01
The Germans moving further into the Caucasus.
Salsk is reached. The Railway line between Novorossisk
ansd Stalingrad is cut. General Eberhard von
Mackensen and his panzers are reaching the Kuban river.
Yeremenko receives a phone call from Stalin. Stalin wants to meets
Yeremenko
tomorrow.
02
Stalin orders Yeremenko to defend the nothern
part of the two Stalingrad fronts.Yeremenko asks
Stalin to become the only commander of the Southeast
Front and the Stalingrad Front but Stalin
refuses. Yeremenko thinks that there will be
major problems when two commanders are
defending Stalingrad. Stalin tells Yeremenko
to fly to Stalingrad at once.
03
The leading elements of the 3rd Panzer Division
reached the city of Voroshilovsk.
The Russian forces were surprised and the city
was taken at about 1600 after a brief fight
Near Kotelnikovo 4 trains of the 208th Siberian
Infantry Division are destroyed by the Luftwaffe.
04
Yeremenko arrives in Stalingrad where he meets
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev.
Yeremenko is setting up a defense. His headquarters
are in the Tsaritsyn Bunker.
The dividing line between his front and General
Gordov's Stalingrad Front runs right through
the center of the city. At noon, 27 plains of
the Luftwaffe attacked the remaining
units of the 208th Siberian Infantry Division
near Tsjilekov station. (Kotelnikovo area)
The Division is destroyed.
05
The Kouban river at Kropotkin is crossed by the
Germans and heading towards Maikop.
Near Kotelnikovo, the Lufwaffe slaughtered the
29th Russian Infantry Division.
06
Tikhoretsk (Caucasus ) and Kotelnikov are captured
by German troops.
13th Panzer Division reaching Kurgannaja at the
river Laba and 16th Infantry Division
Labinskaja. (Caucasus) Both Divisions are operating
under General von Mackensen.
General Hermann Hoth's 4th Panzer Army breaks
through the Russian Aksja defense line.
(Aksja river)
07
Hoth 4th Panzer Army is attacking Stalingrad
from the south. The German 6th army is advancing
to the city from the North West. General Lopatin,
commander oth the 62th Russian army is
commanding a big counterattack against 6th Army.
08
6th Army achieves a great victory when the leading
elements of the 16th and 24th Panzer
division reaching Kalatsh. Parts of the 62nd
Army are trapped. The counterattack of General
Lopatin, is a complete failure. About 1000 armoured
vehicles and 57.000 soldiers are captured
by the Germans.
09
In the evening 13th Panzer Division stormed the
city of Maikop, the administrative center of a
huge oil-producing area. But the oilfields have
been destroyed.The Germans captured 50
undamaged planes. Near Abganerovo the Russians
dug in anti-tank guns. The city of
Abganerovo has changed in a fortress trying to
stop the Germans.
10
German troops advancing to Pyatigorsk (Caucasus).
After a rapid advance south through the Kuban
steppe the armoured battle groups found
themselves on the north bank of the Kuban river
11
Elista, the only city in the Kalmouk Steppe is
under attack of the LII Corps of General
Ott. 3th and 23th Panzer Division driving south
and faces the mount Elbrous. 5633 meter.
12
The dividing line between Yeremenko's front and
General Gordov's runs right through the
center of Stalingrad. This causes communication-problems
between the two commanders.
Yeremenko asks Stalin again to become the only
commander of the Stalingrad Front and
the Southeast Front.
Order of battle of the German 6th Army - 12 augustus
1942
24th Panzer Corps
16th Infantry Division
295th Infantry Division
51st Army Corps
44th Infantry Division
71st Infantry Division
11th Army Corps
100th Jaeger Division with Croatian Regiment 369
14th Panzer Corps
60th Motorized Infantry Division
16th Panzer Division
3rd Motorized Infantry Division
8th Army Corps
384th Infantry Division
305th Infantry Division
389th Infantry Division
376th Infantry Division
17th Army Corps
22nd Panzer Division
Italian "Celere" Division with Bers. Regiment 6
79th Infantry Division
113th Infantry Division
Elista, 320 km south of Stalingrad and 240
km from the Caspian Sea., is captured by
German troops, 13
The temperature in the Kalmouk Steppe at Elista,
is about 55° Celcius. The town of
Mineralniye Vody falls to the Germans.
Now Stalin agrees with Yeremenko's demand. Yeremenko
becomes commander of the
both fronts, Gordov becomes his deputy of the
Southeast Front and Golikov his deputy
of the Stalingrad Front. 14
Hitler orders Friedrich Paulus to capture Stalingrad
the 25th of August.
Hoth is trying to break-through the southern
defense line of Stalingrad. 15
Churchill agrees with Stalin to send the Red
Army 20.000 trucks a month.
German troops capture Georgievsk in Russia, and
intensify their attack direction Stalingrad.
The Germans attacking to take the Don river
bridge at Kalach.
The Russian 20th Motorized Brigade blows the
bridge. A little more time is gained by the
Red Army. 16
6th Army attacks to occupy the Don bend at Kalach.
The last Russian bridgehead
on the south bank of the Don river between Kamenski
and Verchne-Kurmojarskaja is
captured.
But between Kletskaja and Serafimovitsj first
Guards Army and 21st Army still holds
several parts of the southern bank of the Don
river. The German OKW or commanding
officers of Army Group B, still in a winning
mood, are not concerned about that.
A tactical mistake :
The Russian counteroffensive Operation Uranus,
the encirclement of the German 6th
Army near Stalingrad, will start from these bridgeheads. 17
South of Stalingrad the Soviets retreat on the
Mysjkova river.
