German 1941 PoW stats, revisions, and battle-specific implications

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TheMarcksPlan
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German 1941 PoW stats, revisions, and battle-specific implications

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Post by TheMarcksPlan » 09 Jan 2021, 10:56

On December 20, 1941, OKH revised Barbarossa's PoW haul downwards by 539,559 men. (generally acknowledged but see, e.g., Askey's Operation Barbarossa vol.IIIB)

Yet in the records of Army Group Center, there is little difference between their PoW counts before and after that date: https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/ru/ ... ect/zoom/6. https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/ru/ ... ect/zoom/6

(note that the second document, dated Oct 20, 1941, predates the ~180k PoW that AGC claimed in the following 6 weeks).

So I'm wondering:
  • Was OKH's correction necessary only for AG's N&S?
    ......or...
  • Did the Army Groups fail to correct the data issues noted by OKH?
Do we have AG records indicating the corrected PoW tabulations? I.e. do we have corrections to the 10-day PoW reports of the AG's, following OKH's late-December correction?

If no to the last question, it implies a serious revision needed to the battle-specific claims cited in secondary sources...
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https://medium.com/counterfactualww2
"The whole question of whether we win or lose the war depends on the Russians." - FDR, June 1942

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