The Soviet Tormosin Offensive | BATTLESTORM STALINGRAD E42

Before Manstein could launch his relief attempt (Operation Winter Storm), there was a period of calm. However, a decisive attack by the 5th Tank and (later) 5th Shock Armies at the Chir put a stop to Manstein's northern relief attempt. The Chir or Tormosin Offensive tied down several units, including an entire panzer division, and made the likelihood of Manstein getting to Paulus at Stalingrad increasingly unlikely.
This video is discussing events or concepts that are academic, educational and historical in nature. This video is for informational purposes and was created so we may better understand the past and learn from the mistakes others have made.
Follow me on Instagram / tikhistory
⏲️ Videos EVERY Monday at 5pm GMT (depending on season, check for British Summer Time).
The thumbnail for this video was created by Terri Young. Need awesome graphics? Check out her website www.terriyoungdesigns.co.uk/
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📚 BIBLIOGRAPHY / SOURCES 📚
The specific Battlestorm Stalingrad bibliography docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Full list of all my sources docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
⚔️ If you like Stalingrad, you may also enjoy historian Anton Joly's KZbin channel "Stalingrad Battle Data". Link: / @armageddon4145
If you'd like to learn more about the 64th Army, check out Dann Falk's book on the 64th Army, and his website here: falkenbooks.com/
Historian Jason D. Mark also has a website where you can purchase his books from : www.leapinghorseman.com/
Check out Egor Kobyakov's Stalingrad articles here - warspot.net/users/201-egor-ko...
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⭐ SUPPORT TIK ⭐
This video isn't sponsored. My income comes purely from my Patreons and SubscribeStars, and from KZbin ad revenue. So, if you'd like to support this channel and make these videos possible, please consider becoming a Patreon or SubscribeStar. All supporters who pledge $1 or more will have their names listed in the videos. There are higher tiers too with additional perks, so check out the links below for more details.
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Thank you to my current supporters! You're AWESOME!
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ABOUT TIK 📝
History isn’t as boring as some people think, and my goal is to get people talking about it. I also want to dispel the myths and distortions that ruin our perception of the past by asking a simple question - “But is this really the case?”. I have a 2:1 Degree in History and a passion for early 20th Century conflicts (mainly WW2). I’m therefore approaching this like I would an academic essay. Lots of sources, quotes, references and so on. Only the truth will do.

[@TheImperatorKnight]

Next Monday is Boxing Day, so to allow me to actually have a day off for Christmas, I'm going to do a behind-the-scenes video showing you all how I do my Battlestorm animations etc. This is actually answering two Patreon questions from like 4 years ago which I've delayed answering... But if you've got any questions regarding the scripting, editing or animation process, ask me below and I'll see if I can fit in some answers for you in that video. Cheers!

[@aldinf512]

306 infanterie division has its unit logo on its Wikipedia page

[@TheImperatorKnight]

@@aldinf512 It says vehicle insignia, and when you click on it, the description reads: "1st Logo of the 309th German infanterie Division." So I don't trust it.

[@aldinf512]

@TIKhistory its probably a typo as 309 ID insignia has its own in other websites and the file name says 306. Division usually base their vehicle insignia based on their unit logo.The logo is also on the cover page on a book about the division Edit:Not the book I was talking about but it's on the cover page of this book Der Landser - Band: Deutsche Divisionen - II. Teil - Einsätze und Kampfschicksale deutscher Großverbände im II. WK - Buch gebraucht kaufen

[@mooners544]

@@TheImperatorKnight Hey man, it would be really cool if you could upload your videos to Odysee to deal with the censorship issues on youtube. It's run by Jeremy Kauffman of the Free State Project.

[@danreed7889]

I'm watching the old series "The World at War". Have you ever thought of making a episode of comparing what was known then vs now? I believe that series was quite influential for it's time. Thanks

[@alucardofficial7074]

I know it's been said a thousand times before but this is quite literally the best documentary series on the battle of Stalingrad ever made. That is no small feat, exceptional work TIK. Thanks for all the work you put into this.

[@MakeAllThingsBeautiful]

the Donetsk river valley would of made a superb defence line and kept alive the Caucusus campaign, only saying as it has been prominent in a more recent campaign which TIK hasn't mentioned once. I genuinely feel that to make history relevant there has to be a present day relevance, especially when we have an absolutely glaring one. Also the impact on civilians doesn't get mentioned and these losses could potentially dwarf the military slaughter, but as history doesn't seem interested i don't know.

[@benmartin9677]

It's one of the best projects I've ever seen on KZbin.

[@HerraHazar]

Agreed ,best stuff on KZbin by far.

[@basildavis2683]

Don't Jinx him, it's not done yet!

[@CastilloinaSpeedo]

I feel like screaming that from the rooftops after every video. It literally blows my mind. This man is a genius and we are in his debt.

[@Silverstream-74]

30k being frontline troops out of 300k troops is astounding, didnt realise it was so unbalanced.

