Amid all of the secrecy, something happened which threatened Operation Blau. Hitler instructed his field commanders to give oral orders only, they were to put nothing of Operation Blau in writing. Hitler did not want anything that could be discovered and read by the Russians. On June 17th, chief of the Sixth Army's XL Panzer Corps, Lieut. General Georg Stumme gave a briefing to his division commanders. Just as Hitler had ordered, Stumme gave oral instructions only. One of the commanders, however, urged Stumme to write down a few points. Stumme yielded and gave half of page of points regarding the first few days of the operation and he sent a typed copy to each division headquarters. On June 19th, operations chief of the 23rd Panzer Division, Major Joachim Reichel flew in an observation plane to explore the area northeast of Kharkov and he carried Stumme's typed notes with him. The plane flew behind enemy lines and was shot down by the Russians. The plane wreckage was found by a German patrol on the following day and nearby two graves were found. The corpses in the graves were in terrible condition and could not be identified, but they were presumed to be Reichel and the pilot. ( One source claims there were two graves but only one body ) The horrified Germans also discovered something else - the papers were gone. Panic set in and the news soon reached Hitler, who was infuriated. Operation Blau was compromised due to the disobedience of his orders. Hitler now had serious questions to consider - Did the Russians find the papers? What did they do with them? Were they taken to Stalin? Did Stalin now know where Hitler was going to attack? Hitler did not want to cancel the operation, he decided to take his chances and go through with it, but he was not going to let Stumme get away with this dangerous gaffe. Stumme and his chief of staff were court-martialed and found guilty of excessive disclosure of orders. Their punishment was imprisonment but Hermann Goering, who was the presiding officer, intervened on their behalf and convinced Hitler to give clemency. As a result, both Stumme and his chief of staff were assigned to North Africa under Erwin Rommel. Stumme would later meet his end on the battlefield at El Alamein.

The fate of the papers that were on Reichel's plane led to a very ironic twist. They were indeed found by the Russians and they ended up on Stalin's desk. Upon reading the German plans, Stalin came to the conclusion that they were phony plans and the Germans wanted the Russians to find them in order to throw them off the trail of the impending Moscow attack. The irony, as we have seen, is that the opposite was true. Hitler was busy throwing Stalin off the trail of Operation Blau with his bogus plans to attack Moscow and Stalin thought that the Moscow attack was real and Blau was fake.

http://www.thirdreichpages.org/blau.htm

__________________

Operation Fredericus and 1942

The Great Battle South of Kharkov - Operation Fredericus
17th May 1942

Before the Summer Campaign had taken place, 6th Army of Paulus and
1st Panzer Army of Kleist had captured the Sovjet Balakleya-Izyum
salient near Kharkov. 1250 tanks and 2026 gunswere destroyed.
The Soviets losing 239.000 men as prisoner alone and the Germans gaining
a valuable area from which to begin the new offensive. The Soviets launched
an attack towards Kharkov on the 12th May 1942, pre-empting a German
strike code-named 'Fredericus' in the same area by six days. Although the
OKH commanded to start 'Fredericus', one day earlier, as planned
(17th instead of 18th May 1942).
A counter-attack, not defence, was believed to be the best solution.
It was by the 22nd the enemy was encircled between von Kleist's and
Paulus' armies and a great victory was achieved.

After Kerch and Kharkov the German eastern army showed itself to be once
again at the peak of it superior strenght. Within three weeks 409.000 Soviet
soldiers taken prison, 3159 guns and 1508 tanks destroyed or captured.
Victory dominated the minds of the soldiers and the Wehrmacht communiques.
It certainly was amazing. But forgotten was the terrible winter and the
spectre of defeat.



http://216.198.255.120/germanpart/agsouth_part4.html

__________________

The pic:

http://www.bibl.u-szeged.hu/bibl/mil.../berzarin.html


Colonel-General Nikolai Berzarin was the first Soviet commandant of Berlin.

Mr. Barzarin, one of the youngest Generals of the Soviet Army, served as a commandant of the defeated Berlin from April 28th to June 16th, 1945. ( died in a car crash, sniped? I didn´t find the "true story" ).

