Stalingrad,
The Stavka Order,
and the 45th
Directive
Aside
from bearing the name of
Stalin himself Stalingrad was a
beautiful city
before being ravaged by war. Built up against the Volga Stalingrad was
a city
of parks, grasslands, and industry. It was not until it appeared that Rostov was going to fall that Stalin realized the
importance of Stalingrad. On July
19th
Stalin convened the Stalingrad
defense
Committee to prepare the city for war. The consensus was that they
would turn
the industrial city into a fortress. The Russians would entrench
themselves wherever possible in hope of survival.
Soviets entrenched on the Volga, courtesy of http://katardat.org/marxuniv
The
next day citizens of Stalingrad
began the process of transforming Stalingrad
into a fortress. Thousands rushed out to dig anti-tank ditches and
construct
firing points. Streets were barricaded and divisions were formed to
fight both
the Luftwaffe and parachutists. Industrial goods were moved across the
river
and woman and children began to be evacuated in anticipation of the
coming
fight. As the oncoming storm approached, there were pieces in place
aside from
the morale of them men that would make the fighting at Stalingrad
ruthless and barbaric.
Panzer on the way to Stalingrad, TFS.
Hitler
had passes his 45th
directive while Stalin issued the resurgence of his Stavka
Order. Since the initial advance into Russian soil Hitler
had been under the impression that he was fighting an inferior enemy.
Hitler
believed that he would blitz through Russia
as he had Poland.
With his 45th directive he ordered the capture of Stalingrad
and the
Caucasus. Hitler was ordering his army
into a
fight with an enemy that would fight valiantly and ruthlessly to save
the city
bearing the name of their leader who had also released his piece of
legislation.
Fighting Russian Soldier, courtesy of http://katardat.org/marxuniv
Stalin’s
Stavka Order was the order, literally, that soldiers
serving the
Red Army were not to take a single step back from the line. The
declaration
also insisted that anybody who surrendered was a traitor and not worthy
to be a
Russian citizen. Numerous accounts exist of soldiers being captured,
escaping
prisoner camps, and finally returning to their platoon only to be
executed as
traitors.
These
two directives placed
enormous pressure on the respected armies. Germans were fighting for
the pride
of Hitler and the existence of the German empire. The United States had entered the war and Stalingrad became a necessary foothold to
maintain
empire. Russians were fighting for there homeland as well as to protect
their
lives from both foreign and civil enemies. An officer under the
influence of
patriotism was just as likely to kill a Russian soldier as a member of
the
German army was. It was clear that both sides understood the importance
of Stalingrad and were prepared to
fight hard for her. With all the pieces in
place, the battle line
was drawn in early August as the German Wermacht finally reached the
outskirts
of Stalingrad.
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