Part 1/11:
The Battle of Stalingrad: Rethinking Manpower and High Command Decisions
By November 1942, the German forces engaged in the Battle of Stalingrad were heavily depleted. A common narrative suggests that this attrition was primarily due to insufficient manpower, implying that the Germans suffered from relentless losses they couldn’t replace and that this inexorable bleeding led to their defeat. Many blame Hitler or Paulus for the decision to attack the city, arguing that the Germans should have avoidedStalingrad altogether, relying on Soviet reserves which were supposedly better replenished. However, a closer examination reveals that these assumptions are overly simplistic and misrepresent the complex realities of the campaign.