[@samsonsoturian6013]

The battles you should really be afraid of is where you're spending months bored and miserable while the fighting goes on somewhere else.

[@TheImperatorKnight]

Manstein didn't understand it either, surprisingly enough

[@Silverstream-74]

@@TheImperatorKnightsure, i'd say in the current scenario everyone in the pockets ultimately gonna end up becoming frontline i guess :/

[@Alte.Kameraden]

I know a few who were in the US Army and Marines. I think they said for every 1 combat soldier you normally have 4-5 people in the rear from drivers, medics, cooks, etc supporting them.

[@christophertheriault3308]

@@Alte.Kameraden In military slang that's called the 'tail' and the US military has one of the largest (if not *the* largest).

[@MrAWG9]

One of the things I love about TIK’s vids, there isn’t 2 minutes of ads or 5 mins of schlepping 1 square foot of land in Scotland. Come to think of it tho, it is very sad that YT doesn’t believe his work is worthy of sponsorship. Merry Christmas TIK, and a very blessed New Year!

[@TheImperatorKnight]

I want my videos to stand the test of time. So I made the decision years ago that I didn't want sponsors in the video (or merch) because I was thinking long-term. Yes, these videos will be outdated in a few years as new evidence and theories emerge, but people can look back on them and enjoy they for what they are. In 50 years time, today's bars of soap and pay-to-win RPGs will be completely forgotten, but Stalingrad won't be, and hopefully this series won't be either.

[@mooners544]

@@TheImperatorKnight Try uploading your videos to Odysee! You can sync it with your youtube channel. There are tons of libertarians on there.

[@MrAWG9]

@@TheImperatorKnight yes sir, and we all thank you for it!

[@davidtuttle7556]

@@mooners544 he’s on Patreon. Best $5 a month I’ve ever spent.

[@danreed7889]

@@davidtuttle7556 I feel the same

[@evhensamchuk1676]

I have to say, being a kid, born in Ukraine, former part of USSR and thus grown and educated under heavy influence of soviet historical narrative, this series and channel overall had really pushed me into revising my knowledge of WWII (and history of the first half of XX century as well), which I gain by reading soviet era books, 'cause in 90s and early 2000's we didn't have any other sources. Thanks for your efforts, man.

[@exeexecutor]

how was WWII told by soviets when it came to Stalingrad?

[@darcgibson5099]

Western historical narratives are equally if not worse in terms of ideological BS and bias and false history motivated by the decades of anti-soviet propaganda during the Cold War, and over-reliance on German generals desperately trying to avoid accepting any responsibility or concede any legitimate losses due to soviet ability. And the fact NATO had to rehabilitate a bunch of these gjys, many war criminals, in order to shore up the Western European frontline. There are exceptions of course. Glantz being particularly good on the soviet war.

[@caryblack5985]

@@Edax_Royeaux It was propaganda. The soviets would have pushed the Germans back or defeated them much earlier if they could. The idea of encircling the Germans only became plan in Sept 1942. This does not take away from the fact that the Soviets carried out the plan successfully.

[@davethompson3326]

It worked the other way, too. I began tabletop wargaming in the mid-70s and finding anything beyond the broadest overviews of the war in the East was incredibly hard. The staggering losses of 41-2 or Rzhev or the appalling damage caused to Ukraine and Belorussia weren't something I came across at all until a few years ago. Strictly Leningrad, Stalingrad, a couple of articles on Kursk, then Berlin!

[@gummansgubbe6225]

@@caryblack5985 Well. They did build up for Uranus. They could have sent those forces straight to Stalingrad. And as we know from TIKhistory the Germans didn't have a clue. Seems like a plan to me.

[@grovehoLP]

I love this. I work 6 days a week, but I always find the time to watch these. On Christmas, I am planning to rewatch the whole series to remind myself how far it come. Your work is amazing.

[@4nthr4x]

Watching the entirety of Stalingrad on Christmas day? You also a deserve Mad Man Card!

[@reecedignan8365]

I wish some of the historians that Tik uses as his sources would give him a lot more shout out and attention which he deserves. It would be amazing to see something like this series actually getting mass promotion for its dedication to history, fact chasing and story telling

[@TheImperatorKnight]

I think most historians aren't watching KZbin videos and are generally dismissive of the internet. They know Wikipedia is terrible, and technically KZbin is a social media platform, so it's understandable why they hold this view. They also have a financial and legal incentive to stick to "peer review" literature. But I think video is far superior to books, and I think a future generation of historians will see the value of video-based history narration. Not only is it a better way to entertain and inform, it's also a great way to interact with your audience. I'm chatting to you right now! It's a direct engagement between historian and viewer/reader. The debates happen instantly, and there's also instant feedback for us. It's win-win. We're already seeing the shift from books to video format - Anton Joly, for example. But we're still in the early days of this, and have a long way to go.

[@putinugend]

@@TheImperatorKnight Isaev watches TIK and appreciates the effort and the visual presentation.

