The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

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   Number 1: Episode 7 - Stalin issues order 227 “Not One Step Backwards” as the Sixth Army approaches the Don

   This episode we’re starting the week-to-week coverage of the battle and it’s the end of July 1942. As we’ve heard, Hitler had split his Southern Army in two sending the Fourth Panzers to the Black Sea to secure the coast while the 6th Army continued onwards towards the Don River. Hitler had ignored General Halder’s protestations about the buildup of Soviet troops to the East of these units – at least a million men were now based across the Volga River and in the Caucuses. The Soviets were also producing at least 500 tanks a month which was almost the same number Germany’s massive manufacturing sector was churning out – and Hitler didn’t believe that either. He also thought the Russians were close to collapse. They weren’t. On the 28th July 1942 Hitler was celebrating the capture of Rostov in the South and his southern Army’s rapid drive towards the Don River where the Soviet army faced annihilation. If the German army made it west of the Don River, they would then be able to challenge Soviet troops on the Volga and in Moscow, Joseph Stalin was aware what that would mean. The Germans would cut his country in two and seize the all-important Black Sea ports feeding material into Moscow. In other theatres there was even more bad news. A large allied shipping convoy with the code name PQ-17 on its way to Russia had been destroyed in the Barents Sea. In his office in the Kremlin, Stalin was pacing back and forth listening to the latest report on the war presented by General Vasilevsky. It was full of the words retreat, withdrawal, surrender. Apparently this is where Stalin blurted “They’ve forgotten my Stavka order!” which he had issued in August 1941. “That was anyone who removed their insignia during battle and surrendered would be regarded as a malicious deserter who’s family would be arrested.” The deserters would be shot dead on the spot. “They’ve forgotten it!” he yelled. “Write a new one along the same lines.” He ordered Vasilevsky. The General had a few hours to redraft the order and then report back to Stalin who was seething now convinced that some of his own army had lost their nerve and needed severe disciplining.

   August 02, 2020·19min
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   Number 2: Episode 6 - Voronezh slows the Wehrmacht as Operation Blue is split in two

   This week the Germans launch Operation Blue where Army Group South is supposed to head towards the Caucuses to secure the all-important oil. We heard last week how Adolf Hitler was under the false impression that seizing the oil would also damage Russia’s fighting capability – but little did he know that the Soviet Union had vast resources in other regions as I explained. The Upper Volga and Kama area in the Urals and in the northern region of Ukhta also produced oil as well as a narrow belt east of the Caspian sea across the whole south of the Soviet Union. Hitler did not understand this – he was fixated on Baku. In 1942 there were few oil pipelines in use. The main pipeline which ran 1200 miles from Baku to the Black Sea port of Batum had been in existence since the First World War, and other shorter lengths ran from Grozny to Tuapse on the Black Sea as well as Armavir to Rostov and Trudovuya. Hitler had decided on three parallel thrusts to be made all West to East. The first and most northerly would be an armoured attack from the area near Kursk towards the Don River and Voronezh. The tanks would then turn south east after taking the city and move down the west bank of the Don rolling up the enemy. Simultaneously, a second parallel thrust would be made from the area of Kharkov striking at the concentrated Soviet Army forces on the Don, and a third parallel thrust was to be made from lower Don region to join up with the other two German forces in the area of Stalingrad. The city with Stalin’s name was mentioned at this point for the first time. The capture of the city was not part of the strategic aim, although it was important. As we’ll see, both Halder and von Bock were to oppose Hitler later when he became obsessed by overrunning the city. By the Spring of 1942 it had already become apparent that German resources could not cope with a full-scale offensive on the whole length of the Russian front – from Leningrad in the north to Sebastopol in the South. The campaign in the Caucuses had significant economic considerations. There were coal and iron in the Donetz Basin, oil in the Caucuses and the Volga. Hitler had many other things to worry about in Western Europe. The shock of his attacks in 1939 had worn off and by Autumn 1941 occupied peoples in Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg as well as France were beginning to recover.

   July 26, 2020·28min
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   Number 3: Episode 3 - The Reich attacks Moscow with fingers instead of a fist

   This is episode three, the Reich attacks with fingers instead of a fist. We are building up to the start of the Battle of Stalingrad by describing how the initial phases of the invasion of Russia by the Germans’ led inexorably to the city with Stalin’s name. Alexander Werth was a British journalist based in Moscow as the German army approached in 1941 and he describes how quickly the city went from being relatively normal including cigarette and food vendors on most street corners to mounting terror and food shortages within a week. Most of the men had been called up when war began so women and young teens were in the fields, but the invasion had an almost catastrophic effect on Russian food supplies. Before the war, the territory overrun by the Germans had produced 38 percent of the cereals, 84 percent of the sugar while also containing 38 percent of the cattle and 60 percent of the pigs. By January 1942 the number of cows in the Soviet Union had dropped from just under 28 million to 15 million. Now the forces of the Third Reich were on their way to Moscow, following the same road that Napoleon had taken 140 years before. The orders given to Field Marshal von Bock’s Army Group Centre was to encircle and destroy the enemy in Belorussia before heading on to the Soviet Capital. Z` Two deep thrusts were to be made, one in the north starting from East Prussia, and the other to the South from the area of Brest-Litovsk close to the Pripet Marshes. These are also known as the Pinks Marshes and are a vast are a vast natural region of wetlands along the forested basin of the Pripyat River with Kiev to the southeast. It is one of the largest wetland areas of Europe occupies most of the southern part of Belorussia or Belarus and the north-west of Ukraine. The marshes undergo substantial changes in size during the year, with melting snows in springtime and autumn rainfall causing extensive flooding as the river overflows. It is a geographical feature that armies had learned to respect over thousands of years. The Army Group Centre was split in two – one thrust was to be made by the 9th Army under Strauss in the north along with twelve infantry divisions were involved along with Hoth’s 3rd Panzer Group. Army Group Centre’s Field Marshal von Kluge led the 4th Army in the southern arm of Army Group Centre with 21 infantry divisions supported by Guderian’s 2nd Panzer Group. The Panzers both to the north and south were to drive deep wedges in the form of two pincers into the enemy positions far to their rear and then joining in a double enveloping movement at Minsk. That was the capital of Belorussia and was 250 miles inside Soviet Territory. Then the two great pockets of Soviet soldiers were to be destroyed before the armies turned their beady eyes on Smolensk. That was the historical main city on the road to Moscow. However, there were problems from the start when it came to strategy. Von Bock thought it a complete waste of time and wanted to push directly for Smolensk. But Hitler wanted the two armies to take Minsk first, then halt at Smolensk so that the Panzer formations could be reassigned and head north to assist Army Group North besieging Leningrad. On the Soviet side, the unfortunate General Pavlov led the Red Army facing these two powerful German thrusts. When he was informed the German Infantry was approaching Minsk, he ordered his reserves forward which doomed them. He and the Russian leadership were not yet aware of a new form of encirclement - the double Panzer pincer which was to surround 3rd and 10th Armies. Instead of a single push past the Red Army – there would be two like a double ripple which was an extremely clever way of cutting off retreat.

   July 05, 2020·24min
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   Number 4: Episode 1 - Shock and awe as Barbarossa begins & Stalin goes AWOL

