northern front 30 divisions and 8
armoured brigades.
The Soviet High Command clearly expected the main German attack in the south, against Russia's principal
agricultural and industrial areas. That was why it had concentrated the bulk of its armoured units on this sector for an
elastic defence. But since the tank is primarily an offensive weapon, this concentration of powerful armoured forces on
the southern forces on the southern wing simultaneously allowed for a Soviet offensive against Rumania, Germany's
vital source of oil.
Hitler's plan for attack, therefore, was a gamble. It followed the recipe which had proved successful in the West, when,
to the complete surprise of the French, he had broken rapidly through the unfavourable Ardennes terrain, piercing the
Maginot Line, which was weak there, and thus bringing the campaign to a rapid conclusion. Hitler intended to apply
the same plan to the Soviet Union: he would attack with all available forces in an unexpected place, tear open the
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