Stalingrad; the largest battle in history, arguably one of the

Need oil. Go to Baku get shit pushed in from behind. Retreat, no oil. Must fight bad guys first. Bad guys at Stalingrad.

it was a doomed operation from the start

the red army learned from 1941, engaging in urban combat was a god send to them, the flanks were covered by allies without sufficient anti tank or heavy weaponry

stalingrad was an important target, but no target worth sacrificing your entire army responsible for advancing

there was no pulling out the 6th army, it was mainly a horse towed army, you dont move those rapidly, the panzerdivisions could have been pulled out, but thats a death sentence to the rest of the army

they didnt stayed there willingly, a breakout could have been ordered but they were encircled, the results of a breakout attempt could easily result the same as they did in Budapest

once you march an infantry army somewhere, and you have no trucks or trains, that army stays there or advances, retreating against soviet tank divisions wont happen

this is why elastic defense was developed
you have multipline layers of defenses, the 1st one only loosely occupied and used for scouting, 2 others behind it have the AT and most anti personnel deployed, while at the very back its the artillery

should the enemy attack in huge numbers you pull back asap to avoid being overrun and cut up into defensive pockets, it happened time and time again because hitlers retarded "not one step back" orders

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>>3385377
>YFW Everyone mocking Germany and Hitler for not taking a city.

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Why germans just didn't go past stalingrad?

>>3385514
having a bridgehead which can be used as base of operation for an assault on your flanks is dangerous

the german army after 1941 was mortally wounded, most of their divisions werent at full strenght even at the start of the offensive of 1942

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>>3385377
>>Was Stalingrad a more important target than Baku?
The original the G*rmans drew up was to take the Volga north of Stalingrad cutting off the river from traffic. There were no plans to take the city. The G*rmans achieved this goal in late August 1942. The real prize were the Caucas oil fields. The plan was to split the Army Group South in a ratio of 3:1. 3 parts going to the Caucuses, and 1 part guarding their flank and cutting off the Volga.

But as you know, no good plan survives first contact with Hitler. Hitler saw the city was named after Stalin, and decided that the city must be taken, even though it meant nothing. Buy September or so, they had 3 parts going to Stalingrad, and 1 part going to the oilfields.
>>German propaganda made it seem like pulling the 6th Army out would have endangered other portions of the line, and that the 6th Army staying there allowed for other units to defend the line, is this true?
I am not familiar with this G*rman propaganda speel, but it would be incorrect. The German salient at stalingrad stuckout like a sore thumb and extended the line hundreds of kilometers longer than it should have. Pulling back from stalingrad would have been the wise choice.
>>Was it necessary for the 6th Army to stay in Stalingrad, or should they have pulled back, regrouped, and retaken at a later date?
See everything I wrote above. They should have not been in the city to begin with.

6th army couldn't have retaken Stalingrad at a later date because they had never taken it to begin with.

>>3385377
>Stalingrad; the largest battle in history, arguably one of the most important.
Already wrong, there were bigger battles, some right there on the same front in the same war. And things like the Frontiers in WW1 were also larger.

>>Was Stalingrad a more important target than Baku?
No, but securing Stalingrad was perceived as necessary to hold the flank against Soviet counterattacks. Furthermore, the lack of rail systems in the Caucasus meant that it was easier to deploy troops to around Stalingrad (Where you do have rail links back on your own lines of communication) than in the mountains.

>German propaganda made it seem like pulling the 6th Army out would have endangered other portions of the line, and that the 6th Army staying there allowed for other units to defend the line, is this true?
Essentially, but not much more true than any other formation. Part of what makes a line is that it's continuous, and often if one army or other large formation retreats, everyone else has to follow suit.

>Was it necessary for the 6th Army to stay in Stalingrad, or should they have pulled back, regrouped, and retaken at a later date?
If they pull; back, they're never going to "retake it at a later date". Even as early as October, their momentum was giving out. You can argue that they should never have tried in the first place, but ultimately that means that you lose the war for a certainty at a later date instead of almost certainly losing the war at an earlier one.

>>3385623
>The G*rmans achieved this goal in late August 1942.
What the fuck are you talking about? The Germans did not cut the Volga north of the city. http://i.imgur.com/3wNMFZo.jpg That was where most of the reinforcements and supplies sent to Stalingrad came from.

>The real prize were the Caucas oil fields. The plan was to split the Army Group South in a ratio of 3:1. 3 parts going to the Caucuses, and 1 part guarding their flank and cutting off the Volga.
How are you going to supply 75% of Heersgruppe Sud in the Caucasus? And a much larger concentration couldn't hold back the Soviet counterattack. Why do you think a quarter of them could have?

>>3385377
>Was Stalingrad a more important target than Baku?
no, it had a lot of valuable industry, but nothing the Germans could actually use, unlike Baku's oil
>German propaganda made it seem like pulling the 6th Army out would have endangered other portions of the line, and that the 6th Army staying there allowed for other units to defend the line, is this true?
no, the 6th army was pretty much entirely committed to Stalingrad itself after the fighting in the city got fierce to the point of having no mobile reserves, their flanks were held by italians and romanians, hence why teh soviets broke through and encircled them so easily
>Was it necessary for the 6th Army to stay in Stalingrad, or should they have pulled back, regrouped, and retaken at a later date?
no they could easily have left, but pulling back would have been as risky as staying and probably dashed all hope of seizing baku

>Commit all your mobile reserve to fight in a city >Leave the Romanians, Hungarians and Italians to guard the flanks and your only railway line into the city who you know can't really do shit against a concentrated attack
>Soviets do exactly that
>Lose
>Wonder how this could have happened
Paulus was possibly the worst General of WW2, blame Hitler all you like, he wasn't the one who denuded his army of its mobile reserve

>>3386126
>Paulus was possibly the worst General of WW2, blame Hitler all you like, he wasn't the one who denuded his army of its mobile reserve
except hitler literally directly ordered paulus to send all of his men into stalingrad, including tank crews and chefs, leaving paulus with noting to form a mobile reserve out of

>>3386094
Look, to be honest the entire idea was fucking stupid, even if they took Stalingrad
>Let's charge down into the mountains and leave a thousand mile wide barely manned flank
>What could go wrong?

>>3386127
Just lie, Model, Guderian and Manstein did when it suited them, Paulus was just a faggot promoted way above his ability who'd do whatever daddy Hitler told him