Berzarin, Colonel-General Nikolai E. (1904-1945):
38 : General Officer Commanding 38th Rifle Division
41 : General Officer Commanding 27th Army
41-42: General Officer Commanding 34th Army
42 : Deputy General Officer Commanding 61st Army
43 : General Officer Commanding 20th Army
43-44: General Officer Commanding 39th Army
44-45: General Officer Commanding 5th Shock Army
45 : Commandant Berlin


http://english.pravda.ru/society/2003/02/12/43288.html

__________________

Ukraine and WW2: the early days of Barbarossa

It should be mentioned that an attempt was made to establish a Ukrainian government. On June 30, 1941 the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) headed by Stepan Bandera took the Germans by surprise by announcing the establishment of a new independent Government of Ukraine with Yaroslav Stetsko as Prime Minister. About one week later the Germans disbanded this government and arrested the members. Bandera and Stetsko were sent to Sachsenhausen Prison in Germany where they spent the war.

The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) supported the idea of an independent Ukraine. During World War II it was split in two factions called Melnykivtsi and Banderivtsi headed by Andrey Melnyk and Stepan Bandera. They both struggled against Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia and sometimes had divergent views with each other but they were united by the idea of indpendence for Ukraine. Moscow saw the Ukrainian nationalists as a dire threat and produced much Soviet propaganda blackening them especially Bandera who was accused of crimes against Ukrainians and Jews. The Kremlin also early in the War started a campaign of promoting patriotism with Russian (not Soviet) nationalism and chauvinism which culminated in the famous toast to the Russian people by Joseph Stalin on May 24, 1945.

http://www.infoukes.com/history/ww2/page-06.html

http://ww.cym.org/archives/bandera99.asp

__________________

On Seelow heights:

On Chuikov´s book on the last two years to Berlin he claims that at least since 1943 he had developed a strategy through which the Germans could not get away from under the artillery barrage. Instead of making reconnaissance for 2-3 days earlier Chuikov sent his men 2-3 hours before the barrage and Germans could not retreat early enough!

In Seelow the battle tactics were commanded by Zhukov and reconnaissance was ordered a couple of days earlier to the barrage and Germans had time to make their own tactics and make a withdrawal shortly before the Soviet artillery obliterated his first line of trenches.

At least that´s how Chuikov sees things!

__________________

Major Soviet losses WW2 by Glantz et al

http://www.fireonthevolga.com/Red%20...1941-1945.html

__________________

Kai, nice link. Most of Glantz' casualty info comes from Krivosheev, who he himself (Glantz) acknowledges is to conservative with his estimates on Soviet casualty and loss numbers.

Krivosheev has been shown to be to low in several instances. For more, see Zetterling and Sokolov.

This doesn´t change much but as an order it cannot be forgotten either.

You remember the notorius "Commissar order" which was done in 1941. Well, anyway, in 6.5.1942 by General Warlimont´s memoirs there was an order in which " poltiruks and comissars will be saved " if it´s seen suitable i.e. to stop the enemy formation´s fighting. Thus formally the commissar order was cancelled according to Warlimont.

Warlimont himself thinks of this as the HQ had undrstood that the original order had caused often unnecessary losses and wanted to prevent these from happening again.

I can put the order´s final setting here if anyone´s interested.

__________________

Soviet losses approx during the first six months of operation Barbarossa:

Soviet Weapons Losses in 1941 (The First Six Months Of The War):

http://www.wargamer.com/articles/lldocefx.asp

One of the most compelling reasons for Western Allied assistance to the Soviet Union was the incredible heavy losses of weapons and equipment caused by the German invasion. The following few examples illustrate the severity of the Russian losses. The percentage of Weapons available, lost by Soviet Forces during 1941:

56% of all Small-arms and Machine guns.
69% of all Anti-Tank guns.
59% of all Field guns and Mortars.
72% of all Tanks.
34% of all Combat Aircraft.



Approximately 20,000 Tanks and 10,000 Combat Aircraft were lost by Soviet forces in this period.


The article also includes very interesting data on lend lease.

