MontyB
All-Blacks Supporter
scenarios.
Was Stalingrad recoverable if Hitler had allowed them to move?
In the very early days of the siege the surrounding forces were quite weak and the 6th Army should have been able to break out and Hoth's relieving forces made it to within 20 miles of the city during von Manstein's relief attempt even without roughly 1/3 of his assigned forces at which point they were within range of 6th Army's armour (which I understand only had enough fuel for a 25 mile trip at that point).
I have read a lot about the sacrifice of the 6th Army being a necessity to tie up Soviet forces and allow Army Group South to recover forces that may otherwise have been cut off further south but everything I read lately says this is untrue as the weakening of the trapped army allowed the Soviet forces to redeploy anyway.
This is really just an open question so I don't think there are any right or wrong answers.
Was Stalingrad recoverable if Hitler had allowed them to move?
In the very early days of the siege the surrounding forces were quite weak and the 6th Army should have been able to break out and Hoth's relieving forces made it to within 20 miles of the city during von Manstein's relief attempt even without roughly 1/3 of his assigned forces at which point they were within range of 6th Army's armour (which I understand only had enough fuel for a 25 mile trip at that point).
I have read a lot about the sacrifice of the 6th Army being a necessity to tie up Soviet forces and allow Army Group South to recover forces that may otherwise have been cut off further south but everything I read lately says this is untrue as the weakening of the trapped army allowed the Soviet forces to redeploy anyway.
This is really just an open question so I don't think there are any right or wrong answers.