[@Raskolnikov70]

@@TheImperatorKnight This makes me think of Kuhn's "Structure of Scientific Revolutions" and the point he makes about how people in academia become dependent (for career or reputational reasons) on their existing theories and become less open to people challenging them as a result. I'll be there are a lot of academic historians who don't want interaction and engagement with their audience for exactly that reason - if they've written a series of books or papers about a theory, anyone challenging that theory is a direct threat to their livelihood.

[@adamjaquay4279]

@@TheImperatorKnight very true. When a fellow hisory buff and i began our decade long study of Antietam during the America Civil War we found hundreds of pages of official and eye witness documents the previous historians/writers had completely ignored. Most likely because the real truth didn't fit a particular narrative or accented story line,particularly the fighting in the West Woods sector. It's amazing what you find when you start digging.

[@samsonsoturian6013]

Never forget: Many of the soldiers at Stalingrad were tankers on foot defending air fields while cold, hungry, and afraid but nothing really happened for months at a time. That's the type of battle you should really be afraid of.

[@ottovonbismarck2443]

To my best knowledge - which isn't saying much - tankers counted as "specialists" and were partially flown out. From my personal memory with the Bundeswehr, the worst thing to happen is when "office bitches" as we called them get their hands on a rifle. And I was a tank mechanic (two left hands and all thumbs to give you an idea) which was already as far away from military service as the air force.

[@sammybeutlin2763]

@@ottovonbismarck2443 Yeah, the Bundeswehr ... Puma aint working ... buying of awful F-35 for 8,3 billion ... what a Saftladen

[@ottovonbismarck2443]

@@sammybeutlin2763 That's when you purchase a vehicle WITHOUT spare parts just to get it through budget discussions ... Which might sound totally logic if you are a female minister of defence ... And then we let her loose on the poor EU. My apologies to Europe.

[@danreed7889]

Never seen pics of tankers with their black uniform carrying a rifle but that didn't mean it didn't happened

[@aleksazunjic9672]

There were not that many tankers ( max 5 people for a tank, and there were few hundred tanks) . There could be some mechanics from tank shops, but again not so many. Most were likely logistic personnel : drivers, cooks, and especially those tending to horses which were now mostly gone.

[@MLeonardReel]

Insane levels of detail over months and months of videos - and I can only imagine how much work! I don't know how you do it, but surely your channel is the most comprehensive account of all things Stalingrad?!

[@imagremlin875]

You sir are a great historian. You have given us the most detailed information possible for this event. Thank you.

[@brunomancuso7798]

Yesterday we win the world cup. Today a new stalingrad video, exelent.

[@TheGrinbery]

Honestly the best thing in the series so far is the small puns and dad jokes sprinkled all throughout. I'm living for them

[@jlg4ever]

We're so pretty, we're all so pretty...

[@MrGashdash]

the stupid faces on the ice bergs got me.

[@charles20asselin]

I dont understanding why I never see your new video in my recommendation. Thank you for the great series

[@Raskolnikov70]

Because the people who run KZbin want you watching dumbed-down pop history and current-thing propaganda instead of educating yourself.

[@AnthonyEvelyn]

Compliments of the season TIK! Continue with your excellent BattleStorm Series. Can't wait for your full series of the Kherson /Cherkassy pocket.

[@exharkhun5605]

In the American army, and probably Nato, plus 3 to minus 7 degrees Celsius is classed as wet cold, and is considered even more dangerous than dry cold (-7C to -20C) because it's easier to get wet through and through. These underfed guys without shelter were a step away from death even without the battle.

[@ZER0ZER0SE7EN]

Water is a better conductor of heat than ice. If you get a burn on your skin, very cold water will take the heat out faster than placing ice.

[@Raskolnikov70]

IIRC 'dry cold' conditions were below 14 degrees Farenheit. And yes, main reason wet cold is worse is because the moisture in your wet clothing doesn't evaporate as quickly due to the ambient humidity. In dry cold conditions there's basically zero humidity so sweat and melted snow disappears fast.

[@harrybriscoe7948]

I do not know how much experience you have with being out in sub freezing temperatures No army is going to last long in freezing conditions with out ample supplies

[@jkilla9934]

I live in Germany near a very big lake and we have humidity of about 80 to 90%. The winter here is so disgusting. Almost never cold enough for the snow to stay, it turns into mud soon. I experienced Russian winter near the Urals and I honestly have to say that I endured the dry -30° Celsius better than the wet 0° over here.

[@cccpredarmy]

@@jkilla9934 i sign up for this. German winters are way more unforgiving than north-russian ones. However I must admit that -40 and down is on another level of "cold". Having experienced -43° for 3 days straight I became aware of what soldiers on the german-soviet frontlines must have went through WHILE battling or sitting in trenches. I was dressed properly for such temperatures, with high tech clothes made extra for such conditions...

[@Splodge542]

Nice timing for the episode. Almost 80 years ago to the day. It's been well below freezing in Scotland which underlines narrative very nicely.

[@stoicprepper]

Yesss another episode. Love it. Take your time, relax a bit the coming weeks.

