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Modern War Studies
The Stalingrad Cauldron: Inside the Encirclement and Destruction of the 6th Army
The encirclement of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad in mid-November 1942 and its final collapse in February 1943 was a signature defeat for Hitler, as more than 100,000 of his soldiers were marched off into captivity. Frank Ellis tackles this oft-told tale from the unique perspective of the German officers and men trapped inside the Red Army’s ever-closing ring of forces. This approach makes palpable the growing desperation of an army that began its campaign confident of victory but that long before the end could see how hopeless their situation had become.
Highlighting these pages are three previously unpublished German army division accounts, translated here for the first time by Ellis. Each of these translations follows the combat experiences of a specific division—the 76th Infantry, the 94th Infantry, and the 16th Panzer—and take readers into the cauldron (or Kessel) that was Stalingrad. Together they provide a ground-level view of the horrific fighting and yield insights into everything from tactics and weapons to internal disputes, the debilitating effects of extreme cold and hunger, and the Germans’ astonishing
sense of duty and the abilities of their junior leaders.
Along with these first-hand accounts, Ellis himself takes a new and closer look at a number of fascinating but somewhat neglected or misunderstood aspects of the Stalingrad cauldron including sniping, desertion, spying, and the fate of German prisoners. His coverage of sniping is especially notable for new insights concerning the duel that allegedly took place between Soviet sniper Vasilii Zaitsev and a German sniper, Major Konings, a story told in the film Enemy at the Gates (2001). Ellis also includes an incisive reading of Oberst Arthur Boje’s published account of his capture, interrogation, and conviction for war crimes, and explores the theme of reconciliation in the works of two Stalingrad veterans, Kurt Reuber and Vasilii Grossman.
Rich in anecdotal detail and revealing moments, Ellis’s historical mosaic showcases an army that managed to display a vital resilience and professionalism in the face of inevitable defeat brought on by its leaders. It makes for compelling reading for anyone interested in one of the Eastern Front’s monumental battles.
Highlighting these pages are three previously unpublished German army division accounts, translated here for the first time by Ellis. Each of these translations follows the combat experiences of a specific division—the 76th Infantry, the 94th Infantry, and the 16th Panzer—and take readers into the cauldron (or Kessel) that was Stalingrad. Together they provide a ground-level view of the horrific fighting and yield insights into everything from tactics and weapons to internal disputes, the debilitating effects of extreme cold and hunger, and the Germans’ astonishing
sense of duty and the abilities of their junior leaders.
Along with these first-hand accounts, Ellis himself takes a new and closer look at a number of fascinating but somewhat neglected or misunderstood aspects of the Stalingrad cauldron including sniping, desertion, spying, and the fate of German prisoners. His coverage of sniping is especially notable for new insights concerning the duel that allegedly took place between Soviet sniper Vasilii Zaitsev and a German sniper, Major Konings, a story told in the film Enemy at the Gates (2001). Ellis also includes an incisive reading of Oberst Arthur Boje’s published account of his capture, interrogation, and conviction for war crimes, and explores the theme of reconciliation in the works of two Stalingrad veterans, Kurt Reuber and Vasilii Grossman.
Rich in anecdotal detail and revealing moments, Ellis’s historical mosaic showcases an army that managed to display a vital resilience and professionalism in the face of inevitable defeat brought on by its leaders. It makes for compelling reading for anyone interested in one of the Eastern Front’s monumental battles.
558 pages, Hardcover
First published May 28, 2013
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August 29, 2014
The Stalingrad Cauldron: Inside the Encirclement and Destruction of the 6th Army. Frank Ellis. Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2013. 542 pp.
Frank Ellis, a former academic and veteran of the British Army, has added to World War Two, Eastern Front’s Stalingrad body of work through his highly readable and often intriguing book, Stalingrad Cauldron. Ellis tells this often told story by presenting the unique perspective of the German soldiers surrounded by the Red Army. He does this in a day-by-day account, where the reader senses the growing tension and ultimate desperation the men trapped within the Red Army’s encirclement (cauldron) to feel, from previously unpublished German Army divisional reports, translated here for the first time. Additionally, Ellis presents a fresh and closer look at aspects of the Stalingrad cauldron such as sniping, desertion, spying, and the fate of German prisoners. Rich in colorful detail, it is his desire to demonstrate how an “Army faced with inevitable defeat showed great resiliency”.
