New Stalingrad Movie

[Stejones82]

So .......

At the risk of begging too simplistic an answer, but seeking to tap some of the wisdom of this group, just why did the German army bleed itself dry in Stalingrad? Why did they not bypass the city and keep fighting in the field where they were proving superior to the hastily formed/reformed Red Army units?

[Richie61]

Without going into a long discussion.

Stalingrad was one of the largest industrial centers.

Positioned on Volga River, which made it a key route between the Caspian Sea and northern Russia. Its capture would disrupt commercial river traffic of war commodities and "Lend Lease" materials.

Ego:
Plus sides thought it had propaganda value based on it bearing the name of the leader of the Soviet Union.

That being said.
General Paulus could have broken out of this trap in the first stages of attack but was forbidden from doing so by Hitler and thus doomed the Sixth Army and it's 250,000 to 300,000 men.

[Wodin]

Weak leadership i.e Von Paulus vs Megalomaniac i.e Hitler....Hitler was obsessed in the end by the City because it bore Stalins name...

Even the famous Mantstien should get some stick for it..he should have stepped in and ordered the retreat bypassing Hitler..but again was to weak to stand up against him.

Without going into a long discussion.

Stalingrad was one of the largest industrial centers.

Positioned on Volga River, which made it a key route between the Caspian Sea and northern Russia. Its capture would disrupt commercial river traffic of war commodities and "Lend Lease" materials.

Ego:
Plus sides thought it had propaganda value based on it bearing the name of the leader of the Soviet Union.

That being said.
General Paulus could have broken out of this trap in the first stages of attack but was forbidden from doing so by Hitler and thus doomed the Sixth Army and it's 250,000 to 300,000 men.

[Jeff Conner]

I think if the Germans had predicted what would happen in a couple of months time, they might have made some different decisions. German troops had been cut off before and survived. But the idea that the Russians were slowly, and with great cost, becoming their equals as a fighting force (not as individuals, but as a force) was still a long ways off. And while the trapping of the Sixth Army in Stalingrad was undoubtedly a disaster for the Germans, there are some who see their three month struggle as the dam that kept the Southern Front from collapsing. If the Russian troops tried down trying to reduce Stalingrad had been free to maneuver, who knows what would have happened; an even larger pocket of Army Group A trapped in the Caucasus?

[TheBigRedOne]

Weak leadership i.e Von Paulus vs Megalomaniac i.e Hitler....Hitler was obsessed in the end by the City because it bore Stalins name...

Even the famous Mantstien should get some stick for it..he should have stepped in and ordered the retreat bypassing Hitler..but again was to weak to stand up against him.

There were few generals who stood up to Hitler and didn't wind up on the wrong end of a firing squad...

[Wodin]

Weak leadership i.e Von Paulus vs Megalomaniac i.e Hitler....Hitler was obsessed in the end by the City because it bore Stalins name...

Even the famous Mantstien should get some stick for it..he should have stepped in and ordered the retreat bypassing Hitler..but again was to weak to stand up against him.

There were few generals who stood up to Hitler and didn't wind up on the wrong end of a firing squad...

I'm sure Manstein could have done something (if worded the right way a withdrawal could have been done)..a good book on it is Stalingrad Memories and Reassessments..

[Richie61]

Don't forget to add Göring & Hans Jeschonnek into the mix.
These two convinced Hitler that the Luffwaffe could supply Stalingrad
till they could breakout or be relieved.

Manstein also put out an assessment on 24 November to Hitler that
that the 6th Army could be given adequate air support would be able to hold on till he broke thru the Soviet lines. He drove home the final nail
into the 6th Armies coffin. By the time he failed, that 6th Army was
never going to breakout on it's own.