03/09/1942

Battle For Stalingrad

Herr commander, I have got completely new orders for you. As you know, the Fuhrer has changed his plans in mid July: instead of putting up a defensive line on the Don River, he ordered the Von Paulus' Sixth Army to proceed further, to capture the strategic industrial centre of Stalingrad and cross the Volga River, reaching the final objective of Operation Barbarossa: the port of Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea. Well, today the Sixth Army lays just at the gates of Stalingrad, ready to expel the Soviets from this city-symbol of the communism. Anyway all the OKW fears that our rumanian and hungarian allies will not be able to give us the necessary support to protect our flanks. So we are ordering you and your formidable army to support Von Paulus in the seizure of Stalingrad. You will have to pay extreme attention to your northern and southern flank, commander, because I fear that the Soviets are preparing to launch a massive counterattack aimed at trapping the Sixth Army!