Ghosts of Stalingrad

<p>The Battle of Stalingrad was a disaster. The German Sixth Army consisted of over 300000 men when it approached Stalingrad in August 1942. On 2 February 1943 91000 remained; only some 5000 survived Soviet captivity. Largely due to the success of previous aerial resupply operations Luftwaffe leaders assured Hitler they could successfully supply the Sixth Army after it was trapped. However the Luftwaffe was not up to the challenge. The primary reason was the weather but organizational and structural flaws as well as enemy actions also contributed to their failure. This thesis will address why the Demyansk and Kholm airlifts convinced the Germans that airlift was a panacea for encircled forces; the lessons learned from these airlifts and how they were applied at Stalingrad; why Hitler ordered the Stalingrad airlift despite the logistical impossibility; and seek out lessons for today 's military. The primary reason for the Stalingrad tragedy was that Germany 's strategic leadership did not apply lessons learned from earlier airlifts to the Stalingrad airlift and the U.S. military is making similar mistakes with respect to the way it is handling its lessons learned from recent military operations.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>