[@muskett4108]

Made my day. At least the snow has gone outside and it's not, and never been, -15 here (UK Dec 2002). I had two pieces of buttered toast and jam just for my tea too.

[@captainhurricane5705]

Reported deliveries varied for a number of reasons but one of them was the Luftwaffe counted everything they sent, i.e. supplies for the flak troops and JG3 units, supplies for the Luftwaffe ground operations, whereas the 6th Army was only interested in counting what they received.

[@Raskolnikov70]

TIK didn't mention it, but I wonder if who determined how the planes were loaded (and how heavy they were loaded) was a factor. I could see pilots having to fly through bad weather and hostile fire/aircraft wouldn't want to be fully loaded while trying to do it. It makes sense that if the pilots or their groundcrews had a say in it, they'd deliberately underload the planes in order to give the air crew a better chance of making it because they weren't so encumbered by a full cargo.

[@petetirp9776]

That's such an obvious point. It also literally never crossed my mind until I read your comment! Kudos.

[@captainhurricane5705]

@@petetirp9776 Thanks

[@cestparti7577]

Thanks TIK .You continue to open my eyes to WW2 and history in general.

[@diediealldie1]

Thank you for this great series! Too bad this series's stopped. Chuikov is stuck in Stalingrad forever, no more almost dead counter going up..."bye for now"

[@mladenmatosevic4591]

Great work. I have seen more then few works about Stalingrad on KZbin but this is two orders of magnitude more detailed and informative.

[@tomfrombrunswick7571]

Over the years I have read a lot of books on Stalingrad including Glantz's may books. However none are able to communicate what happened as effectively as this series. Part of the problem of reading a book is that it will narrate a series of complex events. The advantage of this type of series is that you can see better how each event is time specific and ties into other events. It is a great way of explaining history. Your various videos (with the exceptions of the slightly eccentric political ones) are of the highest quality I have seen on You tube and are a real break though in explaining the complexity of history

[@user-bi6db6sr8j]

Thanks) Best show is back and I'm really glad I can watch it.

[@greg.kasarik]

Thanks mate. Have been really anticipating this episode! 🙂 Have a great Christmas and New Year!!

[@GanoGaming]

Why do I always start watching these videos at night when I am half asleep? Oh right, to have a good reason to watch it again!

[@lewisgann280]

I’m almost caught up now and I’ll echo everyone else’s sentiments and say TIK thank you so much for all the work that you’ve put into this series. I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed it and I’ll be following your links to help support your work. I enjoy the presentation style very much it contrasts well with some of the more local and personal accounts I’ve read/heard over the years. The quality of the series is beyond top tier. You have really out done yourself TIK thank you once again.

[@TheRealDerekL]

Hey TiK! Wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas to you and yours brother!! Thanks for the holiday stalingrad episode, this series never fails to captivate my attention! See ya in the new year!

[@4nthr4x]

Another round of applause for the great content TIK! You've more than earned some days off for the holidays. Best wishes for you and your family. Extra ration of bread and delicious horse flesh soup for everyone!

[@novitrix9671]

Hura!!!!!!!!!

[@kernowpolski]

Another episode with TIK at the top of his game. When this is finally over I shall take the time to start again at the beginning. TIK this has been an outstanding prodution - thank you and have a great Christmas and New Year.

[@josephanuga2543]

Great video. I can virtually feel the weight of the hard work it required to make this video as I'm watching it.

[@danielgreen3715]

Its easy with hindsight to see how They had shot their Bolt and were rapidly losing the initiative ..But ..Could Paulus be reached and saved by any Army at this point is looking very doubtful as each day goes by! Great stuff TIK .your dissemination and reasoning is Excellent cheers

[@erhansener4110]

Thank you for another great video TIK, happy holidays!

[@khosrowanushirvan5728]

Thank you for your hard work and determination TIK. Merry Christmas!

[@peterhughes8699]

TIK - another great episode in a brilliant series - thanks again :)

[@karljohan3989]

You always hype me up for the next episode with your suspenseful questions at the end of each episode even though there is absolutely 0 suspense at all, great work :p The latest episodes focus a lot on the logistical nightmare faced by the german forces for obvious reasons by when I see the soviet army kicking off Little Saturn shortly after the enormous Operation Uranus, the soviet logistics must have been absolutely insane. Hats off to the comrades in charge of it, they probably had very short nights.

[@GeneraalAmsel]

And a army of american trucks.

[@KomradZX1989]

You are REALLY GOOD at keeping us wanting and coming back for more TIK 😂. The episode flies by so fast talking about the relief operation and just when you think it’s about to happen, “We’ll find out, next time…” 😜

[@Adonnus100]

Can you give us a breakdown of the non-combat troops in the 6th Army? I've always wondered how it could be that such small detachments were fighting in the city itself, and yet such a huge number were encircled. This explains it, I guess, but I would like to know more about what their various roles and functions were.

