23rd August 1942,spearheads of 16th Panzer Div cross the Don Steppe and reach the Volga. Can anyone tell me who the Oberst was who was in Command of 6th Armee General Staff on this date. Thanks Paul
The Chief of Staff for the 6th Armee was Generalleutnant Arthur Schmidt the whole time. Is this what you are looking for?
Thanks Pzjgr, Although Scmidt was the Armee Chief of Staff,there was an Oberst who was actually in command of the personnel of the staff themselves.I have some documents signed by this man but can't make out his name. Paul
I hope this helps. I couldn't post a picture of him, but you can get one in www.stalingrad.net go to German 6th Army/the chief of staff. He was the chief of staff to the senior chief of staff (not commander) Paulus during nearly all the year of 1942, since Khárkov until the final surrender. Generalleutnant Arthur Schmidt Born : 25 October 1895 - Hamburg - Germany Died : 5 November 1987 – Karlsruhe - Germany Military career One year volunteer : 10 August 1914 Fahnenjunker : 1 November 1914 Fähnrich : 24 December 1914 Leutnant : 8 May 1915 Oberleutnant : 1 November 1923 Hauptmann : 1 July 1928 Major : 1 November 1934 Oberstleutnant : 1 August 1937 Oberst : 1 February 1940 Generalmajor : 1 June 1942 Generalleutnant : 17 January 1943 Second World War Ia of the 5.Armee : 1 September 1939 Ia of Oberkommando Grenzabschnitt Mitte : 13 October 1939 Ia of the 18.Armee : 5 November 1939 Chief of Staff of the V. Armee Korps : 25 October 1940 Führereserve OKH : 24 April 1942 Chief of Staff of the 6. Armee : 15 May 1942 Surrendered to the Russians at Stalingrad on 31 January 1943 Awards won during World War 2 : Knight's Cross on 6 January 1943
Just curious. Is there evidence that Schmidt was "making decisions" over Paulus during the siege period of the 6th Army. In a way I "sense" that Paulus was too weak to handle the situation, but was Schmidt the person to push Paulus in these decisions and the "real commander"? Please read the battle of Stalingrad section from the site below. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schmidt_(soldier)
My understanding of the German Armee structure was that the Chief of Staff did more of the command and control than the actual commander. The commander would make a decision and the Chief of Staff would be responsible for carrying them out. A good example of this is seen with Sepp Dietrich as commander. He had no proper military command training yet he rose to command an army group. The person actually running the show was his Chief of Staff Fritz Kraemer who was brought over from the Heere.
I just read that wikipedia entry and this is interesting as I have never seen any other documentation where Schmidt was making actual command decisions for Paulus rather than just carrying them out. I have read that Paulus' rise was highly criticized by many Generals. They regarded him as a good staff officer but not a commanding one. So I agree that perhaps Paulus was in such a state to let Schmidt run the show.
" ..when he held the order to fly out in his hands on 25 january, the last aircraft had already taken off from Stalingradski airfield. At the time, von Seydlitz felt this was poetic justice." On Schmidt after he was promoted Lieutenant General. Stalingrad- memories and reassessments Wider and Graf von Einsiedel
