Video: '179B - Stalingrad: Endgame - WW2 - January 31, 1943'
(Sunday, January 31, 1943, 7:35 a.m. Moscow Standard Time; during the Battle of Stalingrad on the Eastern Front of World War II) — Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Paulus surrendered today after Soviet forces closed in on his headquarters in the ruined GUM department store.
On Jan. 30, 1943, the 10th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s coming to power, Paulus had notified the German dictator that his men would likely collapse before the day was out.
In response, Hitler issued a tranche of field promotions to the Sixth Army’s officers. Most notably, he promoted Paulus to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall.
In deciding to promote Paulus, Hitler noted that there was no record of a German or Prussian field marshal had ever surrendered. The implication was clear: if Paulus surrendered, he would shame himself and would become the highest-ranking German officer ever to be captured. Hitler believed that Paulus would either fight to the last man or commit suicide.
On the next day, today, Jan. 31, 1943, the southern pocket in Stalingrad collapsed. Soviet forces reached the entrance to the German headquarters in the ruined GUM department store.
Video: 'The World at War: Stalingrad: June 1942-February 1943 (9 of 26)' (Jan. 31, 1943, at 46:05)
When interrogated by the Soviets, Paulus claimed that he had not surrendered. He said that he had been taken by surprise. He denied that he was the commander of the remaining northern pocket in Stalingrad and refused to issue an order in his name for them to surrender.
The central pocket, under the command of Generaloberst Walter Heitz, surrendered the same day, while the northern pocket, under the command of General Karl Strecker, held out for two more days.
Four Soviet armies were deployed against the northern pocket. At four in the morning on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 1943, Strecker was informed that one of his own officers had gone to the Soviets to negotiate surrender terms. Seeing no point in continuing, he sent a radio message saying that his command had done its duty and fought to the last man.
When Strecker finally surrendered, he and his chief of staff, Helmuth Groscurth, drafted the final signal sent from Stalingrad, purposely omitting the customary exclamation to Hitler, replacing it with “Long live Germany!”
Around 91,000 exhausted, ill, wounded, and starving prisoners were taken. The prisoners included 22 generals.
Hitler was furious and confided that Paulus “could have freed himself from all sorrow and ascended into eternity and national immortality, but he prefers to go to Moscow.”