[@caryblack5985]

They were around because the combat troops were greatly reduced in the fighting in the city and at the Kotluban attacks. These were head quarters. supply, transport, medical , people to care for the horses, signals and other vital areas. All divisions depend on a number of noncombat troops to enable the combat troops to function.

[@worththesqueeze1386]

Bravo! The consistency in quality is impressive.

[@ra8784]

Merry Christmas TIK!

[@TheImperatorKnight]

Thank you, Merry Christmas to you too!

[@KaraBoga69]

@@TheImperatorKnight Christian confirmed

[@andrewpease3688]

@@KaraBoga69 Christ actually born in October

[@insideoutsideupsidedown2218]

@@TheImperatorKnight Ben Shapiro tells people Merry Christmas as well...

[@p0xus]

It's been a while since ive watched a Stalingrad video and I have 2 thoughts. 1. The Germans are sure in a much worse position - shocker 2. I really like how Tik highlights the unit he is refuring to. Much easier than looking around at the various units trying to find it.

[@mjs3343]

Excellent detail and statistics. You're the best TIK!

[@tokencivilian8507]

Doing the math: 300,000 Germans inside the pocket. 0.2kg of flour per day (to be baked into bread inside the pocket) each. That equals 60,000 kg / day of flour. 2.2 kg / lb = 132,000 pounds. Or 66 short tons of flour per day....for only ~200 grams of bread per person per day. Or in a 10 short ton (20,000 lbs) unit of flour, that would be enough for the 200 gram daily ration for about 45,500 men, give or take (about 15% of the pocket). Never mind meat, butter, beans and vegetables. As for fuel - a 55 gallon steel drum weighs (depending on what the Google says) about 50 lbs. Gasoline is about 6 lbs / US gallon. So, a 55 gallon drum full of gasoline weighs about 380 lbs. Each 10 tons of lift (20,000 lbs) would therefore yield about 52 1/2 drums of fuel. Or about 2888 US gallons (~10,930 liters). A Panzer 3 takes 300-320 liters to fill per Wiki (yeah, yeah, yeah.....). So for each 10 tons of lift devoted to fuel, that would yield about 36 or 37 full tanks of fuel for a Panzer 3, give or take. Near as I can make out from the Google, 2 complete 105mm howitzer rounds (not WW2 German, but modern, shell and brass case with powder, but it provides a rough order of magnitude estimate) weigh about 50kg, packed in a wooden crate. Using our 10 ton unit of supply, that would be about 181 boxes (or 362 rounds). Near as I can make out, 7.62 NATO is about 7 lbs / 100 round belt. Close enough to SWAG for the 8MM Mauser which will be a bit heavier, so somewhat less rounds per unit of weight. Assuming 10% packaging weight (fiber boxes, metal cans, wooden crates) yields about 1,300 rounds per 100 lbs, or about 26,000 rounds per 2,000 lb ton. At our 10 ton unit of cargo, that would be about 260,000 rounds of rifle / machine gun ammo. Or about 8 2/3 rounds for each of the 30,000 infantry for each 10 tons brought in. So, what would a 300 ton load of supplies look like, if 1/3 to flour, 1/3 to gasoline and 1/3 to ammo (half 105 arty rounds and half rifle / machine gun ammo)? 100 tons of flour would be enough to provide about 2/3 lb / person. Sounds ok, but a pound of flour has about 1650 calories (give or take). So that's a bit under 1,100 calories, or starvation levels. 100 tons of fuel in 55 gallon drums would be about 525 drums, or 28,875 US gallons (~109,300 liters). That would be enough to fill up 360 or so Panzers. Not bad, but there are also trucks and ambulances and generators and whatever else is using up the gasoline. 100 tons of ammo would be 1810 105mm artillery rounds and 1.3 million rifle / machine gun rounds (~43 rounds for each of the 30,000 infantry). That's not a lot of ammo. As for the arty, lets put it this way: With 30,000 infantry, if they were in 500 man battalions, then there would be 60 such battalions. If the arty support was spread out equally to these 60 units, that's about 30 rounds each, per day. Given how much front each such unit would need to cover, that's a pretty thin spread of arty support over each 24 hour period. And we're ignoring the multitude of other ammo types needed, like for the above mentioned Panzers that got the fuel....and MG belts for them as well, and mortars, and 20, 37 and 88mm guns. And Paks. And 75 and 150mm arty. Yeah, the German logistic situation was doomed.

[@PorqueNoLosDos]

Single best episode of the series. Where content strikes against TIK. Bravo, bravo.

[@deadnerves]

thank you for this awesome battlestorm series!

[@hq3473]

Please take a rest. Even if it takes years. We love this, and will wait as long as it takes.

[@shlamushaaretz5357]

Thanks TIK, the next episode will be an exciting one!

[@VOTE_REFORM_UK]

He’s not making a next episode apparently

[@smoessmee]

I had been looking forward to a break to the Stalingrad campaign... but you had to leave it on a cliffhanger :D

[@jocelynpageau9249]

top notch content as usual thx for the vids!

[@Choo_Choo_Oreo]

Keep up the good work!

