In July, the first part of the Case Blue had been completed, nevertheless it has been late more than it was thought and Hitler despairs. He dismisses to Von Bock and replaces him with Von Weicht at the head of the Army Group B.

Stalin also despairs on having seen like his troops move back without facing the enemy. The executions happen in the Soviet side for perfidy or for desertions, in an attempt for increasing the efficiency of the soldiers by means of the fear.

 

 

(pag 3 of 5)

In the middle of August, the Germans had left all the attempts of insuring himself the Caucasus oil, while Hitler was directing now all his forces to Stalingrad's assault.

On August 21, the companies of infantry of the LI Corps of the general von Seydlitz crossed the Don in boats and established a head of bridge. On the following day the general Hube "the corp.'s battering-ram", supervised by 16th Panzer Division was crossing the Don, while 4th Panzer Army supervised by Hoth, again assigned to the operation, was moving for the south. On Sunday, the 23rd of August was an unforgettable day for the Stalingrad's people. The air force of the general von Richthofen began a bombardment to evenness of the soil for shifts; the target was the whole city. The German planes fulfilled a quantity of 1.600 missions this day and threw 1.000 tons of bombs with only 3 lost planes. It was the biggest air raid in the oriental front up to this moment, according to some sources of all 600.000 persons who were in the city 40.000 they were died by the bombardments during the first week.

In this moment, Stalingrad was in a very dangerous situation, since the general Eremenko had displeased to the thickness of his troops to the Southwest of the city to delay the advance of Hoth and his 4th Panzer Army, and the centre of the city was looking like an easy target for Hube. Nevertheless, Hube had advanced too much, was meeting himself with little combustible and his position wasn't too sure because he had formed a projection surrounded with Soviet troops in retreat. From the Kremlin, it was proclaiming to stop the German assault like out and the general Eremenko arranged counterattacks from the north flank.

Hitler believed that a quick victory in Stalingrad would make the final sunk of the Red Army. The 4th Army Panzer of Hoth was vital in this possible quick victory; nevertheless, Hitler had ordered Hoth to leave an armoured corp in the Caucasus, debilitating his advance.

The XLVIII Armoured Corp (belonging to 4th Panzer Army), managed August 31 to advance from the south reaching the railroad Stalingrad-Morozovsk, having the opportunity to finish with the remains of the Soviet armies 62nd and 64th; nevertheless, the precarious situation in other fronts made a delay that gave time Eremenko to saving his troops.

On August 29, the general Zhukov came to Stalingrad to supervise the operations, discovering that the armies arranged by Stalin for a counter-offensive to the north of the city weren't prepared. Zhukov managed to convince Stalin to delay the assault, nevertheless, on September 3, the German armoured vehicles reach the most western suburbs of the city and Stalin orders Zhukov to attack immediately. The assault hardly had positive effects, because only got a few kilometres were managed to advance, but it served to turn Paulus's reserves aside, allowing that the armies 62nd and 64th could withdraw from up to the city. In this moment, in the city had less than 40.000 men to opposite the VI Army of Paulus and 4th Panzer Army of Hoth; but nobody forgot that the Volga was the last line of defence before the Urals.

The Germans manage September 3 to reach the Volga's shore to the south of Stalingrad, surrounding to the city from the west. From August 23, date of the crossing of the Don, until September 8, the staff of VI Army indicated to have taken 26.500 prisoners and destroyed 350 cannons and 830 tanks.

 

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