In chapter one, The Battle of Stalingrad in Post-Cold War Perspective, Ellis not only lays out his concern for a story that is “more tactical and personal…and more concerned with some lesser known detail..,” but provides the relatively standard background fair, setting the strategic context for the battle. Of interest is his discussion and critique of Stalingrad in literature, film and documentary. Ellis does a masterful job in summarizing the David Glantz and Jonathan House Stalingrad trilogy.
Ellis provides the 16th Panzer, 94th Infantry Division, and 76th Infantry Division accounts in the following three chapters. These read like journal entries; for those military historians or those who’ve served, or are currently serving in the military, they will read like daily operational summaries or situational reports- complete with personnel strengths, ammunition and rations statistics. Ellis has done a great service to the community by translating these accounts for the English speaking reader. Here is where he gets the most “tactical and personal” as he set out to do:
Major von Rochow…reports: Early on 20 January 1943 heavy Russian mortar and antitank fire fell on the right wing of Hauptmann (captain) Isberner’s battalion sector…The battalion was almost completely destroyed…Major von Rochow was wounded.
In the remaining chapters, Ellis takes the reader through an intriguing look at those aspects that are often neglected in the study of the Stalingrad cauldron but never the less, are important to understanding the totality of war on the Eastern Front. His presentation of the German Army’s recruitment of Soviet national minorities, deserters, and prisoners of war along with his treatment of German prisoners of war in Soviet camps and the arrest, interrogation, ad repatriation Oberst (Colonel) Arthur Boje, the commander of 134th Grenadier Regiment, 44th Infantry Division, are the most compelling. Oberst Boje was one of the small group of German survivors that returned to Germany after 13 years of imprisonment. Here Ellis presents Oberst Boje’s account from the latter’s memoir, Stalin’s German Agents: German Prisoner of War Reports. Ellis concludes it “is an underrated contribution to the genre of camp literature” and “on a par Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.”
Finally, Ellis provides “bonus” material in the form of six appendices with two notable inclusions, translations of Chapter 18 (“The Duel”) of Vasilii Zaitsev’s Memoir and Vasilli Grossman, Glazami Chekhova (Through Chekhov’s Eyes), 16 November 1942, Stalingrad Front.
Although Ellis is not unsympathetic to the German Soldier’s plight in the Stalingrad cauldron and as a Red Army prisoner of war, he is not heavy handed either, trying to exonerate from all wrong doing. Ellis simply provides a fair and balanced look into the day-to-day challenges and later reconciliation the German soldier faced. He captures Stalingrad Cauldron survivor Johannes Petzold’s thoughts, "I never heard anything again from any of my comrades in the Kessel. Were they killed in battle; did they freeze, starve, or perish in captivity? The same thing could have happened to me. The tragedy of Stalingrad and the uncertain fate of my comrades have been a psychological burden all my life."
Stalingrad Cauldron is a well re-searched and written addition to the Eastern Front and Stalingrad body of work. There is no doubt that Ellis’s book will not only appeal to the Stalingrad specialist, but to the World War Two enthusiast as well.
Frank Ellis, a former academic and veteran of the British Army, has added to World War Two, Eastern Front’s Stalingrad body of work through his highly readable and often intriguing book, Stalingrad Cauldron. Ellis tells this often told story by presenting the unique perspective of the German soldiers surrounded by the Red Army. He does this in a day-by-day account, where the reader senses the growing tension and ultimate desperation the men trapped within the Red Army’s encirclement (cauldron) to feel, from previously unpublished German Army divisional reports, translated here for the first time. Additionally, Ellis presents a fresh and closer look at aspects of the Stalingrad cauldron such as sniping, desertion, spying, and the fate of German prisoners. Rich in colorful detail, it is his desire to demonstrate how an “Army faced with inevitable defeat showed great resiliency”.
In chapter one, The Battle of Stalingrad in Post-Cold War Perspective, Ellis not only lays out his concern for a story that is “more tactical and personal…and more concerned with some lesser known detail..,” but provides the relatively standard background fair, setting the strategic context for the battle. Of interest is his discussion and critique of Stalingrad in literature, film and documentary. Ellis does a masterful job in summarizing the David Glantz and Jonathan House Stalingrad trilogy.