[@TheImperatorKnight]

First! Thank you

[@mooners544]

@@TheImperatorKnight We'd love to see you on Odysee!

[@--Dani]

Im reading Glantz, mainly because of this series but also Kotkin recommended too. In the middle of Stalingrad by Glantz and House, I don't want to go past chapter 14 right now...👍

[@milosmevzelj5205]

This video is best thing happened this week. I`m writing this even before I watched it.

[@eugene1197]

Tik, appreciate all your work... Happy new year!

[@eze8970]

Thanks TIK, more great work!🙏🙏

[@thomasvandevelde8157]

Thanks, once again, for the subtitles! I wish some KZbin-channels would take example of this! Fine work for the rest too! Regards, Thomsa

[@konst80hum]

This is excellent work!

[@jamespfp]

31:00 -- RE: The Battered Butkov Brigades; gee, but the alliteration alone is suggestive, TIK. ; )

[@Winkie007]

New graphics are great smoother more attractive your delivery is smoother too Excellent work!!! 👍😃🐕

[@nandi123]

Thank you for your excellent work!

[@burger-iy2in]

Merry Christmas Tik - never change!

[@fannymcflanagan2732]

Looking at Manstein’s forces on the map is all you really need to show just how hopeless the situation really was for the German Army. Then take into account the Luftwaffe was barely even available to support the effort. All the while the Allies are making big gains in North Africa

[@pekkamustonen6654]

Great episode. Thx TIKhistory.

[@sanitylogic4611]

This series is just awesome. I can only imagine what all those young men were thinking in this situation. Even through the maps and the writing you can feel and see the desperation they had, what little they could hold on. It was no longer about fighting for a cause, it was about survival at that point. With resources so scarce, one could only think death was a relief from the freezing hell.

[@DarkSideChess]

Maybe they reconsidered their beliefs in German superiority. After all the Russians had to deal with this cold every year for their whole history.

[@charlesjermyn5001]

I would love an other video on logistics: "there might be organization issues", but are the provisions are in the entrepots of the luftwaffe in the first place? We are far from the rear bases, is all the materials and ressources promised are delivered ready for airlifting at time?

[@danielr3182]

What a Christmas gift!

[@agesflow6815]

Thank you, TIKhistory.

[@espaciocalidad6317]

FANTASTIC TIK!!

[@ChristianTheJew]

I'm doing WW2 in Real time right now. And this is a great analysis to watch!

[@crownic]

Good episode. Cliffhanger questions at the end 😅

[@3idraven714]

Great work, again and again and again!

[@garyarmitage9359]

Amazing work!!!!!!!!

[@BalenCM]

Even being the Caucasus' oil as important as it was at the time, I do think that taking as many troops as possible form army group A to help Manstein's relief attempt would have been more beneficial to the Germans. With enough divisions pulled from army group A, even if they lost the Caucasus momentarily, they would have had a better shot at relieving the pocket and stabilizing the front. With the hope of achieving such a big victory in Stalingrad being crushed, this would have demoralized Soviet moral even further. If we assume the Germans would have succeeded in their relief attempt in the first place. Remember that if Hitler lost Stalingrad he wouldn't have been able to secure the Caucasus anyway, so why not prioritize Stalingrad? Without Stalingrad the Germans couldn't have had control of the main railway, reaching Astrakhan was necessary and, for that matter, Stalingrad as well.

[@joel0joel0]

well relieving the sixth army doesn't mean securing Stalingrad and in hindsight what are you gonna do with Operation Saturn, i mean sure your troops stabilized the front, but if another front breaks and encircles basically your whole army group, your still f**ked.

[@gawdsuniverse3282]

Exactly, this is a perfect example of Hilter's stand-fast orders. The Wehrmacht was at its best in a war of maneuver, they were at their worst when made to defend an over-extended front allowing the Soviets to mass troops, seize the initiative, and dictate when and where they would attack. Hitler got this entire campaign wrong, the oil was the priority, and Stalingrad did not need to be taken.

[@joopmar6]

Thank you for all this work

[@mmd-zz9go]

You inspire me to work hard! Good luck TIK

[@OzreNS1976]

I think that this moment in this analysis is perfect for me to ask a question regarding airlift of wounded out of couldron, and disciplinary measures that Wehrmacht was imposing on the man to prevent and stop day to day increasing fashion of self-harming between its more, and more desperate soldiers. It is about one story in Sven Hassel's book, where he writes how the death penalty was the only ever given penalty for such actions. He says that there was one poor soul who was crushed accidentally by one of panzers, and ended up losing both legs up to the hips in surgery. However, officers from hastely assembled military tribunal found him guilty of self-harming and he was tied with some ropes to a piece of wood, and shot by a firing squad! This is a very strong moment in the whole narrative and he used it to show how german discipline and rules went to really bizarre extremes even in Stalingrad couldron. Is there some similar example mentioned somewhere? I am aware that Hassel wrote sort of memoirs, but yet, for me it was one of those few things that you remember forever, after reading all his (i think 7) books.

