Objective: Stalingrad (July 1942)

General Friedrich Paulus

July 1942

In January 1942, I handed over my duties as OQuI and took over the command of the Sixth Army. Our primary objective is the oil fields of the Caucasus which is essential to the war. This shift of operations objectives have left us completely departed from the original plans of operation Barbarossa.

From the summer this year, we were able to resupply our troops in terms of both men and equipment. In addition allied troops began pouring in, adding to our strength. We began bombing Stalingrad heavily, effectively reducing it to rubble.

We split Army Group South into two subgroups, Army Groups “A” and “B”. Army Group “A” will be securing the flank of the Caucasian operations while Army Group “B” will be defending the stretch from south of Stalingrad to north of Voronezh.

The Supreme Headquarters assessed that Russian fighting strength is on a rapid decline and gave the order to take Caucasus and Stalingrad. I feel rather nervous about this, for it will be stretching the front even more. The Fuhrer himself read the resistence of the Russians at Stalingrad as “purely a local affair” and ordered the capture of Stalingrad as quickly as possible.

Friedrich Paulus