How could the Germans have won the Battle of Stalingrad?

[Aquarius1011]

Apparently the German military had weak, or rather weak, Italian and Romanian units each side of Stalingrad. They were confident of victory, and more than likely never thought that the Russians would encircle them. So, they should have had stronger units each side of Stalingrad.
I was wondering also: How far back from Stalingrad had the German front line been pushed, when Paulus surrendered?

[Kingfish]

[nobodyofnote]

Hi Kingfish, I'm not seeing a map, only a website logo (OnWar.com). They might have some filter stopping image linking.

Here's a map sourced from the UK National Archives:



The broken blue dotted line is the front on 7th February 1943, just days after the surrender. The Axis situation in Stalingrad had become untenable.

[Konig_pilsner]

Apparently the German military had weak, or rather weak, Italian and Romanian units each side of Stalingrad. They were confident of victory, and more than likely never thought that the Russians would encircle them. So, they should have had stronger units each side of Stalingrad.
I was wondering also: How far back from Stalingrad had the German front line been pushed, when Paulus surrendered?

Before resurrecting a thread maybe you should read it first. There are some pretty good posts in here.

[BDV]

Also Sprach, the real Gröfaz, Der Alte Fritz:

"He who defends everything defends nothing"

So I think a better outcome of Stalingrad can be achieved by the germans both by central decisions (Hitler et Co), or by local decisions (Paulus et Co).


Central, the alternative decision is to give up the North Africa buid-up and concentrate Axis resources on forestalling the RKKA winter onslaught. Should Unternehmen Wintergewitter start a week earlier and include two Tiger Abteilungs and a panzer division more than historically, even if the airlift assets used historically in Tunisia are still used to supply Rommel, Axis forces might have been able to penetrate the Soviet encirclement.



Locally is for the local leadership to reinforce their southern flank, such that the link with the Group Army A is preserved. So instead add the 24th panzer and/or the 3rd motorized to the southern flank. And if pseudo-GROFAZ would demur, the operation can be achieved by moving units below his detection threshold ("elements of") to the southern flank.

Also german units in the Don Bend - the 44th, 376, and 384 german infantry divisions, on the right bank of Don, should be ordered to hold fast (aka sacrificed) - instead of the historical running away abandoning all their materiel and defensive positions, and allowing the third romanian army to get run over too easily.

P.S. However, from what I have seen Paulus was not the man for the job. Hence the possibility of a "Reichenau takes an aspirin, not a fitness run" separate thread.

[Von Schadewald]

Exactly what German forces would have been present at or near Stalingrad if the August 1942 Dieppe raid had not taken place, Hitler having ordered them to the West?

Would they have made a difference at Stalingrad, or is it a myth?