[@foxpedro001]

Hey TIK, love your videos! I pray that, someday, you can make a video about Brazil's role in WW2. Keep up with the good work

[@christophertheriault3308]

A cobra vai fumar!

[@nemecec01]

Thanks a lot. Very well told.

[@TimZandbergen]

"Failure would mean the destruction of the largest German army;" talking about 30.000 fighting men, that really shows how deep the Germans were in for...

[@honk813]

Another great video tik

[@petesmusic6648]

First class Tik 👍 fantastic work

[@dmitrijr7065]

Hello TIK, nice video as always. But at 14:00 your picture left shows a La-5FN and not a regular La-5.The FN-variant was deployed later. The Yak-7B is correct though

[@BlackMan614]

Paulus.. for being called an exemplary staff officer and "expert" on logistics... was so overwhelmed and over his head, it is amazing they lasted as long as they did. 300k ration strength / 30k combat strength. Sums up his incompetence. Remember... this guy had never even commanded a single division, yet alone an army before given the command of the 6th army.

[@caryblack5985]

Because of the great attrition in the battles for the city and along the Kotluban region many combat troops were lost and so the number of rear area troops compared to combat troops began to be extreme.

[@BlackMan614]

@@caryblack5985 Yup... and Paulus did nothing. Not like his handlers did anything as well.

[@aquilamario8300]

I'm relearning the battle of stalingtado. Impressive !

[@neillaverty4042]

There is a consistent theme about TIKs coverage of the airlift: "all these transports in general yet why such a low % seem to fly into the pocket daily? " The Soviets have timed their original offensive to perfection.19th Nov 1942 is perfect since any relief of Stalingrad via the ground is at best going to take a month. A months time is around Dec 21st 1942 - the day with the shortest period of daylight. The Luftwaffe is a DAYLIGHT airforce in 1942. This is combined with the immense depth of the encirclement forcing the Luftwaffe to flee from there best closer airfields to ad-hoc Soviet installations that are just too far away to mount effective coordinated fighter CAP from. The days in December have such fleeting daylight - so trying to coordinate transport flights with available fighter support (often from a completely different airfield or multiple fighter airfields) is difficult at best. These Soviet airfields are primitive and only recently flooded with newly arrived transports and their crews. Not all of the new ground crew know the Eastern front winter start procedures and therefore the pilots cannot always start the cold engines. Delays tend to cascade forward causing an avalanche of logistical SNAFU. The transports are not fully loaded because of the basic impossibility of sustaining an entire axis army group on two separate single rail lines - the chances of having enough of the prioritised cargo ready for the exact time window is not high. If the Axis fighters don't make the meeting point with the transports then these obsolete Ju-52's rumble ahead at 100-150 mph depending on tail or headwind. That is a sitting duck to the VVS who get warned by the soviet ground observers who by now have set up a ground cable telephone network (Soviets have no RADAR) Even in low visibility they can still hear the transport engines because the flightpaths are predictable. That same integrated air defence also makes Soviet FLAK much more dangerous. Moral for the transport crews is low. So if the engines can't be started, surely we can just go back to that nice safe, warm & dry prefabricated hut for rest and a hot drink. Its also terrible for the ground crews and mechanics who have only those same huts to get organized into rotating work parties because cold hands lose all strength and dexterity beyond a certain point. And yes TIK it is colder during the much longer night, yet you still only quote the milder daytime temperatures and never refer to windchill at all. Yes I know the soviets face the same winter conditions - but they have the "Battle of Britain effect" of being on defence flying from airbases much closer to the combat area. There is no Heathrow Airport with immense heated hangers and giant Runways of perfect smooth materials, with friendly airport landing and take off electronic aids. This is the Eastern Front and 62nd army has cancelled the summer picnic, its winter baby.

[@Ralphieboy]

That was the utter genius of Uranus: the Soviets knew that the majority of the soldiers in the pocket would not be combat infantry but second and rear-echelon troops who nonetheless still needed to be fed.

[@tonybatista1928]

Hi TIK glad to see you back.

[@armagilusarthfael5644]

16:56 "Can you imagine them actually doing this?" You don't need to imagine them doing it, because they ultimately did evacuate the Caucasus, except they did so just to save themselves and not relieve the 6th Army. Hindsight backs up Manstein on this (and in his defence Herr Hitler was a madman). Of course Hitler would never have agreed to it but to evacuate the Caucasus to help stage a relief of Stalingrad has its merits. -Save over 250,000 men from the cauldron -Continue to stifle Soviet shipments up the Volga -Shorten the frontline significantly -Allow more time to fortify the Kuban bridgehead As for the black gold, at the time of Manstein's relief effort the Germans only possess Maikop anyway. To get it operational is one thing, but the Soviets possessed the airpower now to frequently attempt to level it. Sure Germany would benefit from the oil, but they also managed to wage war for over 2 more years from this point. German planners were definitely blinded by their misapprehension about Soviet reserves, but I've always been of the opinion that if the Soviets were spent what's the harm in relinquishing territory that you can take back, just in case they were not a spent force.... Enjoyable series though!