Ellis provides the 16th Panzer, 94th Infantry Division, and 76th Infantry Division accounts in the following three chapters. These read like journal entries; for those military historians or those who’ve served, or are currently serving in the military, they will read like daily operational summaries or situational reports- complete with personnel strengths, ammunition and rations statistics. Ellis has done a great service to the community by translating these accounts for the English speaking reader. Here is where he gets the most “tactical and personal” as he set out to do:
Major von Rochow…reports: Early on 20 January 1943 heavy Russian mortar and antitank fire fell on the right wing of Hauptmann (captain) Isberner’s battalion sector…The battalion was almost completely destroyed…Major von Rochow was wounded.
In the remaining chapters, Ellis takes the reader through an intriguing look at those aspects that are often neglected in the study of the Stalingrad cauldron but never the less, are important to understanding the totality of war on the Eastern Front. His presentation of the German Army’s recruitment of Soviet national minorities, deserters, and prisoners of war along with his treatment of German prisoners of war in Soviet camps and the arrest, interrogation, ad repatriation Oberst (Colonel) Arthur Boje, the commander of 134th Grenadier Regiment, 44th Infantry Division, are the most compelling. Oberst Boje was one of the small group of German survivors that returned to Germany after 13 years of imprisonment. Here Ellis presents Oberst Boje’s account from the latter’s memoir, Stalin’s German Agents: German Prisoner of War Reports. Ellis concludes it “is an underrated contribution to the genre of camp literature” and “on a par Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.”
Finally, Ellis provides “bonus” material in the form of six appendices with two notable inclusions, translations of Chapter 18 (“The Duel”) of Vasilii Zaitsev’s Memoir and Vasilli Grossman, Glazami Chekhova (Through Chekhov’s Eyes), 16 November 1942, Stalingrad Front.
Although Ellis is not unsympathetic to the German Soldier’s plight in the Stalingrad cauldron and as a Red Army prisoner of war, he is not heavy handed either, trying to exonerate from all wrong doing. Ellis simply provides a fair and balanced look into the day-to-day challenges and later reconciliation the German soldier faced. He captures Stalingrad Cauldron survivor Johannes Petzold’s thoughts, "I never heard anything again from any of my comrades in the Kessel. Were they killed in battle; did they freeze, starve, or perish in captivity? The same thing could have happened to me. The tragedy of Stalingrad and the uncertain fate of my comrades have been a psychological burden all my life."
Stalingrad Cauldron is a well re-searched and written addition to the Eastern Front and Stalingrad body of work. There is no doubt that Ellis’s book will not only appeal to the Stalingrad specialist, but to the World War Two enthusiast as well.
June 27, 2014
This is a quirky book. The author, Ellis, states in the beginning that it fulfills a lifelong desire to make a contribution to the study of the encirclement of the 6th Army at Stalingrad. He certainly has done this. However, the result is not a narrative (Beevor) nor an operational history (Glantz) nor a memoir (Doctor at Stalingrad). It reminds me more of the collections of primary source materials I often encountered as a history major and PhD student.
At the heart of the book in my mind are the three divisional histories describing the period from Nov 1942-February 1943. There are also sections on the effects of cold weather, starvation, and exhaustion on human physiology, an analysis of the disastrous fate of the German prisoners who surrendered in the pocket, and an extended discussion of sniping and the role of snipers in the Stalingrad theater. But the chapters definitely do not comprise a narrative and the result is somewhat disjointed as a consequence.
The divisional histories in particular are extremely interesting - one main point they seek to make is that morale stayed high among the German troops even at the bitter end. Hope of relief remained, the continuous Red Army attacks were beaten back with heavy losses, individual heroics were not uncommon, and the final surrender was due primarily to the absolute lack of food, ammunition, and other vital material rather than loss of morale. This is not the usual interpretation, and possibly reflects a understandable desire to vindicate after the fact. However, I couldn't figure out the origin of these divisional histories. It seems highly unlikely that they were smuggled out and safely preserved under the utterly brutal conditions prevailing in the Soviet POW camps. Were they reconstructed after the war based on recollections and notes? Were they flown out in the final days before the collapse of the Kessel? I really need to go back and look more carefully through the notes to see if Ellis sheds any light on this question.
Overall this is a good if not great book. I would recommend it to the serious student of the Eastern Front or the Stalingrad specialist, but not for the general reader. In fact, the book would be baffling for someone who didn't already have a fairly good grasp of the narrative of the 1942 German offensive and its aftermath.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews