William Craig - Enemy at the Gates

Reuber had labored secretly for days on his surprise. Perched on a stool, he had scrawled several themes on bits of paper until he remembered a verse from Saint John about light, life, and love. The words gave the doctor the ideal image, the Virgin Mary and Jesus, who best symbolized those qualities to him. Several times Russian bombardments scattered his pencils and artwork, but the doctor doggedly retrieved them and created the Madonna and Child of Stalingrad on the back of a captured Russian map.

Now, as fellow officers maintained a hushed vigil in front of the drawing, Kurt Reuber drank with his friends from his last bottle of champagne. While toasting each other, a series of triphammer explosions rocked the room and Reuber rushed outside to the cries of dying men.

In minutes his “chapel” became a first aid station. One of the officers who had just left Reuber’s party after singing the carol “ O du Froliche” was brought in with massive wounds. He died under the picture of Mother and Child.

At Gumrak, Arthur Schmidt was absorbed in another frustrating exchange with his friend in Novocherkassk:

25 Dec 42, 1735 hrs. to 1800 hrs.

+++ Here Major General Schulz. Is General Schmidt there?

+++ Yes sir, General Schmidt here.

+++ Good evening, Schmidt. We hope Christmas wasn’t too bad for you and the entire army.

On Christmas Day, 1,280 German soldiers died in the Kessel, and Schulz had more disappointing news for Sixth Army:

+++ All day today… [Hoth, south of the Kessel ] was compelled to ward off heavy attacks by superior enemy infantry and armored forces….Major casualties were inflicted on the enemy, but there were also considerable casualties on our side. Although bridgeheads in the Aksai section were compressed, the section itself could be held. According to reconnaissance results the enemy has assembled yet another armored corps in the area and southeast of Aksai…. There can be no doubt that the enemy has concentrated major forces in the space between the pocket and… Hoth… We have not yet received a decision from the Supreme Command of the Army regarding our proposals for further operations with the objective of relieving the Sixth Army. General von Richthofen told the field marshal [Manstein] today that, if the weather should improve, he will be able during the next few days, to supply the Sixth Army with 120 tons of supplies daily, and later on with 200 tons daily. The decrease in the amounts is due to the increased distance the aircraft have to cover from Novocherkassk and Salsk [new shuttle airfields]. I wished, in particular today, I could give you better news. The field marshal is still trying to get approval for armored forces and motorized infantry from Army Group A, to be brought up to 4th Armored Corps as speedily as possible, in order to facilitate “Thunderclap” for the Sixth Army.

What’s the situation on your side?

Arthur Schmidt dictated the stark facts to the operator, who typed them into the teleprinter:

+++ Today we suffered fierce attacks against boundary 16th Armored Division and 60th Motorized Division on a small frontage, which temporarily led to penetration on a front of 2-km and 1-km depth. On the whole the counterattack was successful, but the Russians are still holding the frequently mentioned and important Hill 139.7. We hope to regain it early tomorrow…. The army’s provisions and fuel have decreased dangerously. In view of an icy east wind and very low temperatures, we need a considerable increase of rations, otherwise we will have numerous men on the sick list from exhaustion and frostbite. We cannot manage with an air supply of 120 tons daily. Measures must therefore be taken to increase our supply rapidly or else you might just as well forget about the Sixth Army right away. Is [Hoth] still in the Mishkova section?

Schulz still refused to admit that the bridgehead over the Mishkova River had been abandoned:

+++ [Hoth] holds the Aksai section with small bridgeheads north of this area.

At this point, Schmidt indulged himself in some sarcasm:

+++ According to information we received today, some of the aircraft which were intended for our supply were again ordered to fly combat missions. In the opinion of the Commander in chief [Paulus] this is very unwise. Please do not regard our supply situation too optimistically. We suggest that the Luftwaffe should rather supply us with bread than drop a few and not always effective bombs before the Tatsinskaya front. I have nothing else.

Schulz hastened to reassure him of Army Group’s continued interest:

+++ Believe me, your supply situation is our greatest concern. I shall immediately and again report to the field marshal on the situation and he is in constant contact with Richthofen and the Supreme Command of the Army, with the aim of increasing your supplies. We are aware of your desperate situation and shall do our very best to improve it. I have nothing else. Please give my regards to the Commander in chief. Until tomorrow.

[Schmidt:] +++ I have nothing else either, greetings—ending.

As General Schmidt signed off it was finally clear to him that the German High Command had lost control of events in southern Russia. The entry in Sixth Army’s War Diary for December 25, 1942, reflected that fact: “Forty-eight hours without food supplies. Food and fuel near their end… the strength of the men is rapidly decreasing because of the biting cold… we hope for food soon…. No decision as yet on battle plan for the Sixth Army….”

Lonely German soldiers spent the last hours of Christmas twirling radio dials to pick up shortwave broadcasts from home. On Christmas Eve, many had listened to the popular singer, Lale Anderson, as she sang special requests for the troops. Now, on Christmas night, the men of Stalingrad were treated to Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels’s “Ring Broadcast,” supposedly originating from the frontiers of the Third Reich. It was aimed primarily at the civilian population.

While Goebbels chanted the names of conquered cities, the German people toured the battlefronts.

“And now from Narvik,” he announced grandly amid a rising chorus of male singers stationed at that Norwegian port. “And in Tunisia,” brought forth another strident rendition, this time of “ Stille Nacht, Heilege Nacht,” from soldiers holding American and British troops away from Bizerte and Tunis. “And from Stalingrad!” Goebbels suddenly said. While thousands of soldiers inside the Kessel stared at each other in disbelief, a joyous melody burst from the radio to assure the homefront that all was well at the Volga River.

Goebbels continued with his fabricated broadcast, and his voice shrilled out the impressive boundaries of the Nazi empire. But most of his countrymen trapped on the Russian steppe had already turned off their radios.

Buoyed up by the false hope that Manstein was coming, the soldiers of the Sixth Army had endured the rationing and freezing weather with a remarkable stoicism and elan. However, when Christmas brought the sobering realization that the Kessel was probably going to become their grave, physical and moral defenses began to crumble and the gaunt occupants of Fortress Stalingrad started to lose their ability to hold out. Drastic measures instituted by Paulus to preserve the food supply only added to the decline. The beleaguered general had no choice. Once again, the airlift had failed to step up deliveries beyond a hundred tons a day.

The teletype that night recorded the bleak facts:

+++ Today [December 26], by 5:00 P.M., we received 38 Ju and 3 He [transports], carrying seventy tons, among them food, mainly bread. We have only enough bread for two days, edible food for one day, fat is gone already. Complete food supplies must be flown in immediately, in balanced proportions, for 250,000 men….We depend only on what arrives by air…we are also out of fuel, tomorrow we will give out the last 20 cubic meters….I beg you by all means to see to it that tomorrow 200 tons be flown in, 150 of which is food, 50 cubic meters in fuel. Otherwise we shall not make it.