   Welcome to the Battle of Stalingrad podcast with me your host, Des Latham, this is the Battle of Stalingrad, episode 1. As I went about planning this series over the last year, the big question that emerged was how was I to make sense of the madness? The utter devastation and destruction wrought by this moment in history, where the 6th German Army under the direction of an increasingly out of touch Führer were sent to a city that became a graveyard for about two million people. Stalingrad is now a legal term meaning to wear down opposition lawyers by presenting any argument by any means possible and to stall in the face of overwhelming odds. I guess that’s what General Paulus and his men were doing at the end of this most significant battle in history. Starting with some background which will take us through about four or five initial episodes we’ll deep dive into the battle itself from both the German and the Russian point of view. The first few podcasts will deal with the German invasion of Russia in some detail including the battles for Moscow and Leningrad which predated Stalingrad. We really need to understand Stalingrad through the lens of operation Barbarossa because the German’s failed in their initial invasion which began in June 1941. Then will focus on the preparations in May, June and July 1942 where Hitler decided to target Stalingrad instead of bypassing the city as the 6th Army headed towards the all-important oil producing region in the Caucasus. We know just how the entire Russo-German war of 1941-1945 has resonated down the ages. This battle remains a symbolic event in the minds of modern Russian leaders like Vladimir Putin. By 1940 many citizens inside Russian were fully aware that at some stage the USSR may have to fight Germany after almost a decade of tension between the fascist and the communist states. Stalin and his advisors were buying time before 1941, desperately trying to upgrade the Russian army before an inevitable war between the two ideologies. But they got the timing wrong, with Stalin certain he could lead Hitler on a merry dance of diplomacy until his military production had caught up with the Germans which was estimated to be later in 1942. Time ran out. The terrible struggle in Stalingrad that killed around a million Russians and over eight hundred thousand Germans dwarves most other battles. Leningrad experienced a far longer siege, far more bombing, far more fighting, but Stalingrad is pretty much its own league when it comes to number of dead and the viciousness of the struggle. It is vital to understand present day Russia through the prism of The Great Patriotic War as it’s known and through the understanding of the defence of four main cities. Leningrad which endured a remarkable two years of siege - Moscow the heart of Russia, Sebastopol in the Crimea which was part of Russia’s underbelly, and of course Stalingrad because it symbolized everything that the USSR was endeavouring to advertise. It was a model city, built on manufacturing. Hundreds of thousands of Russians died fighting the Germans in the Crimea and in 2014 Moscow took it back. Don’t underestimate the importance of Sebastopol and this little isthmus in the consciousness of modern Russians. Let’s see why the German invasion of Russia which began in June 1941 seemed to take Joseph Stalin by surprise even after he received more than 80 warnings over the period immediately before the invasion. For the Germans, they took the decision to hide in plain site because Hitler’s operation was just so unbelievable.

   June 21, 2020·26min
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   Number 5: Episode 32 - Goebbels declares “Total War” as crows peck at the eyeballs of the dead

   These are the last days of the men trapped inside the frozen city, starving and out of ammunition. General Paulus had finally realized the futility of trusting Goering and Hitler – far too late for his men. While the initial figure trapped had been close to 250 000, many had died or been taken prisoner – by the 25th January there were more like 100 000 men inside the final tomb of the Sixth Army. The wounded alone numbered more than 20 000 and most were not being treated at all, they lay in the cold until hyperthermia killed them. IF there ever was an advertisement for ending war, the last days of Stalingrad would be the opening and closing scenes. Some of the stories I’m going to relate are beyond comprehension, beyond anything dreamed up by the most creative sadists or the most bloody-minded novelists. There is something of the inhuman, the monster, about this saga. After Pitomnik Airfield had been abandoned by the Germans, great suffering took place. The wounded had been concentrated there awaiting airlifts but those who could not walk or missed the last truck out of the airfield. The Red Army was upon them. A single doctor and medical orderly joined them. Most of these would be killed by the Russians out of hand. An eye for an eye. The rest limped or crawled away, others were placed in large sledges and dragged behind the few trucks that had a few litres of fuel. All were on their way to Gumrak Airfield which was a scant eight miles east through the ice and snow. Then the clouds cleared at times, blinding the men, at night the shadows turned steel blue while the sun itself set in an abnormal orange glow. It was as though they had already arrived at Hades with the conditions of a nightmare prevailing. The condition of all the men, not just the wounded, was pitiful in the extreme. Their hands, feet and faces frostbitten, lips cracked open, faces pale and waxy and corpse-like. Hundreds slumped in the snow never to rise again. As they died, others would strip them as frozen corpses were impossible to undress. And of course, stalking these dying figures were the Russians. A soviet journalist by the name of Grossman who I mentioned before was in the vanguard of the units approaching Pitomnik. “There are frozen Germans their bodies undamaged along the road we follow. It wasn’t us who killed them, it was the cold. They have bad boots and bad coats. Their tunics are thin and look like paper..” The crows circled then landed and then pecked out the eyes of the corpses as Grossman watched. The Russian infantry approached Pitomnik following the T34s – but just before they arrived Soviet officers were confused by what looked like a village.

   January 24, 2021·23min
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