6th Army (Wehrmacht) - Eastern Campaign

Eastern Campaign

The 6th Army began its involvement in the Russian Campaign as the spearhead of Army Group South. Shortly after being promoted to Field Marshal, von Reichenau died in an aircraft accident while being transported to a hospital after a heart attack in January 1942. He was succeeded by his former chief of staff, General der Panzertruppen Friedrich Paulus. Paulus led the 6th Army to a major victory at the Second Battle of Kharkov during the spring of 1942. This victory also sealed the 6th Army's destiny because it was selected by the OKH for the attack on Stalingrad.

On 28 June 1942, Army Group South began Operation Blau; the German Army's summer offensive into southern Russia. The goals of the operation were to secure both the oil fields at Baku, Azerbaijan, and the city of Stalingrad on the river Volga to protect the forces advancing into the Caucasus. After two months, the 6th Army reached the outskirts of Stalingrad on 23 August. On the same day, over 1,000 aircraft of the Luftwaffe's Luftflotte 4 bombed the city, turning it into a massive inferno. Destroyed in a matter of hours, Stalingrad was now a charnel house; defended by the weak Soviet 62nd Army under the command of General Vasily Chuikov.

Despite having the initiative, the 6th Army failed to obtain a quick victory. The Red Army put up determined resistance, taking the fight to the rubble-clogged city streets. Though having almost complete air superiority over Stalingrad, and with more artillery pieces than the Soviets, progress was reduced to no more than several meters a day. Soviet casualties in the ghastly urban fighting were horrendous, while German casualties were just as appalling. Eventually, by mid November, the 62nd Army had been pushed to the banks of the Volga; holding only three small bridgeheads along the riverfront. However, despite continued fighting, the 6th Army was unable to eliminate the remaining Soviet troops in Stalingrad in time.

On 19 November, Operation Uranus, the massive attack by Soviet forces on the flanks of the German corridor between the Don and Volga rivers, began. The 6th Army's flanks were protected by Romanian troops, who were ill-equipped to deal with the attack. Very quickly, the Romanians were shattered, and on 23 November, the pincers of the attack met at Kalach-na-Donu.

The 6th Army was encircled, and a major relief operation, which quickly failed, was undertaken by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein on 12 December. After an additional month of fighting, the 6th Army was almost decimated. Paulus was promoted by Hitler to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall on 31 January 1943, ostensibly in part because until that day no German Field Marshal had ever surrendered. In other words, Adolf Hitler expected Paulus to commit suicide, but Paulus soon surrendered to the Soviet forces, contrary to orders by his political chief. The remaining forces of the 6th Army, under the independent command of General Karl Strecker, surrendered two days later in the Tractor Factory, just to the north of the prominent hill Mamaev Kurgan. Although this was not the definitive end of the 6th Army, the Battle of Stalingrad was one of the worst military disasters in German history. For the first time, an entire German field army had been completely destroyed.