In February 1943, the German Army surrendered at Stalingrad, Was Hitlers interference the main reason for this defeat? Explain your answer.

Authors Avatar

Ryan Copleston 11B         History Coursework        

In February 1943, the German Army surrendered at Stalingrad, Was Hitler’s interference the main reason for this defeat? Explain your answer.

On 22nd June 1941 Hitler put into action ‘Operation Barbarossa’. In this attack it would capture key cities in Russia; Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad. This attack was inevitable as the German race needed; space for living, resources such as the oil Caucasus in the South, and Russia’s dominance in Europe. It was also seen as a racism attack on the Jews who occupied parts of Russia. It was launched on 22nd 1941 due to the; non-aggression pact with Russia that ended in 1941, the Polish and French campaigns from 1939 to 1941, and spring operation retribution in Yugoslavia.  Hitler needed to attack Russia in a quick time due to the upcoming weather conditions. Therefore it began in the late spring of 1941. They aimed small armies at Stalingrad and Leningrad and put strong forces on Moscow which would support the two smaller armies once Moscow fell. Stalingrad was chosen to be attacked as it was named after the Russian leader and to Hitler it would seem a suitable target to take as it was the centre of communications and manufacturing.  Von Paulus leading the 6th Army and supported by the 4th Panzer Army were order by Hitler to take the city. However when attacking Stalingrad the army failed and in the following writing I am going to determine whether Hitler’s interference is to blame for the failed attack.

When Germany set out for their attack on Russia they knew that they would have to complete the assault in a short period. They set off to complete Barbarossa in June 1941 which left them until the winter before the attack would become increasingly harder. When Stalingrad was engaged in fighting on 17th July 1942, they did not have much time to attack and overrun the city. However the Russian’s gave resistance that was not expected and the time that they expected to complete the attack was much pro-longed. With the winter months it made the attack much harder for the German’s army that was lead by Von Paulus and the 6th army with support from the 4th Panzer army.  The weather conditions that would face the Germans were to be so cold that the oil in the engines of tanks and trucks would freeze and make them unusable.

The German army that Hitler had said to be motorised, was in fact a myth created by him. This did not help the attack on Stalingrad as it meant that they would reach the city slower than they would have if they were motorised. It was found that on many occasions the troops had to wait for the support to come which was following them, therefore they were slow advancing. This lack technology that the Germans had also meant that the communications between the entire German’s forces was hard as the further they went into Russia the further they got split apart. Also another limiting factor that meant the army was not as strong as it could have been is the Russian’s ’Scorched Earth Policy’. The policy set out by the Russians would mean that when retreating they would destroy anything that could be used to benefit the attackers. A key phrase that the Russians’ used was ‘time for Land’ which meant that they would retreat and give land in order for them to gain time. This policy denied the Germans from using recourses that the Russians would leave behind on retreat. This also drew out the attack on Russia as with the time spent, the weather that would hold the Germans back was approaching. A further issue that caused Germans problems was that their tanks were not suited to cold weather whereas the Russians would put anti-freeze in there diesel which would allow their tanks to continue through the cold weather. An additional drawback was that the oil fields in Romania that was supplying the Germans with oil was not given them sufficient amounts for them to carry out this attack with succession. Therefore these factors meant that the arriving army that attacked Stalingrad would be getting there much later than they would want to and also they would not be as strong as they wanted as there resources were limited.

Join now!

The German army prior to the attack on Russia had been on an ongoing streak of winning attacks and the attacks Hitler ordered were working. Examples of this are; the invasion of France which took 6 weeks, the invasion of Poland which was relatively quick and easy and the invasion of Yugoslavia which also took around 6 weeks. Due to the lack of opposition that faced the German army, it made them appear, to themselves, an invincible army and this made them arrogant in there attacks. So when it came to attacking Russia, and more importantly Stalingrad, they did not ...

This is a preview of the whole essay