The german army was defeated at Stalingrad. Read the article in detail to know about the various causes behind their defeat.

 In late winter of 1943 the German army under General Von Paulos was bottled in Stalingrad and was surrounded by the Russian army. At that time the top German general Staff officers led by Field Marshal Von Manstein suggested that the army of Von Paulos be allowed to break out and join forces with his army group. Hitler was against this and gave  a decision that the German army would fight to the last man at Stalingrad.

 He was supported in this by Riech Marshal Goering the chief of the German Air Force ( Luftwaffe) who announced grandly that the German army bottled up in the Stalingrad  salient would be supplied by air. For this he banked on an air bridge being created by the only 4 engine plane of the German air force the Focke  Wulf 200. 

The Focke Wulf 200 also known as the Condor was  designed by Dr. Kurt Tank for the German air line Luftansa. It was put to military use by Goering.

The plane however had limitations  in operation in extreme cold climate and when put to use for the Stalingrad air lift  was a colossal failure.

The air bridge promised by Goering never took off  and only a handfull of Condors could land with supplies in the extreme  cold and sub zero temperatures. In addition they suffered a tremendous attrition rate at the hands of the Russian air force. Thus the Luftwaffe failed to keep the German army supplied in the Stalingrad salient and was one of the primary causes for the surrender of the German force in Stalingrad.

 Goering must take the full blame for this sorry performance of the German Air Force. The FW 200 has gone down in history as a plane which did little to impact the war

Madan G Singh

An early retired Gp Capt from Air Force who is an Executive Director in the Corporate world. Loves to write fiction and articles. Published over 60 short stories and his novel" Romance of the Frontier" is published from Notion Books.His second novel is on way for publication. The author also has close to 10,000 articles on the b net with millions of views

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