A German high mountain battalion prepares to
climb the 18,000-foot peak of Mt. Elbrouz. 18
There's a discussion of setting up a Roumanian
Army Group of two armies on the Don and
Volga on either side of Stalingrad headed under
Marshal Antonescu, but actually under
the command of Chief of Staff, General Hauffe,
the Chief of the German Military
Mission in Romania. But no decision is made.
Hauffe and Halder will take a decision later.
The luftwaffe finds out that south of Stalingrad
the Soviets retreated on the Mysjkova river. 19
The German 6th Army is ordered to capture the
city on August 25th. Gen. Friedrich Paulus,
commander of 6th Army, devises a conventional
plan for a concentric attack with the armor
on both wings. The Russian frontis 80 miles in
circumference, convex in shape, from
Kachalinskaya along the east bank of the Don
and curving back to the Volga along the
Misjkova river, 50 miles across.
Russian defenses are two armies, 62nd and 64th,
with 11 infantry divisions, most understrength.
Paulus will hit in the enter with nine infantry
divisions, two panzer and two motorized on the
northern flank, three panzer and two motorized
on the southern.
Hoth with his 4th Panzer Army breaks through
the southern defense line of the 64th Russian
Army near Abganerovo. Adolf Hitler is busy at
Vinnitsa with the Caucasus campaign. He gets
word that his high-mountain troops have scaled
18,000-foot high Mt. Elbruz in the Caucasus.
All hands except Der Fuhrer are impressed. Hitler
comments that his Army's ambition should
be to defeat the Russians rather than conquer
mountains. Hitler can read a map. Mt. Elbrous is
160 miles west of Grozny, the principal city
and oil center of the Caucasus.
Many perils lie enroute. 20
German 6th Army is still heading for Stalingrad.
Hoth with his 4th Panzer Army is now
penetrating the Russian 64th Army at lake Sarpa
south of Stalingrad. 21
General Seydlitz and his divisions are crossing
the Don creating bridgeheads near
Loetsjinskoi and Verjatsji from where 6th Army
will start the attack against Stalingrad.
Army Group A is reporting that its movements
are much hindered by rain and snow.
Hitler is very annoyed at the slow progress being
made in crossing the Caucasus 22
The Russian Airforce bombs the brigde near the
two German bridgeheads but the attack fails.
At night Hube's 14th Panzer Division reaches
the Loetsjinskoi bridgehead. In the
meanwhile Russian artillery tries to destroy
the bridge in a last attempt to cut off
the 2 German bridgeheads. Those bridgeheads are
under heavy Russian fire.
Army Group B is resupplied and plans to attack
Stalingrad tomorrow at 04.30 AM.
Hitler orders Army Group A (Caucasus) to reach
and capture a port quickly so it
can be resupplied soon. By the bad weather supply
to Army Group A was terrible. 23
At 04.30 AM the 16th Panzer Division starts
blocking the line "corridor" between Don and
Volga. In the afternoon war enters Stalingrad.
By the evening the 16th Panzer Division blocked
the line "corridor" of 40 miles-65 km
between Don and Volga.
In the evening the luftwaffe flies 2000 sorties
above Stalingrad. The bombing is murdereous.
People can read newspapers by the blaze 60 km
away. The whole city is on fire.
Hitler has orderedeto put the city on fire. Thousands
of civilians are killed. 24
The 16th Panzer Division is advancing to Spartakovka, the northern
part of the industrial
area of Stalingrad. With aerial support of the luftwaffe the 16th Panzer
Division is
trying to break through the the Russian defensline. But the defenders
are holding their
positions. 25
Near the gouvermentfarm of Yoerkin the German
Luftwaffe bombed their own infantry and
panzers. 26
Zhukov is named Deputy Supreme Commander; second
only to Stalin, himself. He is given
direct responsibility for the defense of Stalingrad,
after his successes at Moscow and Leningrad.
(Some accounts show this as happening on the
28th.) 27
Hitler orders to push the blocking line between
the Volga and the Don more forward to
the northeast. He also orders 4th Panzer Army
to attack more to the north to make
contact with 6th Army. Attacking addittionally
northeastward into the defenses of
Stalingrad is a secondary mission. 28
16th Panzer Division, cut off on the northern
outskirts of Stalingrad since its breakthrough
on the 23rd, out of ammunition, is ready to withdraw,
when a supply convoy of some
two hundred and fifty trucks, loaded with captured
British and American aid, arrives
in the wake of 3rd Motorized Division. Now, there
are two divisions separated by
eighteen miles of communist controlled ground
between the bulk of
6th Army, and the Panzers at Spartakovka and
Rynok. 29
Zhukov arrives at Stalingrad Front Headquarters,
as the battered 62nd Army, among
others, is refitted with replacements and supplies.
Kempf’s 48th Panzer Corps, west of Abganerovo,
now strikes north, outflanking the
Russians that had stopped him and the 4th Infantry
Corps as well. His Panzers make
twenty miles in one day, as the 64th Army begins
to withdraw. 30
Hoth's 4th Panzer Army (from the south) hooks
up with the 60th Infantry Division and the
ring around the city is closed. The last defense
line near Gavrilovka is taken by the
infantry of the IVth Army Corps. 31
Paulus ordered to strengthen the line corridor
between Don and Volga.
Now it was possible to launch a major attack
against Stalingrad.
In the evening the 24th Panzer Division reaches
the railway line Stalingrad-Karpovka.
Starting from the 'line' corridor, General Sleydlitz
plans an attack on the center of the city.
But their first goal is Gumrak.
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