__________________

The "Valentine" Medium Tank in the USSR

Soviet Union received 2394 tanks from UK and 1388 from Canada. It was the most popular British tank among Soviet tankers. What concerns its reliability and durability lets refer to one example: at the beginning of Melitopol Operation (October 24, 1943) the 19th Tank Corps had 101 T-34/76 and 63 Valentine tanks. During a battles Corps lost 78 of T-34's and 17 Valentines tanks and all tanks were used with identical intensity.

http://www.battlefield.ru/library/lend/valentine.html

__________________

kai, when was the melitopol operation commenced. what difference was there between the T-34 and the Valentine tanks. in other words why did the russians favor the valentines over the T-34's, was it because of terrain or simply manuverability or what was the reason.

__________________
Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it- Sun Tzu

Onthe field,

I usually put the site as well with the posting so you can check the info I send from these as well.

Usually the problem with lend lease tanks was that they didn´t suit the Soviet landscape , the tracks were not enough wide and the tanks could not move. AS well the gun was too small and the armor too thin. Other details you can check on here per vehicle:

http://www.battlefield.ru/library/lend/index.html

__________________

On 6 October 1944 the president of the Bell firm (USA) awarded engraved watches with congratulatory letters signed in English to Guards Colonel A. I. Pokryskhin, Guards Mayor D. B. Glinka, Guards Kapitan Grigorii Rechkalov, Guards Mayor B. B. Glinka, Guards Mayor K. G. Vishnevetskiy, Guards Kapitan Klubov, Guards Starshiy Leytenant I. I. Babak, Guards Starshiy Leytenant A. I. Trud and Guards Kapitan M. S. Komelkov.
These pilots all had shot down twenty or more enemy aircraft as of 24 June 1944 while flying the Airacobra and were all decorated with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union (Pokryskhin three times, D. B. Glinka and Grigorii Rechkalov twice).
The watches were presented to the pilots by the commander of the 2nd Air Army, General Stepan Krasovskiy. Mayor Vishnevetskiy received his watch posthumously since he was killed on 30 July 1944 in an enemy air raid.
After the death of Aleksandr Pokryskhin in 1985, his widow Maria placed his “Bell” watch in the Central Museum of the Soviet (now Russian) Army in Moscow, where it remain on display to this day.

http://www.dalnet.se/~surfcity/soviet_klubov.htm

__________________

The map of Stalingrad air lift:

http://216.198.255.120/germanpart/map_airlift.htm

__________________

Finnish Tank Destruction Badge
By Juha Hujanen

http://www.skalman.nu/third-reich/ax...wards-tank.htm



Badge with 2 stripes belonged to 1st Leutenant Gregotius Ekholm, CO of Jaeger Company/3rd Brigade.

Five classes of award are issued:

1 tank destroyed-one wide stripe with figure.
3 tanks destroyed-above figure stripe one narrow stripe without figure.
5 tanks destroyed-above figure stripe two narrow stripes without figure.
10 tanks destroyed-above figure stripe three narrow stripes without figure.
15 tanks destroyed-above figure stripe four narrow stripes without figure.

It is also interesting to note that while the Germans used a German (!) tank (a Panzer IV) to symbolize a destroyed enemy tank, the Finns used a Soviet T-34 tank.

When German award was given only for tank destroyed with hand held weapon, Finnish badge was given to gunners of tank/assault gun or gunner of anti-tank gun.

The highest award, badge with 4 stripes, was given to Lance Corporal Toivo Ilomäki. While being an gunner to 75 K/40 anti-tank gun in 24th Gun Company, he destroyed 22 Russian tanks.

Highest number of tanks destroyed with handheld weapons had Lance Corporal Ville Väisänen from 2nd Borderjaeger Battalion. He destroyed 8 tanks with Panzerfaust in one day. Later on same day he became MIA. Private Eero Seppänen destroyed 7 tanks with Panzerschreck.

In heavy battles during summer 44, 950 Russian tanks were destroyed by Finns. Of those 612 were destroyed by Army (Armoured Division and Infantry formations). Majority of tanks destroyed by army were credited to men operating Panzerschrecks and Panzerfausts. They were proud carriers of Finnish tank destruction badge.

__________________

Russian losses per quarter of year in WW2

http://www.skalman.nu/worldwar2/su-losses.htm

__________________

http://www.wssob.com/020divest.html

Feb 13 1944: Soviet Forces attempt to outflank Narva defences with landing at Mereküla; Soviet landing force annihilated. 300 Red Army troops killed on shore, 200 captured, plus an additional 50 found floating upside down in the Baltic. The Red Army assault troops had been wearing specialized rubber trowsers for the landing. Air trapped inside the pants flipped the unlucky soldiers upside down in the water, drowning them. Like some grotesque forest, their legs stick up straight, gently waving with the ocean swells.

__________________

From Frankson/Zetterling " Battle of Kursk"

Still in 1945 Germans caught 34,500 Red Army POW´s.(!)

They explain this as many soldiers were from faraway areas and did not necessarily feel the war theirs.

__________________

Some data from Frankson/Zetterling " Battle of Kursk"

Of the tanks built by Germans in 1941 only 15% had a cannon 50 mm or bigger, in 1942 this grew up to 35% (!)...

By December 3rd 1941 Germans had lost approx 4607 men ( wounded, dead, lost ) per day in the Russian front. From 4th of Dec 1941 till 31st March 1942 this count fell to 2947 per day.

By the beginning of 1944 130,000 German soldiers had died of diseases and accidents.

Red Army officers suffered huge losses all through the war:In 1941 the number reached 300,000 officers of which 1/3 was wounded. In 1942 the losses number was 550,000 officers of which over half were wounded.

__________________

Berlin 1945:

The Soviet armies succeeded in smashing their way forward and their advanced spearheads reached the outer belt of the city's defenses on 20 April, Hitler's birthday. To help celebrate, 299 B-17s bombed Berlin for two hours, followed by RAF Mosquitos and then a nighttime Bomber Command raid. Due to the proximity of Soviet troops, these were the last Anglo-American air raids on the German capital. The RAF and 8th Air Force were soon replaced in the sky by the Red Air Force. On 25 and 26 April, for example, over 1300 Soviet aircraft attacked targets in the city in a centrally orchestrated operation.

http://stonebooks.com/archives/000206.shtml

By this stage of the battle the Soviet armour had developed some ingenious methods of countering the prolific German anti-tank weapons. Their tanks were now festooned with sandbags, bedsprings, sheet metal and other devices to cause the projectiles to explode harmlessly outside the hull, and it was an inspired adaptation of one of these devices that finally enabled them to get their tanks across the Potsdamer Bridge. Sappers had first to remove the mines suspended beneath the structure, all the while working under heavy machine-gun fire. Initial attempts to rush the infantry across the bridge met with costly failure and the Soviet tanks found themselves helpless against the fire of a dug-in 'Tiger' tank covering the crossing from an enfilade position. More artillery fire and smoke were called for, and eventually some infantry managed to get safely across, but the tanks were still being knocked out one by one as they approached. Then someone had the idea of steeping the protective covering of one of the tanks in inflammable oil and adding some smoke cannisters. This tank then led the next armored assault, bursting into flames as if it had been hit as it reached the bridge. Thinking the tank was merely careering forward out of control, the Germans ignored it until it was too late and the Soviets were across the bridge and firing into their flanks at point-blank range.

SS General Steiner was ordered to organize an attack, but his superior HQ was not informed and could not even locate Steiner's command post. The level of disorganization and the confusion of conflicting orders reached the point of black humor:


General Weidling summoned his divisional and regimental commanders to a conference at Corps Headquarters in Kaulsdorf, where he told them that General Busse had threatened to have him shot if he failed to link up with the 9th Army, and that Hitler had threatened him with the same fate if he did not go to the defence of the city.

__________________

Thanks for the links and info, Kai! They were very, very useful indeed.

And specially thanks for that Glantz site. Those casualties figures are most useful. [img]smile.gif[/img]

__________________
"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

A lot of info on Russian night operations in WW2:

http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...asso/SASSO.asp

__________________

Hitler´s biggest HQ bunker- and never used....

