- Quick Facts - Who's Who - Weaponry - On A Personal Note -

Quick Facts

1939
    - Germans invade Poland
    - Danzig is annexed
    - Britain and France give Hitler ultimatum
    - France & Britain declare war
    - There is limited activity on the western front

1940
    - Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Belgium are invaded by the Nazis
    - Germans enter France using blitzkrieg warfare
    - Italy declares war against France and Britain

1941
    - Yugoslavia surrenders
    - Germany attacks Russia
    - Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese
    - U.S. gets involved in the war
    - War is declared on Japan by U.S and Britain
    - War is declared on the U.S. by Italy and Germany
    - U.S. then declares war on Italy and Germany

1942
    - The Battle of Stalingrad begins

Who's Who

Georgi Zhukov
The general of the USSR who lead the Germans to their victory during the battle of Stalingrad was Goergi Zhukov. He was born in 1896 as a Russian peasant and became a mechanic’s apprentice at age 12. Zhukov joined the Russian army in 1915 and then the new Red Army in 1918 where he served as a squadron commander until 1920. He continued to attend military schools in the 1920's, and during the 1930's he somehow avoided being killed during Stalin’s purge of the Soviet military leadership. Making his mark in 1939 by commanding the Soviet First Army Group in its victory against the Japanese Sixth Army, he was promoted to the rank of general in the spring of 1940. Then in February of 1941 Zhukov was made chief of the Soviet General Staff and deputy commissioner for defense. He then went on to coordinate the Soviet victories at Stalingrad in 1942, which is also when he was made deputy supreme commander in chief of the Red Army and Navy. This meant that he was second in command only to Stalin in military authority. Zhukov eventually retired from his military career and died in 1974.

Frederich Paulus
Friedrich Paulus is sadly associated with one of the worst defeats of the German military. He was born on September 23, 1890 in Hesse. He studied at Marburg University and then joined an infantry regiment as a cadet. He fought in the very beginning of World War II, and rejoined after an injury in 1915 as a staff officer with the elite mountain troops. Paulus continued to assume various staff positions from 1921 through 1933. And in 1939 he advanced to brigadier general and chief of staff for the 10th Army. Paulus was called to assist in drawing up plans for Operation Barbarossa and was appointed commander of his old Sixth Army in 1942. He began his combat career by defeating the Soviet offensive in 1942. However, he was forced to surrender the battle of Stalingrad on February 2, 1943

Actions
    The Russian:
     - He was put in charge of the defense of Stalingrad.
     - He very cleverly camouflaged his men and their artillery positions
     - He also made good use of sniper detachments deployed in the bombed out buildings in the city
     - He led the Russians to victory

    The German:
     - He advanced towards Stalingrad in the summer of 1942 with 250,000 men, 500 tanks, 7,000 guns and mortars, and 25,000 horses.
     - At the end of July 1942, low fuel forced Paulus to halt his advance until August.
     - Paulus attacked the city on Sept 7th
     - By Nov. He controlled about 90% of the city
     - Ordered another major offensive on Nov. 10th, despite lack of food and ammunition.
     - Paulus was forced to retreat southward, but then halt and stand fast
     - With the food and ammunition supply decreasing at a rapid pace, Paulus was forced to surrender to the Red Army in 1943.

Weaponry

Russian
Illushyn Il-2 Shturmovik fighter/bomber - piloted by skilled Russian pilots on daring raids against German resupply convoys and defensive positions. During the battle of Stalingrad, these aircraft gradually gained air superiority and prevented the Germans at the front lines from getting fuel and supplies; roughly the Russain equivalent of the German "Stuka"

Polikarpov PO-2 Trainer/Light Recon/ Light Transport (Lt. General Chuikov's personal transport) - this biplane was used extensively during this period for scouting enemy gun emplacements and troop positions. Lt. General Chuikov used this particular aircraft as a transport at one point to fly around the battlefield. His PO-2 was unarmed and was shot down by a German JU-88, but both he and his pilot survived due to the aircraft's low speed and its durability.

AVS-36 - first automatic rifle to be issued to Russain troops; reliable, durable and accurate

M1895 'Nagant' revolver - mechanically unreliable, and was replaces by another design very soon

PPSh-42 Submachine Gun - very little information exists about this particular gun; the only known facts are that they could be produced in a very short amount of time, and that they were extremely reliable and able to fire in almost any condtion (cold, snow, ice, sand, mud, rain, etc)

T-34/76C Medium Tank “The Best Tank in the World” – Top speed of 32 mph; It had a range of 150 miles; wide tracks kept the tank from getting stuck in the mud/snow that bogged down German panzers. During this time, the T-34 was fast and more maneuverable than almost any other German tank, until the Panther.

German
Junkers Ju-87 'Stuka' Dive Bombers - used before the actual ground assault began, bombed the city to scare the general public, did not distinguish between civilians and military; effective if no one on the ground shot back, but once the Russian Air Force and ground-based anti-aircraft crews got organized, the Stuka was a very vulnerable target.

MG-34 - overall, this was a very good all-around weapon; it could be used to shoot infantry, and could also sometimes double as an anti-aircraft gun against low-flying aircraft; these guns were reliable, and easily serviced.

KAR-98K - very widely used rifle during WWII by the Germans; reliable, easily maintained, and accurate; sometimes fitted with a scope for sniper use

PzKfW Mark VI “Tiger” – The German "Tiger" tank was heavily armored and packed a powerful punch. Initially designed in response to the success of the Russian T-34, the first Tiger tanks to come off the production lines were not very reliable. However, over time German engineers fine-tuned these battle machines, and the Tiger tank would become one of the most feared tanks in WWII.

On A Personal Note

Welcome? I think we need some sort of introduction to our website...haha