[@OmegaTrooper]

Incredible series

[@wdsp69]

Excellent as usual

[@jonathonhass4178]

Spectacular docu-series….as always. Top notch quality vid delivered in a very neutral way…meaning you don’t put your own “spin” on it…just the facts as much as is possible and you even point out the glaring disparity in the statistics from various primary sources. Bravo Zulu !

[@louisglen1653]

Tonnage shipped doesn't necessarily show the whole picture. Just because the planes on one day average 1.6 tons it doesn't mean the planes weren't filled to capacity. Mass is not consistent. So for example and only as an example, you can have a plane filled with styrofoam and the freight might only weigh 1 ton or less. Then another plane might be half filled by volume, but weigh over 2 tons because it's full of bullets. So tonnage as such doesn't show the whole picture and can be a bit misleading. A plane full of food (volume wise) would probably weigh less than a plane filled to its weight limit capacity with ammunition.

[@caryblack5985]

Correct and sending fuel which has a great weight, just pick up a jug of milk, can show you how much a half filled plane carrying fuel supplies would weigh.

[@Raskolnikov70]

You are correct, but if the planes were being loaded in an organized manner the people writing up the load plans would have taken this into consideration. They would have come up with organized load plans, sticking heavier stuff like ammo on the bottom and lighter bulkier items like clothing on top of it. Good planning would have made the most of the space and weight capacity available and the ground crews would have done their best to pack in as much as they could. The fact that this didn't seem to be happening leads to two possibilities. First, that the planes were NOT being loaded in an organized manner. Considering the state of the German logistics system and the overall chaos of the airlift, this is entirely possible. Anyone who's ever been in the military and has had to deal with the 'hurry up and wait' mentality will get this - whatever planning manages to get done gets completely undone by a bunch of last-minute changes and the whole system gets thrown into chaos. I can totally see a plane getting almost fully-loaded, then someone screams at the last minute "NO, something else is supposed to go on that one!" and the ground crew has to scramble and everything gets thrown around in one big mess. The other possibility is that the ground and air crews were deliberately under-loading the planes. I'm sure none of them wanted to try to fly through the Soviet AA and fighter cover with a fully-loaded plane, so in order to increase their chances of survival they only load 1.5 tons, mark down 2.5 on the manifest and call it good. You'd think they'd want to do their utmost to help their fellow soldiers on the ground, but if the pilots were as demoralized as the infantry they'd probably look out for their own first.

[@louisglen1653]

@@Raskolnikov70 There were a lot of factors and not being there we can only speculate based on our experiences. I never loaded planes but loaded thousands of trailers. It looks easy on paper, and just saying we have to ship so many tons a day doesn't seem that hard, but how many tons of what? An how much mass is involved? Then factor in loading in the cold weather. It is a lot harder, and surfaces get slipperier as it gets colder. So I am sure there would have been a few more injuries than normal too. Did they have to bring in heaters to warm up the engines before trying to start them? Glad I wasn't there!

[@AFGuidesHD]

December just wasn't a good month for the axis was it ? 1939: Graf Spee sunk 1940: Operation Compass 1941: Winter counteroffensive and war with USA 1942: This 1943: Dnieper offensives 1944: everything

[@thyweebo]

appreciate your work m8

[@pablocandia6246]

thanks Tik! Just for Xmas! And We won the World Cup!

[@Raggadish.]

The best christmas present 🙂🎅

[@verysilentmouse]

love your work

[@LavrencicUrban]

WHAT A GREAT POINT ABOUT IMPORTANCE OF STALINGRAD TO HITLER AND WHAT A GREAT EPISODE! THANK YOU MATE!

[@lucagriglio8253]

Hi TIK, another great video, really well done! I think stats you showed demonstrate OKH made a big mistake by not rotating worn out units with fresher ones. A single infantry division with 15k men would have been probably more effective than 2 worn out units of 10k men each but very short of riflemen

[@markyoung950]

Dear TIK history viewers. I am having a grand time with my own Stalingrad reenactment in my backyard. When I woke up this morning it was 7 C out and winds had died down. The night before the winds were gusting from 60 to 70 kph. I am sitting in a hole I dug in the back yard, wearing my summer clothes with only a blanket for additional warmth. Once in a while I pour some gasoline on the ground and light it. I am limiting myself to one frozen dinner a day to recreate the feeling of starvation. I am having great difficulty recreating the terror, it is quiet difficult when there are children playing in the yard next door. Happy Holidays from Frozen North America

[@markyoung950]

The temperature is -7C

[@markyoung950]

The doctor in attendance at the emergency room is telling me that it was 7 degrees Fahrenheit or -14C last night. The psychologist is insisting that they have no horse au jus in the cafeteria. From what I understand the reenactors in Canada get more respect and actual horse au jus

[@fedecano7362]

I had everything planned for a gaming night to chill out but what could be better than the latest episode of my fav series! Let's find out :D