Riese-the Giant

http://www.fhquriese.mynetcologne.de/riese_aktuell.htm

When forced laborers began work in 1943, the war was already beginning to turn as the allies pushed the German army out of North Africa and the Soviet Union. With bombing raids beginning in Germany, Hitler planned to move his headquarters east to Poland. Near Wroclaw he began the fantastical project, at the cost of 150 million Reichsmarks.

Few in the Reich knew what the maniacal Nazi leader had in store for the planned 200 square kilometer (49,421 acres) complex of underground tunnels.

"The entire Reich leadership was supposed to be lodged there, round 25,000 people," said Jürgen Heckenthaler, a historian who studied the project. "There are six or seven separate underground lairs."

http://www.warsawvoice.pl/view/2878

There is proof of this in the memoirs of both the OT head, Albert Speer, the Reich's chief architect and minister of armaments, and Hitler's adjutant Nicolaus von Below, who wrote: "The plans that we kept criticizing in those months [early 1944] included the construction of a huge new Headquarters for the Führer in Silesia, near Waldenburg [today's Wałbrzych, near where the facilities were located], which was also to include Fürstenstein Castle [today's Książ Castle] within the estate of the von Pless princes. Hitler defended his orders and commanded that construction continue with the use of concentration camp prisoners managed by Speer. During the year, I visited this facility twice and each time had the strong impression that I wouldn't see its completion. I tried to inspire Speer to somehow influence Hitler to give the order that the project be stopped. Speer said that was impossible. The extravagant work continued-at a time when every tonne of concrete and steel was so urgently needed elsewhere." ( von Below, memoirs )

At a briefing on June 20, 1944, I informed the führer that about 28,000 laborers were working at the time on expanding his headquarters. The construction of the bunkers in Kętrzyn [Hitler's quarters in the then East Prussia, known as the Wolf's Lair] cost 36 million marks, the bunkers in Pullach, which ensured Hitler's safety when he was in Munich-13 million marks, and the Riese bunker complex near Bad Charlottenbrunn [today's Jedlina Zdrój near Wałbrzych]-150 million marks. These construction projects required 257,000 cubic meters of steel-reinforced concrete, 213,000 cubic meters of tunnels [today about 97,000 cubic meters of tunnels are known, which means that if we assume the construction was close to completion, over a half of the underground galleries and chambers have yet to be discovered], 58 km of roads with six bridges, and 100 km of pipelines. For the Riese project alone, more concrete was used than was earmarked in 1944 for the whole population for the construction of air-raid shelters ... The headquarters was never finished, and in early March 1945, soon before the Red Army took over Silesia, SS bomb squads blew the whole thing up." (Albert Speer )

http://www.wuestewaltersdorf.de/de/Riese-Plaene.htm

http://mitglied.lycos.de/Kundschafte...kt%20Riese.htm

__________________

Joachim von Ribbentrop, letter to Staatssekretaer Weizsaecker (29th April, 1941)

I can summarize my opinion on a German-Russian conflict in one sentence: if every burned out Russian city was worth as much to us as a sunk English battleship, then I would be in favour of a German-Russian war in this summer; I think though that we can win over Russia only militarily but that we should lose economically. One can find it enticing to give the Communist system its death blow and perhaps say too that it lies in the logic of things to let the European-Asiatic continent now march forth against Anglo-Saxondom and its allies. But only one thing is decisive: whether this undertaking would hasten the fall of England.

That we will advance militarily up to Moscow and beyond victoriously, I believe is unquestionable. But I thoroughly doubt that we could make use of what was won against the well known passive resistance of the Slavs.

A German attack on Russia would only give a lift to English morale. It would be evaluated there as German doubt of the success of our war against England. We would in this fashion not only admit that the war would still last a long time, but we could in this way actually lengthen instead of shorten it.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSred.htm

-----------

Interesting to see Ribbentrop thought so differently compared to Hitler on the impact of Barbarossa in England....

__________________

Interesting seeing R. making sense (well, sort of [img]smile.gif[/img] )!

I always wondered whether this Weizsaecker is related to the recent President of the Bundesrepublik. Is this correct?

__________________