Hans Wijers - Winter Storm: The Battle for Stalingrad and the Operation to Rescue 6th Army

WINTER STORM

The Stackpole Military History Series

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THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

Cavalry Raids of the Civil War

Ghost, Thunderbolt, and Wizard

In the Lions Mouth

Picketts Charge

Witness to Gettysburg

WORLD WAR I

Doughboy War

WORLD WAR II

After D-Day

Airborne Combat

Armor Battles of the Waffen-SS, 194345

Armoured Guardsmen

Army of the West

Arnhem 1944

Australian Commandos

The B-24 in China

Backwater War

The Battle of France

The Battle of Sicily

Battle of the Bulge, Vol. 1

Battle of the Bulge, Vol. 2

Beyond the Beachhead

Beyond Stalingrad

The Black Bull

Blitzkrieg Unleashed

Blossoming Silk against the Rising Sun

Bodenplatte

The Brandenburger Commandos

The Brigade

Bringing the Thunder

The Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign

Coast Watching in World War II

Colossal Cracks

Condor

A Dangerous Assignment

D-Day Bombers

D-Day Deception

D-Day to Berlin

Destination Normandy

Dive Bomber!

A Drop Too Many

Eagles of the Third Reich

The Early Battles of Eighth Army

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Europe in Flames

Exit Rommel

The Face of Courage

Fist from the Sky

Flying American Combat Aircraft of World War II

For Europe

Forging the Thunderbolt

For the Homeland

Fortress France

The German Defeat in the East, 194445

German Order of Battle, Vol. 1

German Order of Battle, Vol. 2

German Order of Battle, Vol. 3

The Germans in Normandy

Germanys Panzer Arm in World War II

GI Ingenuity

Goodwood

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Guns against the Reich

Hitlers Nemesis

Hold the Westwall

Infantry Aces

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JG 26 Luftwaffe Fighter Wing War Diary, Vol. 1

Kampfgruppe Peiper at the Battle of the Bulge

The Key to the Bulge

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Luftwaffe Fighter Ace

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Luftwaffe Fighters and Bombers

Massacre at Tobruk

Mechanized Juggernaut or Military Anachronism?

Messerschmitts over Sicily

Michael Wittmann, Vol. 1

Michael Wittmann, Vol. 2

Mountain Warriors

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Night Flyer / Mosquito Pathfinder

No Holding Back

On the Canal

Operation Mercury

Packs On!

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Panzer Aces II

Panzer Aces III

Panzer Commanders of the Western Front

Panzergrenadier Aces

Panzer Gunner

The Panzer Legions

Panzers in Normandy

Panzers in Winter

Panzer Wedge

The Path to Blitzkrieg

Penalty Strike

Poland Betrayed

Red Road from Stalingrad

Red Star under the Baltic

Retreat to the Reich

Rommels Desert Commanders

Rommels Desert War

Rommels Lieutenants

The Savage Sky

Ship-Busters

The Siege of Kstrin

The Siegfried Line

A Soldier in the Cockpit

Soviet Blitzkrieg

Stalins Keys to Victory

Surviving Bataan and Beyond

T-34 in Action

Tank Tactics

Tigers in the Mud

Triumphant Fox

The 12th SS, Vol. 1

The 12th SS, Vol. 2

Twilight of the Gods

Typhoon Attack

The War against Rommels Supply Lines

War in the Aegean

War of the White Death

Winter Storm

Wolfpack Warriors

Zhukov at the Oder

THE COLD WAR / VIETNAM

Cyclops in the Jungle

Expendable Warriors

Fighting in Vietnam

Flying American Combat Aircraft: The Cold War

Here There Are Tigers

Land with No Sun

MiGs over North Vietnam

Phantom Reflections

Street without Joy

Through the Valley

Two One Pony

WARS OF AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Never-Ending Conflict

The Rhodesian War

GENERAL MILITARY HISTORY

Carriers in Combat

Cavalry from Hoof to Track

Desert Battles

Guerrilla Warfare

Ranger Dawn

Sieges

The Spartan Army

WINTER STORM

The Battle for Stalingrad and the
Operation to Rescue 6th Army

Hans Wijers

STACKPOLE
BOOKS

Copyright 2012 by Hans Wijers

Published by
STACKPOLE BOOKS
5067 Ritter Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
www.stackpolebooks.com

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Stackpole Books.

Cover design by Tracy Patterson

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wijers, Hans J.

Winter Storm: the Battle for Stalingrad and the operation to rescue 6th Army / Hans Wijers.

p. cm.(Stackpole military history series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8117-1089-3

1. Stalingrad, Battle of, Volgograd, Russia, 19421943. 2. Germany. Heer. Armee, 6History20th century. 3. World War, 19391945Regimental historiesGermany. 4. RescuesRussia (Federation)VolgogradHistory20th century. I. Title.

D764.3.S7W55 2012

940.54'21747dc23

2011053097

eISBN: 9780811745871

I dedicate this book to the person who gave me strength to continue with my work, who has been a guiding light in my dark hours. Without you, this book wouldnt have seen daylight. I can only hope that I can return a little of what you gave me. For you, Amy Sue.

Contents

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Book One:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Book Two:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7

BOOK ONE

The Battle for Stalingrad

Foreword to Book One

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S ince August 1942, the 6th Army had assaulted Stalingrad. Now it had this important industrial city in an iron grip. After September, the battle entered the winter. The grenadiers partially stood in the city center of Stalingrad. The regiments of the 71st Infantry Division under General von Hartmann had penetrated deeply into the inner city and reached the banks of the Volga there. In the south as well as in the north, armored unitsthe 16th and 24th Panzer Divisionstook positions in the suburbs of Stalingrad and there stopped the Russians who were attacking continuously. Now the northern part of Stalingrad, where the Russians still held the larger industrial estates, would be the scene of the decisive attack. The last positions of the Russians were to be taken from both south and north.

This book contains the adventures and experiences of the soldiers who took part in the big battle for Stalingrad. Many of these men discuss those days for the very first time. The author lets the surviving Stalingrad veterans to speak for themselves and uses reports to illustrate the pitiless harshness and merciless brutality of the battle.

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