\u201cThe men carry on in their duty day and night without protection in this hell,\u201d reported Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich \u201cFritz\u201d Roske, writing home to his wife in D\u00fcsseldorf. \u201cFood is poor, [and there\u2019s] no time or possibility of rest. Last night I brought chocolates and cigarettes for everyone with me\u2026 which I had saved for when the situation might become more desperate\u2026 All night, the Russians attempted to work around our positions and capture [it].\u201d<\/p>\n
Roske penned this letter days after 19 November 1942, when Soviet armies commanded by General Georgy Zhukov had launched a massive counter-attack on the weakened Axis flanks, and had soon encircled the Sixth Army in a move that would help change the course of the war on the eastern front. As Roske recognised: \u201cHe [Zhukov] definitely had to take it \u2013 and we had to hold on to what we had.\u201d<\/p>\n
- Read more | Operation Barbarossa: why Hitler\u2019s invasion of the Soviet Union was his greatest mistake<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Roske\u2019s letter is one of a number of previously unpublished testimonies of the struggle between two opposing units: the Sixth Army\u2019s 71st Infantry Division, in which he served, and the Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division, led by Major General Alexander Rodimtsev. As a front-line commander, Roske witnessed the savage fighting in Stalingrad, German and Soviet soldiers alike offering no quarter as they struggled to capture buildings floor by floor and sometimes even room by room.<\/p>\n
Roske\u2019s diaries and letters home, as well as his 1955 memoir (all of which I was fortunate to be given access to by his family) offer a unique commentary on the deteriorating conditions, the morale of his men and the fighting they encountered. They also provide startling new insights into the surrender of the German Sixth Army under Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus.<\/p>\n
Born in 1897, Fritz Roske fought in the First World War<\/a> and then worked in New York for an architecture practice in the 1920s. He re-enlisted in 1934 as Germany re-armed under Adolf Hitler<\/a>; by the outbreak of the Second World War, he had been promoted to the rank of major, and fought in the campaign for France in 1940.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Roske (from the Roske collection)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n Soviets on the precipice of disaster<\/h3>\n
The following June, Roske led an infantry regiment during the initial Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. But he was transferred to the officer reserve pool in France where, bored with his duties teaching tactics, he volunteered to command in a new offensive in southern Russia. That push, codenamed Case Blue, began on 28 June 1942.<\/p>\n
By late summer, Stalin\u2019s Soviet Union teetered on the precipice of disaster. The 1.5 million men and armoured columns of Hitler\u2019s Army Group South stormed across the Russian steppe, aiming to capture vital oil depots in the Caucasus, while following a strategy to push eastwards towards the Volga to protect the German flank.<\/p>\n
Having been convinced that the Germans would repeat their advance on Moscow, Joseph Stalin now had to scramble to send reinforcements south to shore up his front there. But by now, Axis forces were deep in the Caucasus, and some German motorised units were already parked on the banks of the Volga north of Stalingrad. So in September 1942, the scene was set for a titanic clash, resulting in more than 2 million casualties and marking the turning point in the Third Reich\u2019s fortunes.<\/p>\n
Timeline: seven months that turned the tide of WWII<\/h4>\n
28 June 1942<\/strong><\/p>\n
Germany launches the offensive codenamed Case Blue in southern Russia.<\/p>\n
23 July<\/strong><\/p>\n
Hitler orders simultaneous offensives aimed at Stalingrad and the Caucasus.<\/p>\n
28 July<\/strong><\/p>\n
Stalin demands that Soviet troops retreating across the steppe should take \u201cNot One Step Back!\u201d<\/p>\n
23\u201324 August<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Luftwaffe begins carpet-bombing Stalingrad, and German forces enter the city\u2019s northern suburbs.<\/p>\n
13 September<\/strong><\/p>\n
The battle for Stalingrad city centre begins.<\/p>\n
8 November<\/strong><\/p>\n
Hitler announces in Munich that Stalingrad is in his hands.<\/p>\n
19\u201324 November<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Soviets launch a counter-offensive that encircles the Sixth Army and its Axis allies. Hitler orders German forces to stand and fight.<\/p>\n
25 November<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Luftwaffe launches an airlift to supply besieged German forces in Stalingrad.<\/p>\n
12\u201323 December<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Germans launch Operation Winter Storm, dispatching the Fourth Panzer Army to rescue the Sixth Army. The operation is called off after nine days of intense fighting.<\/p>\n
8\u201325 January 1943<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Soviets issue three ultimatums demanding the surrender of the Sixth Army. All are refused.<\/p>\n
30 January<\/strong><\/p>\n
Hitler promotes General Friedrich Paulus, commander of German forces in Stalingrad, to field marshal in an attempt to ensure he resists surrender.<\/p>\n
31 January<\/strong><\/p>\n
Field Marshal Paulus surrenders to the Soviets; nearly 91,000 soldiers of the German Sixth Army are taken prisoner. The battle of Stalingrad is over.<\/p>\n
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